Housekeeping

Due to my long neglect of the blog, some things needed to be changed, as the blogosphere is a very fluid and ever changing place. I've added, deleted, and changed some links, but if you have a blog and you don't see it on the blogroll, or your link has changed, let me know! I tried to remember who all has changed it up, but y'all are much less lazy than I am and it's hard to keep up sometimes. Also let me know if any of the links don't work. Hopefully I will find the time to update the layout, too.

Thanks!

And on the flip side...

I don't really like to make angry posts, so this one is all about the good things I've seen going on with the Wild and in the NHL.

1.) Colton Gillies. I love this kid. He works hard, and I like watching him skate even more than S. Niedermayer. If I weren't against giving Leopold more money right now, I'd buy a Gillies jersey. Definitely my new favorite player on the team. All the season ticket holders who sit around ours like to give me a really hard time about this fact. Probably because they think I'm his age. False. I'm older by almost a year.

2.) LoLaH & 18,568 RW favorite Toews is on the All Star team! A starter no less. Kane is too, but he seems to be hurt or something right now. All I know is that it was amusing watching him sitting in the press box being bored. I've heard reports from Chicago that point towards great entertainment from the young guys on the team.

3.) We have won quite a few of the games since I have been home. I'm hoping this won't end when I leave next week.

4.) NHL TV. I finally found a computer that will let me watch NHL TV, and I love it. So entertaining. Too bad the Wild have not jumped on this boat quite as much as some of my other favorite teams. Elise has kept me informed of all the amusing happenings, and during finals/midterms/school in general, it's a pretty good study break. Thanks, lady!

5.) Shep is working harder and getting more chances than he was at the start of the season. He's had pretty good games for all the games I've seen in person. Here's to hoping he just has the same sophomore curse as most of the sophomores in the league.

6.) The Wild Blogosphere. I love you guys. It helps me stay connected when I'm far away and too busy to watch the games online. I would have been even more clueless if it weren't for the fact that I read all the blogs before coming home. I also love my homies who write for other teams, it's much more entertaining than the mainstream media. I keep up with a lot of teams this way in addition to the TSN, RDS, and newspaper circuits. Keep up the good work my friends!

Quick Round up

A few awesome things and a couple of not so awesome things have happened in the blogosphere lately. I'll start with the not so awesome so as to end on a good note.

James Mirtle is handing in the keys to his blog to work on a new project. Sad day as he was (is) one of the greatest.

An Oilers blogger was kicked out of a game for live blogging during the game. This is explained in more detail over at Covered in Oil, and one of the writers is leaving. We'll miss you, buddy.

In other news, Elise has shown her brilliance once again in my favorite thing in the blogosphere, Tale of the Tape. Go over and check it out!

RudyKelly of the Battle of California made fun of the Avs goaltenders and caused them to lose the game. Note to self, do not make fun of the Avs goaltenders. Though he does speak works of truth when he points out that Mr. Sakic probably really hates their goalies.

If you want to check out the competition for Thursday, I'd recommend heading over to see Heather B. at Top Shelf. She's hilarious and is a Twins fan.

If I get my homework done, I'll do my first game preview of the season.

Bits and Pieces

School hit me like a freight train, so I apologize if everyone else gets things up faster than I do.

I'm not done with anything informational, but I'll do a Blogosphere round-up.

Elise is just as bored with September in sports as I am it looks like. Youtube is an excellent resource for killing boredom, though.

Nick has decided that I am responsible for Brent Burns' healing karma I guess. I don't know how I feel about that, but I'm sure it won't be hard since I still maintain he'll be good to go soon. Or now.

The girls over in Rangers land are having inner conflicts about Brendan Shanahan. I feel for them.

Jibblescribbits explores the dangers of rainbows...and I have to say, living in a very rainbow place will never be the same again.

Alix is clearly better at scouting out her team than I am. I can only name a handful of the players attending all these camps that weren't on the team last year. Now I can apparently name more of the Baby Canucks.

