Wild Road Trip

The Wild are halfway through their four game divisional road trip and it doesn’t look good. The Wild lost to both the Colorado Avalanche and the Calgary Flames and still have to face the Oilers and the Canucks this week. The Wild are missing key players with Marian Gaborik and Pavol Demitra out with groin injuries and Wes Walz out on a personal leave to ponder retirement. Those three guys are key penalty killers for the Wild and with all three of them MIA, it’s a tough for the Wild to win on the road. The Oilers are pretty weak right now, let’s hope the Wild can come out of this road trip at .500. Let's go Wild!

next home game:
Wild vs Avalanche Sunday November 18th

Wild Should Sign Brian Rolston

I am a firm believer that the Minnesota Wild should sign Brian Rolston to a long term contract now instead of possibly losing him during the off season. He is the glue that holds the Minnesota Wild together and gives the Wild much needed veteran leadership on and off the ice. The word on the street is that the Minnesota Wild won't be able to afford both Pavol Demitra and Brian Rolston. In my mind, it is a no brainer to let Demitra go while signing Rolston to a long term contract so he ends his career as a member of the Minnesota Wild. After watching him blast a slap shot past Calgary Flames goalie Kiprusoff in the first period last night I came to the conclusion that he is the Wild's most dangerous scorer. I just hope that the Minnesota Wild front office opens up their wallets and pays Brian Rolston what he deserves.

Marian Gaborik is Soft

Watching the Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins dominate the Minnesota Wild tonight made me long for a superstar that wasn't soft. I am so sick of Marian Gaborik and/or Pavol Demitra being sidelined with some lame injury. I wrote about this last year and unfortunately, the same crap is true this year. I don't know whether there is something in the water in Slovakia but Demitra and Gaborik are soft and I am sick of it. Both of them make way too much money to miss as many games as they do every year due to a "groin" injury. I wish that they would put on their "big girl" underpants and get back on the ice so we can see what this team can accomplish this year.

Remember, Last season, the Wild was 19-2-2 when Gaborik scored and 33-9-6 when he played.

Minnesota Wild dominate in NHL

It’s no secret that the Minnesota Wild are playing tremendous hockey right now. In fact the Wild are the only team in the NHL to remain undefeated in regulation play. The Wild should be leading the NHL standings with 15 points, but the Ottawa Senators are listed on top with 16 because they have one more game under their belt.

The Wild are on the road tonight against the Calgary Flames. Here is a Wild Flames Preview if you want. Be sure to check out my www.inthestateofhockey.com site for great Wild Articles – including:

Minnesota Wild Injury Report

Derek Boogaard Love Hate Article

Minnesota Wild Hockey Moms Report

Taking Notice of Minnesota Wild

It is nice to see that the rest of the country is starting to notice the Minnesota Wild and what a solid NHL team that they are. Last year, it felt like my favorite hockey team was ignored by the sports writers and everyone that doesn't live in Minnesota. Well this year, it feels like every time that I log onto ESPN or Sports Illustrated there is mention of the Minnesota Wild and their hot start. I probably shouldn't give the writers too much credit because it is hard to ignore Marion Gaborik and the rest of the NHL's only unbeaten team. I just hope that they don't get too popular because it will make it even harder to find Wild Tickets. GO WILD!!!

Wild Season Starts Off Strong

The Minnesota Wild are on a roll that’s for sure. Starting the season 2-0, the Wild are pumped to have one more home game before heading out west on a 4 game road trip that includes a stop in Anaheim to play the Mighty Ducks. The Wild play division rival Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night on their hometown ice at the Xcel Energy Center St Paul.

I was checking a local ticket broker site (since that is usually the only way to get tickets this close to the game) and I see that a Minnesota Wild Tickets site has uppers left for $34 per ticket and lower level center ice for $89 per ticket. Those are some pretty decent prices considering the Wild are hot right now. I know you can pick the tickets up at their little office on West 7th just a block from the Xcel. I did it for the opener and it was super easy.

