Duck Hunting

Photo courtesy of TSN

I'm extremely sad that I wasn't able to be at this game for obvious reasons. The Wild have now won 3 of 4 in the season series (this should be the last game, yes?). Backstrom was awesome no thanks to Johnsson causing Perry's goal. I was watching and I saw number 5 right by the net when he scored. Mikko Koivu!, Brian Rolston, James Sheppard, Pierre Marc Bouchard, and Marian Gaborik all scored for the Wild, while Mark Parrish almost did.

I laughed really hard when I got a text from my mom describing how Giguere ducked on Rolston's goal. He ducked, get it? I was laughing as I watched the game, but I hadn't even though about it that way. I laughed even harder that he threw another hissy fit. As Sherry pointed out on Battle of California, what do you expect from a man who has to drink from a straw?

Mikko Koivu may not be as sharp as he was before missing 20 some games according to Lemaire, but according to me he looks pretty effing good out there. He's been a huge boost for this team, and also for my fantasy team.

Notes:
Derek Boogaard is on the IR.
Santana is a Met.
Guy LaFleur is in trouble, or rather his son is. TSN has more on it. I can feel the shock all the way here from Quebec.
I will be SUPER pissed if Forsberg comes to Minnesota.
Mark Parrish and his wife are going to be parents soon! Congrats to them!

Up next: The Blue Jackets on the road. Bring it on, Bethany!

All-Star Randomness

I watched the entire All-Star game, but I'm just going to give one of my usual random game reviews on it.

Rick Nash had hat trick! He looked so happy, how did he not become the MVP of the game? It worked for Sakic in 2004.

Joe Thornton kind of looked at the camera and then went back to hearing his name announced. No smile, nothing, just kind of a curious look.

I got my hockey hating RA from Kansas to watch the first period of the game with me.

For an All-Star game it was pretty exciting. The West coming back to lead for .5 seconds was awesome, but the fact that the East won in the last 20 seconds was much less awesome.

There were some random dudes who came in and demanded that I explain hockey to them when I was trying to pay attention to things like interviews...or you know the game. For self-proclaimed sports buffs, they are really clueless.

Scott "I am really not a team player" Niedermayer had a goal. I started to be happy, then checked myself.

I missed seeing Joe Sakic at the All-Star game. I voted every day for him faithfully until they announced that he would be out for three months. This whole injury thing is making me a sad panda.

Super Skills-unfortunately I didn't get to watch the Super Skills competition as I was in and out all day taking care of things that I really should have been doing all week. I hear Marian Gaborik got cheated in the shootout creativity contest, and that Pronger fell on his face. Gaborik is on my list of people that should watch themselves for his disinterest in re-signing with Minnesota, and Pronger, well we all know how I feel about FCP.

Tomorrow: we play the Ducks at the Xcel Energy Center at 6 CST. (That's 4 PST to you Ducks fans/Minnesotans stuck on the West Coast.) Like always, it should be a good game. I'm a bit swamped right now, but since I don't have class on Thursdays, I will possibly write a real post then.

**EDIT** Go over and see Earl Sleek at Battle of California and read his Wild/Ducks gameday post. I don't like the actual prediction for tonight's game, but read the rest of what he has to say because he talks about karma and how we are due. It's an excellent post overall.

Chris Pronger interupts Corey Perry Interview; Falls

Hilarious. This absolutely makes the All-Star weekend for me.

Hey Look, They Listened!

The Wild beat the Avs tonight with a nice 3-2 win. Clearly injuires are taking their toll on the struggling Avs squad with the loss of Sakic, Smyth, and um, someone else important whose name is escaping me. Statsny maybe? Get better soon please, Joe Sakic, because if my arm continues to kill me, I'll be going home for spring break, and I want to see you play.

I was surprised to see that Backstrom was going to be in net, and about 10 minutes before gametime I found out and madly made some fantasy roster changes. He got me a nice W tonight, so a few past transgressions are forgiven. Parrish was still out with his foot troubles, and Boogaard's back appears to be acting up again.

