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!

PLAYOFFS!

Playoffs here we come!

As I'm sure you have all heard, the Wild have clinched a playoff spot with their 3-2 OT win over the Avs Sunday night. The playoffs begin on the 9th, but it's not certain who we will play until just before then. As of right now, the Wild will play Colorado in the first round, and I'm ok with that, as long as they can keep Sakic at bay. I have a good feeling about playing them. Calgary not so much, and I don't know if we'd get lucky enough to see a distracted Luongo throughout an entire playoff series...

Anyways, the Wild have two games left. One at home on Thursday vs the Shames, that will be fan appreciation night. The last game of the season is on the 6th, vs the Avs. That game may affect just how much I want to play them in the playoffs.

I'm back at school now, so my nose is back to the grindstone, but I'll try and put something up soon about my playoff predictions.

Dear Baby Hockey Jesus,

I have decided that in order to get what I ask of you, I should probably also communicate when times are good. That's what they tell you in CCD classes, right? I was too busy being told I was going to hell to pay attention to what they were trying to teach me.

Times are good right now if you are a Wild fan, very good indeed, so this is mostly a post to thank you for your kind intercession.
Thank you Baby Hockey Jesus for:

• Helping Mikko Koivu to regain his mojo and play like the stud centerman we still need another of.
• Inspiring Burns to learn how to fight
• Chasing Luongo from the cage last night
• Helping the Wild regain their division lead
• Kicking Vancouver out of the playoffs
• Inspiring Sam Gagner to greatness
• Not letting Edina win the state title
• Helping the Gophers to win many intense games

I thank you Baby Hockey Jesus for helping me with all of these things, but there are still a few things I feel hockey could use your help with:

• Helping Gaborik to be better on breakaways
• Reminding Joe Sakic that it would not be such a bad thing for the Oilers to win
• Getting a stud centerman to help out Koivu in the offseason
• Bailing Mark Parrish out of Lemaire's doghouse
• I would still like it if you would smite Skoula...
• Find someone else to be the spokesmodel of the NHL...preferably someone who does not play for the Pens.
• Finally Baby Hockey Jesus, I ask you to arrange it so that we do not have to play the Flames in the playoffs. That is my greatest wish at this time.
• On behalf of Elise, please inspire Jacques Lemaire to play Shepp, and please let him score some goals so that Lemaire will leave Shepp in.

Thank you Baby Hockey Jesus, and I hope you hear the prayers of fans everywhere, and grant them most of what they need, just so long as it does not hurt my team.

I went to to the Wild/Vancouver game last night and it was awesome, but I really don't have anything else to add that the wonderful Wild Blogosphere has not already written, so I refer you to their blogs if you want to read about the actual game. If there are any Naslund fans in the house, I took a lot of pictures of him to cheer up Alix of the Humming Giraffe. If you want to see, just leave me your email address, and it shall be done.

Top of the division once more...

Quick notes:
Last night's game was awesome. Mikko Koivu would probably agree with me, since he had three assists and was the number one star of the game. The Wild came out hell bent on revenge last night, and had better luck with the goalposts than a young Patrick Roy. Backstrom didn't get pulled, Gagner didn't make fools out of our defencemen, and I was at the game!

All in all it was a good night. The Avs chased Luongo out of the net, and the Wild took back the division crown with 91 points. A good time was had by everyone not an Oilers/Canucks fan.

Up Next: The Canucks at the X. I will be at that game, too! I have promised Alix some pictures ( I have pictures of the Oilers up on Facebook) to cheer her up, so hopefully they will let me by the glass. Should be a good game, and of course every game is important at this time of the year. I fully expect to see the thug line out in force tomorrow to take care of Kessler (not to be confused with Kessel...) and Burrows.

In Which the Wild decide to hand over their playoff spot to the Oilers

So the Wild have apparently decided that making the playoffs isn't such a good idea after all. Maybe they'd rather work on their golf games or something. Maybe some of them haven't taken a look outside lately, but it's not exactly good golfing weather. Last night's 5-3 beating at the hands of the Oilers was not pretty. Three goals in something like the first five minutes of the game were enough to get Backstrom yanked, though he was back in the game for the third period.

