With the State of Hockey taking center stage of the sports world for the the last week or so with the Ryder Cup at Hazeltine National Tuesday through Sunday, and the Vikings on MNF last night the Wild have been almost non-existent in the sports pages. That is all about to change as the first place Vikings enter their bye week and the State's true passion sport hockey is about to kick into gear as the Wild are winding down their preseason, tuning up for next week's opening of the NHL season.
Tonight the Wild will be in Denver to play the Avalanche in what promises to be a more spirited match-up than the one these two played last week in St. Paul. Both teams will have many more of their regulars in the line-up and the game will be much more like a regular season tilt.
The rosters have been trimmed significantly but there are still some serious roster battles taking place. Games are the place to show what you have in game situations so these last few pre-season games are very important in that regard.
It isn't about the wins and losses, so the Avalanche 4 and 0 record thus far and the Wild 2 and 2 record are insignificant. The fact that the newly formed Wild 1st line played well in their first game action is great, but how will they perform on the road against a better opponent. Staal, Parise, and Coyle combined for 4 points in their debut.
The Wild are counting on Zucker, Coyle, Haula, Niederreiter, Granlund to carry a bigger portion of the load this season. The defense is intact and another year more experienced. They have a quality coach in their corner in Stevens. Now is the time they take it up a notch and become one of the league's elite units.
Lot's to watch for, and lot's to be excited about.
Let's Go Crazy!
Let's Got Wild!