My Popular-Game Picks

Don't miss these popular out-of-town visits at the Xcel Energy Center:

Boston Bruins 2/19: defending Stanley Cup champions come to town
Anaheim Ducks 10/27, 2/14
Calgary Flames 11/27, 3/11, 3/22
Chicago Blackhawks 12/14, 4/5
Dallas Stars 1/21, 3/13
Detroit Red Wings 10/29
St. Louis Blues 11/5, 11/19
San Jose Sharks 1/10, 2/26
Winnipeg 2/16: first ever trip to the Xcel Energy Center!
Vancouver Canucks: 11/3, 2/9, 3/19: defending Western Conference champion

Rick Rypien Found Dead

Rick Rypien was found dead this morning in his home. He had been granted an indefinite leave of absence by the Vancouver Canucks for personal reasons.

Rypien received a six game suspension last season after grabbing a Wild fan as he was leaving the ice for the lock room.

Rypien is the second player from the NHL to die this offseason. Derek Boogard, a former Wild player, also died this offseason.

Game 7

The most exciting game in all of sports. Game 7 is going to be needed to decide these Stanley cup Finals. I'm personally rooting for the Vancouver Canucks. Why the Canucks you might ask? Let's let Canada win something they really care about. Boston, you have the Red Sox, Patriots, and Celtics, I won't at all feel bad for you if the Bruins don't win this game. What else is even in Vancouver, nothing? Let them win, they will be very happy and you can wait a couple of monthes for your precious Red Sox to win the World Series (they're stacked). Plus, the Canucks have way cooler jerseys and their best players are twin brothers, that is so cool.

Minnesota Wild Fall to Vancouver Canucks

The Minnesota Wild were defeated 5-0 by the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night, in Vancouver. Ryan Kesler scored a hattrick and Mason Raymond chipped in the other two goals. The loss leaves the Minnesota Wild with 82 points. They play at the Edmonton Oilers tonight, who currently have one of the worst records in the league. Both teams are eliminated from playoff contention, so this one is for pride.

Minnesota Wild Remaining Games

The Minnesota Wild have 3 games left for the 2010-2011 NHL Season. Although they are now mathematically eliminated from the postseason, the games are still exciting and entertaining. The Minnesota Wild will face the Vancouver Canucks, Edmonton Oilers, and Dallas Stars to wrap up the regular season. What a better way to see the Minnesota Wild square off against the Dallas Stars in the season finale.

Thu, Apr 7 @Vancouver 9:00 PM

Fri, Apr 8 @Edmonton 8:00 PM

Sun, Apr 10 vsDallas 7:00 PM

Purchase your Minnesota Wild tickets with Hockey Tickets Minnesota!

Phoenix Coyotes Hand 1-0 Loss to Minnesota Wild

In a reverse fortune of last week, the Minnesota Wild were on the short end of the stick this time with a 1-0 loss to the Phoenix Coyotes. Taylor Pyatt scored his 13th goal of the season in the 3rd period to secure the victory. Niklas Backstrom made 40 saves in the loss and Ilya Bryzgalov made 25 saves for the shutout. Phoenix was coming off what may have been its most disappointing loss of the season, a 6-0 home whacking against the Vancouver Canucks. With the loss, Minnesota dropped out of the top 8 in the Western Conference.

Minnesota Wild On 3 Game Winning Streak

The Minnesota Wild are on an impressive 3 game winning streak with a 4-0 victory over the Vancouver Canucks, 4-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers, and a 6-0 victory over the Calgary Flames. The victories at Edmonton and Calgary were at their respective arenas. Anton Khudobin earned a shutout against Vancouver and only gave up 1 goal against Edmonton. Niklas Backstrom returned from injury and showed his top form against the Calgary Flames with a 6-0 victory.

Minnesota Wild Lose 5-1 to Vancouver Canucks

The Minnesota Wild were defeated by the Vancouver Canucks 5-1 on Saturday night. The Vancouver Canucks scored the first 4 goals of the game and the Wild were not able to mount a comeback. Antii Miettinen was the lone goal scorer for the Minnesota Wild. The loss caps a wild week for the Wild and Canucks. Vancouver goon Rick Rypien was suspended 6 games after grabbing a Minnesota Wild fan when he was headed to the locker room. The Minnesota Wild will now play the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night at the Xcel Energy Center.

