The Wild make their lone visit to San Jose this season on Dec. 31, but they’re hoping to be inspired by the forests of Northern California all season.
After last weekend’s 5-2 win over Vancouver, defenseman Jonas Brodin became the first member of the Wild to be awarded “Redwood,” which is a dark red fedora with feathers that will be given to the player of the game after every Minnesota win from here on out.
As explained by Marcus Foligno following Monday’s practice at TRIA Rink, the name came from the team’s general manager seeking inspiration from the towering trees found along the West Coast, north of San Francisco Bay.
“Billy Guerin kind of brought up a little note about the redwood tree and how they can get up to 100 or so feet tall,” Foligno said. “Its roots aren’t that big, but it grabs onto other trees around its roots. The message behind it all was to be a good teammate, rely on each other. You can be however tall you want to be and reach some great heights.”
Foligno joked that they originally considered just carrying a redwood tree with the team all season, but instead employed Zach Bogosian and Ryan Hartman to find a hat that would appropriately embody the spirit of the redwoods.
“We had it ordered for a while, and it just took a while to come in,” said Hartman, giving primary credit to Bogosian for the idea and for tracking down a hat that worked.
Upon arrival in Minnesota, the hat made it to the home locker room in time for the team to reward Brodin for his timely goal scored versus the Canucks, on the way to snapping a five-game skid.
After the Wild’s next win, Brodin will award the Redwood to the player most deserving, and so on.
“It’s got a little bit of an Indiana Jones look to it, especially when (Brodin) wears it, so it’s pretty awesome and actually it’s a pretty nice hat,” Foligno said, noting that it’s not just goal scorers that get recognized after wins. “It doesn’t have to be the guy that scores the goals, it could be something that happens in the game – a blocked shot or a big hit or a fight or things like that. It just kind of boosts the morale of the group, and something that we can all relate to and have fun with.”
Most NHL teams have a token handed out to the player of the game following wins. Last season, when the Wild adopted the theme, “choose your hard,” the post-win token was a thick chain holding a wooden sign that read “HARD.” In many cases, it is a piece of headwear. For example, the Winnipeg Jets commonly pass out a fighter pilot’s flight helmet.
Working at dad’s office
If Wild coach John Hynes is a little distracted when the team gets to North Carolina on Wednesday evening, in advance of their Thursday game versus the Hurricanes, it’s just because he’s checking in on a member of the family.
While Hynes will not be working at Grand Casino Arena that night, his daughter, Anna, will be chasing a state championship there.
Anna is a freshman setter in her first season on the volleyball team at Mahtomedi High School. After winning the Section 4AAA title, the sixth-seeded Zephyrs (21-9) will face third-seeded Stewartville (26-4) at 7 p.m. Wednesday night in the tournament’s semifinal round.
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