Meet the Minnesota Wild’s New, Adorable Teammate

The National Hockey League's 2024-25 season officially kicks off in North America tomorrow, October 8th. And just in time for the start of the new season, the Minnesota Wild have introduced us to a new, adorable teammate.

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No, this isn't a new player for the team. This teammate won't even touch a hockey stick. Well, unless they decide they want a new chew toy.

This new teammate is the Wild's team puppy!

Minnesota Wild's Team Puppy

This is the 6th year that the Wild have adopted a puppy for the season. Obviously the puppy gets the Wild a lot of exposure but that's not the ultimate reason for the team dog.

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The Wild will adopt a new puppy each season to train the puppy to become a service dog for an honorably discharged veteran, police officer, or firefighter.

They work with two organizations to make this happen. One of them is call Coco's Heart Dog Rescue out of Somerset, WI. That's the rescue where the Wild get each of their team puppies from.

The other organization is where the puppies go at the end of their year of training, and that's Soldier's 6. They're a non-profit that trains service dogs and then places with them honorably discharged veterans, police officers, and firefighters.

Past Minnesota Wild Team Puppies

The first team puppy was Breezer, then we had Hobey, Celly, and Brooksy. Last year the Wild had both Hatty and then Dino and we recently got an update on those two.

The Wild shared that Dino was hand-selected by Veteran Kiara Meier. Lots of fans were wondering what ended up happening with Hatty. Well, the Wild shared that "Soldier’s 6 determined Hatty would not be a good fit for Kiara based on her needs."

But we'll likely see Hatty again because "Hatty will be staying with the Wild organization and will occasionally be seen showing her furry face at future Wild home games."

Minnesota Wild Team Puppy for 2024-25 Season

This year's team puppy is this cutie named Rookie.

She's a 4-month-old lab mix who will train with Minnesota Wild’s Senior Director of Community Relations and Hockey Partnerships, Wayne Petersen, and his wife, Vice President and General Manager of Xcel Energy Center of Xcel Energy Center, Kelly McGrath.

Wayne and Kelly will foster and train Rookie until the summer of 2025. Then she will be passed off to Soldier's 6 where they will do specialized training for a veteran with PTSD. After she completes that training she will be placed with her 'Battle Buddy'.

I just love that the Wild does this, it's such a good idea and so heartwarming to watch!