Wild 3 - Columbus 2

He Who Laughs Last
It's Columbus.  You know, the dreggs of the NHL.  This should already have the W penciled into the Wild's stat book...and yet the Wild has a history of playing down to this team.  You know that head coach we fired a couple of seasons back?  The one who caught on with Columbus and we all laughed?  Until said coach and the Blue Jackets trounced the Wild last season not just once but twice, thereby giving said unceremoniously-dumped coach the last laugh.  I never take these games for granted.  That always comes back to bite me. 

First Period
Starts out blandly enough.  There's some good give and take on both ends of the ice but not much in the way of shots on goal.  In fact, on just the 3rd shot on goal, at the 9:23 minute mark, Koivu pots a goal for the Wild.  Ryan Suter, tired of everyone harshing his mellow, set up the play and it led to Brodin getting the first assist on the goal.  It was pretty.  The fight that former Wild player Colton Gilles got into with Darroll Powe was not.  I guess you have to give the 'win' to Gilles since he ended up on top of Powe as they fell to the ice together but I wouldn't brag about it, Colton.  Jonas Brodin, paired with Ryan Suter tonight looks amazing out there.  He looks, legit.  At such a young age for a defenceman.  The rest of the period is just kinda humming along with nothing spectacular to write home about when BAM!  Tom Gilbert takes a deflected shot by Koivu and wrists it past Mason for the Wild's second goal of the game.  The fans are on their feet celebrating Gilbert's goal.  I'm celebrating his glorious head of hockey hair.  Those 80's length locks are FLOWING!  The Wild end the first period on the power play and will continue on into the second with the man advantage. 

Second Period
Nothing doing on the remaining Wild power play thanks to Mason shutting down a great shot by Cullen, who can't buy a goal lately.  Or even a vowel.  Things are getting a little tense and Columbus is looking for a fight.  Suter gets cross checked but doesn't take the bait.  Konopka comes off the bench for the next shift, skates over to Dorsett and tells him "Don't Ever Touch My Stuff Again" and then laughs and skates away.  Jared Boll gets Clayton Stoner to go and they both get in some good punches in front of the Wild bench.  The biggest thing I got out of that was seeing Harding's full on Grizzly Adams beard - Dude!  At the 15 minute mark Columbus gets on the board - after not having put a single shot on goal for the period up to that point.  Granlund turned the puck over twice, our defense was non-existent and Backstrom didn't know where he or the puck was.  Oh there it is, behind you, in the net.  Columbus is on the board.  That's okay cuz Parise scored his 200th NHL goal just a few seconds later.  Oops, turns out he actually gloved it in so you know, no goal.  The next Wild goal will be his 200th.  Wild outshoot the Jackets 15 - 3 in the second period.

Third Period    
Columbus kinda have the Wild turning on their heels the first 8 minutes of the third.  Wild penalties found the Jackets actually buzzing the net.  On the second power play the Jackets score, leaving Backstrom look dazed and confused...not much different than how he looked in the earlier periods.  Granlund gets the assist with yet another turn over leading to the Jackets goal.  Gilbert deflects the puck into the crowd for yep, the third Jackets power play of the period.  Wild kill it off and decide to get serious about the game.  PMB scores after a beautiful breakaway drive up ice.  It is only the Wild's second shot of the period but it's good enough to retake the lead.  It's also Butch's 100th NHL goal...and it's a keeper unlike Parise's earlier attempt at his 200th.  PMB draws a penalty on his next shift, a penalty shot to boot.  He fails to score though - cuz he didn't go for the spin-o-rama.  If it ain't broke...just sayin', Butch.  Wild can't seem to help themselves and head to the penalty box yet again.  Just over three minutes to go.  Jackets are making the Wild defend their zone and the acid in my stomach is churning.  This is just a way too familiar story for the Wild.  Jackets pull their goalie, buzz our net with the extra man for the last minute of the game.  We hold them off, barely but we did it.  The W goes in the column in ink.               

First Star: Pierre Marc Bouchard - for not making Parise, Koivu or Heatley net the game winner. 
Second Star: I chose the Jackets feed for tonight's game and their announcers didn't disappoint. Not too much homerism, some good natured self deprecation regarding their own team and a fabulous sense of humor. My favorite quote of the game: "You need a few Zenon Konopkas on your team"
Third Star: Tie between Gilbert's Locks and Harding's Beard
    

Chicago's in town for Wednesday's night game.   

You Had Me At...

