Plenty of hype for Wild vs. Canucks game

The wind-up for the Minnesota Wild vs. Vancouver Canucks game at the Xcel Energy Center on Thanksgiving Eve is huge. The game was the headliner in both papers and is reminiscent of a heavy weight boxing match, not a classy state of hockey game suitable for the whole family.

After the slash that broke Wild player Mikko Koivu’s leg bone last week in Vancouver, the Wild are ready for revenge. Wild forward Derek Boogaard smiled Tuesday in anticipation of the game, "Be ready for anything," the 6-foot-7, 258-pound Boogaard said.

When tempers flare between hockey teams, eyes automatically shift to Boogaard, the Wild Enforcer, who proudly operates a hockey fight school during the summer and is not shy about being the heavy fist of the Minnesota Wild, but the Boogeyman has been less scary lately due to the watchful eyes of NHL officials.  This is not the old time NHL as coach Jacques Lemaire pointed out.

"It's not like the old days," he said. "Somebody would do this, and in the old days somebody would go and get him. Now, with what the NHL is doing, there's no revenge."

Well, maybe not the old black eye broken tooth revenge, but a win on the home pond would be sweet revenge for this Wild hockey fan.