Think the Sabres have trouble in Ottawa? Get a load of what happened to the Minnesota Wild this afternoon in the parking lot of Scotiabank Place.
Seems the truck carrying the team's equipment back from an practice at a nearby rink caught fire and much of the team's equipment is damaged or destroyed -- including all of standout goaltender Nicklas Backstrom's gear.
The shot at left of tossed gear is floating all over the Internet and Twitter.
The team is scrambling to get more gear shipped from back home but understand this is quite a calamity. Hockey players spend weeks breaking in new pads, gloves, skates and sticks. You just can't start from scratch, especially the goalies. Here's a picture of a goalie mask damaged. Don't know if it's Backstrom's.
Update: The Wild is having a 6 p.m. meeting and several players are concerned about playing with replacement medical devices as items such as knee braces and shoulder harnesses were also lost.
The Wild and Senators are scheduled to play in Ottawa Saturday night. It will be interesting to see if the league decides to give Minnesota a few days break to get back in gear so to speak.
---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)
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