Former Wild coach Mike Yeo enjoys trip back 'home'

Not often does a coach get to sleep in his own bed twice before a road game.

But Mike Yeo, even though he now coaches in St. Louis, still has his home in Woodbury, where his wife, Tanya, and son, Kyler, are living so Kyler can complete his final year of high school.

Yeo and the Blues arrived in town after Friday's game in New Jersey, so the former Wild coach had Saturday and will have much of Sunday to visit with his family, including daughter, Braeden, who flew back from college in Colorado.

"The schedule comes out, and the first thing you look at is, 'When's the first time you play them?' That was our first home game," Yeo said. "Next thing is, 'When's the first game back in Minnesota?' Now it's here, and of course, it's going to be exciting, it'll be emotional."

The Blues, where Yeo is associate coach and slated to become Ken Hitchcock's successor as head coach next season, have already beaten the Wild twice, so most of the awkward feelings have worn off for Yeo. But he's excited to step foot in Xcel Energy Center again. In fact, the Blues play two more road games in Minnesota this season, and not only will Yeo have two nights in Minnesota before each of those games, the next one also leads into the All-Star break.

"I have a bottle of wine to whoever the schedule maker is," Yeo said.

Saturday night, Yeo will get to attend Kyler's high-school hockey game — Hill-Murray vs. Mahtomedi. A senior co-captain who had six points in his first three games, Kyler hopes to play junior hockey next season.

Once the puck drops Sunday, Yeo said he'll quickly turn his attention to his team and players. But he's looking forward to seeing a lot of familiar faces around the arena.

"But both teams are close in the standings, and this has always been a rivalry between these two teams, so it's going to be about the game itself, and not me," Yeo said. "I love what I'm doing, I love where I'm at right now, but I also loved my time there, working with those guys.

"In Minnesota, it was such an awesome part of my life. I think in this business, we've all faced change and we've learned how to deal with it reasonably well. But that doesn't mean there's not emotions and you don't have an attachment to something that was important to you."

Yeo's proud of the three straight playoff appearances under his guidance. He's the only coach in franchise history to get the team into the second round twice.

"When I was hired, the goal was to become a team that made the playoffs year after year and had a chance to compete for the Stanley Cup," Yeo said. "We accomplished that, but then the goal changed and we wanted to win the Stanley Cup. Obviously, we fell short of that.

"So, I'm not saying we accomplished everything we wanted to by any means, but we did some good things. Even to this day when I watch them, I'm really proud of those players. You watch them, the way they play the game, I'd like to think I had a little, small part in that."

The Wild plans to acknowledge Yeo and Blues assistant coach Rick Wilson, who spent six years with the Wild after first coming in as Todd Richards' assistant, during a first-period TV timeout. Yeo joked that he usually watches the Kiss Cam anyway during TV timeouts, so he'll keep a look out.

He remains thankful to the Wild for giving him his first head-coaching job and to the fans for supporting him.

"When I was let go in February, I was still living in Minnesota and they were playing and playing well, so I had no choice but to process everything and move on," Yeo said. "But we're competitors. I was happy with the result of the first two games [against the Wild] and I'll keep my attention toward trying to win the hockey game."