The NHL reinstated their postponed 2019-20 schedule around the same time the NBA did back in August and the Minnesota Wild played four games in the bubble, before being shown the exit.

Since then, things have changed quite a bit and a great Russian hope has arrived at Tria Rink in St. Paul. Fans are foaming at the mouth for some Wild hockey, as they set up their own backyard rinks for the winter.

Well, they won’t have to wait much longer. The 2020-21 schedule is being leaked to Michael Russo (The Athletic) and it looks like the Wild will play their first game of the season on January 14 vs the Kings in LA.

Kinda fitting, but Russia's "Old New Year" 2021 will be celebrated Jan. 14.

That will be the date of Kirill Kaprizov's NHL debut in Los Angeles

Hearing Wild open with 4 in a row at LA and Anaheim; Open at home Jan. 22 with 6-game homestand starting with 2 in a row vs. San Jose.

— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) December 22, 2020

Weird (er) Season (Thanks a lot Canada)

It looks like the NHL will do an MLB-style season where teams in the same division will be playing mini-series against each other. Obviously it will be different because, thanks to Canada, they will ONLY play games against teams in their own division.

That’s why the Wild play in the “West” division now and will have to travel 28,972,340,982,930,875 miles during this season, while teams in the “East” will be able to walk to their away games.

But life isn’t fair and at least we have hockey on the docket again so that’s where my complaining will end. The NHL is expected to release their full schedule tomorrow (according to Russo).

NHL schedules expected to be released tomorrow afternoon

— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) December 22, 2020

#LetsPlayHockey

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

On October 24, the Minnesota Golden Gophers open up their 2020 8-game season vs the Michigan Wolverines on Saturday night primetime, in front of what will likely be one of the biggest audiences for any college football game over the weekend. On the line is one of the most legendary rivalry trophies in the nation, The Little Brown Jug.

Let’s go! #Gophers host Michigan on ABC on Oct. 24. https://t.co/7uj6KwqbZN pic.twitter.com/dgze0N7nNM

— Minnesota Football (@GopherFootball) October 12, 2020

According to the team release, the Gophers are 8-3 in primetime games under PJ Fleck and this is the 5th game in a row that they’ve played on national TV. Four of those games have been on network television. The Outback Bowl game vs Auburn was on ESPN.

This primetime game wasn’t all we found out from this morning’s announcement. We also know the Gophers will play THREE Friday night games during this 2020 season. The first one will be week 2, on the road vs Maryland. Then on Friday, November 13, Minnesota will host Iowa at TCF Bank Stadium before welcoming Purdue on Friday night, one week later (Nov. 20). Of course, the Gophers are 6-0 in non-Saturday games under Fleck.

The Minnesota Gophers climbed up and into both major poll rankings yesterday, where they will likely stay for week 1’s primetime matchup vs Michigan. It will be the first time in AP Poll history (since 1936) that the Gophers will open as a ranked team, vs a ranked team.

Gameday at Opener?

If ESPN were smart (they aren’t), they’d bring their “College Gameday” set to Dinky Town on Saturday morning, October 24. I haven’t had a lot of time to dig into it but someone on Twitter told me their biggest competition is Tennessee vs Alabama. Normally, that’d be enough to kill our chances but Gameday just scheduled their October 17 appearance to be in Tuscaloosa for Alabama vs Georgia.

While it would certainly be a different experience than what we saw in 2019, having Gameday on campus for week 1 would be pretty incredible.

The savior has arrived. pic.twitter.com/aXyY4LA9UT

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) November 30, 2019

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan