Minnesota Wild

[Siouxman]

[MafiaMan]

I guess I wasn't clear enough.

[MafiaMan]

On a side note:  Only people who don't live in Grand Forks called it "the forks."

duh.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

On a side note: I don't live in Grand Forks, yet I've never called it "The Forks."

Similarly, when asked where I am from originally, I usually reply Dickinson, North Dakota as opposed to "Roughrider Country."

[CoteauRinkRat]

I'm heading to the game tonight, but just heard from a Wild media relations guy on the radio that Gaborik will not be playing tonight.

That leaves how many players on the Wild roster who can score a goal?

[BinaIsGod]

Players to watch for the Wild tonight: #67 Benoit Pouliot, Minnesota's first round pick in this years draft, and 4th overall in the draft. #21 Mikko Koivu, Minnesota's resident mystery man is finally going to be wearing a Wild jersey this season, after being Minnesota's second first round pick in team history, younger brother of Montreal's captain, Saku Koivu. And three players who are fighting for what seems to be the last roster spot on this year's opening day team, #26 Kyle Wanvig, #76 Peter Olvecky, and #83 Matt Foy. I would expect Manny Fernandez to be starting in goal...

[redwing77]

Went to the game. Here are my thoughts:

Rastislav Olesz for the Panthers could turn into something special. I thought he was good at the World Juniors, but generally I thought that was because of the lack of physicality and openness the games were. I think he will be great.

Pouliot looked tentative and utterly lost on the ice IMO. That's ok, he's new to the NHL. He's big though.

Koivu is like Olesz. He did a great job today and provided most of the offense (1 goal during regulation and the only goal during the shootout). He's got wheels and good stick handling skills. Watch for Koivu, Rolston, and Gaborik to be the only scorers Minnesota has. Nevertheless, Koivu's a rookie so I 'm not sure how that's going to go down. Whether he'll come firing out of the gate or will it a gradual thing. Rolston's goal tonight was because McLennan fell asleep while the Panthers sat in the Wild zone shooting away at Manny. When the Wild scored, it was their 10th shot on goal. Florida already had 20 at the time.

First and THird period were seriously boring. It's hard to say it was good defense because of all the bad passes, and poor decision making going on.

Florida played more undisciplined than the Wild, taking more penalties.

Foy (83) got a lot of ice time but did relatively nothing with it that I noticed.

Fernandez was very very sharp. The goal he gave up to Olesz was the only lapse he had. In all probability, Manny should have made the save (same with Rolston's goal).

Some good hits.

The way I see it, the Wild are still the mediocre team that we saw in 2003-2004. Their goaltending is excellent and their defense adequate. No scoring. Gaborik goes down and this team will be lucky to go .500. They beat the Panthers, sure, but if there had been a team like the Red Wings, Devils, Flyers, Senators, etc. (any team with a known good offense), I doubt they would have won.

[#1siouxfan22]

The wild were missing Gaborik sure but the Panthers were missing Jay Boumeester, Luongo (sp?) and a few other good players on their team it would have been alot better of a game with all the stars in it. Overall the game wasnt bad it was nice to just see some hockey again. Too bad it wasnt a sioux game.

[SiouxMeNow]

good game...good crowd! I'm sure some will bitch but hey...we had an NHL game in GF tonight and the Wild won! WOOHOO It's hockey season again guys!!

[USA]

good game...good crowd!  I'm sure some will bitch but hey...we had an NHL game in GF tonight and the Wild won!  WOOHOO     It's hockey season again guys!!

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Considering it was a pre-season game with a couple of big names out, I thought it was a great game. The fan turnout was surprising and the atmosphere for a Wild/Panther game was very good. IMO, this game, by far, was better than the two previous Wild games at the Ralph.

[Sioux-cia]