Minnesota celebrates hockey like no other state. Hence, why we are the State of Hockey. No better example of what hockey means to Minnesota than Hockey Day Minnesota. Since 2007, Hockey Day Minnesota has been held in numerous communities around the state to celebrate and honor the best sport on the planet.
This year, the community of Shakopee, MN hosted multiple outdoor high school games at the famous Valleyfair amusement park. Having numerous rides and roller coasters as a backdrop as you hold the blue line or stare down the goalie as you fly down the ice on a breakaway is something only a JV or varsity high school player from Minnesota will ever get the chance to experience (probably).
Is Hockey Day Minnesota really only one day? Of course not. Four action-packed days of hockey are carefully planned to include youth and high school hockey, a U of Minnesota alumni vs all-Minnesota all-star college game and of course, the Minnesota Wild who this year, are hosting the Calgary Flames. Former Minnesota college/NHL players taking part in the alumni vs. all-star game this year included Zach Parise, Matt Hendricks, Ryan Malone, Mark Parrish, Jordan Leopold, Paul Martin, Alex Goligoski, Alex Stalock and more.
The Wild, on the other hand, were looking to rebound after a 4-0 butt kicking given to them by the visiting Utah Hockey Club on Thursday night at the X. The Wild who are 28-16-4 (60 pts) thus far into the season welcomed the Calgary Flames (23-16-7 (53 pts) to St. Paul. Perhaps an odd statistic for the Wild so far this season, is that they are 17-5-3 on the road, while they are 11-11-1 at home. The Wild fans who were gifted a MN Wild hoodie flag as a part of the festivities were certainly hoping to improve on that home record with today’s contest.
Calgary scored the opening tally in the first period when Andrei Kuzmenko scored on the power play with an assist from Nazem Kadri, shooting the puck past Wild goaltender, Marc-Andre Fleury. Fleury passed former Colorado Avalanche legend, Patrick Roy for career Time on Ice (TOI) with over 60,215 minutes of playing time, which places the Flower in 2nd all-time for TOI.
About two-and-a-half minutes later, the Wild scored the equalizer just a few minutes later when Joel Eriksson Ek took a feed from Mats Zuccarello and Kirill Kaprizov and fired it past goalie netminder, Dustin Wolf to bring the score to 1-1. Ryan Hartman missed a golden chance to score in the first as he was camped just outside the crease and rather than take a wide-open shot, he tried passing cross-crease which was then broken up by the Flames. After the first, the game was tied ones. Stat of the period – just five shots on goal for each team.
In the second period, Wild forward Jakob Lauko gave Flames defenseman, Kevin Bahl a taste of the glass behind the Wild goal, which resulted in a boarding penalty for Lauko. Subsequently, the Flames, Rasmus Andersson got into a minor tiff with Wild forward, Yakov Trenin, which earned them each two minutes in the penalty box for roughing. The ensuing Calgary power play was successfully killed off by the Wild and we were back to 5-5 hockey.
Lauko was later called out by Flames tough guy, Ryan Lomberg, who isn’t afraid to drop gloves with anyone and the two players traded fisticuffs until they tired and went to the penalty box to serve two minutes each. Martin Pospisil would add Calgary’s second goal of the game as he deked out Fleury as he passed by the front of the crease. The Flames Rasmus Andersson would score on the power play with just 7.9 seconds left in the second after an Eriksson Ek tripping penalty to end the period with a 3-1 lead.
The Wild, who are tied for sixth in the NHL in comeback wins so far this season, needed to find another gear in the third to get back into this game. Through the first half of the third period, no improvement was made. Missed shots and the Wild passing game tonight had much to be desired. At times, any defensive passing seemed lazy and careless, while in the offensive zone, the Wild were trying to do too much with extra passes, rather than shooting the puck at the net.
An example of that? The Wild blindly shot the puck around the boards in the offensive zone at one point in the third period, which the Flames picked up and out of the zone, went down the ice and scored to make it a 4-1 game. The extra boost, the extra gear, the kick in the tail that they needed failed to show up. In fact, a handful of boos rained down from the Xcel crowd during a third period power play for the Wild.
That is until, Freddy Gaudreau finally buried home a rebound after a few close chances throughout the first two periods, with assists from Hartman and Marco Rossi. Just eleven seconds later, the Flames’ Andrei Kuzmenko scored his second goal of the game, wrapping around the back of the net to make it a 5-2 game.
Marcus Foligno, playing in his 500th game, would score with just over minute left in the game, with an assist from Matt Boldy and Rossi to make it 5-3. Jared Spurgeon, playing in his 901st career game would score with 27 seconds left to make it a 5-4 game, but that would be the final score. The Wild drop their sixth game out of their last eight. The extra gear and effort that the Wild needed came too late.
Surely, a disappointing end to an otherwise awesome Hockey Day Minnesota 2025. With the loss, the Wild stay in third place in the Central division, two points ahead of the Colorado Avalanche. The Wild travel to Chicago for a Sunday matchup against the Blackhawks with a 6pm start. Until next time, Go Wild!!!
The Morning Skate 
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