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Your daily dose of Wild news, along with other interesting stories from around the NHL.
For those that cheer for the Gophers you can start building your excitement for the tournament right about now.
On Thursday night, one of the best things in hockey began: The NCAA national tournament leading to the Frozen Four. And in the first round, the University of Minnesota Gophers took on Canisius College and took them down by a massive score. It was a close game to start and the underdogs actually held a 2-1 lead after 27 minutes, but then Minnesota just unleashed hell after a five-minute major penalty.
The Gophers went on to score eight consecutive goals through the second half of the game and earn a 9-2 win to advance in the tournament.
Our own Brock Faber finished the game with two assists and at times looked absolutely dominant in possession and the best skater on the ice by far. So, we will just have to wait at least a couple more days for him to sign his entry-level contract with the Wild and start his professional career.
On Saturday afternoon, he will be facing another Wild defenseman prospect, Jack Peart, when the Gophers clash with St. Cloud State after they handled Minnesota State-Mankato fairly easily, by a score of 4-0. Peart actually scored a beautiful goal to make it 2-0 in that one.
Snipe from Wild draftee Jack Peart puts SCSU up 2-0 pic.twitter.com/HTO2tosTbV
— CJ Fogler AKA Perc70 #BlackLivesMatter (@cjzero) March 23, 2023
The two major Wild prospects in the tournament will be facing off on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. CT.
That’s Wild
In other NCAA hockey news, Western Michigan got knocked out of the first round by Boston University, and that includes WMU captain Jason Polin who the Wild have reportedly shown interest in. He is expected to sign with an NHL team in the coming days. He scored his 30th goal of the season in the 5-1 defeat, and has a whole lot of interest around the league.
Matt Boldy has been shooting more and more all season and is blossoming into a very good volume shooter. [10K Rinks]
And speaking of Boldy, he continued his hot streak on Thursday against the Philadelphia Flyers, but in the end the team lost 5-4 in the shootout to the non-playoff team. It was a brutal game to watch as turnovers were plenty and the passes were not connecting. After the game, coach Dean Evason described it as “playing loose” and that he will address these issues in practice. [Star Tribune]
The Dallas Stars won against the Pittsburgh Penguins, so because of the loser point, the Wild held the top Central spot for a couple hours and now the Stars have one more point.
Off the trail…
The biggest headache for every playoff contender. I think we know what the Wild’s should be. [ESPN]
Sidney Crosby calms the waters. [Defector]
Boston Bruins and Vezina-contending goaltender Linus Ullmark opened up about a strategy that he has worked on and contributed to his incredible season. [NHL dot com]
