Minnesota Wild (18-15-5) 41pts 6th in the Central
2.76 Goals For (15th)
2.87Goals Against (22nd)
14.8% Power Play (25th)
84.8% Penalty Kill (8th)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #11 Zach Parise ~ 14G 16A = 30pts
2. #29 Jason Pominville ~ 8G 22A = 30pts
3. #26 Thomas Vanek ~ 7G 17A = 24pts
4. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 1G 21A = 22pts
5. #9 Mikko Koivu ~ 6G 14A = 20pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #4 Stu Bickel ~ 46 PIM’s
2. #6 Marco Scandella ~ 42 PIM’s
3. #18 Ryan Carter ~ 41 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #35 Darcy Kuemper (13-12-1) 2.68GAA .902%SP 3SO
2. #32 Niklas Backstrom (5-3-3) 2.71GAA .896%SP
Vs.
Chicago Blackhawks (26-12-2) 54pts 2nd in the Central
2.98 Goals For (7th)
2.15 Goals Against (1st)
18.7% Power Play (16th)
90.1% Penalty Kill (1st)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #88 Patrick Kane ~ 19G 23A = 42pts
2. #19 Jonathan Toews ~ 13G 20A = 33pts
3. #23 Kris Versteeg ~ 9G 18A = 27pts
4. #81 Marian Hossa ~ 8G 19A = 27pts
5. #2 Duncan Keith ~ 6G 20A = 26pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #65 Andrew Shaw ~ 30 PIM’s
2. #13 Daniel Carcillo ~ 30 PIM’s
3. #4 Niklas Hjalmarsson ~ 26 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #50 Corey Crawford (15-8-2) 2.20GAA .919%SP 1SO
2. #31 Antti Raanta (6-2-0) 1.73GAA .944%SP 2SO
3. #33 Scott Darling (5-2-0) 1.97GAA .937%SP
http://gty.im/488511567
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A784yAXX4VQ]
The English language can be (and often is) a very colorful language. And it adds additional shades and colors in every region of the world where English is spoken. There are various ways to say people or things are not pleasing. In the Southern United States, when you’re talking about someone considered mean or less than intelligent, the typical phrase is “well bless his/her heart.” It sounds unbelievably nice, but it’s not. Now, if you’re from Minnesota, the equivalent phrase is “well, that’s different.” Not every region has a linguistic phrasebook, but for Minnesota, we have Howard Mohr’s 1986 classic How to Speak Minnesotan. If you’ve never read it, it explains things like “well, that’s different,” the night of the long lunch, and other such quirks.
That colorful English language gives us another excellent phrase to explain yesterday’s rant by Minnesota’s head coach Mike Yeo. The horrible practice let to an epic breakdown by the coach laden with one very colorful, four-letter word used over and over again. I think in the video that’s been making the rounds (and I’ll get to that in a bit), there was more censoring beeps than actual words we could hear. From all accounts, Yeo was conducting a brutal practice complete with Herbies for the team’s horrible play lately. Yeo was so worked up, that he was unable to finish practice and handed over the reins to his assistant coaches before he stormed off the ice. Well as much as one can storm off while wearing skates. And storming off is another of those great English phrases.
Reading the player reactions later, you have to wonder if it’s finally sunk in. That concept is best expressed in one of the best English phrases I know. When you have such an event happen to you and it makes a huge difference in one’s life, it’s often called a “come to Jesus moment.” I think when many of us hear that phrase, we immediately think of the evangelical churches that participate in alter calls and the laying on of hands. In those instances, it is believed that the unbelievers finally come to know Jesus and take a public stand to show their belief or conversion. In it’s more colloquial form, a “come to Jesus moment” means you have a life or momentum changing experience. However, we won’t know if it was a true “come to Jesus moment” until tonight’s game. Having to face the Chicago Blackhawks right after such a public breakdown in practice will let us know if it’s finally registering with the team that they cannot continue to play as they have.
What’s probably the most interesting bit of Yeo’s meltdown, is how it’s become “viral” (another great English phrase) within the hockey community. Let’s face it, the Minnesota Wild are not the usual team to garner much buzz. We’re not the team that gets much coverage outside of Minnesota. But on occasion we do get coverage in the hockey community. However this season, there have been a couple of times where the Wild have gotten some coverage in the national news and I’m not talking just the national sports media. Earlier this season when Ryan Suter was knocked out of the lineup with the mumps, the story made the Today Show. I’m still shocked to this day that such a popular morning show not only talked about the mumps outbreak in the NHL, they did so from outside the Xcel Energy Center. The second such incident happened last night, when the video from yesterday’s break was shown. We were flipping through our channels last night and we landed on ESPN’s SportsCenter. Ever since ESPN stopped broadcasting NHL games (usually on ESPN2), it’s rare you will hear hockey mentioned on a supposed sports channel. However, last night there was Barry Melrose talking specifically about Yeo’s meltdown complete with obscenity-laced video. You know this is a big “come to Jesus moment” when ESPN is talking about Minnesota. Usually Yeo appears to be a pretty unemotional guy on the bench, but as shown in the video in this entry from when he was coaching the then Houston Aeros (now Iowa Wild) and in yesterday’s video, we know he has it in him. Perhaps he needed to show more of this emotion on a more regular basis so we wouldn’t be in this predicament we currently find ourselves in.
Of course if the Wild fail to improve tonight, that “come to Jesus moment” will turn into a “rats fleeing a sinking ship” moment. And that’s something no team can afford to happen.
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