This team is imploding like nobody's business. I'm all for the Oilers making the playoffs, but preferably not at the Wild's expense.


So yeah, we have to play them again tomorrow, and I will be there. We'll see how that goes, but I'll be there in my Parrish sweater cheering, even if I do like the Oilers. The Oilers are playing some desperate hockey right now, and the Wild should be too.

The Habs clinched a playoff spot last night, but unfortunately the Twins couldn't pull out a win today. Baby Bradke was on the mound for the start, but the Twins' fielding sucked more than the Wild's defence last night.

I hate the Flames part 7

So everything was looking really good for a while in the game. Pouliot finally did something useful and scored a pair of goals. It all went downhill from there. Iginla had a hat trick, I fould out that Calgary has ice girls (causing me to lose respect for them), and Lombardi scored a goal at the very end of the game because Sean Hill is a bum. Johnsson had 2, count 'em TWO, goals last night. Final score: 5-4 Shames. We lost our three point lead over them obviously, which is bad since they have a game in hand.

In other news, the Oilers beat the Avs 7-5 yesterday, with my boy Sam Gagner getting a pair of goals and earning the first star of the game. Sadly Joe Sakic did not get a goal, but was named the third star of the game. AWESOME. Oilers are still rollin' and are now three points behind the Avs...I bet HF is ready to explode right about now.

Habs beat the Bruins 3-2 in a SO to complete their series sweep of the B's. Way to go Habs!

Right now I'm watching the Twins game, and Bert is wearing rabbit ears. How cool is that? Liriano is starting, but he's not looking as good as I would have hoped. Maybe he just needs a season to get his mojo back? Joe Mauer just threw someone out at second base, and Dick sounds quite amazed to have seen happen. BUUUUURN. They are playing Baltimore, btw.

The Kings beat the Stars 4-2, which is useful to the Wild, because it means that Minnesota is catching up to them in points.

The Leafs beat the Sens 5-4, even though last I heard the Sens were killing the Leafs.

Live blogging the Canucks

I'm not putting times on this, just comments.
1st period:
-Koivu is starting. Yippee!
-Things are already getting chippy...I can't find Koivu scoring and gloating on Youtube.
-Boogaard just shoved someone.
-Shepp is not so good with faceoffs, I'm just putting that out there.
-Gaborik seems to need someone to skate with him (preferably life partner Demitra). He's much better with 2 on 1s than breakaways by himself.
-Kessler is a jerkwad. He has no balls just like Kessel.
-Mikko Koivu wants a goal.
-Butch is really slick. I hope we keep him in the offseason.
-Skoula just made another bad play and coughed up the puck, Shepp looked bad on that play too. -I haven't seen Parrish out there...I hope he's not scratched. Looks like he is indeed scratched for Simon. How many thugs do we need? Stupid Simon. This does not endear him to me.
-Burns is much better at checking people than he used to be. Back in the day he spent a lot of time checking himself.
-Terhaar clearly can't tell the difference between blue and white.
-Now he can't seem to remember that he is employed by the Wild, not the Canucks. Unusual for him.
-Nazzy hits people? What? He just smashed Nick Schultz.
-I felt badly for Mitchell when he had the cage on in MN, now I am just making fun of him.
-Bieksa...UGH. WHY DO WE HAVE TO HEAR ABOUT YOU EVERY THREE SECONDS?! Houhson (sp?) Makes me not look forward to HNIC with Vancouver. If it's not Bieksa it's Loungo. "GREAT SAVE, LUONGO" is another thing I could do without.
-Co'mon Koivu!
-Fedoruk is not completely useless, he just drew two penalties for us.
-I had forgotten how foul Willie Mitchell's mouth is.
Second Period
-BACKSTROM! Back in your net! We are missing Foster right now.
-Pouliot has a problem staying on his feet.
-WHOOO! Went off of Wilie Mitchell, looks like Rolston will be credited for the PP goal. 1-0 Wild. -Rolston needs to learn how to pass. He's very loose with the puck.
-God the Sedins are creepy looking.
-Burns is starting to look like Zetterdouche. Instead of a homeless Swede, he can be a homeless Canadian.
-I can't decide if this game is boring or really interesting. Either way most of the period seems to have disappeared on me.
-Wait! Stop! You're going the wrong way! Bonus points to anyone who gets the reference
-BURROWS! LEAVE PMB ALONE!
-Fedoruk just butt tripped Bieksa
Third Period
-Someone just tripped and zoomed across the ice and made Luongo fall too. Nice.
-GOAL! RADIO! Wow, he's on fire lately.
-Boogie has been deployed in the third. Lemaire must be expecting trouble.
-This is crap, he so didn't trip him.
-NOOOOOOOO! 2-1 Wild. Salo maybe?
-Aaaaand Derek Boogaard is probably done for the night. Now I doubt Lemaire will put him out there unless there is a problem.
-Sean Hill is missing a step or five right now.
-Gaborik, that was weak! Try harder. You're supposed to be the captain.
-Pouliot has a rough life lately. He flails a lot when he falls down. You don't get style points, though he IS French.
-So close, but denied. Demitra sucks.
-Luongo just headed off the ice.
YES WILD WIN!

