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!

10 good things to take away from this season

I am really unhappy about the Wild getting tossed out of the playoffs by Theodore the Avs, but I feel that a lot of good things happened this season that I'd like to highlight. Before I forget, congrats to Tapeleg and Jibblescribbits, and thanks for not rubbing it in too much...yet. Jibblescribbits has to follow his own rules and give us a while to mourn before he can gloat.

10.) Branko Radivojevic stepped it up. I have been really hard on him in the past, but you know what? Towards the end of this season he got better, and all his hard work paid off.

9.) Stephane Veilleux tried to be a French Wes Walz. This is not to knock Walz, but I'm fairly certain that since he is from Alberta, he doesn't speak French. Veilleux plays with a lot of heart, and works his butt off each game. From what I hear he's also a really nice guy, and he's certainly good for an entertaining inverview.

8.) The aquisition of Todd Fedoruk. Let's not lie here, when I saw who we got, I laughed. I wondered what good he would really do for us, but in addition to entertaining me with his dancing, he has turned out to be a pretty decent hockey player, and for free no less. (Free to aquire him, he still had to be paid)

7.) Marian Gaborik scored five goals. He finally lived up to the hype, even though he was really streaky this season, he showed us glimpses of what he could be like if he worked harder, learned to play with linemates that are not his best friends, and stepped it up as a leader. Giving him the C sort of was a good thing.

6.) I got my Mark Parrish sweater signed. I know, this has nothing to do with the actual team, but I'm stoked anyway. I'm hoping he comes back, refinds his niche, and has a better season next year. Congrats again to the Parrishes, I'm sure they will have a busy summer ahead of them with their new little girl.

5.) Sheppard learned a lot this season, and while he wasn't always spectacular, I think the future is bright for him. If we hadn't been so short on centers, we might not have seen Pouliot and Shepp as much as we did, but I'm glad for it. I'm also glad that Pouliot showed that he's not as lazy and douchey as he seemed.

4.) This was the year of three players, and Nick Schultz is definitely one of them. He became captain for the first time in his career, and he really stepped it up. I think one of the main reasons the Wild left early was because we missed him and Foster so much. (Foster can be a good player and he's improving, shut it, haters.) I have been fairly indifferent towards Schultz, and sometimes downright mean to him such as when I invented the game to count how many times in a game he would get completely annihilated (I also learned how to spell annihilate this season). This season I was really, pleasently surprised to see how well he played, led the team, and he really seems to be a well-spoken, intelligent guy.

3.) Brent Burns learned some sick moves this year, and was named one of Pierre McGuire's Monsters. http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/feature/?fid=11413 He elevated his game for the second season in a row, and even though he will miss Carney should he not return, I think he will be just fine on his own. He has really matured out, and is very entertaining as well. He and I have a very similar vocabulary, and he would probably agree with me that Dan Terhaar and Mike Greenlay should not try to be cool like us and steal our favorite words/phrases.

2.) Mikko Koivu has shown the world that he's a legit stud, and will be as good as his brother if not better. He can finally kick the "Saku's little brother" status and come out from Saku's shadow into the sun. God knows he could use a little sun that one. He was awesome for us in the playoffs, and the quarter of the season that he was missing due to Ohlund sucking at life, the team was hurting for him. I can't wait to see what he does next, and I fully expect him to be named captain soon, possibly even permanent captain if Lemaire chooses to retire at some point.

1.) WE WON THE DIVISION TITLE! May there be many more to come. I'm sad about the early playoff exit, but stoked about the banner. I wish I could be there to see it hung. It was a fun ride watching the intense fight for said banner, and it reminded me why I love being in this division. (Besides getting to watch the Oilers a lot.)

Honorable mentions:
-The awesome dude that sits next to my parents season tickets. Awesome Dude, if you ever read this, I enjoyed watching games with you and hearing all your stories about the Twins and North Stars back in the day. I hope you have a good summer and renew your seats!
-Watching Harding and Backstrom burn each other.
-Getting the double bonus of spring break games that I didn't think I'd get to see.
-The great rookies that emerged in the league this season.

I'm still cheering for the Habs in the east and my western allegience is up for grabs. I'm now accepting reasons as to why I should cheer for the team of your choice.

Oh crap

Thank you Baby Hockey Jesus for providing us with a stud centerman...
Writing with Paint is hard. Stupid text box function for being wonky.

