Friday’s practice update; Hockey equipment distribution Saturday
Posted on October 9th, 2009 – 7:21 PMBy Michael Russo
Late update I know, but I had all sorts of travel problems getting from L.A. to San Jose, had to go right to practice, then needed to write for the paper, then needed to finish my Sunday stuff (which I still haven’t) and I’m keeping half an eye on the Twins game as well.
Plus, there wasn’t any news at practice. Same lineup Saturday against San Jose, other than Niklas Backstrom getting the start. Jaime Sifers will again be out, unless for some reason Greg Zanon can’t play. But Zanon practiced fully today but he looks a little banged up from the hit he took from Dustin Brown in the third period last night.
The word of the day down at the HP Pavilion was “accountability.” Marty Havlat and Petr Sykora were benched for parts of last night’s blowout loss at LA, and Richards said his gloves are coming off. If players don’t show up, they too will get cemented to the bench. He said he’s done giving players the benefit of the doubt. Show up or lose ice.
Havlat admitted he had a tough go last night and said any coach would have benched him for being a minus-3 on his first three shifts. I asked him if he’s ever had a worse period, and he’s said always in L.A. Havlat’s game log confirms. Career at Staples Center: Three goals, two assists, minus-11 in eight games.
I did want to point out today after reading my story in the paper, Richards never called out Havlat last night. The way it reads, I wrote that Richards “clearly blamed” Havlat for the goal. I didn’t mean that to read that he audibly blamed Havlat for the goal after the game. I meant he clearly blamed him for the goal because he benched him for the next seven minutes.
When I asked about Havlat after the game, that’s when Richards answered with the quote about certain guys not showing up.
Richards talked a lot about the players’ pride today and how they know what they’re going wrong. He again bemoaned how difficult it is to get the players to rid themselves of previous coaching habits, but it’ll come.
The growing pains though could be long in my opinion. Power play, Wild’s been great — first in the NHL. Five-on-five, they’re terrible. Two goals for. Eight against, and loads of scoring chances.
I’ll talk to you Saturday, but lastly, from the Wild:
SAINT PAUL/MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Saturday, Oct. 10 is the distribution day for the used hockey equipment drive headed by the Minnesota Wild, Let’s Play Hockey and Minnesota Hockey. It will be held from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. at Xcel Energy Center, inside Gate 1. FREE hockey equipment is available to all individuals, families, teams and associations on a first come, first served basis. New and used youth and adult hockey equipment will be available.
Over 2,000 pieces of new and used hockey equipment were collected during the equipment drive including goalie gear, sticks, helmets, gloves, breezers, bags, socks, jerseys, elbow pads, shin pads, shoulder pads and skates. All collected items will be available to pick up for FREE on Saturday, Oct. 10 from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. inside Gate 1 of Xcel Energy Center.
WHAT: Over 2,000 pieces of new and used hockey equipment to be distributed for free on a first come, first served basis as part of the Minnesota Wild, Let’s Play Hockey, Minnesota Hockey Equipment Drive
WHEN: Saturday, Oct. 10 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
WHERE: Xcel Energy Center Gate 1
48 Responses to "Friday’s practice update; Hockey equipment distribution Saturday"
It’s too bad we can’t do anything with Johnsson with a 4.8 mil cap hit we can’t trade him and can’t afford to shut him down for the next 70 games or so. We are so much better when he’s NOT on the ice, even when he picks up a garbage gimme on the door step. Captain Kimberly is going to cause us more harm than good.
Good day all. Ms. Blount has an amazing article in the lifestyles section “Horse-crazy after all these years”, posted on Thursday. Worth your time. Excellent writing.
Michael - wow tough game for the start of the road swing. How many days in the Napa Valley before you return to So. Cal? I’m jealous in a good way.
Would rather have a zombie than a pool boy on this team.
Michael: Don’t tell me youu flew Alaska Airlines again…tsk, tsk if you did.
M 03: IMO, Pouliot has just about worn out his welcome with the new regime. If not for the injuries, CF and TR would have agreed to do something with him by now. But, there really too many injuries to do anything with yet.
blaming the old system again? d-men getting caught pinching isn’t really old system.
