Wild notebook: Guerin saw prospects progress at World Championships

Barring something unforeseen the - Minnesota Wild season will begin with Filip Gustavson as the top goalie and Jesper Wallstedt as the backup ready to carry part of the puck-stopping load But looking a little further down the Wild organization s depth chart general manager Bill Guerin returned from the up-to-date World Championship in Sweden and Denmark liking what he saw from another goaltending prospect under contract in Minnesota Samuel Hlavaj who turned late last month appeared in five games for Slovakia at the Worlds and put up impressive numbers while backstopping a pair of wins In appearances for the Iowa Wild last season he had wins and a save percentage of The Slovaks were blanked twice in the World Championship preliminary round and the lack of goal aid was costly despite the goalie s solid numbers Hlavaj played great They didn t go as far as ostensibly they craved to but him playing that big role for them was really essential especially for a goalie Guerin announced There s a lot of pressure and that s what you need to be able to perform under pressure One of the key defensemen for Czechia in the tournament was David Spacek drafted by the Wild in the fifth round in Spacek played games for Iowa last season and finished second on the association in assists He was born in Ohio while his father Jaroslav was playing for the Columbus Blue Jackets but David has elected to play for his family s native county and gained valuable experience this spring Spacek has played an essential role on their national unit for the past scarce years Guerin stated recalling the World Championship when Czechia beat Group USA in the medal round by a - outcome Spacek set up Pavel Zacha for the tournament s only goal and the hosts Czechs went on to win the gold medal He s playing pivotal meaningful hockey and for us prospect-wise that s great We want him to have those experiences Guerin mentioned With the Wild blue line in chosen probable flux at the NHL level as veterans like Zach Bogosian and Jon Merrill near the ends of their contracts Spacek is a name to remember if there are back end holes to fill as soon as the coming season Brock Nelson signs extension in Colorado While veteran forward Brock Nelson lives in the Twin Cities in the off-season and occasionally gets back to Warroad his northern Minnesota hometown his career path will likely not include a stop in the State of Hockey On Wednesday the Colorado Avalanche informed a three-year contract extension for Nelson who will turn this fall Picked late in the first round by the New York Islanders in the NHL Draft Nelson spent all of his career on Long Island until being dealt to Colorado near the arrangement deadline last season He had points in regular season games for the Avalanche and added four assists in their seven-game opening round playoff loss to Dallas A standout at the University of North Dakota prior to turning professional Nelson is the grandson of Olympic gold medalist Bill Christian and the nephew of Dave Christian who led the Miracle on Ice unit in assists Former Gopher to lead USA U- Women Two decades ago Courtney Kennedy took a chance on a fledgling women s hockey plan at the University of Minnesota and the Massachusetts native ended up being a key athlete in the Gophers national title Now a skills coach for the Boston Fleet of the PWHL Kennedy will get a chance to coach gold medalists next after USA Hockey named her head coach for the U S Under- Women s National Club for the forthcoming World Championships next January in Nova Scotia Haley Skarupa will serve as the unit s general manager while current Gophers women s assistant coach Greg Boom May will be one of Squad USA s assistant coaches Originally from Burnsville May was previously the men s hockey head coach at Augsburg University and the hockey operations director for the Gophers men Related Articles Wild re-sign Marcus Johansson to one-year K contract Wild GM Bill Guerin American hockey requirements to keep its foot on the gas WJC pre-tourney games slated for Greater Minnesota Wild sign Russian prospect Danila Yurov to entry-level contract As the offseason begins in earnest a few Wild stories to follow