Former Wild coach Jacques Lemaire’s Minnesota visit brings back fond memories

Jacques Lemaire wishes he would be here longer.

He wanted to come back to Minnesota, and he was excited Doug Risebrough and Mario Tremblay would be there, too. On Saturday morning, Lemaire visited Tria Rink in St. Paul, what was still a Macy’s when he and Tremblay were behind the Wild’s bench, and the night before he was at Tom Reid’s Hockey City Pub with people he hadn’t seen in 15 years.

“I should have come for more days,” he said.

But Lemaire, 80, wasn’t going to leave before stopping by another familiar spot.

He and the rest of the Wild’s original coaching staff, as well the team’s first general manager, Risebrough, were at Grand Casino Arena on Saturday night for a ceremonial puck drop ahead of the Wild’s home opener vs. the Columbus Blue Jackets to kick off the organization’s 25th anniversary season.

“We were here for nine years, and it was really a great time that we had,” said Lemaire, who now lives in Florida. “Not only for me, my family. My wife … she came up and said: ‘Geez, I remember Minnesota was so great. The life, the people, were so good for us. So kind.’

“It’s something that we will cherish for the rest of our years.”

“That was special,” said Lemaire, who considers the run among his top feats because of the team’s expectations — or lack thereof. The Wild were in the playoffs for the first time after finishing last in the division their previous two seasons.

“I don’t think everyone, the fans, everyone involved in hockey would have said that, hey, these guys are going to go to the final conference,” Lemaire said. “I don’t think so. But we started to play, just trying to do our job. Everyone believed we do our job, we never know. That’s what I tried to tell the guys all the time.”

As much as Lemaire shaped the Wild’s competitiveness, earning 293 victories before he stepped down in 2009, it’s the fun that comes to mind first when he reflects on those eight seasons.

“We wanted to win every game, but we knew we couldn’t,” he said. “We won’t. But it was a process, and I think we did good. We had guys that were committed, guys that were involved and wanted to do well.”

Although the Wild went on to get swept by Anaheim in 2003, that’s the closest they’ve been to capturing a Stanley Cup.

“No matter how good or not good or average you are, if you can get all the guys to do their job and believe in that same thing, you got a chance,” he said. “And if you have a good team and you don’t get the guys to believe that they can do it, you won’t win — even if your team is good.