Hockey Wilderness: FanPosts

U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame

Hockey7 — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:48:59 -0000

Please tell me you've been to the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame. Any Minnesotan or Wild fan should make a point to visit this hockey hot spot to gain a better appreciation for our much loved sport. Best of all, the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame is located in Eveleth, Minnesota, just 2 miles from my hometown!

Eveleth is a little town, about 3,500, and the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame selected this little city for its headquarters due to Eveleth's early prominence in the sport. It's only a 3 hour drive from Minneapolis/St. Paul and 55 minutes from Duluth.

Also, Eveleth has a massive hockey stick on display. It weighs in at a whopping 3 tons and 107 feet. What more could you ask for?

While you're in Eveleth, I'd recommend checking out local attractions like Mineview in the Sky (massive mining trucks and iron ore displays), cliff diving into a real mine pit in nearby Gilbert, checking out the big curling club right in Eveleth, and eating at The Whistling Bird, a Jamaican restaurant known for coconut encrusted shrimp and other mouth watering specialties.

With gas prices so high, a quick day or two day trip up north is the perfect solution to budget and time concerns. Enjoy!

Colton Gillies

Hockey7 — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:34:14 -0000

If I was a betting girl, I'd put my money on Colton Gillies making the Minnesota Wild. Recent reports coming out of the Canadian World Junior Development Camp show that Gillies is "bigger and faster than last season" and that Gillies is really trying to make a good impression.

Colton Gillies measures 6'4" and weighs just 195. In the NFL, I could see the coaches encouraging him to add some more muscle to his frame to be a strong contender. At only 19 years old, he has plenty of time to work on developing that strength.

Fast fact: Colton Gillies' uncle, Clark Gillies, made his way into the Hockey Hall of Fame for his offensive line prowess. Apparently hockey is in the Gillies family blood!

2008-2009 Season

Hockey7 — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:53:32 -0000

Some people love this August weather, but I can't wait til the snow flies and temperatures plummet. Only then will our Minnesota Wild be back in action. Until then, I'll count the days and think about my favorite upcoming match-ups.

November 6 is my birthday, and what better way to spend it than watching the Minnesota Wild take on archrivals, the Colorado Avalanche? True, I won't be flying to Denver to catch the game from Pepsi Center, but I'll definitely make it over to my favorite sports bar to catch the game from some big screens. If I could somehow get over to Colorado (in my dreams), I would definitely choose these tickets. I really love sitting by the face off circle to get in on the action from the start.

The game I WILL be going to is against the Vancouver Canucks on November 20th at the Xcel. Word has it that lots of tickets are still available, and surprisingly reasonably priced. At ticketking.net, I found plenty of decent seats for just $55. That means I can treat my friends to drinks afterwards. Gotta love post hockey appetizers right in downtown St. Paul!

So, while my friends lounge by the pool and mourn the inevitable end of summer, I'm secretly laying out my favorite Minnesota Wild jerseys and impatiently counting down the days until November. Can't wait!

Lester Patrick Trophy

Hockey7 — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:34:34 -0000

Yes, it's a slow time of year for hockey. So let's fixate on the good news...or any news! I don't know if you tracked the Lester Patrick Trophy winners for 2008, but they were recently announced in early August.

Quick background info: the Lester Patrick Trophy honors NHL or non-NHL players, coaches, or anyone involved in improving hockey programs around the country. The trophy is named in honor of Lester Patrick, longtime player and coach in the NHL who passed away in 1960. Six years later, the Lester Patrick Trophy annual recognition was established.

Over the years, the Lester Patrick Trophy has been awarded to 108 individuals and 3 teams, including the 1998 women's Olympic hockey team.

Well, this time around, none other than Minnesota native and Wild former majority owner and current chairman Bob Naegele received one of 4 trophy honors. Bob Naegele's love for hockey dates back to his high school years on the Minnetonka hockey team. His pursuit of bringing Minnesota pro hockey paid off when the Wild came to the state in the late 90s.

Congrats, Bob Naegele, and good work on behalf of all Minnesota hockey enthusiasts!

I Don't get it.

