Vintage Minnesota Hockey - History

1886:  The Saint Paul Winter Carnival inaugural year opened, hosting competitions in curling, skating, and ice polo while boasting the first ice palace in the United States.  The Winter Carnival suggested that 'those Minnesotans who don't enjoy complaining about their winter, may actually enjoy the season'.

1944:  Eveleth, MN native Mike Karakas (G) recorded his 21st career shutout in the Black Hawks' 2-0 win over the Bruins at Boston.

1950:  Eveleth, MN native Frank Brimsek (G) recorded his 38th career shutout to lead the Black Hawks to a 3-0 win over the Maple Leafs at Chicago Stadium.

1955:  Minnesota North Stars NHL/Fighting Saints WHA Draftee - Earl Sargent born in Cass Lake, MN, and raised in Bemidji, MN.  Earl played several years in the minor leagues, but never made it to the pro teams that drafted him (Younger brother to Gary Sargent). 

1969:  Stan Mikita scored a goal and added three assists in the Black Hawks' 5-5 tie against the North Stars at the Met Center.  Rookie Danny Grant had two goals and two assists and Claude Larose added a goal and three assists for Minnesota.

1975: Eveleth, MN native Doug Palazzari scored twice and added an assist as the Blues tied 4-4 with the Penguins in St. Louis.

1975:  Minnesota North Stars ended their team-record 23 game road winless streak (0-19-4) with a 3-2 win against the Scouts, at Kansas City.

1979:  Minnesota rookie Bobby Smith scored twice and added an assist in the North Stars' 6-1 win against Detroit at the Met Center.

1979:  The WHA New England Whalers traded Jack Carlson to the Minnesota Fighting Saints in exchange for future considerations.

1983:  Los Angeles Kings obtained goalie Markus Mattsson from the Minnesota North Stars, in trade for a future draft pick.

1985:  NHL center Patrick O’Sullivan born in Toronto, Ontario.  O’Sullivan has played in the NHL since 2006-07 with Los Angeles, Edmonton, Carolina, the Minnesota Wild and Phoenix.

1987:  Neal Broten scored two goals and an assist, to lead the Minnesota North Stars to a 4-3 win over the Canucks at Vancouver.

1987:  Phil Housley had a goal and two assists as Buffalo extended their home undefeated streak against Detroit to 12 straight games (8-0-4) with a 6-1 win over the Red Wings.

1993:  Minnesota's Mike Modano scored twice and added three assists to lead the North Stars to a 5-4 win over the Canucks at Vancouver.

1994:  R. David Spreng, Peter Jocketty & Kevin McMahon met with Dana Warg or the Target Center and agreed to terms for the MN Arctic Blast Roller Hockey Int. team to play games at the downtown arena.  Former NHL and North Stars standout Dennis Maruk was additionally hired as Head Coach.

1995:  The Hockey News magazine named the Minnesota Moose as the "No. 1 logo in all of minor league hockey".

2004:  Keeper of the Cup for the Hockey Hall of Fame in Canada - Mike Bolt carried the Stanley Cup across northern Minnesota strapped to the back of a snowmobile beginning today at the US Hockey Hall of Fame in Eveleth, MN through Brainerd (Feb. 2nd), and finally to Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, MN to celebrate the 2004 NHL All-Star game on February 8, 2004. 

2007:  Marian Gaborik took 9 shots on goal for the Wild, scoring twice and adding an assist in a 5-3 win at Colorado.

2011:  Kyle Okposo scored his first two goals of the season and added an assist to lead the Islanders to a 4-1 win at Atlanta.

2011:  Sharks trailed 3-0 late in the second period but came back to beat the visiting Coyotes 5-3. Joe Pavelski led the scoring with two goals and an assist and goaltender (South St. Paul native) Alex Stalock earned a victory in his first NHL game.

2011:  Pierre-Marc Bouchard scored in a shootout to give the Wild a 1-0 win over the visiting L.A. Kings.  Niklas Backstrom recorded his 22nd career shutout for the Wild and L.A.'s Jonathan Bernier picked up his 2nd career shutout for the Kings.

2013:  Vancouver Alain Vigneault picked up his 400th career NHL victory when 22-year-old rookie, Prior Lake MN native - Jordan Schroeder (still goal-less in the NHL) scored in his first career shootout attempt to give the Canucks a 2-1 win over the visiting Chicago Blackhawks.

2015:  St. Louis Blues Forward (Warroad H.S.) T.J. Oshie had 3 assists in the Blues 4-3 win over the Washington Capitals to earn the games #3 Star of the Night in Washington.