Ramblings
By Tom Grout
April 22, 2008
I know I don’t have a lot of hockey fans out there but I have to talk about the Wild one more time.
The season ended in a lot of disappointment not only for the players but the fans. This team was suppose to get to the Stanley Cup but went out in the first round. If you were to read Jim Souhan from the Star and Tribune the Wild lost because they had Derek Boogaard and Chris Simon on the team. In other words the goons.
He said they lost because these guys did nothing to help the team and they were useless. I watched the games and the same could be said for a lot of players, not just the so called goons.
Here are the reasons the Wild lost to Colorado. 1. They ran into a hot goalie in Theodore. 2. Kurtis Foster, Nick Schultz, Branko Radivojevic, and Mark Parrish were injured. 3. The skill guys or the scorers couldn’t score 4. Colorado played good enough to win.
Theodore was just fantastic in the net for Colorado. Whenever they needed a big stop on goal he made it, a very good clutch playoff performance and usually the team with the best goalie wins. For the Wild Backstrom played good but not great and there is a big difference.
Foster getting hurt was behemoth. Not only is he a good defenseman but he is just super on the power play with his big slap shot. Schultz was our smartest and best all round defenseman and although he bravely played in the final game, his absence in the other games made a big difference. Branko had been playing very good up until his injury. The Wild offense really missed him and Parrish, although he didn’t have a great season, is a veteran whose presence was sorely missed in the playoffs.
Gaborik, Demitra, Koivu, and Rolston just didn’t score enough. They also never had that great presence in front of the net that they needed. This problem goes with reason number 4 in that Colorado did the things they had to do to stop the Wild. They totally took Gaborik out of the game so you have to tip your hat to them.
No the goons didn’t lose the games, it was far more than that and with a lot of these Wild players going on the free agent market, it will be interesting to see how many come back. It is also no secret that Jacques and Gaborik don’t look at the game of hockey the same way so we will see if one or both of them will be back next year.
-Just for fun I thought I would catch you up on some of the players that the Twins were looking at when they were trying to trade Johan Santana.
Phil Hughes of the Yankees is 0-3 pitching 16.3 innings giving up 25 hits walking 10 and striking out 10 with an era of8.82
Ian Kennedy of the Yankees is 0-2 in 14 innings giving up 19 hits walking 13 and striking out 13 with an era of 9.64 John Lester of the Red Sox is 1-2 in 26.7 innings giving up 28 hits walking 17 striking out 15 with an era of 5.06.
Jacob Ellsbury of the Red Sox is hitting .277 with 1 home run and 7 rbi’s and 8 stolen bases.
Jed Lowrie has only batted 16 times but is hitting .375 with 5 rbi’s
Milky Cabrera of the Yankees is hitting .281 with 3 home runs and 7 rbi’s.
Coco Crisp of the Red Sox is hitting .325 with 3 rbi’s.
No comments here just an interesting update which I will follow for you guys this season.
Well, I am extremely dissapointed with the Wild's performance in the playoffs. I will agree with you on the fact that it wasn't the goons that lost it for them. It was those other big name guys you mentioned, except Koivu. He had 4 goals and at least 1 assist in the playoffs and seemed to be the only steady scoring guy. Rolston and Bouchard had their moments but were inconsistant.
The absence of Foster and Schultz hurt. But I was really surprised at how well our defenseman played. Johnsson, Burns, Skoula and even the old guys Carney and Hill stepped up and played really well. I don't think that they were the weak link. Brent Burns has really become an outstanding all around hockey player. I am really glad we were able to lock him up with a lengthy contract this year.
Backstrom played good, but not as good as Theodore.
The other injuries to Branko and Parrish were missed but I don't think they would have made that much of a difference.
I wasn't ready for the season to end so soon, but will be looking forward to the this fall when the puck will drop again on a new season in this great State of Hockey!!
Really, Jim Souhan had it wrong? Can't believe it. Doesn't he do sports for a living? Like a professional?
I, too, am disappointed with the results of the Wild's playoff run. Hockey is a really different sport in that if you run into a hot goaltender, it's hard to beat that team.
I was telling my Dad the other day that I wouldn't be upset with the results at all if I thought that the Avs outplayed the Wild. By no means did the Avs outplay the Wild (except in that one blowout game). The Wild clearly outplayed them, but their goalie (Theodore) always came up "behemoth" for them.
The 1980 Olympic team also rode the back of their hot goalie, Jim Craig. I bought a DVD of the Russian game a while back and watched it about a dozen times. Our young kids got totally outplayed by the Russians, but Craig would come up with the big save.
So, the Avs have a real good chance to win the whole thing if Theodore remains hot. Their defense collapses nicely and they keep the forwards on the outside very well.
I did, however, feel that Gaborik played pretty wussily (Tom, can we add that word?) the whole series which really disappointed me. For example, Burns would skate in with the puck and take on three defenders. Gaborik would skate in and either lose the puck or go directly to the outside. Frustration city.
Neither Parrish nor Branko would have made a difference.
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