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Todd Richards from Crystal, Minnesota Named as Head Coach of the Minnesota Wild
6-15-09
Congratulations to former Minnesota Gophers Hockey defenseman and
former Gopher Captain Todd Richards as being introuduced as the
Minnesota Wild's second coach in franchise history. Richards was drafted
by the Montreal Canadiens in the second round (33rd overall) of the 1985
NHL Entry Draft. Richards began his professional career with the
Sherbrooke Canadiens during the 1989–90 AHL season. After being
traded early the next season to the Hartford Whalers organization, he
helped the Springfield Indians win the 1991 Calder Cup. Richards also
made his NHL debut during that season, playing two games and
recording four assists for the Whalers. Todd spent two more seasons with
the Indians before beginning to play in the IHL, spending two seasons
with the Las Vegas Thunder, and six seasons with the Orlando Solar
Bears. He ended his playing career in 2002 with the Genève-Servette HC
of the National League A in Switzerland.
After finishing his playing career Richards spent four seasons as an
assistant coach for the Milwaukee Admirals. The Admirals advanced to
the playoffs each year. In 2004, Milwaukee won the Calder Cup, after sweeping the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in four games. On August 3, 2006, Richards became the fifth head coach of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. During his first season, he guided Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to a 51-24-2-4 record and a second-place finish in the AHL’s East Division. The Penguins advanced to the East Division Finals before falling to the Hershey Bears. Beginning the 2008-2009 season Richards signed as an assistant coach with the San Jose Sharks.
His younger brother Travis Richards (former Gopher standout defenseman and Captain) was also a professional ice hockey defenseman.
On June 15, 2009, it was announced that Richards would become the second head coach in the history of the Minnesota Wild. We can proudly say a Minnesota Gopher, and Crystal Minnesota native out of Armstrong High School will lead the Minnesota Wild
Congratulations Todd!
Eden Prairie Defenseman Nick Leddy selected by Minnesota Wild in first round 16th overall pick in 2009 NHL entry draft
6-26-09
Congratulations to defenseman Nick Leddy with his 16th
at Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, and notably the first
American born player selected in the 2009 draft. The
Minnesota Wild acquired the 16th pick along with the 77th
and 182nd picks in this year’s draft from the New York
Islanders in exchange for the 12th overall pick.
“We believe Nick Leddy is an excellent prospect who has
the potential to be a complete defenseman while
generating a lot of offense,” said Assistant General
Manager/Player Personnel Tom Thompson. “He is an excellent skater and puckhandler and an exciting player to watch.”
Leddy, 18 (3/20/91), recorded 37 points (8-29=37) and 22 penalty minutes in 25 regular season games and then added eight points (4-4=8) in six playoff contests helping lead Eden Prairie High School to its’ first-ever boys state high school hockey championship in 2009. The 5-foot-11 1/2, 185-pound defenseman was named the 2009 Mr. Hockey Award winner given annually to the most outstanding senior high school hockey player in the state of Minnesota. He was also named to the Class AA Minnesota State Boys’ Hockey All-Tournament team and will attend the University of Minnesota this fall. Leddy represented Team USA at the Under-18 Ivan Hlinka tournament in 2008, recording two assists in four games. He was the 24th ranked North American skater in the draft by the Central Scouting Service.
Bemidji State University to join the WCHA for the 2010-2011 campaign
6-26-09
Congratulations to the historic BSU Beavers for their entry into
collegiate hockey premier conference, the Western Collegiate
Hockey Association (WCHA). In a press release announced today
by commissioner Bruce M. McLeod, of the WCHA, announced that
the association has voted to approve the membership of Bemidji
State University and University of Nebraska Omaha into its men’s
ice hockey conference for the 2010-11 campaign.
The University had originally presented its case for membership
in April, during the association’s annual meeting in Marco Island,
Fla. The addition of Bemidji State and Nebraska-Omaha will bring the WCHA’s membership from 10 teams to 12.
“I am extremely pleased to announce that the Western Collegiate Hockey Association is expanding to twelve teams,” said McLeod. “With the addition of Bemidji State University and the University of Nebraska Omaha, the WCHA solidifies and positions itself to maintain and expand upon the excellence that is the WCHA.
~Archived News from the State-of-Hockey Rinks~
Minnesota Wild releases third jersey to be worn for 2009-2010 season
"Authentic, classic, contemporary and truly worthy of The State of Hockey"
8-30-09
In historic Minnesota fashion the Minnesota Wild today unveiled
it's new third jersey for the upcoming 2009-10 NHL season at a
public event held at the Minnesota State Fair’s new FAN Central
building.
