Overthrow the Monarchy

     Who had any doubts? Sure wasn't me! I always have faith in my team!......OK, maybe I lost a little faith but hey we were not looking good, up until last night that is! The wild took down the extremely good Kings in a 2-1 tilt last night! This was our biggest game of the year hands down! The Playoffs are in reach yet we couldn't seem to finish the season and move into the postseason! Our dream team looked like they could not do it despite all of our talent! Critics and fans were buzzing, but the Wild silenced all that last night! We came out to a first period lead when Parise set up Coyle for a beautiful top shelf goal! No less than 16 seconds later, Clutterbuck streaked up the left boards and sniped a puck top shelf to give the wild a 2 goal lead. However our fortune took a turn for the worst when Dustin Brown, the LA Kings captain threw his elbow into Jason Pominville's head. He went down hard and did not return to the game! It looks to me like a possible concussion but we will most likely find out more today! The Refs missed the blatant call which I am sure will be followed up on with them (JK the NHL refs can do no wrong in the league's eyes) Brown has a hearing later today to discuss the hit, I do not foresee him playing tonight! I say kick him out of the league, but im slightly biased! The Kings scored the only goal in the second period when Jeff Carter sent a snap shot past Niklas Backstrom. The wild still held the lead for the rest of the game and Backstrom came up huge when he robbed Slava Voynov with 11 seconds left! The wild went on to win 2-1! All we need to do is win one of our last two games and we clinch our playoff spot! We have all been deprived of the playoffs since 2008! Be sure to watch Friday where we have the chance to clinch!!!! We can almost see the promised land!

Here is the Pominville Injury (blatant head shot)

Here is the huge save by Backstrom!!!

Last Chance For Our Guys

     Tonight the wild take on the LA Kings at home! You probably don't need me to tell you that this is a must win game for the Wild. We are currently tied with the Columbus Bluejackets for the 8th spot in the west. if we drop one more spot we are out of the playoffs. Detroit is in that 9th spot and knocking on both the Wild's and the Bluejacket's doorstep! LA has all but clinched their playoff spot so they do not have as much to lose tonight as we do, but they still want a win and have been playing very well. The Kings are 6-2-2 in their last 10 while the Wild are only 3-6-1. We have a tough task ahead of us, but I think we can do it! If I was Mike Yeo I would honestly be worried about my job if the Wild don't make the playoffs. The office staff proved over the summer that they want to spend the money to have a championship caliber hockey team here in Minnesota. But if the head coach can't get the team to perform at their potential then maybe its time for him to go! Don't get me wrong, I think Yeo is a great coach but something has to change when you have all of our talent and can't win! hopefully we won't have to worry about it but its something to keep in the back of your mind!

Thanks for stopping by!
Kayle Hanson

The Playoff Push is a Little Weak

     Ok so the Wild technically are still in the playoffs so its not the end of the world.....YET! Last night the Wild hosted the Calgary Flames, a team down in the 12th spot in the standings and theoretically out of the playoffs. These are the teams that the Wild need to beat to gain separation in the standings and to help fine tune our game for the playoffs. Sadly this has not been the case for us. After getting embarrassed in San Jose the Wild returned home licking their wounds and tried to pick up a win against the flames!

(Not all that relevant, but this is one of the greatest sports stadiums in the nation)

     In all honesty the Wild did not look all that bad last night! Ryan Suter and Zach Parise combined for 15 shots on net, the team sent 35 at them! We just can't get the puck in the net! Parise did score his 17th of the season (team high). It was all Calgary from there, they capitalized on the opportunities we gave them. 2 Powerplay goals and an empty netter propelled the Flames to a 4-1 win!

     We aren't necessarily in trouble yet, we still have the tiebreaker for the playoff spot and have a chance to move up with home games against the Kings and Oilers. However these are must win games to say the least! We need to gain some confidence for the playoffs or I suspect if we do make it, they will be short and ugly! I hope I am wrong!