FUCKERS
That was my response to anyone who asked me how I felt about the players and the owners during the lockout.  Even when it was announced that the lockout was over, for real this time, I was still apathetic, if not somewhat ticked off that some great AHL** & ECHL hockey would be impacted. **see Houston Aeros' fall from grace at precisely the moment their top players went back to the NHL.  This would eat into my college hockey (Go Gophers!, suck it, Heatley).  Maybe I wouldn't jump right back into the NHL hockey scene.  Maybe I'd 'show them' by not acting like a puck starved addict who needs her fix, in a bad way.  Yep, that would teach them, huh?  That would show them who's in control, right?  

I was doing fine with it too.  That is until the Wild decided to hold an open scrimmage for season ticket holders and the public.  Said scrimmage would not only include our newest Wild players but also include our top prospects from Houston.  The the Wild then reeled me in with the schmaltzy but oh so successful marketing ploy: "But wait, there's more!"  The scrimmage was to be broadcast on television, giving me a visual on just how much I've missed my team, the arena and being a part of it all with Vicki.  My icy exterior was beginning to thaw a little.  Condensation was beginning to build, especially when I tuned in to hear this -


Kills me every time I hear it and I'm not there in person, standing next to Vicki celebrating a goal.

Suck it up, Stand firm!  You can do this, Dee.  You have angry resolve on your side.     

As if hearing the goal horn wasn't enough to start me on a downward spiral into hockey lovin' hell there were my other favorite sounds: skate blades carving up the ice, pucks rimming the boards and pinging off the posts.  Bob Kurtz and Tom Reid were doing the play by play on the radio with the tv broadcasters on mute - because I will NEVER listen to Anthony LaPanta call a Wild game, EVER.  Lord Stanley, I could almost smell the ice.  And the boys.  The boys were playing hockey.  Heavy Sigh, Tugging of Heart Strings.    

Okay, three days to recover from that until the home opener.  I would collect myself and build my resolve back up.  I was scheduled to work that night which was good, I told myself.  I wouldn't be at home watching it live while chatting in real time with Vicki and friends.  I can still be indignantly annoyed. 

Home Opener came and I was at work, receiving numerous texts and tweets and pics of what was happening at the X.  I was happy for all of my friends and hockey family members who were merrily making the pilgrimage back to worship at the temple of NHL.  I just wasn't ready to join them.  I was still being righteously apathetic.  Too hip, too cool. 

I got home in time for the third period.  Vicki was giddy about us watching 'together'.  I was trying my best to be all 'meh' about it.  One of the cameras panned the Wild bench and there was a player with a seriously stitched up nose.  I asked Vicki who had been in the fight.  She responded that there had been a fight earlier but no blood was shed.  Moments later Bob Kurtz announced over the radio that I was looking at the result of a high stick incident Zenon Konopka had endured earlier in the game.  Huh, he took enough stitches to look like a jig saw puzzle piece, or two, and still played out the rest of the game.  I'm intrigued, but not giving it too much credence.  I'm impervious to his show of fortitude but curious about him nonetheless.    

The Wild signed Zenon Konopka back in July, just before they blew the lid off the NHL and blew the collective minds of Wild fans everywhere by getting both Zach Parise and Ryan Suter to sign.  Zenon is a center weighing in at just over 200 lbs and is six feet tall.  He's a bona fide NHL tough guy with the PIMS to back his shit up.  For those of you who are new to hockey lingo let me translate: Zenon has the most penalty minutes in the NHL since 2009-10.  He's also a contributor on the ice, not to be summarily dismissed with the other league "Thugs".  He's a believer in old time hockey and he's a guy who puts his team first, leaving all of his blood, sweat and tears out on the ice...literally sometimes.  So what?  There are a number of players like that in the NHL and I don't go on and on about them.  What's the big deal about this Konopla guy?    
Let me show you:


Never mind the fact that Zenon's nose is held together by 30 stitches.  Never mind the fact that the guy took one for the team in his very first game wearing the Wild jersey.  Look at what he's holding  -  his PET BUNNY!  Zenon Konopka, NHL tough guy with 93 fights on his resume, has a friggin' pet rabbit...named appropriately enough, Hoppy.  

My resolve to make the NHL/NHLPA pay for torturing my hockey soul absolutely vanished into thin air when Zenon tweeted this picture upon arriving home after the game.  He is single handedly responsible for me turning into a puddle of hockey worshipping goo.  Zenon has managed to vault, from complete obscurity, into the number three spot in my Hockey Stalking Hall of Fame.  May Gordie Howe have mercy on my puck loving soul, I am totally committed to welcoming the Religion of the NHL back into my heart.  All thanks to Zenon Konopka, his philosophies on life and his bunny. 

You Had Me At Hoppy
     
I was asked what my favorite thing from Home Opener 2013 was.  That's Easy:

 

Represent, Partner!