Wild's Swedes - and honorary Swede - celebrate new Christmas tradition

ST. PAUL -- While many of the Wild's veteran players were busy tending to their kids and families, some of its younger core was getting ready for next weekend's Winter Classic by playing a little outdoor hockey and celebrating what they termed a "Swedish Christmas."
It was one of the ways Wild players killed an extra day of holiday break after its game on Dec. 23 against the Detroit Red Wings became the fourth to be postponed and before the NHL announced that its contest against the Winnipeg Jets on Dec. 27 would suffer the same fate.
That makes Minnesota's next game the Winter Classic, set for New Year's Day against the St. Louis Blues at Target Field.

The get-together for Christmas Eve is part of a new tradition started last year during the heart of the pandemic, when players' families were unable to come over to the United States to celebrate the holiday break.
The day was split into two parts, with the team's Swedish players getting together for a traditional Swedish Christmas meal after being joined for a spin around the ice by Norwegian Mats Zuccarello and Russian Kirill Kaprizov.
The Swedish group includes Switzerland native Kevin Fiala, who lives in Sweden in the offseason and is pseudo-honorary Swede.
Which begs the question ... what makes a Christmas celebration a "Swedish Christmas?"
"They're very similar, but the food is different," Fiala said. "There's meatballs, there's eggs, sausage. It was very good."

Both Fiala and defenseman Jonas Brodin said the morning skate on Christmas Eve was something both used to do as kids, when they'd head outside onto a local rink or pond, lace up the skates and hit the ice.
That too was a tradition that was renewed last season, a couple of weeks before the Wild's shortened season actually began.
The dinner group was Fiala and Brodin, as well as Victor Rask and Joel Eriksson Ek and their significant others, while Zuccarello and Kaprizov were present for the on-ice portion only.
Instagram from @matszuccarello: Merry Christmas🎅🏻🎅🏻
"They did it once like two or three years ago and liked it, so it was really cool to be able to do it with them this time," Fiala said. "It kind of reminds me of when I was young, so it was really fun."
While nobody knows for sure what the future holds when it comes to the pandemic and what the landscape could look like next Christmas, it's clear the Wild's Swedes - and honorary Swedes - have developed a fun little holiday tradition.
"Last year, we did [the dinner] at my place and we had Marcus Johansson over too. This year we did the same thing but at Rask's place," Brodin said. "We just hang out. We don't have much family in town, so we just hang out together."

Eriksson Ek, Spurgeon to miss Winter Classic

It was believed before the holiday break that both Eriksson Ek and defenseman Jared Spurgeon would likely miss the Winter Classic because of injury, and Wild coach Dean Evason confirmed as much on Sunday.
"Both are not positive, not rosey outcomes," Evason said. "But as far as timeline and all of that, I do not have a time frame [for a return]."
The news is disappointing for the Wild, which will be without arguably its top defenseman and its top centerman for the foreseeable future.
But it's also a big letdown for two of the team's leaders, who will be unable to participate in a marquee event that the State of Hockey has been looking forward to for nearly two years now.

"[Wild assistant coach] Bob Woods has been a part of a couple and we were part of one in Pittsburgh with Washington and it's just such a special atmosphere around the game. It has that unique feeling, that carnival-kind of feeling," Evason said. "It's just so special going to the rink and the people and how excited they were. It's disappointing for those two players, and disappointing for us because they are two key players."
In practice on Sunday, Ryan Hartman continued between Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello, while Eriksson Ek's absence meant the splitting up of Marcus Foligno and Jordan Greenway.
Foligno skated with Fiala and Freddy Gaudreau while Greenway was paired with Nico Sturm and Brandon Duhaime.
Rask was lined up with Rem Pitlick and Nick Bjugstad.
Without Spurgeon, Alex Goligoski skated with Jon Merrill, Brodin was with Matt Dumba and Jordie Benn was paired with Dmitry Kulikov.

Both Cam Talbot and Kaapo Kahkonen showed off their Winter Classic pads and helmets for the first time as well.

Back and accounted for

When the Wild departed for the four-day holiday break last week, it left as one of the few NHL teams without a name on the COVID-19 protocol list.
It returned to the ice on Sunday afternoon at TRIA Rink in the same fashion.
After a few days away from the ice, Evason said he wanted to put the players through a practice that featured "pace," and he came away impressed with how the group looked.

"We thought we looked real good," Evason said. "I think they're excited, obviously. It's a good time of year, everyone feels good. We liked our pace, obviously we didn't go very long. But we wanted to get a real good flow."
The Wild will practice again on Monday and Tuesday, focusing on defensive and offensive zone work before taking a day off Wednesday.
It will get back to business Thursday at TRIA Rink, where it will delve more deeply into the St. Louis Blues before getting to skate on the ice surface at Target Field for the first time on Friday afternoon.

The team won't have a morning skate on Saturday prior to puck drop at 6 p.m., so any final tweaks and kinks must be worked out in that Friday session, which Evason said will serve as a morning skate of sorts.
"Just get going and feel the surroundings and all that good stuff," Evason said. "We're excited to get going for that game on the first."
Photo by Erin Loughrey