Minnesota Wild

When most people think of Minnesota, one of the first things that comes to mind is a state with cold winters and lots of snow. In conditions like these, a sport like hockey would be ideal. However, the Minnesota Wild are not an old franchise like the Montreal Canadiens or the Detroit Redwings. Founded in 2000, the creation of the Wild was to fill the void in Minneapolis created by the departure of the North Stars for Dallas.

One thing that most people expect from expansion franchises is inexperience. Minnesota was able to buck that perception in drafting Derek Boogaard, in the 2001 NHL draft. Boogaard considered to be one of the most intimidating players in the NHL today, causing players to respect his abilities and play him cautiously. It is no wonder that the franchise was able to not only make trips to the post season very early in its history but also come close to qualifying for the Stanley Cup playoffs on two different occasions.

But as all teams know, the only way to have a quality team, defense is crucial, and in hockey, the defense is led by the goalie. Nicklaus Backstrom is the current goalie for the team, having been acquired by the team in 2006. Having won one gold, one silver, and two bronze medals in the Olympics as a member of the Finnish National Hockey team, his expertise has helped solidify the Wild defense, keeping them in many games that they otherwise would have had no chance to win.

Hailing from the Czech Republic, Petr Kalus is a newcomer for what is a very young franchise. Starting as a right winder, he is known as being a ruthless goal scorer, as well as is capable of providing timely assists leading to goals. Players like Kalus are responsible for making the Minnesota offensive attack a potent one.

But as we all know, a one man offensive threat can easily be matched; if Kalus were the only player on the ice capable of scoring, defending against the Wild would be easy. Eric Belanger’s tenure, though a short one, provided the Wild with another scoring threat, making defenses throughout the NHL need to play cautiously and properly cover these two talented players.

For their home games, Wild jerseys are iron range red with forest green on the bicep portion of the uniform. For away games, the jerseys are white, with forest green on the shoulder tops and running down the sides of the sleeves. For an alternate kit, the uniform is dark green with white stripes on the end of the sleeves. On each jersey, the team insignia is in the middle, with the name Wild appearing above it for the home kit, and the name Minnesota in the same location for the away uniform.