"Closing Time, open all the doors and let you out into the world, closing time, turn all the lights on over every boy and every girl, closing time, one last call for alcohol so finish your whiskey or beer, closing time, you don't have to go home but you can't stay here," are the lyrics of the Twin Cities'-based band Semisonic.  The lyrics are sadly appropriate as news broke on Thursday that the Houston Aeros are moving to Des Moines next season where they will become the Iowa Wild.  The move is a slap to the face of Houston Aeros fans who have been one of the best fanbases in the NHL.  They are 7th in the AHL in attendence, averaging 6,793 fans per game.  So the move certainly was not about a lack of fan support.  That makes it that much more difficult for Aeros' fans to understand.  Especially when you consider the lack of success Des Moines had with AHL clubs in the failed Iowa Stars and Iowa Chops respectively.  Hopefully, with a team that has some regional ties they will connect better with the locals.  On Friday, the Aeros clinched a playoff spot with a 3-2 win over in-state rival the Texas Stars but its tough not to empathize with the locals.  I'm sure the good news is bittersweet.  

Houston's departure will end a long and storied era of professional hockey in America's 4th largest city.  A history that goes back to 1965 with the Central Hockey League's Houston Apollos which lasted until 1969.  After a short hiatus professional hockey returned in 1972 with the Houston Aeros of the World Hockey Association.  This was the team that Mr. Hockey, Gordie Howe bulit as he came out of retirement in order to play with his two sons Mark and Marty.  Howe scored 121 goals and 369 points in four seasons with Aeros (1973-1977) leading Houston to win consecutive WHA Championships in 1974 and 1975.  As the WHA fizzled out, pro hockey in Houston would go into hibernation for a while before returning again with the International Hockey League in 1994 featuring its bomber logo with a B-23 Dragon WWII-era bomber and one of the better logos in minor league hockey using art deco lettering.  The Aeros have stayed fairly competitive throughout the last 19 years as they won a Turner Cup in 1998-99 and then joined the American Hockey League in 2001 and they would win the Calder Cup in 2002-2003.  This article will do its best to explain why the move is ocurring while paying respect to the great relationship that was and continues to be between the team and its great fanbase.  

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One of the best Science Fiction in the last 40 years was the 1982 film Star Trek II: the Wrath of Khan.  In the movie Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and the crew of the USS Enterprise face off against an old nemesis they found on the planet Seti Alpha V, Khan Singh (Ricardo Montalban) a ruthlessly ambitious and genetically modified (for superior intelligence and strength) person from the late 20th Century the they had found frozen and drifting through space.  Years before the USS Enterprise had freed Khan and his followers of their prison in space and they attempted to try to take over the ship.  Fearing further attempts by Khan to take over the ship they exiled him and his followers to the planet.  Conditions on the planet worsened it was Khan's intelligence that allowed him and his followers to survive but the conditions were miserable.  Needless to say Khan was more than a little bitter when the two would meet again as he had managed to take over another starship, the USS Reliant and he was determined to get revenge on his nemesis, delivering the famous line, "There is an old Klingon proverb, where revenge is a dish best served cold."  With that, I wonder what sort of 'revenge' is in store for San Jose's Marc-Edouard Vlasic after he caused injury to Dany Heatley that will have him out of the lineup for the rest of the season with a shoulder injury that required surgery.  'Pickles' as he's known by his teammates, did not recieve a suspension for his actions, but did recieve a $8,378.38 fine from the NHL.  Will the Wild be looking to add a bit more physical punishment to go with that total? 

My guess, not likely.  Especially after the way the Wild handled Tuesday night's meeting between the Edmonton Oilers and their first encounter with Taylor Hall after his 4-game suspension for kneeing and injuring Cal Clutterbuck.  Until the game's conclusion you would not have known the two players had an incident with one another, but after that the two would chirp at one another pretty good and with one more game betwen the Wild and Oilers left perhaps we could say its "to be Continued" in movie-speak.  With the Wild and Sharks jockeying for position in the convoluted Western Conference playoff picture a violent altercation between Vlasic and a member of the team is unlikely.  No one would want to risk costing the other valuable points in the standings just to deliver a cheap shot even though they might wish they could.  But will cooler head's prevail or will the Wild serve up a healthy and (cold) dish of revenge to Vlasic and the Sharks? 

