Gov. Tim Walz on Thursday announced the rollback of COVID-19 restrictions, including the expansion of attendance caps for indoor venues. For the Wild, that means a few hundred additional tickets were made available to season ticket-holders for Friday's and Saturday's final regular-season home games against the Anaheim Ducks. Attendance had been capped at 3,000.
Wild will have 4,500 fans at first round home playoff games
The Xcel Energy Center will be at 25 percent capacity for the first series, the team said.
May 7, 2021 at 12:13AM
For the first round of the playoffs, the Wild plans to be at 25% capacity — approximately 4,500 fans. Wild season ticket-holders will have the chance to purchase tickets starting next week for first-round home playoff games. Those who want to be notified when tickets become available should sign up for e-mail alerts at wild.com.
Walz said all state-mandated attendance caps will be eliminated May 28. The Wild will be working closely with the NHL and Minnesota Department of Health/Governor's office in the coming weeks to determine what the capacity will be for May 28 and beyond.
Defensemen signed
The Wild signed 18-year-old defensemen Ryan O'Rourke and Daemon Hunt to three-year, entry level contracts that will start next season.
O'Rourke was a second-round pick in 2020 and Hunt a third rounder.
Both started their seasons at the Wild's affiliate in Iowa of the American Hockey League, but Hunt left to play 23 games with Moose Jaw of the Western Hockey League, where he scored eight goals and had 10 assists.
O'Rourke couldn't play juniors because the Ontario Hockey League was shut down. He captained Sault Ste. Marie in 2019-20 and had seven goals and 30 assists in 54 games.
Both players are eligible to play for their junior teams next season. O'Rourke has a goal and six assists in 28 games for Iowa, and Hunt is scoreless in three games.
The Wild have been the surprise of the league as their high-scoring winger makes a shambles of team scoring records.
