Goaltender Marc Andre-Fleury broke his stick during the game, a representation of some of the tension within the team at the time.

“They’re human beings and they feel it and they know it,” said Wild coach Dean Evason, after the Feb. 9 loss. “It’s easy to go in and kick the garbage can over 14 times tonight or come two days from now and scream. What are we going to do? We have to get back to how we play structurally.

“We’ll remind them of all those things and stay as positive as we can. What else are you going to do?”

Flanked by the Minnesota Wild’s Dave Schwartz (L) and Bill Butters (R), Nate Prosser discusses his faith journey at the Wild’s Faith and Family event. (MHM Photo / Heather Rule)

The Wild eventually turned things around, with a stretch of eight wins in nine games. But former Wild defenseman Nate Prosser, 36, could relate to the kind of stress, pressure and mounting frustrations that can show up in a long NHL season. He shared some of his faith journey, along with Minnesota Wild chaplain Bill Butters, at the Wild’s Faith and Family pregame event on Feb. 28 at the St. Paul RiverCentre. More than 275 tickets were sold as part of the special package.

Faith was his firm foundation, Prosser said.

“I was always signed as a no. 7 defenseman, so I sat out for three, four weeks at a time,” Prosser said. “And you can’t tell me there wasn’t stresses or frustrations with that.”

When it’s a contract year and his hockey skills got rusty while he was a healthy scratch for a month at a time, where would he turn? His faith. He’d hit play on worship music or lean on his wife, Brittani, and her faith to keep him going through his day-to-day grind of the hockey schedule.

Prosser kept himself even-keeled, and always loved showing up to the rink with a smile on his face. Was his team on a four-game winning streak or a six-game losing streak? Couldn’t tell by looking at Prosser.

“I showed up the same way,” he said. “I wanted all my teammates to see that. I loved being the team-first guy that brought our locker room together. That’s what I pride myself on throughout my career.”

That team-first player retired from the NHL in June 2021 after 11 goals and 49 points in 360 games as a defenseman. The Elk River native, who played for the Minnesota Wild for eight seasons, settled back in his home state with his family.

Bill Butters, a former North Stars player, said Prosser was his “go-to guy” for holding chapel with players. Now, there is one “chapel guy” left, Butters said: Marcus Foligno.

“It’s usually guys with big fists and play hard that have a soft heart,” Butters said.

Prosser acknowledged that he liked to chirp and play physical on the ice. But even as a kid, he took on a leadership role growing up in Elk River in a blue-collar, “very church-oriented house.”

“I always had a heart for the broken and the lost and the made fun of,” Prosser said. “Even at a young age.

“I always wanted to be the leader… be friends with those guys and reach out to them.”

That leadership carried over to his hockey locker rooms, a place combined with Christianity “wasn’t like peanut butter and jelly,” because they didn’t go well together, Prosser said.

Starting in high school hockey, the locker room scene was focused on partying and girls, he added. It was important for him to find a group of friends who shared his values. Most of his best friends from high school weren’t hockey players.

Once his career took him to the Wild, he enjoyed eight great years there, calling the signing “a God thing.”  

“A guy like me wasn’t supposed to sign a contract with the hometown Minnesota Wild,” Prosser said. “It just wasn’t meant to happen like that. I knew God was going to have his hand in the rest of my career.”

(MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

Though Prosser was never the guy at the top of the scoresheet or on the top defensive pairing, he earned the respect of his teammates throughout his professional hockey career. He relished being the guy in the room whom players could turn to and lean on if they struggled in their personal lives, needed to feel like part of the team after getting called up to the big club, or maybe it was a top goal scorer who went eight days without a goal.

“They show up with their shoulders shrugged a little bit,” Prosser said. “I loved to build those guys back up.”

His faith rubbed off on some of his teammates, too. Prosser recalled going to NHL chapel programs, then coming into the Wild locker room and Chris Stewart asking “spit some knowledge at me, Pross. What did you learn in there?”

Prosser obliged. When he did, guys in the room paused from taping their sticks to listen as Prosser spoke about his faith and Jesus. Prosser also had an effect on former Wild player Dany Heatley, who changed his vocabulary around Prosser; he wouldn’t say the Lord’s name in vain around Prosser.

“Talk about having respect,” Prosser said. “That was earned.”

Having been retired from the NHL for nearly two years, Prosser and his family live in Plymouth, and he is coaching 10U, 8U and 6U hockey teams, filling his days with his kids’ sports and activities. One of the things he is most excited about is that he can continue to be faith-driven in his work, which has “been huge in my next chapter of life after hockey.” Everyone struggles with the transition to life post-hockey, he said, so it took him some time to figure out what he wanted to do, along with being a dad to his four daughters under the age of 10.

A few months ago, Prosser also joined True North Equity Partners, a package assembly facility that Prosser is helping to grow.

