Its fall, and much of the sports media is captivated by college football. As college football finishes up week 2 of play, the experts debate whether teams were underrated or overrated in the vaunted or despised Bowl Championship Series computer rankings. With "BCS busters" Boise State and Texas Christian University in great position to run the table and challenge this system's validity. I for one welcome these "BCS busters" to punch holes its in its computer logic. Yet, the main thing this situation proves is just how powerful a pre-season poll can be. The NHL does not have rankings, your record is all that matters and a win against the worst team in the league counts just the same as it does against the best. However that does not stop publications and hockey experts from prognosticating about a team's chances for the upcoming season. They are not necessarily going to pan out but its what independent "non-biased" people think of their teams.
I have to admit, every summer I await the Hockey News' annual yearbook with a level of eager anticipation. I read it from cover to cover as soon as it arrives and will continue to read portions of it throughout the year, it keeps my hockey mind sharp as well as serving as a terrific reference tool. I love great team by team reports, rosters, depth charts as well as the experts sharing their views as to how they feel the season will turn out. I'd recommend it for any hockey fan, as it really gives you all the information any fan could possibly want from who each team drafted, complete statistical overviews of the American Hockey League and major junior Canadian Hockey League teams. Yet, I think most fans are probably drawn to the team reviews which are put together by the beat writers who the Hockey News works with. In the case of the Wild, its Minneapolis Star Tribune's Michael Russo giving his overall analysis of what has to work right for the Wild in order for them to make the playoffs. In all honesty there is not much I disagree with in Russo's analysis of the team but there are some differences.
Before I go into the team-by-team analysis of the members of the Northwest Division, I will concede that no one can say positively how things will turn out. Yet if I was able to predict the future with 100% accuracy I'd probably be doing something else and be a helluva lot more wealthy than I currently am. If you disagree with what I have to say, that is perfectly fine. In fact I encourage you to share your opinions by the comment section below.
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As we start to see the season begin to transform the landscape of green to brown it harkens many to be thinking about holidays like Thanksgiving or Halloween. For some they may see this change as a sign that its the start of football season, where the fans find a nice comfortable place to watch their favorite team(s) battle it out on Saturday and Sunday. That sounds all well and good until you consider what sort of football most of the fans in the State of Hockey have been afflicted to. With no offense to the many high school, Division II and Division III programs in the state I am of course referring to the poor starts of the University of Minnesota and to a lesser extent the Minnesota Vikings. I promise, I will only touch on either of these two embattled organizations rather briefly before I begin my main point. It started on Thursday as the heavily hyped NFL Kickoff to the 2010-11 season matched up the Minnesota Vikings and the defending champion New Orleans Saints. After giving up a quick score to New Orleans the Vikings defense stepped up and kept Minnesota in the game, but Brett Favre had difficulty finding open guys as neither Percy Harvin or Bernard Berrian could find open space while Adrian Peterson had rather average first game which was disheartening 14-9 loss. If you thought the vanishing act of the Vikings recievers or vaunted pass rusher Jared Allen was impressive that was nothing in comparison to the complete disappearance of the Golden Gophers defense in their game against Division I-AA opponent South Dakota University. Minnesota found itself down 28-10 at one point to their neighbor to the west and the Big 10 representative was thoroughly embarrassed by the Coyotes Dante Warren who was making just his 2nd start of his college football career as he shredded the the rodents for 358 yards through the air and another 81 on the ground as South Dakota rolled to an 41-31 victory. Heavily criticized Head Coach Tim Brewster has stated he acknowledges the fans' frustration when he told the Minneapolis Star Tribune, "There's such a deep-seated skepticism about our program, because there hasn't been a championship since 1967. That's a long time. So I have empathy with our fans who want to win a championship." If you didn't know they were talking about the Minnesota Golden Gophers football program you could be forgiven if someone thought he was referring to the Toronto Maple Leafs but I digress. So are you sick of the programs not living up to the hype? If you are tired of the empty cliches and disappointing football teams its time to embrace hockey. Why not embrace the Wild and even though they're not playing, its prospects are busy playing in the annual Traverse City NHL Center I.C.E. Tournament.
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The start of a new year or season usually brings excitement of one kind or another. By this time of the year, the country's school children are all back in school. For the kindergartner, the new school year often brings more anxiety than joyful excitement. If you've driven by your local elementary school on the first day of school, you can generally pick out the school's youngest, as they're most likely the ones crying or clinging to a parent's leg. As kids get older, the excitement evolves, whether it's from moving to a different building (elementary to middle to high school), having new teachers, or just the enjoyment of hanging out with friends on a more regular basis to starting the various sports seasons.
