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.