This got kinda long, sorry guys. I can't figure out how to do the read more thingie.

On a Personal Note

I try to keep this blog all about sports, but right now I seem incapable of making my own decisions, so here goes.

• I'm entering several March Madness pools. Anyone have any idea of who's going to win? Any strategies that you can share?
• Does anyone know if Spanish or Chinese would be more useful to an environmental science major?
• How about French? I speak it fluently and write it pretty well. Maybe I should not take French in favor of Geographical Information Systems?

Next game: So the Wild are playing a lot of division rivals until the end of the season. Colorado is surging, and I'm hoping the Wild can slow them down. Many players have returned from injury for them, including my favorite player alive: JOE SAKIC. I announced today on my friend's sports show that I have a man crush on Sakic, and he responded with, "but you're a girl..." in a very confused voice. Yes, Dillon, I'm not gender confused, I just mean that he's old enough to be my dad/is married, so it's not that kind of crush. It's just a huge one on his wrist shot/captaining skills/awesomeness in general, so therefore it's the typical mancrush. (or what I would define as a mancrush) I'm going to be done making the Avs feel good about themselves now, and hope for a win tomorrow night at 6CDT on VERSUS! OMG, I just realized it's on Versus! I have to go and reserve the TV now.

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.

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!

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.

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.

Hey Look, They Listened!

The Wild beat the Avs tonight with a nice 3-2 win. Clearly injuires are taking their toll on the struggling Avs squad with the loss of Sakic, Smyth, and um, someone else important whose name is escaping me. Statsny maybe? Get better soon please, Joe Sakic, because if my arm continues to kill me, I'll be going home for spring break, and I want to see you play.

I was surprised to see that Backstrom was going to be in net, and about 10 minutes before gametime I found out and madly made some fantasy roster changes. He got me a nice W tonight, so a few past transgressions are forgiven. Parrish was still out with his foot troubles, and Boogaard's back appears to be acting up again.

The feed sketched out on me, so I relied on friends and what I could get of the feed to help me figure out what was going on. Goals by Fedoruk (I know, I was shocked too), Rolston, and Demitra for the Wild. Bruno *sigh* and Wolski (woot!) had goals for the Avs. I really, really wish Andrew Brunette had been signed by the Wild, but as much as I hate to say it, I don't know if he would have the same success with us as he has had with the Avs these past few years.

The Oilers won thanks to Jarret Stoll's two goals. That's what you get, Janessa.

I'm not sure I'll be able to watch the All-Star stuff on Saturday, but Sunday I've got the TV reserved. I'm still mad about the line-ups, but what can you do? Niedermayer played MAYBE 15 games and got added to the roster. Dude must have the ear of the Hockey Gods.

There were lots of games tonight, New York got a win for Brian Leetch night, Montreal made Marty Brodeur mad I'm sure, since he's so proud of how well he always does against them, and there is a game in progress that I will madly gloat about, but not now, I don't want to name it or say anything else for fear of cursing it.

