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.

Top 10 NHL goalies most crazy/funny moments

Some of these are just ridiculous. It's hard to say which is my favorite.

PS, I'll be at the game tonight, so if you see someone in a Mark Parrish sweater (green) with a Team Canada hat, come on over and say hi.

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.

Players that are Awesome

So originally I was going to write an ode to Matt Niskanen, but I'm not good with pretty forms of writing like Odes, so I'm just going to make a list of the reason that he's awesome. I'm hoping this will cheer Cat up a little bit.
1.) He shoved Niedermayer down. Way to go!
2.) He likes fishing!
3.) Uses proper Minnesota words
4.) Has a fishing bobber hanging from his rearview mirror.
5.) Seems to be humble a genuinely nice guy.
6.) Very smiley and polite
7.) Wears green well. Wild sweater anyone?
8.) Cat gives him a good review after meeting him and getting him to sign a box of Cocoa Puffs...
9.) He's from MN!
10.) He played for UMD...I was accepted to go to school there, even though I usually cheer for the Gophs.

Sam Gagner is also super awesome. His list:
1.) He's going to be a stud in a few years
2.) Seems really dorky, but really chill.
3.) His dad described him as a "really fast turtle"
4.) Has an awesome draft day picture.
5.) Can cook broccoli
6.) Nickname is "Gags"
7.) Seems to really want to sign something for my friend
8.) Plays for the Oilers
9.) Can grow great hockey hair
10.) Dominated the Russians in the Super Series

I know there are more awesome players in the league, but these are two young guys that are fast becoming two of my favorite players in the league, even if one of them does play for the Stars. Who are your favorites? Did I forget to add anything for either of these two players?