Wild honor NHL initiative on Green Night

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Minnesota Wild celebrated the NHL Green initiative with 'Green Night' for their game against the Nashville Predators at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday.

Fans were encouraged to wear green apparel to help the Wild honor NHL Green, the League's annual sustainability initiative which began in 2010 and expanded to a month-long campaign in all 31 NHL cities for the first time this season. Through a partnership with the Wild and Metro Transit, fans could ride to the game via public transit for free and could also post their best 'going green' photos to social media, using #NHLGreen, to win a jersey signed by Wild forward Charlie Coyle.
Wild Green Night correlated with Earth hour, a globally recognized hour which started in 2007 and is dedicated to environmental sustainability, which fell on Saturday from 8:30-9:30 p.m. ET. To honor the hour, the arena's marquees went dark, including the main marquee outside, and the light-up arena sign was turned off.

Since its launch, NHL Green has strived to protect hockey venues by focusing on lowering emissions at ice rink facilities, and preserving the environment so frozen ponds can continue to exist. Through NHL Green, the League is the first professional sports league to issue an environment sustainability report and is the 25th largest user of green power in the U.S.