There is just something incredible about going to the State Tournament, the excitement of your school, perhaps your classmates participating in the ultimate contest for any high school athlete.  When you toss in a raucous student section and a little media buzz you have the makings for a true event.  But what is it like when you don't have that crowd?  Case in point, this weekend was the Wisconsin State Boys' Hockey Tournament held at Madison's Alliant Energy Center.  Alliant Energy Center just seats just over 10,000 compared to the Xcel's 18,000+ potential but as the pictures below will tell you, that the Wisconsin State Tournament did not nearly need that many seats to watch Eau Claire Memorial defeat Verona 6-1 for the state title.  To quote JPerpich from Twitter, "Not much beyond parents and girlfriends."  The lack of a crowd made for a stale environment that matched the pedestrian-level of play both teams had.  For anyone that has been fortunate to have attended the State Tournament in St. Paul whether at Xcel Energy Center or its predecessor the St. Paul Civic Center and its infamous clear boards the high level of play and energy of the crowd adds to the drama of it all.  Even if you don't have any direct connection to the teams playing its tough not to get caught up in that atmosphere.  

(top to bottom) Minnesota State Tournament & Wisconsin State Tournament

16 schools are vying for the ultimate prize of a State Championship and only two of them will accomplish that goal.  There are lots of familiar faces in this year's tournament but as usual they are a few newcomers.  We are guaranteed to see a new Class AA Champion as defending champ Benilde-St. Margaret's was eliminated in section play.  While at the Class A level, defending champ St. Thomas Academy hopes to bring its school one last championship at that level before moving up to Class AA next year.  Who will come out on top?  

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Minnesota Wild (10-8-2)  22pts  2nd in the Northwest

2.15 Goals For (28th)

2.40 Goals Against (7th)

13.7% Power Play (26th)

85.9% Penalty Kill (6th)

Top 5 Scorers:

1. #11 Zach Parise ~ 8G 6A = 14pts

2. #9 Mikko Koivu ~ 3G 11A = 14pts

3. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 0G 13A = 13pts

4. #15 Dany Heatley ~ 7G 4A = 11pts

5. #7 Matt Cullen ~ 3G 8A = 11pts

Top 3 PIM's:

1. #28 Zenon Konopka ~ 59 PIM's

2. #27 Mike Rupp ~ 27 PIM's

3. #4 Clayton Stoner ~ 16 PIM's

Top Goaltender(s):

1. #32 Niklas Backstrom (8-5-2)  2.22GAA  .918%SP

2. #35 Darcy Kuemper (1-2-0)  2.37GAA  .922%SP  

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

Vs.

Edmonton Oilers (8-8-4)  20pts  3rd in the Northwest

2.35 Goals For (25th)

2.65 Goals Against (13th)

21.7% Power Play (6th)

86.5% Penalty Kill (5th)

Top 5 Scorers:

1. #89 Sam Gagner ~ 6G 13A = 22pts  

2. #4 Taylor Hall ~ 4G 14A = 18pts 

3. #14 Jordan Eberle ~ 6G 9A = 15pts

4. #83 Ales Hemsky ~ 8G 5A = 13pts

5. #19 Justin Schultz ~ 5G 8A = 13pts

Top 3 PIM's:

1. #5 Ladislav Smid ~ 33 PIM's

2. #94 Ryan Smyth ~ 30 PIM's

3. #4 Taylor Hall ~ 23 PIM's

Top Goaltender(s):

1. #40 Devan Dubnyk (6-6-3)  2.75GAA  .917%SP

2. #35 Nikolai Khabibulin (2-2-1)  2.11GAA  .935%SP

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In 1812, brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm published their first volume of children's tales that we now call Grimm's Fairy Tales.  There has been debate over the years as to whether they were really intended for children at all, and over the years, they have been edited, and later adapted by Disney to become what many of us know them to be.  Depending on which version of the tales are on the shelves, they've occasionally been subjected to book bans by concerned parents, such as in the original versions, Little Red Riding Hood carried wine in her basket.  The original versions of these tales had some references to sexual activity of the characters; therefore Jacob and Wilhelm were required to revise their stories.  With many of these tales, they use many ideas of folk tales.  The classic tale of Sleeping Beauty is seen in different countries, "written" by various authors.  The version included by the Brothers Grimm was entitled "Little Briar Rose" or in German, "Dornröschen."  In the tale, an evil fairy cursed the young princess that when she was sixteen years old, she would be spinning yarn, and she would prick her finger with the spindle, and die.  To save her life, a good fairy put the princess and everyone in the castle to sleep.  Many years passed, the castle long forgotten when a young, handsome prince stumbled upon the hidden castle.  Upon exploring, he came across the beautiful, sleeping princess.  Being so overcome with her beauty, he felt the overwhelming need to kiss her.  Upon this kiss, the princess, and all who resided within the castle, awoke.  Generally, all the stories contained a moral to be learned.  In the case of Sleeping Beauty it was the lesson of having good manners, as all the chaos of the story was the result of the King and Queen forgetting to invite one of the fairies of the kingdom to the party that celebrated the birth of the princess.

