Home Ice Advantage: The State of Hockey has shown up for the Wild in St. Paul this season

Brock Faber has a perspective unique to the Minnesota Wild fan base. The Maple Grove native grew up a Wild fan. When he was a defenseman with the University of Minnesota Gophers, there’s an iconic photo of Faber cheering in the stands as Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov celebrated a goal on the other side of the glass.
A few seasons later, Faber and Kaprizov are Wild teammates.
“I was obviously a passionate fan,” Faber said. “Seeing both sides of it is so cool. I cared so much about the team, like I was on the team, basically. I’d get so mad and upset when they lost, and so happy when they won. I feel like that’s similar to a lot of our fans.
“I think that’s where some of the passion comes, is just how much they love the game. How much they love us. … When you’re a fan, you feel everything almost like you’re a player.”
Those fans, who care so much and go through the roller coaster of emotions based on game results, will continue to cheer on the Wild when they open a four-game homestand this week, starting with a game against Utah on Tuesday.
Following the Olympic break and an always-busy schedule of high school state tournaments, Grand Casino Arena will host the Wild for six of their next seven games.
The Wild are 18-7-7 at home this season. Victories are attributed to many aspects of the game, of course, but the home-ice advantage from Wild fans is certainly on the list.
“We’ve got a big homestand coming [up], and hope that leads into the playoffs,” said Wild coach John Hynes. “You want to have your atmosphere in the arena as a competitive advantage, and I think our fans have done that for us.”
Even when the players skate out onto the ice before games, with the lights out and a full arena of fans standing and cheering just ahead of player introductions, that’s enough to spark the team, give them energy and motivation, Faber said.
That energy starts before warm-ups, too. Fans of all ages, but especially the kids, line the glass along the boards with their hand-written signs, hoping their favorite player might see them. Players have noticed the excitement of warmups over the past couple of seasons, said winger Marcus Foligno, especially with fan-favorite players, like former Wild goaltender, Marc-Andre Fleury, or current fan favorite, Quinn Hughes.
“When you see the kids that want pucks and things like that, and building that relationship with them, making it personal,” Foligno said. ‘You’re not just skating around and too focused on the game. You’re trying to interact with them. It makes for a special relationship with our fans.
“They’re incredible. A lot of teams in this league don’t have that support every night, and we see it. We realize it.”
One such pregame warmup session provided more energy than the rest, when fans first got a glimpse of defenseman Hughes before his Wild debut Dec. 14 against the Boston Bruins. General Manager Bill Guerin said at the time what this move was going to do for Hughes in terms of fan support.
“There’s no better market than Minnesota to be a hockey player,” Guerin said.
Hughes found out quickly how supportive the State of Hockey can be, as he and the Wild skated off to a standing ovation at the end of warmups before his first game.
“It was pretty special, honestly,” Hughes said. “I wasn’t expecting that. But that was very cool. I know it’s a hockey market, but that was exciting.
“I've always enjoyed playing here. Just a massive hockey market, and, you know, always loud and always sold out, I feel like.”

Hughes has delivered on the ice and on the stat sheet with his play, undoubtedly gaining more fan support as games go by. After his goal in the March 3 game against Tampa Bay, fans started a “USA!” chant, with a nod to the blue liner in the wake of the Olympic gold medal Hughes won with Team USA.
Besides warmups and fan favorites, fans have enjoyed a lot of extra hockey this season, too. The Wild have played 15 overtime games at Grand Casino Arena this season, with eight overtime or shootout victories in front of the home crowd. Fans are always into overtime, often standing for the duration until the game ends.
“It’s things like that that you get goosebumps about,” Foligno said. “Because when it gets rockin’, it’s a really unbelievable crowd.”
Captain Jared Spurgeon also acknowledged the condensed schedule this season, without games for most of February due to the Olympic break. He noted how tough it might be for fans, too, with games sometimes “every other night. I’m sure they’re, at the same, time thinking of why we’re playing so much. But every night, they’re out there and they bring it for us. You feed off that every night.”
Walking out of the tunnel for home games is always very special, he added. Weeknights, late-evening puck drops, weekends, snow storms, the fans are there.
“They always show up when things are going well, or when things are maybe not going so well,” said Ryan Hartman.
With the slow start to the season, the Wild also struggled to string together wins on home ice in October. They lost their home opener to the Columbus Blue Jackets and went 0-2-2 to start a six-game homestand in late October and early November before rebounding for a pair of victories as they found their winning ways on home ice.
“We started off slow, and the fans saw that, too,” said goaltender Filip Gustavsson. “We got it going, and the fans came back, and we’re rolling higher than ever. You feel that.
“They’re setting the whole atmosphere out there and making you just play even harder.”
The Wild built winning streaks, including sweeping four in a row at home in mid-December as part of a seven-game winning streak. The fan atmosphere has been fantastic from November on, Hynes said.
“I think once we got playing the way we needed to play and gave the fans something to cheer about and get behind, it’s been unbelievable,” Hynes said. “Sold-out buildings. The fan support’s been fantastic. The building’s rocking every night.
“That always helps down the stretch.”
Whether players or fans, everyone is hoping the home-ice, fan advantage carries over to a long playoff run this spring.
“We want to do something special for them this year, that’s for sure,” Foligno said. “We’re a confident group this year, and I think that we’ve got a lot of good, positive things around us. Feels like it’s time to kick that door down.”