SB Nation User Blog: nathaneide

Even if he does make it to the Canadiens and starts playing like a fourth overall pick (not likely), the Wild can console themselves knowing they also threw away early-to-mid-firsts on AJ Thelen(notes) and James Sheppard(notes) the year prior to and after drafting Pouliot ... so at least this wasn't an isolated incident.

Minnesota Wild @ Vancouver Canucks: Game Recap

nathaneide — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 06:30:19 -0000

More photos » by DARRYL DYCK - AP

3 days ago: Vancouver Canucks' Daniel Sedin (22) of Sweden, is stopped by Minnesota Wild's Josh Harding as Greg Zanon (6) defends during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, British Columbia on Saturday, Dec. 12, 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darryl Dyck)

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Minnesota Wild 3-4 Vancouver Canucks

Too little, too late? Ran into a hot goaltender? Played in front of a goalie who was fighting the puck all night? A couple tough penalty calls? No matter how you describe the outcome, the story of the game was how dramatically the Wild outplayed the Canucks tonight, even though they fell 4-3.

Martin Havlat seems to have turned his game around on this road trip. In his last five games, Havlat has seven points and now has four goals and 12 assists on the season for 16 points in 26 games. Still far below expectations, but he's on his way.

The Wild in general have really picked up their play, and, while still in last place in the division, have a respectable point total and are 8-2-1 in their last 11. In fact, with 41 shots tonight and 46 shots last night, the Wild had their franchise first consecutive 40 shot games, and even did so on the road. Things are certainly different now than a month ago.

Again, the Wild found scoring from unexpected places. Shane Hnidy notched his first ever goal in a Wild sweater, and with eight points, is well on his way to a career high (12). Greg Zanon not only scored, but did so by making a nice play to chip the puck over a defender's stick, carry it into the zone with speed, make a nifty drop pass to Havlat, then crash the net and knock the puck past Luongo into the net on the rebound. It was a class goal.

Unfortunately, Josh Harding was not very good tonight, and even said so himself. His poor play likely cost the team the two points. Poor penalty killing, and even worse power play opportunities didn't help matters, but is Harding was even mediocre tonight, the Wild get the win.

But, these kinds of games will happen. I'm concentrating more on the excellent play and the solid 3-2 road trip. I like the way this team looks right now, and they should pick up velocity going into the holiday and carry that into the new year.

Please read the game recap over at Nucks Misconduct

Hockey Wilderness Three Stars

Martin Havlat (1 G, 2 A, +3)
Henrik Sedin (3 A)
Kyle Brodziak (2 A)

Questions to Answer

Minnesota is playing well, or at least well enough to win, can they keep it up and get ahead of the Canucks tonight in the standings? Unfortunately not, especially considering how they outplayed Vancouver all night.
Can the Wild keep the Sedin's off the board? Of course not, don't be silly.
How will Josh Harding look in place of Niklas Backstrom? In a word? Overmatched.
Will Havlat continue to be on the 4th line all game, or will he move up if they are playing well, perhaps moving Sheppard down to the 4th? Havlat was all over the place tonight, playing with a few different lines, and this road trip has been really positive for Marty.
Vancouver has been injured all season, but now that they're finally healthy, can they find some consistency? Well, their power play was excellent (thanks in part to sloppy goaltending, and they looked much better than the first time the Wild played them, but they were outplayed tonight and still got the win.

Minnesota Wild @ Vancouver Canucks: Game 32

nathaneide — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 02:29:48 -0000

Minnesota Wild (15-13-3) @ Vancouver Canucks (17-14-0)

GM Place @ 8:00 CST

Television: FSN
Radio: WCCO 830AM, or online at Wild.com

For the Vancouvre perspective, check out Nucks Misconduct

Wild.com Game Preview

Minnesota Wild

Vancouver Canucks

Forwards
Andrew Brunette - Mikko Koivu - Antti Miettinen
James Sheppard - Eric Belanger - Chuck Kobasew
Guillaume Latendresse - Kyle Brodziak - Cal Clutterbuck
Martin Havlat - Nathan Smith - Derek Boogaard

Defense
Greg Zanon - Marek Zidlicky
Kim Johnsson - Nick Schultz
Shane Hnidy - Jaime Sifers

Goalies
Josh Harding
Niklas Backstrom

Forwards
Daniel Sedin - Henrik Sedin - Alexandre Burrows
Mason Raymond - Ryan Kesler - Mikael Samuelsson
Tanner Glass - Rick Rypien - Jannik Hansen
Darcy Hordichuk - Ryan Johnson - Steve Bernier

Defense
Sami Salo - Shane O'Brien
Kevin Bieksa - Willie Mitchell
Christian Ehrhoff - Mathieu Schneider

Goalies
Roberto Luongo
Andrew Raycroft

Questions to Answer

Minnesota is playing well, or at least well enough to win, can they keep it up and get ahead of the Canucks tonight in the standings?
Can the Wild keep the Sedin's off the board?
How will Josh Harding look in place of Niklas Backstrom?
Will Havlat continue to be on the 4th line all game, or will he move up if they are playing well, perhaps moving Sheppard down to the 4th?
Vancouver has been injured all season, but now that they're finally healthy, can they find some consistency?

