This Day in MN Hockey History: Feb. 7

1939:  Boston extended its unbeaten streak to 6-0-1 as Frank Brimsek recorded the 9th shutout of his rookie season with 33 saves in a 2-0 win over Toronto, at Boston Garden.

1970:  Minnesota North Stars ended their franchise-record 6 game home losing streak in a 1-1 tie against the visiting Montreal Canadiens.

1971:  Minnesota’s Bill Goldsworthy scored a goal and added two assists and Gump Worsley set a team record with 63 saves to lead the North Stars to a 4-4 tie against the Bruins at Boston.

1981:  Defenseman Craig Hartsburg scored a goal and added two assists to lead the North Stars to a 5-5 tie against the Islanders at New York.  North Stars rookie Dino Ciccarelli scored the first goal of his NHL career, and added two assists, in this same game in Long Island.

1988:  Reed Larson scored on a slapshot from center ice and Cam Neely added two goals to cap a four goal first period and lead the Bruins to a 6-3 win over the New Jersey Devils.

1992:  Minnesota’s rookie goalie Darcy Wakaluk recorded his first career NHL shutout, and Mike Craig picked up two assists as the North Stars won 2-0 at Buffalo.

1995:  A turn-back-the-clock game was played between the Minnesota Moose of the IHL and the Houston Aeros in St. Paul with the home-town Moose donning St. Paul Fighting Saints jerseys at home at the Civic Center.

1998:  Dallas Stars retired Neal Broten’s #7 sweater in a pre-game ceremony before their game (a 3-1 victory) against the visiting Chicago Blackhawks.  Broten played 992 of his 1,099 NHL games with Dallas/Minnesota (Stars) franchises.

2003:  Minnesota set a team record for fastest two goals at home when Richard Park and Pascal Dupuis scored in a span of :44 during the first period of a 4-3 win vs San Jose.  It was also the Wild’s 27th win of the season, a new franchise record.

2006:  Minnesota’s Marian Gaborik had 2 goals and an assist, becoming the 1st player in team history to get a goal in 5 straight games, in a 5-1 win over the visiting Kings.  The Wild also set team records with 3 PPG in the 2nd period and 5 PPG in the game.

2006:  Marian Gaborik became the first player to score 250 points as a member of the Minnesota Wild; he reached the milestone with a two goals and an assist in a 5-1 win over the visiting L.A. Kings.

2004:  In conjunction with the 54th NHL All-Star game in St. Paul, MN on February 8th 2004, the NHL ‘Young Stars’ game took place on this date.  Instead of a regular 5-on-5 hockey game, the YoungStars game went back to the four-on-four format with each roster consisting of six forwards, four defensemen, and one goaltender.  The game was played in three 10-minute running-clock periods and a four-minute intermission between each period.  In addition, the head coaches of the game were Lou Nanne and Tom Reid, both of whom starred for the Minnesota North Stars.  The YoungStars game, featuring rosters composed entirely of rookies and some second-year players, saw the Western Conference Young Stars defeat the Eastern Conference 7-3.  Pierre-Marc Bouchard, of the Minnesota Wild, played for the Western Conference, in addition Minnesota Native Paul Martin (N.J. Devils) from Elk River, and the UofM skated for the Eastern squad.

2007:  In a pre-game ceremony, retired defenseman Phil Housley was inducted into the Sabres’ Hall of Fame.  Thomas Vanek scored twice, including the game-winning goal as Buffalo won 3-2 against the visiting Ottawa Senators.

Courtesy of Vintage Minnesota Hockey.com,
your No. 1 source for Vintage Minnesota Hockey History and Hockey Apparel!