Desired Matchups

Ok, maybe I got ahead of myself a bit with the whole Stanley Cup parade route, but yesterday was a very exciting day for the Minnesota Wild. Not only did they beat the Avalanche in OT, Calgary got smoked by the Canucks. No wait, I'm supposed to be cheering against Vancouver...this is soooo confusing. Anyhow, the 3rd seed now appears likely, and with it I offer my desired first round playoff matchups:

1. Dallas Stars: Dallas has been struggling since the Richards' trade and would be a great first round opponent. Turco's letting soft goals in regularly and they're not able to score on the other end with any consistency. I honestly can't see them scoring more than 2 goals in a single game against the Wild.

2. Vancouver Canucks: Taking out the Canucks again would be pretty choice, I must admit. But I do have some concerns about Luongo getting ridiculous and shutting the team down. Still a good matchup.

3. Colorado Avalanche: In a seven game series Forsberg would probably play 2 or 3 games, sitting out the others with mysterious injuries, so he's not much of a factor. Colorado frightens me a bit, though, because they can score in bunches.

4. Calgary Flames: Despite their struggles as of late, I would not enjoy a series against the Flames. Iginla might score a hattie every game and Phaneuf would injure our entire 3rd line. The Wild can't win at the Saddledome, either.

Stanley Cup Parade Route

I'll be sitting where indicated. I can't make up my mind about where the home red or away whites.

Floppa, Remember This?

Without question, this was the greatest goal scored in Xcel Energy Center history. And we all remember what happened in Game 7, don't we?

Mr. Cheapshot

Get a good look, Wild fans. This is the new public enemy No. 1, Alexandre Burrows. Anyone who can get Charlie Brown fired up to the point of fighting clearly deserves this spot at the top of our "most hated" list. Burrows' spear on PMB in the 3rd period borught back memories of Cooke's spear on Willie Mitchell from years ago. And before everyone starts to point out the borderline checks thrown by Boogey, I acknowledge those as well. No. 24 sometimes plays with a reckless abandon that even makes me shudder sometimes.

This is all sort of a moot point, anyways. The Canucks are in free fall and might not even make the playoffs. And even if they are fortunate enough to make it, it'll probably be as an 8 seed, which means a Red Wing sweep.

Next biggest game of the season comes tomorrow against the Colorado Avalanche. A loss by Calgary tonight and a Wild win tomorrow and they can pencil themselves in as the division champ.

Priorities

As a fellow father I am flabbergasted that Canuck goaltender Roberto Luongo would travel across country to play hockey only one day after the birth of his daughter. He should be with his family in this most precious of times, bonding with his little girl and helping his wife in her time of need. You can't get these moments back, Roberto. Years from now the young girl will ask "why isn't Daddy in these pictures at the hospital?" His only reply will be "Daddy had to go to work because he doesn't care about family. He only cares about the Canucks." Sad story indeed.

Update 5:30pm -- Although unknown by some oblivious Canucks fans, this piece was written completely tongue-in-cheek.

New URL

Wild Puck Banter is moving onto the big stage. Please check us out at www.wildpuckbanter.com. The old blogspot address will direct your browser there until people become adjusted to the new address. We're big time now.

Speaking of big, the season's latest game of the year comes tonight against the Oilers. Two points is an absolute must if the division crown is the goal. Anything short of two and they'll be on the road to open the playoffs.

Canadian Hype

Every single time I hear the so-called hockey wonks up north talk about the great defensemen in the Western Conference, the list includes Scott Neidermeyer, Chrissy Pronger, Nik Lidstrom and Dion Phaneuf. Sure, Neidermeyer, Pronger and Lidstrom are clearly the best, no argument there. And, maybe, just maybe, I'll concede that this Phaneuf guy plays a good game; he's a good skater that can hit like a mofo and has a wicked shot. But what I'm confused about it why Brent Burns never gets mentioned.

I'd put Burns right up there with Phaneuf as one of the "great young defensemen" in the league. He's big, skates as fast as anyone (except maybe #10), and can shoot the lights out. I know statistics don't tell the whole story, but here are their seasons to date (G-A-PTS-PIM):

Phaneuf 15-38-53-165
Burnsie 14-27-41-52

Granted Phaneuf has more points, but remember who plays for Coach Lemaire and his trap. Burns is close in points, plays in all situations and has been in the penalty box 113 less minutes then Dion.

Defensively I'd give the nod to Burns. He's a better defender and plays smart Lemaire hockey. Sure, he may give up the puck from time to time, but he's got the speed to come back and break up the play. Phaneuf hits a bit harder, though, and that's something I wish I'd see more of from Burns.

Stranglehold

The Northwest Division crown is clearly in sight with just a handful of games remaining. Last night's regulation win in Vancouver was HUGE. WPB whipping boy Benoit Pouliot had his best game to date and gave me reason to be optimistic about his future. Again the very good (but yes, slightly overrated) Roberto Luongo lost a low scoring game.

The latest biggest game of the season comes tonight in Calgary. I'm hoping for at least a point and a good Boogaard-Vandemeer brawl. This has the looks of being a preview of a first round series. Sounds like a perfect night for some chicken nachos.

The Wooger

An actual quote from analyst Doug Woog during tonight's UMTC-St. Cloud game:

"You know Frank, sometimes we don't give the Gopher hockey program enough credit..."

