Season's greetings everyone.  I hope that you're Christmas holiday, whether you observe it or not was an opportunity to spend some time with your family.  For young kids, its usually all about the gifts.  The anxious expectation of running to the family living room to see a tree stocked full of presents that taunt for you to open them.  I have to admit, I was the kind of kid that was pretty good at guessing what was inside each present before I even opened it.  Size, shape, and weight were all factors I considered as I cross-referenced that information with my own list in my mind of what I asked for Christmas.  I wasn't right all of the time, there were always the gifts that fooled me or were no where near my list that had me asking, "when did I ever say I wanted that?"  No Christmas movie I've ever seen before or since summed up my feelings quite the way A Christmas Story did starring Peter Billingsley as Ralphie.  As a kid I sort of resembled Ralphie minus the glasses, but his character's active imagination is something I completely connected with.  Admit it, you watch A Christmas Story a few times on TBS' 24-hour A Christmas Story marathon.  Sure you know just about every line of the film but it still makes us laugh and for those of us who do not rush to the tree looking for gifts like so many kids do we do re-connect with those emotions.  We may not all have been pining for a Red Rider BB gun, but we can probably name one gift that we obsessed over like Ralphie did.  We didn't always get that one gift we dreamed about but it didn't ruin our lives.  I know beggars can't be choosers, and I must say I am extremely fortunate to be unable to ever remember a Christmas where I ended up truly disappointed.  I must thank my parents for that and I know that there are lots of people out there that can't say they never had a disappointing Christmas; yet to sound a little sappy if the true social part of Christmas is simply to bring families together for the celebration of giving (even if its simply their presence) then can we ever be totally disappointed?  I am not afraid to admit that I'm 33 years old and I still look forward to this time of year; as a person who lives a fair distance from most of his family its time to catch up and spend valuable moments with family and friends I do not get to see nearly enough.  The Christmas holiday provides me with this rare window of opportunity to go back home in the State of Hockey and I take full advantage of it.  For NHL'ers its a rare season-wide respite where they get to celebrate the holidays with their family and since 1972, the NHL has not had games on Christmas or Christmas Eve out of respect for the players who spend so much the year away from their families. 


The reason I chose the Avalanche / Wild picture was because this was a moment where you saw a dramatic change of direction for an NHL team.  At the time, with the Avalanche embarrassing the Wild on at Pepsi Center, their top sniper Chris Stewart decided to drop the gloves with Kyle Brodziak.  Brodziak was completely over matched in the fight, but he'd inadvertently help tank the Avalanche's season when Stewart broke his hand in the scrap.  Stewart was lost for a few weeks and the Avalanche went into a tail slide.  Sort of like when Ralphie fought the local bully Scut Farkas.  Unlike Ralphie who enjoyed the praise of his peers the fight did not really help the Wild at all, but ultimately it sent Colorado to the bottom of the Western Conference.  Perhaps out of disappointment or perhaps a little desperation the Avalanche made a deal that sent Stewart and promising defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk to St. Louis for former 1st Overall pick Erik Johnson and Jay McClement.  If Stewart keeps his wits about himself and doesn't make the selfish decision to fight perhaps he's still playing for the Avalanche.  So what gifts will the Wild find in its stocking after the short Christmas hiatus.  Will it be a return to its November self or will it find coal or plaid socks instead?

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Every holiday year you get your standard barrage of Christmas themed commercials that try to inspire you to 'buy' something for friends, family, etc.  Anyone out there like myself who cringes at the first time they hear the radio start blasting away the Christmas music tunes of "Jingle Bells" and "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" with ad after ad.  There is virtually no escape.  Now I am sure that makes me sound like a modern day version of Ebeneezer Scrooge; the misery curmudgeon depicted in Charles Dickens' classic tale A Christmas Carol.  I would dispute that I'm miserly, I can accept being called cheap at times but its more out of necessity than a choice to be frugal.  Yet hating on Christmas?  No, I think I like the holidays just fine and certainly don't mind the days off.  So what if the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future visited Wild Head Coach Mike Yeo.  Now before I explain further I do not see Mike Yeo the same as I do Ebeneezer Scrooge.  I will say that Mike Yeo is very pragmatic and is candid and honest in his responses to the media but at times during the early portion of the season where the Wild were winning games perhaps it didn't deserve he was always quick to point out he was not always happy with their effort or their attention to detail as they play his system.  I guess that could be perceived as a 'bah humbug' of sorts couldn't it? 