Until next time

Kayle Hanson 

Hawks come to town

     Ok so last weeks road trip was...well it was tough to say the least! But hey, the Wild were extremely fatigued! At the end of the regular season they will have logged the most travel time and miles in the National Hockey League. So losing three in a row wasn't necessarily expected but it was not surprising for me anyway. Our boys played Columbus Sunday afternoon and as history would dictate Nick Backstrom had a huge game posting a shut-out the game after he got pulled after letting in 2 goals on 2 shots. A 3-0 win on the road is always welcome. It was made even sweeter when we kept Gaborik off the scoreboard in his first game at home in Columbus. Oh yeah.....and a certain recent acquisition scored his first goal in a Wild sweater! Welcome to the Wild Mr. Pominville

     Tonight the NHL's best Chicago Blackhawks come to town and the Wild will have to bring their "A" game to come out with a win! Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews have been on an absolute tear! They both average over a point a game, I expect to see them on the scoreboard tonight! On the other hand the Wild are at home and are very well rested! I guarantee a sell out crowd tonight, and the X will be loud tonight. I'm sure there will be lots of Chicago fans in there tonight, there always is! The electric atmosphere will play to the Wild's advantage, we usually look very good at home! My prediction for tonight's game is a 4-3 win over the Blackhawks! I think we are in for a treat!

As always thanks for stopping by! GO WILD!!
Kayle Hanson

Jason Pominville

     April 3rd marked the trade deadline and we saw lots of movement all across the league. Former Wild all-star Marian Gaboriki was traded from the New York Rangers to the Columbus Blue Jackets. It was rumored that he did not get along with the Rangers coaching staff. But in all honesty who does Marian Gaborik actually get along with? The guy has the personality of a brick wall....and the looks! Anyway I wish the Blue Jackets at Mr. Gaborik the best of luck.

Gaborik during his Wild Days

     The News that we care about however came mid afternoon yesterday all the way out in San Jose, California! In the spirit of trade deadline day the Wild made yet another All-Star pick up to add to our roster of All-Stars. Jason Pominville the Buffalo Sabres captain was traded to the Minnesota Wild! Some would argue that the price was a bit steep, but nobody can deny that he brings yet another leadership facet to our team, and will be playing on a line that features two of our captains. The Wild had to give up our goalie prospect, Matt Hacket as well as Johan Larsson, another of our top prospects. We also had to give up a first round draft pick next year and a second rounder in 2014. In my opinion both teams made out well on the deal. The Sabres received some extremely good prospects and draft picks that hopefully can revitalize the floundering team as they enter the rebuild stage. The Wild fresh off of our rebuild added yet another veteran hockey player that can put up numbers and be a team leader for our multitude of young players. I am excited to see Jason Pominville playing soon! Hopefully tonight as the wild clash with the LA Kings!

Thanks for stopping by! GO WILD!!

Kayle Hanson

  

The Wild Clean Up the "Roadkill"

     Whew, OK so my voice is just a bit hoarse this morning. If you read my article from a couple days ago you know I was at the Xcel Energy Center last night cheering on our Minnesota Wild! I'm just going to do a quick recap of the game before I dive into the main purpose of this post.
      Yesterday's game was all a fan could ask for. Granted the Wild did not look as good as they have been lately, we still had a 2-0 lead about halfway through the second period. Cullen intercepted a pass out of the air from Phoenix goalie, Jason LaBarbera, and buried it into the wide open net for a 2-0 Wild Advantage. However the game went down hill fast from there. Phoenix went on to score the next 3 goals and had a 3-2 lead with the a minute left in the game. This is where my voice got really hoarse, our stud on the blue line, Ryan Suter sent a laser right over the top of LaBarbera's shoulder into the top right corner of the net. The noise inside of that building was crazy! Ryan Suter had sent us to overtime. The Wild were not about to let the little "pups" out of Phoenix to push us around. Minnesota was lucky to get a powerplay early in the overtime period when Jared Spurgeon was tripped along the boards. Just as the Phoenix man was coming out of the box Mikko Koivu did some dangles on the goal line and brought the puck out in front of the net. the crowd erupted as Koivu slid the puck past LaBarbera to win the game! 

I took this from  my phone as Koivu celly'd his 3rd overtime game winner of his career! The Xcel was electric last night, with over 19,000 people packed into the seats I'm surprised I don't have any hearing damage this morning! 

     Be sure to check back either tonight or tomorrow morning for a feature on the Xcel energy center itself and the area surrounding it. I will show how Saint Paul really is a great place to be for a hockey game.

Thanks for stopping by! 