The feed sketched out on me, so I relied on friends and what I could get of the feed to help me figure out what was going on. Goals by Fedoruk (I know, I was shocked too), Rolston, and Demitra for the Wild. Bruno *sigh* and Wolski (woot!) had goals for the Avs. I really, really wish Andrew Brunette had been signed by the Wild, but as much as I hate to say it, I don't know if he would have the same success with us as he has had with the Avs these past few years.

The Oilers won thanks to Jarret Stoll's two goals. That's what you get, Janessa.

I'm not sure I'll be able to watch the All-Star stuff on Saturday, but Sunday I've got the TV reserved. I'm still mad about the line-ups, but what can you do? Niedermayer played MAYBE 15 games and got added to the roster. Dude must have the ear of the Hockey Gods.

There were lots of games tonight, New York got a win for Brian Leetch night, Montreal made Marty Brodeur mad I'm sure, since he's so proud of how well he always does against them, and there is a game in progress that I will madly gloat about, but not now, I don't want to name it or say anything else for fear of cursing it.

More tomorrow...maybe.

Boo, Shames!

That game blew chunks. Massive ones the size of Joe Thornton's butt. The Wild even played decently against the Flames, something they seem to only rarely do (especially in the Saddledome). Usually the Wild are stellar on the second game of back to back games, but noooooo. Iginla was held scoreless, but sadly his teammates were not. Rolston has continued his now two game goal streak to get the media and a few fans off his back. Parrish didn't play because of a Salo shot to the foot (not broken), and Harding was solid. Burns had a goal that got reviewed and called off, and I had a heart attack when the school cut me off for using too much internet. That's pretty much all the game summary that I feel like writing.

Around the Blogosphere: I have been reading some new blogs lately, ones written by fans of teams that I usually hate quite a lot, but these blogs are fun and well written, and they make me feel badly about hating on their teams...until we play said teams. The Untypical Girls (Dallas) have switched to wordpress, the Humming Giraffe (Van) has the greatest picture of wildlife that I will ever see, and two of my HLOG sisters have created a NYR blog, Some Like it Blue. If you are procrastinating for any reason ( I don't judge, until this semester I procrastinated regularly), then you should check these and the many other quality blogs on my blogroll out. As always, if you have a blog you'd like added, email me.

Next game: The Colorado Avalanche on Thursday at 8 CST on KSTC. I'm bumming that Joe Sakic is out, because he is one of the main reasons that I enjoy Wild/Avs games so much. The Avs have suffered a lot of injuries lately, and have been in a bit of a slide because of it. Hopefully the boys will be all ready to go after coming off that tough loss to Calgary. This will be the last Wild game before the All-Star break, then they have a few days off before facing the Ducks. (ew)

espn commercial

Another reason that the NHL should be on ESPN.

Mikko Koivu Gets Revenge

Photo Courtesy of the Canadian Press

Clearly MK was taught the phrase "don't get mad, get even". Or maybe he wasn't. I don't know if they say that in Finland. His revenge against the Canucks game in the form of the GWG, and also a rather obnoxious goal celebration. What would have made the night even better is if he had beaten on the Sedins a little more, but I'll take a win. I think this means that Mikko Koivu can officially become my second favorite Wild player. He likes pancakes, revenge, pranks, loud music, seems to be reasonably intelligent, good hockey player, and he's Scandinavian. I hear those Scandinavian types are pretty effing cool.

In addition to the revenge, we had Pierre-Marc Bouchard rocking the taco. He had two goals and two assists to be a +3 overall on the night. Butch has been on fire lately, and last night he notched his 200th point in a Wild uniform, becoming only the second Wild player to do so. Marian Gaborik was the first. Brian Rolston snapped his scoring drought. He hadn't gotten a goal since December 29th. Overall it was a good night. The game was fun to watch, but I am sad that the Vancouver feed didn't show Koivu's celebration as well as the Minnesota one did.

Random notes:

My fantasy team cleaned up last night putting me up 8-0 for the beginning of the week.

It's weird being on the other end of the time spectrum. When I lived at home, I'd always hate West Coast games because they were so late, now I love them because the game isn't on during the dinner hour or when I'm still trying to do things.

