Wild's 2003 playoff run was one heck of a ride

The Wild was in only its third year of existence when it took its fans on one heck of a 37-day ride.

By CHIP SCOGGINS • ascoggins@startribune.com

Andrew Brunette's stunned celebration remains frozen in time inside the Minnesota Wild weight room. The most memorable moment in team history is painted on a wall as a constant reminder of the gloriously unpredictable playoff run that captured the hearts of fans who embraced a roster littered with castoffs and journeymen just trying to prove they belonged in the NHL.

One snapshot serves as a symbol of that 37-day march to the Western Conference finals in 2003: Brunette's reaction after scoring an overtime goal against the star-studded Colorado Avalanche in Game 7 of the Wild's first-ever playoff series.

Arms raised and mouth opened wide, Brunette whirled and skated toward teammates with an expression that said, Can you believe that just happened?

"I'll be in different places throughout the country and if I meet a Minnesota person, they all tell you exactly what they were doing or where they were," Brunette said. "Everybody has a memory of that."

That team made playoff history in only its third season as a franchise. The Wild became the first team in NHL history to overcome two 3-1 series deficits, first against Colorado and then Vancouver. The Wild won six consecutive elimination games, which is even more remarkable considering the team had not won three consecutive games in its existence before that postseason.

The ride ended with a four-game sweep by Anaheim in the conference finals, but even now, 10 years later, the memories and sense of accomplishment remain vivid for those involved.

"You look at these guys and you're so proud of them for what they achieved," retired coach Jacques Lemaire said. "That's all that you wanted. Nothing else."

• • •

The Wild had a savant coach in Lemaire, a sound defensive system, a talented goal scorer in Marian Gaborik and a pair of No. 1 goalies in Dwayne Roloson and Manny Fernandez. Still, General Manager Doug Risebrough and Lemaire set reasonable expectations in preparing for the first series. They wanted the players to relax, play loose and just enjoy the experience.

"At that time, we were probably playing our best hockey," Lemaire said. "The guys, you could tell the confidence they had in teamwork, the type of game we were playing. They believed we had a chance."

And yet Risebrough cringed as he watched practice on the eve of Game 1 in Colorado.

"The players were so nervous, they couldn't pass the puck, they weren't skating," he said. "It was a mess. Here you're trying to find ways to make them feel confident going into the playoffs against a team with superstars and the more we practiced, the worse it got."

• • •

Wes Walz stood on the ice for the national anthem before Game 1. He scanned the Avalanche lineup at the other end and saw Peter Forsberg, Joe Sakic, Milan Hejduk, Alex Tanguay, Patrick Roy, Rob Blake and Adam Foote.

"I remember thinking to myself, 'How are we going to beat these guys?' " Walz said.

How? By sticking to the Avalanche's superstars like Super Glue. Walz's stifling defense on Forsberg served as the template. A world-class skater and puck handler, Forsberg finished the series with eight points, but Walz became a disruptive force by chasing Forsberg around the ice like his shadow.

"I knew that I could skate with him," Walz said. "I knew I was as determined as him. I really felt I could do a good job against him."

• • •

Roloson walked along Kellogg Boulevard from the team hotel to Xcel Energy Center the morning of the team's first home playoff game. An endless procession of cars lined up as team officials handed out promotional giveaways along the street.

"I was thinking, 'Wow, this is awesome,' " Roloson said.

The unexpected nature of that playoff run by a team in only its third year of existence made the Wild an easy group to root for, and the Twin Cities gobbled it up with full force. Hockey dominated conversations at work, at bars and in living rooms for weeks as the Wild kept staving off elimination.

By the end of Game 7 in Vancouver, two out of every three televisions in the market that were on were tuned to the game. The team crammed 19,354 fans inside Xcel Energy Center for Game 3 against Colorado, the largest crowd for a hockey game in Minnesota.

"The ice was shaking," Brunette said.

• • •

Trailing 3-1 in the first series, the Wild returned to Colorado and slogged through its worst practice of the season. Players looked tired and emotionally defeated. Lemaire and Risebrough summoned everyone to a conference room at the Denver Westin that evening.

At a team meeting, Lemaire, Risebrough and assistant coaches Mario Tremblay and Mike Ramsey shared a simple message: Focus on one game and nothing else. They stressed the importance of momentum in playoff hockey and how one game can change everything.

"I remember walking out of there thinking, I would not want to play against us," center Darby Hendrickson said.

The Wild led 3-0 after two periods the next day and won 3-2.

• • •

Matt Johnson served the role of enforcer, protecting teammates with his fists. He averaged only about six minutes of ice time in the playoffs, but one act in Game 7 against Colorado inspired his team. In the first period, Johnson dived on the ice and blocked a Derek Morris slapshot with his head.

Unfazed, Johnson jumped up and kept playing with blood on his left cheek.

