Good afternoon. Sorry for the delay. Had to do two out-of-town radio interviews where all they asked me were questions about the Toronto Maple Leafs and their quest to hire an interim GM even though they have yet to can their current GM.

Just got back from practice. I talked with a bunch of high school students after practice for Wild High School Media Day.

Third year in a row I probably ruined journalism as a future career for a bunch of aspiring youngsters. Sorry.

I do feel bad. Aaron Voros went after me. I apologized to him after because I’m a tough act to follow. Voros was kind of like the comedian that has to follow Seinfeld.

We continue.

As I was talking to the 30 students, I flashed back to the first Wild high school day I did in 2005. It dawned on me, I never even heard of a blog back then.

But it just shows how the newspaper biz has changed since even 2 1/2 years ago, which I tried to convey to the students. Today, my priorities aren’t only writing for the newspaper. Startribune.com and specifically this blog allows me another way to communicate with Star Tribune readers and Wild fans. And, the blog gives me a place to supplement material that I can’t squeeze into an ever-tightening newspaper.

It’s funny, I’m a newspaper sportswriter, but every day when I get home from practice, I’m thinking, “Gotta blog, gotta blog.” I’m not thinking, “Ah, I should probably write my story for tomorrow’s paper so my editor can go home for the day.”

Speaking of Star Tribune.com, Strib.com reporter Jenni Pinkley was out at the X this morning working on a cool feature for the Web Site. She was given a locker room tour by Kurtis Foster and Josh Harding. It looked like they were having fun with it, so if you want an inside, behind-the-scenes look at the Wild’s locker room/fitness center/lounge, etc., it should be up on startribune.com/wild sometime soon.

Free of charge, too.

Not much news from practice. Every one skated but defenseman Sean Hill, out with a sprained ankle. I did see him after, and he was walking much better.

LW Derek Boogaard is definitely ready to return. It’s just a matter of when the Wild activates him off injured reserve, and then whether coach Jacques Lemaire wants to change a lineup that’s won three in a row.

If Boogaard’s going to play Wednesday against Calgary, the Wild has until 4 p.m. (Wednesday) to activate him. Lemaire sounded like he’s considering playing Boogaard in one or both of the next two games because Calgary and Anaheim are physical teams with a few pugilists.

Calgary plays in Nashville tonight, so the Wild may get a tired opponent tomorrow. Eric Nystrom’s out with a jaw injury. I believe David Moss and Adrian Aucoin are coming back from injuries tonight. Newly-signed CuJo isn’t on the road. He’ll meet his new team in Calgary.

Jarome Iginla is healthy, and the Flames are 17-4-4 when he gets a point against the Wild, 5-5-3 when he doesn’t.

I’d say he’s a Wild killer, wouldn’t you?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 15th, 2008 at 2:55 pm and is filed under Practice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.