Vintage Minnesota Hockey - History

1961:  Former NHL defenseman Ken Leiter born in Detroit, Mi. Leiter played in the NHL 1984-85 through 1989-90 with the New York Islanders and the Minnesota North Stars.

1974:  Minnesota North Stars fired General Manager Wren Blair. No replacement was named.

1980:  Former NHL center Rickard Wallin born in Stockholm, Sweden. Wallin played in the NHL 2002-03 through 2003-04 with the Minnesota Wild.

1981:  Steve Christoff had three assists to lead the North Stars to a 6-4 win over the Sabres in Game 3 of the Quarter-Finals in Minnesota.

1981:  NHL left wing Martin Havlat born in Mlada Boleslav, Czech. Havlat has played in the NHL since 2000-01 with Ottawa, Chicago, Minnesota, and San Jose.

1997:  Trent Klatt scored a goal and picked up an assist to lead the Flyers to a 3-2 win over the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Quarter-Finals.

1998:  Mike Crowley scored the first goal of the game (in a 5-3 loss to the visiting St. Louis Blues) to give the Mighty Ducks a streak of nine straight goals scored by rookies, over a four game span.

2003:  Manny Fernandez made 26 saves in his first career playoff start as the Wild avoided elimination with a 3-2 win against the Avalanche at Colorado, in Game 5 of the Western Conference Quarter-Finals.

2009:  Zach Parise became just the 2nd player in team history (Zach was also the 1st in Devils history in 2007 playoffs) to score in each of the Devils' 1st 3 playoff games in a season, when he connected at 4:58 of overtime for a 3-2 win at Carolina, in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Quarter-Finals.

2011:  Minnesota Wild signed undrafted free agent Justin Fontaine following his NCAA career at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

2015:  N.Y. Islanders Forward, (St. Paul, MN native) - Kyle Okposo scored 1 goal in the Islanders 2-1 OT win vs. Washington Capitals in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference 1st round NHL playoff series.  Okposo was named the #2 Star of the Night.