After months of buzz and speculation among Wild fans the new
third jersey was finally revealed by the team today modeled by
left wing Derek Boogaard. The official unveiling was partially
downplayed by the on-line leak of the new jersey earlier this
week. The new sweater is based in the Wild’s Forest Green
with Wheat trim and a hint of Iron Range Red, the jersey’s
classic sports look was the overwhelming favorite of Wild fans
surveyed during the summer of 2008. The jersey crest features a script “Minnesota” with “WILD” emblazoned below. The script look, including the classic “M”, harkens back to historic Minnesota teams of the past including the Minneapolis Millers and Saint Paul Saints hockey teams of the 1930s and 1940s. The familiar “North Star” element, borrowed from the primary Wild logo, dots the “I” and adds a decorative detail to the stylized “M" that exactly resembles the "M" of the older Minneapolis Millers team uniforms.
“We wanted to provide our fans with a new look and feel for our third uniform that is uniquely Minnesota and true to our brand – authentic, classic, contemporary and truly worthy of The State of Hockey,” said John Maher, Vice President of Brand Marketing. Minnesota will debut the new third jerseys on Wednesday, Oct. 21 against the Colorado Avalanche on FOX Sports North and wear them 15 times this season (13 home games and two road contests). Source in part: Minnesota Wild Press Release from 8-30-09
Minnesota High School Coaches Association releases "Nothing Compares" campaign with VMH.com images
10-25-09
The Minnesota High School Coaches Association- for the 2009-2010 High School hockey season unveiled it's "Nothing Compares" campaign celebrating four noteworthy Minnesotans: David Backes, TJ Oshie, Matt Niskanen and Paul Martin, whom all stayed with their respective High School hockey teams of which all four star in the NHL today. Today's "choices" for High School hockey players to leave all their friends behind to play in the juniors, or in various developmental leagues is greater than ever before. As the MHCA testifies "Nothing Compares" to being with the friends that you grew up with from Mites to Bantams or playing together in the hallowed Minnesota High School Hockey Tournament, to "leave a legacy at your school". Nothing Compares to staying home and playing with your friends. Congratulations to the MHCA for such a great campaign, one that us at VMH.com are more than happy to be a small part of!
VMH.com Hockey Day Minnesota Writing Contest
On February 9th, 2008 Minnesota celebrated it's second annual "Hockey Day Minnesota" In celebration of this special -now annual day- Vintage Minnesota Hockey conducted a "writing contest". VMH.Com had over 204 remarkable submissions as to what what you did to celebrate this special day covering "Your Hockey Day Minnesota Story". Vintage Minnesota Hockey.Com picked 3 winners and gave away gift packs consisting of free hockey jerseys and VMH.Com T-Shirts. The WINNERS were: 1st: Patrick Hughes, 2nd: Ryan Thelen, 3rd: Chris Groth
A sampling of our 3 favorite Hockey Day Minnesota stories are shown below with the winning entries. Thanks again for everyones submission! Always remember: "Every Day is Hockey Day in Minnesota"
First Place Entry:
Hockey Day in Minnesota will certainly go down as one of my best hockey days of all time. The day began with an old fashioned, back to our roots outdoor game of shinny in St. Paul. All of my no-check buddies got together for a Minneapolis vs. St. Paul grudge match, with the West siders prevailing 8-5. The chill in the air, North Stars, Gophers, and hockey school jerseys, along with the perfect amount of snow flying around, took us all back to where it all began, outside being Rink Rats.
From the rink we all went to a local watering hole and caught the end of the Lake of the Woods-Eveleth game on Baudette Bay. Next, 5 of us headed to my place to settle in for an all day hockey marathon. We saw a great game between the Rangers and Flyers, with Stephen Valiquette pitching a shutout. After catching a bit of Blaine vs. Roseau from Baudette, we watched an overtime thriller between the Leafs and Red Wings. Next up we watched the Wild fight back to tie it up against the Isles, and Burnsie wins it in overtime!!! We were jumping around like a bunch of 8 year olds watching Broten and Ciccarelli beat Secord, Savard, and the hated 'Hawks.
After a mild case of frostbite from grilling some brats, we settled in for Ottawa vs. Montreal. As usual, Don Cherry was great on "Coaches Corner", and we all got a few laughs. A six point night for Spezza, and along with linemates Heatley and Alfredsson, they put on an absolute clinic in a 6-1 pasting of the Habs. A nice little gap in coverage allowed us to catch some of the Gophers continued struggles against Denver, before it was on to the night cap, Colorado vs. Vancouver. The arguement over FSN's poll on the greatest Minnesota player of all time raged on for a while. Spehar? Antonovich? Boucha? Olimb? Mayasich?
