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
Wildfire smoke from Canada and Minnesota pushes further into US, engulfing DC in eerie haze
NEW YORK (AP) — Millions of people in the Great Lakes, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states muddled through another day of unhealthy air from uncontrolled wildfires on Friday, as smoke enveloped the nation’s capital in a gloomy, eerie haze.
Air quality warnings were expected to remain in effect through Saturday across a wide swath of the U.S., but there’s potential for temporary relief with rains and storms forecast over a chunk of the affected region over the weekend.
The smoky conditions won’t be gone anytime soon, though, as fires burn unchecked across a remote region of Canada, cautioned Bob Oravec, a lead forecaster at the National Weather Service based in Maryland. Wildfires in a wilderness area in Minnesota are also contributing to the smoke.
“The source of the smoke is going to continue on for certainly a week, probably,” he said. “So in some form, there’s going to be smoke that gets transported from the fires downstream, and it’s just going to depend upon which way the wind’s blowing as to where the smoke is going to affect the most.”
On Friday, communities in Minnesota, Michigan and Illinois closest to the Canadian border and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota again registered some of the worst air quality in the world, according to IQAir, an air quality monitoring website.
Not far behind them was Washington, D.C., where the thick smoke created eerie scenes. The Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial and other national landmarks could be seen enveloped in a thick, orange-hued haze in the morning.
“Wow that Canadian smoke haze is no joke,” Stewart Verdery, a former assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, wrote on X as he shared a panorama of D.C. at sunrise. “Almost nothing visible – no sun, no monuments, no Reagan Airport.”
Air in and around Washington was expected to go from bad to worse as the day progressed, reaching “very unhealthy” and potentially “hazardous” levels on the air quality index, regional officials said.
People, particularly those with heart or lung disease, older adults and children, were urged to limit or avoid going outside as much as possible until air quality improved.
There was also concern in the New York City area about how the foul air might impact the World Cup final match between soccer powerhouses Spain and Argentina at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Sunday.
Oravec said winds will continue pushing the wildfire smoke east in the U.S., though conditions should be better on game day Sunday than on Saturday.
Just a day earlier, a thick haze tinged with orange and yellow darkened skies across several states and partly obscured Manhattan’s skyline.
Officials from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and other Northeast states distributed free K95 face masks, canceled outdoor programming and opened libraries and other public buildings as cooling centers where people could get a respite from the sooty air.
As Friday progressed, air quality measures improved from “unhealthy” to “moderate” in some places in and around New York City.
A strong sun broke through a thin veil of smoke, and large chunks of clear blue sky were visible across much of the region by Friday afternoon.
Saturday brings a high chance of thunderstorms across much of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, which will help dampen the bad air.
How long the reprieve lasts depends on what happens hundreds of miles north, as some 100 wildfires burn without end in sight, largely in the Ontario area in Canada. In the U.S., officials have closed the Boundary Waters while battling multiple fires.
Long-term exposure to smoky conditions can complicate existing health problems and lead to chronic and deadly issues, including respiratory illness, cardiovascular and neurological diseases and premature death.
See how the bald eagle’s story shows its enduring symbolism
As the U.S. celebrates 250 years, the bald eagle endures as North America’s native sea eagle and national bird.
The common loon, Minnesota’s state bird, is more closely related to a penguin than a duck.
Despite loons predominantly living in the northern hemisphere and penguins mostly living in the southern hemisphere, researchers consider them to be genetic cousins. Taxonomic analyses placed them in an evolutionary cluster tracing back 40 million to 50 million years ago, along with herons and pelicans.
While loons and ducks share habitat on Minnesota lakes, they aren’t close relatives. Ducks are closer cousins to geese and swans.
After sharing a common ancestor, penguins and loons developed distinct characteristics. Loons can fly, but struggle to move on land; penguins can’t fly, but waddle on land. Penguins use flipper-like wings to swim; loons use webbed feet for underwater propulsion.
They have some similar features, however, including dense bones to help dive underwater and their tuxedo coloring.
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Fires in the past burned more frequently in western Canada, but recent years have seen that trend migrate eastward, with large fires now burning in Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic provinces, Prof Chasmer said, leading to more noticeable smoke in densely populated cities like Toronto and New York.
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