Bulldog your dead on!!! #5 can’t move anyone from in front of the net!!! Cost us in Columbus & now in L.A.! Sit his @#% on the bench & give Sifers a chance. Instead of putting Scott up front, move him back to D, & move Zidlicky up front. All he wants to do is be in the offensive zone anyways, he can’t play a lick of defense. Even better if we could package Butch, Zid, & #5 & send them somewhere, ah, like the beer league!!!
I was once cemented to a bench. Not fun at all. Bea saved me though, and I’ve had a fondness for her ever since.
…..I like chicken
MARTIN SKOULA WILL RISE AGAIN
Do you like breasts or thighs Argonbeast0034?
I don’t see Richards blaming the old system. He’s saying it makes it difficult to play the new system when the old one becomes automatic to guys at times, which can lead to mistakes. D are going to pinch more in this system rather than begin skating backward toward their own net because pressure is one key to the new system. It’s up to the D-men to adjust, make the split second call to pinch, and either do it or get back.
I don’t know if anyone has seen this yet, but I got a laugh out of it.
SPIKE has the Cunucks as #5 on their top 10 teams with the most annoying fans. They are #1 overall for hockey and fall behind the Eagles, Red Sox, Buckeyes, and Cubs.
Here’s a snippet… enjoy!
It’s remarkable how arrogant the fan base of a team with zero Stanley Cups, no Hall of Fame players, and two homoerotic Swedish twins that seem physically afraid of the playoffs can act.
That’s priceless Gunny. I love it!!
One would think that the CheeseFizz’s permanently-pickled fanbase would be in there as well. And add in the St. Louis Cards baseball fans too boot. Both of those could make a VERY convincing case to be in the top five, that’s for sure.
Give me a nice thigh. Everyone loves breasts
[…] Backstrom will be back in the net. Russo’s Rants […]
Michael, no snippets from your rough travel day? Any anguish over the Twins game? Did you get on your pal AD for ripping the Twins?
Question to Russoville, how good will San Jose be this year? Well, tonight? Is Dany H more like an Ovie than a Gho$t? The first few months might be tough going for the guys in IRR with the new system and such. Hoping for the best.
Casualobserver- You are my all time favorite next to Mister Biskers and Fodder for your fire… oh yes KJ
Casualobserver
A few pointers for you
(1) Yes the Wild Defense need to be better and quite possibly be asked to quit rushing the puck all together in the spirit of winning
(2) As Russo has pointed out the power play is working wonderfully but we are still sucking 5 on 5 and our goals against has to be among the worst in the league
(3) I have stated before that Craig Leipold is responsible for this shift of play and style of play. Its his business to do what he wants I agree.
I said that the next owner would value the roots of how this organization was built from and go back.
Leipold changed the Mission statement, the principles and the way this team was set up to be. When you have a mission of how things will operate it is clear the type of players you bring into the organization as well as the managers you will hire to carry out your mission.
I have said in the past that I doubt that DR would have brought Sykora in and I stand by that. I agree you have to risk on a kind of high maintenance player like Havlat because he is worth it
So Because of Leipold the Wild are going AIMLESSLY without the Mission set up by the founding fathers of the Wilds organization. That model was the envy of the league.
How do you fix what your trying to do ?
Stop right now the risk taking going on until your team is in a position where it needs to take risks. The coach controls when they do and when they don’t. Tell Leipold to go by another toy that the public does not have to watch lose night after night
This team was second in goals against last year and in 3 games Leipold has taken us to 2nd to last in goals against.
Again, They don’t have the ability to win games with Bad defense. As Casualobserver has said before to me “DUH”
To add to what mkvn is saying, I am going to sneak a 2 x 4 in the X and the next time Nordy is standing in my way during a game I am going to pull it out and hit him behind his head knocking him down the stairs and I am going to have my wife video tape it and put in you tube.
Nordy Sucks !
MKVN…STFU.
Change is here. Change is good.
Please, go hiking with your daddy Smug. Revel in mediocrity and expectation management.
Quote all the meaningless stats from last year all you want. No matter how you slice it, they missed the playoffs. I do NOT want to return to that place.
kj: +1.
While we wait patiently for food, here is a tidbit. “From TBL twitter http://twitpic.com/kz6vd Malone vs. Veilleux draws a standing room only crowd after morning skate.“ My first thought, SRV, oh no. Thankfully, nice spin by the TB staff. Nice back, just for you MsC.
KJ and M1
I agree change is good. Losing is not the objective though and changing to lose is foolish.
