Minnesota Wild pay tribute to North Stars in warm-ups
Some players on the Minnesota Wild went all out to honor the Minnesota North Stars for a pre-game tribute Tuesday.
The Wild had their players wear 1967 replica North Stars jerseys during warm-ups to honor the franchise that came to Minnesota 50 seasons ago. The North Stars moved to Dallas for the 1993-94 season and became the Stars.
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A limited number of the jerseys will be given away to fans selected randomly during the game. The remaining North Stars jerseys will be available on NHL Auctions to benefit the Minnesota Wild Foundation and the Minnesota NHL Alumni Association.
Wild forward Zach Parise really got into the spirit of the moment by wearing the helmet his dad J.P. wore with the North Stars along with old North Stars gloves. J.P. played 588 games with Minnesota and notched 396 points. The above photo is of Zach and below is another picture.
Tonight during warmups Zach Parise is wearing his dad's North Stars helmet and gloves. #mnwild pic.twitter.com/DezgU2LPEW
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) April 4, 2017
Wild forward Martin Hanzal changed his number for warm-ups from No. 19 to No. 91 to honor Bill Masterton – the former North Stars forward who tragically died during a game in the team’s first season. Masterton’s No. 19 was retired by the North Stars and is still retired by the Stars.
Out of respect for Bill Masterton, the only player to die from injuries suffered during an NHL game, Martin Hanzal to wear 91 during warmups pic.twitter.com/WSnFVqXeKY
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) April 4, 2017
“I think it’s going to be cool,” Zach Parise told the Minneapolis Star Tribune about wearing the North Stars jerseys. “There’s a lot of fans in the building tonight that, they loved watching the North Stars just like I did. I think it’s great for us to kind of pay tribute to those guys. It’s going to be really neat, I wish we could wear them for the game.”
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Even though the North Stars aren’t technically the same organization as Minnesota’s current NHL team, the Wild haven’t been shy about celebrating the North Stars’ past. For example, before last year’s Wild Stadium Series game with the Chicago Blackhawks, North Stars alum and some early Wild players, played Hawks old timers.
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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper
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