UPDATED AT 2:25 P.M.

I’m writing this again because it didn’t save, so you know I’m in a good mood about that.

Mikko Koivu scored two goals in the scrimmage, a 3-2 Honesty win over the Passion, and looked downright tremendous all game. He really had a hat trick, but refused to admit he tipped Nick Schultz’s point shot. Schultz said Koivu got it, but the classy Finn gave it to Schultz.

Marian Gaborik is already day-to-day with a pulled right quad. He’s been nursing it for a week and pulled up during one shift in the first half of the scrimmage. He also was checked by Erik Reitz and did the splits, which couldn’t have helped. Gaborik was kept out of the second half of the scrimmage.

Tom Lynn and Doug Risebrough said it isn’t serious. Gaborik wouldn’t comment. He did say he’s dining with his agent, Ron Salcer, tonight and the two sides will meet again in the coming days. No time or day has been set up yet.

Defenseman Brent Burns practiced during the drills two weeks after elbow surgery. He hasn’t been cleared for contact yet, although he definitely took contact. If you didn’t know he had surgery a few weeks back, you’d never know. He scored another sweet goal off a Bouchard feed, too.

You guys should like Craig Weller. Very physical. Clobbered Cal Clutterbuck and Clayton Stoner on one shift. Jacques Lemaire loved the job Marek Zidlicky and Martin Skoula did today as a pair.

My prediction, at the end of camp, centers will go like this:

9-Koivu

67-Pouliot

51-Sheppard

25-Belanger

I just feel if you’re going to put Pouliot on the team, you can’t have a skilled center like that playing fourth-line duty. Plus I watched Pouliot score an insane tic-tac-toe goal after Nolan fed Bouchard, who hit an oncoming Pouliot. Yeah it’s 3-on-2’s, but Pouliot’s got skill.

Wild did shootout drills. It’s the most fun thing Lemaire does. He has players bet whether a guy will score or not. So say it’s Gaborik. The players go to one side of him or the other to say whether they believe Gaborik will score. If you’re betting he scores and he does, the players that bet against him skate a lap. If you’re betting he won’t score and he doesn’t, the players that bet for him skate a lap.

Bouchard went, and beat Anton Khudobin with the famed Spin’O Rama.

Also, Colton Gillies and Tyler Cuma, the Wild’s last two first-round picks who were held out of the last game in Traverse City due to injuries, participated in the first day of camp.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 20th, 2008 at 10:00 am and is filed under Training camp. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.