Vintage Minnesota Hockey - History

1940:  Former NHL defenseman John Miszuk born in Naliboki, Poland.  Miszuk played in the NHL 1963-64 through 1969-70 with Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia and the Minnesota North Stars.

1966:  Former NHL center Mario Thyer born in Montreal, Que.  Thyer played in the NHL 1989-90 with the Minnesota North Stars.

1967:  The expansion Minnesota North Stars record dropped to 6-2-0 in their first NHL preseason, after a 7-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, in a game played at Brantford, Ontario.

1979:  As part of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team pre-Olympic tour, the U.S. team faced off against the Minnesota North Stars in a 4-2 loss to the North Stars in U.S. first NHL competition.  Ironically both teams were on "home ice" in Bloomington, MN as the U.S. team utilized Met Center as the squads home arena.

1986:  NHL left wing Benoit Pouliot born in Alfred, Ont.  Pouliot has played in the NHL since 2006-07 with Minnesota, Montreal, Boston, Tampa Bay, and New York Rangers.

1990:  NHL center Jordan Schroeder born in Prior Lake, MN.  Schroeder has played in the NHL since 2012-13 with Vancouver and Minnesota Wild.

2000:  Minnesota Wild claimed Zdeno Ciger from Nashville and Sylvain Blouin from Montreal, in the 2000-01 NHL Waiver Draft.

2000:  NHL hockey returned to Minnesota for the first time since 1993, as the Wild made a successful home debut, with a 3-1 preseason win over the visiting Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, before a crowd of 18,516 fans at the newly constructed Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, MN.

2000:  Minnesota Wild obtained Matt Johnson from the Atlanta Thrashers, in exchange for a 2001 third-round draft pick.

2000:  Minnesota Wild claimed Sylvain Blouin from the Montreal Canadiens in the NHL Waiver Draft.

2001:  Minnesota Wild signed undrafted free agent Zbynek Michalek.

2014:  Minnesota Wild placed Prior Lake, MN native and former University of Minnesota standout Jordan Schroeder on waivers following the teams 4-1 pre-season win over the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins.  Zach Phillips was sent to the Wilds AHL affiliate - Iowa Wild.

2014:  Rogers, MN native Nick Jensen was named the Detroit Red Wings #2 Star in the Red Wings 3-0 pre-season win over Toronto.

2014:  Moorhead, MN native Brian Lee was released by the NHL Nashville Predators.