“They share my moral compass, and my faith,” Prosser said. “That’s what kind of drew me to them.”

He knew all along that being a hockey player was something he did, not who he was.

“I think that was always harped into me a young age,” Prosser said. “My dad always told me, ‘whether you play until you’re 18 or you play until you’re 35, really, what does it matter? It matters what you’re doing for eternity.’

The post A Firm Foundation appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

 Minnesota rallies late, stuns Colorado on Niederreiter OT winner

For the second time in 11 years, the Minnesota Wild pulled off what appeared to be the impossible on Wednesday night in the hostile environment that is Denver’s Pepsi Center. Trailing by a goal with time running out in Game 7, the Wild tied the game late and defeated the Colorado Avalanche 5-4 on Nino Niederreiter’s second of the game 5:02 into overtime.

Like Andrew Brunette’s memorable goal in 2003, Niederreiter’s overtime tally vaults the Wild past the Avalanche and into the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Minnesota advances to face the Chicago Blackhawks in the postseason for the second consecutive year beginning on Friday night at the United Center.

Here’s the schedule as it is known at this time:

Niederreiter’s goal gave Minnesota its first and only lead of the night after the Wild battled back from four one-goal deficits in regulation. Interestingly enough, the last team to win a seventh game in overtime without having led in regulation was the 2003 Minnesota Wild.

The winning sequence was initiated by Dany Heatley’s perfect outlet pass to Kyle Brodziak in the neutral zone creating a 2-on-1 with Niederreiter against Avs defenseman Andre Benoit. Brodziak slipped the puck to Niederreiter as they crossed the Colorado line and, when Benoit shaded toward Brodziak, El Nino ripped a shot past Colorado goaltender Semyon Varlamov’s head and the Minnesota bench erupted.

That the trio combined to net the game winner was appropriate considering that line conspired to finish with nine points in the team’s most important game of the season. Niederreiter had a part in Minnesota’s final three goals and finished with two goals and an assist while Heatley (goal, two assists) and Brodziak (three assist) each had three-point nights of their own.

The overtime heroics would not have been possible had Niederreiter not set up Jared Spurgeon’s tying goal with just 2:17 remaining in regulation.

Having beaten Jan Hejda to the puck behind the Avalanche net, Niederreiter easily spun off the Avs defenseman and fed Spurgeon in the right circle who patiently waited for a diving Nathan MacKinnon to slide by before beating Varlamov with a wrist shot just inside the far post.

Spurgeon’s patience in an urgent situation was the key to the Wild sending this game into overtime.

Ilya Bryzgalov received credit for the win despite being called upon to make just one save in 13:15 of action. Bryzgalov replaced starting goaltender Darcy Kuemper with 8:44 to play in regulation after Minnesota native, and former Gopher, Erik Johnson’s goal put the Avs up 4-3.

Kuemper, who had been injured earlier in the game and remained in the crease, headed straight to the dressing room and was replaced on the bench by John Curry.

Of course this series would not be what it was without some sort of officiating debacle and the striped shirts wasted little time attracting the spotlight once again. Nick Holden’s goal for Colorado at 2:52 of the first period with Jamie McGinn in the crease, pinning Kuemper to the right post, appeared to have initially been waved off.

But the NHL’s Situation Room reported later that the officials’ arm wave was a signal the puck had not been touched with a high stick. However, nothing was offered as to why McGinn was allowed to obstruct Kuemper in the crease as was the consensus throughout the Twittersphere.

The Wild can now put this emotionally-charged, controversial series in their collective rear-view mirrors and turn their focus toward what should be an emotionally-charged and, hopefully, less controversial matchup with Chicago.

The post Wild Advance on Swiss Snipe appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Spurgeon logged 20 minutes of ice time and assisted on both Wild goals in his return to the lineup. Photo by: Jeff Wegge

The Minnesota Wild returned home from a four game road trip for the first of two games before the Olympic break and defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning by a score of 2-1 at the Xcel Energy Center Tuesday night.  The win picked up a critical two points in the Western Conference standings as the race is tightening up and marked the return of defenseman Jared Spurgeon to the lineup who had an impact on the outcome of the game with two assists.

Darcy Kuemper got the nod in goal again for the Wild as Mike Yeo stuck with his young goaltender who was pulled from the Colorado game and allowed four goals in their 4-3 overtime loss at the hands of the Calgary Flames.  Yeo’s move paid off  as the rookie stopped 33 of 34 shots fired at him, including a few big ones during a hair-raising finish that saw the Lighting ring one off the post in the closing seconds of the game as they came hard in a bid to force overtime.

“It’s too bad we couldn’t hold onto that two goal lead that makes it a little bit easier,” Kuemper said.  “We gave that up and obviously, they were going to come strong at the end there and I thought we did a good job to weather them and got a little lucky in the end with the post.”

