Havlat questionable, Sifers may debut
Posted on October 15th, 2009 – 7:36 PMBy Michael Russo
Good evening from Edmonton, where the Wild’s in town to face the Oilers in its first divisional meeting of the season.
It might have to do without Martin Havlat, who slightly pulled his groin on the first shift of the third period Wednesday night. Havlat rode the bike today, got treatment, and according to coach Todd Richards, “see how it feels [Friday].”
But Havlat didn’t practice today. Either did Petr Sykora, who’s definitely out with a groin, and Marek Zidlicky, who just had a maintenance day and is expected to play, Richards said.
But Richards did say Jaime Sifers might debut. If he plays his normal defenseman position, that means Richards will either sit one of his six D or use seven defensemen.
Richards did say Sifers might play both forward and D, but not sure if he was kidding.
The Wild didn’t call any forwards up today, so if Havlat can’t play, either Sifers will play in his spot or Derek Boogaard will return. Boogaard says he’s ready.
Obviously, Wild needs a better start against the Oil, who have given up 114 shots the last three games. The Wild has amazingly been down 3-zip in three of five games this season.
Richards talked a lot about the Wild’s best players being the best players today, mainly Havlat, Koivu, Burns and Johnsson. All four have struggled and the Wild need them.
Havlat was benched for the second time in three games late in the second period Wednesday.
Talk to you Friday.
50 Responses to "Havlat questionable, Sifers may debut"
Buster Hymen says: Czech your work.
[…] Russo’s Rants » Blog Archive » Havlat questionable, Sifers may debut blogs2.startribune.com/blogs/wildblog/2009/10/15/havlat-questionable-sifers-may-debut – view page – cached Good evening from Edmonton, where the Wild’s in town to face the Oilers in its first divisional meeting of the season. — From the page […]
Fun thing to do when bored:
Kevin Weekes nickname for NHL players.
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=502246
Not sure which one belongs to Harding. Can anyone figure it out?
How much would we as fans freak out if Boogaard not only suddenly starts putting an effort into skating and showing some hustle, but comes up with a 3 point game in Edmonton? Yeah, you’re right, I gotta stop eating the moldy leftovers in the fridge…and on that note, I’m gonna go lie down…
Mister know it all has some thoughts
I don’t like how richards has used pouliot
Having havlat out of the line up should help the wild win. A little birdie named kj has admitted defense is an important part of hockey
I actually like the wilds chances against the oilers because they will finally pay attention to what I have been saying they should do to win. Work hard, compete, master the discipline and proper positioning for a strong defensive game
Again, they can’t win with bad penalties and bad defense
Mister know it all has noticed that the league and its owners have mandated this wide open hockey as a standard
More has been spoken about then what the fans have been told
Kj have you been paying attention ? The league is all attacking with two forwards , I was watching the black hawks and flames play the other day and the hawks were down by 5 goals and came back to win for cripes sake. The flames looked like the wild. I say leipold wanted this change so he was in favor of the league changing its style , this made it easier for him to let jl leave and dr go because they believed that defense wins championships
I know mister beast agrees and I know kj agrees
These injuries kj and wild road tripper could very well save the wilds season because the players will wake up and play discipline hockey now out of survival
Hard to fault the wild for nabbing havlat but the guy looks like he has the intensity of kjs posts
This is on richards and the injuries are a good thing for him
I think Harding’s nickname is Tonya.
I am convinced that the Wild would be better off leaving Havlat out of the line up and let this team figure out how to play good defensive coverage without having that goofball in the lineup. Ditto for the other fellow czeck Sykora
The Wild dont have enough scorers to play the way they have been playing and win. As casualobserver would say DUH
Why all the groin injuries? Isn’t the new trainer, Chris Prsldfhk-Wegner some kind of expert in yoga? His wife is a yoga instructor. These players should be doing yoga or pilates, the best exercises for flexibility.
Unofficial - Russo on the radio tomorrow night with JS subbing for Matt Thomas.
Ah—- I forgot about Tonya Harding. Duh!
Thanks, danglesmcgee.
MKVN…you post under so many different names you even contradict yourself.
I think I need to Czech out of here for a while.
Havlat and Sykora are goofballs-Now I’ve heard it all!
kj: great quip.
The only great quips are coming from mister know it all M1
Havalt I bet does not even sweat when he plays hockey. Not impressed so far with havlats work ethic and his sloppy defensive play
Just when I thought MKVN couldn’t top himself with inane comments, he posts again.
Wild RW Cal Clutterbuck (ankle), LW Petr Sykora (groin) and C/RW Pierre-Marc Bouchard (concussion-like symptoms) are out; Martin Havlat (groin) is questionable; D Marek Zidlicky (maintenance) is probable.
So, how does the cap work if someone is on the IR? 
