YAY! WE WIN!

WHOOO! The Wild beat Tampa Bay 3-2 yesterday to snap their slide. I'm really stoked about the win, and hoping for another tomorrow. Fedoruk ( that goal was originally credited to Bouchard), Rolston, and Demitra all scored for the Wild. Ouellet and Halpern scored for the Lightning. That game was on too early for me to catch all of it due to other commitments, but Mikko Koivu was freaking amazing like usual, and his Personal Streak of Awesomeness has been extended.

I just got the copy of the Hockey News with Scott Niedermayer on the cover, and I scribbled all over the picture of FCP. Janessa and I are thinking up all kinds of mean things to do to him. Who knew a Sharpie and a picture could be so entertaining?

League:
Joe Sakic is back, he picked up a goal last night.
Dion Phaneuf got his SUV stolen, but sadly it was later found by the Calgary Police. KMS2 has a post up about it on Purple Crushed Velvet, and TSN and the Calgary Sun both covered the story.
Hossa got hit knee on knee tonight during the Pens game.
Stupid Brad Richards got five assists tonight.
Ckim and Finny did another podcast, this time about the trade deadline, and they gave me a shoutout! Check it out by visiting either A Queen Among Kings or Girl With A Puck.

Up Next: Wild vs. Panthers @ 6:30 CT on FSN. I'm sure Russo will have something up about it since he's still in love with Florida. I don't have much else to say except that we had better win this game.

Dear Baby Hockey Jesus,

I have come to you in my hour of need. If necessary, I will lay out the proper sacrifices like the Untypical Girls outlined, but I don't have time tonight. The things I would like from you are simple things indeed, and I will give you a whole list to choose from, but I would be happy with just one of them.

-Please make Chris Simon go away
-Smite Skoula
-let the Wild score goals. Lots of them.
-Help us regain our division lead
-If not the division lead, I'd settle for making the playoffs
-Don't make us play Anaheim in the playoffs, even if Sleek says we are due to win
-Make Jarome Iginla get some embarassing injury before we play them next.
-Let Forsberg screw up the Avs chemistry so they are not as good as I fear they will be.

Thank you Baby Hockey Jesus for letting us keep Pierre Marc Bouchard, and thank you to the Untypical Girls for the inspiration for this post.

Feel free to add onto this list of things to ask Baby Hockey Jesus for, because I'm sure that no matter who you are a fan of right now, there is something about today that makes you unhappy. Unless you are a fan of the Penguins, and in which case, I hate you a little bit.

I'm too irritated about life to do a pre-game for the next game. We play Tampa Bay tomorrow. They no longer have Richards, they have half the Dallas Stars instead. Lecavalier plays for them. That is all.

***EDIT*** I got a mention on Deadspin, and not in a bad way! See it here http://deadspin.com/361314/maybe-pittsburgh-didnt-get-bitch+slapped-after-all
Thanks to Loser Domi for pointing it out!

Have I Mentioned Lately Just How Much I Loathe the Flames?

I needed to vent some rage..

Because I do. A lot. Today's 2-1 loss was horrible. The game might have turned out differently if the stupid ref hadn't waived off that goal. I was watching the game while attempting to be productive, but that didn't go too well for me. The Shames are now on top of the division...but we play a string of crappy Southeast teams coming up, so I'm hoping that will help us out. I have no idea who Calgary and Vancouver are playing coming up, but I hope they are good teams.

Mark Parrish scored on a feed from Mikko Koivu, proving why his office is right in front of the net for a reason. The Flames had goals by Conroy and Langkow.

JOE SAKIC IS SUPPOSED TO PLAY TONIGHT! I'm so torn, it's the Oilers, so I want them to win, but I want Sakic to get a goal or something.

Up Next: the Caps...um, I don't really have a lot to say about them except for that we had better win! I must admit, I know they've been fairly decent for them, but I don't much beyond that. Go to A View From the Cheap Seats if you want to actually learn about them.

Oh yeah and Nick Schultz signed for six more years. Now it's only a decision between Rolston, Bouchard, and Demitra for this offseason.

@#$*&)(!!!