  Is Mike Yeo really a lot like Ebeneezer Scrooge?

Yet, Yeo is really the most logical person to place in the role of Scrooge in my humbly titled, "A Christmas Carol: Wild Style". 

The Ghost of Christmas Past:  Minnesota's woes on the road and injuries.  Historically the Wild have had troubles winning on the road; but earlier this season Minnesota had one of the best road records in the NHL but have dropped their last two in sad fashion in Vancouver and Calgary respectively.  The team's road heavy schedule begins just as a rash of players find themselves on the injured list including two players who were supposed to be important offensive cogs this season in Devin Setoguchi and Guillaume Latendresse who is out indefinitely with post-concussion symptoms.  Toss into that recent, less severe injuries to team captain Mikko Koivu and its not real difficult to see why the team is having issues scoring goals.  Injuries have derailed a few Wild seasons, although never one where Minnesota had been sitting so high in the standings.  This season is not derailed yet but its pretty obvious the momentum has stopped.  Historically that follows a long-established trend where the Wild have traditionally struggled to win games in December and January and this month has been no different. 

The Ghost of Christmas Present:  Mike Yeo must be almost as frustrated as the team will play a period where it embraces his system and funnels shots on goal only to forget for a period (or two) and find itself out of the game.  The team's inconsistency has left him juggling lines in a near Jacques Lemaire-like fashion and during their game against Calgary, Yeo dressed 7 defenseman out of frustration with the lack of hustle and energy from some of his lower level forwards.  The Wild Head Coach is also dealing with a defense that still has not had any real leader emerge at either end of the ice so that too has been a hodge podge of different pairings with mixed results.  Goaltending has remained fairly solid as it has the whole season (knock on wood). 

The Ghost of Christmas Future:  Unlike Scrooge's glimpse of Christmas' future, Yeo's future looks very bright.  By everything I've read on various blogs and message boards Yeo's support from fans is very high.  So far he is saying and doing the right things.  If anything, the Wild seemed destined to be a team that will only get better over time.  The club does not have to look far to see this future as Finnish star Mikael Granlund shined during a pre-World Junior Championships game against tournament host Canada, which you'd expect from a player who's leading Finland's Sm-Liiga in points.  Granlund, and many other Wild prospects (Jason Zucker, Johan Larsson, Matt Hackett, Zack Phillips, Brett Bulmer just to name a few) are enjoying strong seasons and within a few seasons Minnesota should have lots of young talent ready to contribute to the big club.  If Yeo sticks around to see it, he should be inheriting a team that will have character, speed and skill which about all any coach can ask for. 

So which ghost will visit Mike Yeo and the Wild tonight? 

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	Record	Pts	Div. Rank	G/G	GA/G	PP%	PK%
Minnesota Wild	(20-10-5)	45	1st NW	2.31 (28)	2.14 (4)	16.3% (20)	84.6% (8)
Edmonton Oilers	(14-16-3)	31	5th NW	2.67 (14)	2.64 (13)	20.6% (4)	83.4% (9)

 

Minnesota Wild
Top 5 Scorers:	G	A	Pts
1. #9 Mikko Koivu	8	20	28
2. #15 Dany Heatley	9	13	22
3. #7 Matt Cullen	9	11	20
4. #96 Pierre-Marc Bouchard	6	13	19
5. #21 Kyle Brodziak	11	7	18
Top 3 Penalty Minutes:	PIM
1. #16 Brad Staubitz	64
2. #22 Cal Clutterbuck	38
3. #21 Kyle Brodziak	33
Goaltenders:	GAA	SV%
1. #32 Niklas Backstrom (11-7-4)	2.15	.930
2. #37 Josh Harding (7-3-1)	2.13	.932
3. #31 Matt Hackett (2-0-0)	1.01	.974
Edmonton Oilers
Top 5 Scorers:	G	A	Pts
1. #14 Jordan Eberle	13	21	34
2. #93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins	13	21	34
3. #94 Ryan Smyth	12	15	27
4. #4 Taylor Hall	9	13	22
5. #10 Shawn Horcoff	7	13	20
Top 3 Penalty Minutes:	PIM
1. #24 Theo Peckham	66
2. #25 Andy Sutton	50
3. #94 Ryan Smyth	39
Goaltenders:	GAA	SV%
1. #35 Nikolai Khabibulin (10-8-3)	2.05	.931
2. #40 Devan Dubnyk (4-8-0)	3.10	.903
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Egads, the ghost of Todd Richards was channeled yesterday.

