Some pro athletes can be insulated from what is happening outside the arena, especially in the midst of a condensed season like the 2025-26 NHL campaign, when teams are playing essentially every other night.
But members of the Minnesota Wild live and raise their families in the Twin Cities, and the on-going unrest related to a federal immigration crackdown in Minneapolis and St. Paul is impossible not to notice.
“It’s sad, you know,” defenseman and Minnesota native Brock Faber said after the team’s morning practice at TRIA Rink. “Being from Minnesota, you hate to see things like this. Definitely, definitely sad for a lot of people.”
Following the killing of Alex Pretti by federal agents Saturday two miles from Target Center, the Minnesota Timberwolves postponed their home game by 24 hours. In St. Paul, meanwhile, the Wild played their Saturday night home game, the scheduled conclusion of the annual Hockey Day Minnesota celebration.
On Sunday, Wild ownership signed on to a letter from Minnesota business leaders urging a de-escalation of the tensions, which have been running high since federal authorities sent a surge of agents into Minnesota. As a result, several large-scale protests have been staged throughout Minnesota, the largest yet a march Friday in downtown Minneapolis.
“It’s been pretty devastating,” Wild forward Marcus Foligno said. “Having all girls, all my girls born here, Minnesota’s home. So, to see what’s going on in the Twin Cities, it’s tough to see. Right now, we’re just thinking about everyone involved and just trying to give our support as a team and this, through this organization.”
With Wild home games on Tuesday versus Chicago and Thursday versus Calgary, Foligno said he hopes sports can provide a an enjoyable distraction from the often-disturbing scenes playing out elsewhere in the Twin Cities. So far, three Minneapolis residents have been shot by Border Patrol or Immigration and Customs Enforcement, two of them killed — Pretti on Saturday, Renee Macklin Good on Jan. 7.
“It’s the entertainment business. We’re trying to bring people together through everything and all different types of situations,” Foligno said. “Sports are looked at that way. So, yeah, with us playing, and that’s when we step on the ice, that’s something that we’re trying to do is have these people get away from what they’re going through.”
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