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Minnesota Wild (24-16-3)  51pts  2nd in the Northwest

2.56 Goals For (18th)

2.49 Goals Against (13th)

18.3% Power Play (14th)

82.7% Penalty Kill (11th)

Top 5 Scorers:

1. #11 Zach Parise ~ 16G 19A = 35pts

2. #9 Mikko Koivu ~ 10G 24A = 34pts

3. #29 Jason Pominville ~ 14G 19A = 33pts

4. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 4G 28A = 32pts

5. #7 Matt Cullen ~ 7G 19A = 26pts

Top 3 PIM's:

1. #28 Zenon Konopka ~ 100 PIM's

2. #27 Mike Rupp ~ 67 PIM's

3. #44 Justin Falk ~ 40 PIM's

Top Goaltender(s):

1. #32 Niklas Backstrom (22-12-3)  2.40GAA  .912%SP  2SO

2. #35 Darcy Kuemper (1-2-0)  1.98GAA  .924%SP

3. #37 Josh Harding (1-1-0)  2.92GAA  .885%SP  1SO

Vs.

San Jose Sharks (23-13-7)  53pts  3rd in the Pacific

2.35 Goals For (25th)

2.33 Goals Against (6th)

19.1% Power Play (12th)

86.1% Penalty Kill (4th)

Top 5 Scorers:

1. #19 Joe Thornton ~ 7G 31A = 38pts

2. #39 Logan Couture ~ 17G 13A = 30pts

3. #12 Patrick Marleau ~ 17G 11A = 28pts

4. #8 Joe Pavelski ~ 13G 13A = 26pts

5. #22 Dan Boyle ~ 7G 13A = 20pts

Top 3 PIM's:

1. #10 Andrew Dejardins ~ 59 PIM's

2. #9 Martin Havlat ~ 30 PIM's

3. #22 Dan Boyle ~ 27 PIM's

Top Goaltender(s):

1. #31 Antti Niemi (22-10-6)  2.12GAA  .926%SP  4SO

2. #1 Thomas Greiss (1-3-0)  2.64GAA  .909%SP  1SO

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Just the other day, I received a registration packet for my 15th college class reunion.  My first thought was, "has it really been that long?"  My second thought, "do I really want to go?"  Don't get me wrong, I had great time in college and I had a fun group of friends.  Most of them were fellow music majors, and we practically lived together in the music building.  We had classes together, were in musical organizations together, and studied together.  Heck, I probably spent more time in the music library than I did in my dorm room.  And the same could be said for many of my friends as well.  We were a nerdy bunch, but it was fun nonetheless.  However, with reunions, we really don't get to relive those days.  If I could be sure that my group of friends would be there and we'd do our own thing, I just might consider attending.  Reunions though tend to be the ultimate bragging session.  Everyone talking about themselves and what they're doing now.  We're not the same people now that we were when we were in college, and I suppose that's a good thing.  But beyond my close circle of college friends, I really don't want to hear about your 2.5 kids, your high paying executive job, and your house with the white picket fence.  So in the end, I probably won't go.

