Game #1: Minnesota Wild vs Colorado Avalanche, Thursday October 9, 2014, 7:00pm, Xcel Energy Center [Game Preview]

It’s here dear friends.  The official beginning of the 2014-15 season.  Strangely enough, I don’t know what happened to the off-season.  In most years, the off-season tends to drag on and on with what feels like no end in sight.  This year, I feel like the Stanley Cup Finals only ended yesterday.  I suppose that’s because this summer, I felt like I was either working or not at home.  That kind of busy schedule tends to make the months without hockey speed by.  So here we are, ready to watch the Minnesota Wild take a chance at the greatest trophy in all of sports.

I suppose it’s only right that we start the regular season off with the team that had their season ended by the Minnesota Wild.  While I feel fairly confident that Minnesota can repeat a playoff appearance and get to at least the second round again, I don’t think people are having the same kind of confidence about Colorado.  Just looking at their pre-season record should make people wonder.  Where Minnesota went 3-2-1 in their six games, Colorado went an abysmal 1-5-2 in their eight scheduled pre-season games.  What will truly be interesting to watch when it comes to the Avalanche, is whether or not losses of players such as Paul Stastny will come to haunt them in the long run.

And regardless of how this game turns out, here’s a bit of interesting news for hockey fans.  Wild fans will be spared the whining and/or gloating of Adrian Dater, the Avalanche beat writer for the Denver Post.  Seems that Dater got into some expletive-laced rant with fellow Twitter users.  Due to that altercation, his employer (the Denver Post) has suspended him for two weeks without pay.  Of all the bloggers, broadcasters, and beat writers, there is no one I dislike as much as Dater.  His loathing of Jacques Lemaire definitely was the start of my extreme dislike for Dater, but his continued digs at Minnesota definitely cemented him as my least favorite hockey personality.  While I rarely wish for bad tidings for people, this is a suspension well-deserved.  The best part, is that the action associated with a Los Angeles Kings player on an Avalanche player happened three, yes three, years ago.  At least we won’t have to deal with his whining on the Tyson Barrie-Matt Cooke incident from the playoffs until February, as that’s the first time we play the Avalanche after the home and home.  Enjoy your unpaid vacation.

And as you can see, we have no statistics for this game preview.  I hate to use pre-season stats because the rosters are amorphous and have little to do with the regular season.  After this first game, we will hopefully have something to work with.