The Wild are now first in the Northwest division. Hopefully a win tonight over Calgary will help us hold onto that title...hint hint, Hockey Gods.

Leafs GM John Ferguson was fired this morning. TSN has lots more on that story, and they will be having a video clip on the press conference later today. We all knew this was coming, it was just a matter of time. According to Cliff Fletcher, the interim GM, Maurice and his assistant coache's jobs are all all safe for the remainder of the season. The search for a new GM is on.

Tonight's matchup: The hated Calgary Flames. Hopefully we can get Burns to steamroll Iginla so he will stop owning the Wild. Game is on at 8 PM CST on FSN looks like.

Sherry's Challenge

I promised Sherry, the brains and beauty behind Scarlett Ice, that I'd make a post about the challenge that she posed to the world. In three words or less, what hockey really needs right now is a...

I came up with three main ideas: fewer teams/teams in markets that actually give a crap about hockey, Commissioner Wayne Gretzky, and especially an ESPN contract.

First off, the NHL is complaining that these teams in markets like Atlanta and Florida really aren't making any money. Hmmm, I wonder why that might be? It's really effing hot in both of those places. The only time people would ever see ice is in an arena. Playing street hockey just isn't the same as ice hockey. Give the teams to places that want them. I hear that they are begging people to take Panthers tickets. Part of the reason Quebec lost their team was timing. The area was going through a recession. Now with the Canadian dollar getting stronger and all, perhaps expansion into Canada is once again feasible. The only concern is what might happed in the financial world by the time the league gets its act together. Things could change completely. The other solution in my eyes would be be to have fewer teams in the league. Keep hockey in places that it does well, and stop losing money for the league by having to baby along the struggling southern franchises. Bringing a team to Portland, Oregon isn't the solution either. I can tell you first hand that almost no one here really knows what hockey is, much less follows it. I will be writing an essay about where I'd like to see NHL franchises for Teebz's essay contest, so I'll be posting those essays once I write them.

Most everyone in the hockey world still listens attentively and with respect when Wayne Gretzky speaks. Thus far he seems reluctant to talk about the state of the game, and I can't decide if that's because he owns/coaches a team (in a struggling market no less), or if he just doesn't want to piss anyone off and lose his godly status. I think he's in greater danger of losing his status if he contines to keep his mouth shut. As fore Bettman, no one listens to him, except to find new reasons to mock him/gather new material for their rude signs that they hold up at games. Fire Bettman! Gretzky for Commissioner! He'll have plenty of lawyers surrounding him and the like to take care of whatever Bettman uses that law degree for. You can't tell me that Bettman has more hockey sense than the Great One. Well, you can try, but I probably won't be listening.

Most Americans couldn't tell you what TSN, Rogers Sports Net, or possibly even CBC are. Fox Sports is sort of making up for the fact that the US does not have a united/good TV contract. In Minnesota they broadcast a ton of Wild games, but what the NHL really needs is ESPN. That network is synonymous with sports in the United States. There is talk that the NHL might be on ESPN2 as early as next season, and that would be a huge leap forward. VS is pretty much ignored by most people that I know, and you have to pay extra to get it. ESPN comes with a basic cable package. More than 85% of Americans have cable or Satalite TV, and that number is expected to rise. This would be tremendous exposure for the "new NHL", and ESPN does some pretty awesome commercials. Exposure on ESPN could lead to the more lengthly articles in Sports Illustrated and ESPN Magazine (and whatever the other major sports magazines are..those are the two I read besides the Hockey News) that the NHL once enjoyed.

Thoughts?

I Guess Scott Niedermayer Really is THAT Good

Photo Courtesy of Hockey Canada

We had beaten the Ducks twice on their pond, so I was optimistic. Granted this was before the return of the better Niedermayer, and since then everyone has been saying Scott Niedermayer this, Scott Niedermayer that. Earl Sleek did a big write up on the team before and after the return of the former captain. Not only did he do that, he had nice things to say about the Wild. At least I have the ookies over at IBP to cheer me up. They aren't exactly SN's biggest fans ever, and my favorite quote ever about Nieds comes from them. "Nieder totally looks on the ice as if he’s humming like a llama. Just this contented, slightly absent, animal-esque hum." -one of the ookies, I forget which. Thanks, ladies.