W1ldfan — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 22:00:52 -0000

I Share season tickets. There are four of us, we draft games ala a fantasy sports league. the last three games taken are always the preseason games. This year's fodder is the The Blow Jobs, I mean the Blue Jackets, the Hawks and the Sabres, all of witch come during the regular season as well. I am sorry but going to these games seems like a chore. We do not get every team here in the regular season and I don't think I am alone as Wild fan, that I am also a fan of the NHL in general. Why woudn't the teams try to add some value and interest to these games by bringing in teams that do not come here during the regular season. I have more than enough chances to see Columbus and Chicago this year to get excited about the games in the preseason. Now, if my only chance to see New Jersey, The Flyers, The Rangers, Ottawa, or even the revamped Lightning live was during the preseason, I would be able to say, "Hey it's the only time they are in town this year.". It wouldn't be nearly the chore it is and maybe I might take some interest in the preseason game, instead of just giving the tickets to my brother in law, which is what I probably do if I do not get the first pick in the draft, on the other hand if I do get the first pick, I will still end up having to shell out cash to the other drafters to make up for the value of my extra reguar season ticket. predetermined values for each game before the lottery.

Wild Resign Bouchard and avoid Arbitration

Tony_O — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 14:24:06 -0000

From Michael Russo over at the star tribune.

The Spin-O-Rama will continue to be displayed at Xcel Energy Center for many years to come.

Pierre-Marc Bouchard, the supremely talented Wild winger who used and abused Nikolai Khabibulin and Evgeni Nabokov the past two seasons with a pair of sweet shootout moves, avoided a Monday arbitration hearing by signing a five-year, $20.4 million deal just before midnight Friday night.

Bouchard, who ranks second for the Wild in career assists and points, was intrigued by the Wild's late Friday afternoon offer because it included verbal assurance from General Manager Doug Risebrough that he would not be traded for at least two years, assistant GM Tom Lynn said.

While the Wild wouldn't put such a guarantee in writing, Lynn told the Star Tribune earlier Friday before Bouchard signed, "If Butch signs a multiyear deal, Doug is willing to commit to him personally that the Wild would not trade him for at least two years."

The Wild usually scoffs at no-trade clauses, but Bouchard, 24, who has 160 assists and 221 points in 354 games with the Wild, was adamant he receive some sort of no-trade, no-movement (waivers) promise.

Even with this multiyear deal, Bouchard probably surrendered some money that he could have received on the open market next summer as an unrestricted free agent.

Since Bouchard, who wanted to remain in Minnesota badly, was willing to do that, he wanted assurance that the Wild wouldn't simply turn around and trade him, especially since the team has dangled him out there in at least the Olli Jokinen trade talks with Florida.

The two-year verbal promise isn't new. Lynn said that Risebrough made a similar verbal assurance to Nick Schultz before he signed a six-year extension in February.

Goalie Niklas Backstrom is the only Wild player who has a written no-trade clause, although it's limited. His no-trade clause is currently lifted, but Backstrom can't be traded from the start of training camp until six weeks before next season's trade deadline.

Bouchard, who could not be reached for comment, will receive $3.35 million next season, $4.25 million the following three seasons and $4.3 million in 2012-13.

The Wild came up significantly Friday from its initial offer. It's believed the Wild was offering Bouchard a four-year deal similar to the most recent contract signed by defenseman Brent Burns ($3.55 million average) last November.

But Burns was just blossoming and is three years away from what would have been his first crack at unrestricted free agency. In other words, the Wild was only buying one year of his unrestricted status.

Bouchard, who had a career-high 50 assists and 60 points last season, and 20 goals two seasons ago, could have become an unrestricted free agent next summer. The way free agents are being paid in today's market, Bouchard would have had the chance to make more than $3.35 million a year.

Next up for the Wild is making a contract extension offer to Marian Gaborik. Gaborik, 26, who scored a career-high 42 goals and 83 points last season, can become an unrestricted free agent next summer.

It's believed the Wild will offer Gaborik a long-term contract in the $8.5 million range.

Anyone Else go on any roadtrips?

