The Minnesota Wild is an ice hockey team based in St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL).
The team was founded on June 25, 1997, but started playing in the 2000-01 NHL season. The Wild is also the first NHL franchise in Minnesota since the Minnesota North Stars moved to Dallas in 1993. They lost their first game, 3–1, to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and recorded their first win against the Tampa Bay Lightning five games later. The Wild play at the Xcel Energy Center. In the 2002–03 NHL season, the team made its first playoff appearance, and made a surprising run to the Western Conference Finals, where they were swept by the Ducks.
Minnesota has two minor-league affiliates, the Houston Aeros of the American Hockey League and the Orlando Solar Bears of the ECHL. The team's first minor-league affiliate was the Cleveland Lumberjacks of the IHL. As of 2012, the Wild have averaged a .524 points percentage since entering the league.
Read more about Minnesota Wild: Season-by-season Record, NHL Awards and Trophies, Franchise Individual Records
Famous quotes containing the word wild:
“See the wild birds on the wing,
Hear the bells that sweetly ring,
When you feel like singin’, sing—
Keep a-goin’!”
—Frank Lebby Stanton (1857–1927)