Minnesota
Down on the Farm: Back Where Boyd Belongs | Minnesota Wild
The State of Hockey is like “no other place” for Travis Boyd.
Growing up in Hopkins, Minnesota, forward Travis Boyd’s passion for hockey began by watching his older brother, Brandon. His brother’s influence started the “hockey engine” within.
“I was fortunate to have an older brother who actually got into it before I did,” said the former standout at Hopkins High School. “When he started, I was just doing anything he did. When he was six, my parents got both of us a full set of hockey gear. So, I started playing when I was three”.
Boyd is among a small group from the State of Hockey whose earliest influences of childhood hockey took place at a time when the NHL did not exist in Saint Paul. Born six months after the North Stars fled south for Dallas, young Boyd found inspiration in the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers hockey team.
“My first hockey dream was to play for the Gophers,” he said with a smile. “Growing up, my parents didn’t have cable, but my grandma did. We would all get in the car and drive up to my grandma’s house in New Hope on Friday and Saturdays just watch the Gopher games.”
Boyd went on to play for the University of Minnesota from 2011-2015. Over four seasons, he totaled 32 goals and 64 assists for 96 points in 148 games for the maroon and gold.
“The Gophers were the first big step for me,” said Boyd. “My four years playing for the University of Minnesota was just as special as anything I’ve done playing in the NHL.”
Boyd was drafted by Washington in the sixth round (#177) of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. He turned pro in 2015, joining the AHL’s Hershey Bears. After a few developmental seasons in Hershey, Boyd joined Washington and helped the Capitals win the Stanley Cup in 2018. One of his best memories of the cup run came in Washington’s second round match up with Pittsburgh. Game Six was Boyd’s lone appearance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
“It was first time I played against Pittsburgh,” he explained. “They had last change and I was the third-line center. First shift I get tossed out there. I was just staring at Pittsburgh’s bench, just seeing who was coming, because I noticed 87 (Sidney Crosby) hadn’t been on the on the sheet yet. And of course, he hopped over and took the face off against me.
“It was just such a cool moment for me because my bedroom door growing up was littered with Crosby photos. I had his jersey in my closet and used to wear it every day. To be able to go out there and take a face off against him and compete against them is something I’ll never forget.”
During his time in Washington, he was fortunate enough to play alongside the greatest goal scorer in NHL history, Alex Ovechkin. He gives Ovechkin credit for teaching him the best ways for a right shot to play left wing, essentially Ovechkin’s operating room for the last two decades.
“Everybody can see what he does on the ice and how special it is,” said the 31-year-old. “He’s just a naturally gifted goal scorer and now the best goal scorer in the history of hockey. But the thing that nobody sees is how good of a person he is off the ice.
“When I was first called up to the Capitals, it was the first or second day,” explained Boyd. “We were doing a pre-game skate. He skated by me, grabbed my stick and handed me his. He said he was just going to try it out and he skated off. There I was, skating around and his stick has this massive curve”.
As his career progressed, Boyd moved along from Washington to Toronto, Vancouver and Arizona. Before joining Minnesota, he played in a total of 296 NHL games with 47 goals and 71 assists for 118 points. Coming home was an easy decision for the seventh-year pro, who believes the State of Hockey is like no other place in the Unites States when it comes to youth programs and a deep passionate love for the sport.
“Minnesota and its hockey culture is like nowhere else. There’s not another state that can even come close,”
said Boyd.
“It’s such a unique thing. There really is no other place like Minnesota. It’s like Texas football, Indiana basketball or Iowa wrestling. Minnesota is by far the most special place to play. I’m fortunate and proud to be from Minnesota.
I’m very proud to say that’s where I come from”.
Minnesota
Utah Mammoth take down Minnesota 5-2 to end the Wild’s winning streak at 6
The Wild were taken down by the Utah Mammoth 5-2 on Friday night to end Minnesota’s winning streak at six games.
Lawson Crouse scored twice and U.S. Olympian Clayton Keller had a goal and two assists for Utah.
Logan Cooley and Barrett Hayton also scored and Karel Vejmelka made 21 saves to help the Mammoth rebound from a 4-2 home loss to NHL-leading Colorado on Wednesday night in their return from the Olympic break. Utah began the night in the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
U.S. Olympian Matt Boldy scored and assisted on Kirill Kaprizov’s goal for Minnesota. Second behind Central Division-rival Colorado in the West, the Wild are 9-2-1 in their last 12. They beat the Avalanche 5-2 on Thursday night in Denver.
Cooley opened the scoring with a short-handed goal with 6:37 left in the first period. The former University of Minnesota star got the puck on the right side off a deflection and put a shot between Wallstedt’s legs for his 15th goal.
Keller scored his 18th at 4:26 of the second. Nick Schmaltz forced a turnover on a forecheck and fed Keller on the right side.
Crouse made it 3-0 at 7:49 of the second. He came down the middle, took a pass from Keller and beat Wallstedt with a backhander.
Kaprizov countered for Minnesota on a power play with 5:57 left in the second. He has 33 goals this season.
