Vinni Lettieri wore some of his resumé on his face Monday when he joined the Minnesota Wild after starting the season at AHL Iowa.

“A little scrum in the net front a few days ago,” the veteran forward said.

He should fit right into the fourth line with center Connor Dewar and wing Brandon Duhaime, speedy, hard-nosed forwards who have consistently set an aggressive tone when they’ve had the puck this season.

The three practiced together Monday morning at TRIA Rink.

“People don’t know, sometimes, how skilled fourth lines are around the league, and these guys are great shooters, they’re great playmakers, they have great vision,” Lettieri said.

Lettieri, 28, has been nothing but sharp since signing a two-year, two-way deal with the Wild on July 1, impressive during training camp, and productive in preseason games (1-3–4 in two games) and at Iowa (1-2–3 in four games).

“He played not only skillfully but gritty, as well,” Wild head coach Dean Evason said. “That’s what we’re looking for from him.”

The Wild have lost their past two games (0-1-1), both at home, while struggling defensively. The Wild are ninth in scoring through five games, averaging 3.6 goals a game, but are tied for second-worst in the NHL in goals against, 4.2.

“We’re scoring enough goals to win hockey games,” Evason said. “We’ve got to keep it out if our net with defending. We’ve got to be way better in that area.”

Lettieri replaces Sammy Walker, who played in each of those games, registering one shot on goal before being reassigned to Iowa on Sunday. In seven seasons since graduating from Minnesota, Lettieri has played 83 NHL games in stints with the New York Rangers, Anaheim Ducks and Boston Bruins, scoring a combined seven goals and 18 points.

“Every year you learn something new,” Lettieri said. “I wouldn’t say it’s getting better at something, it’s becoming more knowledgeable and more aware of your surroundings, and you’re supposed to get open, pick up pucks the correct way. It’s just fine-tuning your skills at this level is the biggest thing.”

Tuesday’s 8 p.m. puck drop against Edmonton at Xcel Energy Center will be his first as a member of the Wild, the hometown team of the Minnetonka graduate and grandson of Minnesota hockey legend Lou Nanne, who picked him up Sunday from MSP, where the Iowa Wild had a short layover on the way home from Manitoba.

“I’ve played here before, but playing for the Wild is definitely another level,” he said. “I’m super excited, but I think patience is the biggest thing I’ve learned. … It’s the hardest thing to learn, but the best thing to learn.”

Extra body

Defenseman Jon Merrill was absent from the Wild’s practice on Monday, but Evason said the team is hoping he’ll be available for Tuesday night’s game.

“Just some maintenance; he got banged up the other night,” the coach said. “He should be fine, but we wanted to make sure that he was OK.”

Regardless, Evason said the team would recall another minor league player from Iowa on Tuesday so they have an extra available body on a trip that begins Thursday in Philadelphia and ends Sunday at New Jersey.

He said it wasn’t clear whether that player would be a forward or defenseman.

“We’re going to work through it this morning,” he said. “We’re going to chat about it after (practice). Things were a little quick this morning.”

Extra body?

Evason said he expects Matt Boldy to travel with the team when it leaves for Philadelphia on Wednesday. The winger has been sidelined since suffering an upper body injury Oct. 15 at Toronto.

“He’s at the point where he’s able to move on with us (as a) practice player,” Evason said.

The coach didn’t rule out Boldy play on the trip, which continues Friday night in Washington D.C. before concluding with a 4 p.m. drop Sunday in Newark.

“The intention, obviously, is to have him with us, and then we’ll see how he is,” Evason said. “But certainly he won’t play early in the trip, and then we’ll evaluate and hope for the best.”

It still stings, though it’s been more than 35 years now. I’m talking here about what took place on Jan. 9, 1988, when the heavily favored San Francisco 49ers were upset by the underdog Minnesota Vikings, 34-26 in a divisional playoff game.

The shocking loss — I still have a beef with then-Vikings QB Wade Wilson and top receiver Anthony Carter to this day — prevented what I solidly believe would have been a still-unprecedented Super Bowl three-peat by my Niners (the team led by Joe Montana would win back-to-back Super Bowls in 1989 and 1990). I won’t tell you here which team we knocked off those years in the playoffs to get to the promised land. Look it up.

Oh. I hear you now, long-suffering Vikings fans. I have nothing to complain about. I root for a team that has won five Super Bowls and looks like they have another Purdy good chance, pun intended, this season to reach the Super Bowl again.