I fell off the couch.

Taquitos and Dew

Very late start tonight for the Wild, 9:30pm local time. I plan on stopping by on the way home from work and pick up a Mountain Dew to drink just around puck drop. Should be a good game and real indicator as to where the team stands in relation to a top-tier club. I may mix in some taquitos to snack on while watching said game also.

You won't get this kind of game preview on any other site, I assure you of that.

Karma's a Be-otch

I never cheer or applaud injuries, but this one tempted me.

Dan Terhaar Autograph Auction

This one of a kind autographed picture is now listed on ebay. Please check it out, it's bound to be a collector's item one day. It's priced to move, so don't wait too long.

Correspondence

Dear Chris Simon,

Hello.

I recently read your message to Wild fans [which can be read here, for those who would like a reference], and I decided we had to have a chat. When I found out we had acquired you at the trade deadline, I wasn't very happy. I mean, no offense dude, but we could have gotten a really good player. Sorry if that's mean, but for reals, homey, we need some goals up in here. I was really starting to wonder if there was some sort of curse placed on the teams of Minnesota, that they could only made horrendously embarrassing acquisitions. I mean, Bret Boone? Rondizzle White? That guy from the Vikings that decided he'd rather attempt suicide/find Jesus than play for the Vikings? (Word. Although with AP and my man Thomas Tapeh, I'm starting to feel better about the boys now.) (There have been a few bright spots along the way, although that AJ/Dustan trade isn't as exciting as we thought it was, since Boof is tubby and Liriano's mechanics will ensure his arm will fall off mid-season; the Frank Viola trade was pretty cool, though. TWO DECADES AGO.)

But, I am all about chances. I'm more about second chances than I am about LAST CHANCES, so I'm not really excited that we've got some dude on our team that will be banned from hockey forever and ever amen if he messes up one more time. I certainly hope you remember that the Wild acquired you to play hockey for the rest of the season, and that there was a reason behind that, it wasn't just like they gave you an invitation to the team because you'd feel left out otherwise. But at the same time, this isn't your last chance or even your second chance with this team. This is a new opportunity for you, and I will treat it as such.

All right, time for the bitchface to come off. I'm glad to hear that you're happy to be here, on our team specifically. I trust Jacques's judgement about players, and I know he won't play you if he doesn't think you deserve it. He doesn't waste a roster spot. If he's not happy about you, we'll all know it. So if Jacques puts you in the lineup, I'm going to cheer for you and support you. You're on our team now, and as fans we can extend our Minnesota nice to you and welcome you here. Play hard, play smart, and play clean. Bring us a banner and we'll forget we ever groaned about the trade. Bring us the Cup and you're a hero.

Love,
RWD

Skouled!

Martin Skoula, game winning goal!

I was just sitting here defending Skoula to one of the many Skoula-detractors, as I just don't hate him. I am hard-pressed to find reasons to hate players on teams I cheer for. There are only a few reasons:

1. They do something wildly inappropriate/illegal or something that embarrasses the team or damages the game, or they are insulting toward their teammates or their fans. (I can't think of any current examples of people I have turned on.)
2. They replace someone I previously loved. (Jason Bartlett.)
3. They are annoying/uggo/rub me the wrong way. (There was a Bulldog player about three years ago that just annoyed me to no end, but I can't really put my finger on WHY, other than he sucked.)

Otherwise, I'm a great protector of the vilified players, and I was EXTREMELY happy to see Skoula get a win for the Wild. It would have been NICE to see the win in REGULATION, since we were playing THE KINGS and their goalie was playing in his FIRST NHL GAME, but at least we got the W.

Now I'm going to go crawl back into a hole and die, because the Bulldogs' weekend was so depressing.

What Could Have Been

I've always enjoyed breaking DR's balls over poor draft choices, and the worst looks to be 2005. After a ping pong drawing gave them the 4th overall pick the Wild selected Benoit Pouliot, a highly-regarded winger with a scoring touch. As we all know, Pouliot has been a big disappointment and no longer has any value in the trade market. I'd be shocked if he even made the team next season.

Who else could they have selected at 4? Here's a sampling:

5. Carey Price (G) -- the heir apparent to No. 33.
6. Gilbert Brule (F) -- also a bit of a disappointment, but still highly regarded.
8. Devin Setoguchi (F) -- great young player playing major minutes in SJ.
11. Anze Frickin' Kopitar (F) -- LA's best player, bar none.
18. Ryan Parent (D) -- great defensive prospect that will lead the Flyers for years.
28. Matt Niskanen (D) -- DR must have forgot to scout Northern MN hockey.
44. Paul Stastny (F) -- ok, the rest of the league missed this one too.

And I didn't even include Mark Staal, T.J. Oshie, Kris Letang or Mason Raymond. The 2005 draft may go down as the deepest in NHL history, but the Wild couldn't take advantage.

What About Mikko?

While I'm happy for Marian becoming the team captain for the month of March, I can't help but think this was the time for Koivu. As I've pointed out endlessly before, Mikko is this team's true leader and deserves the permanent "C" on his jersey. I was sure JL was going to make him captain for March and the playoffs, but I guess not. I'm still calling him Captain Koivu regardless.