With the opening of the 2010-11 National Hockey League season just around the corner, one would think I would be excited. The Minnesota Wild are about to embark on their tenth year of play. A team that plays in a state such as Minnesota, with its longstanding hockey heritage, you can expect that the team will play up that history. What you can also expect is a healthy serving of cheese. And yes my friends, the cheese course has already begun.
On Friday, Wild head coach, Todd Richards named his choice for a third assistant coach. With all the possible choices out there, his choice seems a bit disappointing. Richards chose not only a former Minnesotan and (University of Minnesota) Golden Gopher like himself, but a member of the Wild's inaugural season. That choice was none other than Darby Hendrickson. For the nostalgic types who go on and on about how there should be more Minnesota-born players on the roster, they are simply going to eat up this particular serving of cheese. They won't hesitate to remind you that Darby holds the honor of scoring the first home goal in the Wild's history. They probably also thought Darby was a great presence during Wild and Gopher games on Fox Sports North. That position, along with his membership with the National Hockey League Players Association have both been resigned in light of his new position with the Wild.
Richards believes that the hiring will be "popular" with fans. I'm not sure which fans he's talking about. If you browse the posts on just about any Minnesota Wild message board, most fans believe this is nothing more than a cheap PR stunt. A "fun" way to ring in the tenth year of the Wild's existence. However, Richards claims he didn't make his decision for its popularity. His main reason for hiring Hendrickson, was that he figured his relative youth when compared to most professional coaches would help the team relate better with younger players. Perhaps that influence can keep players such as James Sheppard (who at one time lived in Hendrickson's basement) off of ATV's just weeks prior to the opening of training camp, causing injuries that will keep Sheppard out of action for 3-4 months.
One major question many fans are asking is how did Hendrickson get the position over Wes Walz, another member of that inaugural season. Yes, it too would have been a cheesy appointment. At the very least, one could say that Walz has professional coaching experience from his short tenure as an assistant with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Fans are asking this very question. To the fans, the organization is saying that where you're from is more important than what you've done.
I'm going to try and hope for the best. I'm going to hope this cheese course turns out to be a splendid serving of award winning 8-year cheddar. However, I'm afraid it will be nothing more than a stinky Limburger.
no comments"Ohh It's the final countdown, We're leaving together, The final countdown, We'll all miss her so It's the final countdown (the Final Countdown), Ohh, it's the final countdown" are the lyrics to the 80's hair band Europe's power ballad The Final Countdown as you can probably tell. I thought the song, as cliche as it may be was quite appropriate as we finally count down to the Top 10 fanbases of the NHL. By this point on the list I've likely annoyed the fanbases of at least 1/2 of the league's teams. So I'd like to pass on something that may have been ignored from my first article. Every team has a portion of die hard fans that more or less have a strong emotional, financial and intellectual investment in their teams. The size of that group of die hards does indeed vary by team, and some of these franchises do benefit from existing in areas where the game of hockey is a traditional part of life. Does that mean every non-traditional hockey market is doomed to be rated amongst the league's worst? Not necessarily. It may be a bit easier to draw fans for the game of hockey in parts of the continent where it gets cold enough for lakes and rivers to freeze over but that doesn't mean they can shun their team if it is mired in a constant cycle of failure. So the results of the list often surprise myself once the numbers are all tabulated.
I also understand how personal the feelings of a fan can be. To be questioned or criticized is not taken lightly especially when it is about something you love. Its why this series of articles can lead to a firestorm of comments, many of which are pretty harsh. However, without stepping on individual toes I would ask that fans of those teams who feel greatly disrespected take a step back and ask themselves if it fair when you place your team against the 29 others in the league? So with all that being said I will ask (knowing all too well that this as if you're asking people leaving a burning theatre to keep their voices down as they exit the building) that if you do comment, please keep it clean and tasteful. But I welcome comments, but I will delete anything that gets vulgar.
Each of the league's 30 teams will be assessed on three basic criteria: 1. Attendance average for the last 3 seasons. This will entail tabulating the season average against the maximum capacity of the arena they currently play in based on statistics provided by The Hockey News' 2010-11 Yearbook. At least 75%-80.9% will equal 6.0, while anything below 75% capacity would equal a 5. 81%-85.9% will equal 7.0, 86%-89.9% equals 8.0. 90%-99% equals 9.0 and anything over 99% will yield a score of 10. 2. A simple Google search taking note of amount of blogs and team-related message boards listed as well as message board activity. Each component will be graded on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being outstanding or perfect and 0 being very poor. A portion of this grade will take into account the team's average finish during that span of time. In the case of online presence teams are awarded .1 point for every individual blog or team-focused message board that is out there and can receive a maximum score of 100 which would equal a 10 on the 1 to 10 scale with partial points included. You may think this sounds like "Klingon Mathematics" but in my opinion it provides the best chance for true fairness even if its an 'attempt at scholarship'. No, I do not want to tabulate users on message boards because those numbers can be highly misleading. So for now I am going to stick to a website based count. For every assessment there will be an explanation for the grade. I would also like to toss out a small disclaimer. While the title of the article is the best and worst fans of the NHL it does not mean that all of the fans of any particular NHL team are bad. It just means the support for the team; one way or the other isn't as great as it may be between various teams. The team's will be listed with their total score tabulated next to it.
