The San Jose Sharks the National Hockey League’s next dynamic duo in Macklin Celebrini, and I don’t say that as a Sharks fan, but rather as a purveyor of all things hockey. Yes, the Sharks are my favorite NHL team, but if watching three periods-plus live of the two of them on the same line taught me anything, it is that both of these two young players are absolutely talented, and they are a huge reason why there is light at the end of the tunnel for long-suffering team fans.

My mom and I drove to St. Paul, Minnesota, last Wednesday to go see the pair play at the Xcel Energy Center. I, of course, wore a Celebrini home jersey, and I was happy to see that I was not alone. There were more Sharks fans in attendance than I expected, but certainly nowhere near the crazy fans like Caitlin Clark pulled at the Target Center when we went to see her Indiana Fever take on the Minnesota Lynx.

The plans for this game started months before the season began. Once I knew that the Sharks were getting the first overall selection in the 2025 NHL Draft, I knew I was going to want to see that player live, if possible. Once the Sharks made it official, I was in line for my Celebrini jersey, since he should be there for a while.

Seeing the Sharks play in St. Paul makes the most sense for me, since it is the closest NHL rink to the Copper Country. Oh, and it helps that the Xcel is an absolutely amazing place to see a hockey game, no matter what level we are talking about, high school, college, or the pros.

I love walking around the building before “warmies,” or warmups. There are jerseys on the walls from various Minnesota state high school teams. There are big images on the walls of Minnesota natives like Phil Housley and Neal Broten, who have had storied careers in the NHL. There is an incredible history on the walls of life between the Minnesota North Stars and the Minnesota Wild, and how much it meant to the Twin Cities to bring the NHL back.

I could ramble on all day about the building, the atmosphere, the fans, the history. It really is an awesome place to visit. Oh, and on the night we were there, they were honoring another Minnesota legend, Prince. An in-arena band played his songs. In the second period, they had the fans sing “Purple Rain” karaoke. It was an entire experience on its own.

But when the Sharks and Wild took the ice for warmies, I made my way down to the second row behind Sharks goaltender Alexander Georgiev. I snapped several photos with my phone of players like Tyler Toffoli, Mario Ferrero, and, of course, Celebrini.

Our seats were 14 rows up behind Georgiev for two of the three periods, which meant we had front-row seats for four of the eight Minnesota goals, and three Sharks tallies. Celebrini scored two of those goals, and Carl Grundstrom got the other Sharks goal.

Celebrini’s first was 7:29 into the middle frame. Smith got the puck back to Jack Thompson at the right point. Thompson moved it down to Celebrini crashing the net. Celebrini made a move to his forehand to get around Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, and the game was tied at 2-2.

Celebrini’s second game at 12:28 of the same period on a give-and-go with Smith and suddenly the Sharks were up for the second time in the game, 4-3. However, the Wild had gotten Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek back from injuries, and both scored in a 2:46 span to give the Wild the lead back heading into the third period.

In the third, Eriksson Ek scored twice more in the first 2:06 to put his team up 7-4. Celebrini took the Sharks on his back and he found winger Nikolai Kovalenko to pull San Jose back within two. He then crashed the net himself and Smith found him on the back door at 10:02 to make it a 7-6 lead for the Wild. It was Celebrini’s first career hat trick, which helped answer Eriksson Ek’s four-goal night.

At this point, Smith had three assists. He scored a goal of his own at 19:08 to force overtime. Who had the second assist? That’s right, Celebrini, who finished with a five-point night.

Celebrini nearly found Smith on a break in overtime, but the puck bounced over his stick and into the corner, allowing the Wild to retrieve it. Seconds later 200 feet away, Kaprizov scored his second goal of the night to win the game.

The win gave Fleury his 70th overtime victory, setting a new NHL record.

In going to see Celebrini and Smith, a few things became apparent to me. Celebrini is every bit as good as he appears to be. He will be a star for a long time, provided he can stay healthy. Smith is also improving quickly as the game has seemed to finally slow down for him. I was also impressed with William Eklund, Toffoli, and Grundstrom.

For Minnesota, Kaprizov, despite having missed 28 games prior to Wednesday, was outstanding. The way the rink opens for him to carry the puck reminds me of the way the game would change once Detroit center Pavel Datsyuk got the puck. More impressive, however, was the play of Matt Boldy. Boldy finished with four assists in the game, and they weren’t all just him taking a shot and someone knocking the rebound home. He carried the puck all over the offensive zone, and looked to make smart passes, which led to the goals.

Also, I had not seen Fleury live since the All-Star Game in Columbus in 2015. He did not have his best game, by any means, but he was still fun to watch. Knowing it was one of his last career starts was also really exciting.

So, even though the Sharks lost 8-7, I could not help but hear in my head the words of Sharks broadcaster Randy Hahn, “They are the most fun last-place team you will ever see!” Hahn is right, the Sharks are not a great team, heck, they are not even a good team, but they are fun, and that will only get better as Celebrini and Smith continue to grow together.