Vintage Minnesota Hockey - History

1961:  Former NHL left winger Ken Solheim born in Hythe, Alta.  Solheim played in the NHL 1980-81 through 1985-86 with Chicago, the Minnesota North Stars, Detroit and Edmonton.

1968:  Defenseman Mike McMahon set a team record with four assists as the Minnesota North Stars won 5-3 at Los Angeles.

1977:  On the last day of the St. Paul Vulcans season, the Vulcans won their 4th consecutive game to capture the Midwest Junior Hockey League title by one point.  The team was awarded the Anderson-Cup (A five foot high trophy resembling the NHL's Stanley Cup).

1982:  Dino Ciccarelli became the second player in Minnesota North Stars history to get 100 points in a season, when he picked up an assist in a 6-5 win at Boston.

1985:  Defenseman Phil Housley scored twice and added an assist to lead the Sabres to a 3-2 win over the NY Rangers, at the Aud.

1985:  NHL defenseman Dustin Byfuglien born in Minneapolis, MN. Byfuglien has played in the NHL since 2005-06 with Chicago, Atlanta, and Winnipeg.

1994:  As a part of the 1992 strike settlement, the NHL and Bruce McNall's Multivision Marketing and Public Relations Co. organized 26 regular season games in cities without a franchise as a litmus test for future expansion.  The New Jersey Devils-5 vs. Quebec Nordiques-2 game was held at Target Center in downtown Minneapolis before 6,222 fans, following the Minnesota North Stars departure to Dallas, TX.

2000:  Long-time Assistant Coach of Minnesota State University Mavericks, and former player - Troy Jutting was named the second Coach in program history.

2002:  Chicago's Phil Housley became the fourth defenseman (and first U.S. born player) in NHL history to score 1,200 career points, when he picked up the game winning goal in a 4-1 Blackhawks win over the visiting Nashville Predators.

2002:  Minnesota Wild picked up their 50th victory in franchise history as Andrew Brunette extended his team-record point scoring streak to 10 straight games, in a 4-2 win at Atlanta. Brunette picked up 5 goals and 12 assists in the 10 games.

2007:  Minnesota rookie Niklas Backstrom recorded his third career shutout and the Wild clinched its second franchise playoff berth in a 1-0 shootout loss to the visiting Calgary Flames.

2013:  Mikko Koivu scored at the third overtime goal of his NHL career, connecting at 2:43 of OT to give the Wild their seventh straight victory, a 4-3 win over the visiting Phoenix Coyotes.

2014:  Minneapolis, MN native Dustin Byfuglien scored his 20th goal of the season and Tobias Enstrom scored the tie breaking goal with 3:36 remaining in regulation to give the Jets a 4-3 victory at San Jose.

2015:  With the game tied at 1-1 after 40 minutes, Minnesota Wild scored three goals in the 3rd period to sweep their three-game season series with the Calgary Flames.  With the win, Wild lead the NHL with a 25-6-2 record since January 15th, and earned a league-high 47 points in 29 games since the NHL All-Star break.  Thomas Vanek notched the tie-breaking 3rd period goal to hit the 20-goal milestone for the 10th time in as many seasons.  Per Elias Sports Bureau, only 2 other active players at the time had scored at least 20 goals in each of their first 10 NHL campaigns: Jaromir Jagr (First 17), and Alex Ovechkin (first 10, active).  Devan Dubnyk made his 34th start in goal (33rd with Minnesota) and stopped 23 shots to improve to 34-11-3 in 52 appearances for the 2014-2015 season, ranking him 2nd in the NHL with a 2.07 GAA and .930 save %

2015:  Zach Parise (Bloomington, MN native), scored his team-leading 30th goal of the season, reaching the milestone for the sixth time in his career, and the 1st time in a Wild uniform.  Parise became the fourth player in franchise history to achieve 30 goals joining: Marian Gaborik (5 times), Brian Rolston (3 times) and Jason Pominville.