Former Vernon Viper Chay Genoway Will Make NHL Debut Tonight:

The NHL Minnesota Wild have called up former Vernon Vipers defenceman, Chay Genoway. Genoway will make his NHL debut tonight, wearing number 47 for Minnesota. Genoway was named the Houston Aeros winner of the IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year award earlier this week. Genoway is in his first season with the AHL Houston Aeros playing in 67 regular season games this season collecting (7-24-31) played one season in Vernon (2005-2006). In 56 regular season games with the Vipers Genoway collected (17-32-49). The Minnesota Wild signed Genoway to an entry-level contract back on April, 12th 2011.

Genoway is known as an offensive defenseman. Genoway leads Aeros’ defensemen in scoring with 32 points (7-25=32) including five power-play goals. The 5-foot-9, 173-pound native of Morden, Manitoba collected 127 points (26-101=127) and a plus-48 rating in 168 games during his five-year career at the University of North Dakota (2006-11). He was twice named an All-American and was a four-time All-WCHA selection.

Chay Genoway's Player Profile:

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=92084

This is posted on the Wild website:

GAMEDAY: Wild vs. Coyotes

Mike Doyle - Digital Media Coordinator

It’s the Wild’s last game of the season, and we’ll see yet another new face and one familiar one. Defensemen Chay Genoway and Kris Fredheim have been recalled under emergency conditions for tonight's game against the Phoenix Coyotes at Xcel Energy Center.

Genoway will make his NHL debut, wearing number 47 for Minnesota. Some State of Hockey residents might be acquainted with Genoway; he was a five-year standout with the University of North Dakota. Genoway will be the 47th player to skate for the Wild this season, an NHL most. Fredheim appeared in two games with Minnesota earlier this season, making his NHL debut against Colorado on Nov. 11.

The Wild had to recall the pair of defensemen because Nate Prosser was given a one-game suspension from the NHL for head-butting. Clayton Stoner also will miss the final game with an upper body injury.

Even though the Wild will not make the post-season, tonight’s contest against the Coyotes will have playoff implications in the Western Conference. But, we’ll get to that in a little bit.

Thursday, the Wild beat the Chicago Blackhawks in a shootout, 2-1. Cal Clutterbuck scored the game-tying goal with 3:12 left in regulation. The goal was Clutterbuck’s 100th career point. Marco Scandella and Dany Heatley assisted on the play. Devin Setoguchi scored the lone shootout goal to give Minnesota the victory. Josh Harding made 22 saves in the win.

The Coyotes took over sole possession of first place in the Pacific Division with a 4-1 win against the St. Louis Blues yesterday. Keith Yandle opened the scoring for Phoenix in the first period. Radim Vrbata and Shane Doan scored in the second, and Mikkel Boedker capped the scoring in the third. Mike Smith made 31 saves for the win.