Friday, January 18, 2008

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.

3 comments:

Connie said...

I was watching the highlights and the Wild were caught on the bad end of a 3-on-1??? I was yelling at my TV, "What the hell??? What are you doing?? My god, they're gonna sco...ARGHHH!!"

Anonymous said...

Nieds really is that good, and everyone loves him but if you want a reason to hate him,

2006, long story short, his GM told him to get his knee fixed over the Olympic break and focus on the Ducks in the playoffs - they later lost to the Edmonton Oilers of course and it didn't help us (Canada) any without an offensive defenceman like that.

Brodeur even said in Italy that it just wasn't the same without him and he's won everything there is to be won in hockey but there's always gonna be that one year he ditched us out.

I think we're missing a grinder like Walz against more Canadian teams like the Ducks and we need another one.

Kirsten said...

ckim-I did my fair share of yelling at my computer. I'm sure I'll be doing even more yelling tonight when we play the Canucks. Gotta beat those division rivals.

r/r-I was super pissed that he didn't play in the Olympics. I know they needed more than Nieds, but it certainly wouldn't have hurt. Didn't they end up sending people like McCabe and Bowmeester?

We definitely need to find Walz's heir. Veilleux plays sort of like that, but I feel he's not as quick as Walz, nor as talented. He doesn't completely frustrate the other team's top players like Walz did in 2003 to Forsberg. I agree, Anaheim's Canadianess really exposes that glaring weakness. In fact, I may just have to write a post about this.