At the beginning of the new semester 100 lucky students had the privilege of attending HUPB’s Welcome Back Wild Event. The night brought cheers, laughs and nearly a brawl on the ice.
In downtown Saint Paul, the Minnesota Wild hosted and defeated the Washington Capitals 5–3, sending the state of hockey home happy on Tuesday, Jan. 23.
At the forefront of the event was second year Elisa Lopez. Multiple departments were involved in making the successful night happen and was in the works as early as October.
This will not be the last big event of the year from HUPB; the student org will be hosting a trampoline park event as well as a trip to Walker Art Center.
The Wild took care of business early on, going up 2–0 less than five minutes into the game thanks to hometown rookie Brock Faber and alternate captain Marcus Foligno lighting the lamp.
The early onslaught brought immediate life to the entire arena, especially in the Hamline section. The young group of superfans made their presence known all night long following a short bus trip on I–94 to the arena.
The next goal was scored by longtime Wild forward Marcus Johansson six and a half minutes into the second period to make it a 3–0 advantage. Washington was able to get on the board late in the second period, but it proved to be far too little too late for the Capitals to come from behind.
The third period was immediately welcomed by a goal from Joel Eriksson Ek, which was followed by Johansson’s second of the night. Shortly after extending the lead 5-1, the Wild began to become lackadaisical with the puck causing an increase in turnovers. These turnovers eventually caught up to Minnesota with a few minutes remaining in the game.
Thankfully the Wild were saved by the bell and fended off the late attack from Washington to jump back to the .500 mark.
Many of the Hamline fans were treated to free mini hockey sticks as a reward for attending their first professional hockey game. Thankfully the Piper fans were sent home with a victory and almost a fight.