As we play the Oilers in Edmonton for the last time as divisional opponents, one has to sit back and think of the past.  Tonight, was a bit like a school reunion, in that it forces us to sit back and think.  Now, if you've been following the Wild since the beginning, you remember the days where you absolutely dreaded heading to Edmonton.  Not only did it feel impossible to get a win in Edmonton, there were times where it felt like getting goals there as well was a challenge.  Yet, I have to wonder if that feeling was simply just an in the moment kind of thing.  Like any fan, you want your team to win and you want to expect your team to win.  Let's face it though, the Minnesota Wild roster back then was inconsequential.  I had to sit and think who was on that Edmonton roster, and in hindsight I realize now that they were nothing to write home about.  Of course the Oilers were going to look like an All-Star roster when compared to the Wild.  If there was a way to put the current Wild roster aboard the wayback machine and go back and play the Edmonton OIlers of our early days, I'd like to see if things would have been different.  My guess is that Minnesota would have been more successful than they were back then.  But that's the thing about the past, you really can't change it, no matter how much we wish we could.

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Minnesota Wild (23-16-3)  49pts  2nd in the Northwest

2.50 Goals For (19th)

2.48 Goals Against (12th)

17.9% Power Play (16th)

83.3% Penalty Kill (11th)

Top 5 Scorers:

1. #11 Zach Parise ~ 15G 19A = 34pts

2. #9 Mikko Koivu ~ 10G 24A = 34pts

3. #29 Jason Pominville ~ 14G 17A = 31pts

4. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 4G 27A = 31pts

5. #7 Matt Cullen ~ 7G 19A = 26pts

Top PIM's:

1. #28 Zenon Konopka ~ 100 PIM's

2. #27 Mike Rupp ~ 67 PIM's

3. #44  Justin Falk ~ 40 PIM's

Top Goaltender(s):

1. #32 Niklas Backstrom (21-12-3)  2.38GAA  .913%SP  2SO

2. #35 Darcy Kuemper (1-2-0)  1.98GAA  .923%SP

3. #37 Josh Harding (1-1-0)  2.92GAA  .885%SP  1SO

Vs.

Edmonton Oilers (16-18-7)  39pts  3rd in the Northwest

2.46 Goals For (22nd)

2.73 Goals Against (19th)

21.8% Power Play (4th)

83.8% Penalty Kill (10th)

Top 5 Scorers:

1. #4 Taylor Hall ~ 13G 28A = 41pts

2. #89 Sam Gagner ~ 14G 21A = 35pts

3. #14 Jordan Eberle ~ 12G 16A = 28pts

4. #64 Nail Yakupov ~ 10G 13A = 23pts

5. #93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins ~ 3G 19A = 22pts

Top 3 PIM's:

1. #13 Mike Brown ~ 116 PIM's

2. #5 Ladislav Smid ~ 49 PIM's

3. #94 Ryan Smyth ~ 36 PIM's

Top Goaltenders:

1. #40 Devan Dubnyk (12-13-6)  2.52GAA  .922%SP  2SO

2. #35 Nikolai Khabibulin (3-5-1)  2.66GAA  .919%SP  1SO

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Today has been one of those weird days.  Actually, not just today, it's been several weird days.  Normally, I work my customer service job from home.  I love it, and even better it saves me a lot of money on gas.  Yet, starting last week, the computer my employer provides decided it was going to go on the fritz.  I was told that a new computer would be in my home call center after 11am on Friday, so I went in to work my shift.  Guess what, no computer.  So then I had to work Saturday's shift and today's shift in the call center as opposed from the comfort of home.  Then there's been the weather here in the Upper Midwest.  Instead of feeling like spring has sprung, many of us have felt like winter was still upon us.  I have some friends in Australia and New Zealand, and they're having their own weather oddities, in that instead of feeling like fall was starting, it still felt like summer had them in its grip.  My weird days continued into this afternoon.  Because I knew I wasn't going to be home when the game started, I set the DVR to record the game.  On my on-screen guide, I would join the game in progress.  By the time I got settled, there were just about five minutes left in the first, and I could not see the game.  For a while, I thought I was going to be writing a rant against Fox Sports North for subjecting Wild fans to Twins baseball and Timberwolves basketball.  I couldn't understand why those game would effect my viewing pleasure, nor could I understnad that other fans I know could watch the game.  Seems that I had a completely ditzy moment.  Instead of my on-screen guide set to "All Channels" it was set to "My Channels."  The Wild game I saw on the guide was for the HD feed.  I was thinking that there was no standard definition feed because it wasn't listed like the other games on tonight.  Once I realized it said "My Feed" I clicked a button on the remote, and low and behold, there was the Wild game.  So I missed the first period for absolutely no reason.  So because of that, I'm afraid you're not going to get anything about the first period.  I just hope you got to watch it when I did not.