At the end of the first period, the Wild had three shots on goal. After their two goals, they then had five shots on goal. We did end up with 27 shots on goal according to TSN, but TSN and FSN are having shot total disagreements. Gaborik took that stupid penalty, and after that, I exploded a little bit. There was another bad one at the end of the game. The too many men on the ice penalty. This game just really didn't sit well with me. I was happy that Schultz got his first of the season, and that Koivu got a goal (assisted by Parrish! Both of them looked really excited), but as for the rest...notsomuch. I think what really rubbed the horribleness in my face was who got the goals for the Ducks. Todd "Hey Wild fans, don't bother buying tickets for game 6" Bertuzzi and FCP. Oh yeah, and Corry Perry, but whatever.

The Wild need to start winning these games. Teams can gain or lose places in the standings within hours in the league these days. We need all the points we can get. We play all division rivals on the road until the All-Star game, and then the Ducks again. They had better get it together.

Let it be known before baseball season begins, that I am officially in support of the Colorado Rockies as my western US team. I was given a sticker to signify my new fanship of the team. I figure they don't really clash with the Twins at all, and Bert likes their field.

Sidney Crosby is out four weeks with a badly sprained ankle, according to TSN, various announcers, and several of my now gleeful friends. Sucks to be him, but not the rest of the league. Lecavalier is probably practicing his Hart trophy pose right as I type this.

Tomorrow I will answer Sherry's challenge that she posed on her blog and correct all the errors I made typing this at almost 11 PM.

Justin Morneau re-signs with the Twins!

He's the one on the right, in case you didn't know.
Photo swiped from BatGirl's blog. Thanks, BG!

Our 2006 AL MVP winning first baseman is back for at least one more season, according to the Canadian Press and TSN. He's going to be making $7.4 million US for the year to hopefully bring us some more MVP numbers. What I really hope is that he doesn't play in the All-Star game again. Morneau had 28 homeruns before the break last season and three (I think) after it. I am superstitious enough that I will never vote for him again. I would love to see him signed to a long-term deal, preferably before 2010, when we have the potential to get really screwed.

Guerrier, Rincon (who I could have sworn they traded), and Cuddyer are still eligible for arbitration.

Wild Need to Work On Beating Division Rivals.

Photo courtesy of the Facebook group "Calgary Flames SUCK"

We beat Phoenix on Sunday night to make it seven straight. I was mildly worried about the game since they were on a mild tear, but my worries were unfounded.

So last night we played the Flames, and that didn't go so well. Stupid Jarome Iginla, AKA Sakic's heir, got the Shootout winner. It was a night for the defencemen as Foster and Burns had the goals for the Wild. This is an important goal for Foster, since he still needs to prove that he can contribute so that Lemaire will put him in the lineup more frequently. I didn't actually watch the game, but TSN thoughtfully provided me with game highlights and a less than clever title. My boy Parrish was out with sore back apparently last night, and was therefore not getting any goals for me to gloat about. :(

Sherry, over at Scarlett Ice, has been nominated for this year's Canadian Blog Awards. You should go to her site and check it out, and then she has a link up so that you can vote for her. There are many quality entries this year, so I recommend voting for Sherry and then going and checking out all the other blogs.

Next up: The Ducks. Hopefully Mark Parrish will be back so he can break FCP again. That would definitely make my life if that were to occur twice. Now that S. Niedermayer is back, unfortunately they have gotten better. Earl Sleek, who writes for both Battle of California and AOL Fanhouse, will probably have some kind of detailed stats up about the matchup, because he is far better at that sort of thing than I am. Finny, of Girl With a Puck, will probably post something about the game if she is back from her vacation.

Teebz, the brilliance behind Hockey Blog in Canada, is having an essay contest with some fantastic prizes to celebrate the one year anniversary of having his blog. The questions haven't been posted yet, but you should check in often to see what they are. Or don't. That way my brilliant entry will have less competition. Congrats to you, Teebz, and good luck to all who take him up on his challenge.