I watched Monday's game, and it was awesome.
I watched part of Tuesday's game (then I had to go and study, I'm sorry), and it was not so awesome.
I did not watch any of yesterday's game, and it was slightly more awesome than Tuesday's but not much. Sadly Mikko Koivu didn't get the captain's C a goal.

WTF is with Gaborik? Several of my friends say I'm just happy that I get the chance to rip on him, but in all honesty, I'd really rather not get to rip on him, and instead be forced to admit that he's a beast, or in the words of Pierre Mcguire: A MONSTER. I really expect better of Gaborik, isn't he supposed to be the captain? As much as I don't want to say anything nice about Sakic, Gaborik should be watching him and taking notes. Copious notes, but that of course assumes that he can read and write, and you know what they say about assumptions.

I need a Panic Metre Sherry Style for this one.

Stages of the Playoffs when your team is playing like crap:
First: WHOO! MY TEAM MADE IT! STANLEY CUP HERE WE COME!
Second: Awesome, we don't have to play the Flames! They are going to completely destroy Colorado. Parade route is planned.
Third: Where have all the defencemen gone? Oh well, Av's defence kind of sucks, it'll be ok.
Fourth: Many prayers are offered to the Hockey Gods/Baby Hockey Jesus.
Fifth: $%#$*@
Sixth: How bout 'em Avs/Shames/Habs/insert team that isn't sucking here?

Stages of the playoffs when your team is not playing like crap:
First: see above
Second: Who cares who we play? We will destroy them like the vermin they are!
Third: YEAH! We are kicking their butts! Beers for all!
Fourth: I wonder if Detroit and San Jose will get it together and win so we have to play them next rounds?
Fifth: Eat it, #1 and #2 seeds! Watch out east! We are coming to kick your fancy, goal scoring butts!
Sixth: I HAVE THE BEST TEAM IN THE WHOLE WORLD! LET THE PARTY/PARADE/DRINKING/BRAGGING ENDLESSLY BEGIN! WHOOOOOO!

Up next: The Wild play on the road on Saturday. I have strict orders to watch this game since my family will be in Wisconsin for the birthday party of my grandma. (It's in a nursing home. I bet it will be a blast...) This is obviously a must win for the Wild. Maybe since I will be watching the whole thing they will win this time? I have all my pregame rituals all planned out.

Shoutout to my boy Parrish: Feel better soon, bud. I need you to make my Parrish sweater have good karmic value, but in order to do that, you need to play!

***EDIT*** BROTHER OF MIKKO IS GOING TO PLAY FOR THE HABS TONIGHT! Time for them to finish this off once and for all. Eat it, Bruins.

***EDIT #2*** Check out what Brad Bombardir, AKA my favorite Wild player ever, has to say about game 6 here: http://wild.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NHLPage&id=21738

Conference Quarterfinals Game 1

Feel better, Grumpy!

More tomorrow

Mark Parrish Benched

Last night I was too irritated/tired to talk about this properly, and I will probably get flak for this, but whatever. Parrish was benched, and I was furious. I don't care if this makes me a bad fan with "rose colored glasses", Parrish is my boy, and I only want good things for him.

I blame Wild beat writer Russo (Minneapolis Star Tribune) for this happening. Last time he wrote an article about a player doing poorly, he got to take a seat in the pressbox. Russo writes a less than nice article about Parrish and look where he is next game. I'm half kidding, but at the same time...I definitely blame him for messing with Backstrom on gameday. You can't kill the karma like that, man. Clearly Mr. Russo was not an athlete back in the day, or at least not as ridiculous of an athlete as I am. Nik Backstrom is also more polite than I am, because I would have chewed him out for throwing off my gameday flow.

I didn't want to make a comment on Russo's blog because he wrote a post essentially dissing fans who were supporting Parrish telling them to "take off their rose colored glasses". As for his rant, he should have seen it coming. Like he said, Parrish IS very beloved here, and many people are going to be quick to defend him. Minnesotans (and people in general) tend to be very proud of where they are from and others who are from the same place. I understand that Parrish is not playing well right now, but neither is 80% of the team. Since lately my opinion has not been very welcome on Russo's Rants, I figured I would get blasted by all of the Russo faithful and get called a bad fan if I commented about this on his blog. I still might here, but it's my blog making it different.

Note: I normally mostly respect the work of Mr. Russo, but this one issue has rubbed me wrong. My mom told me to calm down about this, but calming down about things is really not my strong suit in life. This post was not intended to be rude to Michael Russo or anyone who posts on his blog. I have great respect for all of you, I'm just frustrated right now with many things, and it needed to come out somehow.

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.

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!