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Minnesota Wild (22-16-3)  47pts  2nd in the Northwest

2.46 Goals For (21st)

2.46 Goals Against (13th)

18.1% Power Play (16th)

83.1% Penalty Kill (11th)

Top 5 Scorers:

1. #11 Zach Parise ~ 15G 18A = 33pts

2. #9 Mikko Koivu ~ 9G 24A = 33pts

3. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 4G 26A = 30pts

4. #29 Jason Pominville ~ 12G 17A = 29pts

5. #7 Matt Cullen ~ 7G 18A = 25pts

Top 3 PIM's:

1. #28 Zenon Konopka ~ 100 PIM's

2. #27 Mike Rupp ~ 67 PIM's

3. #44 Justin Falk ~ 40 PIM's

Top Goaltender(s):

1. #32 Niklas Backstrom (20-12-3)  2.36GAA  .914%SP  2SO

2. #35 Darcy Kuemper (1-2-0)  1.98GAA  .924%SP

3. #37 Josh Harding (1-1-0)  2.92GAA  .885%SP  1SO

Vs.

Calgary Flames (16-21-4)  36pts  4th in the Northwest

2.68 Goals For (12th)

3.37 Goals Against (29th)

19.9% Power Play (11th)

79.8% Penalty Kill (21st)

Top 5 Scorers:

1. #22 Lee Stempniak ~ 8G 20A = 28pts

2. #13 Mike Cammalleri ~ 12G 15A = 27pts

3. #40 Alex Tanguay ~ 11G 16A = 27pts

4. #20 Curtis Glencross ~ 15G 10A = 25pts

5. #24 Jiri Hudler ~ 8G 16A = 24pts

Top 3 PIM's:

1. #15 Tim Jackman ~ 55 PIM's

2. #16 Brian McGrattan ~ 39 PIM's

3. #5 Mark Giordano ~ 30 PIM's

Top Goaltender(s):

1. #35 Joey MacDonald ~ (7-6-1)  2.84GAA  .903%SP

2. #34 Miikka Kiprusoff ~ (6-13-2)  3.61GAA  .872%SP

3. #37 Leland Irving ~ (2-1-1)  3.33GAA  .883%SP

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"Like sand through the hourglass, so are the Days of Our Lives" which is the intro to the famous NBC soap opera.  Its amazing how much an NHL season can be like a soap opera minus the love triangles.  There are disappointments, betrayal, happiness and times of sorrow.  For the Minnesota Wild they've had more then their fair amount of drama as they've had to replace some of the pivotal members of its cast with some younger players with mixed results.  In any soap opera, when a main character leaves its often shrouded in mystery.  Thanks to the way injury disclosure is handled in the NHL, when a player leaves the lineup due to a malady more often than not all you'll get is 'lower body' or 'upper body' injury.  Timetables are seldom shared but when yor team is struggling the fans wait anxiously for that player's return and it never seems to be soon enough.  The waiting is the worst part, especially as you watch the results and see unfavorable results flash across the ticker.  That unfavorable scores draws out the agony.  If you can get a few victories the gloom lifts and everyone is happy.    

So where are the Wild faithful right now?  Anxious and a little shaken.  With the team's points cushion all but gone the Wild are hanging on to 7th place by just 1 point above 8th place Detroit and just 3 points ahead of 9th place Dallas.  So unless the Wild wish to feel disappointment just like an ill-fated soap character they need to put up or shut up.  Its up to the club to turn its game around otherwise they'll find out they only have One Life (point) to Live.  So will the Wild manage to earn a crucial victory over Columbus or will the Blue Jackets and the other clubs chasing Minnesota gain some more ground?  