What a day! By the time "After Hours" finished up on Hockey Night in Canada, we had been playing or watching hockey for over 14 hours, and I can't think of anything else we would have rather done today. What would we do if we didn't have this wonderful game that we are so passionate about? How much money would we have if we would have saved it all, instead of buying all those hockey cards, North Stars, Wild, and Gophers tickets, jerseys, hats, t-shirts and the like? What about all of the pucks, skates, sticks, tape, and ice time? Who cares? It was, and will continue to be, worth every penny.
Submitted by: Patrick Hughes
Second Place Entry:
February 9th 2008 - Hockey Day Minnesota
I knew this year had to be different. In order to make up for being out of town during the inaugural Hockey Day Minnesota, I had to make sure I consumed as much hockey as possible this year. My roommates and I woke up early and hit the local rink to play some 3-3. The temps were frigid, so we didn’t last long, but the games were fun and a great way to wake everyone up. We then went inside and threw on the Gopher’s National Championship Game DVD and watched that all the way though. In order to maximize our viewing, we brought a second television set into the living room and hooked the cable up to that TV. This allowed us to watch the first game of the Baudette Bay Classic while finishing the Gopher DVD. After ordering a handful of pizzas, we threw the St. Thomas/Hill Murray game on the top TV and began playing a 7-game series of NHL 08 on Xbox 360. We finished the series just in time to make it to the Library to watch the first two periods of the Wild game. After we rushed home, we watched Burnsy win the
game for the Wild and prepped ourselves for the Gopher game. All 5 of my roommates and myself included decided to throw on our Gopher Hockey jerseys before the game. ( I provided 4 of them, but was happy to share the love as long as they didn’t eat while wearing them : ) That was quite a sight, 6 guys sitting on three couches all wearing Gopher jerseys, watching the Gophers vs. Denver game while simultaneously playing NHL on the Xbox 360. The Gophers game was disappointing to say the least, but Hockey Day Minnesota wouldn’t have been complete without hearing Doug Woog for two and a half hours. After the game was over, we turned on NHL Center Ice and watched the Avs and Canucks battle it out, but we were more focused on our NHL 08 game. The night ended with 3 roommates passed out on the couch and the rest of us in our beds at 1 am. I still regret missing last year’s Hockey Day Minnesota, but I did everything in my power to make up for it this year.
Can’t wait for 09!!!!
Submitted by: Ryan Thelen
Third Place Entry:
I thought Hockey Day in Minnesota should be a week of hockey related events and not just celebrated in one day. Here is my "Hockey Week in Minnesota"
Tuesday: Red wings game sat in a suite. We dominated in this game and still were let down in overtime. 4-3
Wednesday: Played hockey at a local rink. Pick up game that I get together every week. Amazing brand new ice arena at the Mound Westonka High School called Thaler Arena. They shot a portion of the State of Hockey commercial from last year here.
Thursday: Stars were in town. Boring game for us. 1-0 Stars. Skoula is once again blamed for being flat footed and allowing Hagman to stroll right through Backstrom. Saw the tribute to Modano with Phil Housley in attendance.
Friday: Swarm game. I have season tickets, 4 per game on the glass in section 105 with Fishing lodge privileges (free beer and wine : ) ) and free parking in the kellog ramp. Watched the Red Wings vs. the Ducks in the Fishing Lodge. Great Game!
Saturday: Finally, HOCKEY DAY watched as much as I could of the Baudette bay game and then made my way to the X with friends as it was my best friends birthday. After a pre game drink at Tom Reids, we saw the Islanders game and had a blast. Another Wild WIN!! On the way back to Mound, MN we listened to the famous radio broadcast of the Gophers as they played Denver on our way to Lord Fletchers on Lake Minnetonka. There we met with a bunch more hockey day faithfuls in celebration. Great day, great night!!
Sunday: Went to another Swarm game. It was announced in the third period that Gabby had scored and we watched the rest of the blues vs the wild in the fishing lodge after. Sweet Burns goal in the shootout! Got to chat with Kevin Fallness a bit.
What a week!!
Submitted by: Chris Groth
8 Minnesota Bred Hockey Players to represent USA in Vancouver for the the 2010 Winter Olympic Games
1-2-10
The 21st Olympic Winter Games, set to take place on February 18-28
in Vancouver British Columbia, is quickly approaching. Team USA
rosters for the Women's team were announced at an event within the
Mall of America's Best Buy Rotunda on December 17th. Three
Minnesota-born players will don the stars and stripes for the Women's
team including: Natalie Darwitz (Eagan), Jenny Potter (Edina) and Gigi
Marvin (Warroad). "It's an exciting day for a lot of reasons," said Mark
Johnson, head coach for the Women's team. "It was an extremely
tough decision, but now we can move forward and continue preparing
ourselves. We feel good about the process, which gave everyone an
opportunity. We're excited by the youthfulness of our team, as well as
comfortable with the veterans and the leadership they will provide." The team was selected from the 23 players who made up the 2009-10 U.S. Women's National Team. The group has been training in Blaine, MN., at the National Sports Center's Schwann Super Rink since early September, in addition to competing on the Qwest Tour and in two international tournaments.
