Assigning Every Wild Player to a Minnesota High School team

A few weeks ago, the Buffalo Sabres honored local high school hockey programs by wearing their sweaters to their game. That got me thinking… which school would each Minnesota Wild player wear. Now, I didn’t want to just blindly assign schools, so I thought I would match them up by playing style, town history, or player personality. We all know that any Minnesota high school team is filled with beauties up and down the lineup, so let’s see where our Wild guys line up.

Fact: more Minnesotans on NHL rosters than every province except Ontario and more Minnesotans than any other country except Canada and Sweden. @Buccigross @MinnHockey @usahockey pic.twitter.com/5FF6BAqryl

— Hockeyland (@hockeylandmovie) January 31, 2023

Forwards

Obviously, we gotta start with the forwards. Who doesn’t love a guy who can pot some ginos?

Sammy Walker – Edina High School

100 games played. 147 points. State Champion.

Kirill Kaprizov – Hibbing High School. Kirill was born in Novokuznetsk. That’s in Siberia. The town is known for coal mining and that’s a perfect fit with the Iron Range. I picked a bigger school because he has a flashier game than the smaller schools usually go for.

Mats Zuccarello – Rochester Lourdes. Apparently the first Norwegian settlement was in southern Minnesota. I chose Lourdes because they seem to make the Single A tournament once in awhile. Mats fits the bill of a small single A team but he’s a superstar that puts up points. Think Ben Hanowski and Little Falls.

Joel Eriksson Ek – Hill Murray High School. If you can’t close your eyes and see JEE playing shutdown 2 way hockey for Bill Lechner, just stop reading the blog.

Jordan Greenway – Blaine High School. Big, fast, tall, lanky. That describes pretty much every NHLer from Blaine.

Freddy Gaudreau – Duluth East. Fast, forechecks, has some skill to him. That’s a Mike Randolph Greyhound. (I know he’s not there anymore but he’s the reason you know them)

Matt Boldy

Saint Thomas Academy. Speaking of Randolph, Boldy is the prototypical Cadet. Would’ve been nasty enough to play varsity as a freshman, then left the team play for the US development program. What a fit.

Marcus Foligno – Wayzata High School. His dad played in the NHL so they would’ve settled west of 494. Wayzata seems like the best fit out of the Lake Conference.

Ryan Hartman – White Bear Lake. I don’t know why but my gut says he would play there.

Ryan Reaves – Roseau High School. He’s from nearby Winnipeg. Seems like a guy that will battle any given night. Especially for what’s on the front of the jersey.

Brandon Duhaime – Maple Grove. Speedy. Flashy. Seems like a natural athlete. Probably played multiple sports growing up and MG has a decent football team.

Connor Dewar, Mason Shaw – Hermantown. They have been on the same line since mites. Their parents took turns chaperoning the squad when they played in the Blue Ox tournament.

Sam Steel – Delano High School. He is from Sherwood Park, Alberta. I lived in the Bonnie Doon neighborhood of Edmonton as a kid. He goes to my hometown Delano Tigers.

Blueliners

Alex Goligoski – Grand Rapids High School

I mean… For starters, he already went there. Dominated at the high school level. No one looks better in Orange and Black than Alex Goligoski.

Jonas Brodin – Minnetonka. Rich. Good looking guy. Likes to play golf in the summer, hangout on the lake. Work on his tan. I’d put all the Euros in the Lake Conference if I could.

Jared Spurgeon – Mahtomedi. Don’t know why but his size screams Single A, skill says he’s a contender for the state title every year.

Calen Addison – Moorhead High School. Just sounds like a kid whose family had more money to live on the right side of the Red River. Plus, that school produces great skaters and Addison would fit right in.

Matt Dumba – Eden Prairie High School. Chippy but also flashy. Not saying there’s a lot of those kind of guys at EP but Dumba + Lee Smith = Xcel Energy Center in March.

Jacob Middleton – Grit. Likes to be nude. Missing teeth. Cloquet Lumberjack. Easy. No question. Seriously.

Jon Merrill – Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato. This needs little to no explanation.

Tendies

Marc Andre Fleury– Shattuck St Mary’s. Rich French Canadian. He wanted to play high school hockey but his parents ponied up the $50k a year and he played at Shattuck.

Which High School team needs more love?

So that’s the list. Obviously missing a couple guys, specifically Filly G, but that’s where you come in. Which high school team would the remaining and future Wild players represent on a jersey night? Let me know your thoughts!