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Minnesota Wild (22-16-2)  46pts  2nd in the Northwest

2.48 Goals For (21st)

2.48 Goals Against (12th)

17.9% Power Play (16th)

82.8% Penalty Kill (12th)

Top 5 Scorers:

1. #9 Mikko Koivu ~ 9G 24A = 33pts

2. #11 Zach Parise ~ 15G 17A = 32pts

3. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 4G 25A = 29pts

4. #29 Jason Pominville ~ 11G 16A = 27pts

5. #7 Matt Cullen ~ 7G 18A = 25pts

Top 3 PIM's:

1. #28 Zenon Konopka ~ 100 PIM's

2. #27 Mike Rupp ~ 67 PIM's

3. #44 Justin Falk ~ 40 PIM's

Top Goaltender(s):

1. #32 Niklas Backstrom (20-12-2)  2.38GAA  .914%SP  2SO

2. #35 Darcy Kuemper (1-2-0)  1.98GAA  .924%SP

3. #37 Josh Harding (1-1-0)  2.92GAA  .885%SP  1SO

Vs.

Columbus Blue Jackets (18-16-7)  43pts  4th in the Central

2.32 Goals For (27th)

2.46 Goals Against (10th)

13.0% Power Play (28th)

85.0% Penalty Kill (6th)

Top 5 Scorers:

1. #10 Marian Gaborik ~ 12G 13A = 25pts

2. #22 Vinny Prospal ~ 10G 14A = 24pts

3. #55 Mark Letestu ~ 9G 13A = 22pts

4. #42 Artem Anisimov ~ 11G 7A = 18pts

5. #51 Fedor Tyutin ~ 2G 15A = 17pts

Top 3 PIM's:

1. #40 Jared Boll ~ 88 PIM's

2. #17 Brandon Dubinsky ~ 49 PIM's

3. #11 Matt Calvert ~ 32 PIM's

Top Goaltender(s):

1. #72 Sergei Bobrovsky (15-10-6)  2.01GAA  .931%SP  4SO

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"Pressure putting down on me, pressing down on you that you no man ask for, under pressure, that burns a building down, splits a family in two, puts people on  streets, it's the terror of knowing, what this world is all about, watching some good friends, screaming let me out," these are the lyrics to Queen's song Under Pressure.  I wonder if they are feeling a little pressure right now?  By they, I mean the Minnesota Wild.  After going on an unprecedented 7-game win streak the team has lost 5 of its last 7 games and now currently sits in 7th, with just 3 points separating themselves from 8th place Detroit.  That is not a good place to be.  However if any member of the Wild, from the coaching staff to the players tell you there is no pressure don't believe it.  Its all around them.  Wild majority owner Craig Leipold didn't spend $198 million this summer on Zach Parise and Ryan Suter and then 'ok' the move to pay another hefty price to bring in Jason Pominville at the trade deadline because he's hoping to just get close but not necessarily get into the playoffs.  In fact, Leipold only added to the mounting pressure and anxiety swirling about the club when he told the Minneapolis Star Tribune's Chip Scoggins, "“It’s not just about making the playoffs. We want to win our division. That is our goal from this point forward. We want the third seed.”  The Wild are currently 4 points behind the division leader, but at the rate the Wild are losing...er winning games making up those 4 points seems like a pretty steep hill to climb. 

The Wild really only have themselves to blame.  Tuesday night's loss to the 1st place Blackhawks was a frustrating one.  Minnesota was playing fairly well, limiting the powerful Blackhawks offense but one defensive breakdown turned out to be rather costly while the team's inability to generate much pressure in the 3rd period makes one question whether this team is really battling fatigue.  So can the Wild turn it around against St. Louis, a team that has owned the Wild the last few seasons or will the Blues just add to the pressure already building up around the team?   

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