Minnesota Wild (1-0-0) 1st in Central Division
5.00 Goals per Game (5th)
0.00 Goals Against per Game (2nd)
0.0% Power Play (21st)
100% Penalty Kill (5th)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #11 Zach Parise ~ 1G 2A = 3pts
2. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 1G 1A = 2pts
3. #29 Jason Pominville ~ 1G 1A = 2pts
4. #64 Mikael Granlund ~ 0G 2A = 2pts
5. #46 Jared Spurgeon ~ 1G 0A = 1pts
Top 3 Penalty Minutes:
1. #18 Ryan Carter ~ 6PIM
2. #6 Marco Scandella ~ 2PIM
3, #55 Matt Dumba ~ 2PIM
Top Goaltenders:
1. #35 Darcy Kuemper ~ (1-0-0) 0.00GAA 1.000SV% 1SO
Colorado Avalanche (0-1-0) 7th in Central Division
0.00 Goals per Game (30th)
5.00 Goals per Game (27th)
0.0% Power Play (26th)
100% Penalty Kill (10th)
Top 5 Scorers: ***
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Top 3 Penalty Minutes:
1. #6 Erik Johnson ~ 4PIM
2. #17 Brad Stuart ~ 2PIM
3. #92 Gabriel Landeskog ~ 2PIM
Top Goaltenders:
1. #20 Reta Berra ~ (0-0-0) 0.00GAA 1.000SV% 0SO
2. #1 Semyon Varlamov ~ (0-0-0) 7.50GAA .868SV% 0SO
So here it is the second night of the opening home and home series. After Thursday night’s game, I thought I would be talking about Minnesota’s domination and high energy. I was hoping I would be talking about how I would like to see this version of the Wild for the vast majority of the season. In the post-game interviews on NBC Sports Network with Zach Parise he talked about how it was great to see, but it was only the first game. He also mentioned that tonight would be a test, because Minnesota needs to improve on their road performance from last year. Well, it seems like the Colorado Avalanche coaching staff and their media decided that I was going to need to discuss something completely different.
So while the hockey world is being spared that imbecilic nonsense of Colorado’s normal beat writer Adrian Dater, we’re still stuck with their other village idiot, Mark Kiszla. How is it that one city seems to have the monopoly on ridiculous sports writers? Yeah, yeah, we have Sid Hartman and Patrick Reusse, but I swear Dater and Kiszla make Grandpa Sports and Reusse seem harmless by comparison. So after Colorado completely failed to show up in Saint Paul on Thursday night, we get this ridiculous gem from Kiszla. All he could focus on was the infamous Matt Cooke hit on Colorado’s Tyson Barrie during last season’s playoffs. Instead of truly tearing apart the Avalanche for what they didn’t do, Kiszla decided to make Matt Cooke the story. Let’s see, Cooke had no points and no penalties. Heck, Cooke didn’t even manage a shot on goal. Yet, Cooke was the grudge topic.
And if Kiszla wasn’t bad enough, he gave head coach Patrick Roy a soapbox to spew his vitriol. I give you this (pushing the envelope) threat:
“One day,” Patrick Roy told me Thursday, “it might be the opposite. One of our players will hurt one of their guys. And I’m sure everybody is going to be very happy to remind (Minnesota) what happened to Tyson Barrie.”
It’s one thing when you hear such comments from players, but when you start hearing it from the coaches you have to worry that such threats are actually condoned by the coach and front office. Minnesota sports fans are well familiar with the idea of sports bounties. If you’re a Minnesota Vikings fan, you still question the injury to Brett Favre in the 2010 NFC Championship Game against the eventual Superbowl Champions, the New Orleans Saints. But what makes Roy’s comments even more scary, is that the Colorado Avalanche have been part of a pre-meditated revenge:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFW62Hqz-OY]
Really Patrick Roy, is this what you want? Last I looked, Tyson Barrie played hockey again, and did so Thursday night. It’s not Matt Cooke’s fault that Barrie did absolutely nothing in your team’s loss. Steve Moore never played hockey again after the sucker punch by Todd Bertuzzi. Sure, you used the word “might” but you pretty much said to your team, “feel free to look for revenge.” You are turning into a bitter old man Roy. Are these feelings of bitterness simply compounded because you’re still mad at the team that ended your career? And Kiszla doesn’t help matters with his parting words:
Free advice to Cooke: Keep your head on a swivel. The first shot of the game might be a fist directed at a lowdown, dirty Wild man certain to be greeted in Denver by a chorus of boos.
This is the kind of bullshit that has no place in sports. This is the kind of small penis syndrome that ultimately further blackens the eye of a sport that already is deemed violent by helicopter, soccer moms and ignorant casual fans. It’s times like these, that make me fully appreciate the fantastic, even-keeled reporting by Michael Russo. I’ll take him over Dater and Kiszla any day and that our coaches have taken the calmer, more grown-up approach.
Considering Roy’s public words, I seriously hope the officiating crew and the league officials watch this game carefully. However my dear friends, if we draw Brad Meier for one of tonight’s referees, know that our players are on their own.
***No, I didn’t forget to add scorers for the Avalanche, but when your skaters don’t score, they don’t get entered.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
