Duck Hunting

Photo courtesy of TSN

I'm extremely sad that I wasn't able to be at this game for obvious reasons. The Wild have now won 3 of 4 in the season series (this should be the last game, yes?). Backstrom was awesome no thanks to Johnsson causing Perry's goal. I was watching and I saw number 5 right by the net when he scored. Mikko Koivu!, Brian Rolston, James Sheppard, Pierre Marc Bouchard, and Marian Gaborik all scored for the Wild, while Mark Parrish almost did.

I laughed really hard when I got a text from my mom describing how Giguere ducked on Rolston's goal. He ducked, get it? I was laughing as I watched the game, but I hadn't even though about it that way. I laughed even harder that he threw another hissy fit. As Sherry pointed out on Battle of California, what do you expect from a man who has to drink from a straw?

Mikko Koivu may not be as sharp as he was before missing 20 some games according to Lemaire, but according to me he looks pretty effing good out there. He's been a huge boost for this team, and also for my fantasy team.

Notes:
Derek Boogaard is on the IR.
Santana is a Met.
Guy LaFleur is in trouble, or rather his son is. TSN has more on it. I can feel the shock all the way here from Quebec.
I will be SUPER pissed if Forsberg comes to Minnesota.
Mark Parrish and his wife are going to be parents soon! Congrats to them!

Up next: The Blue Jackets on the road. Bring it on, Bethany!

All-Star Randomness

I watched the entire All-Star game, but I'm just going to give one of my usual random game reviews on it.

Rick Nash had hat trick! He looked so happy, how did he not become the MVP of the game? It worked for Sakic in 2004.

Joe Thornton kind of looked at the camera and then went back to hearing his name announced. No smile, nothing, just kind of a curious look.

I got my hockey hating RA from Kansas to watch the first period of the game with me.

For an All-Star game it was pretty exciting. The West coming back to lead for .5 seconds was awesome, but the fact that the East won in the last 20 seconds was much less awesome.

There were some random dudes who came in and demanded that I explain hockey to them when I was trying to pay attention to things like interviews...or you know the game. For self-proclaimed sports buffs, they are really clueless.

Scott "I am really not a team player" Niedermayer had a goal. I started to be happy, then checked myself.

I missed seeing Joe Sakic at the All-Star game. I voted every day for him faithfully until they announced that he would be out for three months. This whole injury thing is making me a sad panda.

Super Skills-unfortunately I didn't get to watch the Super Skills competition as I was in and out all day taking care of things that I really should have been doing all week. I hear Marian Gaborik got cheated in the shootout creativity contest, and that Pronger fell on his face. Gaborik is on my list of people that should watch themselves for his disinterest in re-signing with Minnesota, and Pronger, well we all know how I feel about FCP.

Tomorrow: we play the Ducks at the Xcel Energy Center at 6 CST. (That's 4 PST to you Ducks fans/Minnesotans stuck on the West Coast.) Like always, it should be a good game. I'm a bit swamped right now, but since I don't have class on Thursdays, I will possibly write a real post then.

**EDIT** Go over and see Earl Sleek at Battle of California and read his Wild/Ducks gameday post. I don't like the actual prediction for tonight's game, but read the rest of what he has to say because he talks about karma and how we are due. It's an excellent post overall.

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)

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.

Wild Owner Bob Naegele is selling his share of the team

Rumours have been flying around the Twin Cities since even before I returned home that some sort of business deal was going down. Today I got an email in my inbox from Mr. Naegele confirming what we have all long suspected. Whatever. I don't have a whole lot to say just yet, so long as the new owners continue to try and build a good team and don't turn into Dollar Bill, I'll be fine. Personally, I wouldn't sell a team that's making so much money, because if you look around, everyone has a sweater, hat, t-shirt, puck, fake stick, picture, you name it in their hot little hands, but according to my mom, that's just how he does business. If you would like a copy of the open letter that he sent to the fans, let me know and I will forward it to you. I'm sure the whole thing will also be posted on the official Minnesota Wild message boards.
Thanks for helping us get a team back, Mr. Naegele, and I hope whatever business venture you invest in next is kind to you.

In other news, the Wild have been beaten twice since the last time that I have posted, and if that wasn't bad enough, they play the Red Wings tonight. Unfortunately it looks like both Triangle Head and Zetterdouche (or the Eurotwins as they are known over at NPI) will be around to taunt me and my fellow Wild fans. I watched the Preds and Stars games, but I really couldn't find anything that I felt like posting about.

Last night I watched part of the Leafs/Ducks game, and I feel a little bit sorry for Leafs fans right now. They should protest and start burning jerseys in the streets or something to let the owners know that they want a better team. If they don't stop handing over all their money, they ownership is just going to keep putting out a mediocre team because the fans don't care as long as it's the Leafs.

Mikko Koivu update: Some un-named player has been put on waivers, but not quickly enough so Mikko Koivu can't play until tomorrow's game vs. the Blackhawks. Mr. Koivu says he's ready to play, and Coach Lemaire is ready to have him back. I'll update when I know for sure who it is.

***EDIT*** According to TSN.ca, it's Dominic Moore that has been put on waivers. I guess DR likes to keep us on our toes, since everyone I know thought it would be Foy. Not really sure why Foy didn't go, since he's almost always a healthy scratch, and Mikko Koivu does not center the checking line, which is what Moore did. Somehow I feel like this is going to bite them, I just haven't figured out exactly how yet.