Ugh. I missed most of the Canucks game yesterday, but Elise informed me that I didn't miss much. I watched part of the Chicago game tonight, and I have to say, I'm pretty pissed that we lost to the Blackhawks. We have an excellent record against them, partially helped by the fact that they have really sucked in recent years. This is a much improved version of the Blackhawks, but a 3-0 loss is unacceptable. Especially since goaltending was the one area that I am actually owning this week in fantasy hockey. Step it up! I expect you guys to be better than this! You are leading the division in an extremely tough division, holding onto that lead will require some effort! PLAYOFF HUNT! Do those words mean anything? They had better, because when I get home in May, there will be hell to pay if there is no Wild hockey for me to watch.

Now then, on to happier things.
Congrats to Mark Parrish and his wife on the birth of their daughter!
Did anyone see the Habs game yesterday? It was totally sick. They came back from a five goal deficit to win. That's the largest comeback in all of the Habs' storied history. I was SUPER stoked that I chose to spend a little of my precious bandwidth watching them beat the icky Rangers.
Joe Sakic had his first full practice today! I'm so excited for him to come back.
I got an amazing holiday card in the mail today from my HLOG sister Tracy. It has a GIANT Joe Sakic trading card on the cover and shiny, silver stars. I love it! Thanks, Tracy!

Up Next: Calgary. I really dislike Calgary, but they have a couple of awesome fans in HG and Leanne over at Double d(ion) and Open.Ice. Hits., respectively. We need to beat them! This is one of the teams that is creeping up on us in the standings, and we've had trouble against them all season. Someone needs to be assigned to Iginla...hit, kill! Something, anything.

What's Wrong With Winning in Regulation?

Pierre-Marc Bouchard and his brother, Francois. Posted because I can.

The Wild beat Nashville 5-4 in OT last night on a game winner by Gaborik. I refuse to say glowing things about Gaborik ever, so all I'll say is good job. To the rest of the team, why did you start sucking? You guys were playing so well!! Mark Parrish answers this question for me, but much as I love him, I'm slightly less than fond of his answer. "We love the drama," Minnesota right-winger Mark Parrish said. "We want our fans to get every penny's worth. We want to put them through all the emotions." -Quote courtesy of TSN

Parrish, Nummelin, Bouchard, Gaborik (2) all scored for Minnesota last night. Brian Rolston was out with the flu, and I was pleased to see Nummelin playing in his place. Foster is looking a little beat up again lately. Poor guy has it rough, even with a face shield. Maybe he should start wearing a cage....

I'll still count this game in the streak of awesomeness, even though it certainly could have been more awesome.

NHL Notes:

• Mark Parrish didn't lost a tooth last night


• The Red Wings lost their 6th straight game last night


• Forsberg has decided not to come to the US after all. Surprise surprise.


• The Wild are now at least five points ahead of Calgary and Vancouver in the standings.


• Rob Blake now wants to stay in LA


• Lecavalier apparently doesn't want to be traded either. That's too bad...


• Marleau and Brind'Amour are both on the IR


• Staios got fined, not suspended for slashing one of the Canucks.

Up Next: The Wild vs. the Canucks, possibly for the last time this season. The game is on at 7 CT on FSN. Remember Wild players, DO NOT GIVE THEM ANY POINTS! You guys need to knock off this giving the other team a point crap and just win the game cleanly. There are times when it is not appropriate to be Minnesota Nice. Remember, they are nothing more than a bunch of karate chopping jerkwads. Koivu: I want to see you do something awesome and rub it in their faces!

Baseball is coming!

Ok, so normally I don't care about baseball until hockey is done, but I'm still a little bit excited anyway for the beginning of Spring Training. Pitchers and catchers report today! I'm super depressed about the fact that we don't really have a starting rotation, and we don't have anyone to play on the left side of the field, but you know what, maybe it'll be ok. Maybe this will be the year I get circled by Bert!

PS, I used to have a Twins Territory sign up on my door, but it got lost at the end of freshman year. If anyone knows where I could get another, I'd be eternally grateful.

Wild Win and so do I

See, he's happy about it too.

The Wild won in a shootout with Koivu being the hero. His Personal Streak of Shootout Awesomeness has been revived. What is it about Finnish players and their mad skillz in shootouts? Whatever it is, Koivu's back, and vs. the Canucks too. How fitting. Take that and shove it, Ohlund! Too bad he wasn't petty enough to rub it into the Canucks bench again. I suppse in a shootout win he wouldn't have the opportunity, which is a bummer, cause I have to say that was awesome.

It was a good game up until the part where the Canucks tied it up, we didn't win in overtime, and I saw Koivu's name get called. I was nervous since he had been 0-3 this season...but clearly I did him a disservice.