W1ldfan — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 21:35:25 -0000

With a lull in the action right now, just kind of waitng for the schedule to come out, I thought I might share an experience and ask Wild fans for a little help in a new experience

As well as being a partial season ticket holder, a small group of friends and I have started to attend one Wild road game a year. This season will be year three. So far we have done Chicago and St. Louis First we went to Chi. Obviously a great city to visit, but throw in a Wild win along with it happening to be the weekend tha Bears were hosting the Saints in the NFC Championship game, it was Awesome. Lots rowdy Cajuns mixed in with a bunch Alcoholic Minnesotans, great time. Last year we went to St. Louis, I know, you think...."St. Louis...Blah, but it actually is pretty cool little town as long as you stay west of the river. We stayed at the Adam''s Mark Hotel. I would recommend it if you go, it's right accross the street from the Arch and everything else,other than the Bud Brewery, including Scottrade Center, is within an easy walking distance.

Scottrade is a cool Arena, when you walk around the concourse they have life sized pictures of all the "Blues Hall of Fame" players, they call them Blues Heroes including the likes of Al Arbour, Bernie Federko, Brian Sutter and Jacques Plante among many others. The Fans at the game are great, Just like in Chicago they all wanted to talk about the old days and memories of the old North Star players.

I was wondering if anyone else has gone to any road games and if they have any recommendations. The idea from the start was to hit all the old Norris Div. teams first and next up is Detroit, but I think I might change that plan and visit the Winnepeg Jets Franchise down in sunny Phoenix this year instead, kind of tired the cold weather teams for now. Detroit might be a little easier this year to get tickets becouse the Mich. economy is struggling, but then again what the F---- is there to do in Detoilet other than the game, maybe get shot at Chellie's Chili Bar, but who knows I wasn't all the geefed about St. Louie either. any recommendations and experiences would be great to hear. Thanks

so we traded for a dude today

DedicatedFollowerOfFashion — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 02:32:45 -0000

can someone fill me in on this Marek Zidlicky guy we got from Nashville. I gotta say, I did not watch too many Predators games last year

We traded Ryan Jones. Apparently we was a minor leaguer, was he any good? He must of been if another team wanted him.

Sorry for my ignorance, I'm relatively new when it comes to following hockey hardcore. I like to watch the game, I really did not follow it closely until last year

Dougie Fresh, is getting stale

mnwild1 — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:53:40 -0000

Well, the past several days/weeks/months have been fueling my frustration with the management of this team. We just let whom I believe was our best player go because we didn't want to pay him $5M/year! If anyone thinks Brunette replaces Rolston, they need to enter rehab! I have been a season ticket holder since day 1 and I am getting REALLY frustrated with Risbrough's performance. This team has shown no motivation to win other than the Johnson, Parrish, Demitra move. Gee, Doug had no issue paying Johnson this kind of money after a poor season in the hopes that he would regain his offensive product and yet we are willing to let a proven leader and performer go bye bye for the same level of money. How do you not pay Rolston when you know there is no one on the market that can replace his all around ability and contribution. It is getting really hard writing the check for next years tickets with the hope that this team will truly care about putting the talent that is required to win on the ice!

The only way I am happy now is if we sign Hossa and he isn't coming here because his slovak buddies told him Jaques style will kill his numbers. Get ready for Marian to be gone in two!

You are riding on the belief that all the hockey fans in MN won't stop buying tickets but I beleive the Stars proved they will if you don't give hope of an ability to do something in the post season.

Bergeron Signing Thoughts

mbennett — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:15:01 -0000

Well, I just found my way over here from TwinkieTown where I have been a reader and writer for years. I am as big of a puck fan as I am hardball, so lets get this going.

I am pleased to see that the Wild picked up Bergeron for one reason, he supplies a heavy shot. Besides that, his salary is low, and it won't impact the cap very much. The undersized, horrible Plus/Minus rating does scare me. The wild had a puck moving small d-man for the PP last year in Nummelin, but he barely saw the ice to be a PP specialist.

Pros and Cons are nothing without seeing how he gels with the squad. But the idea of having a Hard shooting lefty on the blue line, potentially paired with Burns or Schultz, is desirable. Afterall, if he is paired with one of them, his Plus/Minus should get better...however, if he is paired with Marty "Old Skool-aah" we could be scared.