With all the injuries and the overall tired appearances of the Minnesota Wild, head coach Mike Yeo decided to not have practice yesterday.  When I read that this morning, I suddenly had nightmares and flashback of the two-year Richards regime.  Richards would hold untimely "optional" practices or even worse no practice at all.  Even worse, those would happen after some of the worst games of the season.  Fans would cringe and shake their heads and wonder what the heck he was thinking.  And now, Wild fans were sure we had a no-nonsense coach, yet he has made a similar decision.  Part of me can understand the reasoning.  They're at the end of a three-game Northwest Division roadtrip as well as they've lost five straight games.  They're physically and mentally exhausted.  Yet at the same time, I think of my own job.  I work in customer service for a clothing company.  At this time of  year, we're at our busiest.  Yesterday, I worked twelve straight hours, and it's been that way all week.  I am physically and mentally exhausted, and my supervisors haven't said to me "why don't you take the day off."  Instead I'm operating on about 4 hours of sleep and ready to start the day all over again.

Now the day off, isn't going to speed of the return of any of the Wild injured players.  Mikko Koivu is still listed as 'doubtful' for a return tonight.  It would certainly be nice to get him back one of these days.  With his health status still in question, we're most likely not going to see him back until after the Christmas holiday.  To the glee of many fans, Colton Gillies will most likely be a healthy scratch again this evening, as they've recalled Jeff Taffe once again from Houston.  Taffe seemed to have a decent game earlier in this five-game skid, and hopefully he can have a solid game tonight.  Now, I'm not expecting him to score a goal (though it would be nice and most welcome), at best it can be hoped that somehow he can bring some energy to a lagging Wild bench.  Yeo has noticed that both Cal Clutterbuck and Kyle Brodziak are dragging right now, and those are two guys that Minnesota need to be in full game-mode on a nightly basis.

I really hope the fact that Yeo cancelled practice is more exception to the rule and doesn't become any sort of trend.  When we saw the true Mike Yeo make his presence known, I had sincerely hoped we had fully exorcised the spirit of Todd Richards.  It seems that there just might be a little bit of Richards lingering around.  I highly doubt that this will become a habit, but I will admit it makes me anxious.  We'll just have to wait and see, and sometimes that's the hardest thing to do.

Injury Report:

Minnesota:      Devin Setoguchi (leg), Mikko Koivu (lower body), Guillaume Latendresse (concussion),   Casey Wellman (wrist) 

Edmonton:  Taylor Fedun (broken femur), Cam Barker (ankle), Andy Sutton (suspended), Sam Gagner (neck)

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This last weekend was the start of college football's 'bowl' season where 72 Division I-A teams get to play one last football game at various venues across United States (sorry Canada, the International Bowl is no more).  I haven't even mentioned the Division III, Division II or the Division I-AA (FCS) playoffs which more or less should also be mentioned as well.  Fans take their winter trip to support these teams with the hope of taking home a trophy that states they're the champions of (insert bowl here).  I would like to take the time to congratulate some of our early champions thus far.  The Temple Owls, winners of the New Mexico Bowl, the Ohio Bobcats who were champions of the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, and of course the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns who took home the hardware from the R & L Carriers New Orleans Bowl.  I also do not want to forget to congratulate the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater on winning its 3rd straight Division III title with a 13-10 victory over Mount Union.  As an alumni of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls I appreciate to see that the winner of the Stagg Bowl is a member of the WIAC.  So what does this have to do with the Minnesota Wild?   
  Would you be inspired to win the Beef O' Brady Bowl?

Now I don't want to minimize the importance of these bowl games.  But let's be frank and honest, does any college football fan (who hasn't made any significant bet on the outcome) really care about who the winner of the Beef O' Brady Bowl between Florida International and Marshall is?  Or the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl between Illinois and UCLA?  Probably not, but I have little question the players will care.  The Minnesota Wild are battling through some serious adversity right now.  Its almost to the mid-way point of the season and they may be finding it difficult to find something to inspire them.  Perhaps the team should consider turning the game against the Flames into an internal Bowl Game.  Where the team will award itself a 'who cares' trophy if they win.  Maybe they give it to the player they felt was the most responsible for the victory and it can be something they pass around the locker room.  I've seen this done on other teams; most notably the Calgary Flames who used to give a hard hat to the player they felt was MVP of the night.  Sure, some fan may laugh that you have the Beef O' Brady patch on your jersey or the goofy hard hat, but those in the room will know what you did to get it and there would be a lot of guys that would want that honor.  So will the Wild find a way to dig deep and earn a win in Calgary or will the Flames keep Minnesota in search of inspiration? 

