On April 10, 2003 — exactly 20 years ago this coming Monday — the State of Hockey was in a state of bliss.
The Gophers men's hockey team defeated Michigan 3-2 in overtime in the Frozen Four semifinals. On the same date, the Wild upended the heavily favored Colorado Avalanche in Game 1 of their first NHL playoff series.
Two nights later, the Gophers won it all, capping back-to-back NCAA titles with a 5-1 win over New Hampshire. The Wild lost to Colorado, but they were just making things a little more challenging for themselves.
The Wild would fall behind in the series three games to one before winning the final three by identical 3-2 scores — the last two in overtime — to take the series. They repeated that pattern against Vancouver, and suddenly they were in the Western Conference Finals.
We've had hockey moments since then, to be sure. But the Gophers haven't won a national title since, nor have the Wild (who managed just one goal in that conference finals series against Anaheim) made it back that far in the playoffs.
As I talked about on Tuesday's Daily Delivery podcast, it was a golden time in local sports — one that transcended just hockey.
The Timberwolves went 51-31 in the 2002-03 season and took a 2-1 lead on the Lakers in a playoff series that overlapped with the Wild's run. Though the Wolves lost in six games, it laid the groundwork for a Western Conference finals trip the next year.
The Gophers' championship and the dueling Wild and Wolves playoff series distracted us from a Twins team that won the division in 2002 but had two separate six-game losing streaks in April 2003. The Twins eventually poured it on with a 46-23 record after the break to win their second of three straight AL Central titles.
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