Blake Wheeler has been a household name in Minnesota hockey circles for roughly half his life dating back to his high school days starring for Breck High School. Wheeler posted 100 points (45-55—100) as a junior in leading the Mustangs to the 2004 Class 1A state title with a hat trick in Breck’s 7-2 win over Orono.

The Plymouth native spent his senior season playing for the United States Hockey League’s Green bay Gamblers before embarking on a college career at the University of Minnesota. As a sophomore, Wheeler scored one of the most famous goals in Minnesota hockey history in a 2007 WCHA Final Five championship game win over North Dakota. His diving, sliding shot from his belly in the left circle popped up and over UND goaltender Phillippe Lamoureux at 3:27 of overtime made national news on ESPN’s SportsCenter.

Drafted in the first round (No. 5 overall) by the then Phoenix Coyotes, Wheeler is in his ninth NHL season with the Boston Bruins and the Atlanta Thrasher/Winnipeg Jets organization with more than 600 games and 400 points as a pro under his belt. His play earned him a spot on Team USA’s roster for the recent World Cup of hockey played in Toronto.

On Aug. 31, 2016, Wheeler’s 30^th birthday, the Jets named Wheeler the franchise’s second captain (Andrew Ladd) since its move from Atlanta to Winnipeg and its ninth overall.

Wheeler was kind enough to give Minnesota Hockey Magazine a few minutes of his time following Winnipeg’s 4-3 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Oct. 15 at Xcel Energy Center.

Now in your ninth season in the league, do you still get a little extra jump in your step playing where you grew up?

Always, yeah, I have great memories of this building pretty much at every level. It’s been a great place for me, it’s always nice to come back here and see friends and family. It’s always a great atmosphere too.

Speaking of the building, you scored, arguably, the most memorable goal in this place. What immediately comes to mind when you think back to that play?

It’ll be one of the more special moments in my career. Helping the University of Minnesota hang a banner was such a great honor. Whenever I think back on that goal it still gives me goosebumps, it was such a great moment.

Photo by Jeff Wegge for Minnesota Hockey Magazine

You’ve experienced a lot of success throughout your NHL career but things really took off for you in Winnipeg. What did that change do for you?

Well, you know, everyone kind of matures at different paces. I think around that time I grew up as a person as well as a player. I just kind of came into my own and was given a great opportunity by the Jets to play a lot of minutes, have a big role, a big responsibility, and I was able to make the most of it.

While the 2016 World Cup didn’t turn out the way you would have liked in terms of team success, what did that experience mean to you personally and what did you take away from it?

It was a great honor being selected. They have such a great pool of talent that they can choose from so to get the nod is always an honor.

What does it mean to a kid from Plymouth to be named captain of an NHL team?

It’s tough to really describe it. I think once it’s all said and done I’ll look back on it and pinch myself but I’m just enjoying it right now, I’m enjoying be a leader of a team and we have a great group of guys so it makes it a really fun job.

Story originally published in the November, 2016 issue of our digital magazine. For more stories like this, click HERE to view the November issue and subscribe to have future issues delivered directly to your email inbox. 

The post On The Fly: Blake Wheeler appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Winnipeg’s Ondrej Pavelec blanks Minnesota as Wild fails to clinch postseason berth

ST. PAUL, MN– Looking to lock up a playoff berth at home, the Minnesota Wild will instead leave St. Paul shut out and trying to shake off the feelings of a three game losing streak for the first time in the Devan Dubnyk era.

The home team was unable to feed off the energy of the home crowd. Coming off close losses at home to New York and Detroit, Minnesota played most of Monday’s game from behind against a desperate Jets team.

Winnipeg goaltender Ondrej Pavelec stopped all 32 shots he faced in a 2-0 road win Monday. Blake Wheeler and Drew Stafford scored for the Jets, which gets a much needed win trying to keep pace with Los Angeles for the Western Conference’s second Wild Card spot.

Minnesota now heads on the road for a three game trip to end the regular season beginning with a nationally televised game against Chicago Tuesday.

“It was a tough, hard-fought game. Give them credit. They made us fight for every inch out there,” Wild coach Mike Yeo said. “We went into the game with a lot of emotion and I don’t know if we controlled it the best way. I felt there was a lot of tension.”

Minnesota is currently in the first Wild Card spot, sitting two points ahead of Winnipeg in the Western Conference. Although the Wild could have earned a playoff berth Monday with a regulation or overtime win, the team remains in position to earn one in the last week of the season.

A third consecutive postseason appearance will now have to be clinched away from Xcel Energy Center, though.

“We have to win. We know that,” Wild forward Thomas Vanek said. ”Sometimes I think this team is better in must-win situations so maybe it’s good for us to get back on the road where we I guess don’t get as pumped up before.

“It’s a tough road trip, but we know what we have to do and it is to win a few games. We’ll start tomorrow.”