Minnesota Wild @ Calgary Flames: Game Recap

nathaneide — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 05:05:26 -0000

More photos » by Larry MacDougal - AP

4 days ago: Calgary Flames' Brian McGrattan, left, fights Minnesota Wild's Derek Boogaard during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Calgary on Friday, Dec. 11, 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Larry MacDougal)

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Minnesota Wild 2-1 (ot) Calgary Flames

Holy crap, the Wild won in Calgary. Holy crap, James Sheppard scored. Holy crap, Martin Havlat scored. Holy crap, the Wild had more than 40 shots on goal.

Ok, I'm not really sure which is more shocking, to be honest, but I'd say that beating Calgary in the Saddledome is the biggest surprise.

The Wild have now won seven of eight and seem to be turning it on right about the time many expected them to. It's great to see them winning with offense and winning with defense. Frankly, if it weren't for Kiprusoff, tonight would have been out of hand and the Wild would have won going away.

It's great to see Havlat getting into the flow of the game, and nice to see someone other than the top line carry the load for the offense.

Let's hope this solid defensive play continues. Things are finally turning around.

Please read the game recap over at Matchsticks and Gasoline

Hockey Wilderness Three Stars

Martin Havlat (1 G, 1 A)
Miikka Kiprusoff (44 saves)
James Sheppard (1 G)

Questions to Answer

I'm gonna let SpaethCo answer.

The Calgary Flames have been the best in the Northwest (no matter what folks in Colorado will have you believe) will the Wild get a good measuring stick against a solid team? We’re trying to fight our way back into the hunt, so for the sake of team confidence let’s say this is a great measuring stick. (only because we got the win)
Will the curse of the Saddledome continue to hover over the Wild? It tried really damn hard - maybe the curse was thrown off by the cold?
Which Finnish goalie will shine? Despite Backstrom getting the win, Kiprusoff held off 44 of 46 shots. From the Flames perspective, Kiprusoff gets the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd star.
Bruno has eight points in the last five games, and Mittens has seven goals in his last eight. Can they keep it up? Strangely enough, the underdogs of the team pull it off. Shep and Havlat - I wonder what the line would have been on that in Vegas?
The Flames have the best career record against the Wild. Why? They're really not that good, are they? Kiprusoff and Iginla? Nah, those guys have no talent at all. In fact, Calgary should send them to us for Boogard and a bag of pucks. Right?

Minnesota Wild @ Calgary Flames: Game 31

nathaneide — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:57:39 -0000

Minnesota Wild (14-13-3) @ Calgary Flames (19-8-3)

Pengrowth Saddledome @ 8:00 CST

Television: FSN
Radio: WCCO 830AM, or online at Wild.com

For the Calgary perspective, check out Matchsticks and Gasoline

Wild.com Game Preview

Minnesota Wild

Calgary Flames

Forwards
Andrew Brunette - Mikko Koivu - Antti Miettinen
Owen Nolan - Eric Belanger - Chuck Kobasew
Guillaume Latendresse - Kyle Brodziak - Cal Clutterbuck
Martin Havlat - James Sheppard - Derek Boogaard

Defense
Greg Zanon - Marek Zidlicky
Kim Johnsson - Nick Schultz
Shane Hnidy - Jaime Sifers

Goalies
Niklas Backstrom
Josh Harding

Forwards
Nigel Dawes - Olli Jokinen - Jarome Iginla
Rene Bourque - Daymond Langkow - David Moss
Curtis Glencross - Dustin Boyd - Eric Nystrom
Fredrik Sjostrom - Brandon Prust - Brian McGrattan

Defense
Dion Phaneuf - Robyn Regehr
Jay Bouwmeester - Mark Giordano
Aaron Johnson - Adam Pardy

Goalies
Miikka Kiprusoff
Curtis McElhinney

Questions to Answer

The Calgary Flames have been the best in the Northwest (no matter what folks in Colorado will have you believe) will the Wild get a good measuring stick against a solid team?
Will the curse of the Saddledome continue to hover over the Wild?
Which Finnish goalie will shine?
Bruno has eight points in the last five games, and Mittens has seven goals in his last eight. Can they keep it up?
The Flames have the best career record against the Wild. Why? They're really not that good, are they?

