Minnesota Wild Pre-Season Schedule: Hot Match-Ups

Somewhere on this blog I mentioned my dis-interest in pre-season Minnesota Wild games...although the games do NOT get us any closer to the Stanley Cup, I decided this pre-season is rather attractive thanks to the hot match-ups…Jets, Penguins, Blues - I love to hate those teams and look forward to buying a cheap ticket to see them at Xcel. A regular season ticket for those match-ups is twice as expensive.

Just look at the prices on Ticket King for

Minnesota Wild vs. Pittsburgh Penguins on September 29^th vs.

Minnesota Wild vs. Pittsburgh Penguins on November 4^th   - twice as expensive!

I am for sure buying a pair of the cheap Minnesota Wild tickets and going to lace up one of my Wild jerseys and cheer on the team …. For a moral victory of course and maybe to see a fight.

Hottest Selling Minnesota Wild Jersey this Season: Parise, Vanek, someone else?

Does anyone want to predict which jersey will be the hottest seller this 2014-15 Minnesota Wild Season. With the new signing of Thomas Vanek, I could see that happening since most of us Minnesota Wild fans already own our Zach Parise and Ryan Suter and Mikko Koivu jerseys. I am not ashamed to admit I have all 3 of those jerseys plus a few others in the closet from players past like Clutterbuck and Cullen for example.

I just may add a Thomas Vanek to the collection. But I actually think it would be cooler if we started some sort of grass roots movement to make Jason Pominville the hottest selling jersey – he DID score the most goals last season, had very few penalty minutes, was never hurt. I don’t understand why I don’t see hundreds of Pominville jerseys at the game. Or even start a movement for a youngster like Nino Niederreiter – imagine if he had a break out year and scored like 30 goals! Do you think we would see more Nino jerseys?

I have a theory that if fans can’t easily spell your name, they aren’t going to buy your jersey  - anyone think I am right?  Crosby and Kane are pretty easy to spell and they always top the list nationally.  Hmmmm.

Minnesota Wild Coach: Mike Yeo

Being the head coach of any professional sports team is a lot of stress. Fans are calling for your job if there is even 1 hiccup. Sure Mike Yeo led the Minnesota Wild to the Stanley Cup Playoffs the last two seasons after a five-year absence, but there was a time during last season that his job was on a game to game basis and I have a feeling if the Wild don’t perform well this season, we will have a new Head Coach next season. There is a lot of talent on the Wild roster and coach Yeo needs to help that talent thrive in the NHL. Coach Mike Yeo knows what it feels like to win, lets hope this is the season that he brings the Stanley Cup to Minnesota!

 

Michael "Mike" Yeo

Born July 31, 1973

Scarborough, Ontario

His Wikipedia page is rather wimpy, I think he should have someone beef it up, but that is just the opinion of one Wild Freak!

Minnesota Wild State of Hockey Anthem Lyrics

One of my favorite things at the Minnesota Wild games is singing along to the State of Hockey song – if you don’t know the song by heart, start memorizing now so you can sing a long with me and the crowd. I love to shout out “our mother was the referee” – if you knew my siblings, you would understand!

State of Hockey Lyrics

We were raised

With the stick

And a pair of blades

On the ice we cut our teeth

We took our knocks

In the penalty box

Our mother was the referee

This sport was here

Before we came

It will be here when we're gone

The game's in our blood

And our blood's in the game

Lay us down under

A frozen pond

We will fight to the end

We will stand and defend

Our flag flying high and free

We were born the child

Of the strong and Wild

In the State, the State of Hockey

A big blue line runs around our state

A line that can't be crossed

The day they try to take this game

Is the day the gloves come off

We will fight to the end

We will stand and defend

Our flag flying high and free

We were born the child

Of the strong and Wild

In the State, the State of Hockey

Minnesota Wild Xcel Energy Center Information: Address & Parking

If you look through the top searched items for any stadium, things like addresses and parking information always come up. The Minnesota Wild play at the beautiful Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul – stop searching because here is what you need to know:

Xcel Energy Center Address:

199 West Kellogg Boulevard

Saint Paul, MN 55102

Xcel Energy Center Parking:

There are 2 ramps directly connected to the Xcel: RiverCentre and Kellogg:

RiverCentre Ramp – 150 W. Kellogg Boulevard, Saint Paul, MN 55102

Kellogg Ramp – 129 W. Kellogg Boulevard, Saint Paul, MN 55102

For Wild games, you often need pre-purchased passes to park in these lots. You can buy affordable parking passes from local ticket seller Ticket King to many Wild games.

Otherwise, there are several other nearby parking choices including:

7 Corners – 150 Smith Avenue

Lawson Commons – 10 W. 6th Street

Victory Ramp – 344 N. Wabasha Street

405 Minnesota Street

Minnesota Iowa Wild – Is it Worth the Trip?

I am wondering if anyone has made the trip a few hours south to see the Minnesota Iowa Wild play at Wells Fargo Arena Des Moines???

