Today the Wild and the State of Hockey faithful will celebrate Mikko Koivu as his #9 will be raised to the XCEL Energy Center rafters. Koivu fittingly will be the first Wild player to have his jersey number retired.
Mikko was the first full time captain of the Wild and he held that honor from 2009 through the 2019-20 season. Koivu is the Wild leader in most statistical categories having played 1028 games scoring 205 goals and 504 assists for 709 points.
Mikko was an outstanding player, leader, and captain for the Wild and a true professional. He took his responsibility very seriously and expected the best of himself and his teammates everyday. It did not matter practice or game Koivu brought the same effort and that is how his career will be defined.
Steady, unrelenting commitment...Mikko Koivu!
A well earned honor for #9!!!
The game today is critical as the Wild open a nine game homestand against division rival Nashville with both teams vying for playoff position.
Minnesota is turning the corner having points in their last three and coming off a somewhat successful two game road trip where they managed to take 3 of a possible 4 points in the standings. They did not play overly well in either game but showed more of the Wild game we had gotten used to seeing for much of the season to date.
The special teams are still in need of improvement and the goaltending is not wherebit needs to be.
Trade deadline is just over a week away....
A special congratulations to Hermantown High School who won the Class A MN State boys Hockey championship and to Andover who took the title in Class AA. Both champiinship games were hard fought battles with Hermantown winning 3-2 over Warroad and in the nightcap Andover needed double overtime to outlast Maple Grove 6-5. Congratulations to all the competitors as they put on quite a show throughout the tournament.
It's always Hockey Day in The State of Hockey!