Hammer's keeping us all up to date on our west coast junior hockey teams, and in turn they provided lots of entertainment with what looks like a pretty intense game of putt putt golf.

Teebz has the updates on the new uniforms for this upcoming season.

Margee is back with her ever helpful Girls Guide to Football, which I'm sure I will find extremely useful this upcoming football season. I have survived the first two weeks of fantasy football with my pride intact.

I have a new poll up, and a piece on Marian Gaborik when I finish it. Who knows when that might be.

Blogosphere round up

So I've been really lazy about blogging this summer, and I blame my internship for that. It kicks my butt most of the time, and leaves me with very few brain cells left over to come up with anything original or otherwise to write here. On that note, my fellow bloggers have been busy, so I'll direct you to a few things that have kept me entertained and informed in this time mental quicksand.

Sherry has been busy keeping us updated on the Sens as well as telling us 100 things about herself. Heather B. and Alix have also done the same. This is a project I find particularly interesting, because it highlights just how cool my fellow bloggers are. I'm sure others are doing this as well, and if I can think up 100 things to say about myself, I might join them.

Teebz wrote this article that is a more articulate version of my angry rant about Mark Parrish, and you should check it out if you want actual math, reasons, and statistics, not angry babble and green scribbles.

Jibblescribbits shows the ladies of the blogosphere some love and support on his blog, and we all appreciate it.

Margee is continuing her desperate attempt to create more football fans. Due to my upcoming debut as a fantasy football GM, I'm taking notes. Anyone that wants to help me not look bad is more than welcome to pitch in their advice. I know next to nothing about football, so anything you care to tell me is helpful.

As always, if you don't see your blog on any blogrolls, feel free to drop me a line, and you'll be added...provided you aren't some random, insulting spam type site.

If you are looking for actual Wild news and analysis on a regular basis, I would advise you to turn to my fellow Wild bloggers, as they are not slackers like me.

Pimping for the Playoffs

So here are a few Blogs that you might visit depending on what team you want for the playoffs:
Eastern Conference:
Montreal Canadiens:
Four Habs Fans Warning: Slightly off color on occasion, not for those who are easily offended but absolutely hilarious
Girls Don't Love Hockey

Pittsburgh:
No Pun Intended

Washington:
Capital Addiction
A View From the Cheap Seats

New Jersey:
Interchangable Parts

New York Rangers:
Some Like it Blue

Philadelphia:
Eager to go Psycho
Flyers.Femme

Ottawa:
Scarlett Ice

Boston:
Five for Writing

Western Conference:
Detroit:
No Pun Intended
Behind the Jersey

San Jose:
Musings of a Radical Redhead
A Sharks Fan Knits
Battle of California

Minnesota:
18,568 Reasons Why
Hitting the Post
A Wild View from Section 216
No More Minnesota Nice
Wild Puck Banter
Wild4Knitting
Deuce by Definition

Anaheim:
Battle of California
Earl Sleek on AOL Fanhouse
Girl With a Puck
Anaheim Duck Fan

Dallas:
Untypical Girls
The Shootout
Hockey Coma

Colorado:
Jibblescribbits
Jerseys and Hockey Love

Calgary:
Open.Ice.Hits.
Double d(ion) maybe she will make an appearance? I hope so, I miss you, HG!
Hit the Post

Nashville:
I know there are some new HLOGgers from NSH. I don't have their links up yet, though. Sorry!

These have been listed in order of seeding, and the blogs within are listed in no particular order. All blogs can be found in my sidebar since I don't know how to link words. As always, I recommend reading all the fine blogs displayed, and if you don't see your blog on the sidebar but would like to, just let me know and it shall be added.

At Least the Ookies are Awesome

Booth pictures are from a random Google search. I suggest googling Scott Niedermayer if you don't believe the Ookies, Alix, or me.

