Minnesota Wild surprises Northland teams with Youth Hockey Spotlight Game

In the state of hockey, many young players dream of making it to the pro-level one day.

Tuesday night, two Northland peewee teams got a taste of what it’s like to be part of the Minnesota Wild – and it was all a surprise.

The Minnesota Wild hosted the Youth Hockey Spotlight Game for Duluth East and Northshore B1 peewee teams at Duluth’s Heritage Center.

Both teams received a warm welcome from fans before walking into their newly decked out locker rooms. Their lockers had name plates, customized jerseys, water bottles, pucks, a duffel bag and more.

"It’ll be amazing, I’ve looked up to the team my whole life pretty much," said Duluth East player, Wesley Furin. "It’ll be just amazing to see some of the guys around the organization."

Coach Rich Heimbich saying this surprise could not have been given to a nicer group of kids.

Minnesota Wild TV analyst, Wes Walz and former player, Stephane Veilleux were honorary coaches, Nordy the mascot was there cheering the players on and the wild national anthem singer was on the ice to kick the game off.

The final score of tonight’s game was 5-4 – Duluth East taking home the win in a shootout.

Proceeds from the game will be split between both youth hockey organizations.