SiouxScore

Wild get the win 4-2 to tie the series back up heading to Chicago. The Wild stay undefeated at home in the playoffs but will have to figure out a way to win a game in Chicago to advance to the next round.

Wild just had 6 skaters on the ice for probably a good 40 seconds and all the officials missed it, Wild holding on to a 4-2 lead with under 10 to go after a nice powerplay setup and goal.

Wild 3-2 after 2 each goalie made a couple nice saves late in the period after both had been kind of struggling as none of the goals have been real great.

Vikes take a DE Scott Crichton from Oregon State. Supposedly most thought he would go early in the 2nd but I think I would have preferred taking a guy at a position they were weaker at. I would guess this is the Vikes just sticking to the old best player available philosophy. They add RB Jerrick Mckinnon from Georgia Southern with their last pick of the night. I thought they would wait to add the backup RB and focus on LB or DB with this pick mostly because RB seems to be one of the positions where you can often find a pretty good contributor later in the draft.

Real weak goal late for the Hawks to tie it up after 1. I wouldn't exactly call the Wild's goal the strongest either but I think Chicago is better able to overcome giving up a goal that maybe they shouldn't.

Has Hak? I thought he basically said he hasn't recruited other commits in the past but he really didn't speak out in favor of the agreement just more that he has followed it in the past since that had been the agreement.

I think Bridgewater will be the steal of the draft. He can make all the throws and has led his team to a lot of wins at every level. Bridgewater has already experienced playing in some cold weather games at places like UCONN and Rutgers late in the season. He has a great level of toughness evidenced by his bowl game win over Florida a couple of years ago. Bridgewater is the best on tape of all the available QBs but some people get too hung up on a bad pro day which to me is just overthinking it.

Agree on Ha Ha, I was actually hoping the Vikes would trade down to the middle of the 1st round and take him.

Yes, Bridgewater was the #1 QB prospect most of the season and that only changed after a bad workout. He translates much better to the NFL and is consistent while Manziel will give you highlights real play one play and then will throw into triple coverage the next 3. I just don't see Manziel translating very well to the NFL unless he changes the way he plays.

Even though Bridgewater was the better pure QB throughout college and was consistently thought to be the #1 QB by most people throughout the college season when watching him actually play football instead of watching 1 workout and putting way too much stock into it?

Agreed.

Some buzz on Twitter that it will be Mike Haviland who is the Hershey Bears(AHL) head coach and was a Blackhawks assistant from 08-12.

It was pretty well established by most NFL "experts" that the Vikings would take defense first or trade down even if all the QBs were available.

Love the move by the Vikes to move up and get the best QB in this draft. Bridgewater is really the only QB I wanted in the first 2 rounds and was the best QB all college season but people get too hung up on a bad workout in shorts and a t-shirt. Hope they can add another LB and some secondary help with the 2 3rd rounders tonight.

Manziel is a highlight machine but I don't think he will translate well to the NFL but I guess we will have to see. Agree Ponder was definitely a reach and I was disappointed when they picked him over Amukamara.Vikings bigger needs were on defense and the feel that most had was that even if all the QBs were available the Vikes were gonna go defense first. I really don't like to see Ha Ha Clinton-Dix falling to the Packers, a QB I really like this year that should be available in the 3rd/4th is Aaron Murray.

I'm alright with Barr I liked some other players more but much better than reaching on a QB especially Manziel.

Its draft day who will the Vikes go with? I think they try to trade down and pick up extra picks and hope they take either LB CJ Mosley or CB Justin Gilbert.

Agree, I'm not real sure any of Pelnik, Rowe, or Voltin ever get to UND. I also wouldn't be surprised if the coaches are looking at some older USHL type forwards who may be available to add for next Fall.

Yes I would have said Haula was a much more complete player coming out of college than Rocco is however I didn't think Haula would make it to the NHL as soon as he did either. As far as finishing ability I thought Haula was a little better mostly because Rocco misses on so many chances he creates while Haula was able to cash in on most of his chances although he may not have created as many. Rocco must become a better finisher and become more disciplined to find himself in the NHL and we will just have to see if he is able to do that.

Sounds like Moulson has been playing with a lower body injury so that is probably why he has struggled so much and it looks like Cooke will replace him tomorrow night.

I agree and kind of expect him to play a year of juniors I just think if he comes in that he will get a good shoot at that top 6 spot.

Haula is a much more complete player and can easily move between lines 2,3,&4 and I don't think that Rocco can do that. Haula has made an even quicker jump to being a consistent NHL player than I ever thought he would but I think a lot of that is because of his hockey IQ and ability to play well in the defensive zone. Haula and Rocco probably aren't a real great comparison when looking at players either unless you are just looking at speed. Rocco may have more skill but that skill hasn't translated into as much production as it probably should have and IMO the big thing he has to do if he wants to get a shot to play in the NHL is convert on more of the chances he creates.

If they decide to bring Gersich in he would be the guy I would guess to get a pretty good shot at that top 6 spot.

The way I see the forwards with the current roster is something like: Chyzk/OD-MacMillan-Parks Caggiula-Schmaltz-Johnson Pattyn-Gaarder-Olson Chyzk/OD-Simonson-St.Clair Murphy, Sanderson, F/D Panzarella

That would be counting Sanderson correct? I think it really just depends on the type of role they see open. If it is a top 6 type then I would think it would be Gersich as long as he is on schedule because I believe he was excelling his schooling. If it is more of a bottom 6 grind type role I think you could see something like you said or you could see them adding an older USHL type player.