So tonight I hung out in the IBP game thread, and had a lovely chat with many of the (ir) regulars, and some poo was flung...mostly by me, I have to admit, and mostly at Alix, writer of The Humming Giraffe. I'm sorry, Alix, I love the giraffe, and you are awesome. I'm just frustrated, and not looking forward to playing you guys 2,395, 573 times at the end of this month. The fact that Scott Niedermayer looks very much like the giraffe that adorns The Humming Giraffe was also discussed in the quest to find a name for said giraffe. I don't know about you guys, but I hereby vote for Scott as the name.

So the Wild lost 4-3 in a shootout to the Devils, and went 0-3 in said shootout. Earth to Brian Rolston, the slapshot thing isn't working any more. I think every goalie on God's Green Earth has figured out that you will try that...

Paul Martin (former Gopher) and Zach Parise (former UND player boo, but he's from MN) were in town tonight for the first time as Devils, as we haven't played the Devils in Minnesota since before they were born probably. (Which is not a knock on them, since they are older than me.) I'm sure they had quite a crowd there like Nisky did, but they play for a team I like better than the Stars. Martin Brodeur continues in his quest to look exactly like Gump Worsley, except he's too vain to play without a mask.

Anyone have any idea what this is? Google turns up some strange things sometimes. Apparently it's a hockey card...

Up Next: LA Kings. I'm a bad fan. I didn't know that off the top of my head, and I had to use my cell phone to light up my Wild wall calendar since it's A.) dark in my room B.) Faster than looking it up on the internet somewhere. So we play the Kings. Rob Blake is awesome, Dan Cloutier is not, unless he's helping us win playing like his normal self instead of super well like KMS2 mentioned. Game is on at *checks calendar* 7 CT, and that's the end of the useful information I have gleaned from this highly useful wall decoration.


This photo came up when I googled "Scott Niedermayer" The facial expression totally works.-------->

As one final, random aside, I just found out about the existance of a giraffe beetle while making this post. I don't know how you guys feel about bugs, but click on the link if you want to see the coolest thing EVER. Apparently they live in Madagasgar. I really, really want to see one now. http://images.wildmadagascar.org/pictures/dylan/Giraffe_Beetle,_Perinet.jpg

Minnesota Nice does not apply to sports

Memo to the Wild: See above. Helping other teams make the playoffs is not a good thing to be doing right now. You guys are sucking at life, and I want to know why. You blew a division lead in a week. LAME.

Calgary is on top of the division right now with 80 points. The Wild are tied with the Flames, but Calgary has a game in hand. Colorado is breathing down everyone's necks, and Vancouver is one spot out of the playoffs. With 13 games left, I expect this team to really step it up, but from I can see it looks like they are giving up. With three straight losses to teams that they should have been able to beat, and before that losing to teams like the Caps, it's really not a good sign in my mind. I'm not if full out panic mode yet, but I'm getting there. Jdoghooey mentioned that the sky was falling in the comments on 18,568 Reasons Why, and it might be a little bit. We need a Wes Walz to step up and peel the paint off the walls and get the guys going again. Carney, Hill, Schultz, Fedoruk, the stick boy, SOMEONE needs to do something. Rolston has been sucking at life. Parrish has been battling injuries, several of the young guys have disappeared altogether. Backstrom and Harding are getting bombarded every night, and players are having huge, costly brain freezes. Mikko Koivu seems to be the only player on this team really interested in playing right now.

All that being said, here's to hoping for an awesome game on Sunday and an interview with Joe Thornton by someone like Tom Reid so we will all be entertained. For an opposing viewpoint, you can check out Musings of a Radical Redhead or Battle of California.