Thanks for having me Hockey Wilderness, don't be suprised if you see some more posts from me.

Welcome to the new Hockey Wilderness and SB Nation

clockwerks — Tue, 20 May 2008 05:51:15 -0000

Hey Hockey Wilderness,

Today is the big day. We've switched your community over to the new SB Nation sports blog platform. My name is Trei, and I'm here to help you get adjusted to the new home we've built for you. If you have questions or trouble with the new system, post a comment in this thread and myself or one of the team (lovitt, sixfoot6 or odacrem) will try to point you in the right direction.

Before we begin, I want to let you know we still consider this a beta platform, so don't be surprised if you find a few bugs or if everything isn't exactly right yet. We hope you'll take the time to report any problems you encounter at bugreport@sbnation.com. We'll be continuing to make changes and improving things.

Please take a few minutes to read about what's new below. But if you just can't wait to jump in, here are some quick things to check out:

Sign up for your SB Nation network account and claim your old blog accounts
Once you're logged in, press your Z key in any thread with new comments
Explore your dashboard and setup your profile
Read the guide to the new FanPost editor
Install the FanShot bookmarklet and post videos to Hockey Wilderness from YouTube or images from Flickr
Click the "Rec" button on posts and comments to help other people find the good stuff.
Customize display options on your Edit Settings page

What Has Changed

SB Nation Network Accounts - the Big Change

Readers across all of our blogs told us they wanted one account to use on every SB Nation blog. To make this work, we're requiring that everyone create a new SB Nation network account. In most cases you should be able to keep your old username, but a few of you may have to choose something new, since every other community in SB Nation will be going through this same transition. We tried to be as fair as possible in deciding who gets to keep which name, using a formula that takes into account length of membership and frequency of activity.

We want to make it as easy as possible for you to participate on all of our blogs, but we don't want to encourage everyone to start visiting rival team blogs and initiating flame wars. To maintain friendly communities we ask that you explicitly join each blog in order to participate. It's a two-click process, but it does means accepting each blog's community guidelines. Just as you join each blog individually, you can be banned on each blog individually.

You can claim old accounts from multiple SB Nation blogs, and your new username will be retroactively attached to all your old comments and diaries. So now you'll be able to access all your writings from your single profile page... like magic.

To get started, click here to claim your old blog accounts and create a new SB Nation network account.

FanPosts (the Section Formerly Known as Diaries)

We changed their name. Why? Because we took this major upgrade as an opportunity to leave behind some vocabulary that never made much sense for a sports blog. SB Nation is the network of, by and for fans, and these are the blog posts we make. So we call them FanPosts. When you're at a bar telling someone to check out your online sports opinions, you don't have to suggest they read your diary.

FanPosts are displayed differently on the homepage - we include your avatar to give more credit for the time you spend writing great posts. The new post editor has a WYSIWYG view that provides easy formatting. It also auto-saves drafts so you don't have to worry about losing your work when you compose a post within the web browser. And you can now associate teams, players and games with your posts: these tools promote your FanPosts on our new team, player and game pages - across the entire network.

The new system does not work like the old diary editor. For example, in HTML mode the new editor doesn't auto-create a new paragraph from two line breaks. But it does offer a whole array of new features. Look for the blinking help button on the right side of the FanPost editor for quick tips, and take a look at our full guide to writing FanPosts on the new platform.

IMPORTANT - if you write your posts in Microsoft Word or some other off-line editor, you will get the most reliable behavior if you cut & paste your post into the HTML view of the FanPost editor. And if you do that, remember to wrap tags around each paragraph so your text doesn't run together.

Visual Redesign

This one is probably the most obvious change of all. Like other major websites working to improve readability for their audience, we've adopted a fixed-width layout optimized for the 1024 x 768 resolution used by the majority of Hockey Wilderness and SB Nation network users. Use the switcher below the user menu if you prefer the wider layout designed for 1280 monitors. We've introduced a top navigation bar with quick links into old and new sections of the site. We also polished a few edges, made some things larger, others smaller and moved a few boxes here and there. More changes and adjustments to come.