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	Record	Pts	Div. Rank	G/G	GA/G	PP%	PK%
Minnesota Wild	(20-9-5)	45	1st NW	2.35 (26)	2.14 (4)	16.7% (17)	84.3% (8)
Calgary Flames	(14-15-4)	32	4th NW	2.48 (25)	2.79 (16)	17.1% (15)	82.0% (16)

 

Minnesota Wild
Top 5 Scorers:	G	A	Pts
1. #9 Mikko Koivu	8	20	28
2. #15 Dany Heatley	9	13	22
3. #7 Matt Cullen	9	10	19
4. #21 Kyle Brodziak	11	7	18
5. #96 Pierre-Marc Bouchard	5	13	18
Top 3 Penalty Minutes:	PIM
1. #16 Brad Staubitz	59
2. #22 Cal Clutterbuck	38
3. #21 Kyle Brodziak	33
Goaltenders:	GAA	SV%
1. #32 Niklas Backstrom (11-7-4)	2.15	.930
2. #37 Josh Harding (7-2-1)	2.14	.932
3. #31 Matt Hackett (2-0-0)	1.01	.974
Calgary Flames
Top 5 Scorers:	G	A	Pts
1. #13 Olli Jokinen	11	16	27
2. #12 Jarome Iginla	12	12	24
3. #40 Alex Tanguay	5	17	22
4. #20 Curtis Glencross	10	9	19
5. #17 Rene Bourque	11	3	14
Top 3 Penalty Minutes:	PIM
1. #15 Tim Jackman	41
2. #17 Rene Bourque	31
3. #6 Cory Sarich	30
Goaltenders:	GAA	SV%
1. #34 Miikka Kiprusoff (14-11-2)	2.54	.913
2. #37 Leland Irving (0-0-1)	1.85	.951
3. #35 Henrik Karlsson (0-4-1)	3.48	.895

 
Dear Santa,

I know many of us haven't written you a letter in a long, long time.  In fact the most recent letters you have received from our various households are coming from our children and grandchildren.  However, as you can see, we are essentially kids at heart.  Because of that fact, it is time for us to drop you a little note at this time of the year, especially since much is needed.

First off, is there anyway you can get the Minnesota Wild healthy again?  There's simply something sick and perverse having four of the six top forwards out of action on any team.  For the Minnesota Wild, that is tantamount to taking any chance of success away.  Now, I realize that Mikko Koivu is close to returning, but "close" is not an absolute.  It's not fair, that just as our beloved team was making its statement that they were here to play with the big boys, that injuries would stymie that success. 

Secondly, any chance you can get them to shoot more?  Now, I realize we had just as many shots as the Vancouver Canucks last night, but we all know that is not always a common occurrence.  As the old saying goes, you cannot score if you do not shoot.  I'll admit, I was pleased with the number of shots last night, but they weren't always the best shots.  A little more power and zing behind those shots is needed.  Plus, if there's some way you can get more of Matt Cullen's shots to actually be on goal, that would be much appreciated.

Lastly, you can hold off on delivering our "big" gift of the year until April.  A playoff appearance, with a decent seeding position would be very nice.  We fans haven't seen the playoffs in a while now, and we definitely miss them.  While just being there would be nice, it would be even better if the Wild could go deep in the playoffs.  A mere first round appearance isn't enough (well at least not for most of us).

We know this is a bit of a big list.  However, we've had a few years with coal in our stockings...seriously, Todd Richards was a huge lump, and we deserve something good after that for two years.  If you can find some way to improve the recent downturn, we might even try to be nicer to Canucks fans, especially since we're going to miss them when we're no longer in the same division/conference next season.  Now I didn't say it would happen, only that we can try.  Baby steps, Santa, baby steps.

