Let's Play Hockey

So the Wild are officially back on track after a 5-2 victory over the currently hopeless Edmonton Oilers. With Gaborik and Demitra out, and Dominic Moore not quite ready to take the ice, the Wild were forced to shift defensemen Petteri Nummelin up to a forward position. Although the shift wasn't ideal, it couldn't have worked out any better. Moving Nummelin up quickly paid dividends when he shot a perfect pass across Edmontons zone setting up Mark Parrish's first goal of the night just 5 minutes into the game. From there, the Wild powerplay just picked apart the Edmonton penalty kill scoring a total of 3 power play goals in just the first period. Although Niklas Backstrom was not tested very often in net at the beginning, he made the saves needed to give the team confidence going into the locker room.

The Wild came out in the second period even faster than they did in the first, scoring just 3:21 into the period. The Wild and Oilers finished the period switching goals, and at the end of the second period the score was 5-2. With the game already in hand, all the Wild needed to do was prevent any scoring opportunities in the third period, and that is exactly what they did. Shutting down the Oilers in the final frame led to the Wild coming out with a victory. Parrish ended up with two power-play goals, Nummelin ended up with two big assists, and Kurtis Foster chipped in a goal and an assist. All around it was a game the Wild desperately needed.

So now to an article I caught on espn.com this morning. Todd Bertuzzi, who to me is a guy who should never have stepped back onto the ice after his incident with Steve Moore back in 2004, apparently offered to settle the $15 million lawsuit brought on by Moore by paying him $350,000. Seriously, that number isn't a joke. He wanted to give the guy who's career he ruined not even 1% of what he's asking for. I don't know if he was purposely trying to insult Moore, but whatever his intent was, it made him look like even less of a man. What he did back in '04 was totally dirty and should not have happened, and the punishment handed down to him was just a slap on the wrist. Thirteen games and the playoffs for ending a 23 year-olds fairly promising career? You have go to be kidding me. When I read this article today, I just kept thinking that I couldn't wait for the Ducks to come to town so Boogey can beat the crap out of him on the ice. If you want to read the article, here's the link for you:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=3096818

Also going on last night was Monday Night Football. The Steelers and Ravens were supposed to be playing a Football game, but it looked more like the Steelers were playing a team of kids. The Ravens commited 4 turnovers on the night, including 3 fumbles in the first quarter, en route to a 38-7 pounding by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Ben Roethlisberger looked unstoppable in the first half, tying a Steelers record by throwing 5 touchdown passes in the half. Big Ben finished the game with 209 yards and 5 touchdown passes with no interceptions and a perfect quarterback rating of 158.3. The Steelers defense also looked unstoppable, especially James Harrison, an undrafted free agent signed by the Steelers after they released pro-bowl linebacker Joey Porter. Harrison finished the night with 2 1/2 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, 1 fumble recovery, and an interception. Those numbers are wicked for an entire defense, much less one player. Even though it was a blowout, it was a good game to tune into during the breaks of the Wild game.

The only thing really that I can think of that is going on tonight is the Timberwolves host the Orlando Magic. Everybody's been hating on the Wolves this year, thinking they won't be able to recover from the departure of KG and the arrival of a lot of young guys, but I think that we should reserve judgement until we get a good look at these guys. Sure they have started 0-2, but like I said, they're a young team and they need some time to adjust to eachother. Plus, Randy Foye isn't even playing, and he is one of our top guys. I'm not saying the Wolves are gonna win 50+ games this year, but I do think they will exceed most peoples expectations.

Unfortunately with all the games going on last night I had to miss a new episode of Heroes, so I will have to catch that online some time today. I'm hoping it answers more questions than last weeks episode, I really thought they were going to clarify some things and it turned out to just be more questions. Either way, it is still one of the best shows on TV right now and I hope the writers end their strike soon so that the season doesn't have to end prematurely at the beginning of December.