Search

We've completely replaced the old search engine with a new one. We're excited to make it easier to find old posts and comments, but we've only taken our first pass on the tools we're offering. We're focused on making search even better than what you had before, so please know that we're aware search is missing key features and we're working on it.

What's New

Schedule, Scores, Stats and Roster

Hockey Wilderness now has all the basic information about the Minnesota Wild and hundreds of other teams. During games you'll see a regularly updated line score, and as the season progresses we'll track team stat totals and leaders. This is just our first step, so look for us to publish more detailed and archival stats in the future. The best part about all this sports data is that we've integrated it directly into the blog so. We now have special pages that aggregate all blog posts written about games, players and teams.

Recommending FanPosts

Some writing deserves more attention and more conversation. If you want to bump a FanPost up to the top and keep it there for awhile, just click the 'Rec' link under the body of the post. When a FanPost receives enough recommendations it will make the recommended list.

Auto-refreshing Comments

You no longer need to refresh the page to see new comments. If you're logged in, new comments will automatically appear on the page every few seconds. When you post a comment, the page will not refresh either. If you want to quickly cycle through all the new comments, you can press the C key on your keyboard. Unmark a new comment after you've read it with the X key. And use the Z key if you want to umark comments as you're cycling through them.

As you use these shortcuts to cycle through comments, press the R key to reply to the current comment. All these helpful keyboard shortcuts are listed at the top of each comments section for reference.

Recommending Comments

Now you can reward those folks who take the time to look up stats and make smart arguments in the comments. Next to each comment there is an 'actions' link that you can click to find the recommend and flag options.

Flagging Comments

To help the moderators on a site, we've built-in tools that let you flag comments that are spam, trolling or just plain inappropriate. Only moderators can see those flags.

FanShots

Many members of the community just want to post that one link, video, photo or quote, but don't need a full FanPost. We've got you covered: FanShots let you share YouTube videos, Flickr or PhotoBucket photos, quotes from articles, portions of chat transcripts, top 5 lists and simple links. If it's a video or image we'll put a thumbnail on the homepage when you post it.

For those of you who are experienced internet hunter-gatherers of Minnesota Wild material, install the bookmarklet onto the links bar of your browser and share FanShots with the community from wherever on the web you find that killer quote or photo.

Avatars

Upload an image so folks can see your custom avatar on your profile, your FanPosts, and all your comments.

Network Profiles

Now that we have unified SB Nation network accounts, your profile will be your central hub for all of your activity on any blogs where you are a member.

Network bar

The top bar stays with you on all SB Nation blogs. It's a quick way to login and logout. When you're logged in, you'll see your avatar and screen name which links to your profile. The icon to the right leads to your Dashboard area where you can edit your settings, profile, account details and any FanPosts or FanShots you've published. As we add more blogs to the new SB Nation network, the My Blogs menu will be a handy way to navigate between the blogs you've joined.

-------

There are plenty more small changes and additions we've made, so please take a careful look around and explore this new system. We appreciate your patience and hope you'll help us improve the new platform for this and all the other SB Nation blogs.

And in case you missed it, you'll want to start by claiming your old blog accounts and creating a new SB Nation network account.

Minnesota Wild Nicknames

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 22:21:31 -0000

Ever wanted to know all of the players' nicknames? Well, I searched and found them all!

Josh Harding: Hards

Niklas Backstrom: Backs

Mikko Koivu: Mik/Franchise

Marian Gaborik: Gabs/Gabby

Mark Parrish: Parry/Grumpy

James Sheppard: Shep

Martin Skoula: Skou

Derek Boogaard: The Boogeyman/Boogs/Boogey

Matt Foy: Foyzie

Kurtis Foster: Fozzie

Brent Burns: Burnsie/Ace/Snake

Keith Carney: Carnes

Kim Johnsson: Johnny (YAH-nee)

Chris Simon: Si/Chief

Brian Rolston: Rolie

Todd Fedoruk: Fridge

Stephan Veilleux: Steph/Carrot

Eric Belenger: Belly

Peteri Nummelin: Nummy

Aaron Voros: A.V.

