Game #17: Minnesota Wild vs Anaheim Ducks, Wednesday November 17, 2010 at 7:00pm CST, Xcel Energy Center [GAME PREVIEW]

In just over a week, most Americans will be gathering with family and friends around a table to celebrate Thanksgiving.  With that in mind, I find that I’m already thinking of things that I’m thankful for, in both my real (and rather mundane) life and in the world of hockey.  Of course, these days many of us are wondering what there really is to be thankful for in these lean times.  However, I am one of those people who tries  to believe that no matter how bad things are, they could always be worse.

In the real world, most of us are finding we’re having to pinch our pennies.  However, if you’re reading this you clearly have access to the internet.  Many of us have found a way to budget for internet access within our homes.  Some of you are reading this because you’re in school of one kind or another and are using your school’s internet.  There are those who could be reading this courtesy of a computer in a public library.  So while our wallets and bank accounts feel drained on a regular basis, we still somehow have access to the internet.  While the housing industry has pretty much imploded, most of us still have a house over our heads.  The job market is extremely bleak.  I know many, including hockey fans, who are desperately looking for work.  I myself am currently working a seasonal phone center job.  While I do not know if I have a job after January, I still consider myself very fortunate that I’m working as well as having a spouse that has a teaching job.  For those of us in the United States and Canada, we have access to clean, safe drinking water.  While crime is always an issue in the United States (and in Canada as well), we must count ourselves extremely fortunate that we’re not dealing with the extreme violence that our North American brothers and sisters in Mexico are dealing with.  So while our real

When it comes to hockey, especially for Wild fans, this season has sometimes made it difficult to be thankful for much.  When we came out of the pre-season, I know I had moments that I wanted to stick my head in the sand and wait for the season just to be over.  However with the way they have turned things around on occasion, I am finding things to be thankful for.  However, they may be more of a “silver lining” than anything else.

First off, I am extremely thankful that the Wild only have to play one more game against a Southeast Division opponent for the rest of the season.  This recent roadtrip is one I’d just assume forget completely about.  The losses against Florida and Atlanta annoyed me to no end.  It is a tough pill to swallow that the Wild were able to beat the two best teams of that particular division (Washington and Tampa Bay) yet faltered against the other three.  What does worry me is that final game against a Southeast Division opponent just happens to be near the end of the regular season.  If the Wild happen to be in the playoff hunt that late in the season, that game could easily be a stumbling block.

My next feeling of thankfulness is conditional.  Of course the fact that it’s conditional when it comes to “thanks” essentially makes it an oxymoron, but I’ll go with it anyway.  In Sunday’s game against the Lightning, it seems that Martin Havlat may have finally figured out his game for the season.  Part of me still has bitter feelings toward Havlat.  It really has nothing to do with him as a person, but more with feelings toward his agent, Allen Walsh.  Yes, Havlat has struggled since his move to Minnesota, but the last thing any fan wants to hear are the bitter words of an agent (who make excellent money off of their clients) who has a long, bitter history with the Wild.  Havlat still has a long way to improve his standing in the eyes of fans.  He needs to be more active in the play.  One way he can easily improve good will among fans is simply to start scoring on a regular basis.

I am also extremely grateful for players in Houston who have lately been on a merry-go-round when it comes to call-ups.  They come up, never knowing how long the stint will be.  I’m sure some of them wonder if they’ll be the next Cal Clutterbuck, a minor league call-up turn full-time NHL player.  Sure we cringe a lot during their first few games in a Wild uniform, however by the end of their call-up they’ve gotten a better grasp on things.  Usually a player’s subsequent call-ups involve fewer growing pains.

When it comes to tonight’s game, I can easily say that I am glad that I’m not a fan of the Anaheim Ducks right now.  While it’s not polite to gloat at another person’s misfortunes, in this case it’s kind of easy to do.  Currently, the Ducks have six to eight players who are out of their lineup.  As Wild fans, we’ve seen our own rash of injuries early in the season.  As our players have either returned to the ice (some such as Chuck Kobasew who has been back and forth out of the lineup), it’s only fair that we face another team who is in the place that we’ve been in earlier.  Of course we can only hope that the Wild are simply getting their injuries out of the way early, instead of later in the season when the playoffs could be on the line.

So yes, it is sometimes to find ways to be thankful for what we have when things are tough.  But that’s a fact of life.  Life is never perfect, it just seems better when we have more money, a nicer house, and a great job.  However, the point of Thanksgiving is to be thankful for what we have, not what we don’t have or had at one time. 

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