Charley Walters: Minnesota Wild bid to host outdoor game at Minnesota Gophers' stadium - TwinCities.com

nathaneide — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:10:34 -0000

Charley Walters: Minnesota Wild bid to host outdoor game at Minnesota Gophers' stadium - TwinCities.com

A little birdie says the University of Minnesota has been contacted by the Minnesota Wild about the possibility of hosting the NHL's Winter Classic outdoor game at the Gophers' football stadium. This season's NHL Winter Classic will be Jan. 1 at Fenway Park between the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers.

Minnesota Wild @ Colorado Avalanche: Game Recap

nathaneide — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 04:40:06 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

6 days ago: Minnesota Wild right winger Antti Miettinen, of Finland, is congratulated by teammates after scoring a goal against the Colorado Avalanche in the first period of an NHL hockey game in Denver on Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2009. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

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Minnesota Wild 1-0 Colorado Avalanche

The Minnesota Wild get a 1-0 shutout win over the Colorado Avalanche in front of a very anemic crowd at the Pepsi Center. Frankly, if I wouldn't have seen Todd Richards behind the bench actually being interviewed by a Versus reporter, I would've assumed it was a replay of a game under the Lemaire regime.

Nice to see Antti Miettinen get back on the scoring track tonight. He now has seven goals in his last eight games. Someone's looking awfully tempting for Jari Kurri. Niklas Backstrom didn't have to be brilliant tonight, he just did his job and notched his 18th career shutout.

John Scott is already a lock to be a healthy scratch next game unless every other defenseman is injured on the way off the ice tonight. With three minor penalties, all of the either lazy or stupid variety, he could've single-handedly cost the Wild the two points were it not for the great play of the defense and Backstrom. The penalty kill was fantastic (granted the Avs power play looked like the Wild's tonight).

I'm going to leave the rest of the recap to our Denver correspondent. She's a grad student at Denver University by way of the Range and works in the DU athletic department's media relations office and was in attendance at the Pepsi Center tonight and will post her thoughts later.

Not all games include 60 full minutes of hard-fought, fast-paced hockey; however this game didn't include much of it at all. But, in the end, a win is a win; especially when the win is a shutout on the opponent's home ice.

Wednesday night's 1-0 win came as Niklas Backstrom earned his first shutout of the season and Antti Miettinen scored his eighth goal of the season over the Colorado Avalanche.

The two teams battled throughout the game fairly evenly, as the Wild had a total of 23 shots and the Avs ended with 22. However, the Wild did demonstrate their penalty kill ability, as the team finished the night with a total of six penalties.

The crowd support left something to be desired - for both teams, actually. Though it was a Wednesday night, the Pepsi Center was quite bare. Although, not surprising, many of the people in attendance donned Wild apparel, as Colorado is a mecca for has-been Minnesotans.

Truly, the best play of the night came between the second the third periods as two Mini-Mite teams took to the ice in a shoot out. One player scored his goal off a nice-looking deke. As the opposing goalie dove to the right, the young star turned the puck around to the left side past the outstretched goalie.

Let's hope the Wild steps it up a bit as they take on Calgary this Friday. After all, I thought the days of Minnesota's "slow-down offense" were over.

Please read the game recap over at Mile High Hockey

Hockey Wilderness Three Stars

Niklas Backstrom (20 saves)
Antti Miettinen (1 G)
Kim Johnsson (1 A, +1, 31:11 TOI)

Questions to Answer

Can they come out hot and bounce back from a horrible performance in Phoenix? Well, it wasn't great, but they got the 2 points.
With no Andrew Ebbett, who is going to provide his spark? Antti Miettinen got the goal and Koivu provided the spark of offense, but Johnsson was the backbone tonight.
What kind of effect will punishing Martin Havlat have on his play? 9:48 TOI. I think that says it all.
Can the Wild get to Budaj and rattle him? Not at all
Mikko Koivu has been the engine driving this machine, will he continue his excellent play? Koivu was great tonight, both defensively and by making plays in the offense.