So let's get to the final countdown...
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It is the contrarian version of the Oscars, known as the Golden Rasberry Award Foundation (aka Razzies) which holds its own sort of awards show for the worst films and performances in a given year. This past year had somewhat of a unique occurence for this year's Oscar Award winning actress Sandra Bullock for her role in The Blind Side, but she was also nominated for a Razzie for her performance in All About Steve. Unlike other past winners of the Razzie, Bullock actually showed up to accept her award and in perhaps perfect Razzie-fashion she somehow ended up taking the wrong trophy home. Either way, it demonstrates that while there can be notable performances their also can be notorious performances as well and beauty (whether taken literally or in terms of appreciation) is in the eye of the beholder. So what does this have to do with the Wild? The slightly sarcastic picture above may reveal that connection. Well different perspectives are really what the blogosphere is all about. While the mainstream media loves to rip the amateur blogging world, it really is a voicing point for fans. I realize I am not saying anything that you don't already know, but why not expand this voice? Why not ask other fans (besides myself) what they think about the direction of the Minnesota Wild? How do they see this team? Are they hopeful, are they worried, or are they pessimistic?
I asked 6 fans for their opinion of the Wild, all of whom are unabashed fans of the Wild. Some of these fans can be found lurking on the wild.com or Hockey's Future message boards, while others are just hockey junkies in general. First there is TALON a long time wild.com message board regular who became disgruntled with the league's attempt to centralize the official team message boards but still spends plenty of time discussing the Wild on other forums. The next is Steve, another long-time wild.com and hockey's future message boarder who never stays away from a good debate. Our next fan of note is Aaron who is not a message boarder but loves hockey and follows the Wild and the New Jersey Devils. James is a long-time Wild fan who resides near Phoenix, Arizona so he is not inundated with pro-Wild propaganda as some the other fans in our panel have been exposed to (not that it has swayed their opinions or anything). Josh is also a wild.com message boarder who used to run his own figurative "kool-aid" drinking stand and has never missed an opportunity to add a little levity to overly serious debates amongst wild.com rubes (like myself). Lastly there is Angela, a long-time Wild fan who also enjoys a rousing discussion or a well placed humorous comment or graphic to both lighten the mood and / or hammer home her point. I asked these fans 7 questions about their assessment or thoughts on the team's management, coaching, current direction and what changes they'd make if they were in position to make such a decision. Nothing will be censored as these are 6 raw responses from fans who spend a good portion of their lives thinking, watching and enjoying all things hockey. Hopefully to anyone who reads their responses they can make their own connections, agreements and disagreements to these fans and I hope you feel inspired enough to share your opinions in the comment selection below. So let's begin!
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Not sure what the weather is like where you are, but here in the Upper Midwest today is another glorious day. It's in the low 70's, sunny and breezy. After last week's temps in the 90's with high humidity, it's most definitely welcome. Those kids who will be heading back to school, whether it be elementary, middle, high school or college, they should be hoping that the weather stays like this. With the thought of the return of school, the sport on most people's minds these days is football. My husband who is a high school football coach and teacher has been busy these past three weeks in hopes of getting the team ready for their first game tomorrow night. Needless to say, the kids have to be loving the comfortable weather they've had these past few days.
With all the thoughts of the up-coming school year, I have to admit that those thoughts have taken priority. Unfortunately, hockey hasn't been on my mind quite so much. I've mentioned this before, but with the way hockey is covered in the United States, once free agency dies down, there's little thought or new hockey news until training camp starts. While training camp starts next month, in the sports world that's still a long way off. News comes in bit and pieces, and unless you're religious about checking the hockey websites out there, you just might miss something of interest. If you're the kind of person who doesn't have time to check multiple sites, I suggest you register at an active hockey message board, because there's always someone there posting links to all the big news.
