A History of Professional Hockey in Minnesota: From the North Stars to the Wild

by Arcadia Publishing

Overview

Of the four major sports leagues, the National Hockey League was the most conservative, clinging to only six cities until 1967, when it improbably doubled its size. The resulting upheaval gave birth to the Minnesota North Stars and the construction of the Metropolitan Sports Center. Though the well-loved Stars made the playoffs seventeen times, including two Stanley Cup Finals appearances, they never achieved ultimate success. Their loyal fan base watched in anguish as the franchise merged with another, divided in two and relocated to Dallas. In 1997, the Twin Cities' sports market was awarded an expansion franchise. Named the Minnesota Wild, the team sold out 409 consecutive games, setting the highest sell-out streak for an expansion franchise, and returned the game back to the State of Hockey.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781626193611
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	09/16/2014
Series:	Sports
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Minnesota native George R. Rekela grew up playing pond hockey in the Mesabi Iron Range, home of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame. He is a journalism graduate of the University of Minnesota and has authored a dozen sports books, including biographies of, among others, Brett Favre, Hakeem Olajuwon, Karl Malone and Kurt Warner. He currently serves as publisher emeritus of the Twin Cities' Southside Journal, a research, focused sports information publication.

Table of Contents

Introduction 5

1 No Place to Play 11

2 Met Center 15

3 Tragedy and Triumph 21

4 Shooting Stars 27

5 Fool's Gold 34

6 Realignment 40

7 Saints Rise and Fall 46

8 Mayhem 50

9 The Gunds 59

10 Rebirth 63

11 Chasing the Cup 68

12 Enter Gretzky 75

13 Crazy 81

14 Deconstruction 86

15 Fluke 91

16 Norm Green 97

17 The Abyss 104

18 Into the Wild 109

19 Seasons of Change 115

Index 123

About the Author 127