Twins: HA! I am finally mostly caught up and have a clue what's going on. Sounds like the guys are ready for the season to begin, and Gardy is his usual self. I watched the Twins beat the Yankees the other day, and it was lovely. Once the Twins started winning, the announcers really had no idea what to talk about, since I don't think they know most of the players on the team. (Not that I can really say a whole lot about that.) I almost like not having Santana around for the one reason that I don't have to hear every three seconds about how he's going to the Yankees. The Mets are much more tolerable.
Margee will be doing a Squeeview of all the teams in MLB coming up soon, and Ckim, Finny, and McPhizzle have a new podcast up.

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!

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.

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.

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)

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.

What now, Detroit?

They need to change the name of their restaurant...

St. Paul has officially been named the new "Hockeytown" according to Yahoo!.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news?slug=rm-saintpaul110107&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Oh yeah, and we play them tomorrow. Should be an interesting game to say the least. Steph, you and I are just not friends this week I see, but good job in getting Hemsky back. I appreciate it.

I may not have a lot of time to post until after tomorrow/Saturday/maybe beyond since it's finals week, so I invite you to check out all of the awesome blogs in my sidebar from around the NHL...

If you dislike Bucci : Check out A Queen Among Kings, or Hockey Blog in Canada

If you need to laugh until you hurt: Sportsquee, Barry Melrose Rocks, and Covered in Oil are good choices.

Eye Candy: Hot Oil is having their annual "Hot Off" to determine the hottest Oiler on the team.

Enemy opinions: Steph over at No Pun Intended will fill you in on the Wings, and Bethany at Bethany's Hockey Rants has the Blue Jackets covered.

If you are jumping up and down with glee because Scott Niedermayer is coming back, I'm sure Finny at Girl with a Puck, and Earl Sleek at Battle of California would love to join you in celebration.

And as always if you are bored (or procrastinating)...YouTube is your friend! If you are a really good person, you will vote for your favorite NHL players for the All-Star ballot.

I'll be sure and put up awesome posts once I'm back in MN and able to see the team in person, shoot the breeze with random people, talk to opposing fans, er I mean heckle them, and I won't be doing mountains of homework every day so I'll actually have time to surf the net and/or find something cool to put up.

Wildblogosphere: Wild Puck Banter has a new contributer who also likes Mark Parrish and Mikko Koivu. You should check it out. *nudge*

Wild Blogosphere

This is just a field guide to Wild bloggers, especially since the Wild Blogosphere has expanded recently (myself included, I'm still new). If I forgot anyone, please let me know! Note: All of these blogs can be found in my sidebar.

Russo's Rants
Michael Russo is the Wild beat writer for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, but he also maintains a blog on the Strib's website. He usually has a lot of inside information and insight, so any fantasy owners with Wild players on their team will want to check this one out.

Hitting the Post
Nick in New York usually posts about every game, and decides who was the dud and stud for the games. He has many more stats in his posts than I do, so if you are a stats person, Nick is your man.

Wild4Knitting
Maggie blogs when she can, and is a season ticket holder for the Wild, so she often has pictures and live reactions up. She also blogs about her latest knitting projects.

Wild Puck Banter
Another one that blogs when he can, covers hockey in Minnesota outside of the Wild in addition to writing about recent Wild happenings. Usually has a poll up of the entertaining variety.

Casual Wild Guide
This is the Wild blog I go to for sheer entertainment. This blog is much more satirical than the rest of us. There are always entertaining visuals in the form of pictures and video clips floating around, and to me it's a Wild form of Sportsquee.

Today's game: Wild are playing the Avs, which makes me cringe just thinking about it. Especially considering how we have played the last week/it's the Avs and they are rolling. I have a lab report to write up with a group, so I'll miss the first part of the game, but hopefully I'll be able to catch the last two periods and have some sort of post game. Here's to hoping that Sakic and Sakic Jr. have horrible games!

CFL note: The Bombers play the Argos today....if they win, it's on to the Grey Cup! Lions play the Riders afterwards, but that is not nearly as important.

EDIT: According to TSN, the Wild are back on top of the division and third in the west!!!