It was a big test for Kuemper at the NHL level considering he did not get the results the previous two games that he was experiencing during his hot streak.  The young goalie shrugged it off looking to past experiences and said, “I have been in this situation before at different levels.  It was nothing new really, obviously the first time at this level but you just got to treat it the same way and that’s what I try to do and just stick to the fundamentals and things will turn around.”

In his first game back after missing 14 games with a lower body injury,  Spurgeon’s impact was not only felt but needed.  He looked to be in mid season form with his effort as both assists were made on solid plays.

Spurgeon fired a puck on goal toward the glove of Tampa Bay goalie Ben Bishop on a power play in the first period that the goalie couldn’t handle with his glove.  The rebound plopped to the ice in the crease and Nino Niederreiter quickly slapped the puck past Bishop for his 10th goal of the season giving the Wild the 1-0 lead at 16:04.

After a scoreless second period,  Spurgeon carried the puck up the right side of the Tampa Bay zone, the Lighting defense stayed with him and he was forced to stay on the puck as he was checked in the right circle by the Lightning net.  He didn’t give up on the play and found Dany Heatley at the top of the crease for a quick tap in as the Wild winger was racing straight ahead to the Tampa Bay net.  It gave the Wild a 2-0  lead :34 into the third period.

After being off the ice for almost a month Spurgeon was glad to get a game under his belt and a productive one at that.  “It was nice to get it back out there, especially before the break and the team’s been playing great and I was just trying to get in there and make sure I  didn’t ruffle any feathers with the chemistry that’s been going on,” he said.

Marco Scandella was inured early in the first period meaning there would not be any time to ease into the game for Spurgeon as the Wild were forced to work with five defenseman.  Spurgeon picked up 21:!2 of ice time in his first game back and pointed to the forwards back-pressure as the key to making things easier on the Wild defenseman.

Heatley continues to have a hot hand as he now has 11 goals on the season  and has picked up 2g-2a-4pts in his last three games and delivered his second game-winning goal of the season.

The win was a big for the Wild as teams tend to have let-downs in play after long road trips.  Minnesota didn’t allow  that to happen. “There’s always talk about coming off a long road trip and that first home game,” Heatley said.  “Guys were ready to play tonight,  Kemps was sharp, and our PK and defensive game was pretty sharp, and we got timely goal scoring.”

The Lightning struck for their lone goal with just over six minutes left in the game setting up the dicey finish. The win was the 20th on home ice for the Wild this season and earned them two more points in the now tightening Western Conference Playoff race.

It marked the 30th win on the season for the Wild who are four points ahead of the Vancouver Canucks in the 7th spot for the playoffs.  Phoenix is five points behind the Wild in 9th place with two games in hand and Dallas is just 6 points behind with two games in hand on the Wild.

Minnesota has another key Central Division game with the Nashville Predators at the Xcel Energy Center Thursday that is the last game before the Olympic break.  It represents another key two points as the Predators are standing in 12th place in the Western Conference just 8 points behind the Wild with one game in hand.

News and Notes:
Tonight’s game was the second of two between the clubs this year.  Tampa Bay won the first match-up by a score of 3-1.  The Wild own a 10-4-2 record all time agains the Lightning that includes a 6-2-0 record at home and 4-2-2 record in Tampa Bay.

Winning at Home
Minnesota won for the 20th time on home ice this season and are 20-7-2 at the Xcel Energy Center and have won 16 of their last 20 home games this year.  Last night’s crowd was announced at 18,454.

Wild Milestones:
Jonas Brodin played in his 100th career NHL game against the Lightning and Mike Rupp 99 career points (54-45-99) is about to hit the century mark in that category.

Minute Munching
An injury to Marco Scandella forced the Wild to play with five defenseman on Tuesday night.  Ryan Suter took on 34:31 of ice-time and it marked the fourth time in five games that he has topped the 30 minute mark.  He has seen the 30-minute mark 28 times this season.  He has earned 33 points (6g-27a-33pts) this year and leads the Wild with 94 blocked shots including two against the Lightning.

Kuemper Steady
Last night’s start was the 11th straight for rookie Darcy Kuemper which continues to add to the club record of consecutive starts by a rookie goalie.  The previous mark was four. He is now 7-3-2 on the season.  The former Red Deer Rebel (WHL) won the Del Wilson Trophy as the WHL’s top goaltender in 2010-11 and is accustomed to taking on a  heavy workload.

Polar Vortex White Jersey Night
Fully embracing the bitter cold and snow filled winter this season, the Wild announced Polar Vortex White Jersey night for the game against Nashville on Thursday night.  Each fan will receive a white t-shirt to create the “Whiteout” effect in the Xcel Energy Center and a Sochi send-off poster that features the five Wild Olympians.

