Spurgeon burns hometown team with first NHL hat trick

EDMONTON --Jared Spurgeon's dad, Barry, didn't join the team's father's and mentor's trip until the Wild arrived Thursday in the defenseman's hometown.
Good thing he saved the fireworks until dear old dad was in the house.
Spurgeon scored three times Friday night, securing his first NHL hat trick in front of plenty of friends and family in a 5-3 Wild victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Friday night at Rogers Place.

Asked when he had his last hat trick, Spurgeon needed a few seconds to remember.
"Probably in midget. In midget hockey," Spurgeon said with an uneasy, and unsure grin. "It's been a while. A couple of two-goal games, but it was nice to get that one."
Spurgeon's three goals were the final three for Minnesota, which rallied back from 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 deficits to finish its fathers trip with an unblemished record.

The win moved the Wild to within three points of the Calgary Flames for the second wild card spot in the Western Conference. Minnesota has two games in hand as well.
Which begs the question ... the dads gotta be present next week when the Wild travels to Detroit and Columbus, right?
"Better ask Billy," said interim head coach Dean Evason with a smile, referring to Guerin, the Wild's general manager.
Spurgeon wasn't the only Alberta boy to have a good night, however. Defenseman Carson Soucy also scored a goal Friday, doing so in front of more than 200 friendly faces.
The announcement of his goal inside the arena drew audible applause, folks thrilled for Soucy who grew up just 90 minutes down the road in Irma, Alberta.

Both Spurgeon and Soucy grew up Oilers fans and attended games at the team's old home rink, Northlands Coliseum.
Jared said Barry's commute to Rogers Place was about 15 minutes, "maybe 25 with traffic."
"A lot of memories. Season tickets with my grandpa, switching games with my brothers and my cousins and sister as well," Spurgeon said. "It's pretty special."
Any trip home is a special one for these two, but this one will certainly be tough to top. Made even more special by the fact these defensemen - not known for lighting the lamp - were able to do just that.
"I don't score a lot, so that was nice," Spurgeon said. "When you're growing up here, you dream of being an Oiler, and obviously that didn't work out. I don't usually think of scoring a hat trick, I'm more defending first, so it was nice tonight."
About the only thing to go wrong was an injury to Soucy late in the game, an upper-body ailment that kept him from returning.
Both he and Luke Kunin, who also had an upper-body injury, will have their statuses updated Saturday. The hope is that Kunin will have a chance to be the next Wild player to dagger his hometown team, which could happen Sunday when Minnesota hosts the St. Louis Blues.
"We had a real scramble-fest going there in the third period," Evason said. "But guys were committed and it didn't really matter who we called up, they just played and played the right way. It's very encouraging."