We interrupt this A-Rod press conference afternoon for some Wild news.

Actually, sorry to bring more lies but I don’t have a whole lot to offer at all. It was a pretty quiet practice down at the X today. Just 10 Wild players took the ice (Sheppard, Clutterbuck, Fritsche, Veilleux Gillies, Weller, Olvecky, Belanger and the two goalies). Jacques Lemaire didn’t even skate. Though a day after another on-ice incident, he was in good spirits, joking that when he skates tomorrow he will be in full gear, including a bullet-proof vest.

Those who didn’t skate did off-ice workouts. Derek Boogaard (illness) was again given the day off and Marc-Andre Bergeron (upper body) was given a second day to rest. Both are expected to give it a go tomorrow.

Practice was pretty light for the 10 on the ice. Some simple pass-and-shoot drills were conducted for about 15 minutes, then an easy-going game of shinny broke out. And that was about it.

Despite the light practice it was busy downstairs. The Wild’s marketing department had several tables set up filled with photos and other items set to be signed and auctioned off. And a handful of high school journalists were in the building ready to meet with members of the local media to talk about covering the Wild. Michael Russo teaching the journalists of tomorrow … that’s a scary thought. Then again, backup reporters apprently weren’t asked to participate (or my invitation got lost in the mail …), so I should probably shush up now

I expect a full, hard-nosed practice Wednesday in preparation for Thursday’s tilt with Calgary. I’ll be there to bring it all to you.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 17th, 2009 at 12:53 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.