Minnesota Wild Likely to be Well Represented in Olympic Tournament

Apr 21, 2013; St. Paul, MN, USA; Minnesota Wild forward Zach Parise (11) looks on during the third period against the Calgary Flames at the Xcel Energy Center. The Flames defeated the Wild 4-1. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

Team USA has unveiled their camp rosters and (surprise, surprise) Minnesota Wild skaters Zach Parise and Ryan Suter have been invited to participate. It will be nothing short of unthinkable if either one of them are not taken to the Sochi games. Camp will take place August 26-27 at Kettler Capitals IcePlex in Arlington, Virgina. According to Wild.com, this camp is not a selection camp so much as it is an orientation for team bonding and meeting with coaching staff.

Aside from Parise and Suter, Wild captain Mikko Koivu, Finnish Phenom Mikael Granlund and No. 1 goalie Niklas Backstrom have been invited to Team Finland’s camp. All-Rookie defenseman Jonas Brodin has also been invited by Team Sweden and recently acquired Nino Niederreiter is almost guaranteed to be a lock for Team Switzerland. Finally, the club also has wild card forwards Dany Heatley and Jason Pominville that may vie for a spot with Team Canada.

This could be a very interesting Olympic tournament for Wild fans.