Wes Walz, the Stars, and other stuff

This picture is seriously old school. It was taken by my friend Mollie and I at the last Skills Competition in 2003.

School is still eating my soul, so I apologize for the infrequent posting. I have four days coming up to catch up on life outside what's due immediately, so I'll try to finish up a few things I've been kicking around. Gaborik, Burns, Koivu, and whatever else I think of by this coming Sunday will all be posted, and I think Baby Hockey Jesus might show His face as well.

Wes Walz Day is on Friday for those of you who didn't know. The Wild have offered that you can write him a note that will be presented to him, and my bro and I agree that it would be bomb if it was really long and awesome. The link to write some warm and fuzzy things for Walzy is here I re-wrote mine like 10 times because I didn't want it to be lame.

If anyone goes to the game, I'd love to see pictures, so please email/Facebook/text me any pictures, comments, or whatnot that you have from the game, I want to know EVERYTHING. Walzy is a BAMF, and he's sorely missed in my world, I dunno about you guys.

The Stars are coming to town tomorrow (well today, actually), and I expect great things. We have a long history of kicking the Stars around when they come to the X, and they haven't exactly been spectacular this season. Sorry, Cat! Minnesota natives Mark Parrish and Matt Niskanen will be there as well as Toby Petersen who is also technically from MN. Petersen sucked a whole lot for the Oilers, so I don't really care about him. I miss Grumpy, so I'm looking forward to this game which starts 10 minutes after I get to start my Thanksgiving break! (Thank you major that has a lot of lab required classes...) The game is on Channel 5, so all of you can tune in!

In other news:

-Shep got his first goal of the season Monday against the Caps.

-My fantasy hockey teams are both rocking their respective tacos.

-Hedgehogs are pretty awesome pets, I kind of wish I had one.

-I have a new pet frog who requires a name, any suggestions are welcome.

-I hope my family saves me the giant turkey to color in from the Strib tomorrow. It's awesome stress relief during finals.

-Norm Coleman is winning the Senate race with 231 votes. That's why it's important to go and vote, folks!

-Looking at past Oh You Turkey winners, these kids go all out. I was always lucky if I even finished coloring the turkey at all. (yes, I really am 20, don't judge me)

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Americans out there, and happy 4th Thursday of November to everyone else!

Trap it Like it's Hot - Canucks Rap

This is all I have to say about the Canucks. Also, my mom told me about this thing on Wild.com where you can go and give Wes Walz warm fuzzies. I will be doing so, and I suggest you all do the same!

Injury hiding

This (A-rod haters should be sure and click)doesn't have to do with hockey or real sports injuries, but you should still vote for the All-Star game anyway. Now back to your regularly scheduled rant.

People have been grumbling about the NHL policy of hiding injuries, and I think that's dumb for several reasons. Keep in mind I'm writing this from an athlete's perspective, so I am on their side.

1.)The teams have no obligation whatsoever to tell the fans about the injuries. Your boss doesn't put it in the paper that you have a medical problem, so why should theirs?

2.)As an athlete, I fully understand hiding injuries. I am famous for not saying anything until I absolutely can't take it any more. You don't want to let the team down, and you don't want to seem like a wuss. There is something to be said for just playing through the pain, though there is also something to be said for being smart about it. Sometimes the sports culture takes playing through pain a little too far, which can lead to life ruining injuries. Overall for minor things, the players don't want to be seen as weak, so they hide the injuries, and probably wish the press would too.

3.) Not all opponents are into the gentlemanly play and sportsmanship thing. Some players will go for dudes where they know they are hurting. It's not fun having someone try to seperate your shoulder when they know you are hurting, trust me. (not that it's fun anytime, actually) Saying you are playing hurt is like painting a target on your back for some guys.

4.) It might explain why someone is playing like crap, but as long as the coach knows, then it's fine. As much as we'd like to, it's not our job as fans to make the lineups.