**Edit** According to the man himself, the Hockey Blog in Canada essay questions will be up on Monday.

Back to back wins!

The Wild do love me! They are sending me off to hockey hell with two exciting wins over Detroit and Chicago. Zetterdouche, Triangle Head, and Kane have nothing on my boys, especially now that Koivu is back and playing almost 20 minutes!

The Detroit game was exciting right down to the shootout finish. I was watching the game while IMing with Steph, and I almost felt badly about gloating, but since the Red Wings have destroyed the Wild this season, I was quickly able to quash that guilt. Backstrom got pulled after four goals allowed, and Josh Harding was a rockstar in net for us. The Wings scored with just over a minute left in the third, and I freaked, but less than 20 seconds later Eric Belanger became my hero of life when he batted the puck out of the air and scored. Burns then spun him around in a circle. Gaborik got his first shootout goal, blah blah, we win! HOORAY! WE BEAT THE RED WINGS! Final score: 6-5 SO. Parrish's goal streak was broken. :( But on a lighter note, we beat the Red Wings, so I don't care.

The next night I was all excited because Koivu was coming back, and because we were playing the Blackhawks. We seem to have their number, so I was pretty much counting on them winning. (Bad karma I know, but I can't help myself!) Josh Harding was a rockstar again in net, and the Wild beat the Blackhawks by a score of 5-2. We played them hard, Veilleux really, really should learn how to fight better, but Parrish got a goal, and like I mentioned earlier, Koivu played 19 and some change minutes. It was an awesome game, and a nice win over a traditional rival.

I'm heading back to school tomorrow, so tonight I've had HNIC on, and the Hotstove segment was a howl. Talking all about the Leafs and their problems. The guys were practically yelling at each other and Referee Ron had to step in and shut them up so we could distinguish what exactly was being said by who. They then talked a bit about the new Wild ownership, but I'm sick of hearing about that until I see what happens. Now I will watch the Leafs possibly get destroyed by another west coast team...but for now apparently we only get to see Joe Thornton and his huge butt skate around in circles. Now I'm getting to watch Dominic Moore play with the Leafs for the first time. Lovely.

Also, Elise (18,568 Reasons Why...) pointed me to NHL.tv where there is a good clip with Mark Parrish under "What's New". Burns is also in a clip with a ridiculous hat talking about his zoo some more. She's my hero of life for the day, because as I'm sure everyone has now noticed, I'm a huge Mark Parrish fan...

Oh yeah, one more thing. We play the Coyotes tomorrow. My mom and brother will be at the game *sniff*. The Coyotes have been reasonably good lately, and for them miraculously good. According various CBC people, Turris will up with them before the end of the season. Playing the Coyotes always makes me a little bit sad, because I hate seeing Wayne Gretzky as Coach Gretzky. I liked happy, amazing, hockey playing Gretzky much, much better. That's all I really have on them other than that they beat Vancouver last night! (I'm tired and sick, what do you want?) For the Coyotes POV, I direct you as always to my fine HLOG sisters who cover the Coyotes at True Coyote Love, and Hip Shot Blog.

Wild Owner Bob Naegele is selling his share of the team

Rumours have been flying around the Twin Cities since even before I returned home that some sort of business deal was going down. Today I got an email in my inbox from Mr. Naegele confirming what we have all long suspected. Whatever. I don't have a whole lot to say just yet, so long as the new owners continue to try and build a good team and don't turn into Dollar Bill, I'll be fine. Personally, I wouldn't sell a team that's making so much money, because if you look around, everyone has a sweater, hat, t-shirt, puck, fake stick, picture, you name it in their hot little hands, but according to my mom, that's just how he does business. If you would like a copy of the open letter that he sent to the fans, let me know and I will forward it to you. I'm sure the whole thing will also be posted on the official Minnesota Wild message boards.
Thanks for helping us get a team back, Mr. Naegele, and I hope whatever business venture you invest in next is kind to you.

In other news, the Wild have been beaten twice since the last time that I have posted, and if that wasn't bad enough, they play the Red Wings tonight. Unfortunately it looks like both Triangle Head and Zetterdouche (or the Eurotwins as they are known over at NPI) will be around to taunt me and my fellow Wild fans. I watched the Preds and Stars games, but I really couldn't find anything that I felt like posting about.