Meanwhile, the Vikings lost four Super Bowls, have endured excruciatingly heartbreaking playoff losses over the years, and are currently a long shot for reaching football’s pinnacle. Angst bleeds purple and gold.

So how does someone like me, who grew up in the south Bronx and Manhattan and relocated to the Twin Cities more than 32 years ago, root for a football team from the West Coast? And why not the Vikings?

Well, the simple answer is that in my adolescence I liked playing outdoors on Sunday afternoons after mass rather than sit at home watching TV.

My neighborhood did not have a grass field nearby so we played tackle football, without equipment, on the asphalt playground behind our school. I think I still have knee-scrape scars from those days. Sometimes we would sneak to a long patch of grass between buildings where I lived until security chased us off.

The only games on TV when I would return home for supper were West Coast games. And more often than not, it would be the pesky 49ers, in their resplendent and cool red-and-gold uniforms, playing in windy, seagull-flying, sun-splashed Kezar Stadium. I date back to the QB days of Billy Kilmer, John Brodie, Steve Spurrier, Jim Plunkett and others until Montana and coach Bill Walsh helped turned the team into a superpower in the 1980s and early ’90s..

But I also liked watching scrambling Fran Tarkenton and the Purple People Eaters, and wanted the Vikings, whose logo and “Skol!” chant are still the best, to win those Super Bowls because I favored NFC teams.

Regardless who we root for or why, the lingering question to this sports team loyalty is why do we identify so much — sometimes to the detriment of our mental well being —with a professional sports team whose members don’t even know we exist?

It’s about tribalism, a primordial human trait.

“Let’s face it, the ritual of dressing in special attire, wearing colors signifying a tribal-like affiliation, and paying top dollar for the right to watch people we’ve never met play a game for our amusement is, quite frankly, weird,” aptly noted writer Chloe Williams said in a 2021 Psychology Today magazine article that explored whether the psychology of sports can be applied to business and life.

“The stronger the fan loyalty is, in my experience, the more severe the self-torment.” he added.

So true. There are Vikings fan friends of mine who lament they may not see their favorite football team reach the Super Bowl or actually win it in their lifetime.

I feel for them, though not enough to wish that to happen while I’m still above ground rooting for the Niners. Call me selfish.

But age mellows one out. There are far more important things in life to worry about — paying bills, dealing with monthly chemo sessions, taking care of ill loved ones, watching in stunned disbelief and concern about the events taking place in the Middle East and other regions of the world and nation.

But sports can be a welcome escape. I’m looking forward to Monday night’s game when the 49ers play the Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium. It will be the first time that I will attend a regular-season game at the arena. The tickets were a surprise gift from my son.

I plan to wear either the George Kittle jersey he got me for Christmas or the old-school Ronnie Lott one I got many years ago. I do know this: Win or lose, I will enjoy the experience, feeling grateful I can do so. But I’m sure it’ll sting a bit if the Niners lose.

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By ED WHITE (Associated Press)

DETROIT (AP) — Investigators have identified several people of interest in the fatal stabbing of a Detroit synagogue president but would not talk about their connections to the woman during a press conference Monday.

Authorities found 40-year-old Samantha Woll’s body outside her home early Saturday after a caller told police about a person lying on the ground.

Detroit Police Chief James E. White said police know Woll — who led the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue — attended a wedding Friday night and that she left the celebration around 12:30 a.m. He said there was no sign that anyone forced their way into her home and investigators believe Woll was stabbed inside before stumbling into the yard.

“We have a number of people that give us interest. We are just short of calling one of the people a suspect,” he said, adding that investigators believe a suspect “acted alone.”

Police have repeatedly said they have found no evidence that Woll’s killing “was motivated by antisemitism,” and White asked people not to draw quick conclusions as the investigation continues, including analyzing forensic evidence with support from the FBI.

“We believe that there are no other groups or anyone else at risk in regards to this particular incident,” White said Monday.

He said police have made that determination based on “several factors,” without specifying evidence leading to the conclusion. He also declined to answer questions about Woll’s injuries, saying those details could be critical to identifying a suspect in her killing.

“We have to be very, very cautious as to what information we share,” White said.

Woll was also active in state politics for Michigan Democrats, including working as a campaign staffer for Attorney General Dana Nessel and a former aide to Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin.