When you think of veteran leaders on a hockey team, a guy in his 30s with a beard and the battle scars of 600-plus nights in the NHL trenches comes to mind. The Minnesota Wild have more than one of those, personified by the likes of Zach Bogosian and Ryan Hartman, who fit the part, right down to the beard.

Minnesota Wild’s Brock Faber (7) looks to pass during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the St. Louis Blues Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

On a Wild roster featuring an abundance of youth in the likes of David Jiricek (60 regular season NHL games on his resume entering this season), Liam Ohgren (29), Daemon Hunt (13), Zeev Buium (0), Danila Yurov (0) and Hunter Haight (0), the Minnesota coaches are looking to a younger leadership group, much closer in age to the newbies, to offer friendship in the room and advice on the ice.

Among those coach John Hynes is leaning on to lead the way for his six-pack of newcomers are top-line forwards Matt Boldy and Marco Rossi, each of them 24, and defenseman Brock Faber, who turned 23 this year but is rapidly approaching 200 NHL games in the regular season and playoffs.

“Brock’s a young guy, but he has had great experience and is a little bit mature beyond his years,” Hynes said, following the season-opening blowout win in St. Louis. “I’d say the same thing for Boldy and Rossi. They’re two young guys, but they’ve played important roles for our team.”

While the experience of longtime NHL fixtures like captain Jared Spurgeon and two-time Stanley Cup winner Vladimir Tarasenko cannot be discounted, Hynes’ trio of younger leaders is expected to be vital this season as injures and other moves force more players from the Iowa Wild into the NHL lineup.

“All three of them, even though they’re under 24, because they have strong experience … their focus level, their maturity as people and I think in life helps,” Hynes said. “Because they’re so close in age with some of those young guys as well.”

For Boldy, it was just four years ago that he was a NHL rookie. So he still has fresh memories of those exciting and stressful first games in the spotlight of the world’s top hockey league and can relate to what teammates like Ohgren, who sits next to Boldy in the team locker room, are facing.

Just a few years ago, players like Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek and Marcus Foligno – then in their 20s – were in the “young mentor” role for newbies like Boldy.

“I feel like we’re still in that position, but obviously not very far removed,” said Boldy, who had a goal and two assists in the 5-0 win over the Blues on Thursday. “A lot of the same guys from my first year are still here, and I think how good they were when I came in, making me feel comfortable and confident. I think that’s something we tried to help everyone else with.”

Haight was one of the last cuts from training camp, but his trip to Iowa was a down-and-back, as the Wild recalled him almost immediately when it became clear that veteran Nico Sturm would not be healthy enough to start the season centering the fourth line.

In his NHL debut on Thursday, with a number of family members and friends from around London, Ontario, in attendance, Haight logged 10 minutes of ice time, recorded two hits, and won five of the eight faceoffs he took.

Even when they were sending him down to the minors initially, the Wild leadership’s message to Haight was that he was on the cusp of being a contributor at the NHL level.

“It was that I was right there, and just to keep working and keep doing what I’m doing,” Haight recalled. “Because it’s working and it’s catching eyes, and I’ve just got to go up from there.”

After leaving Boston College for the pro ranks, Boldy logged two dozen games in Iowa before getting called up to “the show.” Now in the role of mentor instead of mentee, he knows the fragile confidence level some players have, and what veterans in his position can best provide.

“It’s stressful. There’s a lot going on. You can’t get too low or too high, I think that’s the biggest thing,” Boldy said. “Everything comes. Points come, goals come. You’re going to get put on the ice a lot more when you’re doing the right things, and that’s usually when you’re not thinking about the other stuff.”

With youth on one end, seasoned veterans on the other end, and a young leadership group in, the Wild head into their home opener, and the 80 games beyond, believing that they have a mix that will mean another playoff trip, and more, in 2025-26.

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Love winter? The St. Paul Winter Carnival is still seeking candidates for Aurora, Queen of the Snows for 2026.

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The application process is currently underway ahead of the upcoming carnival, which will be held Jan. 22-Feb. 1.

To apply for this volunteer role, you don’t need to live in St. Paul, but you do have to be at least 21 years old by Jan. 15, 2026.

Candidates must submit an online application, including a resume, by 11:59 p.m. on Nov. 1.

The Winter Carnival’s cast of characters, including King Boreas, spend the 10 days of the festival making appearances and playacting the battle between winter and spring; they continue to make appearances throughout their yearlong reign.

Apply and get more info on the queen — and other roles in the Winter Carnival legend — at wintercarnival.com/p/traditions–the-legend/become-a-legend-character.

By CLAIRE RUSH, Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A U.S. citizen in Portland, Oregon, was detained by plainclothes officers and held at the city’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building for hours before being released, according to his attorney.

Francisco Miranda was outside his place of work early on Oct. 2 when multiple agents wearing masks, who did not identify themselves, approached him and told him he was “on an overstay,” his attorney Michael Fuller said. In a video that Miranda took of his detention, he can be heard saying, “What do you mean, overstay? I don’t know what that is.”

He told the officers that he was born in California. After objecting to being taken into custody and saying he hadn’t done anything wrong, an officer can be heard on the video saying, “We’re gonna put you in cuffs or you’re gonna get the dog.”

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Miranda was then struck from behind, handcuffed and put into an unmarked vehicle that took him to Portland’s ICE building, Fuller said. He was held there for several hours before being driven back to his place of work.

ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment.

Willamette Week, a local news outlet, first reported the incident.

Fuller said it was the first detention of a U.S. citizen on the pretext of being in the country illegally that he was aware of in Oregon. Such detentions have occurred elsewhere in the country, including in Alabama, Florida and Southern California.

Aggressive immigration enforcement has been central to President Donald Trump’s agenda.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Janelle Bynum said she was “infuriated” by what happened to her constituent. “Masked federal agents aren’t welcome in our state and they can’t keep kidnapping Americans,” she said in a statement.

Fuller, who said he has a copy of Miranda’s California birth certificate, sent a tort claim notice to the Department of Homeland Security and a letter to its leader Kristi Noem, requesting the documents and information used to justify the detention. DHS oversees ICE.

“I hope that ICE and the senior officials will just provide us the documentation,” Fuller said. “If it truly was an honest mistake that couldn’t have been avoided, then we won’t go to court. Right now, we’ve just been given no answers. And so that’s all we’re asking for at this point, it’s just answers.”

By MICHAEL CASEY, Associated Press

A federal judge ruled Friday that the Trump administration cannot put conditions on grants that fund efforts to combat domestic violence, including barring groups from promoting diversity, equity and inclusion or providing abortion resources.

U.S. District Court Judge Melissa DuBose in Providence, Rhode Island, granted a motion by 17 statewide anti-domestic and sexual violence coalitions for a preliminary injunction, which blocks the Trump administration from enforcing its conditions while the lawsuit plays out.

“Without preliminary relief, the Plaintiffs will face irreparable harm that will disrupt vital services to victims of homelessness and domestic and sexual violence,” DuBose wrote in her ruling. “On the contrary, if preliminary relief is granted, the Defendants will merely need to revert back to considering grant applications and awarding funds as they normally would.”

DuBose, however, went further in the scope of her ruling. She ruled that the decision preventing these grant conditions went beyond plaintiffs and will apply to anyone applying for money doled out by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“Organizations serving survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, LGBTQ+ youth, and people experiencing homelessness should not be forced to abandon their work, erase the identities of those they serve, or compromise their values just to keep their doors open,” Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, which was one of the groups representing plaintiffs, said in a statement. “This unlawful and harmful policy puts extreme schemes ahead of people’s dignity and safety by restricting essential federal support.”

Emily Martin, chief program officer at the National Women’s Law Center, one of five organizations representing the coalitions, also welcomed the ruling.

“When this administration claims to be targeting ‘illegal DEI’ and ‘gender ideology,’ what it is really trying to do is strip life-saving services from survivors of sexual violence and domestic violence, LGBTQ+ youth, and people without homes,” Martin said. “Today’s order makes clear that these federal grants exist to serve people in need, not to advance a regressive political agenda.”

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Neither HUD nor HHS responded to a request for comment.

In their July lawsuit, the groups said the Trump administration was putting them in a difficult position.

If they don’t apply for federal money allocated under the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, they might not be able to provide rape crisis centers, battered women’s shelters and other programs to support victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. But if the groups do apply, they said they would be forced to “fundamentally change their programming, abandon outreach methods and programs designed to best serve their communities, and risk exposing themselves to ruinous liability.”

The groups suing, including organizations combating domestic violence from California to Rhode Island, argue the conditions violate the First Amendment. They also argue that the conditions violate the Administrative Procedure Act by exceeding defendants’ authority by “in some cases outright conflicting with governing law or failing to follow required procedure.”

The government argues that the matter has to do with payments to these groups and, as such, should be handled by the Court of Federal Claims.

Even if the jurisdiction argument fails, the government argues federal agencies may impose conditions on funding that “further certain policies and priorities consistent with the authority provided by grant program statutes.”

“Both agencies have long required compliance with federal antidiscrimination law as a condition of receiving a federal grant,” the government wrote in court documents.