Minnesota Wild hockey team clinches Northwest Division, looks to Stanley Cup
Posted on Apr 10, 2008
Last week I talked about how the Minnesota Wild became a tougher team with the addition of Chris Simon. Because of that added toughness, the Wild clinched their first ever Northwest Division and opened up a series with the Colorado Avalanche Wednesday at the Xcel Energy Center.
This series has a lot of storylines to follow. In 2003, the Wild found themselves down 3-1 to the Avalanche in the playoffs. The Wild continued to battle back to force a game 7 in the series. The final game was played in Denver and the Wild fell behind on a Joe Sakic goal late in the third period. However, just a minute later, the Wild scored a goal and forced overtime. This set the stage for one of the most memorable moments in Wild history when Andrew Brunette, who interestingly enough now plays for the Avalanche, made Hall Of Fame goaltender Patrick Roy look absolutely silly and put the puck into the back of the net, giving the Wild their first ever playoff series win in just their third year of existence. I’m not suggesting that the current Avalanche team still has a bitter taste in their mouth five years later, but they do have a lot of players that were on that team such as Sakic, Adam Foote, and Petr Forsberg.
Speaking of Forsberg, he is the center of another storyline in this match-up. Forsberg sat out half the season recovering from ankle surgery. Forsberg is regarded as one of the best players in hockey for his two-way play and his defense. Could you imagine what Marian Gaborik and Pavol Demitra could have done in the second half of the season with Forsberg playing center? Well, shortly before the NHL trade deadline, Forsberg’s agent said that he wasn’t ready to return from his injury and would sit out the rest of the season. The Wild were considered one of the frontrunners to get Forsberg, but they went in a different direction as a result. Two days before the trade deadline, Forsberg signed a deal with the Avalanche. The State of Hockey was already in a bad mood after the Wild didn’t bring in an offensive threat at the trade deadline, so when Forsberg paid a visit to the X on March 17, it wasn’t heartwarming. As a matter of fact, Forsberg spent most of his time meeting Brent Burns up close and personal. You can put your money down on Forsberg being Public Enemy No. 1 in this series.
The other storyline will be physical play. Just like in any playoff hockey series, toughness will be critical. The Wild helped address this throughout the season. Last season, it was Derek Boogaard against the world in the playoffs as the Wild didn’t have any other tough guys to combat the ultra-cheap Anaheim Ducks. The Wild picked up Todd Fedoruk who not only is a Youtube phenomenon for getting KO’ed by Boogaard last season, but has proven to be a gritty all-around player for the Wild with his career-high six goals. As mentioned last week, they also picked up Chris Simon at the trade deadline. This will be needed, as evidenced last Sunday toward the end of overtime between these two teams. Avalanche defenseman Ian LaPerriere charged Marian Gaborik and threw several punches toward Gaborik. One unwritten rule in the NHL is that you never go after skill players. Expect “Lap” to get a visit from the Boogeyman during this series.
If the Wild can contain Joe Sakic, who has been a Wild killer over his career, and beat the living hell out of Forsberg, the State of Hockey will be celebrating a long run in the Stanley Cup Finals where they would most likely meet the San Jose Sharks. Just remember, anything can happen in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Just ask the 2003 Avalanche.