Still, the fact that Minnesota is in a position to clinch speaks to how well the team has played since acquiring Dubnyk on Jan. 14. Losing streaks have not existed. Three months after the Wild lost a “must win” game as far as playoff hopes went the last time these two teams played at Xcel Energy Center, it was the Jets who were the ones on the outside of the playoffs.

In that time Minnesota made a 12 point turnaround on the Jets.

That didn’t happen Monday. Plymouth, MN native Blake Wheeler quieted a Wild crowd that for once was able to drown out the Winnipeg fans 4:12 into the game with his 26^th goal of the year. With only Chris Stewart in the penalty box following a post-whistle skirmish with Mark Stuart – a call that Wild players were not happy with – the Jets took advantage on the power play.

“I don’t know where that call came from,” Dubnyk said about being shorthanded early. “But they got a lucky bounce and they put a lot of pucks on the net and they did their job.”

Wheeler’s shot went off Marco Scandella’s skate and past Dubnyk, who made 32 saves.

“Of course we’re going to be frustrated. We just lost the game and that had a big impact in the game,” Yeo said. “That said, we have got to make sure we kill those and make sure there’s a lot of hockey after that.

“That play should not have been the difference in the game and obviously it gave them a head start and the opportunity to play a safer, more patient game which made it a little more difficult for us, but it was one play in the game.”

Winnipeg out-shot the Wild 16-9 in the first period, taking advantage of Minnesota turnovers in the defensive zone. Pavelec shined on the other end of the ice. Most notably, the 27 year-old goaltender made a couple point-blank saves on Mikael Granlund.

Stafford made it 2-0 Jets with 6:50 remaining in the second period by shooting a Tyler Myers rebound that ricocheted right to him off Dubnyk back into the net.

Minnesota had chances to get within one. Vanek came closest, hitting the post four minutes into the second period. The Wild also had three power play opportunities it failed to capitalize upon against Pavelec, who earned his third shutout of the season.

While Yeo believes going through a game like tonight is important for his group for experience, the Wild do not have too much time to find its winning ways and be playing at its best.

“I think it’s important to play the right hockey at the right time of the year, which is now. We were there, we were close and we slipped a little bit,” Vanek said. “Now we have to find it again.”

The post Jets delay Wild’s playoff arrival appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Winnipeg hands Minnesota fifth straight loss on Ladd OT winner

SAINT PAUL – It was that darn stanchion. Again.

For the second time since April, a stanchion played a role in an overtime Minnesota Wild losing effort, summing up a night – and possibly a season – where Murphy’s Law seems to be in place for the Wild.

Playing with an emergency goaltender, falling behind twice and losing two key players in the third period, the Wild, were able to earn a point in a 4-3 loss to Winnipeg in front of a season-high 19,177 fans. Unfortunately, Minnesota was looking for two with one of its better efforts in December.

Andrew Ladd’s shot 2:47 into overtime went off the glass stanchion behind emergency Wild goaltender John Curry, off his back and into the back of the net for the winner.

“I thought we generated a good amount of chances,” Wild coach Mike Yeo said about his team’s fifth straight loss. “Doing a lot of things, I know we limited the scoring chances against to a real solid number. For a team that needs results, it’s easy to sit here and paint a positive picture … and this was a step in the right direction, but no question do we need to win games.”

Minnesota entered a critical two game home-and-home series with Winnipeg on a four game losing streak and eight points behind the Jets, which are in the first Wild Card spot, in the Central standings. Win both in regulation and the deficit is a reasonable four. (Winnipeg has played three more games than the Wild.)

John Curry played in an emergency role for the Minnesota Wild in place of an ill Niklas Backstrom in the Wild’s 4-3 OT loss to the Winnipeg Jets December 27, 2014 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. (Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images)

Yeo’s team also faced the Jets with Jason Zucker and both his goaltenders – Darcy Kuemper and Niklas Backstrom – sidelined because of illness. Kuemper, who missed two games earlier in the month with another illness, served as backup instead. In his place was Curry.

The Shorewood, MN native, who has a .917 save percentage in 13 games with Iowa (AHL) and six NHL appearances since 2008,  was playing his second game in two nights; having made 38 saves backstopping  the Iowa Wild to a 2-1 win Friday over Rockford. He didn’t know whether he would start when he came to the rink Saturday afternoon. He wasn’t listed on Minnesota’s pregame line sheet.

Curry played well despite the uncertainty, stopping his first ten shots and making 19 saves in a losing effort.

“It’s a bad bounce, but I know what this team has come through. They’ve had their struggles,” he said about the way the game ended. “I thought we played well tonight. We deserved to win that game.

“I just wish I could have made one more of those saves.”

