The start of a new year or season usually brings excitement of one kind or another. By this time of the year, the country’s school children are all back in school. For the kindergartner, the new school year often brings more anxiety than joyful excitement. If you’ve driven by your local elementary school on the first day of school, you can generally pick out the school’s youngest, as they’re most likely the ones crying or clinging to a parent’s leg. As kids get older, the excitement evolves, whether it’s from moving to a different building (elementary to middle to high school), having new teachers, or just the enjoyment of hanging out with friends on a more regular basis to starting the various sports seasons.
With the opening of the 2010-11 National Hockey League season just around the corner, one would think I would be excited. The Minnesota Wild are about to embark on their tenth year of play. A team that plays in a state such as Minnesota, with its longstanding hockey heritage, you can expect that the team will play up that history. What you can also expect is a healthy serving of cheese. And yes my friends, the cheese course has already begun.
On Friday, Wild head coach, Todd Richards named his choice for a third assistant coach. With all the possible choices out there, his choice seems a bit disappointing. Richards chose not only a former Minnesotan and (University of Minnesota) Golden Gopher like himself, but a member of the Wild’s inaugural season. That choice was none other than Darby Hendrickson. For the nostalgic types who go on and on about how there should be more Minnesota-born players on the roster, they are simply going to eat up this particular serving of cheese. They won’t hesitate to remind you that Darby holds the honor of scoring the first home goal in the Wild’s history. They probably also thought Darby was a great presence during Wild and Gopher games on Fox Sports North. That position, along with his membership with the National Hockey League Players Association have both been resigned in light of his new position with the Wild.
Richards believes that the hiring will be “popular” with fans. I’m not sure which fans he’s talking about. If you browse the posts on just about any Minnesota Wild message board, most fans believe this is nothing more than a cheap PR stunt. A “fun” way to ring in the tenth year of the Wild’s existence. However, Richards claims he didn’t make his decision for its popularity. His main reason for hiring Hendrickson, was that he figured his relative youth when compared to most professional coaches would help the team relate better with younger players. Perhaps that influence can keep players such as James Sheppard (who at one time lived in Hendrickson’s basement) off of ATV’s just weeks prior to the opening of training camp, causing injuries that will keep Sheppard out of action for 3-4 months.
One major question many fans are asking is how did Hendrickson get the position over Wes Walz, another member of that inaugural season. Yes, it too would have been a cheesy appointment. At the very least, one could say that Walz has professional coaching experience from his short tenure as an assistant with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Fans are asking this very question. To the fans, the organization is saying that where you’re from is more important than what you’ve done.
I’m going to try and hope for the best. I’m going to hope this cheese course turns out to be a splendid serving of award winning 8-year cheddar. However, I’m afraid it will be nothing more than a stinky Limburger.
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