It was my reading the new messages at the Wild's official message board (which should be converting to a new platform sometime soon) that I caught today's bit of good news. On February 12, 2011 as part of the 2011 Hockey Day Minnesota festivities, the Houston Aeros (the Wild's American Hockey League affiliate) will be playing at Xcel Energy Center. While the Aeros have been part of the Hockey Day festivities, this will be the first time that the team will play in Minnesota for the celebration. It won't be the first time that they've played in Minnesota however. That last appearance was in March of 2005. That game against Grand Rapids featured familiar Wild faces of Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Mikko Koivu, Brent Burns, and Josh Harding. In this year's AHL match-up, the Aeros will be playing the Peoria Rivermen, which is the AHL affiliate of the St. Louis Blues, whom the Wild will be playing later that same evening. The Wild will be announcing at a later a time a special double-header ticket package for those who wish to attend both the games hosted at Xcel Energy Center.
The Hockey Day Minnesota 2011 lineup is as follows:
Outdoor Games at Moorhead, Minnesota:
Game #1 ~ Wayzata vs Roseau
Game #2 ~ Moorhead vs Hill-Murray
College Game at Mariucci Arena (University of Minnesota):
University of Minnesota vs University of Denver
American Hockey League Game (Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, Minnesota):
Houston Aeros (Minnesota) vs Peoria Rivermen (St. Louis)
National Hockey League Game (Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, Minnesota):
Minnesota Wild vs St. Louis Blues
Hockey Day Minnesota is always a fun time to celebrate hockey at all its levels. If you've ever attended the outdoor portion of the event or watched it on television you will notice all kids of all ages taking part. While the outdoor portion features high school teams, you will see smaller practice rinks around the official rink where little kids are skating, shooting pucks, and playing pick-up games of their own. It is that kind of "free range" hockey that Hockey Day Minnesota is really celebrating. It is that unorganized hockey that many kids aren't participating enough in, as mentioned in the independent documentary, Pond Hockey.
With news like this, it can help us start thinking about the upcoming 2010-11 season. Sure the weather outside doesn't make us think of hockey, but I suggest you take advantage of the weather we have right now. Trust me, when it's January and it's hockey season and we're snowed in or it's too cold to go outside, you're going to think back to days like today. Get out and enjoy it while it lasts, because like all good things they never last.
no comments"Well I don't know why I came here tonight, I got the feeling that something ain't right, I'm so scared in case I fall off my chair, And I'm wondering how I'll get down the stairs, Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right, here I am, Stuck in the middle with you." These are the lyrics to Stealers Wheel song Stuck in the Middle With You from 1972 where it eventually became a huge hit climbing up to #6 on the Billboard charts in 1973. It was a song that sort of re-emerged in the cult classic Quentin Tarantino film Pulp Fiction. So here we are, in the middle of the list, rankings 20 to 11 of the Best and Worst fanbases in the NHL.
There certainly is a reason why comedian and late-night talk show host David Letterman sticks to just doing a Top 10 list. It doesn't get long and drawn out, and even if some jokes bomb it is almost a near certainty that some will do at least ok or pretty well. I am not a big Letterman fan but I have little doubt a lot of people watch his show solely for the nightly Top 10 lists. So what does this have to do with this list? I understand that it probably is a bit long, afterall this is a 3-part article series but since we're talking about fans I think any fanbase is owed explanations for the grades that I have given. It may not make them accept the grade, but it at least gives them an idea why their team earned what they did. As I said earlier, comments are more than welcome (as long as its clean and relevant).
Just to reiterate for those that may not have seen the The Best and Worst Fans in the NHL: 21 to 30 article. Each of the league's 30 teams will be assessed on three basic criteria: 1. Attendance average for the last 3 seasons. This will entail tabulating the season average against the maximum capacity of the arena they currently play in based on statistics provided by The Hockey News' 2010-11 Yearbook. At least 75%-80.9% will equal 6.0, while anything below 75% capacity would equal a 5. 81%-85.9% will equal 7.0, 86%-89.9% equals 8.0. 90%-99% equals 9.0 and anything over 99% will yield a score of 10. 2. A simple Google search taking note of amount of blogs and team-related message boards listed as well as message board activity. Each component will be graded on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being outstanding or perfect and 0 being very poor. A portion of this grade will take into account the team's average finish during that span of time. In the case of online presence teams are awarded .1 point for every individual blog or team-focused message board that is out there and can receive a maximum score of 100 which would equal a 10 on the 1 to 10 scale with partial points included. No, I do not want to tabulate users on message boards because those numbers can be highly misleading. So for now I am going to stick to a website based count. For every assessment there will be an explanation for the grade. I would also like to toss out a small disclaimer. While the title of the article is the best and worst fans of the NHL it does not mean that all of the fans of any particular NHL team are bad. It just means the support for the team; one way or the other isn't as great as it may be between various teams. The team's will be listed with their total score tabulated next to it. So without further adieu, let's begin...
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