However, in the world of hockey, the moral to be learned, has nothing to do with invitations nor is it a lesson for the fans.  No, the tale of Sleeping Beauty the lesson is for the league officials and the players' union.  The lesson is that realignment needs to happen and happen soon.  It's a Friday night, and those of us in the Upper Midwest have to wait until 9:00pm for the puck drop.  Now, I realize that this isn't a divisional game, but we do have a division opponent where start times of 9:00 and 9:30pm are part of the season.  Yes, as Wild fans, we know that we're going to have these late games on occasion, but when it seems like we have these late start times on the road more times than not, it's difficult for the fans.  With all of these late start times, there are many days after a game, where I feel like Sleeping Beauty.  When the game is over, win or lose, I just want to crawl into bed and forget about the alarm clock.  Thankfully tomorrow I have the day off, so I get to sleep in.  That is not always the case, nor is late games isolated to weekends.  The last time realignment was proposed, the NHL Players' Association, said no.  We the fans knew they were going to use it as a bargaining chip with CBA negotiations.  Negotiations were long and painful, and it felt like it was the fans were the ones who were punished the most.  So we have to wait and see if the Minnesota Wild reward their fans with effort and hopefully a win.  Heading into Anaheim, I think many of us are worried that the Ducks will act as the evil fairy in the tale of Sleeping Beauty, and we'll be punished with eternal sleep.

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Minnesota Wild (10-7-2)  22pts  2nd in the Northwest

2.16 Goals For (28th)

2.37 Goals Against (8th)

14.3% Power Play (25th)

85.7% Penalty Kill (6th)

Top 5 Scorers:

1. #11 Zach Parise ~ 8G 6A = 14pts

2. #9 Mikko Koivu ~ 3G 11A = 14pts

3. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 0G 12A = 12pts

4. #15 Dany Heatley ~ 7G 4A = 11pts

5. #7 Matt Cullen ~ 3G 8A = 11pts

Top 3 PIM's:

1. #28 Zenon Konopka ~ 52 PIM's

2. #27 Mike Rupp ~ 27 PIM's

3. #10 Devin Setoguchi ~ 14 PIM's

Top Goaltender(s):

1. #32 Niklas Backstrom (8-5-2)  2.22GAA  .918%SP

2. #35 Darcy Kuemper (1-1-0)  2.02GAA  .934%SP

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

Vs.

Anaheim Ducks (14-3-1)  29pts  1st in the Pacific

3.33 Goals For (2nd)

2.61 Goals Against (14th)

29.3% Power Play (1st)

74.6% Penalty Kill (28th)

Top 5 Scorers:

1. #15 Ryan Getzlaf ~ 6G 15A = 21pts

2. #11 Saku Koivu ~ 6G 11A = 17pts

3. #10 Corey Perry ~ 5G 12A = 17pts

4. #8 Teemu Selanne ~ 5G 11A = 16pts

5. #9 Bobby Ryan ~ 5G 9A = 13pts

Top 3 PIM's:

1. #25 Brad Staubitz ~ 39 PIM's

2. #44 Sheldon Souray ~ 25 PIM's

3. #10 Corey Perry ~ 24 PIM's

Top Goaltender(s):

1. #30 Viktor Fasth (9-1-0)  1.92GAA  .926%SP  1SO

2. #1 Jonas Hiller (5-2-1)  3.34GAA  .879%SP 

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How much longer will NHL hockey be in the Arizona desert?  After selling out opening night the Phoenix Coyotes played before a crowd of less than 9,000 people.  In a butts in the seats league, that's a huge problem.  The Phoenix Coyotes have one of the league's newest arenas that is on par with just about anyone in the league; including the Minnesota Wild.  Yet people don't show up; they don't want to make the 30-minute commute outside of Phoenix to Glendale to watch them play.  The Coyotes in many ways are about being guilty of bad timing.  After relocating from Winnipeg, the team did have some good initial success.  But then the drop off came and the team went nearly a decade before making the post season under current Coach Dave Tippett.  Yet despite the Coyotes success under Tippett the crowds have been fleeting at best.  The seemingly never ending drama over the fact the team continously finds ways not to be sold.  The latest is the failed attempt by Greg Jamison to buy the club from the National Hockey League who has now owned and operated the team since 2009.  Some believe this failure mean the team almost has no choice but to relocate.  While I sympathize with the Coyotes fans over losing a team, the league has given the City of Glendale more than enough time to get its act together as well as courting a variety of owners and ownership groups to no avail.  I think its time to move on, literally and figuratively.   

