As the Vancouver Canucks and Minnesota Wild prepared for a Sunday evening game, fans inside the Xcel Energy Center were preoccupied. That’s because the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings were attempting to pull off a miracle comeback against the New Orleans Saints approximately 15 kilometres down the road at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Wild fans, many of whom also support the Vikings, flooded into the arena’s concourse to watch the conclusion of the football game prior to puck-drop.
Down one point on their own 39-yard-line with no timeouts and 10 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, the Vikings essentially had one shot to complete a pass, get into field-goal range and out of bounds before time expired to position themselves to attempt a game-winning kick. Instead, quarterback Case Keenum threw a miracle 61-yard touchdown pass to Stefon Diggs who crossed the goal line with no time remaining on the clock.
The thrilling win sent the Vikings to the NFC Championship game and sent fans into a frenzied state — all while the Canadian national anthem was being sung in the arena.
Moments later, the final score was shown on the screens in the arena and Canucks star rookie Brock Boeser, a native of Burnsville, Minn., had a memorable reaction.
“It was pretty cool during the national anthem,” Canucks forward Thomas Vanek, who played 154 games with the Wild from 2014-2016, told reporters following the game. “I’m sure they didn’t mean any disrespect there [by cheering during the anthem] but all of a sudden you hear the big cheer and Brock and I kind of looked at each other.”
Earlier that day, Boeser explained that he grew up cheering for Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers but became a Vikings supporter when Favre signed with Minnesota. Boeser’s brother married a Vikings cheerleader and Boeser is currently dating a Vikings cheerleader.
Wild head coach Bruce Boudreau joined Hockey Central at Noon Monday to discuss the atmosphere in the arena after the dramatic Vikings victory.
The Canucks ended up winning the game 3-2 in overtime thanks to Brandon Sutter’s third goal of the season.
“That was an exciting game,” Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk added after the game. “We were all paying attention in here as we got ready. It’s a big part of the city so it’s nice they were able to get it done.”
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