Last night I watched part of the Leafs/Ducks game, and I feel a little bit sorry for Leafs fans right now. They should protest and start burning jerseys in the streets or something to let the owners know that they want a better team. If they don't stop handing over all their money, they ownership is just going to keep putting out a mediocre team because the fans don't care as long as it's the Leafs.

Mikko Koivu update: Some un-named player has been put on waivers, but not quickly enough so Mikko Koivu can't play until tomorrow's game vs. the Blackhawks. Mr. Koivu says he's ready to play, and Coach Lemaire is ready to have him back. I'll update when I know for sure who it is.

***EDIT*** According to TSN.ca, it's Dominic Moore that has been put on waivers. I guess DR likes to keep us on our toes, since everyone I know thought it would be Foy. Not really sure why Foy didn't go, since he's almost always a healthy scratch, and Mikko Koivu does not center the checking line, which is what Moore did. Somehow I feel like this is going to bite them, I just haven't figured out exactly how yet.

CANADA WINS GOLD!

Team Canada beat Team Sweden today to win their fourth straight gold medal at the WJCs. I didn't make a post yesterday because I was afraid that I would gloat too much and kill the precarious karma. Now I will start my extremely boisterous celebrating.

The boys aren't great singers, but they were singing the anthem, and they knew all the words, so props to them. I've heard that they didn't deserve the win, but I have yet to see the game, so I will reserve judgement until I watch the whole thing. I just saw the singing clip on Coach's Corner. Don Cherry is joining me in being really excited about the win. I'll look for the Coach's Corner clip and post that here, too.

I was there in 2005 when the gold streak began. That was the dream team with Crosby, Phaneuf, and Seabrook (among many others). The whole arena was filled with red, as we weren't too far from Winnipeg, lots of beer was consumed, O Canada was sung, lots of yelling, partying, and general merrymaking ensued in the streets. Sadly celebrations were much more subdued in my house today, but I'm sure later when I watch the game I will make enough noise for four people.

For even more coverage, check out TSN.ca.

WHOOOOO! It paid off...

Not only did the Wild win 6-3 vs the Stars, they dominated. Notably absent was Skoula, a fact that was greeted with cheers when the announcement was made. My mom didn't even yell at me for cheering and tell me to be nice, an event far rarer than Skoula being scratched. That was only the beginning. There was a very enthusiastic young man selling programs, and I bought one from him. He was excited when he saw me approaching, and when I handed him a five, he promptly reminded my the programs are only $3. When I told him to keep the change, he got so excited I thought he was going to explode. He thanked me right away, and then later added "Enjoy the game!". As I turned around to thank him, I could see him running off towards one of the parents waving the money like he had won the lottery. Wherever you are right now kid, you should know that you were doing a really nice job selling programs. I tried to tell him that, but I don't think he was paying attention. Oh well, I'm glad I made him smile.

On to the game. It was amazing right from the beginning. Four goals in the first period had the crowd all over the game, but there were a few close calls on some Stars power plays, and they did manage to get one goal, but I was ok with that. Marty Turco got pulled after the Wild's third goal, and he looked supremely unhappy about that fact. In the second period, I started to get worried. The Wild got a goal, but the Stars got two making it 5-3. The third period started off not so well for the Wild, but Mark Parrish added a nice goal around the middle of the period to make the final score 6-3. I yelled my fool head off for Parrish (he was quite excited about his goal, too), since it was my last game at the X for the season and I was wearing his sweater tonight. There were two fairly lame fights, and Steve Ott had to leave the game at the end for what we later found was a game misconduct and an abuse of officials penalty. Nick Schultz seems to feel that now he is captain he must check people, and even Marian Gaborik, yes, you read that correctly, Gaborik checked someone. Hard enough to make noise, too.

All in all some revenge was had, a program (complete with Mark Parrish poster) was purchased, a kids hockey program was helped, Mark Parrish got a goal, and it was a nice sendoff for me. The next time the Wild are at home is the 13th of January, but classes begin on the 14th for me, so I have a flight the 13th. It was such a good night that I can't decide what my favorite part was.

WJCs: Team Canada will play Team USA tomorrow at 12:30 ET (According to TSN). It's on TSN and the NHL Network and I will be watching that game. GO CANADA GO!!!!!!! The first game will be re-broadcast at 5 and the second and more important game at 10 in case you miss them.

Jarkko Ruutu owns Dion Phaneuf!

Hopefully this one will work. I could still watch this on a loop for hours. Nice work, Phaneuf.

Trap it Like it's Hot - Canucks Rap

I posted this on HLOG a while back, but I'm posting it here because it's absolutely hilarious. Enjoy!

Captain Saltine Cracker

For the first time in his NHL career, Nick Schultz has been named captain for the month of January, and according to my friend Janessa (who went to high school with him), he has the personality of a saltine cracker, so that is his new name. When my mom and I met him, he was very polite, just not terribly entertaining or personable, but at least he was polite, right? I have to admit, he's been playing better this year. I've hardly noticed him at all, and that's definitely improvement. Especially since my family used to play a game where we would guess how many times he would get absolutely annihilated along the boards each night and then count to see who was right. Congrats, Nick. Please lead us to many glorious victories.

Russo, the Wild beat writer for the STrib (Minneapolis Star Tribune), has written an article about his time in the stands with us fans and how he learned just how much we fear Skoula. It's a good read, I highly recommend it. http://www.startribune.com/sports/wild/12962511.html
Part II is coming tomorrow with responses from Coach Lemaire and Skoula.

Nick over at Hitting the Post also has an excellent post up on the topic.

Elise, a new voice in the Wild Blogosphere (please see sidebar), has responded to my challenge about why Skoula still has a job in a post over at her blog. You should check out both the post and the blog.

Speaking of new blogs, I've been reading a few new ones lately, and in case you hadn't noticed, the Wild Blogosphere is expanding! jdoghooey is over at Wild View From Section 216, and Paul is over at Cup Crazy's National Hockey League Blog. CCNHLB is not exclusively a Wild blog, but the Wild are one of his teams, and he writes really good articles on lots of other stuff too.

If I missed anyone's blog and they would like to be added, please leave me a post or drop me a line, and I'll happily add you. (PS, it doesn't have to be a hockey blog, anything is fine, as long as it's in reasonably good taste.)

Ckim (A Queen Among Kings) posted an amazing video with Ryan Miller telling yo momma jokes. It's hilarious.

The Onion continues to be brilliant. The Sports issue on stands now is a hoot and a half. This "article" about the Yankees is my favorite. Just a warning, the f-bomb is used a lot. http://www.theonion.com/content/news/fucking_yankees_reports_nation

WJC Update: Team Canada has recently beaten Team Finland twice in a row. GO CANADA GO! This was the first time they have played in the quarter finals since 1997.
All Team Canada info is courtesy of TSN or my Canadian friends who have been keeping my up to date since I'm an idiot and forgot to watch the game today.

The Minnesota Wild New Year's Resolutions

The Minnesota Wild will hopefully make some New Year's Resolutions, and these are the ones that I've chosen for them.

Mark Parrish-get a haircut, the long hair is not working for you, my friend.

Matt Foy-Get a better/less annoying girlfriend. (long story)

Pierre-Marc Bouchard-find a way to grow some more hair. Stephane Veilleux has pledged to join him in this quest.

Petteri Nummelin-learn how to score during regulation play.

Josh Harding-pick up some crazy goalie habit so that he can become more like Backstrom, and he'll hopefully get rid of his plaid shorts and striped shirts (typically worn together).

Brian Rolston- will learn how to stand around/be interviewed/play hockey with his mouth closed.

Mikko Koivu-learn ancient healing methods to apply to himself.

Derek Boogaard-learn Jedi powers to use on the refs. "That was not a penalty...he punched himself."

Martin Skoula-Learn how to play hockey properly, and stop helping the other team!

I don't really have any New Year's resolutions for myself, but I suppose one of them should be to take care of this wrist thing once and for all.