Just a few random babbles on a Wild off day…

Mark Parrish
Former Wild F, St Cloud State alum, and Bloomington Jefferson grad Mark Parrish signed a minor-league contract with the New York Islanders. I was really excited when we signed Parrish and I liked him while he was here. He was good with the media, one of the players on the team that was easy to identify with because he loved to talk. But, he never scored goals the way the Wild expected him to because he’s an in front of the net guy. It’s hard to score when you’re getting beat up every game. So the Wild cut ties, and now he is trying to work himself back into the big show.

Bret Hedican
SCSU alum, St Paul native, and Kristi Yamaguchi husband signed a 1-year deal with the Anaheim Ducks. He’s 38 years old; I’m not sure how much he’ll play, but I’m glad he’s getting to put in another year.

Demitra Injured
Former Wild underachiever Pavol Demitra is out 3-4 weeks for the Canucks with a “torso” injury. Sounds like it’s a rib injury.

Dubay Fired
Following up on my Glorified Jots from a couple days ago, Jeff Dubay was fired by KFAN today as a result of his cocaine charges. You certainly can not blame the FAN for making that decision. I wish Puffy the best and hope he can straighten things out for himself and his health most importantly. Meantime KFAN will need to replace him on the PA and Dubay show. I’m cool with Justin Gaard or Corey Cove.

UMD Bulldogs
As I write this I’m having my very own UMD Bulldog Hockey Night, watching the Dogs v. Alaska Anchorage Seawolves thanks to goseawolves.com. The Dogs are down 4-2 at the start of the 3rd period right now. I just have to say, the UAA internet video feed looks pretty darned good. I’ve seen alot of ugly looking games streaming over the ‘net because Minnesota-Duluth games are not on TV here in the Twin Cities unless they’re playing the Gophers. But this game looks quite good, especially when you factor in that it is free, and most other games you have to pay $7. I hope they’ve improved the video over at B2Networks for the games at the DECC this season.

Oooh, make it 4-3 Seawolves with 17 minutes to go. UMD just scored a pretty powerplay goal.

And now it’s a tie game, another powerplay goal for UMD. 10 minutes to go. Oh bugger…looks like they’re going to review the goal. And…it’s no goal. Bunk. They didn’t gave a reason on the broadcast why they waived it off, and they didn’t show a replay. That sucks. 4-3 final, Anchorage defeats Duluth. Apparently there was a man in the crease on the waived-off goal.

Enough babble for one nite…

Predators @ Wild - 2-17-08 - A View from My Couch
Wild win 5-4 in OT tonite, in dramatic fashion. The game was really a mixed bag. I don't remember a game where the Wild scored such pretty goals. Frustratingly, the Wild gave up 2 2-goal leads, and were forced into the OT by a charging Nashville squad. Looked like we were destined for a shootout, but Demo and Gabby pulled off a pretty 2 on 1 to win it.

All 5 goals were skill goals. Here's a quick recap...

• Pterri Nummelin with a breakaway all alone from the blueline thanks to a pretty pass from Eric Belanger. Nummelin scored on one of his patented shootout moves.
• Mark Parrish on a beautiful give-and-go from Marian Gaborik.
• Pierre-Marc Bouchard with the move of the year. On the power play, PMB skated into the zone and all 4 Preds closed in on him. He stickhandles the puck between 2 of them and goes in on Preds G Chris Mason all alone. He beats him with a top-shelf backhander. Then his price tag went up to sign him this summer.
• Marian Gaborik, with a delayed penalty being called on Nashville, came on the ice as the extra attacker. PMB was down low and found Gabby streaking in. Gabby put a little deke on Mason and buried it.
• With about 10 seconds left in overtime, Pavol Demitra picked up the puck at center ice and started in against 1 Preds defender. Marian Gaborik came out of nowhere, streaking in for a 2 on 1. Demo lifted a pretty saucer pass over the Preds D, and Gabby one-timed it past Mason for the win, with only 4.4 seconds left.

Check out the highlights here.

Jots

• At least Eric Belanger factored in the scoring. He made the long pass to Nummelin for the Wild's 1st goal. Hopefully it's a sign he's ready to actually score a goal again.
• If you saw Michael Russo on the Wild Live after the game on FSN, how come he looks so much different from his picture on his Star Tribune blog?
• The Wild seemed to get a little nonchalant after they were up 3-1 and 4-2. That led to untimely penatlies, which led to a tie game and overtime.
• Shoddy officiating tonite. Two of the Preds goals could have been waived off, and there were a few penalties I would have called that were not called.
• Backstrom could have been better. When's Harding going to play again?

The Fight to Hang the 1st Banner
The stars aligned tonite in the NW division. Wild get 2 pts, Colorado lost 2-1 to Chicago and Calgary lost 4-2 to Anaheim. With 23 games left for all 4 teams that matter in the NW, the Wild are now up 6 points on Vancouver and Calgary, and 7 on Colorado.

Next on the Docket - Canucks @ Wild - Tues 2-19-08
Another big Northwest division matchup Tuesday nite. They just keep coming. The Wild are rolling right now, and the Canucks aren't. Let's hope that continues. Wild 2 Canucks 1