Sincerely,

The State of Hockey



Injury Report:

Minnesota:      Devin Setoguchi (leg), Mikko Koivu (lower body), Guillaume Latendresse (concussion),   Casey Wellman (wrist) 

Calgary:  Rene Bourque (suspended), Mark Giordano (leg), Anton Babchuk (hand), David Moss (foot), Henrik Karlsson (knee), Matt Stajan (ankle)

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After the Wild's 2-1 shootout loss to the New York Islanders, Head Coach Mike Yeo said it all when he stated, "Our last shootout loss felt like a win, but this shootout loss feels like a loss."  It was a miserable effort.  The Wild were banged up no question; no Mikko Koivu, no Devin Setoguchi, no Guillaume Latendresse and no Pierre-Marc Bouchard but that didn't excuse the lack of urgency Minnesota exhibited Saturday night.  Too many players were coasting through their shifts and the result was the team lost for a second time to one of the worst clubs in the league in the New York Islanders.  The only line that seemed to have any sense of urgency at all was the 4th line of Colton Gillies, Warren Peters and Jarod Palmer.  Palmer especially was making the most of his call up, leading the Wild with 6 shots but far too few of his teammates were taking their opportunities to shoot the puck.  In the post-game interview Yeo noted how disappointed he was in the lack of urgency the Wild showed and did not use the depleted lineup as an excuse for the loss.  It was more refreshing honesty from a coach who has steadily earned the respect of his team and the fans in the State of Hockey.  That honesty was lacking with the previous regime who would too often try to evade questions with "well, we'll have to watch the tape" when the painful obvious truth was the fact Minnesota all too often lacked the urgency and want to win. 

  Wild Head Coach Mike Yeo

Towards the end of the press conference Yeo noted that he was glad the Wild were playing against the Vancouver Canucks next figuring they will be more focused than they were Saturday night.  The Canucks usually seem to bring about the best in the Wild, and Minnesota will have to be at its best if it expects to come away with 2 points this evening.  Will the Wild rise up to the challenge and show the urgency that has served it so well throughout most of this season or will they let Vancouver take 1st place from them without so much as a fight? 

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	Record	Pts	Div. Rank	G/G	GA/G	PP%	PK%
Minnesota Wild	(20-8-5)	45	1st NW	2.42 (26)	2.09 (3)	16.8% (17)	85.6% (8)
Vancouver Canucks	(19-11-2)	40	2nd NW	3.28 (4)	2.44 (9)	25.2% (1)	85.7% (7)

 

Minnesota Wild
Top 5 Scorers:	G	A	Pts
1. #9 Mikko Koivu	8	20	28
2. #15 Dany Heatley	9	13	22
3. #7 Matt Cullen	9	10	19
4. #21 Kyle Brodziak	11	7	18
5. #96 Pierre-Marc Bouchard	5	13	18
Top 3 Penalty Minutes:	PIM
1. #16 Brad Staubitz	54
2. #22 Cal Clutterbuck	38
3. #21 Kyle Brodziak	33
Goaltenders:	GAA	SV%
1. #32 Niklas Backstrom (11-6-4)	2.06	.933
2. #37 Josh Harding (7-2-1)	2.14	.932
3. #31 Matt Hackett (2-0-0)	1.01	.974
Vancouver Canucks
Top 5 Scorers:	G	A	Pts
1. #33 Henrik Sedin	8	28	36
2. #22 Daniel Sedin	13	22	35
3. #17 Ryan Kesler	7	16	23
4. #23 Alexander Edler	5	17	22
5. #20 Chris Higgins	9	12	21
Top 3 Penalty Minutes:	PIM
1. #40 Maxim Lapierre	67
2. #32 Dale Weise	43
3. #3 Kevin Bieksa	38
Goaltenders:	GAA	SV%
1. #1 Roberto Luongo (12-6-2)	2.62	.905
2. #35 Cory Schneider (7-5-0)	2.17	.931
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This season so far, has been a season of firsts for the Minnesota Wild.  Thankfully, many of those "firsts" have been positives as opposed to negatives.  They're the kind of firsts that have given confidence again to players and fans alike.  With the tough past few seasons, they are very much welcome in Minnesota.

