In perhaps the most dramatic moment of the Minnesota Wild’s 2024-25 campaign, they needed a single standings point in the regular-season finale to clinch a playoff spot — and literally got it in the final seconds of regulation when Joel Eriksson-Ek scored to force overtime.
Greg Cronin had an up-close view of all the drama, although he didn’t enjoy it much.
That night was one of Cronin’s final evenings in the employ as the Anaheim Ducks’ head coach. He was fired less than a week later, ending a two-year stint running the show in Southern California for the Boston-area native.
On the opening day of the Wild’s prospects camp last week, Cronin was working as head coach of Minnesota’s AHL affiliate in Des Moines, Iowa. The pronounced New England accent has stayed with him through coaching stops in Colorado, Toronto, Long Island, N.Y., and California — so “Minnesota” often becomes “Minnesoter” — but early in his next gig, Cronin seemed pleased with the adjustment to life in fly-over country.
The Wild’s system isn’t that different than the one Cronin employed in Anaheim.
“What I find is it’s the language you use to describe things (that’s different),” he said. “I learned some terms they use that I haven’t really heard before, and I would say the same thing but in a different language that’s simple. So, that’s the big thing is making sure we’re speaking the same language down there.”
Iowa will be Cronin’s third head coaching gig in the AHL, where he previously ran the Bridgeport (Conn.) Sound Tigers and the Colorado Eagles. At the college level, he is a former head coach at Maine and Northeastern.
New opportunity
Fans of the Minnesota Gophers are taught to hate all things Iowa at an early age. But one former Gophers hockey captain is quickly learning to like the Hawkeye State as a place to shoot pucks for a living.
Mike Koster, who was a part of the Gophers leadership group last season when they won his fourth Big Ten title in five seasons, is preparing for a return to Iowa after skating in the Wild’s prospect camp.
After the conclusion of the Gophers’ season last March, the defenseman signed with Minnesota’s organization and skated in 14 games, seven in the postseason, for the Iowa Heartlanders, the Wild’s ECHL affiliate that is in Coralville, near the University of Iowa campus.
“It was weird … learning a new system, but the guys were awesome, so it almost felt like a college locker room,” said Koster, who became a free agent this year after four seasons in the Toronto organization. “It was definitely a bit of an adjustment, but I wanted to go down there and get a feel for the pro game and try to help them win.”
Koster notched six points for the Heartlanders in seven playoff games while rooming with former Gophers teammate Jonny Sorenson.
“The coaches threw me in the fire right away and believed in me,” Koster said. “I just tried to keep it simple and attack when I could, and I ended up finding some holes.”
His next mission as a professional will be to try to find holes in the Wild’s lineup, either in Des Moines or St. Paul.
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