The post Spurgeon’s Return Sparks Wild Win appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Featured Image:
The Wild’s Keith Ballard checks Kyle Chipchura of the Phoenix Coyotes during the November 27, 2013 game at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. (Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images)

SAINT PAUL — On the night before Thanksgiving, slow starts and injuries continue to be a part of the Minnesota Wild’s main course.

It’s hard for the latter not to be the case. Star forward Zach Parise was injured during the first period of Monday’s 3-0 loss in St. Louis and missed his first game of the season Wednesday night. Just Parise being sidelined with a bruised foot would be enough cause for concern.

One way or another, having a player of his caliber temporarily out hangs over the team like a cloud.

However, it is not just Parise. Minnesota saw both sides of the injury coin during Wednesday’s 3-1 loss at home to the Phoenix Coyotes where Radim Vrabta scored twice; including an empty-netter. Three players returned against the Coyotes yet Minnesota head coach Mike Yeo was 15 minutes late for his press conference after the game because he was discussing roster moves out of necessity.

“Certainly things were a mess,” said Yeo following Wednesday’s game. “There’s always stretches in the season where things aren’t easy.”

Mikael Granlund, who missed the past two games with an upper-body injury, went for a hit behind the Phoenix net on Coyotes defenseman Connor Murphy during his first shift Wednesday. The 5’10”, 186 lb. forward ended up getting hit high in the head instead and slowly skated to the bench.

He did not return. No one expected Granlund to come back. Just like that, Minnesota was down to 11 forwards 1:52 into the game.

Certainly it hasn’t helped the Wild that the team spent two straight games mixing and matching forward combinations. There has been no consistency between players coming back in the lineup and plans being changed due to guys getting hurt.

Still, that is not an excuse for the Minnesota head coach.

“Every game right now we have different guys coming out on different lines, but there are no excuses,” said Yeo.

Despite losing Granlund on Wednesday, two other players came back from injury and finished the game. Former Coyote and current Wild defenseman Keith Ballard returned from two broken ribs. Torrey Mitchell stepped back into the lineup after missing three games with a lower-body injury.

A third player, goalie Josh Harding, dressed for the first time since being injured in warm-ups against Winnipeg on Nov. 23 but he did not play.

For Ballard, who had been missing since Nov. 5 against Calgary, Wednesday’s game was an opportunity for him to return to game speed. He played 17:23 while being paired with Clayton Stoner.

“I felt alright,” the Baudette, Minnesota native said after the game. “It’s been three weeks since I played a game so just getting in and battling a bit and getting into some of those 1 on 1 battles in the corner, they take a little bit more out of you if you aren’t used to it.”

He was more than ready to battle. Ballard came out looking to hit and during one shift in the first period had physical confrontations with two different Phoenix players.

Still, for every healthy and healed player like Ballard, there seems to be another Granlund or Parise. While Minnesota was 6-2-1 during Ballard’s absence, the team has appeared to slow down recently.

“It seems like we’re very reactive and on our heels,” Yeo admitted. “I really think the injuries coupled with us looking at the magnitude of these games is that we’re trying to go out there and be a little bit safe.”

Right now the room for error is small. The Wild is currently in a stretch where nine of eleven games are against teams in the top eight of the Western Conference. The next few weeks are a time to see how the team compares against the conference elite. So far the West has been dominant through the first two months. It has reached a point where the best Eastern Conference team would struggle to qualify in the Western Conference.

Given that Minnesota, presently tied for fourth in the Central Division with Colorado, is after its second consecutive playoff berth it can’t afford to stumble too far in a Western Conference arms race.

The Wild certainly cannot afford to start games slowly. That was the case Wednesday when besides losing Granlund early, Phoenix’s Mikael Boedker blocked a Jonas Brodin shot and went on to score on a 2-on-1 8:13 into the game. By the time Minnesota made it 2-1 with 9:58 remaining in the third period thanks to Dany Heatley recording his fifth goal of the season (the first Wild goal tallied in 119:57), it was too late.

Starting slow, injuries or not, has also been a case throughout much of the last week.

“You get yourself in a hole 2-0, it is tough in this league to battle back,” said Ballard, who also said he was adjusting from practice to game speed in his first game back, about the team’s tendency to fall behind.

“You’ve seen in the past few games. The start is so crucial. I know we’re behind and we battled back against Winnipeg and we pulled it off, but you can’t just rely on being able to eke it out and come back. You can’t afford starts like that. It’s a cliché and true.”

Or as Yeo put it, “We have to quit shooting ourselves in the foot with some of these starts.”

Editor’s Note: The Wild recalled forward Jason Zucker from their AHL affiliate in Des Moines on Thursday and placed forward Mikael Granlund on injured reserve.

The post Offense Taking Its Time, Injuries Taking Their Toll appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.