5.) The second the team said Burns was having surgery, the Wild fans all went nuts. It was a minor surgery that he recovered quickly from, but still. It shakes the confidence of the fans in the player. Surgeries can't always put you back to rights completely, but they sure can do a lot of good. The bad part about them is, people look at you like you will fall apart again any second. Disclosure of injuries lowers the confidence level the fans have in certain players and makes them all freak out about what could be nothing in the long run. Not a lot of motivation for the teams to say something if it means the fans won't be happy. Hockey is a dangerous sport, but that doesn't always register with people.

I know you just did this whole voting thing...

but IT'S ALL-STAR voting time! I love to vote for the All-Star games. I don't usually actually watch the games, but I like to vote for my favorite players.
The Wild have Gaborik, Burns, Koivu, and Backstrom on the ballot this year. I recommend voting for the last three, and Gaborik if you are one of those poor misguided 8 year olds who always seem to have his sweater at the X.

Obviously if Sakic gets better you should vote for him, as well as Gagner, Toews, Oilers in general, Latandresse, Price, St. Louis, you know, awesome dudes like those.

I'm not gonna lie, I was a little confused at first, but here's where to go if you want to vote.

Mikko is in third place for forwards in the west, and the Habs are basically owning the east. Sweet.

PS, or you can just click on the large, "click to vote" button.

Tucker is a douche

There's a little karma for you

Wow. I had to check up on the Avs game because as you all know, Joe Sakic is a LoLaH favorite. Instead of reading about how godly Mr. Sakic is, I get to read about how douchey Darcy Tucker is. I hate it that players like Tucker, Avery, and (as much as I hate to admit it sometimes) Raffi Torres take away from the game. They take away from its beauty with their crap. Cheap shots and disrespect. It's one thing to trash talk, but it's another to make threats and purposefully hurt people. That's not only disrepectful to the game, it's disrespectful to fellow men.

Elise has a write up about the incident, and the ever awesome Jibblescribbits does too. Check it out.

Tonight we play the Canucks. They have Willie Mitchell who used to be awesome, but now not so much. He's another one *coughParrishcough* that we maybe should have kept around. Shut up, he was awesome back in the day, ok? He couldn't fight, but whatever. He was still awesome. Alix will probably say a few words about the game, and I have several other Canucks bloggers on the blog roll. Check 'em out.

PS, did everyone see the AWESOMENESS THAT IS MARK PARRISH GETTING A HATTRICK? What now, DR? I hope you saw too.

I'm number 1 in the Wildbloggers fantasy hockey league this week! Whoo!

I just thought I'd write to say...

Dear Captain Koivu,
That C looks awfully good on your chest. I agree with you. You should be the captain permanently. Congrats on being named two months in a row! Now you can be a cool kid like Bomber. Keep up the good work, and remember, I'm pulling for you, we're all in this together. Points to anyone who can tell me what that's from...
Stoically,
Kirsten

Dear Shep,
I know you've been having a rough start to your season, and you are probably starting to think that coach is going to kill you. Well, from my experience with coaches, he probably is, but that's beside the point. There seems to be a sophomore curse on the league. Toews has had a slow start, Sam Gagner is invisible, and Matt Niskanen is having some struggles against every team not from his home state. Even I had a rough start to my semester, so I can sypathize. Don't give up, and please teach Josh Harding right from left so he can learn to play the guitar.
In solidarity,
Kirsten

Dear Goober,
Please beg the coaching staff to keep you at defence. You as a forward brings back memories of your first year in the league, and it's just better for my overall mental health if that doesn't happen.
kthx,
Kirsten

Dear Baby Walz,
Even though no one seems to show you any love yet, I still think you are like Wes Walz, so therefore according to the casual poll I've taken of MN hockey fans *by wearing a Walz sweater/having someone else wear it and letting the compliments on the sweater pour in*, someday they will show you great love. It just might take a while. Hopefully Coach Lemaire will let you live long enough to find out. PS, I'd learn to sleep with one eye open if I were you and living with Brent Burns.
Optomistically,
Kirsten

Dear Justin Morneau,
I really hope you win the MVP title. You are MVP of the team and of Joe Mauer's heart, but there's nothing wrong with winning even more trophies, right? Maybe Wayne Gretzky will send you something cool this time around.
Hopefully,
Kirsten