First off, there is rookie NHL head coach, Mike Yeo.  Currently, he is the youngest head coach in the NHL.  That hasn't seem to deter him and in fact, it seems to push him to continually do better than he has in past, whether that be year or day or even hour.  His success with the Wild's farm team, the Houston Aeros, last season seem to have put him on the right path for success.  It probably also gave him a boost on paper when General Manager, Chuck Fletcher, was looking for a new coach.  I'll admit, the team had a bit of a bumpy start to the season, and people were wondering if Fletcher had made the right decision.  However, as in any job, there is always that transitional period when you get a new boss, and sports are no exception.  We're pretty lucky that the transitional period was relatively short, as we never got out of the transitional period with former head coach, Todd Richards.  If things continue has they have for the Wild this season, the Wild's new coach, in his first season, could easily be a shoe-in for the Jack Adams Award for best coach.  That's a first I can easily live with.

This has also been a season of firsts for many of the team's prospects.  Due to all the injuries, we have seen call-up after call-up after call-up.  It's become a question of not IF we called someone up, but WHO.  Not only have those players played well, but in many cases they have surpassed expectations.  The most recent call-ups are Chad Rau and Jed Ortmeyer.  Now this is not the first stint for Ortmeyer with the Wild, but it is for this season.  Ortmeyer is tied for first place on the Aeros for his plus/minus numbers, a healthy +11.  One can hope that only helps the Wild in this divisional roadtrip.  Rau had a good season with the Aeros last season, and his 40 points he tallied are much needed now.  I think what has worked the best for all these call-ups, is that the team has kept them fresh.  They're called up, play a few games, and are sent down for different players.  I don't think their reassignment says anything bad about their play.  It simply keeps everyone hungry for more.  Play well in Houston, and you're bound to see another trip to St. Paul.

This next set of firsts demonstrate both the good and the bad.  Until Chicago pulled ahead in the standings last night after their win against Calgary, this has been the latest (and longest time) that the Wild were in first place in the league.  It's been exciting for players, coaches, and fans.  I know I've enjoyed the ride.  With that success, has come consequences.  As in any case where a team is at the top, all the teams below it are aiming to take that team down.  That has been the case with Minnesota as well.  I'm sure our recent opponents have been looking at us saying, "how the heck do they do it?"  With the extreme number of injuries, we've become an easy target.  As an easy target, it's been much easier for opponents to beat what is essentially the Houston Aeros in Minnesota Wild clothing.  The Wild are now in their first three-game losing streak of the season.  It is a first I'm hoping will end tonight in Vancouver.  The realistic part of me is hoping that Minnesota can earn at least one point tonight as we're waiting to get Mikko Koivu, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Devin Setoguchi and Guillaume Latendresse back from their various injuries.  That will be much more difficult against the Canucks than it was against the New York Islanders.  Hopefully they realize what is at stake, and will play much better in Vancouver.

At this point, the only first I want is first place.  Being first in the Northwest Division is nice.  It would be nice at the very least to take back first place in the Western Conference.  Sure, first place in the league is ncie, but it also is a conspicuous place to be.  And there are times, where it is nicer to be under the radar. 

Injury Report:

Minnesota:      Devin Setoguchi (leg), Mikko Koivu (lower body), Guillaume Latendresse (concussion), Justin Falk (lower body), Pierre-Marc Bouchard (broken nose), Casey Wellman (wrist) 

Vancouver:  Byron Bitz (groin surgery), Steve Pinnizotto (shoulder surgery), Andrew Ebbett (foot), Aaron Volpatti (leg), Brian Rolston (shoulder), David Booth (knee)

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For any of you TV trivia buffs out there, can you give me the name of the theme song to the hit TV show M*A*S*H?  No, its not called the M*A*S*H theme song, but one of the most depressing titles in music history; Suicide Is Painless by Johnny Mandel and Mike Altman.  The song choice is appropriate for the show that had a strong anti-war message as it plotted the difficult journey of a number of U.S. Army surgeons, nurses as they tried to repair the human casualties of the Korean War.  The sarcastic wit about life in the military and questioning the value of being in conflict was a constant theme.  Yet the lyrics could be somewhat descriptive of what the Minnesota Wild are going through as their team is starting to resemble a M*A*S*H unit of their own.  "The game of life is hard to play, I'm gonna lose it anyway, The losing card I'll someday lay, So this is all I have to say, That suicide is painless, It brings on many changes, and I can take or leave it if I please" as you can see the lyrics are just as depressing as the title implies.  Minnesota's injury list is rather lengthy with Justin Falk (back spasms), Casey Wellman (wrist), as Devin Setoguchi (ankle) and Guillaume Latendresse (post-concussion syndrome) have been put on injured reserve while the team's leading scorer and team captain Mikko Koivu is also out with a leg injury.  Toss into that the skating wounded in Josh Harding (head/neck) and Pierre-Marc Bouchard (broken nose and lacerated lip) are listed as questionable for tonight's game against the New York Islanders and you have a pretty busy schedule for the Wild's medical staff.  I am confident team physicians Dr. Sheldon Burns and Dr. Joel Boyd can handle it, but in the meantime it will result in the Wild having to lean more on its American Hockey League affiliate the Houston Aeros who must feel as though they too are at half strength with all of the call ups they've had to endure.  That's life as a farm club.  Minnesota will be playing with a lineup akin to one of its pre-season games with a mix of NHL'ers and AHL'ers, hoping to overcome the odds and earn a victory.  Its enough to make Corporal Klinger seem too sane for a Section 8. 