Oh boy, Boogaard’s available to play. Forward, defense, heck even back-up goalie. But Russo’s happy!
This could be a break-out year for him though. He could get 5:01 of ice time during a game. 3:30 during actual play, and 1:31 during TV timeout doing power turns.
Good roster management by the new guys. Now we have two players limited to 5 minutes per game at forwards, up from one. That’s progress, but the wrong way.
chance for free tickets on FRIDAY via twitter (posted mnwild 10/15/09): RT @xcelcenter Win FREE tix for an event @xcelcenter! Check back tomorrow for our first “Friday Tweet 4 Tix” - you could be the lucky winner
darkknight, here are the rules of long-term injuries and salary cap:
* A player expected to miss at least 10 games and 24 days due to injury can be listed as a long-term injury (LTI).
* An LTI can be covered by replacement players, as long as the replacement salaries do not exceed the salary of the injured player.
* If the replacement salaries would push a team over the salary cap, the team is allowed cap relief, but only for the portion of the salary that exceeds the cap.
* When the injured player returns, the team must immediately comply with the normal terms of the salary cap.
SODR
can you believe they built yankee stadium without a roof? high of 43 today. baseball was not meant to be played in these conditions.
Ok, so nothing to go ga ga over… Unless the higher salaries are knocked out.
Thank you for the info Chris.
So, in order to make this exciting, we need our high scorers (Bruno and umm… Bela I think) to continue to find paydirt. We need to Bomb-bard Habby bulin with all kinds of shots and dig for rebounds. It might work out well to have Derek in front of the net digging for goal gold while stirring up the easily provoked oil.
Then again, Chicago (edmental’s last game) can come back from anything….
Oh yeah, my last sausage egg and cheese infused thought of the day: saladin - is it a usual example of what a Brit will do with a piece of steel (try to make an armored car but screw el poocho) or is it just another of the many whiney personalities here with gripes and excuses.
Mostly as lame as the Bruno hater dude. Mostly.
Dangles, good call on the Josh “Tonya” Harding–ya beat me to it!
Last year and years past I’ve wished we could play Edmonton every game because we’ve seemingly had a lot of success against them. Here’s hoping that trend continues this year!
Boy, I sure love this free preview of Center Ice that Comcast is bestowing upon us. Last night’s Blues-Yotes game was pretty good, with PHX winning in OT. I think I’ll take the plunge and splurge for the package this season, although The Divine One was quick to point out that she is NOT paying for half of it…it’s all on me she says. Ain’t love grand…. 
For the first time in I-don’t-know-how-long, I really have little interest in watching the boys tonight. Plan to watch the Gophers play against the dreaded and hated Souix instead. And then tomorrow night the boys are up against the Gophers again, as well as the night race from Lowes Motor Speedway, so…… Of course, it is against everybody’s favorite bunch of arrogant dooshbags, the Canuckleheads, so we just might have to tune in from time to time.
Center Ice is worth every penny. I love it.
Anyone else watching Nick Leddy’s debut with the Gophers?
I will be watching the Gophers. These double game nights can be brutal after a long day of herding the herd but what can I say, I love hockey.
Question for you Lucky….
Do you have Comcast or Dish? If it’s Comcast, what do they charge for the CI season package and do they bill in installments or all at once?
Thanks.
GreenStar says:
October 16th, 2009 at 8:32 am
can you believe they built yankee stadium without a roof? high of 43 today. baseball was not meant to be played in these conditions.
I agree Green One. Those bast*rds!!!! I dunno how we’re gonna manage here in Minny. Personally, when we built the Dome, I threw away every sweatshirt and jacket I owned. Didn’t need them anymore, so why keep them in the closet. Life is soooooo grand when you can play outdoor sports indoors, ain’t it.
BTW, thanks for the Captain’s nod. I must respectfully decline though. Too much responsibilty to put on my aging shoulders. Plus, my ref buddies probably wouldn’t listen to me anyway unless I bought them a beer first. After all, what are friends for.
I have Comcast, from what I’ve heard from Dish customers, Dish has the better deal because there are more games in HD. It’s still nice to have when the Wild have a 5 day break in the schedule. Last year I want to say the package was around $150 and they slit it in to 3 separate billings.
Ooo… Leddy’s debut. Forgot about that. I wish I had two VCRs to tape both the Wild and the Gophs.
Good lort I’m walking paradox. I’ve (playfully) ripped Geno for still using dial-up yet I’m still getting mileage out of VCR technology.
I thought it was Direct TV with the better Center Ice package, not Dish. I could be wrong though.
Now that I think about it, I believe it is Direct TV with the best option.
