Hanging Out in the Neighborhood

Parade Ice Gardens is not really in the neighborhood of Washburn or Richfield, not being particularly close to either of them. But for those of us whose kids played for Washburn (as opposed to Richfield) it feels like home turf. It was certainly home ice through the mite years.

It's also the practice rink for the Minnesota Wild. Every once in a while the Wild has an open practice, as you will recall from some earlier posts. Today, when we showed up 45 minutes early for the game, as we must per Coach McCoy's instructions, one of the Wild players was still signing autographs after their earlier practice.

Like many of the Wild players, Niklas Backstrom comes from Europe, in his case, Helsinki, Finland. Like Coach McCoy, Backstrom played in the Olympics. He was part of the Finnish national team that took the silver medal in 2006. After a successful career in Finland, he joined the Wild for the 2006-7 season. He still lives in Helsinki during the off season. He was signing autographs when I showed up, and was there long enough for me to get out my camera and get a few photos.

Many of the boys had him sign pieces of their equipment. Andy P., one of our goalies, got his blocker signed. Here's Wyatt waiting his turn. Don't know if that's his stick Backstrom is signing.

Backstrom even signed Bruno's jersey. Bruno is the brother of Max D., one of the Richfield Spartans. As you can see, Bruno is a veteran when it comes to meeting Wild players. Thanks, Jeff, for suggesting that they pose together.

And many thanks to Niklas Backstrom for staying around after practice to hang out with some fans.