Random Minnesota Sports Things

Derek Boogaard and Mark Parrish with some random chick. I took this at the Summer Bash.

We in Minnesota, have always know that Mark Parrish is awesome. Others found out since he started playing in the NHL. Now, he is adding to his awesomeness by supporting a charity in Minnesota to help disabled and diseased children. I meant to get the word out about this earlier, but I got swamped with leaving for Oregon. The actual event for this year is over, but it sounds like there will be more events and money raising to come. It's a good cause.

http://21forkids.blogspot.com/

The Minnesota Wild has a presence at the Minnesota State Fair again this year. Details can be found at the official website, or at the link below. The fair ends on Labour Day, so be sure to make plans soon! While you are there, we boast many fine foods on a stick. I recommend trying them. Also, go to the corn on the cob stand. Get an ear, and eat it while standing in line for another . Repeat as necessary.
http://wild.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=336075

The Wild have jumped on the bandwagon and are getting new sweaters also. No clue what they will look like, I only know that they will be red. I really don't think they should ditch the green, but apparently they seem to think that Minnesotans prefer the red sweaters. Whatever. It gave me the excuse I needed to beg for (and recieve) a green Parrish sweater.
http://wild.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=336244

So the Twins apparently don't want to make the playoffs this season, or at least that's what they are telling me. They are 9 games back from Cleveland, and 5.5 games back from Detroit. Furthermore they are 7.5 games back in the AL Wildcard race behind Detroit, Seattle, and NY (Yankees). I haven't given up on them yet, but I'm really not pleased by what I see. I strongly suspect I'm not the only one in fits about their inability to step it up when both Detroit and Cleveland slumped. We cannot rely only on 2-3 people to always step up. Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer both slumped at the same time, and at a fairly bad time down the stretch. I can't really harrass them too much, since both are young players and will hopefully get things figured out. Torii Hunter should have spent less time yapping and more time in batting practice or talking with hitting coach Joe Vavra, because he has been pretty average this season missing important catches and striking out. TR should have traded him while he had the chance.

Update:

My parents got their season tickets today and they got to see what the new sweaters look like. This blogger has a picture of the coupon up.

http://nhllogos.blogspot.com/

CapsChick's Challenge

So CapsChick posted this on HLOG as an impromptu challenge( and everyone knows I can't resist a challenge...), so I've decided to come up with my own version.



Best one-on-one offensive player: Hard to say for me. Lecavalier strikes me as a solid choice, but so does Joe Sakic. Dude can let his wrister go at any time, he's a great passer, good skater, and if I were a goalie, he is one of the last people I'd ever want to see skating towards me. For this round I'm going to take the crafty veteran over the flashy (sort of) young gun.



Best one-on-one defenceman: Niedermayer with a nod to Lidstrom. Nieds can puckhandle, he can pass, shoot, and if worse comes to worse, he can just plain out-skate your ass.



Assist Man: I will also say Joe Thornton (if only he could step it up at key times like the Olympics, I'd be a happy, happy camper). Andrew Brunette is also a good wingman to have, since he gets and keeps the puck at any cost, but Thornton is currently hard to deny.



Best Pure Goal Scorer: I've heard good things about AO, but I haven't seen him play extensive amounts outside of the WJC, so I'm picking Lecavalier.

Power Play Specialist: Sheldon Souray perhaps? Does he ever score even strength goals? At any rate, he's definitely not my pick for the best one-on-one defenceman. Jarret Stoll was also good on the PP for the Oilers.

Shorthanded Specialist: At one point in time Wes Walz was the SH goal king for the Wild, but sadly no longer. (he had seven or eight one season. *sigh*) I gotta give props to Jordan Staal, cause I looked it up on TSN, and it appears that he had the most shorthanded goals in the league. Due to the stupid NHL schedule I have not really had the chance to see him play much, but those stats aren't lying to me.

Need One Save: Martin Brodeur had kind of a crappy season by his standards, but Marty Turco was the man. Props also to my boy Backstrom since the Wild weren't scoring goals, he was making awesome saves and keeping us in games.

The Guy You've Never Heard Of: I don't know, maybe he has become more famous now, but Pierre-Marc Bouchard is awesome, and usually flies under the radar. In 2006, he made the long list for the Team Canada roster in Torino. The Great One has mentioned him on several occasions, and PMB has even drawn a comparison to him. Mikko Koivu is also a guy most people haven't heard of, but he's really making a name for himself. Awesome.

Biggest Impact on a New Team: Sup Scotty? Scott Niedermayer is my pick, because I refuse to acknowledge the existence of FCP. Niedermayer proved that he really is all that, which had quite unfortunate results for both my western conference teams.

When It Gets Chippy: Derek Boogaard. He's massive, can break people's faces in one punch, skates decently for a huge dude, and wouldn't you knock it off if he gave you a warning glare?

Coach For a Must-Win Game: Gotta agree with CapsChick here. There is no one better than Scotty Bowman. He is abosolutely amazing. I have to say, though, I'm pretty happy with Jacques Lemaire as a coach. He does pretty good things with what he's been given. 2003 playoff run anyone?

Get Under Your Skin Guy: Sean Avery is a pain, but I would imagine Raffi Torres and Chris Neil also qualify. FCP gets under my skin, but I don't know if that counts.

The Home Crowd: The Leafs and Habs both have awesome crowds. I like to think MN fans are that awesome, but in reality they probably aren't.

Most Overrated Player: Can I say Sidney Crosby just because I'm sick of hearing about him? In reality Briere totally gets my vote, and I can't wait until Flyers fans figure this out.

Most Underrated Player: Rob Niedermayer got consideration for this, but he finally got the props he deserves this spring. Mikko Koivu is another one that is finally starting to step out of Big Brother's shadow. Jarret Stoll is another one who is very talented, just doesn't really get the love outside of Edmonton. Being injured doesn't really help that.

Worst Area to Play in as a Visitor: Philly would suck, but I would imagine that all those Habs and Leafs fans could be pretty intimidating also. Canucks are only the worst if you are a visiting fan during the playoffs. They throw things...

Worst Area to Play in as the Home Team: I would think anywhere down south where there are more people in visiting sweaters than home ones. Very demoralizing. Philly too. Rough city.

Project Runway: Are we talking modeling the stuff or designing it? Those would be two differenct answers.

It's About Time I Got My Act Together

Due to the fact that I'm now a HLOGer, I decided that this was the motivation I needed to finally get my own blog up and going.

Naturally mostly hockey will be covered, but in the summertime the Twins will definitely sneak their way into my posts. I've noticed that there don't seem to be many Wild blogs out there, so I'm adding one.