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Just another day for your Minnesota Wild, right? Wake up, get to the rink, practice, go home and get a good nights rest. We've got the Chicago Blackhawks coming to town tomorrow and we're going to need to be at our best!
Normally, practices are just that, practice. Nothing special, no drama, maybe you gain a little insight as to what lines might look like for the next game. All-in-all though, they can be pretty mundane. I mean, it's practice. You're talking about practice.
Today's practice brought with it some fireworks, courtesy of Coach Mike Yeo. Apparently, he became quite enraged when the team appeared to not be ready for... practice. It turned into Yeo skating his team hard without pucks, slamming his stick against the boards, cursing at his team like a drunk sailor and ultimately exploding from existence (at practice at least).
Now I understand sometimes having an off day here and there. This is typically quarantined to a single player or two on the roster and does not effect the whole team. I wasn't at the practice, so I couldn't tell you whether or not the effort was there.
What I can speculate on is why though. Was Yeo really that upset with the team? Or was Yeo just up in GMCF's office on the receiving end of the same tirade he pitched his team at practice? I've been saying it for a few weeks now, something stinks behind the scenes with the Wild, and it appears it's starting to blow over into public view.
We'll see how it all plays out this week, but explosions like this happen for a reason. This team has exceeded those reasons time and time again. Good to see (or hear about) the fire in Coach Yeo's eyes. We'll see how much it helps though.
In case you missed it, here's Mike Russo and Chad Graff with the play-by-play of Yeozie's meltdown.
Yeo delivered a strong message to players 10 minutes into practice. No surprise but he's very unhappy with the way things have gone. #MNWild
— Chad Graff (@ChadGraff) January 7, 2015
Yeo has stopped practicing and laying into the team #mnwild
— Michael Russo (@Russostrib) January 7, 2015
Yeo now skating the heck out of the #mnwild without pucks #herbies
— Michael Russo (@Russostrib) January 7, 2015
Yeo is going nuts in practice. Just slammed his stick in the middle of a scrum; screaming his head off. #mnwild
— Michael Russo (@Russostrib) January 7, 2015
Yeo stormed off the ice at practice. Halted it twice to yell at #mnwild for sloppy play and make them skate. pic.twitter.com/H9q7nPWuxk
— Chad Graff (@ChadGraff) January 7, 2015
As Yeo skated off at practice he slammed his stick against the boards, breaking it. #MNWild now continuing practicing sans their head coach.
— Chad Graff (@ChadGraff) January 7, 2015
Yeo just stormed off the ice after slamming his stick against the glass #mnwild.
— Michael Russo (@Russostrib) January 7, 2015
VIDEO: #mnwild coach Mike Yeo discusses his meltdown that led to him storming off the ice early from today's practice http://t.co/3pnDgsRokK
— Michael Russo (@Russostrib) January 7, 2015
On a side note
Koivu just left ice hurt. Smashed stick in half twice as he left.He's been dealing with a lower body injury & seemed to aggravate it #mnwild
— Michael Russo (@Russostrib) January 7, 2015
Now Darcy Kuemper has left the ice at #MNWild practice with an apparent injury.
— Chad Graff (@ChadGraff) January 7, 2015
Just another Wednesday in the Wilderness.
UPDATE
After practice, Coach Yeo spoke with the media.
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