Vintage Minnesota Hockey - History

1966:  The 43 year old historic Minneapolis Arena, formely located at 2900 Dupont Ave S. in uptown area of Minneapolis was demolished to make way for a supermarket, that still resides today on the site.

1969:  Bloomington Ice Garden groundbreaking took place at 98th Street and Abbott Ave at 12:00 noon for Bloomington MN second indoor arena, behind 1967 opened Met Center for Minnesota North Stars.

1981:  Minnesota's Dino Ciccarelli set an NHL playoff scoring record for rookies with his 21st point of the playoffs (a goal) in a 7-5 North Stars loss to the Islanders, in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final. He broke the record set by Don Maloney in 1979.

1981:  Butch Goring became the first player in NHL history to score a playoff hat-trick with two teams, when he led the Islanders to a 7-5 win over North Stars, in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals at Met Center for a 3-0 series lead. (Goring also had a 1977 3 goal game for L.A.)

1984:  Former NHL right wing Nate Raduns born in Sauk Rapids, Minnesota. Raduns played in the NHL 2008-09 with Philadelphia Flyers.

1991:  Minnesota North Stars were defeated by the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game-2 of the Stanley Cup Finals 1-4 at Pittsburgs' Civic Arena to even the series at 1 game apiece.

2007:  Dieter Kochan officially announced his retirement after 4 NHL seasons with Tampa Bay and Minnesota.

2010:  Minnesota Wild signed Eden Prairie, MN native free agent - Chad Rau.

2014:   Rangers' Ryan McDonagh (a St. Paul, MN native) tied a team playoff record for defensemen with four points (a goal and three assists) in a 7-2 win at Montreal in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final.