Beyond Our Ice | S7E1: What Lies Ahead

Beyond Our Ice | S7E1: What Lies Ahead

[Music] If you can believe it, you can achieve the highest hard to be afraid of. If you can believe it, then you won’t ever ever let them tell you no. Yeah, this right here is right here. Picking up the phone already know who calling ain’t no testing me. My destinies to be a baller. I’ve been going harder, never before. Ain’t no other order. Always knew I make it from the trenches up to be a starter. I’m an allar star shot caller. Take a look at the glow bright glow. You see the aura. Look how far they took it. You should know we going farther. Be a light in the day. It’s all over. You just start. [Music] [Music] Damn. What’s up? How you doing? Good to see you. Good to see you. Thank you. Thank you. That’s awesome. What’s up? How you doing? See you again. Good to see you. Congratulations. What’s up? Three years too late. Yeah. Yeah, I know. It’s been a long time. Hey, buddy. Perfect. Does that say your name? Yeah. Fired up back though, I tell you. That’s good, man. Nico Sturm up the wing for Minnesota. Fires and scores. First career goal for Nico Sturm. And Minnesota’s back in front for three. Got nothing but good memories of being here obviously in the wild. Giving me my first chance to become a a player in the National Hockey League and to homecoming. kind of a full circle moment, but at the same time, there was only one part of why I wanted to come back here, I wanted to sign here. And the other reason is that this feeling that I have about the Minnesota Wild still that they are always on this cusp of, you know, pushing to the next round, finally advancing. And I was fortunate enough to experience it twice. Sometimes you can’t help but think what it would be like to win here with with the fan base that we have here and how incredible it would be. So, I’m going to be doing my part, you know, of of hopefully bringing that cup to Minnesota. Thanks. Thank you. All right, we ready? All right. Welcome, welcome. Let’s talk about opportunity. Opportunity. This is an opportunity for everybody in this room. And you’ve earned it all on your own to this point. But now what? What are you going to do with it? I can’t give you any more opportunity. Coach can’t give you opportunity. This is a business. We’re in the business of winning. We’ll take whoever is on board, but we will not give it to you. You have to take it. Don’t look to me to give you an opportunity. Don’t look for me to give you games. Kick the door in. You want to play on this team? Show us that you should play on this team. Every guy in this room is probably at a different stage in their career. There’s veteran players that they know they’re going to be on the team. They expect to play in certain situations. There’s competition within that. There’s guys that are trying to make the team. The whole thing is all about competition. And young guys 18, 19, 20 years old, grab the opportunity. That’s how this business works. We need guys that are going to drive practice. If you want to make the team, you got to show what you can be on it. [Applause] You don’t like where you’re at, do something about it. If you can take somebody’s job, take it. It’s your life. It’s your career. Not mine. Not his, not his, not theirs. Yours. All we’re doing is looking for players who are going to help this organization win its first Stanley Cup. That’s what it’s all about, guys. It’s all about winning. [Music] [Applause] Day two, first official practice walking in. He’s just such a hardworking guy and what he brings on and off the ice with leadership and obviously winning a Stanley Cup is going to be a big voice for us in that room. [Applause] One thing about Sturmmy has always been unbelievable work ethic and always in a phenomenal shape. That guy’s never met a foam roller he doesn’t like. Pistons crossovers backwards against Carill, too. I’m going to have to skate forwards against this guy. Yeah. Take it easy on me. Take it easy on me. No dangles. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Shoot her. [Applause] All right. I’m going to need some icy out of my lower back. Like I can’t escape. Yeah. What’ you do? First ride I took this yanker. I’ve always been a a player that you know have a little bit of issue with the back pretty much since I was uh you know a teenager. Five 10 minutes into practice I started feeling almost immobilized like I couldn’t I couldn’t move on the ice. I tried to battle through practice cuz it was obviously the first day of camp and you don’t want to be the guy that leaves the ice after a couple minutes. Oh man, you uh doing a hot pack first. Yeah, here. Okay. First try at like if I go like this now. Awful. I’ll take I think disappointment is the the best word for it. You obviously feel a little bit like you you’re letting your teammates down. It it feels probably a little different if you get injured throughout the season, you know, in the course of play, but that the first half of scrimmage and then it was at the point where I got off the ice