Summer. The word alone conjures up many ideas in our heads. It can mean anything from bratwurst on the grill and cold beverages to a dip in a swimming pool on a hot summer day. However for many people, the word ‘summer’ makes us think about one thing. Vacation. For most of us, our vacations come during the summer months. This is especially true for people with kids, as it’s easier to get away during the two to three months that they have off from school. For teachers, such as my husband, it’s a time to not think of lesson plans or homework, although some do find themselves in summer school to work on advanced degrees or for license renewal. Usually, our big summer vacation consists of a week of fishing on the Canadian side of Rainy Lake. That won’t be the case this summer due to a family wedding, and the happy newleyweds can’t get the extra time off from their jobs after the time they just took off for their big day. It is a sacrifice I will gladly endure as it was a great wedding. Like they say in sports, there’s always next year.
As a kid, my family vacations consisted of venturing to the extreme northwest corner of Minnesota for family reunions and the occasional day-trip to the Wisconsin Dells (our Midwestern readers will be more than familiar with that particular tourist trap). Strangely enough, I now live about 20 minutes from the Dells, and I avoid it like the plague between Memorial Day and Labor Day, but that’s another story for another day. Just like Chevy Chase’s fictional character Clark Griswald, we were loaded up in a family vehicle. Instead of the Wagon Queen Family Truckster in Metallic Pea, we had my dad’s 1979 Chevy Suburban. Sure it had lots of room in it, but the heating and cooling systems were horrible in it. When you’re a kid, you find yourself sitting in the back seat, where in the winter you froze and the summer you melted. It was probably a good thing my parents never decided on taking a cross-country vacation in the Suburban, as I doubt any of us would have survived the experience with our sanity intact. In fact, I didn’t get to Disneyland (the inspiration for the fictional Wally World) until I was a sophomore in college.
For Wild fans, our vacation from hockey came much sooner than any of us wished. Because of the failures this past season, we found ourselves cheering for other teams (albeit half-heartedly) in the the post-season. If you’re like me, you generally found yourseld cheering quite enthusiastically for the team playing the Vancouver Canucks. In fact, I never knew I liked the Boston Bruins as much as I did. In fact, they have my loyalty and support, well until they next play the Wild. The playoffs are a bit like the cross-country road trip or the backpack adventure across Europe that many college students embark on. It’s long and drawn out, and many times you don’t know where you’re going to end up. As fans, we have a couple of more planned “trips.” The first is this upcoming weekend with the 2011 National Hockey League Entry Draft which is being held in our very own Xcel Energy Center in downtown St. Paul. The second being the beginning of Free Agency in July. For Wild fans, we’re used to our team not taking the deluxe, all-inclusive vacation. Our free agent acquisitions tend to be more of the family reunion type of trip in northwestern Minnesota. And of course, our final trips of the off-season come in the forms of training camp and pre-season. However, we got one additional mini-vacation just this past week.
On Thursday, it was announced that Mike Yeo would be the third head coach in Wild history. That announcement had many of the Wild faithful saying “not again.” Many simply were not comfortable with Wild General Manager, Chuck Fletcher, going with a “rookie” NHL head coach for a second time. As soon as Todd Richards was fired after the end of the regular season, many names were bandied about. Lately, the names most often mentioned were Yeo as well as NHL veterans, Craig MacTavish and Ken Hitchcock. Sure, the veteran coaches available weren’t exactly the cream of the crop, but many fans felt we could not afford to go with a first year NHL head coach yet again after the failed Richards experiment/experience. If we as fans needed some form of reassurance of Yeo’s abilities, we simply need to remember the success he had with the Wild’s farm team, the Houston Aeros of the American Hockey League. While the Aeros fell just short of winning the Calder Cup, Yeo and his team were able to do something that the Wild have been unable to do in the past three seasons, and that is make the post-season. The Aeros, like the Wild, are not known for scoring many goals. Where the teams differ is that the Aeros have a strong, physical two-man forecheck, and are able to force the opposition to turn over the puck. If Yeo is able to bring that combined with his requirement of all players being physical to St. Paul, one can only hope that things will turn around. Also, know that Yeo has more coaching experience than Richards did when hired, even though Yeo is younger than Richards was.
Yeo was a guest on WCCO’s Sports Huddle with Sid and Dave just this morning. My first impression of Yeo is that we’re getting a man who is not afraid to tell the truth. It is my hope that we will not have to suffer through another wishy-washy post-game interview like we did during the two seasons with Richards. I don’t want a glossed-over, excuse filled post-game interview. I want to hear exactly what went wrong from the coach’s perspective. It also my sincerest hope that the dreaded “optional” practices are a thing of the past, especially after getting trounced the night before. This team does not need a coach to be their friend or to hold their hand. They need a straight-talking, no nonsense coach. I’ll admit, we’re spoiled during the years of having Jacques Lemaire as head coach. However, he was what one expects of a coach. Truth be told, I don’t care how much experience a guy has. All I care is that he comes in and acts like a coach, and gets things done. Yeo, and more importantly Chuck Fletcher, cannot afford a start to the season like the Wild had last season. Yeo’s hiring will more likely end up being a testament to the abilities of Fletcher than Yeo. If Yeo fails, Wild owner Craig Leipold, may find himseld looking for a new general manager than worrying about anything else.
Now the only question is this. With the hiring of Mike Yeo, did we end up with the Super Sports Wagon in Antarctic Blue with CB and optional rally funpack, or did we (unfortunately) end up with the Wagon Queen Family Truckster in Metallic Pea? Time will only tell.
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