Minnesota Wild @ Colorado Avalanche: Game 30

nathaneide — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:02:27 -0000

Minnesota Wild (13-13-3) @ Colorado Avalanche (17-9-6)

Pepsi Center @ 8:00 CST

Television: Versus (HD)
Radio: WCCO 830AM, or online at Wild.com

For the Colorado perspective, check out Mile High Hockey

Wild.com Game Preview

Minnesota Wild

Colorado Avalanche

Forwards
Andrew Brunette - Mikko Koivu - Antti Miettinen
Owen Nolan - Eric Belanger - Chuck Kobasew
Guillaume Latendresse - Kyle Brodziak - Cal Clutterbuck
Martin Havlat - Nathan Smith - James Sheppard

Defense
Greg Zanon - Marek Zidlicky
Kim Johnsson - Nick Schultz
Shane Hnidy - John Scott

Goalies
Niklas Backstrom
Josh Harding

Forwards
Wojtek Wolski - Paul Stastny - Chris Stewart
T.J. Galiardi - Matt Duchene - Milan Hejduk
Cody McLeod - Ryan O'Reilly - Darcy Tucker
David Koci - Matt Hendricks - Marek Svatos

Defense
John-Michael Liles - Brett Clark
Scott Hannan - Kyle Quincey
Adam Foote - Ryan Wilson

Goalies
Peter Budaj
Tyler Weiman

Questions to Answer

Can they come out hot and bounce back from a horrible performance in Phoenix?
With no Andrew Ebbett, who is going to provide his spark?
What kind of effect will punishing Martin Havlat have on his play?
Can the Wild get to Budaj and rattle him?
Mikko Koivu has been the engine driving this machine, will he continue his excellent play?

Winter Classic Interview with Ed Olcyzk. His take on playing outside, kids and Martin Havlat

nathaneide — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:11:17 -0000

The NHL held a conference call with Ed Olczyk as part of the publicity for the 2009-2010 Winter Classic between the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers held at Fenway Park. There were a few of us from SBNation who were lucky enough to be on that call, and I had the first question.

Hockey Wilderness: With the decline in the number of kids playing pond hockey and the number of empty outdoor rinks increasing, do you see the Winter Classic and especially the marketing around it as a way for the NHL to get back to its roots and get kids playing outdoors again?

Ed Olczyk: Nathan, great question: There are a lot of rinks in Chicago, Detroit, Sioux City, etc. You have families and neighborhoods flooding rinks and putting up boards. But that cost, especially in this economy is one thing that hurts our sport. To give the kids more opportunity, that's the key. In some places it is cheaper to flood something outside, but the indoor ice is so much more readily available. Kids when I played, grew up on the rink, playing well after dark and those times are what drive our sport.

With the NHL playing outdoors, it's another way to showcase the history of the game and getting some players to play outside who may have never done so. The more kids playing outside, the better product we'll eventually see. The Winter Classic is a great way to get back to the grass-roots of our sport. I offer my help to any league or community or the National Hockey League to get educated about the benefits of outdoor skating and outdoor hockey!

Hockey Wilderness: You've spent the past three years in Chicago and got to see Martin Havlat at his best. Have you seen him this season, and can you give us some thoughts on what you've seen thus far?

Nathan, yeah I have seen Marty, and I think a lot of Marty as a player and a person. I think that sometimes when a player changes, it takes a while to get comfortable and get rolling. Marty is a terrific talent and with the success he had last year it isn't any secret that he was playing for a contract. The role was perfect. He wasn't asked to do too much. He wasn't the go-to guy, but he played like it. There are times where he looks lost, looks like he's doing too much or thinking too much, trying to figure out what's going on, but the last couple of games he's showing signs. Had a couple great rushes against Phoenix and a couple assists the game before that. With the Wild you have one of the most underrated players in Mikko Koivu and Andrew Brunette is a great talent. Marty needs help, he's a creative guy, but it's hard to find world class players to play with a guy like that. It's only a matter of time before he becomes a difference maker , it just takes a little bit of time and he'll get it going.

The rest are questions not asked by me, and I cherry picked some answers:

Some dude: How much has the Winter Classic helped the NHL gain popularity in the US?

You get people who may not have grown up watching and following hockey. We live in a hot-button society. You have people who say "I really want to see this team or this guy play" and you have the ability to showcase your best and brightest. That kid may then decide they want to try out hockey, and there are opportunities for them nationwide. There are more kids not from so-called "hockey hotbeds" and this may be the first time they've seen hockey outside.

Some other dude: What's next for the Winter Classic?

Every team has a drawing card when it comes to an individual. Some teams have more than 1 or 2 superstars, some teams have more history. But it takes two to tango, and there aren't unlimited venues. Should we go to Ann Arbor? Happy Valley? Minneapolis and the new Gopher stadium? I hope every team gets to play in one at some point, but the league has done a tremendous job in mapping it out. Obviously there are some places where you can't do it, but that's for people smarter than me to figure out.

So, that pretty much sums up the important stuff. Thanks to the NHL for setting it up.