Everybody on here knows winning is what makes fans happy and doing it consistently is what I want. At the moment I would not be all that excited to watch this team in person.
I don’t care that they changed the style they play but to play stupid hockey nobody wants and that is what I am seeing
I am seeing a coach that did not study how Lemaire managed the goalies last year that cost the Wild the game in LA
MKVN…
Stupid hockey isn’t what they are trying to do.
How many times do you need to hear the phrase ‘learning curve’ before it registers in that peabrain of yours?
I feel dumber every time I waste space trying to educate you.
The new system has been in place for 3 games. Your criticism started as soon as the coach was hired. Give it a rest.
Thanks M03, I saw that and thought, “Man, he’s skinny. Must be the goalie.” Malone, though… yes ma’am. Flex those ping pong muscles baby.
The new system THINKS that the D can pinch on a regular basis and take risks because the risks will show a benefit somehow. That wont get this team in the playoffs and they SHOULD be there.
The Wild had a good team last year that was destroyed by injuries. This year they are more healthy and the young guys are a year older and they added more scoring. That should be enough to get them in the playoffs
If they fail KJ its on the management. We have done nothing but build this organization. The fans wont continue to support a foolish managed hcokey team
What is this fascination with young, good looking, well conditioned and wealthy men that women have???
Sheesh…it’s not like we worship ‘ice girls’ or anything.
guys 5 minutes until draft time I have the 5th pick who do I take
Trade up for Ovechkin.
I don’t get it either, kj. I thought he could’ve been a bit chubbier.
Depends what you are drafting for & what you want as strong points on your team.
TheGun with the internet dig of the week! That’s awesome.
I went w/ backstrom
i’m getting a mean team going here (mean as in money)
Hopefully the wild can do better. we need some points
Mister: You so silly girl!!!
In order to change, you have to change. It’s that simple. Why would we want to revert to what we did last year? That’s not change.
I applaud you for being the only person I know who follows a sports team based on their “mission statement” and business model. You get ‘em sistah!!!
kj: understood. Marney or ice girls.
MsC: how is Mr. Gillies doing - is he on special teams, getting lots of ice time, etc.?
Gunslinger: +1 for the internet nugget of the day!
M 03: Gillies got his schnoz broken in his first regular-season AHL game. Fortunately, it was in Winnipeg, where they know a thing or two about broken noses playing hockey…
Weird stat for tonight’s game:
Penalty Minutes for Wild as a team: 25 (3 games)
Penalty Minutes for Jody Shelley, San Jose ‘enforcer’: 22 (4 games)
Highest indivdual penalty minutes, Wild:
Benoit Pouliot (6 minutes)
Number of San Jose players with more than 6 PIM’s: 5
Okay, we’ve all seen flashes of brilliance and bonehead plays. It will take time to eliminate the latter without killing the former. Patience is hard to come by when we know every point counts, and a couple early losses could be the difference between 7th and 9th come spring time.
But it could be worse - we could start 6-0-1 and find that 9 spot… You know, hypothetically.
I believe we have talent on par with with the middle 3rd of the league and that’s where we will wind up.
Gunslinger: You rock! Thanks a whole bunch. Even the comments were a hoot.
Wonder where Michael is hanging out? I feel like the hockey fan with an empty beverage glass hoping for a free refill. Hope he is just fine and chatting up some great hockey minds for our reading pleasure.
Wild lose 4-3 tonight but the game shouldn’t have been that close.
Wild split in Canada and come home and beat the Avalanche. The Avalanche game will be the first game the fans see how great the new system is when the guys play it.
He did well for the first game and a half until he got his nose broken. He had surgery earlier this week so he’s been out this weekend healing up.
Almond is the real deal, folks. Doesn’t look remotely like a rookie out there. And McMillan just got an his first point.
I forgot to mention the 100 watt jones gig tonite at McKracken’s Pub (Black Dawg) in Burnsville.
There’s still time to get here…we start at 9:30. It should be 3-0 by then…LOL.
MKVN…system good. Implementation so far…spotty. It will get better.
Anyone know if San Jose is in the middle of an internet no-zone? No twitter updates, no blog updates? What gives?
Don’t know. I hope everythings cool with the Don.
Lord only knows how much longer we’ll all be able to take certain posters dragging out dead horses of the past to beat.
Save us Don Russo! 
Food!
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Keep them comming.
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