  At the rate the Wild are accumulating injuries, Corporal Klinger might be in the Wild's lineup before X-mas, or at the very least Paul Deutsch.

The last time the Wild played the New York Islanders they were thoroughly outworked for an embarrassing 2-1 loss.  Islanders' goaltender Al Montoya was more than enough to stop the anemic Minnesota offense and fans began to question (at the time) whether really had anything changed between being under Mike Yeo and Todd Richards as it was a classic letdown you'd come to expect.  Fortunately, the poor effort has been a rare story for the Wild who continue to defy the odds and tonight they will have to do so again.  As a great hockey coach from Minnesota named Herb Brooks' once said, "Hard work beats talent, when talent doesn't work hard" will have to bethe Wild's mantra this evening if they're going to earn 2 points tonight.  So can Minnesota's cast of youngsters, skating wounded and battle-scarred veterans have enough to defeat the always energetic Islanders?

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	Record	Pts	Div. Rank	G/G	GA/G	PP%	PK%
Minnesota Wild	(20-8-4)	44	1st NW	2.47 (26)	2.12 (3)	17.0% (16)	85.3% (9)
New York Islanders	(9-14-6)	24	5th Atlantic	2.31 (27)	3.27 (27)	16.5% (19)	80.8% (22)

 

Minnesota Wild
Top 5 Scorers:	G	A	Pts
1. #9 Mikko Koivu	8	20	28
2. #15 Dany Heatley	9	12	21
3. #21 Kyle Brodziak	11	7	18
4. #7 Matt Cullen	9	9	18
5. #96 Pierre-Marc Bouchard	5	13	18
Top 3 Penalty Minutes:	PIM
1. #16 Brad Staubitz	54
2. #22 Cal Clutterbuck	38
3. #21 Kyle Brodziak	33
Goaltenders:	GAA	SV%
1. #32 Niklas Backstrom (11-6-3)	2.12	.930
2. #37 Josh Harding (7-2-1)	2.14	.932
3. #31 Matt Hackett (2-0-0)	1.01	.974
New York Islanders
Top 5 Scorers:	G	A	Pts
1. #91 John Tavares	10	14	24
2. #15 PA Parenteau	4	20	24
3. #26 Matt Moulson	15	8	23
4. #2 Mark Streit	2	14	16
5. #40 Michael Grabner	9	5	14
Top 3 Penalty Minutes:	PIM
1. #17 Matt Martin	53
2. #3 Travis Hamonic	45
3. #24 Steve Staios	33
Goaltenders:	GAA	SV%
1. #35 Al Montoya (5-5-3)	2.54	.916
2. #39 Rick DiPietro (3-2-3)	3.73	.876
3. #20 Evgeni Nabokov (1-5-0)	2.83	.910

 



Many of us remember the classic Golden Books.  The above title was released in 1950, and while it has become one of the most requested Golden Books of all time, it is not one that I remember.  However, it was probably my mom's favorite book as a young girl.  What she remembers most, is that the book came with actual adhesive bandages, six of them in total.  For whatever reason, kids seem to love bandages, as can be witnessed at your pharmacy with the variety of colors and cartoon characters.  Some kids will wear a bandage just to wear one, not because they've cut themselves.  The premise of Doctor Dan, the Bandage Man is that Dan gets a scratch on his finger, which when he goes home, his mother covers it with a bandage.  From there on out, he is fascinated by the bandages, and he then decides to act as doctor to his friends, pets, and even toys.  The book also served as a bit of clever marketing, as the bandages weren't just any bandages, but Band-Aid brand bandages.