I know some Minnesotans don’t think highly of ticket brokers, like Ticket King, but seriously if you love sports you have to appreciate that these guys are willing to wait in line for the tickets and to hook up with other sports fans to build an inventory of seats that are available to people that want to go at the last minute. Yeah, sometimes you pay a little more, but they are running a business of convenience and if it wasn’t for them this sports fan wouldn’t be able to go to very many games. Let’s go Wild!

Eric Belanger Provides Spark

After two periods of the Wild's home opener, it appears as though Eric Belanger is the biggest off season addition to the Minnesota Wild roster. He assisted on Pierre Marc-Bouchard's goal and has added energy to a Minnesota Wild team that otherwise lacks energy. I really look forward to watching the line of Bouchard, Belanger and Rolston. In my opinion, they could prove to be the top Minnesota Wild line this year. GO WILD!!!

Sloppy Minnesota Wild

I hope that the first two periods of the Minnesota Wild's home opener is no indication of their potential for NHL dominance. The normally crisp passing Minnesota Wild have spent the first two periods versus the Chicago Blackhawks committing turnovers in their zone as well as failing to take advantage of their odd man rushes. The only good news so far is that the Minnesota Wild leads the game 1-0 with only one period remaining. I hope that the Wild wakes up and realizes that they are a far superior team and put the Chicago Blackhawks away!

Wild on a Preseason Roll

The Minnesota Wild have been on a roll since losing their first preseason game. The Wild have won the past 4 games straight including defeating the St Louis Blues last night 7 to zip at the X. The Wild have two more preseason games before the Wild Season opener on October 4th. Want to read more details about the Wild players and the Wild games? Visit my new SB Nation In the State of Hockey blog site. It’s an honor to be part of such a big blogging network and I want to show all of the other SB Nation Bloggers that Minnesota is the state of hockey and that our hockey fans are better than any other!

Wild lose Preseason to Detroit 1-6

Minnesota Wild lost their preseason home opener last night to the Detroit Red Wings. There were a handful of Wild starters on the ice including Marian Gaborik, Pavol Demitra, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Wes Walz and Derek Boogaard. You would think with all of that talent the game would have been a little closer. Boogaard got a five-minute major and game misconduct for elbowing. Word on the street is that referees have a target painted on his back. MN Wild Freak hopes that isn’t true because we need the Boogie man to scare our opponents. If the refs are constantly on him and he’s in the box 90% pf the the time, he won’t be very intimidating.

The Wild will have a chance to redeem themselves against the Red Wings on Thursday in Detroit.

Wild fans (and critics) need to remember that Preseason is just a warm-up. The real hockey starts on opening night at the Xcel Energy Center on October 4th. Buy Wild Tickets now!

Minnesota Wild Tickets

My buddy, who is one of the lucky ones to own Minnesota Wild Tickets, called me today to let me know that there was a Minnesota Wild Season Ticket Holder pre-sale for Wild Tickets today. Unfortunately, I couldn't snap any Wild Tickets up because you had to have a special season ticket holder password in order to purchase any Wild NHL Tickets. I swear the guy was just rubbing it in that he has seats and I am going to have to camp out this weekend for the regular Wild Ticket onsale in order to snap any tickets up for my beloved Minnesota Wild. Oh well, it gives me an excuse to go talk Minnesota Wild Hockey with the rest of the Minnesota Wild "Freaks" that are out there. I will see you at the X!!!

New Wild Blog

The world of NHL Bloggers seems so much smaller than their MLB counterparts. There are a million baseball blogs and baseball web pages dedicated to stats and fantasy baseball, but hockey is just starting to hit the internet craze phase. SB Nation, one of the largest sports blogging communities is just starting to get hockey bloggers up and going. I am going to start writing in a new Minnesota Wild blog called http://www.inthestateofhockey.com/ – check it out and be sure to leave a message! Don't worry MN Wild Freak fans, I will keep writing in my blogger page as well. Go Wild!