Minnesota Wild

The Minnesota Wild is a professional men's ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Their symbol is a bear made to look like the wilderness. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The team's inaugural season was in 2000. As of December 13, 2007, the Wild have sold out every home game in franchise history.

Franchise history

1997 — The National Hockey League announced that Minnesota had been awarded an expansion franchise to begin play in the 2000-2001 season. The six finalist teamnames for the new NHL franchise were: Minnesota Blue Ox, Minnesota Freeze, Minnesota Northern Lights, Minnesota Voyageurs, Minnesota White Bears and Minnesota Wild. Jac Sperling was named Chief Executive Officer of the Minnesota Wild and Brian Skluzacek was named Chief Financial Officer.
1998 — The new NHL team is officially named the Minnesota Wild. The unveiling occurred in front at Aldrich Arena. The Minnesota Wild announce its first major sponsorship agreement with the Minnesota Wild Mastercard card from First USA. It was the earliest that First USA has ever signed an agreement in advance of a team beginning play (31 months). The State of Minnesota agreed in legislation to fund $65 million of the $130 million project costs for Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. the Saint Paul Civic Center deconstruction began soon thereafter and the Xcel Energy Center design was announced. a Groundbreaking Ceremony for the Xcel Energy Center was hosted in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
1999 — The Minnesota Wild announce a 26-year partnership agreement with the Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission (MASC). The Minnesota Wild-MASC partnership is the first partnership of its kind between a private professional sports team and a public amateur sports organization. Doug Risebrough was named executive vice president/general manager of Minnesota Wild and The Xcel Energy Center is completed and ready for use.
2000-01 — The Minnesota Wild First Season Officially starts, The Wild name Jacques Lemaire the first-ever head coach and the team picks Marian Gaborik third overall in Round 1 of the 2000 NHL Entry Draft. The team wasn't very successful on the ice, but showed promise for future seasons. The most notable game of the year, however, was the first visit of the Dallas Stars, formerly the Minnesota North Stars. The Wild rode an emotional record crowd of over 18,000 to a six to zero shutout in Dallas' first regular season game in Minnesota since 1993.
2001-02 — The Wild would get off to a strong start by getting at least 1 point in their first 7 games. However the Wild would finish in last place again with a record of 26-35-12-9. Along the way there were signs the Wild were improving as second-year speedster Gaborik had a solid season with 30 goals, no sophomore slump, and Andrew Brunette led the team in scoring with 69 points.
2002-03 — Gaborik spends much of the season vying for the league scoring crown, and the Wild, in their first ever playoff appearance, make it all the way to the Western Conference Finals before being swept 4-0 by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. Previously, the Wild had beaten the favored and third-seeded Colorado Avalanche in the first round in seven games, coming back from a 3-1 series deficit and winning both Game 6 and 7 in overtime. Andrew Brunette scored the series clinching goal. In the Western Conference Semi-Finals, the Wild beat the fourth-seeded Vancouver Canucks, again in seven games, and again after being down 3-1 in the series. In the process, the Wild became the first team in playoff history to capture a seven-game series twice after facing elimination during Game 5.
2003-04 — When this season started the Wild were short-handed with both Pascal Dupuis and Gaborik holding out. After struggling in the first month the Wild finally got their two young star left-wingers signed but both struggled to get back into game shape as the Wild struggled through much of November. In a deep hole the Wild could not climb back into the playoffs despite finishing the season strong with wins in 5 of their last 6 games as they finished last in the competitive Northwest Division with a record of 30-29-20-3. Along the way the Wild began to gear up for the future trading away several of their older players that were a part of the franchise from the beginning including Brad Bombardir and Jim Dowd.
2004-05 — Season cancelled due to lockout. Former Wild player Sergei Zholtok dies from a heart condition during a game played in Europe. Zholtok died in the arms of Minnesotan and former Wild player Darby Hendrickson.
2005-06 — Finished in last place in Northwest Division, eight points behind Vancouver; along the way Gaborik set a new franchise record for goals in a season (38) and Brian Rolston set a new highest point total by a Wild player in a season (79). The goaltender controversy between Manny Fernandez and Dwayne Roloson ended when Roloson was traded to Edmonton for a first round pick in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft.
2006-07 — Signed veteran Free Agents, Kim Johnsson, Mark Parrish, Branko Radivojevic, and Keith Carney. On the day of the NHL Entry Draft, they traded the 17th overall pick and prospect Patrick O'Sullivan to the Los Angeles Kings for veteran Slovakian Pavol Demitra. Niklas Bäckström has been the Starting goalie for the Wild since starter Manny Fernandez initially sprained his knee on Jan. 20. Fernandez played for the first time since the sprain on Tuesday, March 6th and was removed after allowing three goals in two periods in the Wild's 3-0 loss to San Jose. Josh Harding, was brought up from the Wild's minor-league affiliate, the Houston Aeros, when Fernandez was hurt, and remained on Minnesota's roster for the rest of the season as the backup goalie. All-Star winger Marian Gaborik returned from a groin injury in January of 2007 and made an immediate impact, bringing a new spark to a lacking offense.
The Wild made the playoffs in 2007 for the second time in team history but were eliminated by the Stanley Cup Champion Anaheim Ducks in the opening round. Coincidentally, the same Anaheim franchise eliminated the Wild in their first playoff year, in the conference finals, in 2003.

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