Minnesota Wild Defeat Edmonton Oilers 4-2

The Minnesota Wild defeated the Edmonton Oilers 4-2 on Thursday night thanks in large part to a 3 goal 1st period. Kyle Brodziak scored twice to open up the period and Guillaume Latendresse added another in the 1st. The Oilers made it interesting in the 3rd period when it was 3-2 until Brent Burns put home an empty-netter from the opposite end of the rink. It was a nice all around game by the Wild and they will now play at Vancouver tonight.

Minnesota Wild Down Vancover Canucks 6-2, Fan Gets Shoved

The Minnesota Wild trounced the Vancouver Canucks 6-2 on Tuesday night, however that isn't the headline after the game. The headline happens to be Canuck forward Rick Rypien who grabbed a Minnesota Wild fan after he was headed to the dressing room. In any sport, athletes are not allowed to touch fans. Rypien has already been indefinitely suspended and will have a hearing on Friday to determine how long. For the game itself - the Wild had 6 different goal scorers and built a 6-1 lead midway through the 2nd period. Zidlicky, Clutterbuck, Latendresse, Madden, Brunette, and Cullen scored for Minnesota. Talk about goals!

Minnesota Wild Fall to Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2

The Minnesota Wild lost to the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2 at home on Saturday night. RJ Umberger scored a shorthanded goal in the 3rd period and that proved to be the game-winner. Brent Burns and Cal Clutterbuck scored for the Minnesota Wild. The announced attendance of the Xcel Energy Center was 17,336. That is the Wild's first non-capacity crowd for a regular-season game in franchise history. Next up is the Vancouver Canucks at the Xcel Enery Center on Tuesday.

Minnesota vs. Vancouver

Anyone catch the game this past Sunday at the Xcel Energy Center? I was so happy to see the Wild finally beat the Canucks this season, especially after being owned the past three games we played them. Vancouver may have been a little to eagar to get to their Olympic break in the season. They ended up giving seven powerplays up to the Wild, which really kick started the Wild into gear. This game was also great for Niklas Backstrom, who left the Xcel Energy Center with his first win in over three weeks. A 6-2 win is exactly what the Wild needed to show Vancouver they've made great strides this season. This game also had some great fights. If you missed the one where Boogaard just slams a player into the boards, I have it right here for you. (Who would take on Boogaard anyways?!)

MN Wild hit the road for a tough series of games

The MN Wild are hitting the road for some tough match-ups that will put the new "up-tempo" hockey style the Wild are playing to the test.

This Friday the MN Wild cross the boarder to play the Edmonton Oilers, then they take on Vancouver Canucks on Saturday. Both of these teams have been playing well and the MN Wild are going to have to skate hard if they want to come home with wins.

The Wild roster and coaches will be back in the Twin Cities next week for a huge game against rivals the Colorado Avalanche. MN Wild Fans are eager to play against the Avalanche and are hoping to start the season off with a big win against conference rivals.

MN Wild Tickets are available online for all of these games but as the home game gets closer they are sure to go fast!

Its that time of year again...

The Wild have had a very interesting early summer and with this week's NHL draft it is only going to get more interesting. New Head Coach Todd Richards is saying he wants to change the way the Wild play hockey, going for a more "up-tempo" form of the game. With that in mind, it will be important for the Wild to draft players that fit the new style.


The Wild have the number 12 draft and then don't pick again until very late in the second round. However, rumors are flying that there are several "conversations" going on with other teams about pre-draft trades and deals.

Rumors are also flying about Marian Gaborik, who will have free agent status as of July 1. In an anonymous report from earlier this week, Gaborik apparently bought a house in Vancouver and allegations of the Canucks tampering with Gaborik are starting to spread. While all parties involved deny any knowledge of the tampering, house-shopping or Gaborik's plans it is safe to say that the next few weeks will be very telling.

Maybe it is time to say goodbye to Gaborik and hello to a new feel for the Minnesota Wild and a real shot at the postseason?

Minnesota Wild Rival

I saw this poll online – do you agree with the results?

Which team do you consider to be the Wild's biggest rival?
Vancouver: 60 %
Colorado: 14 %
Calgary: 11%
Dallas: 8 %
Anaheim: 7%

I was surprised that Vancouver received such a high percentage of the votes – I would have thought that Calgary would have received more votes and why isn’t Detroit on the list?

Anyway, there is a big game against Anaheim tomorrow night; perhaps Wild fans will consider the Ducks a bigger rival if they bounce us off the boards too much. The Wild Ducks games are always hard hitting. I am ready!

Happy Wild Fans

Finally a game Wild fans can be happy about. It’s no secret we don’t like to lose around here and you would have thought Monday’s defensive nightmare and loss to the Avs was the end of the world, but all is forgotten now that the Wild blanked the St Louis Blues last night at the X.