Enough about the game, onto what I'm really making this post about. Teebz sent my prize as promised, and it's really, really, really effing cool. I got a Martin Brodeur mini stick, a Sidney Crosby action figure, a North Stars t-shirt, a Team Canada hat, and two Don Cherry DVDs. This is beyond awesome. A HUGE thank you goes out to Teebz for this generous prize, and for putting up with the highway robbery that the Canadian Postal Service charges these days. Thank you, Teebz!

NHL notes:
The Red Wings lost again!

Ryan Smyth is back two or so weeks early

Jagr is not doing well any more. Is this his last season? TSN wonders the same thing

Zach Parise had two goals tonight.

Random note about life: Honey flavored ice cream is really, really good.

Up next: the Wild play the Preds at home. I will try to watch the game, but I have an econ midterm to study for and an endless supply of French essays to write. Elise of 18,568 Reasons Why will be at the game, and so will my family if they make it back from Wisconsin in time. For those of us without tickets, the game is on at 7PM CT on FSN.

Happy Valentine's Day

Ok, so the picture won't stay here, and this picture is the whole reason for my wanting to make this post...

Here's a link: http://www.detroithockey.net/multimedia/337.php

I've heard people claim that Shanny did not see this happen, but looking at his face, there is NO WAY he didn't see that.

Earl Sleek has written a poem in honor of Valentine's Day. It's enough to melt any female fan's heart I tell ya.
http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2008/02/14/pucktoons-a-hockey-love-poem/

Don't forget, we play the Canucks tonight, and they are a bunch of cheating, best player chopping, douchebags. Maybe now I will have shattered their self confidence and they'll be too busy crying in the corner to win the game. I will never, ever again make the mistake of saying something nice about the other team on game day. Alix over at the Humming Giraffe, and Rinslet at Canucks Fangirl will be covering the opposition's point of view.

Some of my HLOG sisters have ventured into the world of Pod Casting. Finny at Girl With a Puck, Ckim (not a HLOGger, but close enough) at A Queen Among Kings, and McPhizzle at Musings of a Radical Redhead have all been involved in Podcasting, and I'm liking the results thus far. They all have links up on their blogs, so you should check them out!

My Bad, Wild Fans

So I'm feeling responsible for the Oilers' win last night. I totally heaped warm fuzzies on them, encouraged them, and reminded them that they have steamrolled teams in the past. Oops, my bad. I promise, I won't ever do that again...until next game when I'm torn again. It was a nice 4-2 win if you are an Oilers fan, or Coach MacTavish. He seems particularly pleased about the win. Note: if you are going to bash MacT, do it somewhere else. The Wild Boards have a whole thread about bashing him, but I like MacT, so I will not tolerate abuse of him here.

I do have one beef, and that is with Jarret Stoll. He has ten goals on the season and probably half of them are against the Wild. Why, Jarret, why? After you were so nice to me after my surgery, you turn around and do this? Not cool, dude. Brodziak, you too. You and I are SO no longer friends. I was ok with you getting one goal since you did a good celebration, but two...not so much. I can't get away with cheering for you when you are getting two goals against my number one team. Fernando Pisani, I'm happy you're healthy now and able to erm, keep your issues under control, but not happy enough to allow you crappy (sorry, I won't use that word around you again) first goals.

It is extremely hard for me to cheer against the Oilers. I have gotten super attached to these guys, even some of the new additions such as Gagner. Cogliano...not so much, even Matt Greene has grown on me. Penner too. Speaking of which, everyone should check out the Penner/Greene video if they haven't already. It's up on YouTube. Part 1 is much better than part 2.

Parrish had another rough night of getting his butt kicked and not scoring a goal that he deserved. Poor guy. He's had a tough last couple of weeks. Demitra and Rolston had the goals for the Wild

Backstrom was pulled in favor of Harding, and in my opinion that did nothing. If anything it hurt the team. Backstrom had played pretty well, and Harding was just thrown in, and did not play particularly well. Especially against Brodziak...

Up Next: Vancouver Canaucks. Willie Mitchell is rumored to be back, and the game will be on at a time that I actually might be able to watch. 9 PM CT on KSTC.

League Notes:

• Wayne Gretzky is still awesome.
• http://www.tsn.ca/olympics/news_story/?ID=229614&hubname=
• Two Habs players were arrested. Margee did some detective work for us and found out just how it all went down. Go and check out Sportsquee.
• Joe Sakic is skating again!
• Souray is done for the season. He and I can have a club.
• Zednik is supposed to be released from the hospital soon according to TSN.
• Rick Nash has great taste in ties.

