Be Patient Wild Fans!
by Chris Thompson

Wednesday, January 21, 2004

Roloson is a big reason Minnesota still has a shot at the playoffs.

Patience. Dictionary.com defines it as: n 1: good-natured tolerance of delay or incompetence. Most Wild fans have had their patience tested this season as the Wild has followed good games with horrible ones. Scoring outbursts have been followed by depressing shutouts. The team has come out flat on far too many occasions and the result has been a multitude of missed opportunities and a 12th place ranking in the Western Conference entering play Wednesday night. A seemingly tragic turn of events after a magical third season that saw them go all the way to the Western Conference Finals. Remarkably, their WFC foes Anaheim are also struggling, currently 13th in the division. If neither team can climb to the top 8 and make the playoffs, it will mark the first time in NHL history that both teams from a Conference Finals Series failed to make the playoffs the following season.

Minnesota’s failure can be summed up in two words. Offensive ineptitude. Scoring threats such as Gaborik, Dupuis, Zholtok and Bouchard have disappeared, combining for just 22 goals total in the team’s 48 games. The power play is rated 27th in the league and 29th on the home ice. Far too often, the Wild can’t even get any scoring chances on their power play opportunities, making bad passes that allow their opponents to clear the zone and deny Minnesota.

Boos, so rarely heard during the first three seasons in Minnesota, are becoming more and more common in the X. Empty seats are starting to appear as fans, frustrated by the team’s erratic and often times depressing play, abandon their seats in favor of other forms of entertainment. While the Wild brass play up the upcoming All-Star game, Wild fans are having a hard time finding reasons for excitement.

Well Wild fans, I have one for you. Despite the disappointing product put before us on the ice thus far this season, our beloved Wild are still only just five points out of the 8th and final playoff position. Yes….this season of frustration is just a short hot-streak from becoming a season of hope once again. The Wild has fourteen games remaining on the schedule against teams currently out of the playoffs, plus three more games against the LA Kings, who currently hold the 8th playoff spot in the conference. So that’s 17 total quality chances to make up ground in the standings. If the Wild can win a few more of those games than they have been, and continue to dig out ties against the better teams in the league, the State of Hockey may find itself the State of Playoff Hockey once more.

It’s really pretty amazing that the Wild can still be this close to a playoff appearance given all that has happened this season. Dwayne Roloson and Manny Fernandez deserve all the praise that can be heaped on them for keeping the Wild this close. Now it’s up to the team to make their hard work pay off. It’s not to late. We just have to keep being patient.