Wilderness Walk for 1-27-2013: Game Day Edition

Greetings Wilderness!

Its game day, so dust of those Wild sweaters, hopefully you've washed the stink off them from Friday nights debacle in Detroit. The Wild cruise into Scottrade Center in St. Louis to take on an emerging Blues squad with the great Ken Hitchcock behind the bench. The Blues played last night in a city with no ice and after a slow start and a 3 goal 2nd period they held on to win 4-3 with a late surging Stars squad .

The Wild in 44 all time games against St. Louis are 22-13-5-4 (yes, 5 ties, remember those?). To be fair, this is now a much different Blues squad than we have seen in the past and even with St. Louis playing yesterday and traveling the 15 minute flight from Dallas to St. Louis this will be no easy task ahead for your struggling Wild. The Blues are 4-1 in this short season while your Wild squad is 2-2, if the playoffs started today, that would be insane, its not even February yet.

Before we get to your daily dose of hockey links, a small side note. Tonight on Rosen Sports Sunday, Dan Brooks (who?) will be on with his girls U-12 Minneapolis team goalie, born in Liberia. Probably worth checking out if your still awake.

Wild News

Wild coach does some line tinkering at Saturday's practice | StarTribune.com - Tinkering (verb): Attempt to repair or improve something in a casual or desultory way, often to no useful effect.

Russo's NHL Insider: Wild's focus on the future helped land big names | StarTribune.com - I firmly believe a Brinks truck full of cash makes many decisions easier.

Minnesota Wild taking 1-game-at-a-time approach to NHL's short season - TwinCities.com - Because taking it 2 games at a time is just plain silly ...

Wild's Yeo: 'It's way too early to start panicking' | StarTribune.com - Don't Panic! Yeo has been reading Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Preview: Wild at St. Louis | StarTribune.com - The Great Russo tells you what to look for tonight.

Charley Walters: Zach Parise's parents enjoying the view from home - TwinCities.com - I wonder if they have to pay for tickets ....

Duff: Harding deals with MS | Windsor Star - MS = Minnesota Shield

Minnesota Wild: Ryan Suter's skills rate a plus to coach Mike Yeo - TwinCities.com - He's gotta break out of it at somepoint, right?

Marco Scandella on his way to join the Wild? | StarTribune.com - Back just 1 game, oddly absent from bench? hmmmm....

Tending the Fields

Aeros roll over Griffins - Thats 3 straight, some might call this a winning streak!

Cruthers extends goal streak to four games in Orlando loss - Solar Bears get crushed, OUCH!

Regina Pats lose Colton Jobke to knee injury - I apologize for the improper spelling of defensemen, silly Canadians....

Jason Zucker Aims For NHL | The Pink Puck - We'll see him sooner rather than later I feel.

Laxidasical Meanderings

Swarm collect win in home opener | Minnesota Swarm - Lacrosse happened at the X last night, were you there?

Minnesota Swarm vs Washington Stealth: Game Re-Cap - Hockey Wilderness - Because this guy was there, and he wrote about it right here!

Off the Trail

Crashed Ice draws massive crowd in St. Paul - 115,000 people gathered to watch a bunch of crazy people skate downhill.

Marleau becomes 2nd player to start season with 4 multigoal games | StarTribune.com - I believe this is called beast mode, when do we play the Sharks? Not til March? PHEW!

Michael Russo's NHL short takes | StarTribune.com - Random thought bubbles.

Blues Clues

St. Louis Game Time, a St. Louis Blues community - Your home for everything blue, give them a visit, try not to curse.

Hockey Guy: Blues in peak defensive form : Stltoday - Ken Hitchcocks well oiled machine not feeling blue.

Perron leads Blues over Dallas Stars 4-3 : Stltoday - Recap of last nights action in a city with no ice.

Respect

Stan Musial remembered for his great gifts — on and off the field : Stltoday - Not a hockey story, but this was a big deal in St. Louis this week.

Blues to Honor Musial at Sunday's Game - St Louis Blues - News - Blues honor a baseball legend.