Minnesota Wild

A National Hockey League franchise headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota. The team is often considered both successful and highly underrated as of late, due to the fact the franchise has only been active since the year 2000, but have managed to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs three times in a six season span, which is well above the norm for expansion teams (another franchise, the Columbus Blue Jackets, was inducted into the league the same year and have yet to make the playoffs once). In recent history, the Minnesota Wild have made a very well-known reputation as a highly defensive team. Due to their conservative strategy, the Wild often find themselves categorized as a team with the fewest goals against. This is attributed most commonly to the Wild's initial (and still current: 12/07/08) head coach, Jacques Lemaire, who historically employs highly defensive strategy, demands strong performance from his goaltenders and prioritizes his teams' penalty kill units. The Wild's defensive strategy is often compared to that of the late 90's New Jersey Devils, which was also coached by Lemaire. Uniquely, the Minnesota Wild franchise focuses much of its efforts on fan appreciation. Upon its creation, the Wild dubbed their home state as the "State of Hockey," in honor of the state's strong interest in hockey. The Wild also dubs itself as the "Team of 18,000," again honoring Minnesota fans as dedicated. As a testament to this honor, as of December 07 2008, the Wild have sold out every single home game in franchise history.