The Wild power play looked great and it’s no wonder the boys are ranked second in the NHL. We plowed right through the St Louis Blues last night. I hope to see more play like that come Friday night when the Wild face off against the Vancouver Canucks again at the Xcel. It will be a good game no doubt. I am sure that Vancouver will want to prove that they belong in first place in the Northwest Division, let’s hope the Wild want to prove it, too.

Minnesota Wild Schedule

The Minnesota Wild schedule is out and I see that ticket brokers like Ticket King are already trying to capitalize by putting their season tickets up for sale. It’s not a bad business plan – it’s like a pre-sale on Minnesota Wild tickets. I am already making plans to attend several games with buddies. Here is my list of the top games at the Xcel Energy Center. My must attend list by month (I tried to pick one game a month) in date order, not necessarily importance:

1. October 11th vs. Boston Bruins – Opening night
2. November 20th vs. Vancouver Canucks – Welcome to the Xcel Energy Center Mattias Ohlund – Beware.
3. December 1st vs. Colorado Avalanche – second meeting between the teams, but first time at home. A moral must win after the Avs knocked us out of the playoffs last year.
4. December 31st vs. San Jose Sharks – New Years at the X rocks my hockey world. A holiday game should get it’s own month.
5. January 3rd vs. Detroit Red Wings – a chance to bet the defending cup champs. They should be cold and tired after playing that outdoor Wrigley field game on New Years Day.
6. February 6th vs. Nashville Predators – hosting his past team on his new teams home ice is a must win for new owner Craig Leipold.
7. March 31st vs. Vancouver Canucks – OK, so I like to watch the Wild play the Canucks. There is so much tension and the competition is huge. It’s hockey at it’s best. Besides, I want to jeer Pavol Demitra – he never was that good at playing at the “X.”
8. April 3rd vs. Calgary Flames – could be playoff critical game.

Remember to check my other Minnesota Wild blog: Hockey Wilderness for Minnesota Wild updates. It’s a great platform for a Wild community. I welcome other Wild fans or critics to leave their opinions or point other Wild fans to cool pictures, links or stories on the web. Check it out!

Matt Cooke a Washington Capital?

It is hard to believe but the hockey player that I hate the most has been traded from the Western Conference Vancouver Canucks to the Eastern Conference Washington Capitals. For years, every time the Wild played the Canucks, I was on the edge of my seat waiting for Matt Cooke to get drilled by Todd Fedoruk or Derek Boogaard. Now, the #1 instigator in the NHL is in the Eastern Conference where the Minnesota Wild will seldom see him. I am sure that fans of the Boston Bruins, New York Rangers and Islanders will soon feel like I do about Matt Cooke. He Sucks!

Where is the Killer Instinct?

The Minnesota Wild had a chance to put a nail in the Vancouver Canucks' coffin tonight but instead they came out flat and lost to the Canucks in overtime. So, instead of being up eight points on Vancouver in the standings, they are only up five points which is in striking distance. I don't understand how the Minnesota Wild could not be fired up beyond belief for tonight's NHL game but they weren't. At this point in the season, I still don't have a good feel for whether the Minnesota Wild has what it takes to go on a long NHL Playoff run. I would like to buy Minnesota Wild Playoff tickets this year so I hope they have what it takes!

I also wish someone would drill Matt Cooke. There are very few NHL players that I despise as much as Matt Cooke. For some reason, the referees are blind to his "cheap shots" and his instigating ways. It would be really fun to watch someone (Fedoruk) kick his butt!

Jekyll & Hyde

Now when I tune into a Minnesota Wild game, I watch the first ten minutes with one eye open and one eye shut. Generally speaking, I am able to figure out which Minnesota Wild team has shown up in that span of time. Is it the lethargic team that just goes through the motions and loses or is it the energized hard skating team that pressures their opponent into a submissive victory?

Well, last night, the Minnesota Wild team that flies around the ice, fore checks with a reckless abandon and back checks like their lives depend on it while taking advantage of their opponent’s mistakes showed up. The Minnesota Wild completely outplayed the Vancouver Canucks on way to a 4-2 win on the Canucks ice.

I really hope that the same Wild team shows up tonight against the Calgary Flames because Jarome Iginla and the Flames have the Minnesota Wild’s number. The Wild have only won once in their last 12 visits to Calgary. I will definitely watch the first ten minutes of the game tonight with only one eye open. GO WILD!!!