Meet the 2017 Wild: Fun facts about your favorite players
The regular season is upon us and soon enough you’ll be hearing all about goals, assists, saves and other statistics.
Since you’ll be getting enough hockey stats about the Minnesota Wild to fill any void you might have, we thought we’d take a look at the lighter side of things.
We scoured through the Wild media guide and came up with some different and interesting facts about a number of players (note: we have no repeats from last year's fun facts). While your friends are dishing out the number of 20-goal scorers Minnesota had last season, you can enlighten them on which player is a member of the Triple Gold Club, who collect vinyl records, whose dad was a longtime NHL player and much more.
Read on, enjoy and be prepared to dazzle your buddies with your inside knowledge of Wild players (plus a tidbit about a couple of coaches).
Director of Player Development Brad Bombardir: Won the AHL's Calder Cup with Albany in 1995 and the Stanley Cup with New Jersey in 2000.
Head coach Bruce Boudreau: First coach in NHL history to lead three different teams to winning streaks of 11 or more games.
Goaltending coach Frederic Chabot: Was the IHL's MVP and Top Goaltender in 1999-2000.
Player Development coach Richard Park: Serves as assistant director/assistant coach for the Korea Ice Hockey Association's 2018 men's Olympic team.
Defenseman Jonas Brodin: As a kid in Karlstad, Sweden, played on an outdoor hockey rink which was located next to his house.
Center Pat Cannone: Never missed a game in his collegiate career.
Center Charlie Coyle: Has played in 313 consecutive games, which is a franchise record.
Center Matt Cullen: Ranks sixth among active players in games played.
Goaltender Devan Dubnyk: Wild's all-time leader in playoff games, wins and losses for a goalie.
Forward Tyler Ennis: Created his own sauce -- Enzo Sauce -- described as "homemade hot sauce with a creamy ranch twist."
Center Joel Ericksson Ek: Led the Under-20 Swedish Elite League with 20 goals.
Center Landon Ferraro: Son of former longtime NHL center Ray Ferraro.
Forward Marcus Foligno: His favorite athlete growing up was Tiger Woods.
Center Adam Gilmour: Played at Thayer Academy with Charlie Coyle.
Center Mikko Koivu: This past offseason he attended Wimbledon with his brother.
Center Luke Kunin: Was the first sophomore to serve as captain for the Wisconsin Badgers in 41 years.
Forward Nino Niederreiter: Ranks first in franchise history with three playoff game-winning goals.
Defenseman Gustav Olofsson: Born in Sweden, he lived in Vienna, Austria before moving to the United State in first grade.
Defenseman Kyle Quincey: Collects LPs and vinyl records.
Defenseman Jared Spurgeon: Has the fewest penalty minutes among NHL defensemen since 2010-11 (minimum 400 games).
Center Eric Staal: Won the Stanley Cup in 2006, a gold medal at the World Championships in 2007 and a gold in the 2010 Olympics, known as the Triple Gold Club.
Goaltender Alex Stalock: A native of St. Paul, his favorite athlete growing up was Daunte Culpepper.
Defenseman Ryan Suter: Franchise's leader in plus/minus at +68.
Goaltender Adam Vay: Attempting to become the first player from Hungary to appear in a regular-season NHL game.
Forward Jason Zucker: The first Nevada-raised player to be drafted in the NHL.
