Good afternoon from Edmonton, where the Wild just finished up its optional practice.

The defense corps — except for vets Keith Carney and Sean Hill — took practice off, as did forwards Marian Gaborik, Pavol Demitra and Mikko Koivu.

Wild is trying to recover from an aggravating loss last night, one in which it undeniably battled but committed some boneheaded blunders to lose.

It’s the little things, as they say.

Jarome Iginla is truly unbelievable. You know, there are certain great players that are a cut above good players, and Iginla’s a great one.

Last night, when I got back to the hotel, I watched a shortened replay of the game on CBC. And in a game like last night, where you’re writing running and filing the second the game is over, you don’t really get to watch every nanosecond. In fact, you miss a ton, especially in a game like last night where there’s tons happening and the game’s changing.

It’s amazing watching Iginla play. His third goal. He gets the puck in the left circle, but loses it after a Wild defender poke-checked it. He got the puck again and lost it again.

He then skated to his right about six feet in front of the goalmouth and a rebound just came to him.

Luck? Not at all. The one thing I noticed, every time Iginla lost the puck, he never took his eye off the puck. He was constantly watching, constantly maneuvering. He always goes to the net but rarely parks himself there, which is why it’s so hard to check him.

Just a smart, talented player.

Also, he’s a good guy. Some of the off-ice stories about him are unbelievable — like when he bought those three Calgarians that were sleeping in their car a hotel room at the Salt Lake City Olympics, etc.

Last night, more than an hour after the game ended, myself, my colleague from across the river and the Calgary Sun writer were leaving the Saddledome. We hear a bunch of kids down by the players’ entrance and the only player still in the building signing autographs?

Jarome Iginla.

Then, Iginla walks in front of us to the door, opens it and holds it for us to leave before him. Class act. 

Eric Belanger practiced today. His big right toe is still swollen, but he feels much better. He said he feels some vibration on stops-and-starts. Jacques Lemaire made it sound like he may play him tomorrow against the Oilers. That was news to Belanger, who’s aiming for Wednesday.

We will see.

Pavol Demitra would likely moved to wing when Belanger returns, which would mean another winger would have to come out. That really makes Mark Parrish on the outside looking in because you can figure 2 of the 3 tough guys will be playing most games.

Lemaire referred to Parrish today as the 20th, 21st or 22nd player, which is astonishing when you think about it.  Parrish doesn’t know what to do or say.

Still, you have to wonder if Parrish will at least play tomorrow. I don’t know why you need Boogaard, Fedoruk and Simon all playing against Edmonton.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 23rd, 2008 at 4:11 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.