More tomorrow...maybe.

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)

Mikko Koivu Gets Revenge

Photo Courtesy of the Canadian Press

Clearly MK was taught the phrase "don't get mad, get even". Or maybe he wasn't. I don't know if they say that in Finland. His revenge against the Canucks game in the form of the GWG, and also a rather obnoxious goal celebration. What would have made the night even better is if he had beaten on the Sedins a little more, but I'll take a win. I think this means that Mikko Koivu can officially become my second favorite Wild player. He likes pancakes, revenge, pranks, loud music, seems to be reasonably intelligent, good hockey player, and he's Scandinavian. I hear those Scandinavian types are pretty effing cool.

In addition to the revenge, we had Pierre-Marc Bouchard rocking the taco. He had two goals and two assists to be a +3 overall on the night. Butch has been on fire lately, and last night he notched his 200th point in a Wild uniform, becoming only the second Wild player to do so. Marian Gaborik was the first. Brian Rolston snapped his scoring drought. He hadn't gotten a goal since December 29th. Overall it was a good night. The game was fun to watch, but I am sad that the Vancouver feed didn't show Koivu's celebration as well as the Minnesota one did.

Random notes:

My fantasy team cleaned up last night putting me up 8-0 for the beginning of the week.

It's weird being on the other end of the time spectrum. When I lived at home, I'd always hate West Coast games because they were so late, now I love them because the game isn't on during the dinner hour or when I'm still trying to do things.

The Wild are now first in the Northwest division. Hopefully a win tonight over Calgary will help us hold onto that title...hint hint, Hockey Gods.

Leafs GM John Ferguson was fired this morning. TSN has lots more on that story, and they will be having a video clip on the press conference later today. We all knew this was coming, it was just a matter of time. According to Cliff Fletcher, the interim GM, Maurice and his assistant coache's jobs are all all safe for the remainder of the season. The search for a new GM is on.

Tonight's matchup: The hated Calgary Flames. Hopefully we can get Burns to steamroll Iginla so he will stop owning the Wild. Game is on at 8 PM CST on FSN looks like.

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.

Wild Need to Work On Beating Division Rivals.

Photo courtesy of the Facebook group "Calgary Flames SUCK"

We beat Phoenix on Sunday night to make it seven straight. I was mildly worried about the game since they were on a mild tear, but my worries were unfounded.

So last night we played the Flames, and that didn't go so well. Stupid Jarome Iginla, AKA Sakic's heir, got the Shootout winner. It was a night for the defencemen as Foster and Burns had the goals for the Wild. This is an important goal for Foster, since he still needs to prove that he can contribute so that Lemaire will put him in the lineup more frequently. I didn't actually watch the game, but TSN thoughtfully provided me with game highlights and a less than clever title. My boy Parrish was out with sore back apparently last night, and was therefore not getting any goals for me to gloat about. :(

Sherry, over at Scarlett Ice, has been nominated for this year's Canadian Blog Awards. You should go to her site and check it out, and then she has a link up so that you can vote for her. There are many quality entries this year, so I recommend voting for Sherry and then going and checking out all the other blogs.

Next up: The Ducks. Hopefully Mark Parrish will be back so he can break FCP again. That would definitely make my life if that were to occur twice. Now that S. Niedermayer is back, unfortunately they have gotten better. Earl Sleek, who writes for both Battle of California and AOL Fanhouse, will probably have some kind of detailed stats up about the matchup, because he is far better at that sort of thing than I am. Finny, of Girl With a Puck, will probably post something about the game if she is back from her vacation.

Teebz, the brilliance behind Hockey Blog in Canada, is having an essay contest with some fantastic prizes to celebrate the one year anniversary of having his blog. The questions haven't been posted yet, but you should check in often to see what they are. Or don't. That way my brilliant entry will have less competition. Congrats to you, Teebz, and good luck to all who take him up on his challenge.

**Edit** According to the man himself, the Hockey Blog in Canada essay questions will be up on Monday.