I was a huge supporter of moving the AHL development team to Iowa and to changing the team name and color to more closely resemble the NHL Minnesota Wild team, but  

I have not made the trip to see them. It is 100% on my to-do list. I love hockey and although I don’t think of Iowa as a hockey hotbed, I think a quick trip to see the Minnesota Wild affiliate team would be fun…especially on a $2 beer night!

Lets go Wild – Iowa! Is that mascot a cat? puurrrfect.

Minnesota Wild Goalie Dilemma

The Wild have 3 goalies on the roster and I swear you need a crystal ball to know who is going to start which game. I am not sure that is a strategy of head coach Mike Yeo or just simply a matter of circumstance. My personal hope is that Darcy Kuemper emerges as a strong healthy reliable goal tender that we can count on for the season…or in my freakish dream world, Jonathan Quick decides HE too wants to raise his family in Minnesota and requests a transfer (LOL!)

Which Minnesota Wild Goalie would you choose?

Minnesota Wild Jersey #32 - Niklas Backstrom, 6' 2", 197 pounds,      Born February 13, 1978 – a serious, and insightful Aquarius.

Minnesota Wild Jersey #35 - Darcy Kuemper, 6' 5", 205 pounds, Born May 5, 1990- a secure and strong Taurus.

Minnesota Wild Jersey #37 - Josh Harding, 6' 2", 194 pounds, Born June 18, 1984      -

an inquisitive and intelligent Gemini.

Hottest Selling Minnesota Wild Ticket Right Now

I talked to local ticket seller Ticket King (I keep seeing Ticket King everywhere! They were big sponsors of TwinsDaily.com this year and I swear they have ads on a million metro transit buses so I thought I would reach out to them and give them a free shout out too!) about what the hottest selling Minnesota Wild ticket is  right now. Any guesses?

Minnesota Wild vs. Winnipeg Jets on December 27^th

I guess I am not super surprised, it’s a Saturday night after Christmas and those Jets fans love to travel. Let’s make sure the Minnesota Wild fans get Wild tickets in their stockings this year and we fill the Xcel with WILD fans!

2014-15 Minnesota Wild Schedule Interesting Facts

Of course interesting is a relative term...especially when talking about the Minnesota Wild Schedule, but.... my top 5 2014-15 Minnesota Wild Schedule Interesting Facts are:

13 sets of back to back games (is that unlucky? 13?) – That seems like a lot and I hope my Wild team gets plenty of rest and can stay basically injury free

4 games is the longest road trip at the end of January, I wish the long road trip would come earlier in the season, but it is what it is

5 games is the longest homestand at the end of March into April – I love that we are at home close to crunch time when we are making the push for the playoffs

19 Weekend Home Games – I am sure the ticket brokers of Minnesota are rejoicing over that – we all know weekend games are hot tickets

January 8^th should be a game all Minnesota Wild and Minnesota based Blackhawks fans should circle because it is the first home ice rematch against the Blackhawks.

2014-15 Minnesota Wild Regular Season Schedule

If you haven’t seen it already (then you are probably living under a rock or not a real big hockey fan), here is the 2014-15 Minnesota Wild Regular Season Schedule. I left off the pre-season games cuz I only care about 1 thing – THE STANLEY CUP and those pre-season games do not help get our MN Wild team any closer to Lord Stanley! 

Let’s go Wild 

I hope it’s a Wild Freak kind of season!