For the Wild, and for the Islanders as well, it feels as if they could use their own Doctor Dan.  You almost hate to go into another game, because you have to wonder who we'll lost next.  Now injuries truly haven't hurt us as much as they had in the past.  We've been lucky, because it seems that no matter who gets recalled from Houston, tends to play a decent game (or few) while we wait for the Wild injured to heal up.  One of the knocks on the Wild on their recent wave of success, is that they won't be able to sustain that success when the injuries catch up with them.  Either the experts haven't been paying attention or they're simply that clueless, is that we have been dealing with considerable injuries.  With this newest batch of injuries that have claimed Mikko Koivu, Devin Setoguchi, Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Guillaume Latendresse (again), we'll see if we can truly continue this run.  Hopefully, we follow our current history as opposed to the history of previous seasons.

With the newest batch of injuries, Minnesota has now recalled Jared Palmer from Houston.  With that call-up, everyone else will simply get shifted around.  For example, tonight's top line with be Matt Cullen, Cal Clutterbuck and Dany Heatley.  The second line will be Darroll Powe Kyle Brodziak, and Nick Johnson.  At the start of the season, no one would have imagine such combinations.  But these are the kind of random combinations that we've had to come to expect.  Heck with all the injuries, I feel as if we've almost gone back to the constant line juggling of the Jacques Lemaire days.  Now Lemaire just juggled because it seemed he could.  Mike Yeo has been forced to juggle due to situation.  Clutterbuck made sure to point out, that our top goal-scorer is Brodziak, a usual third-line player.  While Clutterbuck is amazed with the number of injuries to forwards in our top six, he's impressed that the team is able to still score, and get those critical from the likes of Brodziak.  The key to tonight's game according to Yeo, will simply be to outwork our opponents, because right now they simply don't have the better skill.

Now, if Doctor Dan the Bandage Man had some magic bandages that would heal up the team that would be wonderful.  Even more wonderful would be if those bandages would somehow protect the players.  Sadly, no such magic bandage exists, but Minnesota will simply do what it needs to do.   



Injury Report:

Minnesota:    Devin Setoguchi (leg), Mikko Koivu (lower body), Guillaume Latendresse (concussion), Justin Falk (lower body), Pierre-Marc Bouchard (broken nose), Casey Wellman (wrist) 

New York Islanders:  Mark Eaton (knee), Jay Pandolfo (foot), Rick DiPietro (groin), Andrew MacDonald (leg), Brian Rolston (concussion), Steve Staios (concussion)

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Its a classic scene from the movie Wayne's World (1992) where the mullet-ed heroes Wayne Campbell (Mike Myers) and Garth Algar (Dana Carvey) play a game of street hockey in their hometown of Aurora, Illinois in their Blackhawks sweaters.  I think just about everyone who saw that scene replicated the "Game on! (game on!) Car!!! (car!!)  Its gone, Game On! (Game On!)" at least once.  Apart from the singing of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody in Garth's AMC Pacer, or the near psychotic Glen (Ed O'Neill) working at Stan Mikita's Donut Shop its a great film with lots of hilarious lines both in English and Cantonese.  The movie became a pop culture hit and for young people of my generation the lines quickly became a part of your normal lexicon from bowing repeatedly saying "We're not worthy, we're not worthy" to any sort of impressive act to asking someone to spew into Dixie cup by saying "if you're going to spew, spew into this!"  Its a bit silly sure, but films are cultural touchstones that people connect to.  The move was irreverent and ridiculous, but its what you expected from an expanded version of a Saturday Night Live skit.    



Seriously, who didn't want to learn the word "Excellent!" in Cantonese?  The Wild are still not earning much respect on "Canada's Sports Leader" as they currently have Minnesota sitting in 8th on their power rankings behind the likes of the New York Rangers and Florida Panthers.  Really?!?!  Another team that is rated ahead of the Wild are tonight's opponent the Chicago Blackhawks who TSN's Scott Cullen (TSN's official moron) has 6th.  The Blackhawks are of course led by their lethal foursome of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa.  While I will grant they're a very formidable group up front, the Wild have proven they are greater than the sum of their parts.  So can the Wild show some of that success it had on the road with a strong effort back in St. Paul?  Or will the Blackhawks justify Cullen's continued skepticism? 

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