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For Maple Grove's Brock Faber, dreams do come true ver y time Brock Faber pulls into the loading dock at Xcel Energ y Center, hands his car keys to the va let, circles the event level of the arena, strolls into the Wild locker room like he belongs, takes off his glasses in the dressing room and slips on a Wild sweater in a locker room stall that belongs to him, the 21-year-old cannot believe where he's at. This is a kid born in Minnesota like many of you. This is a kid who grew on the outside and indoor rinks of Minnesota like many of you and somebody who practiced and prac- ticed so he could perfect his craft so one day he could play college hockey for his beloved Golden Gophers. He never env isioned that one day he would be play ing—a nd sta rring—for the professiona l NHL team right in his back- yard. "This really is a dream come true," Faber said this winter. "Who would ever think it?" Certainly not him even though he was good enough to be drafted in the second round of the 2020 draft. That was by the Los A ngeles Kings. He surely never imagined he'd be traded to his hometown Wild along with a first-round pick for star-in-the-making Kevin Fiala in the summer of 2022. But let 's be honest: his heart was always in Minnesota and his E FEVER by Michael Russo 28 Russo's Rants M H J ON L I N E . C O M | M A R C H 2 0 2 4