I’ve also been digging the CI preview, although I’ve kinda intentionally wasted it, too. I don’t want to get too hooked since I’d just be tempted to spring for the whole package, and I don’t have that kind of money lying around–hence the VCR thing. :\
Tonight and tomorrow are Gopher nights for me. I’ll probably check on the Wild but honestly a UM-UND season opener sounds much more interesting. I love the Wild but I need to see a Minnesota hockey team that has a chance of winning.
Why is it that every cable/satellite provider has one major down side? I want to switch to one of the Dishes, or perhaps maybe that new AT&T thing…but it seems like some don’t carry Vs… cable only has one HD CI channel (damn you time warner!)… I want a service that has a bunch of HD CI channels, gets Vs, and gets NHL Network….
i still use a vcr. you’re not alone.
Encrimson’d says:
October 16th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Ooo… Leddy’s debut. Forgot about that. I wish I had two VCRs to tape both the Wild and the Gophs.
Good lort I’m walking paradox. I’ve (playfully) ripped Geno for still using dial-up yet I’m still getting mileage out of VCR technology.
Why do you need two VCR’s? What’s the third thing you want to watch?
BTW, you can probably find a serviceable second VCR at any thrift store for just a few dollars.
Wow. My wife is about as much a luddite as anyone, but even she’s a TiVo junkie.
Is it bad that I’m more excited for Gophers/Souix rather than the Wild game?
Sorry, Goody, I wasn’t very specific. I’ll be at a Metal Show tonight so I’d need two VCRs for both games.
And there’s a certain low even I won’t go to in having two VCRs. Stacked on top of each other, both blinking “12:00.”
Thanks Lucky!! When the free preview is done, I’m gonna call and order the package. The three payments will cushion the blow a bit.
E’d…. Don’t feel bad, I still have a VCR too.
Sleaking of Metal / Hard Rock….
FYI….
If anyone is interested, the tix for Def Leppard are selling pretty slowly and there are still lots of great seats available for thier Friday, Nov. 6th show at the X. I myself am a HUGE DF fan, and went down to Milwaukee this past summer to see them outdoors at the Marcus Ampitheatre along with Poison and Cheap Trick. It is a phemonial venue and was one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen.
Def Leppard is well worth the money if you like that type of music. They are almost always spot-on and I’ve never seen a bad show from them in seeing them around 6 times.
Tix are around $100 for the good ones, and Cheap Trick is opening for them again.
I know Charter’s center ice is 159.00 split into 4 payments.
I don’t think that AT&T Uverse has a Center Ice package.
I think the TSN.ca Gameday truly shows how ugly this match up is going to be tonight.
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/scores/gameday/?hubname=nhl-oilers
Who’s Hot
MINNESOTA
Eric Belanger (C) 7 pts in last 4 GP
Andrew Brunette (LW/RW) 5 pts in last 4 GP
EDMONTON
Denis Grebeshkov (D) 6 pts in last 5 GP
Ladislav Smid (D) 2 pts in last 3 GP
Jason Strudwick (D/LW) 2 pts in last 3 GP
Dustin Penner (LW/RW) 4 pts in last 2 GP
Andrew Cogliano (C/W) 3 pts in last 2 GP
Gilbert Brule (C/RW) 3 pts in last 2 GP
Zack Stortini (RW) 2 pts in last 2 GP
Ales Hemsky (RW) 5 pts in last 5 GP
Mike Comrie (C/W) 5 pts in last 6 GP
Patrick O’Sullivan (LW/RW) 3 pts in last 4 GP
Who’s Cold
MINNESOTA
Niklas Backstrom (G) 1-2-0, 3.34, .880 in last 3 GPI
EDMONTON
No Cold Players
Injuries
MINNESOTA
Petr Sykora (RW) Groin (Day to day)
Martin Havlat (RW) Groin (Day to day)
Derek Boogaard (LW) Concussion (Sidelined indefinitely)
Pierre-Marc Bouchard (RW/LW) Headache (Day to day)
Cal Clutterbuck (RW) Sprained left ankle (Sidelined indefinitely)
EDMONTON
Sheldon Souray (D) Concussion (Day to day)
Steve Staios (D) Concussion (Day to day)
Fernando Pisani (RW/LW) Back injury (Sidelined indefinitely)
Marc Pouliot (C/W) Pubic bone (Sidelined indefinitely)
Marc Pouliot (C/W) Pubic bone (Sidelined indefinitely)
Sometimes the DR method of keeping things secret…
Encrimson’d says:
October 16th, 2009 at 11:42 am
Sorry, Goody, I wasn’t very specific. I’ll be at a Metal Show tonight so I’d need two VCRs for both games.
Add one to the “real fans” list. Real fans wouldn’t miss seeing a hockey game to go to “a Metal Show”.
And there’s a certain low even I won’t go to in having two VCRs. Stacked on top of each other, both blinking “12:00.”
Simple fix - plug them in at different times. 
Lunch!
Comcast is the same $160 4 payments