-Kayle Hanson 

A "Stellar" performance raises the "new" guys over the "old" ones

     April 15, 1993....Minnesota hockey fans lost the sport we were most passionate about! The Northstars were no more. How can you be the "State of Hockey" without a professional hockey team? The beginning of the 1993-94 season rolled around and the Northstars dropped their "northern" roots and moved about as far south as possible. The Dallas Stars played their first NHL game on October 5th, 1993. The "State of Hockey" would not receive another hockey team for 7 years.
   

www.northstarshockey.com

     Fast forward 20 years, this great state now has its pride and joy, the Minnesota Wild. If you were at least somewhat coherent last summer, I am sure you know we dipped into the ol' check book and signed the two biggest free agents of the summer! This investment has already proved to be the right choice! Zach Parise and Ryan Suter have pumped some much needed life blood into this organization. Their efforts along with a new and improved offensive and defensive force have propelled the Wild to the top of the Northwest Division and third in the Western Conference. And to put the icing on the cake, the Wild snapped a 16 game losing streak last night in Dallas that spanned 10 years!

http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/8144783/new-wild-players-zach-parise-ryan-suter-want-make-minnesota-place-be

     The Wild fresh off their win over Detroit traveled to the one building that has been the thorn in the side for this hockey club for the last ten years; American Airlines Center. Riding a 6 game winning streak that featured wins over some of the top teams in the conference the Wild were feeling good. The first period opened up with the Wild taking it to the Stars early, Parise was robbed early with a wide open net that went off of a Stars defenseman's stick. Unfortunately former Golden Gopher Alex Goligoski took the puck off of the deflection and brought it down to sneak a wrister past Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom. The Wild responded quick though, 2 minutes later Zach Parise channeled his inner baseball player and batted a puck into the net past Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen. The rest of the period featured end to end action with both teams trying to get the go ahead goal. Then with just under 3 minutes left in the first period Jonas Brodin tripped Stars player Eric Nystrom to send the Stars on the first power play of the game. The stars went on to set up on the powerplay and Jaromir Jagr picked up a rebound and wristed the puck into a wide open net. The first period came to a close with the Stars leading the Wild 2-1.

     The Wild hit the second period flying and after a few high quality scoring chances the captain, Mikko Koivu sidestepped around 2 defenders and fired a laser of a shot past Lehtonen. We again had a tie game. However the Stars are crafty and are not easy to put down, they responded very well and a little over two minutes later Trevor Daly wristed a bad angle shot over Backstrom's shoulder that found the back of the net. 3-2 Stars a little over 5 minutes into the second period. The Wild continued to pressure the Stars and ripped shot after shot at Lehtonen. Finally after Lehtonen missed covering the puck at the side of the net,  "Johnny on the spot" Zach Parise got the loose puck and slid the puck off of his backhand into the back of the Stars net. We had a tie game once again! The Wild did not let off the gas after tying the game up. They continued to pepper Lehtonen with shots. Then with 5:38 left to play in the second Moorhead Minnesota's own Matt Cullen dug the puck out of the pile and rifled a wrister past Lehtonen to give the Wild the first lead of the game. The Second period came to an end with the Wild outshooting the Stars 31-19.

     The puck dropped on the third period and the Wild realized that the Stars really wanted to take the game back into their own hands. The puck found Phillip Larson's stick and he ripped a wrist shot past Backstrom from the high slot. Again the game was tied. The Wild however were not about to let the Stars take the lead again. While on the penalty kill tough guy Cal Clutterbuck stole the puck at center and fired a shot at Lehtonen, the puck rebounded to centerman Kyle Brodkiak and he buried it in the back of the net to give the Wild a 5-4 lead. This was the Wild's first shorthanded goal of the year as well. Although the Stars would try to push back again and again the wild continued to shut them down. Then with 1:28 left in the game Dany Heatley slid a rebound past Lehtonen to give the wild a 6-4 advantage. In a last ditch effort to get some goals the Stars pulled Goalie Kari Lehtonen and put and extra attacker on the ice. Their effort proved futile when Pierre-Marc Bouchard sent a puck from the neutral zone into the empty Stars net. The Wild had finally done it, they managed to get a win in Dallas, something that they hadn't been able to accomplish in over 10 years and 16 games.

    The Wild play tomorrow night at home and hope to extend their win streak to 7 with the Phoenix Coyotes in town. I will be in the stands watching our boys take it to the coyotes so be sure to check back tomorrow for some personal pictures (hopefully). As always thanks for stopping by and GO WILD!

-Kayle Hanson