What we do know is that hockey season is quickly approaching.
On Sept. 15, the Wild will head to St. Louis to join the Blues and Blackhawks for the Tom Kurvers Prospect tournament. Training camp begins Sept. 19. The first preseason game is Sept. 21. They open the regular season at home Oct. 10 against Columbus. That’s what I love about hockey: Camp opens, a few preseason games are played, then they drop the puck on the season.
I’m hearing that Matt Boldy and Marco Rossi are in excellent shape heading into camp. John Hynes enters his first camp as Wild coach after replacing Dean Evason midseason, and he’s going to look at all kinds of line combinations. There are young players in Liam Ohgren and Marat Khusnutdinov to watch develop.
Laine didn’t want to play here. So focus on the ones who want to.
One thing I watched for Thursday was if the Gophers run defense would show signs of improvement after being one of the worst in the Big Ten in 2023. There are reasons for concern.
North Carolina running back Omarion Hampton, who rushed for more than 1,500 yards last season, gave the unit all it could handle, rushing 30 times for 129 yards. He gained 54 yards on 13 carries in the third quarter.