MN Hockey News

SAINT PAUL – Late season injuries and subsequent calls to Houston for reinforcements have given Minnesota Wild fans a peek into the team’s future. But those fans fortunate enough to have hung around Xcel Energy Center after the Wild’s 4-3 shootout loss to the Dallas Stars on Saturday night were treated to a glimpse of Minnesota’s NHL’s past.

In the season finale for both teams, Stars left wing Jamie Benn scored the lone shootout goal through four rounds and Dallas goaltender Kari Lehtonen outdueled Minnesota’s Niklas Backstrom for the win in front of 19,106 – the sixth-largest regular season crowd ever at Xcel Energy Center. But the game and its result were largely an afterthought to most in attendance.

Shortly after both non-playoff teams had left the ice for the final time this season, Stars’ center Mike Modano—contemplating retirement after 20 Hall-of-Fame-worthy seasons—emerged from the dressing room much to the delight of those who lingered.

The last-remaining active player to have played for the Minnesota North Stars before the team relocated to Texas in 1993, Modano stepped onto the ice donning a North Stars home jersey adorned with his name and, of course, his trademark number nine.

Modano said the laps around the ice with the vintage sweater allowed him to, “go out there one last time . . . and kind of show [the fans] that I’m still thinking about those times and those experiences I had with those fans.”

Heartwarming as the ovation Modano received circling the ice was, it was hardly the most spontaneous celebration of Modano’s career of the evening and certainly not the most poignant.

During a TV timeout with 9:09 remaining in the first period and Modano standing on the ice near the Dallas bench, a highlight video of Modano performing as a North Star was shown on the Xcel Energy Center scoreboard

 A crescendo of cheers throughout the tribute reached roof-raising proportions when a live shot of Modano was eventually displayed leading the shy superstar to acknowledge the fans three times before play resumed. The man who supplanted Dallas Cowboys’ quarterback Troy Aikman as Dallas’ most eligible bachelor in the mid 1990’s admitted the moment was emotional for him.

“The longer it dragged out, the tougher it was,” said Modano. “It is really hard to put into words how much you appreciate the fans and the media here.”

While it may have been Modano’s NHL swan song, Wild center Mikko Koivu gave Minnesota fans a reminder that the number nine is in pretty good hands here.

Koivu staked the Wild to a two-goal lead halfway through the first period with his 21^st and 22^nd goals of the season, the first of which was scored via Toronto, Ontario. Just 14 seconds into a two-man advantage, Wild defenseman Brent Burns found Koivu wide open in the right circle with the back door of the Dallas net not only wide open, but off its hinges.

Koivu’s quick shot was all but in until Stars’ goaltender Kari Lehtonen extended his left arm back across the crease making a jaw-dropping save with his catching glove. The Wild, however, argued the catch was made across the goal line and—after a long delay and a review by NHL officials in Toronto—Minnesota’s assertion was confirmed.

 But second-period goals by Brendan Morrow and Steve Ott squared the game at 2-2 heading into a third period which began a look toward the Wild’s future. A mere nine seconds after the period’s opening faceoff, Minnesota’s Casey Wellman scored his first NHL goal in his 12^th game after signing with the Wild as a free agent out of the University of Massachusetts  on March 16.

Wellman, one of eight players to make his NHL debut for the Wild this season, tied a team record for fastest goal from the start of a period sharing the distinction with Brian Rolston who accomplished the feat in the second period of a 3-2 win over St. Louis on Nov. 30, 2007.

The lead was short-lived, however, as Ott set a new career high with his 22^nd goal of the season just 2:43 later setting the stage for a shootout featuring missed opportunities for both Modano and Koivu among seven straight failed shooters until Benn’s heroics ended the Wild’s season at 38-36-8.

But the night belonged to a nearly 40-year-old American hockey legend who never forgot what his time in Minnesota meant to him.

“I’ve had some great experiences here and friendships, just some great times the five years I was here,” said Modano. “I still see some faces that I saw at the Met [Center] that I recognize. It was very nice.”