1965: Former NHL assistant coach Matt Shaw born in Phoenix, Arizona. Shaw served as assistant coach in the league with the Minnesota Wild and San Jose starting in 2008-09.
1966: Former North Stars defenseman Shawn Chambers born in Royal Oaks, Mich.
1967: MN North Stars and St. Louis Blues played their first NHL games, and tied 2-2 at the St. Louis Arena. Larry Keenan scored the first Blues’ goal, while Bill Masterton made history for the North Stars with the club’s first tally coming at 15:20 of the second period.
1968: Defenseman Larry Hillman scored a goal and added two assists to lead the North Stars to a 5-1 win over the Seals at Oakland.
1969: Tommy Williams became the first Minnesota-born player to score a point for the North Stars, with an assist just 1:08 into his first game with Minnesota, a 4-0 win over the visiting Flyers. Cesare Maniago got the shutout, the 10th of his NHL career.
1972: J.P. Parise scored a goal and three assists, and Dennis Hextall added three assists to lead the North Stars to a 5-2 win over the California Seals at the Met Center.
1979: Minnesota rookie defenseman Craig Hartsburg scored two assists in the first game of his NHL career, a 4-1 North Stars’ win over the Hartford Whalers.
1980: For just the second time in NHL history a 40-or-older player scored against a teenage goaltender, when 40-year-old Dave Keon scored against 19-year-old goalie Don Beaupre in a 9-3 Whalers’ loss to the North Stars, in MN. Ron Zanussi scored two goals and an assist, and Mike Eaves and Glenn Sharpley each had a goal and two assists to lead the North Stars to victory.
1985: Former Wild left wing Peter Olvecky born in Trencin, Czech.
1986: Minnesota’s Kent Nilsson set an NHL record for fastest opening goal from the start of a a season — just ten seconds into a 4-4 North Stars tie against the Nordiques in Quebec City.
1986: Jim Johnson picked up three assists, and Doug Bodger scored the winning goal at :50 of OT as the Penguins were credited with the 350th home victory in franchise history, 6-5 over the Rangers.
1988: MN North Stars acquired defenseman Mark Tinordi from the NY Rangers, in exchange for Brian Lawton.
1988: MN Wild defenseman Justin Falk born in Snowflake, Man.
1990: Minnesota’s Mike Modano scored a goal and two assists as the North Stars came back from a 3-0 deficit to tie Boston 3-3 at the Met Center.
1996: Toronto obtained Darby Hendrickson from the New York Islanders, in exchange for a conditional pick in the 1998 Entry Draft.
2000: The Minnesota Wild played its first home game before a standing-room-only crowd in the new Xcel Energy Center, in St. Paul Minnesota. The Wild played the Philadelphia Flyers and skated to a 3-3 tie. Darby Hendrickson and Wes Walz each scored as the Wild picked up a tie in their first regular-season home game. (Hendricksons 1st goal at X-Cel was the #2 ‘moment’ in the Wild’s top ten of the decade 2000-2010).
2000: At the Wild home opener, the Minnesota Wild retired jersey #1 in honor of the fans who helped bring back the NHL.
2000: Flag Bearer, Ashley Duffey, becomes the first girl to skate at the Xcel Energy Center while leading the Wild onto the ice for the very first time.
2008: In the Wild’s top ten of the decade (2000-2010), ‘moment’ #10 was the Wild raised the 2007-2008 Northwest Division Banner for the club’s 1st Division Title.
Courtesy of Vintage Minnesota Hockey.com,
your No. 1 source for Vintage Minnesota Hockey History and Hockey Apparel!