Speaking of moving on, the Wild are taking their game on the road for a two-game road trip starting tonight in Phoenix and then on Friday against a surging Anaheim Ducks squad.  The Wild are going to have to dig deep if they expect to even split this two-game road trip and that is not even taking into account this team's woes away from the Xcel Energy Center.  Do the Wild have enough momentum to earn a win against the Desert Dogs this evening? 

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Minnesota Wild (9-7-2)  20pts  2nd in the Northwest

2.06 Goals For (30th)

2.33 Goals Against (8th)

13.8% Power Play (26th)

85.0% Penalty Kill (6th)

Top 5 Scorers:

1. #11 Zach Parise ~ 8G 5A = 13pts

2. #9 Mikko Koivu ~ 3G 10A = 13pts

3. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 0G 11A = 11pts

4. #15 Dany Heatley ~ 5G 4A = 9pts

5. #7 Matt Cullen ~ 3G 6A = 9pts

Top 3 PIM's:

1. #28 Zenon Konopka ~ 52 PIM's

2. #27 Mike Rupp ~ 22 PIM's

3. #10 Devin Setoguchi ~ 14 PIM's

Top Goaltender(s):

1. #32 Niklas Backstrom (7-5-2)  2.17GAA  .919%SP 

2. #35 Darcy Kuemper (1-1-0)  2.02GAA  .934%SP

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

Vs.

Phoenix Coyotes (9-7-3)  21pts  5th in the Pacific

2.79 Goals For (12th)

2.58 Goals Against (13th)

16.9% Power Play (16th)

84.8% Penalty Kill (8th)

Top 5 Scorers:

1. #89 Mikkel Boedker ~ 4G 9A = 13pts

2. #17 Radim Vrbata ~ 4G 9A = 13pts

3. #23 Oliver Ekman-Larsson ~ 3G 9A = 12pts

4. #11 Martin Hanzal ~ 3G 7A = 10pts

5. #50 Antoine Vermette ~ 5G 5A = 10pts

Top 3 PIM's:

1. #24 Kyle Chipchura ~ 37 PIM's

2. #3 Keith Yandle ~ 28 PIM's

3. #19 Shane Doan ~ 19 PIM's

Top Goaltender(s):

1. #41 Mike Smith (7-5-2)  2.63GAA  .909%SP  3SO

2. #31 Chad Johnson (1-0-1)  .98GAA  .952%SP  1SO

3. #1 Jason LaBarbera (1-2-0)  2.83GAA  .908%SP

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It almost seems like every other week you could watch another 'awards' show.  I have to admit most of them bore me to death and I rarely watch them.  The Grammy's?  Blech.  The Emmy's?  Nah, I'll pass.  The ESPY's?  Lame.  The NHL Award's Show?  Yawn.  Yet there is one awards show I make sure I watch and that is the Academy Awards for Film, better known as the Oscar's.  I'll be honest I am not sure completely why this one doesn't bore me; its basically the same as the rest.  Usually they have a funny emcee; in this year's edition it was the voice of Ted and Family Guy, Seth McFarlane (who I thought did a great job by the way) and then all the glitz and glam that Hollywood has to offer.  I guess I am always in search of a good movie and figure the Oscar's might help me put together a list.  Yet for the first time ever I can say I had a somewhat 'personal' connection to the Oscar's as the short live-action film Curfew won.  One of my former students and tennis players, Andrew Napier was an associate producer in the film.  I have to admit, its was a huge surprise and I'm immensely proud of him.  I am not going to say I got him started or that I inspired his movie career because even as a teenager he was driven like few others are and I cannot take any credit for that.  Just to give you an idea, this student had produced an award-winning documentary before his junior year of high school.  I guess it just shows anyone, that if you follow your dreams you can make it to the top; even in movies and being a kid from a small rural midwestern town who moves to Los Angeles to make his dream come true and now he plays major part of an Oscar-winning film.  Almost sounds like a movie plot doesn't it?  So what does this have to do with hockey?  What if the NHL had more of Oscar night-like awards as opposed to the lame but predictable awards like the Vezina (best goaltender), Norris (best defenseman) etc.  What if it was more like the popular movie website Rottentomatoes.com or the Raspberry Awards?  Where it roasts the players, owners, coaches a bit rather than just patting each other on the back?  So here is my 1st annual NHL Rotten Tomato awards!   Envelopes please...  

