On a cool Sunday in December of 2000, the Wild played the State of Hockey's former team to a sellout crowd at the Xcel Energy Center. The event was full of emotion. Emotion created by the bitterness created 7 years before by the departure of the North Stars to Dallas. Former North Stars great Neal Broten delighted the home crowd by throwing off a Dallas Stars sweater revealing a Wild jersey underneath which annoyed many in the Dallas organization. The Wild then did their part to help provide some closure by thrashing Dallas 6-0. From the beginning, Dallas was a natural rival of the Stars but tonight is the first time these teams play one another as members of the same division. Will that rekindle the hatred of the club that used to call Minnesota its home?
For myself, the hatred still burns bright. Perhaps its because I remember the feeling of watching the team move to Texas but I still hate Dallas. The Stars cleaned house this summer; a sharp-looking new logo, a new coach in Lindy Ruff, a new General Manager in Jim Nill who went work reshaping the club to be a team built around youth. The Wild are coming off their first victory of the season, can they build on what they started?
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1st Period Thoughts: Pretty nice period if your a Wild fan, and maddeningly horrible if you're a Stars fan. The Wild did not waste any time getting on the scoresheet in this game, lighting the lamp just 12 seconds in as Matt Cooke intercepted a weak backhand pass by Brendan Dillon and then he dished the puck over to Justin Fontaine who was skating into the slot and he let go a backhand that beat Dan Ellis to make it 1-0. Fontaine, the former UMD Bulldog now has a place in the Wild's history books as his goal was the fastest in franchise history. Minnesota continued to pour on the pressure offensively, as Dallas continued to sleepwalk through the period. The top line of Zach Parise, Mikko Koivu and Nino Niederreiter did a nice job of controlling the play along the wall but they were not able to get much in the way of shots on goal. Yet, Dallas continued to provide the Wild with scoring opportunities due to their lazy passing. The Stars were not able to mount much of a counter attack of their own as the Wild kept their sticks active and were moving their feet so Josh Harding was not getting a lot of work. Minnesota would add to its lead as Matt Cooke swept up a loose puck behind the goal and he wrapped a shot by Ellis who was fighting the puck all period long. Dallas just looked exhausted, always reacting and consistently a step or two late to loose pucks. A great example of this lack of energy was on a sequence where Dany Heatley made a nice play off the forecheck where he outmuscled Brendan Dillon for the puck who just didn't appear to have the desire to separate him from the biscuit, allowing him to swing a pass to Jason Pominville who got off a quick shot that was knocked down and covered up by Ellis. Late in the period, the Wild would get tagged with two penalties that seemed eerily similar to their last two games but the Stars power play was not only ineffective but it was downright embarassing. Not only was it not creating pressure in the Wild end, poor decisions to pinch resulted in giving Minnesota two big shorthanded breakaways. The first one for Kyle Brodziak who skated in unopposed only to lose the puck before he could get a shot off, and the second one for Matt Cooke who moved in and tried to fire a puck high glove side but Ellis would get a shoulder on it to come up with a big save. Minnesota outshot the Stars 12-7 but the game easily could've been 4-0 or 5-0 if the Wild could bury some of its chances. I am sure Lindy Ruff chewed out his lethargic club during the intermission. I thought Nino Niederreiter again looked terrific, as did Mathew Dumba who looked poised and more assertive.
2nd Period Thoughts: The Stars had a little more jump to start the 2nd period and Dallas bottled up the Wild in their own zone early. Yet the Wild would build momentum on the strength of two power plays. The Wild would light the lamp on the 2nd power play of the game as their 'kid' unit connected after a pretty diagonal feed by Dany Heatley got to Mathew Dumba who ripped a wrist shot high, stick side to make it 3-0 Minnesota. It was his first NHL goal and I think he's going to be Dany Heatley's friend for life. The goal sort of took some of the life out of Dallas' skates and the Wild started swarming all over the Dallas zone. Minnesota continued to apply pressure. The top line was especially pesky as Nino Niederreiter and Zach Parise seemed to be everywhere on the ice. Their persistance was finally rewarded as Niederreiter let loose a sharp angle shot that seemed to sneak just inside the post and the leg pad of Dan Ellis. Initially the officials made no call whatsoever but after a little discussion Dennis LaRue pointed to center ice. It was Niederreiter's first goal of the season, a player who has been absolutely terrific this season and has provided a tremendous spark to the top line. The Stars would answer back, in a small way as a poor decision by Ryan Suter to cover the puck and try to toss it to a teammate gave Dallas a power play. On the power play Jordy Benn would try to thread a pass that went off a Wild skate and by Josh Harding to make it 4-1. Yet, Dallas didn't seem to be energized by the goal at all. The Wild again poured on the pressure and Minnesota kept Dallas bottled up with great hustle. The Wild were playing with confidence and the home crowd was very appreciative of the effort. Heatley had another good period, exhibiting better hustle and strength along the wall. Keith Ballard was diving to the ice a lot to deny passing lanes but I thought he had another good period for the Wild.
