Vintage Minnesota Hockey - History

1939:  Former minority owner of the Minnesota North Stars; Gordon Gund, born in Cleveland, Ohio.

1967:  Minnesota's Wayne Connelly had two assists as the North Stars lost 5-3 at Los Angeles in their first game against the Kings.

1970:  Walt McKechnie scored his first NHL hat trick and Bill Goldsworthy added three assists to lead the Minnesota North Stars to a 4-2 win against Pittsburgh, at the Met Center.

1972:  The Minnesota Fighting Saints of the WHA first franchise win against the Chicago Cougars (3-2).  Mike Antonovich scored the teams 1st winning goal in the victory, where-as Goaltender Jack McCartan became the teams first winning goaltender.

1975:  Minnesota's Bill Goldsworthy scored twice to become the first player from a 1967 expansion team to get 250 career goals as the North Stars won 4-1 over the visiting California Seals.

1977:  The US Hockey Hall of Fame enshrined it's fifth-year members since opening in 1973 on this date in Eveleth, MN.  Inducted were:  Players: Earl Bartholome Edward Olson & William Riley.

1980:  Bobby Smith scored twice to lead the Minnesota North Stars to a 3-2 win over the visiting Boston Bruins.

1983:  The US Hockey Hall of Fame enshrined it's eleventh-year members since opening in 1973 on this date in Eveleth, MN.  Inducted were:  Coach:  Oscar Almquist Player:  John McCartan.

1988:  Dave Gagner scored two goals and added two assists to lead the North Stars to a 5-1 win over the Boston Bruins, in Minnesota.

1988:  Dave Christian scored his 4th career hat trick and added an assist to lead the Capitals to an 8-5 win over the Devils in Washington.

1991:  NHL center Brock Nelson born in Warroad, MN.  Nelson has played in the NHL since 2013-14 with New York Islanders.

1991:  Bobby Smith became the 5th player to score 500 points as a member of the Minnesota North Stars, with an assist in a 6-3 loss at Calgary.

1992:  Defenseman Jim Johnson picked up 26 penalty minutes for the Minnesota North Stars in a 5-4 win at St. Louis.

1993: The University of Minnesota Gophers played their first inaugural regular season game at the newly built, and aptly named New Mariucci Arena vs. Michigan Tech in the annual US Hockey Hall of Fame game in a 5-4 loss to Michigan Tech.

1994:  As part of the 1994 USHHoF induction class ceremony weekend, a 'Legends of the Past Game" featuring: Iron Range Legends vs. Minnesota North Stars Alumni was played at historic Eveleth Hippodrome beginning at 6:30P.M. with reception that followed at Harold's Bar.  

2000:  Rookie Lubomir Sekeras became the first ever Minnesota Wild defenseman to score a goal when he picked up his first career goal in a 5-3 loss to the visiting Edmonton Oilers.

2002:  Jacques Lemaire became the 25th coach in NHL history to win 300 games, when the Minnesota Wild beat the visiting Florida Panthers 4-1.  Bill Muckalt scored twice to break a 75-game drought (going back to April 2001).

2005:  Coach Peter Laviolette won his 100th game with Carolina when Erik Cole and Matt Cullen scored in a span of :17 late in the first period to lead the Hurricanes to a 6-1 win at New Jersey.  Cullen added two assists later in the game.

2009:  Dustin Byfuglien and Tomas Kopecky scored 28 seconds apart in the second period and the Blackhawks defense held the Predators to only 13 shots on goal, in a 3-1 victory at Nashville.

2010:  Bemidji State University Hockey new home Arena - Sanford Center - opened on this date.

2012:  USA Hockey and the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in Eveleth, MN inducted the 2012 class including: Louis 'Lou' Lamoriello,  Edward Walter 'Eddie' Olczyk and former Minnesota North Stars center Mike Modano, in a ceremony in Dallas Texas.

2015:  Minnesota Wild improved to 3-0-0 to open the 2015-2016 season in a 4-3 Wild vs. Arizona Coyotes win.  Thomas Vanek notched his 300th career goal (and became the very first former University of Minnesota Gopher NHL player to reach the 300 goal plateau).  Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk reached the 100 career win with the victory vs. his former team. 

2015:  Zach Parise earned the #1 Star of The Night with his 1-goal, 1-assist performance in the Wild's win over Arizona Coyotes.  With the goal, Parise became league leader in goals with 5.