Wild Hope Canuck Rivalry Will Help Tilt the Ice
by Chris Thompson

Thursday January 16, 2003

Check the calendar folks! If you were one of the fortunate souls to be sitting inside the Xcel Energy Center last night, you may have expected to walk outside after the game to see tulips peeking out of the ground, buds starting on the trees, and kids tossing baseballs around in parks. Why? Because it felt a lot like a playoff hockey game was being played out on the ice last night!

Minnesota, reeling from a 1-3 start to their six game homestand, came out firing on all cylinders against the division leading Vancouver Canucks. A goal by Richard Park just two minutes into the game ignited the fuse on a rare sight in recent weeks: an explosive Wild offense. One power play goal, three even strength goals, and an empty netter later, the Wild walked out of a rocking arena with a 5-2 victory under their belts and a clear view of the Canucks in the standings.

The evening centered around Marion Gaborik. Prior to the game, Gaborik was named as a reserve on this year's All-Star team. This marks the first time a Wild player has been selected for the contest, although Gaborik did play in the "Young Stars" contest the previous two seasons. Being selected for the BIG game, however, seemed to put a charge into Gaborik, who was all over the ice last night. His aggressiveness drew defenders to him and left teammates wide open for easy goals. When all was said and done, he had three assists plus the Wild's empty net goal, easily his best night in several weeks.

Pascal Dupuis also came up big, logging a pair of goals to help the Wild pull out and stay out in front of the Canucks for good. Dupuis had been mired in a lengthy slump, so the pair of goals was a welcome sight for everyone in the arena not cheering for the Oilers. Add in the return of local hero Darby Hendrickson, who hadn't played all season due to a broken arm suffered in a preseason game, and of course a few good scrums between two teams that really don't like each other much at all, and it was hard NOT to be pumped up during the game as a Wild fan.

"It was one of the best games this year," remarked btetzl50 this morning after the glow of the game had worn off and he had come back down to reality, "We hit, we scored, we played well, and most importantly we didn't get pushed around!!"

We also won! Now we just need to see if the guys can come out with the same kind of intensity and effectiveness against a team like Anaheim Saturday night. If they want to actually play hockey late into April, instead of pretending it's April now, they're going to HAVE to maintain that level of play against the good teams AND the bad ones.

GO WILD!