3rd Period Thoughts: The Wild went into cruise control in the 3rd as Dallas lacked the fire to really comeback. Minnesota had some opportunities to add to its lead but they were a little too fancy with the puck. The Wild were not just dumping, chasing and changing like they would've done in the past. Instead they carried the puck in the offensive zone and forced Dallas to defend as they wore them down. Mikael Granlund needs to take his opportunities to shoot although I liked his play around the puck as he pickpocketed a few Dallas defenseman. Minnesota added one last power play dagger as Parise buried his 4th goal of the season on a nice rebound chance off a Jared Spurgeon shot to earn a 5-1 victory to a well deserved standing ovation from the sellout crowd.
Josh Harding was very good, making 18 saves in the victory. He had some very good stops early which really demoralized a tired Dallas squad early who probably felt a little ambushed by Minnesota's early goal. Harding had good support in front of him as his defenseman were dropping back and denying passing and shooting lanes near his crease. I thought Keith Ballard was very good as was Mathew Dumba who I felt was good at both ends of the ice. Suter and Brodin were again very solid.
Offensively the Wild finally got some of the finish they had been lacking in their previous games. The interesting thing is this game could've easily been 7-1 or 8-1 if the Wild would've capitalized on some of its other prime chances. It was nice to see Niederreiter finally rewarded for his tremendous play thus far early in the season. Matt Cooke continues to be a great catalyst for the team, netting his 2nd game winning goal in as many games. Parise seems to have been that much more dangerous with Niederreiter able to win puck battles along the boards. Mikko Koivu and Dany Heatley really need to score. Both have had their chances but just haven't been able to make it happen. It is very encouraging to see this team to continue to greatly outshoot their opponents and Minnesota was finally rewarded for that dominance.
This was easily the best effort of the season for the Wild. While it was helped by the depleted nature of the Stars after having played the night before, the Wild kept hustling and doing the little things right from the drop of the puck to the final horn. Now the Wild have to keep it up as they go on a 4-game Eastern Conference road trip.
Wild Notes:
~ The Wild roster tonight was as follows: Mikko Koivu, Zach Parise, Nino Niederreiter, Dany Heatley, Mikael Granlund, Jason Pominville, Kyle Brodziak, Matt Cooke, Justin Fontaine, Torrey Mitchell, Zenon Konopka, Stephane Veilleux, Ryan Suter, Jonas Brodin, Mathew Dumba, Keith Ballard, Clayton Stoner and Jared Spurgeon. Darcy Kuemper backed up Josh Harding. Niklas Backstrom (knee), Mike Rupp (knee) and Charlie Coyle (knee) are out with injuries while Marco Scandella and Nate Prosser were healthy scratches.
~ The 3 Stars of the Game as selected by the wild.com were: 1st Star Justin Fontaine, 2nd Star Nino Niederreiter, 3rd Star Matt Cooke
~ Attendance was 18,278 at Xcel Energy Center.
~ The Iowa Wild won their season opener in front of a 10,213 fans in Des Moines to kick off the 2013-14 AHL season. They defeated organizational rival 1-0 as Brett Bulmer netted the first goal in the new team's history. Johan Gustafsson was perfect, stopping all 27 shots he faced in his North American regular season debut.
College Hockey Report:
The Golden Gopher women keep their win streak going, extending it to 53 games by sweeping the #4 ranked Wisconsin Badgers this weekend by scores of 2-1 and 2-0 respectively. In Friday's game, the Gophers rallied back from a 1-0 deficit on goals from Maryanne Menefee and Milica McMillen. Then in Saturday's game it was Kelly Terry lighting the lamp twice to help give Minnesota the sweep. Between the pipes Amanda Leveille was outstanding giving up just one goal on 62 Badgers shots this weekend (.984%SP). The Gopher women are 4-0 on the season.
Minnesota Golden Gophers Men's team also started off in winning fashion as they won their own Ice Breaker tournament with victories over Mercyhurst and #12 ranked New Hampshire respectively. The Golden Gophers cruised to a 6-0 victory over Mercyhurst Friday night, on goals from six different players: Kyle Rau, Sam Warning, Seth Ambroz, Mike Reilly, Michael Brodzinski and Justin Kloos. On Saturday night, it wasn't as high scoring but Minnesota was carrying the play outshooting the Wildcats 34-23. However, the Gophers got a bit of a scare early as New Hampshire struck first as Eric Knodel scored on the power play. Minnesota answered back as talented freshman Hudson Fasching registered his first goal as a Gopher. The Wildcats would strike again to re-take the lead Nick Sorkin snuck a shot by Adam Wilcox. Yet Minnesota would respond in a big way with goals from Warning and Vinni Lettieri and they'd hold on for the victory. Pretty good weekend for the nation's #4 team.
Wild Prospect Report:
G – Alexandre Belanger (Rouyn-Noranda, QMJHL) Belanger had a real solid outing on Friday, stopping 15 of 16 shots in the Huskies' 4-1 win over the Sherbrooke Phoenix. The Sherbrooke, Quebec-native has a 3-1 record with a not so pretty 4.24GAA and a .827%SP but his team is not known for playing great defense in front of him leaving Belanger under siege most nights.
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