Sam Malinski and Brock Nelson will walk into Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on opposite sides, but both Minnesota natives are carrying the same map in their heads. The Colorado Avalanche open the series against the Minnesota Wild on Sunday night at Ball Arena, and for two players with deep ties to the state, the matchup reaches past the standings and into old rinks, old schools and old memories.
Malinski, who played at Class AA Lakeville South, said the matchup should be a good one. “It’s going to be really fun,” he said, adding that he has “sort of grown out of those nerves about playing at home.” Lakeville South finished third in the state tournament in 2017 after losing a consolation game in overtime to Eden Prairie, a run that remains part of Malinski’s hockey background as this series opens. If the series goes long enough, Games 3 and 4 will be played at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul, bringing the action back to a building tied to both players’ pasts.
Nelson’s path runs through Warroad, a town of fewer than 2,000 people about a six-hour drive from the Twin Cities, and through the state tournament that once felt like the biggest stage imaginable. He played in the Minnesota high school tournament twice, finishing third in his junior year and second in his senior season, before spending two years at North Dakota. “The small school tourney — at the time that was the coolest thing as a high school, getting down there to play at The X,” he said. “It wasn’t a sellout for the smaller schools like it was for the (Class) AA schools, but it was still a great rink for that.”
Nelson’s college years also brought him to St. Paul in the postseason, with North Dakota losing a Frozen Four semifinal to Michigan at The X in 2010 and a regional final to Minnesota there in 2011. He won the old WCHA conference tournament in 2011 and 2012 and beat the University of Denver in the WCHA final both times. Now in his 13th NHL season, he said the playoff setting changes the feel, even if he is trying not to make too much of it. “It will be a little bit different,” Nelson said. “I’m trying not to think too much of it like that, just business as usual and a work trip.”
The Avalanche learned late Thursday night that Minnesota would be the opponent after the Wild eliminated the Dallas Stars in Game 6, giving the Wild their first series win since 2015. That result set up a matchup with two Minnesotans who know the state’s hockey lanes from the inside. Nelson said the reunion can wait until the offseason. “Now is not the time for that,” he said. “We’ll put that on pause and see them in the summer.”