Hello old friend. Great to see you again.

Tonight I was in the house at Xcel Energy Center for my first Wild hockey game in a year and a half. Yes, the Wild View from Section 216 has been a view from the couch for that long. I did see the UMD Bulldogs crush the UND Fighting Sioux there last year, but from a Wild perspective, it’s been a long time.

I don’t know why, but over the time I’ve been away from my friend, “The X” as I call it because we’re tight, I didn’t feel like I’d missed it. Too much going on over the last year and a half. Adjusting to parenthood, crackdown in the wallet, a product on the ice that wasn’t compelling enough to make the extra effort. But tonight, walking up to the building I felt a bit of excitement and it all started to come back to me. First game in the 2000 preseason v. Blackhawks. Inaugural game v. Flyers. Exorcising Minnesota’s hockey demons v. Stars. On-the-Glass seats, row 2 birthday seats, hat tricks, “Who needs Gaborik” chants, playoff games, sneaking-by-the-club-level-security-guards-to-see-the-band nights. We’ve been through a lot in 9 years. Tonight I felt like a part of the Team of 18,000 again. Wild jerseys all over the place. Loud fans. Great hockey conversation with the stranger in the seat next to me (including an NHL2Night reference). Good luck to the Dartmouth women’s hockey team.

I’ve re-caught the bug. I will see you again X. I’ll bring my wife by to see you next, and introduce you to our daughter soon. We will hang out often – our family has alot of catching up to do with you.

Wild 3 Rangers 2
Oh by the way, the Wild played their best game of the season so far, beating the NY Rangers 3-2. They scored first, built a 2-goal lead, and played solid D to hang on. Petr Sykora returned to the lineup after his benching and had a goal and an assist. They won in regulation even. It’s a pretty important win in gaining a little confidence in this rebuilding year. Antti Miettinen and Eric Belanger also scored, Niklas Backstrom gets the win in net.

Shoutout to Ticket King
So tonight was the first time I’ve ever actually used Ticket King. I gotta say, it was pretty slick. I paid $30 per seat – face value was $38. No doubt this below-face pricing was the result of a poor start and no Marian Gaborik in the Ranger lineup, but it worked out beauty for me. Picked up the tix just across the street from the X and was in and out of their office in about a minute. They even bumped us to row 2 when the tix we selected were row 9. I was impressed and will with out a doubt be using them again.

Next
Wild @ Pittsburgh Penguins Sat Oct 31 6PM CST FSN HD

We’ll see if this win builds a little momentum against the Stanley Cup champion Penguins. No Evgeni Malkin, so that’ll help. Still a tough task to get a W. I just want to see consistent improvement. Don’t follow this nice win up with a dud.

It's been a while since I last posted...so here's a recap of where the playoffs are at. Philadelphia has ousted Montreal. Detroit obliterated Colorado (typical). Pittsburgh is about to finish off New York Rangers, and San Jose has won the last 2 to make a series v. Dallas.

I can't say I've watched too much of the playoffs since the Wild lost, but I have picked up enough of Stars v. San Jose to know that that series could easily be San Jose up 3-2 or even already over in SJ's favor, or already over with Dallas winning. The games have been tight. Dallas has won 2 OT games, SJ has won 1. It has been the most competitive, which is why it was odd that Dallas was up 3-0. Dallas has another chance tonite to close this series out, but SJ has a bunch of momentum. Stars fans have to hope they haven't used up all their great play over the first month of the playoffs...

Pittsburgh also has a chance to close out the Rangers this afternoon, in Pittsburgh, on NBC. (What? the Pens and the Rangers are on NBC? That's so different!) I think this one is over today.

Philly is back in the Eastern Conference Finals, a year after accumulating only 22 wins in the entire season. Very impressive. Hey Wild!

Lastly, Detroit absolutely manhandled Colorado, sweeping a series that culminated in a 8-2 drubbing in Colorado. All-world against the Wild, Jose Theodore came back to earth, yanked 3 times in this series. In fairness, the Avs were hit with a bunch of injuries. Wild fans can sympathize there, but I'm not sure if I'm happy because Colorado was handled so easily, or more disappointed because it shows the Wild played down to their competition and simply lost to a team that they were better than.

The Conference Finals are setting up to be pretty exciting. We're getting down it!