"We were all like, 'Whoa,' " Hendrickson said.

Johnson's teammates leaned forward on the bench and looked at each other, amazed by what they witnessed. Guys block shots all the time, but this was different.

"You just don't see guys diving in front of pucks with their face," Walz said.

• • •

Just give me one chance. That's what Brunette kept telling himself as overtime in Game 7 began. The Avalanche had the Wild hemmed in its own end so long that Brunette considered a line change as the Wild gained control of the puck. But Brunette changed his mind as the late Sergei Zholtok hustled the puck down the center of the ice.

"We kind of crisscrossed a little and I said, 'Forget it, we've got to take a chance,' " Brunette said.

Zholtok dropped the puck to Brunette, who found some open ice to Roy's right. Brunette decided not to try a wrist shot, though. "I never score from the outside so I skated in close," he said.

Brunette skated across the crease and stuffed in a backhander as two Avalanche players crashed the net. That was the final goal ever scored against Roy, a Hall of Fame goalie who retired that offseason. In the split second after he scored, Brunette dropped his stick in the goal and it's never been found.

"Roy is such a competitor that he probably burned it in his fireplace," defenseman Willie Mitchell said.

• • •

Mitchell endeared himself to fans as a hard-nosed player, and not even two serious injuries deterred him in that playoff run.

In Game 7 against Colorado, Mitchell used his stick to block a dump-in attempt in the third period. The puck ricocheted and hit Mitchell in the face, fracturing his right cheekbone. He missed a few shifts but returned to the ice.

"I knew right away that I had a fractured face, but I was playing a lot of minutes back then," he said. "I just had to get back out on the ice. I wouldn't miss that for the world."

Mitchell had surgery the following morning — his birthday — and returned to the locker room with a 50-stitch zipper along his face. Mitchell suffered torn ligaments in his right wrist in Game 4 of the Vancouver series after being driven into the boards by Todd Bertuzzi.

Mitchell could not put on his socks or shoes without assistance after the game. The pain was so severe that he couldn't shoot or even handle a puck during morning skate before Game 5.

"That was the most nervous hockey game I've played in my career because I just really thought I was going to let down my teammates and be exposed," he said.

Mitchell caught a break that night. The puck rarely came his direction and he wasn't forced to battle hard along the boards.

"I don't know what happened," he said, "but it was one of the easiest hockey games I've ever played."

• • •

A teammate once referred to Hendrickson as "Governor Hendrickson." Everyone loved the former Gophers standout and Mr. Hockey winner from Richfield. It seemed only fitting that the fan favorite would score the game-winning goal in Game 7 against Vancouver to send the Wild to the conference finals.

Hendrickson took a pass from Richard Park and scorched a slapshot from the slot past Dan Cloutier with 5:12 left in regulation.

"I think their [defensemen] were backed up so I had a lane to shoot," Hendrickson said. "That one happened to go in, but Park made the play."

Even now, Hendrickson refuses to venture outside the team focus in reflecting on his heroics.

"I walked in the locker room and the first I guy I saw was Lubomir Sekeras," he said. "He was jumping around. It was like, 'We did it!' "

• • •

Gaborik had an open net, room to shoot and appeared destined to break a scoreless tie against Anaheim in Game 1 of the conference finals. Gaborik flicked a backhander toward the net, but goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere robbed him with a remarkable save that would symbolize the Wild's scoring frustrations. Giguere dived across the crease, put his stick along the ice and stopped Gaborik's shot for a save that allowed the Ducks to escape with a 1-0 victory in double overtime.

"The well dried up," Mitchell said.

Giguere posted shutouts in the first three games before allowing one goal in a 2-1 clincher in Game 4. The size of Giguere's pads became a topic of conversation as players noted his extra advantage. The NHL adopted new rules that restricted goalie equipment that offseason. The Wild refused to pin its series loss on that, however.

"We just ran out of gas," center Jim Dowd said.

• • •

The Wild gathered for its year-end team meeting. Ordinarily, Risebrough only gave players jerseys they wore in their first game with the team as a keepsake. This time, he gave every player the sweater he wore in Game 7 wins at Colorado and Vancouver. The players signed each other's jerseys before departing for the offseason.

"That was a cool moment," Risebrough said.

Ten years later, the players still marvel at the closeness of that team and how the individual parts fit to make something far better.

"We were a bunch of misfits," Walz said. "We all had a story, and we all kind of chuckled about it. But we came together as a team. We had so much faith and belief in our system and the way we played it and our coaching staff that we went into every game believing that we had a really good chance to win."

Lemaire started laughing when asked about his memories of that time.

"The very first thing I believe everybody thinks about is the goal that Brunette scored," he said. "Every time I think about or talk about that year and that run we had, everything was great, but what comes to mind is Brunette when he scored. The feeling that all the guys had and coaches had, it was unexplainable."