SALT LAKE CITY — It has been well over a decade since Nick Bjugstad wore the many shades of blue preferred by the Blaine Bengals, since he skated in three state tournaments for them, since he played in one of the first Hockey Day Minnesota games for them, and since he was named Minnesota’s Mr. Hockey as a Blaine senior in 2010.
But even today, living on the other side of the Rockies from the State of Hockey and toiling for the Utah Hockey Club, Bjugstad admits that there’s a feeling hockey players from Minnesota get in their gut come late February and early March. Unmistakably, it’s tournament time.
This week, in addition to prepping for Utah’s third head-to-head meeting with the Wild, Bjugstad admitted working the phones to get the section tournament scores from his home state.
“I’m keeping tabs for sure. I always check in on my Blaine Bengals, to see how they’re doing,” Bjugstad said following Utah’s Thursday morning skate at the Delta Center. “I know they made it to the semis, then lost to Rogers, who sound like a good team. I’m always calling the hometown buddies, seeing what’s going on. It’s fun to keep tabs.”
Even after winning a pair of conference titles with the Minnesota Gophers and spending more than a dozen seasons in the NHL, Bjugstad admitted that being on the ice with his Bengals and winning section titles versus Centennial in 2008, Osseo in 2009 and Maple Grove in 2010 are among his biggest hockey career thrills. At Xcel Energy Center, the Bengals advanced past the first round just once in those three visits, but he still relishes the memories and the nerves that came along with his first experiences playing in front of 18,000 fans.
“I wish I would have been able to handle it a little better than I did, ‘cause I was a mess,” Bjugstad said, with a smile. “I played in some game sevens and whatnot. Definitely, you know it’s one game and if you lose, it’s over. So, I wish I would have had a better coping mechanism for the stress because I was nervous as hell.”
Bjugstad said that playing at the X always produced nerves, even during the two seasons he was a member of the Wild. And even though there is no high school state title on his resume, he looks back fondly at those years in Blaine blue.
“I just have a lot of gratitude for growing up, and playing in the high school environment and being able to play with my buddies in front of 18,000 people there,” he said. “You get excited when it’s that time of year.”
Wild recall Gaunce again
If all goes well over the next week, they won’t need him, but for purposes of forward depth, the Wild recalled Brendan Gaunce from their Iowa AHL team and had the veteran join on the western road trip.
Gaunce, 30, skated in five games earlier this season with Minnesota and has not recorded a point. He has more than 180 NHL games on his resume from previous stops in Vancouver, Boston and Columbus. He signed a two-year contract with the Wild as a free agent over the summer.
While the return date for key forwards Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek from their respective lower-body injuries is not known, Ryan Hartman is scheduled to return from his eight-game NHL suspension in time for the Wild’s March 4 game at Seattle, meaning that extra bodies are needed for their games at Utah on Thursday, at Colorado on Friday and at home versus Boston on Sunday.
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