Best Diver (Actor) - Alexandre Burrows (Vancouver) - Canucks fans won't like it but Burrows is one of the most overly dramatic players in the league.  His phantom trips and incessant whining does little to endear him to officials or opposing fans.  Yet, he keeps right on diving, because obviously he's good at enough in order to draw a few cheap penalties here and there.  Burrows also was nominated for Best Coward too in case you were curious. 

Worst Coach (Director) - Guy Boucher (Tampa Bay) - The Lightning are too good to have just 19 points.  They have lots of offensive firepower, speed and grit but can't seem to defend a lead to save their lives.  Boucher got lots of kudos at first but the only thing Tampa Bay has been consistent with is that its incredibly inconsistent.  Adam Oates, Todd McLellan, and Todd Richards all breathed a sigh of relief at not winning in this category. 

Worst GM (Producer) - Jay Feaster (Calgary) - I have to admit this one was recently axed Columbus GM's Scott Howson's category to lose from the start, but leave it to Howson to even screw up at being the worst GM in hockey if not all of professional sports.  Only his termination spared him from earning this Rotten Tomato award.  Feaster takes this one for the simple fact he's in such incredible denial.  Instead of taking the opportunities to deal Miikka Kiprusoff and Jarome Iginla and starting a true rebuild he's tried to tidy up a few little pieces around them and then had the audacity to sell it as though the team has 'improved' itself.  Sorry, Jay, only YOU believe that and its time you join Howson.  Now Iginla looks to be way past his prime and ready for the pasture and that once 'hot' commodity may get you a tiny bit of sympathy at the trade deadline instead of the giant piece for a rebuild that it once would have. 

Worst Owner (Executive Producer) - Charles Wong - While I sympathize with him on the arena issue and don't really blame him for taking steps to move the team to the Barclay's Center in Brooklyn in a few years what I don't understand is why don't you just sell the team if you're not interested in fielding a winner.  I like the New York Islanders, I admire their scrappy play most nights but why not give this team a few decent free agents and help this cast of youngsters reach the next level?  You admitted that buying an NHL team was a mistake, ok, we get that but why not change it?  John Tavares, Matt Moulson, Michael Grabner and Mark Streit could use some help and the Islanders have plenty of cap space. 

Last Saturday the Wild went to Calgary and for a good portion of the game sort of went through the motions.  The Flames are not that good of a team and the Wild still had a chance to win despite its lethargic play, will Minnesota have a repeat performance tonight?  You know what they say about sequels...

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Minnesota Wild (8-7-2)  18pts  2nd in the Northwest

2.06 Goals For per game (29th in the NHL)

2.41 Goals Against per game (9th in the NHL)

13.8% Power Play (27th in the NHL)

84.9% Penalty Kill (6th in the NHL)

Top 5 Scorers:

1. #11 Zach Parise ~ 7G 5A = 12pts

2. #9 Mikko Koivu ~ 3G 9A = 12pts

3. #15 Dany Heatley ~ 5G 4A = 9pts

4. #7 Matt Cullen ~ 3G 6A = 9pts

5. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 0G 9A = 9pts

Top 3 PIM's:

1. #28 Zenon Konopka ~ 52 PIM's

2. #27 Mike Rupp ~ 22 PIM's

3. #10 Devin Setoguchi ~ 12 PIM's

Top Goaltender(s):

1. #32 Niklas Backstrom (6-5-2)  2.26GAA  .917%SP

2. #35 Darcy Kuemper (1-1-0)  2.02GAA  .933%SP

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

Vs.

