It was a wonder why professional hockey left this state, where it is said that a baby learns to skate before he/she learns to walk. There are some extraordinary facts about hockey in Minnesota:

• Minnesota has over 100,000 registered hockey players, more than any other state.
• There were twenty-three Minnesotans that played in the NHL between the 1998 and 1999 season.
• There are over 200 Minnesotans playing Division I collegiate hockey, more than any other state.
• Six of the Minnesotans who have played Division I hockey have won the Hobey Baker award, more than any other state.

• Twelve of the 1980 USA Olympic gold medal team are from Minnesota.

June 25, 1997, marked the day the NHL Board of Governors gave its blessing to the reunion of NHL hockey and Minnesota. NHL hockey was coming home. The news moved like a puck shot across the ice. Hours later a celebration began in St. Paul, complete with 22 Zambonis on parade through downtown. The next day, more than 100 fans lined up for their shot at season tickets, three years before the first game. All of this before the seats were bolted down in an arena that was still just an impressive concept.

Minnesotans are hungry for hockey; fans have reserved over 10,000 season tickets. At last, four years after Minnesota's NHL team, the Minnesota North Stars, moved to Dallas, Minnesota is again going to have an NHL team of its own. Minnesota's first NHL team, the North Stars, played 26 seasons in Minnesota, twice going on to play for the Stanley Cup. The North Stars had seen an incredible start and had grown even stronger in the '70s through an imaginative team merger-the first ever in the history of the NHL. The community had gathered at the old Metropolitan Sports Center, shared beers and brats in the parking lot, and gathered to root for their home team, through it all. After the Stars left in 1993, hockey fans were devastated, what were they going to do now?

Before Minnesota could get a team we would have to come up with an arena, and so we did. Here is where the sources of the $130 million dollars came to finance the new stadium:

• State funding $65 million.

• Grant $17 million.
• No-interest loan $48 million, (team repays over xx years).
• City of St. Paul $65 million.
• Bond issue $74 million.
• Underwriting, legal fees, reserve ($9 million).

With this new state-of-the-art arena there are many amazing features. Here are some examples:

• 18,600 seat arena with transparent glass exterior, so streetwalkers can catch a glimpse of the action.
• Four convenient atrium entrances at street level.
• Wide and open concourses.
• Large lower seating bowl with 9,000 seats.
• Upper deck with opera style seating at the ends offering great hockey sightlines.
• Unique club seating concourse and 74 suites.
• Arena lighting to accentuate the Saint Paul skyline.

Now that Minnesota has an arena they were granted a team in 1997. As you could expect there was much excitement and many questions, one of which, what was the team name going to be. There was a list of possibilities:

• Minnesota Freeze

• Minnesota Blue Ox
• Minnesota Wild
• Minnesota White Bears
• Minnesota Northern Lights
• Minnesota Voyageurs

Out of this list came the Minnesota Wild, whose name and logo was reveled on January 22, 1998 by Neal Broton to a sold out Aldrich arena. This new team in a new era will be in a different division with different teams than hockey fans are used to. The new Wild team will not be in the same Norris Division where there was hatred for the opposition and a love of the hockey competition shared by fans in Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis and Minnesota. From realignment in 1981 until the North Stars' move to Dallas in 1993, the Norris provided some of the NHL's most rabid rivalries. Realignment has returned to the league but the old divisional ties have not, at least in Minnesota. When the Wild begin play one year from now, they will look westward, joining Calgary, Colorado, Edmonton and Vancouver in the Northwest Division. Like the Met Center, the old rivalries are a musty memory.

With everything said, there is much excitement for the coming of the Minnesota Wild. Although we will not have the old division rivals, we will have the chance to make new ones. The new site of the Minnesota Wild will also give some downtown St. Paul businesses a boost; fans will be eating at the restaurants before the game, and taking in the nightlife after the game. There have already been more than ten thousand season tickets sold. It is time for Minnesota to forget the North Stars, and welcome the Wild.