Practice today was optional for Wild players; blogging is not. So here I am with this brief report from a ghost town of an Xcel Energy Center.

Just how optional was today? Head coach Jacques Lemaire didn’t even skate. Mario Tremblay ran practice. Nothing too up-tempo for the eight players on the ice (Clutterbuck, Gillies, Pouliot, Weller,  Reitz, Boogaard and the two goalies). It was what I would categorize as a relaxed practice. At one point, Backstrom skated in on defense during a drill. And in perhaps a holdover from last night’s action, Harding and Gillies went at it - playfully.

Ah, yes. Last night. I mentioned Friday that while in town and taking in the Wild game, my father wanted to see “a few skirmishes” against the Lightning. He asked one game too early. Too bad we didn’t travel to Nashville. Dad would have gotten his fill of fights.

Weller’s got a nice bruise under his left eye as a souvenir from one of his two fights last night. Veilleux wasn’t around, so I didn’t get to ask him about his tilt. And, not surprisingly, Boogaard could only smile when I asked him about Saturday’s game. To review Boogaard’s stat line: One shift, three seconds, one penalty, five minutes in the sin bin.

A game like Saturday’s can throw some spark into a team. It will be interesting to see how the Wild comes out tomorrow against Colorado, an opponent that has plenty of history with the Wild. Also - I’d be fibbing if I said I wasn’t anxious already for this coming Saturday back in Nashville. Looks like my first Wild road trip might be action-packed.

OK - that’s it from me for today. No word yet from the Wild on whether it will call up a center in the event Eric Belanger once again is a no-go. And the coaching staff met after “practice” to discuss December’s captain, which will be announced Monday.

Who’s your pick?

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 30th, 2008 at 2:14 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.