2014-15 Minnesota Wild 

Regular Season Schedule

Thurs, Oct 9: vs. Colorado 7:30 PM

Sat, Oct 11: @ Colorado 8:00 PM

Fri, Oct 17: @ Anaheim 9:00 PM

Sun, Oct 19: @ Los Angeles 3:00 PM

Thurs, Oct 23: vs. Arizona 7:00 PM

Sat, Oct 25: vs. Tampa Bay 7:00 PM

Mon, Oct 27: @ NY Rangers 6:00 PM

Tues, Oct 28: @ Boston 6:00 PM

Thurs, Oct 30: vs. San Jose 7:00 PM

Sat, Nov 1: vs. Dallas 7:00 PM

Tues, Nov 4: vs. Pittsburgh 7:00 PM

Thurs, Nov 6: @ Ottawa 6:30 PM

Sat, Nov 8: @ Montréal 6:00 PM

Tues, Nov 11: @ New Jersey 6:00 PM

Thurs, Nov 13: vs. Buffalo 7:00 PM

Sat, Nov 15: @ Dallas 1:00 PM

Sun, Nov 16: vs. Winnipeg 4:00 PM

Thurs, Nov 20: @ Philadelphia 6:00 PM

Sat, Nov 22: @ Tampa Bay 6:00 PM

Mon, Nov 24: @ Florida 6:30 PM

Wed, Nov 26: vs. Los Angeles 7:00 PM

Fri, Nov 28: @ Dallas 7:30 PM

Sat, Nov 29: vs. St. Louis 7:00 PM

Wed, Dec 3: vs. Montréal 6:00 PM

Fri, Dec 5: vs. Anaheim 7:00 PM

Tues, Dec 9: vs. NY Islanders 7:00 PM

Thurs, Dec 11: @ San Jose 9:30 PM

Sat, Dec 13: @ Arizona 7:00 PM

Tues, Dec 16: @ Chicago 7:30 PM

Wed, Dec 17: vs. Boston 7:00 PM

Sat, Dec 20: vs. Nashville 7:00 PM

Tues, Dec 23: vs. Philadelphia 6:00 PM

Sat, Dec 27: vs. Winnipeg 6:00 PM

Mon, Dec 29: @ Winnipeg 7:00 PM

Wed, Dec 31: @ Columbus 6:00 PM

Fri, Jan 2: vs. Toronto 7:00 PM

Sat, Jan 3: @ Dallas 7:00 PM

Tues, Jan 6: vs. San Jose 7:00 PM

Thurs, Jan 8: vs. Chicago 7:00 PM

Sat, Jan 10: vs. Nashville 1:00 PM

Sun, Jan 11: @ Chicago 7:00 PM

Tues, Jan 13: @ Pittsburgh 6:00 PM

Thurs, Jan 15: @ Buffalo 7:00 PM

Sat, Jan 17: vs. Arizona 8:00 PM

Mon, Jan 19: vs. Columbus 7:00 PM

Tues, Jan 20: @ Detroit 6:30 PM

***NHL All-Star Break***

Tues, Jan 27: @ Edmonton 8:30 PM

Tues, Jan 29: @ Calgary 8:00 PM

Sun, Feb 1: @ Vancouver 2:30 PM

Tues, Feb 3: vs. Chicago 7:00 PM

Sat, Feb 7: vs. Colorado 7:00 PM

Mon, Feb 9: vs. Vancouver 7:00 PM

Tues, Feb 10: @ Winnipeg 7:00 PM

Thurs, Feb 12: vs. Florida 7:00 PM

Sat, Feb 14: vs. Carolina 7:00 PM

Mon, Feb 16: @ Vancouver 9:00 PM

Wed, Feb 18: @ Calgary 8:30 PM

Fri, Feb 20: @ Edmonton 8:00 PM

Sun, Feb 22: vs. Dallas 7:00 PM

Tues, Feb 24: vs. Edmonton 7:00 PM

Thurs, Feb 26: @ Nashville 7:00 PM

Sat, Feb 28: @ Colorado 9:00 PM

Tues, March 3: vs. Ottawa 7:00 PM

Thurs, March 5: @ Washington 6:00 PM

Fri, March 6: @ Carolina 6:00 PM

Sun, March 8: vs. Colorado 5:00 PM

Tues, March 10: vs. New Jersey 7:00 PM

Fri, March 13: vs. Anaheim 7:00 PM

Sat, March 14: @ St. Louis 7:00 PM

Tues, March 17: @ Nashville 7:00 PM

Thurs, March 19: vs. Washington 7:00 PM

Sat, March 21: vs. St. Louis 1:00 PM

Mon, March 23: @ Toronto 6:30 PM

Tues, March 24: @ NY Islanders 7:00 PM

Fri, March 27: vs. Calgary 7:00 PM

Sat, March 28: vs. Los Angeles 7:00 PM

Thurs, April 2: vs. NY Rangers 7:00 PM

Sat, April 4: vs. Detroit 6:00 PM

Mon, April 6: vs. Winnipeg 7:00 PM

Tues, April 7: @ Chicago 7:30 PM

Thurs, April 9: @ Nashville 7:00 PM

Sat, April 11: @ St. Louis 6:30 PM

Wild Re-Sign Justin Fontaine

The Wild re-signed Justin Fontaine today to a two year contract. For more infOon the deal, here is the always-outstanding Michael Russo from the Star Tribune:

The deal is expected to be worth $1 million annually ($950,000 in Year 1 and $1.05 million in Year 2). Fontaine, the former University of Minnesota Duluth national champion, tied for fourth on the Wild and tied for 12th among NHL rookies last season with 13 goals. That goal total was third-highest ever by a Wild rookie. He had 21 points in 66 games and his plus-6 was tied for second all-time by a Wild rookie.

I personally like the signing. Now if we can also sign Nino this off-season, that would be great! But it sounds life, if you read the article by Russo I linked to, that is likely happening. Fingers crossed!

Thomas Vanek Signs With Minnesota Wild

Possible foreshadowing of what was to come in the future? Here is Vanek, Parise and Suter all together before they were in the NHL

Chuck Fletcher has done it again. The Minnesota Wild signed Thomas Vanek today to a three year 19.5 million dollar deal, and in doing so brought the former Golden Gopher back to the State of Hockey.

As if you needed another reason to come out to the X, now you have another – to see the Austrian-born left-winger who led the Gophers to a national championship 11 years ago. For more info on the deal, here is the always excellent Michael Russo of the Star Tribune:

He has a full no-move clause and left money and term on the table from other teams. He'll earn $5.5 million in 2014-15, $6.5 million in 2015-16 and $7.5 million in 2016-17. He'll wear No. 26. 

Don’t know about you guys, but, as others have already said, we think this deal is vantastic.