GAME ON!

♫It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year ♫

Home Opener, Season Eleven and I got to take it all in from the best seats at the X with the best hockey partner a gal could ever ask for - Vicki!  We thought we were doomed at the end of season ten, destined to be a thousand miles apart from each other when the 2011-2012 season began.  If we learn anything from life it's that all the planning in the world doesn't mean a thing when the Big Guy has other ideas.  My time here in the State of Hockey is limited so we're making the best of it and opening night is something I never get tired of experiencing.  Yes, the STH pennants for waving were a little on the tchotchke side but the Wild Calendars are a time cherished tradition so it all balances out in the end.  
Emotions ran high on many levels, both jubilant and and sorrowful.  Click here to watch the 10.8.11 tribute to Boogaard and Demitra.  When you're done wiping away the tears watch the 10.8.11 Game Teaser and tell me you weren't feeling goosebumps at the prospect of this team's future.  I dare you to not be excited for the second decade of the Minnesota Wild! after watching that video.  Let me temper that however, by saying I think Craig, Chuck and Mike will have to do some "managing of expectations" at some point because of this year's team motto: EVERY PLAYER/EVERY SHIFT/EVERY FAN.  Good Luck with that considering this team's history of taking shifts, periods and entire games off for no apparent reason other than - they feel like it. 
 
I will admit to being caught up with the other ecstatic 19,039 fans who were on their feet sending our team off the ice after the first period with a standing ovation and deafening cheers.  So often over the last 2 seasons the half empty arena was filled with disappointed and disgruntled fans sending the team off the ice with boos and jeers.  Vicki and I looked at each and asked "are we really having fun instead of being bummed?"  It dawned on us heading into the second period that we were watching some beautifully executed plays by not only our much improved first line but all the way down to the fourth line.  The third period was our Not So Much Every Player/Not So Much Every Shift period but overall the game was...okay this is going to sound awfully giddy for just the first game of the season but here it is anyway...THRILLING!!   
Heatly and Setoguchi are the shot in the arm Mikko needs and they did not fail to impress on opening night.  Matt Cullen must have felt on top of the world after scoring the first goal of the season for the Wild.  But I'm guessing his wife had something to say about his faceoff percentages after the game ;)  I loved Scandella's game even before he scored his first NHL goal, off the pass from SPURGE!  What a thrill for 19 year old Bulmer making his NHL debut with his folks in the stands to witness it.  Love me some Powe and I'm very excited to see Colton Gilles take the next step this season.  He's going to be a work ethic leader someday, kind of like a certain player I obsess about...  Pierre Marc Bouchard had a great night, right up until he UNINTENTIONALLY drew a 4 minute major for highsticking.  I won't get into PMB's 2 game suspension here because I don't want to detract from the gloriousness that was Home Opener 2011 but I'm pretty wound up about it.  So, anyway - Backstrom was simply magnificent, both in net and in his stretching routine before each period...canihaveacoldwaternowplease...whew, all better :)  There are almost too many things to list here that contributed to making the home opener such a fabulous night at the X but here's my absolute number one star of the game:          


I know that Vicki's number one star of the game is the return of the original formatting for the game programs.  Way to go, Craig - you done good. 

It's still very early but to Mike Yeo's credit at least the post game pressers are a breath of fresh air.  He actually admits to the players having a bad period.  He can actually remember having seen the crappy period/shift/play the reporters are talking about - he doesn't need to "watch the film" or "review the tape."  Just sayin'.  

Ooh, and speaking of post game pressers...can I get an AMEN! for the NHL on FM.  The Minnesota Wild radio broadcasts are now on KFAN 100.3 FM.  Set your presets in the car and on your ipod nanos (generations 5 & 6) cuz Bob Kurtz and Tom Reid sound darn near sexy!      

And, as if things couldn't get any better there's this: Wes Walz has joined the Wild's Broadcast team and will work on the FSN's pre and post game segments.  Wes in a suit and that smile...pleasecanihaveashotoftequilanow...dang - still warm and tingling all over ;)  Gonna be streaming FSN on my laptop for sure!   

For Dave - The Wild's latest player to wear the number 15 is faster and Bruno will be the first to admit it, but to Wild fans he will ALWAYS be the Real #15.  Congratulations on your first goal as a Blackhawk, Andrew!
  

Oh, and also for Dave: Petr Sykora signed a one year contract with the New Jersey Devils, marking his return to the NHL after 18 months of playing somewhere nobody gives a crap about.  I guess that Sykora Wild jersey you picked up on super clearance is finally worth, er...could be valuable, oops...has paid for itself...ahhh nevermind.