Pierre-Marc Bouchard: Butch

Pavol Demitra: Demo/Pav

Branko Radivoidajic: Radio

If I forgot anyone, tell me!

Brent Burns

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 19:57:49 -0000

Wow, Brent Burns has been on fire lately with his two game winners last weekend. Kind of surprising, given Lemaire's coaching style. If he can be consistent with it, it could really help to push some of the other guys to work that hard. He's so quick! With the game against the Vancouver Canucks tonight, I'm hoping that we get to see a little more of this great energy tonight!

Gaborik is the "First Star"

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 03:37:18 -0000

Despite criticism and shortened playing time from coach Jacques Lemaire, Marian Gaborik has been showered with yet more accolades from the NHL. Gaborik was named the "First Star" out of three NHL stars of the week a few weeks back. Gaborik posted eight points and a +9 rating in the Wild’s three wins in four games week.

Part of the reason the NHL took notice of Gaborik’s play could be because the Wild played the Detroit Red Wings on January 10 and somehow managed to beat them in Detroit. Rarely do the Detroit Red Wings lose, much less lose at home, and Gaborik was a big part of it, scoring the winning goal in the shootout. Getting Minnesota Wild tickets only gets more difficult as the Wild’s play improves and Marian Gaborik becomes more nationally recognized as an NHL superstar. Luckily, you can still get Wild tickets here.

Derek Boogaard back on the Ice

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 17:52:21 -0000

It was sure nice to have the Boogy Man back on the ice. I went to the Wild vs. Ducks game on Friday partially because I hoped that Boogard would dish out some heavy retribution on May for his sucker punch during last year’s playoff series between the two teams. Unfortunately, that never transpired but it was still nice to see him patrolling the ice on the look out for anyone taking liberties with Gaborik and the rest of the skill players of the Wild. The interesting thing was that he actually got some decent ice time and had a few scoring opportunities. I wish that Lemaire would put him on the power play to post up in front of the net. Who knows, he might actually score some goals.

Who's playing with Gaborik/Demitra?

Sun, 14 Oct 2007 01:13:31 -0000

The big question early on in this season has been who will end up playing betwixt Marian Gaborik and Pavol Demitra. Early on Jacques Lemaire has switched it up quite a bit, especially with Walz sitting out a game with an injury.

So I looked at the NHL Head-to-Head Ice Time tool to get an idea of who has been playing with this line. The results below are the percentage of his ice time that Marian Gaborik has shared with the other Wild forwards through the first three games:

Demitra -- 81.4%
Walz -- 37.2%
Parrish -- 36.2%
Koivu -- 13.6%
Moore -- 7.9%
Veilleux -- 7.6%
Sheppard -- 4.5%
Belanger -- 3.7%
Rolston -- 3.3%
Radivojevic -- 3.3%
Boogaard -- 1.4%
Bouchard -- 0.8%

Walz is clearly the frontrunner considering that he missed one game and still is in the lead, but Parrish, Koivu, and Sheppard have also seen some significant time. I'll try to update this for a while until Lemaire settles on somebody (if he ever does).

new hockey blog

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 02:10:54 -0000

hey everyone,

i've just stopped by to give everyone a peak at a new hockey blog i'm a part of over at www.hockeynerds.com.

hockeynerds aims to just give an outlook on all the teams in the national hockey from a bunch of average joes who don't have a whole lot better to do than talk hockey.

the site is still void of a minnesota wild blogger so if that's something you'd be interested in, why not apply to become a nerd with the link at the top of the page.

if blogging isn't your thing, at least join the forums and support your wild, because so far they're pretty alone on that board.

if you check it out, thanks a lot for the support. and if not... well then, have a good day :P

http://www.hockeynerds.com

MN Wild Diaries

MN Wild Freak — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 18:47:19 -0000

Thank you for visiting www.inthestateofhockey.com - The Diaries section is a special section for all Minnesota Wild fans to write your own blog entries! Don't wait for MN Wild Freak to bring up a topic you care about, bring it up yourself! If the Diary entry is really good, I will post it on the front page of www.inthestateofhockey.com - giving you all the creative credit, of course! The Wild diaries section is a chance for you to sound off about whatever you care about so get writing!