Oilers vs. Wild!

The Oilers are clearly ready to bring it on!

Since I love the Oilers so much, they get their very own post for pregame.

We've beaten them a lot in the last 18 or so games, but that doesn't really mean anything, because they slaughtered the Shames 5-0 the other day. (We're not going to talk about the BoA that happened in between, thank you.) The Oilers seem to randomly steamroll teams, and the refs seem to randomly disallow goals and call penalties. Earl Sleek mentions karma like that again in his latest post.

We should not go to a shootout with this team, or even overtime, because the odds are heavily in their favor, and hopefully the Wild will not do their "let's play at the level of the team we are playing" thing.

I have absolutely no idea who will be in goal tonight, but if anyone knows, please tell me, as I need to know for my fantasy team. Russo might have it up later.

The Oilogosphere is always informative. The boys at Covered in Oil might have something up, and even if they don't you should read their blog any way. Andy Grabia over at Battle of Alberta will for sure put something up, and you should definitely read his blog too. If I'm lucky he'll have a game thread up. Basically there are a lot of good Oilers bloggers out there. The Hot Oil ladies have the scoop on young Sam Gagner...

There are also many quality Wild blogs, and if you want a Wild game day thread, check either Russo's Rants, or there will be one on the Wild.com Boards.

Game will be on at 8 CT on FSN.

Two Wins, Fame, Fortune, and Schwag.

He doesn't look like a hero, but he's been tearing it up lately. What a goober. I have an even better picture of him on Facebook...sticking his tongue out at the Oilers.

The Wild had a good weekend to make up for their not so good week.

First off they had a 3-4 OT win over the "struggling" as we were reminded a million and two times, Isles. I felt that should have been a regulation win, but at least they didn't lose. It was fantasy goalie vs. fantasy goalie for me, so I was rather hoping that the Wild were not going to score 8 goals.

Today's game against the Blues was way more exciting than it needed to be, and had an unlikely hero. Who ever thought that Brent Burns of all people would be chosen for a shootout? Not me, that's for sure, but I take it back since he got the game winner. Demitra also had one in the shootout, and Gaborik had one in regulation. Kariya (GROSS) scored for the Blues making the final score 2-1 Minnesota. The Wild have now started a new Streak of Awesomeness, though Koivu has broken his by failing to score in the shootout.

I am famous! I submitted an entry to Teebz's blog, Hockey Blog in Canada, and am co-winner! I probably wouldn't have won if he hadn't decided to reward all that entered, as Ckim's entry was fantastic. Essay writing has never been my strong point, but I gave it a whirl and was rewarded. I'm going to be getting some schwag in the mail, and I absolutely can't wait to see what it is. He has my essay posted in it's entirity on his blog, and an excellent post about Hockey Day in Canada, which he attended in person. Check it out. I expect ESPN will be in touch with me any day now to write for them...

League notes:

• Zednik got cut in the throat with a skate. It looks like he will be ok, but it's scary all the same.
• Parrish is back from being concussed
• Ducks beat Detroit. I didn't see that one coming, either.
• LA won in a shootout.

Russo wrote a nice piece about Wes Walz today. You can go to the Star Tribune website and read it online.

Eff you too, Modano

Dear Wild,
I'm writing to you because I'm cranky. Losing to the by far best team in hockey after winning for most of the game sucked, but whatever, I shook that one off. Having Mike Modano night irritated me due to intense dislike of Mr. Modano, but I can see where you guys are coming from on that one. The final straw is following this up with a 1-0 loss to the Stars without their #1 goalie. Unacceptable. Losing to the Islanders would cause me to have a very bad week in hockey, and you don't want that to happen. I will make my wrath felt even from all the way out here. Capice? Do the words "tight division race and playoff hunt" mean anything to you? Well they should. Everyone is making the playoffs these days, even Phoenix.

Irritatedly yours,
Kirsten

PS, Bomber, you have clearly scored the perfect job for yourself. Keep up the good work, buddy!

Stupid Lebda

Brett Lebda fails at life. The game was going so well up until about a minute left in the game when the effing Wings tied it up. Then OT came around, and I found out that Center Ice Online has not fixed their 15 second delay problem. The only good thing I have to say about Detroit is that their announcers are better than ours on FSN. Final score: 3-2 Wings. Goals by Rolston and Demitra for the Wild, and then for the Wings the Albino German (Franzen), Dude we really would like for our team (Cleary), and the big, fat jerk all had goals.