Hayton made it 4-1 on a power play at 1:19 of the third, and Crouse added his 16th of the season on a tip with 7:12 to go.
Boldy got his 35th of the season with 5:57 remaining.
Up next
Wild: Host St. Louis on Sunday.
Mammoth: Host Chicago on Sunday.
Minnesota
Shorthanded Clippers can’t keep pace with Anthony Edwards and Minnesota
Anthony Edwards scored 31 points, Donte DiVincenzo added 18 and the surging Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Clippers 94-88 on Thursday night.
Jaden McDaniels and Ayo Dosunmu each scored 12 points and Rudy Gobert had 13 rebounds to help the Timberwolves improve to 5-1 since Feb. 9 and 3-1 since the All-Star break.
Edwards, returning to the site of the All-Star Game, where he was the MVP, was 12 for 24 from the floor and sealed the victory with a step-back three-pointer over two defenders for a 92-88 lead with 42.9 seconds left.
Minnesota improved to 2-0 on a three-game trip.
Derrick Jones Jr. scored 18 points and Bennedict Mathurin added 14 for the Clippers, who struggled from the outset with a season-low 38 points in the first half. Kris Dunn had 11 points for the Clippers (27-31), who have lost three consecutive games for the first time since December.
The Clippers struggled on offense without star Kawhi Leonard, out because of ankle soreness. The Clippers shot 40.5% from the floor, including 18.2% (four for 22) in the second quarter. Minnesota shot 43.4% in the game.
The Timberwolves (37-23) scored just 15 points in the second quarter and still topped the Clippers, who had 11. Minnesota led 44-38 at halftime behind 12 points from DiVincenzo and 11 from Edwards.
The Clippers led by six in the third quarter and were up 68-63 heading into the fourth. Edwards’ drive and reverse layup put the Timberwolves up for good at 76-74 with 7:40 remaining.
The Clippers pulled within one three times in the last 2½ minutes, but Edwards answered each time. He scored the Timberwolves’ last nine points.
Up next for Clippers: vs. New Orleans on Sunday night.
Minnesota
Church congregant filed lawsuit against alleged Minnesota church protesters
A St. Paul church member has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that a group of individuals, including journalist Don Lemon and activist Nekima Levy Armstrong, unlawfully disrupted service last month as part of a coordinated political demonstration.
The complaint, filed by Ann Doucette in the U.S. District Court of Minnesota, alleges that a Jan. 18 demonstration at Cities Church interfered with her ability to worship and caused her to suffer damages, including emotional distress and trauma.
In addition to the former CNN anchor and Armstrong, the complaint names journalist Georgia Fort and activists Will Kelly, Jerome Richardson, Trahern Crews and Jamael Lundy. It also names St. Paul school board member Chauntyll Allen.
Doucette and seven of the defendants did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Doucette filed the complaint without the representation of an attorney. In an emailed statement to NBC News, Crews denied the lawsuit’s allegations “with empathy and compassion.”
The lawsuit accuses the group of civil conspiracy, aiding and abetting, intentional infliction of emotional distress, interference with religious exercise and trespassing.
“As a result of Defendants’ actions, the worship service was disrupted, congregants experienced fear and distress, and Plaintiff’s ability to freely exercise her religion in a private place of worship was unlawfully interfered with,” the lawsuit states.
All eight defendants are also facing federal charges for conspiracy against the rights of religious freedom at a place of worship and for interfering with the exercise of the right of religious freedom. Lemon has pleaded not guilty to all charges, saying outside the court, “I wanted to say this isn’t just about me, this is about all journalists, especially in the United States.”
Fort, Crews and Lundy were released on bond and entered not guilty pleas, according to The Associated Press.
This is the latest legal action tied to protests in the Twin Cities, where tensions remain over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
According to the lawsuit, the demonstrators engaged in “coordinated conduct” by organizing meetings ahead of the “Operation Pullup” protest and promoting it on social media.
The lawsuit alleges that on the morning of Jan. 18, a coordinated group of individuals entered Cities Church, halting the worship service, and chanting “‘ICE Out!’ and ‘Hands Up, Don’t Shoot!’” while obstructing aisles. Protesters could allegedly be seen “confronting the pastor and congregants in a menacing manner,” the lawsuit says, noting that their chanting and “aggressive gestures” caused “severe emotional distress, fear, anxiety, and trauma” and caused children “terror.”
Demonstrators gathered at the church because they said its pastor, David Easterwood, was the acting director of an ICE field office in the city, the lawsuit says.
Lemon was arrested in January in California and accused of violating federal civil rights law after covering the protest on Jan. 18. He was released on a personal recognizance bond before a federal grand jury in Minnesota returned the indictment against Lemon and eight co-defendants, all of whom are also named in Doucette’s lawsuit.
In the lawsuit, Doucette alleges that Lemon specifically livestreamed the protest, “noting congregants’ fear and distress, and appeared to take satisfaction in the disruption.”
Levy Armstrong, a Minneapolis-based civil rights attorney and activist, was also arrested for her participation in the St. Paul protest. Her arrest drew national attention after the White House shared on social media doctored photos where she appeared to be crying.
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