Calgary Flames (7-7-3)  17pts  4th in the Northwest

2.82 Goals For per game (12th in the NHL)

3.29 Goals Against per game (27th in the NHL)

22% Power Play (8th in the NHL)

75% Penalty Kill (27th in the NHL)

Top 5 Scorers:

1. #40 Alex Tanguay ~ 5G 10A = 15pts

2. #12 Jarome Iginla ~ 3G 10A = 13pts

3. #22 Lee Stempniak ~ 5G 7A = 12pts

4. #13 Mike Cammalleri ~ 5G 7A = 12pts

5. #20 Curtis Glencross ~ 7G 4A = 11pts

Top 3 PIM's:

1. #40 Alex Tanguay ~ 14 PIM's

2. #18 Matt Stajan ~ 14 PIM's

3. #12 Jarome Iginla ~ 12 PIM's

Top Goaltender(s):

1. #35 Joey MacDonald (3-2-0)  2.85GAA  .901%SP

2. #34 Miikka Kiprusoff (2-3-2)  3.24GAA  .870%SP

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

4. #41 Danny Taylor (0-1-0)  4.00GAA  .892%SP

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Selective amnesia, its one of those things I come across on a daily basis as an educator, when a student tries to think of a creative way to tell me an assignment hasn't been completed.  "I didn't know it was due" or other forms of selective amnesia.  The stereotypical "my dog ate my homework" is more myth than anything bound in reality.  So what do you call it when you have an NHL player attempt to float a pretty weak excuse?  The player in question is Edmonton's Taylor Hall in his post-game interview after his dirty low hit on the Wild's Cal Clutterbuck.  "The first thing I did was look back to the officials to see if it was a penalty, which it obviously was (guilty right there)  I really didn't feel like it was knee-to-knee at all, I thought I got him with the hip or torso area, it was a weird play.  I don't think it was a dirty play, I don't think I led with my knee."  Really?  Well the National Hockey League certainly was not buying Hall's excuse as they handed the Oilers' star a 2-game suspension.  I will admit, I was surprised that the league gave him 2-games.  With Hall being a star player the league rarely doles out suspensions to high profile players and since he's a 'first time offender' I felt the league would use that to give him to little to no discipline.  I think the suspension was certainly warranted and probably should've been longer if this was a normal-length season.  I thought NHL Director of Player Safety Brendan Shanahan's explanation was fantastic.  Good to see the NHL step up and take a stand, and if you're Taylor Hall you better keep your head on a swivel because I have a feeling there will be more punishment handed down by the Wild.  

Despite the dirty hit Minnesota earned a huge road win over Edmonton so now it will try to re-focus to take on a struggling Calgary Flames squad.  This should be the easier of the two Alberta teams which makes tonight's match up for the Wild a perfect trap game.  The Flames' high scoring attack will hope to overpower the Wild, but Minnesota while being the 2nd worst team in the league in scoring will hope to take advantage of Calgary's porous defense.  Will the Wild manage to earn the Alberta sweep?

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Minnesota Wild (8-6-2)  18pts  2nd in the Northwest

2.12 Goals For per Game (29th in the NHL)

2.38 Goals Against per Game (10th in the NHL)

14.3% Power Play (23rd in the NHL)

84.3% Penalty Kill (7th in the NHL)

Top 5 Scorers:

1. #11 Zach Parise ~ 7G 5A = 12pts

2. #9 Mikko Koivu ~ 3G 9A = 12pts

3. #15 Dany Heatley ~ 5G 4A = 9pts

4. #7 Matt Cullen ~ 3G 6A = 9pts

5. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 0G 9A = 9pts

Top 3 PIM's:

1. #28 Zenon Konopka ~ 52 PIM's

2. #10 Devin Setoguchi ~ 12 PIM's

3. #27 Mike Rupp ~ 12 PIM's

Top Goaltender(s):

1. #32 Niklas Backstrom (6-4-2)  2.28GAA  .917%SP

2. #35 Darcy Kuemper (1-1-0)  2.02GAA  .934%SP

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

Vs.

Calgary Flames (5-7-3)  13pts  5th in the Northwest

2.67 Goals For per Game (15th in the NHL)

3.40 Goals Against per Game (28th in the NHL)

24.1% Power Play (6th in the NHL)

73.5% Penalty Kill (29th in the NHL)

Top 5 Scorers:

1. #40 Alex Tanguay ~ 4G 8A = 12pts

2. #13 Mike Cammalleri ~ 4G 7A = 11pts

3. #22 Lee Stempniak ~ 5G 5A = 10pts

4. #24 Jiri Hudler ~ 4G 6A = 10pts

5. #26 Dennis Wideman ~ 3G 7A = 10pts

Top 3 PIM's:

1. #40 Alex Tanguay ~ 14 PIM's

2. #5 Mark Giordano ~ 12 PIM's

3. #15 Tim Jackman ~ 12 PIM's

Top Goaltender(s):

1. #34 Miikka Kiprusoff (2-3-2)  3.24GAA  .870%SP

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

3. #35 Joey MacDonald (1-2-0)  3.09GAA  .893%SP

4. #41 Danny Taylor (0-1-0)  4.00GAA  .892%SP

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