Game Notes:

• There was a scrum around the net, and Datsyuk and Koivu went to the box. How random to see THOSE two get match penalties. I think Zetterdouche deserved one too.


• Babcock looks like a jerk. End of story.


• "Hasek stoned Gaborik several times without trying to kill him" -Steph


• Backstrom was looking pretty sharp, though a bit too busy for my taste.


• Datsyuk's head is really, really funny shaped
• Mikko Koivu continued his Personal Streak of Awesomeness with the aforementioned scrum.
  

Around the league:

• Leafs got embarassed 8-0 by the Panthers. Yeah that's right. The Panthers.


• Montreal beat the Sens, though it was getting a little iffy at the end. The Sens scored a couple late to make it 4-3.


• Kings doubled up on the Rangers 4-2.


• Anaheim won. Boo.

Up next: the Stars (double boo) at the X. Should be a good game, but hopefully it will be like the game I saw, not the one I forced myself to watch most of on TV. Time to make Turco back into an angry starfish. I'll allow Niskanen to have a goal as long as the Wild win.

**EDIT*** Go and check out No Pun Intended. Steph has expressed the game with YouTube.

Reasons to Watch Tonight's Game

I will certainly be watching the game tonight, and if you want to watch the game with me, shoot me an IM.

• You are a Wild/Wings fan. Duh.
• You like watching the Wings lose because it's like watching the Yankees lose.
• It will be a good measuring stick to see how well we're really doing. Beating a struggling Ducks team/the BJs doesn't count.
• You want to help me write the "Adventures of Zetterdouche and Trianglehead"
• Chelios jokes never get old (get it? old?)
• Hasek might do something entertaining again. Something YouTube worthy.
• Procrastinating is fun
• Mikko Koivu will do something super awesome to continue his own personal streak of awesomeness
• Wild/Detroit games produce some excellent trash talk if you hang out with the right people (ie Steph and I)
• Last game was sick! Did you see all those pretty goals? Expect more like them from both teams.

Bring it on, Detroit, we're coming for you. Be sure and check out all the other Wild blogs I have listed, and Steph who writes for No Pun Intended. Behind the Jersey is also an in depth Wings site. The Wild.com boards should be busy tonight, and if you like to live dangerously and hang out behind enemy lines, go visit letsgowings.com.

The game is on KSTC tonight at 7 CT. For all you Red Wings fans, that means 8 your time, just in case being a Wings fan has killed your math skills.

Sucks to be the CBJs

Now please do another signing so that can be MY sweater.

I get the feeling that Ken Hitchcock does not take losing all that well, but to his credit he has done good things with the Blue Jackets.

I would like to wish Mark Parrish a very happy 31st birthday. Glad they got a win for you, buddy! Hopefully the guys will buy you a few beers to celebrate, and the Twins will buy you a third baseman.

The Wild beat the Blue Jackets 4-1 on the road to continue their Streak of Awesomeness. Nick Schultz is the captain again, and I'm going to grumble about that fact, but concede that the Wild played very well in January. Foster got a goal tonight, and it seems like every time I see him play he has one, so why is he suiting up in the press box so much? Stupid Marian Gaborik got two goals tonight, and Rolston got one too. Mikko Koivu! had an assist on Foster's goal, and Gaborik's life partner (you are so right on that one, Margee), Demitra had an assist on both of Gaborik's goals. Michael Peca!, whose name I adore saying, also had a good game, but only Derick Brassard (and I'm not sure who that is...) had a goal for Columbus.

In other news, the Habs clobbered the Islanders, and I hear if it weren't for DiPietro, it would have been much, much worse. The Leafs actually beat the Sens and Jason Blake (WHOO MINNESOTA) had a goal.

Teebz, over at Hockey Blog in Canada, has a rather insulting post about the Gophers up, though he promises to make UND look bad in the near future.

The Widget I have to the right I stole from Double D(ion), run by HockeyGirl. Thanks, chica! I'm glad to see that you're back in the blogosphere!

Up Next: The Red Wings at the Xcel Energy Center. Game is on KSTC at 7 PM Central Time. Bring it on, Steph, bring it on. Let's hope for a repeat of that awesome game where we beat you guys, k?