This Day in MN Hockey History: Jan. 4

1968:  Duluth, MN native Tom Williams had a goal and two assists to lead the Bruins to a 3-2 win against the Flyers at Philadelphia.

1974:  Atlanta Flames traded Chuck Arnason and St. Paul, MN native Bob Paradise to Pittsburgh, in exchange for Al McDonough.

1975:  Former North Stars center Henry Boucha of Warroad, Minnesota, was viciously slashed in the face by Boston Bruins player David Forbes on this day at the Met Center.  This act led to his permanent eye injury that eventually curtailed Henrys’ career in the NHL.  Forbes was later charged and tried in court with aggravated assault.  The jury was unable to reach a decision, and thus the charges were dropped against Forbes.

1980:  Minnesota North Stars traded Kris Manery to Vancouver for Canucks’ 2nd round pick in 1982 Entry Draft.

1982:  Los Angeles Kings signed free agent and Warroad, MN native Alan Hangsleben.

1984:  Edmonton Oilers beat the Minnesota North Stars, 12-8 to set an NHL record for most goals by two teams in a game.  Wayne Gretzky led the scoring with four goals and four assists, and Mark Messier added six assists.

1985:  While in Czechoslovakia, the St. Paul Vulcans won five straight games, in 3 days to win the Liberation Cup, the Championship trophy awarded to the winner of a 16-team holiday tournament held in Brno, Czechoslovakia.

1986:  Warroad, MN native Dave Christian had five points (two goals and three assists) to lead the Capitals to a 9-3 win against the New Jersey Devils.

1988:  Chicago Blackhawks obtained Dirk Graham from the Minnesota North Stars in exchange for Curt Fraser.

1990:  Brian Bellows scored his 4th career hat trick to lead the Minnesota North Stars to an 8-2 win against the NY Rangers.

1992:  Bobby Smith became the 73rd player in NHL history to appear in a 1,000 career games and the Minnesota North Stars were credited with the 450th home victory in franchise history, 4-3 over the Vancouver Canucks.

2002:  Minnesota Wild acquired defenseman David Cullen from the Phoenix Coyotes in exchange for center Sebastien Bordeleau.

2002:  Andrew Brunette and Lubomir Sekeras scored power-play goals during a five-minute span in the first period as the Wild won 2-1 against the visiting Nashville Predators.

2009:  Owen Nolan scored twice in the 1st period and Niklas Backstrom made 33 saves for his 13th career shutout as the Wild beat the Avs 2-0 in Denver.  It was the first time in 61 regular season and playoff games that Minnesota held the Avalanche scoreless.

2011:  Cal Clutterbuck scored the first goal of the game and picked up six hits to lead the Wild to a 2-1 win at New Jersey.

2014:  Ryan Suter becomes the Minnesota Wild first Defenseman to notch a hat-trick with 3 goals in just 3 shots in a win over the visiting Washington Capitals in St. Paul.  His 2nd and 3rd goal came .10 seconds apart and per Elias Sports Recording; This was the fastest 2 goals scored in franchise history by one single player.

2014:  Minnesota scored its first five goals on just 11 shots, marking the first time a team had scored five goals on fewer than 13 shots  since shots on goal became  arecorded statistic in 1973-1974, according the the Elias Sports Bureau. Minnesota scored thee of the goals on three power plays tying a franchise reocrd for most PPG in a single period on home ice, occuring three other times, most recntly on November 5th, 2007 vs. Edmonton.

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