and I went downstairs and I couldn’t move at all. Hold that. Hold it. I’m going to be down after this. Okay. Yeah, like I I couldn’t skate the whole skate. I took my back first stride. Your what hurts? Like right in the middle of the lower back. Okay. I’ve been holding my breath the whole skate cuz I can’t take a stride. It’s hard as an athlete. We’re hardwired in a sense that we want to move and compete every day. So, I’m turning the corner now, moving upwards and and looking forward to sweating again and just working out and skating, even if it’s just, you know, by myself. something we’ve been waiting on maybe all summer long. Here’s the extension for this guy. Eligible to sign it on July 1. Carell Capriov in the Minnesota Wild. Still no progress when it comes to that contract. At the end of the day for Bill Garin, he does have to protect his players. He has to protect his franchise in a little bit of a, you know, it’s a tricky spot right now because he’s the best player probably they’ve ever had in Minnesota. For a chance to win it, he scores. Carill, the thrill is for real. Welcome to the NHL. A game winner for Capri off. Is there any challenge to focusing on hockey when there is the contract situation? Uh, it’s just it’s my job, you know. It’s just focus on hockey in the camp now right now and uh just want to be practicing. We have a lot of time uh just want to practice and be ready for the season and focus on this right now. There’s a lot that goes into it. There’s decision making on both sides and there’s just a process you have to go through. But in my mind, you know, I would have to go through the pros and cons of having Krill, not having Krill, you know, the possibilities of him walking, possibilities of him trading, how it affects our team, our organization as a whole, the business, the fan base, all those things. Nothing was better without Krill here. when it came down to crunch time to um move a little bit here or there, the most important thing was to get him signed. And you know what? I just felt like I did what I had to do. Better be. I’m so happy to stay nine more years here and uh it’s like I say before, it’s my second home. I happy to play here and uh can wait when season start. It’s nice feeling and uh you stay here for nine more years and you don’t think about nothing just about hockey and just can focus on this and your team and uh just keep playing and enjoy uh time in hockey. How do you celebrate this? How do you uh play a game tonight? No, no, no, no, no, no. I Come on. We have very different ways of celebrating. Oh, it was a busy off seasonason for Bill Garren in the Minnesota Wild. not only locking up Carrill Capri off to a contract extension, but also securing the services of Philip Gustoson and Marco Rossi to new deals. Everything’s looking good heading into the new year except the injury bug has bit before we even drop the puck on game number one. Matt Zuckerella will start the season on the injured reserve and now center Nico Sturm joins him on the shelf. You got a starting line. All right, start the season off right here. We got Moose, Diesel, Lenny, Mindy, [Applause] Chancellor’s back in, and he scores. Brian Hartman has the first goal a young season for Minnesota on the shot. It goes back to him in front deflection and score wind the draw. Point shot off the goal post. It’s loose. They score. Juel Erikson tips it in. Start moves down low. A shot saved by Gustoson. The shot saved by Gustoson. Back to Paul and a saved by Gustoson. First game came out swinging right away and you know a shout out is just a bonus. You know the team is still going to win and try to build some confidence from that game. [Applause] We have chance to show show our fans, our teammates and uh just can be better every day because we have so many games and we always just excited to play hockey. [Applause] All right. Started started the season on the road. We established that identity. Now we got to come home. We got to establish the identity we have at home, right? We want this place to be one of the hardest places to play in the league. Let’s come out with the mindset. We’re going to play fast. We’re going to play free. Like, let’s go and move our feet. Okay. Let’s have a great first and a great start. Okay. Cap. You got it. All right. Let’s keep this thing rolling. We got Croco Jimmy and it’s always like a special feeling in your stomach. You you skate in and you hear the gold horn and everyone’s super excited. Everyone in the stands are are excited. I always say guys this is different. One of the best feeling in hockey. It’s everyone excited and you get feeling sometimes go on your body like uh how it’s I don’t know like yeah like like it’s so nice. [Applause] [Applause] every year. He he grows a lot uh not just with the way he plays on the ice, but off the ice as well. Obviously with the type of player he is and the caliber of player he is. Everyone listens when he does speak up. But he knows most is talking on the ice. I go, I’ll go from the middle. If it goes to you, just bump it