As Wild players hit milestones, Tony Da Costa makes sure they’ll keep the memories

Inside the penalty box at Grand Casino Arena is a freezer where the pucks for every Wild game are stored.

There are 40 of them to begin with, their temperature a frigid 14 to 15 degrees, and new ones are rotated into the action every two to three minutes to ensure a cold puck stays on the ice. Where they go after they clock out depends on the role they played.

The pucks that max out get dumped in a box that’s parlayed to the team’s community relations, while the ones that count as goals land in the office of the Wild’s head equipment manager Tony Da Costa. If they’re routine goals, the pucks will move on to MeiGray, a New Jersey-based sports memorabilia company that sells the Wild’s game-used equipment.

And if the goal is a dream come true, it’s treated as such.

“That’s the coolest part about it,” defenseman Brock Faber said. “It’s just going to get cooler as years go on.”

Hockey’s sentimental side has long preserved jerseys and sticks, with the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto showcasing gear from some of the game’s historic moments.

But the most traditional memento is a first NHL goal puck, a souvenir the Wild spruce up before returning to the player as a lifelong keepsake.

After defenseman Zeev Buium scored his first Oct. 11 vs. Columbus, he wanted to hold onto the puck that night, but it had to make a pitstop first before getting back in his possession.

Da Costa dropped off the puck at Kelley Gallery Art & Frame in Woodbury where it will be set against a green felt background in an 8x10 black frame that includes a plaque with Buium’s name, the achievement, date and opponent. The turnaround time is about three to four weeks, so Buium’s display should be ready for pickup in the near future.

But the Wild have another puck that needs commemorating.

Forward Danila Yurov notched his first goal Monday against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden, and Yurov plans to give the puck to his parents to take back home to Russia; they might visit in December.

Buium’s will go in his dad’s office in San Diego, which is where Buium has his other memorabilia like sticks and medals.

Faber’s puck is hanging in his apartment “just for me to see,” while Marcus Foligno’s is at his dad’s house.

As for Jake Middleton, your guess is as good as his.

“I truly don’t know,” the defenseman said. “I didn’t get a plaque or anything with it. They did plaques in San Jose, and then I got traded here that year, so I truly have no idea. Maybe, my parents maybe have it, but I can’t confirm.”

First goals are the most prized pucks, but they’re not the only feat celebrated.

Da Costa and the players keep tabs on statistics, so they know when someone is close to a milestone. Three goals or more in a game is a given to get framed, like forward Joel Eriksson Ek’s four-goal performance last season vs. San Jose on April 9.

Ryan Hartman held onto the puck from his first goal after the forward became a father at the suggestion of President of Hockey Operations Bill Guerin.

“I actually didn’t even think about it,” Hartman said.

The Wild also memorialize a player’s first NHL game, framing a photo along with the lineup card.

Goaltender Jesper Wallstedt thinks he’ll put that and his first NHL win and shutout frame, which has the game sheet, photo and puck, in his second bedroom at his Minnesota apartment.

“Stuff like that is cool to have the original copy,” Wallstedt said.

“I don’t have [much] space to put some of it,” Kaprizov said. “I’d like to do different rooms, but I can’t here now yet. I’d like to maybe send back to Russia in my parents’ house.”

But one puck hasn’t always been enough to mark the occasion: Da Costa remembered one being split after a 0-0 game involving the Wild years ago.

“Half the puck went to the other goalie,” Da Costa said.

While the Wild’s rookies have been checking off their firsts, some of the veterans are closing in on the hallmark of longevity.

Defenseman Zach Bogosian, forward Marcus Johansson and captain Jared Spurgeon can get to 1,000 games this season, with Johansson the closest: He’s only nine games away.

“Johansson, when he plays his 1,000th game, I’ll make him up three jerseys,” Da Costa said. “He can have one every period, and I’ll tell him, ‘You want to make special sticks?’ Some guys say, ‘No.’ I’ll go, ‘I’m doing this for you because you’ll thank me later.’

“... I try and tell them because I’ve been around long enough. You’re not thinking about it now, but I am for you because you’re going to appreciate it later.”

Players, however, do acquire their own collectibles, like sticks.

Foligno has asked Los Angeles Kings captain Anze Kopitar for one of his, and the forward plans to build a garage to house his memorabilia.

“Sometimes there’s guys you just like their game,” Foligno said, “and you want to have a stick of theirs, especially older guys.”

“I have theirs from when I was like 8 years old, and they gave me a stick when I played Jr. Kings,” Buium said. “That would be like a full circle moment.”

Really, that’s what this is all about.

When their hockey careers are complete, players can show and tell their way down memory lane.