Mikael Granlund gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead with his first goal since Nov. 28. The Finnish forward began a give and go with Jason Pominville and beat Jets goaltender Michael Hutchinson to put the Wild ahead with 3:57 remaining in the first.

He wasn’t able to finish the game, however. Granlund, along with Minnesota defenseman Jonas Brodin, both left in the third period with upper body injuries that will have them out of Monday’s game, according to Yeo.

Brodin was hit entering the Winnipeg zone with 17 minutes left. Granlund was thrown into the boards later in the period by Dustin Byfuglien, setting up a Wild power play that he didn’t participate.

Bryan Little tied the game 7:17 into the second period. Zach Parise thought he had given the Wild the lead a minute after Little’s goal, but the potential go-ahead goal was waved off due to goaltender interference. Although Minnesota had several more chances in front of the net and on breakaways, it wasn’t able to convert.

Instead, Adam Lowry gave the Jets a 2-1 lead 1:52 into the third period.

Minnesota Wild F Jason Pominville ties the game at 2-2 with a third-period goal against the Winnipeg Jets during the game on December 27, 2014 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Jets went on to defeat the Wild 4-3 in overtime. (Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images)

Pominville tied the game nine minutes later to begin a sequence of three goals in 123 seconds with two ex-Gophers each scoring on the same power play. Blake Wheeler beat Curry on a two-on-one shorthanded break with Evander Kane to give Winnipeg a 3-2 lead. 32 seconds later Thomas Vanek tipped Jared Spurgeon’s shot past Hutchinson, who made 22 saves, to keep the score and dueling “Let’s Go Wild” and “Go Jets Go” chants even.

“I like being in the middle of the ice there and Spurge(on) made a great shot pass there. I feel like I had some good tips today. Finally one went in,” said Vanek.

The same can be said for the Jets. Games can’t end in ties in the NHL. Someone has to win – a feeling the Wild understand, having lost three overtime games in a four game homestand – yet that doesn’t make losing one with a bounce the way it did any easier.

“It is hard to take when you lose. We need results. We lost the game again, that’s the bottom line,” said Parise. “We did some things okay. We did some other things not great. We have to snap out of it. That’s a team we’re chasing and we needed to get that win.”

Now the Wild will go back to Winnipeg to where the bounces hope to even out – Yeo and no one in the locker room are making excuses – even if that’s not the way things have gone on and off the ice.

“It’s a team ahead of us. They’re playing good hockey, they’re playing a good team game and I thought for the most part we played well. We just didn’t get the two points,” Vanek said. “We’ll play them in two days and we’ll try to get two points.”

Other notes:

-Minnesota and Winnipeg complete the home-and-home series at MTS Centre Monday night at 7:00 p.m. CT.

-Parise on the goal interference call: “I was pushed into him. I don’t know what he wants me to do. I was pushed into him and he was out of the crease so… I don’t know. I can’t answer that with my real opinion.”

-Despite the injury, Granlund earned his 10th career multi-point game with an assist on Pominville’s goal. His own goal was the first of 2014-15 not against the Dallas Stars.

-Stu Bickel also picked up his first assist in a Wild sweater.

The post Wild bounce lifts Jets appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Phil Kessel’s pure hat trick leads team USA to win.

Led by former University of Minnesota Golden Gopher star Phil Kessel and his natural hat trick, Team USA bolted to a 3-0 lead, cruising on to an efficient 5-1 win over Slovenia.  With the win, Team USA ended pool play with a perfect 3-0 record, giving them a bye as the second seed and an automatic bid in the quarter finals of the tournament. 

Minnesotan’s continued to play a major role in the team’s success.  One day after Warroad star T.J. Oshie’s four shootout goal performance, Minnesotan ties followed with connections to to all five goals. 

Robbinsdale native Blake Wheeler followed  up Kessel’s

St. Paul’s Ryan McDonagh
photo credit USA Hockey

hat trick with a great individual play that led to the fourth goal.  Wheeler started with the puck behind the Slovenia net, and using his speed, skated around the entire zone before stopping and needling a pass from the deep corner to the opposite face off dot to Ryan McDonagh.

Blake Wheeler
photo credit USA Hockey

  The former St. Paul Cretin Derham Hall’s star sent a laser like shot over the left shoulder scoring his first career goal.

David Backes, whose Spring Lake Park high school jersey has been retired, then followed that up with the team’s fifth goal.  His skate to stick tip off a Ryan Callahan pass at the goal mouth found the back of the net.  Slovenia broke Ryan Miller’s attempt at a shut out in the last minute making the score 5-1. 

As the seconded seeded team behind Sweden, Team USA now gets to wait to see who will be the winner of the Czech /Slovakia game in the single elimination phase of the tournament.  These two teams have had a strong rivalry that is personal and with the history of the two nations, this should bode well for Team USA.  The team will play next on Wednesday against the winner of Tuesday’s elimination game.

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