Alex Bader
The Minnesota Wild and the St. Louis Blues are set to face off at Target Field in Minneapolis on New Year's Day at 6 p.m. It will be the leagues' 13th Winter Classic. It will be the first evening Winter Classic game and will be aired on TNT for the first time after NBC aired the previous 12 games. The road team has won eight of the previous 12 games, but this game is set to be located in the heart of the frozen tundra.
The high temperature for New Year's Day is -2°F with the low being -15°F. The temperature will hover around zero for puck drop but it will continue to get colder as the game is played. There is also a small chance of snow. It could make for one beautifully historic game.
Kaprizov is up for the task. He mentioned to the press that he has played in -20°F before when he was in Russia. He should be plenty familiar with the elements.
He will be asked to do a lot more and will need to show up in a big way with the world watching. The Wild are going to be without Eriksson Ek and Captain, Jared Spurgeon, who are injured ending their hopes of playing in the big game. They will be out for at least a couple of weeks.
The Wild also lost Jonas Brodin to Covid-19 protocol earlier in the week. He has a chance of playing the game thanks in part to the league changing their protocol for asymptomatic players to 5 days in isolation. Brodin is asymptotic, as of now, but will still need to test negative on Saturday to have a chance of playing.
It is questionable if the Wild will play him after he missed a week of practice or if they will throw Addison in - who they just recalled from Iowa. It is a waiting game, and Addison has a huge shot to prove himself if he is thrown in to the big game under the lights. He has to be ready.
Connor Dewar and Dakota Mermis were also called up by the Wild.
The Wild might be without some of their top guys, but this team can dig deep and give Minnesota fans something to cheer for in the freezing cold.
The Wild have had ample practice time and tons of time to heal up any bruises or aches. They haven't played a game since December 20th in what was their fourth loss in a row. The Wild are sure to come out energized.
The atmosphere and crowd will get this team buzzing and we may see a repeat of the last time the Wild played outside. They ran the Blackhawks out of the once called TCF stadium back in 2016 and the atmosphere was unbelievable.
I expect the same type of unbelievable atmosphere for Saturday. It may not be a blowout game, but this Wild team is full of proud guys and they will put on a show for their fans.
Kaprizov is going to light the lamp more than once, I can just feel it in my bones.
They will have to dig deep to find their legs and make sure that they play a full game. They have come out slow and sloppy in their last games and with so much time off, rust is a concern.
While the Wild have been having their games postponed, the Blues have been rising in the rankings and they enter the Winter Classic above the Wild by one point in the standings. However, the Wild have two games in hand on the Blues. This game could prove to be a pivotal turning point to determine the winner of the Central.
In other news, the Wild resigned Dean Evason and the entire coaching staff to multiple-year contracts on Thursday.
Evason had this to say: "You all get to see me another three fucking years." He is very happy to be here and excited to see where this team can go.
More importantly, the players are happy he is here and the coaching staff has done a great job turning this team around.
I predict the Wild will pull out the 4-2 win in their first-ever Winter Classic.
The NHL announced the Truly Hard Seltzer NHL PreGame, which is a free fan fest event that is open to the public on New Year's Day from 12:30 - 5:30 p.m. inside the Target Center. There will be dozens of attractions and musical guests to see. There is even a chance to win tickets to the game.
To see exact attractions go here https://www.targetcenter.com/news/detail/just-announced-nhl-winter-classic-fan-fest-on-january-01-2022
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