The Men's Team USA was announced on New Years Day following the NHL's annual Winter Classic event held at Historic Fenway Park in Boston, MA. The Men's team consists of 5 Minnesota-bred skaters including: Erik Johnson (Bloomington), Paul Martin (Elk River), David Backes (Blaine), Jamie Langenbrunner (Cloquet) and Zach Parise (Prior Lake). In historic Minnesota Olympic fashion by the numbers, Minnesota-bred individuals whom will represent USA in Vancouver is tied to that of Michigan and New York at five respectively whom will represent our country in Vancouver. "The Olympic hockey tournament in Vancouver will be like no other," said Dave Ogrean, executive director of USA Hockey. "We appreciate the hard work that has gone into putting this team together and know we have a terrific group of players to represent our country." Congratulations and good luck to all of the Minnesota-bred players in Vancouver!
2011 NHL Winter Classic in Minnesota?
1-2-10
The NHL's now annual Winter Classic event held every
winter since the 2003 inaugural "Heritage Classic" event
took place in Edmonton against the Oilers and Canadians.
The idea is to "bring the game back to it's roots"- where the
game "is meant to be played- in the elements" where all of
the players learned to love and play hockey- outside. The
idea was not only taken by storm with hockey enthusiasts
across the country, but has garnered attention to even the
casual sports fan making it a huge success at all levels.
Recently on December 24th our good friends at the website
theother6seconds.com proposed a rather interesting topic:
The 2011 NHL Winter Classic held in Minnesota at the Minnesota Twins new home: Target Field- slated to open in 2010. The idea of Minnesota hosting a Winter Classic- between the Minnesota Wild and Dallas Stars? Sounds like a grand idea! Minnesota has everything the NHL would need: Cold weather, rich hockey history to showcase, and a new outdoor venue with enough hockey hungry fans just salivating at the sight and sounds of a frozen puck clanging off the glass and goal posts. One thing that caught our eye was the attention to detail that Cole Jones (Webmaster of theother6seconds) took in designing a logo for the event, and also jerseys that each team could tentatively wear since the overwhelming theme is "vintage" at each Winter Classic. The idea's of Cole was examined quite heavily on numerous forums shown here. Cole drew sharp criticism with his idea of the Dallas Stars donning our beloved North Stars uniforms. Here is just an excerpt from a few of the posts on his website:
"I'm from Minnesota. The uniform aspect of this post shows a complete lack of awareness of what hockey means in Minnesota. Dallas wearing North Stars gear in a game in Minneapolis? No &$&^# way. Anyone who thinks that is a good idea or that it somehow pays tribute to the North Stars or Minnesota or whatever is a complete idiot."
"As a Minnesotan, I simply cannot support any proposal that has the Dallas Stars wearing a Minnesota North Stars uniform. The blogger here, not being from Minnesota, should probably be forgiven for his ignorance, though. Certainly, the blogger must see the North Stars' move to Dallas as a positive thing, but he needs to understand that Minnesotans were very, very angry about the move."
"As a Minnesota Native, I think this is brilliant, but I agree, I would not want to see the Dallas Stars wearing North Stars old uni's. It killed me that they practically kept the name the same when they left....It was like a constant reminder they were gone for good!"
"Great idea but let the Wild wear the NORTH star sweater and let the Stars wear the version of the early 1990's that just had the stars moniker."
How do we feel about this? We know for a FACT that Cole- be it he is a fan of the considered "enemy"- is in every way, shape and form LOVES and understands the history of where the Dallas Stars came from- MINNESOTA and his criticism is not warranted. We think it would be more fitting for the Minnesota Wild to don the uniforms of the St. Paul Athletic Club- the first professional Minnesota hockey team from the early 1900's. Even though it would bring about sharp criticism from nearly everyone in every corner of Minnesota- the idea of seeing an NHL game played on actual Minnesota frozen tundra, with a N-Stars uniform worn by the Dallas Stars? I have mixed emotions about this but am leaning more to "yes." Why you may ask- it would be completely a tribute to the game and history of hockey in Minnesota- one in which the North Stars were a huge part of for 26 seasons, and sadly where the team moved to after 1992. Plus it would be a huge marketing bonus for the NHL to bring back the North Stars uniforms as I for one would definitely would be looking to purchase as many game worn Dallas/N-Stars jerseys as I could get my hands on.
So for history's sake- Cole's idea is brilliant! Get it done NHL- we are the State-of-Hockey and deserve to have it showcased
