ST. LOUIS — When Wild rookie defenseman Zeev Buium arrived at the Enterprise Center on Thursday, there was natural excitement for his first regular season game in the NHL. And there was the sting of familiar surroundings as memories of disappointment from his last trip to St. Louis hit him.

Buium was on the ice for a quartet of NHL playoff games last spring, but Thursday’s meeting with the Blues was his first regular season game, and it just happened to be played in the same place where his college career ended, six months ago.

In early April, Buium was the catalyst for the University of Denver’s most recent run to the NCAA Frozen Four, held in St. Louis. On Thursday, the Wild’s locker room was literally across the hall from the place where the Pioneers dressed before and packed up after

See Full Page