Minnesota Wild (25-18-5) 55pts 4th in the Central
2.33 Goals For (25th)
2.40 Goals Against (9th)
19.5% Power Play (9th)
79.9% Penalty Kill (23rd)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #29 Jason Pominville ~ 18G 13A = 31pts
2. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 5G 25A = 30pts
3. #22 Nino Niederreiter ~ 9G 16A = 25pts
4. #24 Matt Cooke ~ 6G 13A = 19pts
5. #64 Mikael Granlund ~ 3G 16A = 19pts
Top 3 PIM's:
1. #4 Clayton Stoner ~ 46 PIM's
2. #2 Keith Ballard ~ 31 PIM's
3. #24 Matt Cooke ~ 30 PIM's
Top Goaltenders:
1. #37 Josh Harding (18-7-3) 1.65GAA .933%SP 3SO
2. #32 Niklas Backstrom (5-10-2) 3.02GAA .899%SP
3. #35 Darcy Kuemper (2-1-0) 2.28GAA .911%SP 1SO
Vs.
Ottawa Senators (20-18-8) 48pts 6th in the Atlantic
2.80 Goals For (11th)
3.06 Goals Against (27th)
18.4% Power Play (15th)
79.9% Penalty Kill (22nd)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #65 Erik Karlsson ~ 10G 31A = 41pts
2. #6 Bobby Ryan ~ 18G 19A = 37pts
3. #7 Kyle Turris ~ 12G 22A = 34pts
4. #16 Clarke MacArthur ~ 15G 18A = 33pts
5. #19 Jason Spezza ~ 12G 19A = 31pts
Top 3 PIM's:
1. #25 Chris Neil ~ 99 PIM's
2. #15 Zack Smith ~ 57 PIM's
3. #74 Mark Borowiecki ~ 48 PIM's
Top Goaltenders:
1. #41 Craig Anderson (15-9-5) 3.10GAA .905%SP 2SO
2. #40 Robin Lehner (5-9-3) 2.68GAA .922%SP
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I know I've mentioned this before, but my day job is in customer service. So many in this world are used to bad customer service, which is really sad. I've found that in general, it's much easier to be nice and to really want to help the person on the phone than to be rude and unhelpful. I've come to the conclusion that I and my co-workers are a rarity in the world of customer service. Now, most of us when we think about "customer service" we think of how we work just with our customer. However, it goes beyond that. I also need to provide great customer service to my co-workers, because in the long run, we work as a team together. If I fail to leave clear notes on a customer's order and they have to call back with questions that come up I need to leave notes so that my co-workers know what I discussed with the customer, then I'm not helping my co-workers or our customers. A business cannot and does not succeed if all involved can't work as a team. It's not always easy, but it makes things easier.
Have you been wondering why the Minnesota Wild suddenly are looking like a team, with even some occasional flashbacks to the epic 2002-03 season? I know I have. And I also know that I've really enjoyed watch the Wild play in the last few games. I've also been wondering why the Wild's young players have looked so much more competitive than their veteran brethren. Well, we have an answer. It seems that the young players have fully dedicated themselves to the team, and when the vets leave the ice after practice, they stay. Lately, Charlie Coyle, Mikael Granlund, Nino Niederreiter and Jason Zucker have been staying on the ice after the rest of the team leaves. There are times, especially on game days, where head coach Mike Yeo has to go back to the ice and tell them it's time to rest. But even better, is who is working with these young players at what is being called "After Hours." The Wild has quite a few "young" coaches and people in player development who are putting on their skates to help develop our young players. Obviously, assistant coaches Darryl Sydor and Darby Hendrickson are there. But perhaps the ace in the hole is Andrew Brunette joins in. Looking at that lineup of players and coaches goes far to explain so much.
Fans have been looking at the "kids" wondering where this energy and great play has been coming from. They're fun and exciting to watch. And these young players are definitely benefitting from working with coaches who have been in their place and know what it takes to work as a team, even when things aren't perfect. Now, ideally Sydor would be working with Jonas Brodin in these "After Hours" sessions, however considering how much ice time Brodin logs in a game, he's generally not allowed to participate. Brodin at least has the fortune of working with Ryan Suter on his game. Sydor can definitely add some defense to the games of his forwards that show up. However, I think what truly helps are having Hendrickson and Brunette involved. Those two players have been very much involved with the Wild organization pretty much from the beginning. They know the heartbeat of the team and the fans. They've been there when this was a team that could have easily been a joke of the league, but their hard work and dedication combined with fantastic coaching from Jacques Lemaire, Mario Tremblay and Mike Ramsey made the Wild a competitive team each and every game. Hendrickson and Brunette know how to best get the most from players and how to improve their strengths and work on eliminating the weaknesses. And if you wanted to know why Niederreiter is always somewhere around the net when he's on the ice, he's been taking lessons from none other than Andrew Brunette. I don't know about you, but I can't think of a better teacher.
It would be great to see this same kind of dedication from the veteran players. However, it's not really feasible to keep them on the ice longer. Your body, energy levels and recovery time are much different when you're 21 than when you're 30. Now while we can't expect the older players to be on the ice more than they already are, we should be able to expect the same kind of energy and dedication when they are on the ice during the games. Sometimes they look a little lazy or tired. Sure, we can't be 100% all the time, but they could at least show a little pep in their game. However, there is one of the vets who clearly is feeding off the energy of his younger teammates. This player has also been in the doghouse of the fans quite a bit this season. The one players who has certainly looked better, and even appears to thrive and pick his game up, is none other than Dany Heatley. Sometimes when you surround yourself with people younger than yourself, we feel and act younger yourself. If this means we get more production from Heatley, then I'm all for it.
With tonight's opponent being Ottawa, we definitely need all players both young and veteran to come out and play a team game. We need the energy of the young players and the leadership of the vets in order to succeed tonight. Ottawa has never been a kind opponent for Minnesota. The sad things is, I don't know if we could even beat the 1992 Ottawa Senators some nights. If the Wild play like they have in recent games, we could beat the Senators. However, if we get the Wild we saw right around Christmas, we'll be in trouble. Energy, teamwork and dedication is a powerful mix. If Minnesota wants to get anywhere this season (and into the post-season), they need to continually combine those traits. The traits we are seeing from Coyle, Granlund, Niederreiter and Zucker every night.
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