to me. I’ll go around the circle. just has that aura about him where you know you have a question on the ice related to something offensively or to something with possession and he’s going to probably give you a pretty good answer. Yeah, keep shooting. Yeah, Brodzky, it’s good. He’s the heartbeat of our team and he’s been taking over that leadership role with a positive attitude. Hey, he go on broad watch. [Applause] He plays every situation. He plays hard and he makes everyone around him better. And at the same time, he’s just a special player himself. Yeah. Skate, skate. Let’s go, boys. Don’t give time. show my best and uh don’t be lazy. It’s what I try to do. Not not be lazy and uh try to be better every day, help uh my teammates and just enjoy the hockey. I think that’s it. first couple of games we just uh go to the net simple plays and I think this is why we could we can score in power plays but you can say it’s uh simple but it’s not simple you always need to be around your back in oneonone And uh it’s makes more special in power play. And the next shot comes to Bris. It was breaking NHL records. It was tying NHL records. It was doing things that a power play hadn’t done to start a season in a number of years. Hangs on along the wall. Blue 10 feeds Baldi. a five on four. But if you just solely have a great power play, it becomes stressful for that group and the pressure there could almost crack whatever chemistry that they’re able to build and almost break some of the talents that they have. [Applause] When you chase offense, you give up easy offense. Don’t chase offense. Play the game. Let’s get up. Let’s get to the neutral zone. Let’s have good puck placement. Let’s get in the ozone. Let’s trigger. Take care of the puck resets. Get to the net front. He’s down. F3’s going to cover. That’s what we’re looking for. We’ve been the better team. We’ve been the better team. Now you got to go out and be the best team for 20 minutes. We get this game. All right. [Applause] Holds it. Has a lead again. One off the glass. Ericson gathers center. Boom. Scores. Too with his first jumble. Kill has that just the will and want to to win. You can see in his eyes during some games where if you’re looking down the bench and, you know, wondering who’s going to get you that goal or that make that play to tie the game or to win the game, I mean, you don’t have to look no further than 97. We got the horn going. We got the crowd into it. We had a giant crowd opening night, but certainly the result wasn’t what the the Wild were looking for. And and that’s going to be one of the storylines as the season kind of unfolds here early. We have some good periods in the games and then some very bad ones. So, this league is so hard. You know, every team is so good and our consistency isn’t there right now. Obviously you have to stay even kill it at the same time ride the highs and lows [Music] since I got here. It’s been a team that’s been resilient and doesn’t get uh frustrated too easily. So when you have that, I think you can get through the tough times and and and get start getting back on winning streaks. So the Wild trailed this hockey game early and often eventually saddled with a 74 loss to the Blue Jackets here in their home opener. [Music] Not getting the result in the home opener and all the chatter about getting back to being a good home team. He had a tougher team coming in in LA. One of the cup favorites in the Western Conference. I’m going to show all the priers. I’m going to stick to the plan. I’mma show everyone how I built an empire. Hands always to the gun. When the challenge come, just get up and run. It’s my [Music] Baldi is a power play. Sets up again. Baldi scores. The Wild. A great start by the Wild jumping out to the lead and it had the anxiety and the disappointment of seeing that lead evaporate. Fire saved by Volstead. There’s a rear and a fake stop by Volstead. And it had Yes for Ballstead with, you know, one of his best moments in his young NHL career. This is a guy the Wilder absolutely going to need to be good this year. And he was more than good in that game. He was excellent. For Los Angeles and a save by Boston. I think that’s what makes the goalie roll so different that there’s always a spotlight on you. It’s always up to you to be a difference maker. You make it or you break it. There’s no in between. I enjoyed the pressure. [Applause] Done. I am going to fall back. Boston. [Applause] [Music] [Music]

This is just the beginning of the 2025-2026 Minnesota Wild story.

▬ Chapters of Our Story ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
00:00 – Beyond Our Ice Season 7 Intro
01:10- What Lies Ahead
01:24 – Sturm Warning
02:55 – Opportunity
05:01 – Battle Through
08:33 – 97th Street
11:15 – Starting on the Road
13:06 – Same Barn New Name
13:30 – Home Opener
17:28 – The Power Play
18:30- Tied Up
19:53 – Within Two
20:44 – Final
20:55 – Wally’s Turn
22:18 – A Shootout in St Paul
22:54 – Enjoy the Pressure
23:15 – Dedicated to Ray Shero

Beyond Our Ice, presented by Grand Casino