This is going to be brief (versus an in-depth analysis of teams, rosters, etc), and if anything it's mainly for fun when I look back next April at what I predicted. I don't think much will change in the Western Conference this year.  In the Northwest, the Wild, Calgary, and Vancouver will make the playoffs.  Detroit, Anaheim, San Jose, Nashville, and Dallas will fill in the rest of the West for the playoffs.  I'll say that Detroit and Anaheim will face each other in the finals, and Anaheim will advance. In the East, who knows.  I barely pay attention to...

Wild 1, Blackhawks 0 The Wild opened their season last night with a shutout at home against Chicago. Nikki and I went to the game and it was a good time. It felt like the crowd's energy from the end of last year at the playoffs didn't fade away at all over the off-season. The Wild looked good and bad. They looked like they were playing with more confidence and offensive calmness than ever before. The powerplays clicked and they took shots more eagerly instead of timidly passing the puck too...

Wild Unveils New RBK Edge Uniforms All 30 of the NHL teams are unveiling new uniforms this year with the introduction of the RBK Edge Uniform System.  The new jerseys and even some new team logos for the upcoming season can be viewed at rbkedgejersey.com, among other various sites.  I've seen very little positive reaction to the new look.  I can't say I've researched fan reaction to the new jerseys extensively, but in general the die-hard, traditional NHL fans dislike them.  They think the tighter, sleeker look makes the NHL look too much like the European leagues.  I've always...

It's June 7th - that can only mean one thing: that an NHL champion has been crowned. The Ducks beat the Senators in five games. Too bad - I wanted Ottawa to win, but Anaheim definitely deserved it. Their defensive style is impossible to beat. Sorry Lemieux, but that's still how the game is played. Looking back at my predictions, I didn't predict anything very accurately other than the first two rounds of the Eastern conference playoffs. I only picked one first round team correctly in the West, and that was Detroit. I had the East correct all the way...

Farewell to the 2006-2007 season. It was a great season, Wild. See you next year. tags: wild hockey nhl

I just finished reading The Code: The Unwritten Rules of Fighting and Retaliation in the NHL by Ross Bernstein. The book discusses the history, role, and state of fighting in the NHL. Unless you've played at the NHL or Canadian Junior level, you'll probably learn something in this book about fighting in hockey. Throughout the book Bernstein claims that "The Code" exists to create space for skilled players and make players who play recklessly to be accountable for their actions. His claim is supported well by the large number of quotes and inserts he puts in his book by...

The NHL playoffs are finally here. Here are my 2007 NHL Playoff predictions: Western Conference Detroit (1) vs. Calgary (8). Detroit will win in 5 games. Calgary has a lot of heart but Detroit has so much damn skill it's scary. How can you lose with Zetterberg and Datsyuk? Plus their 75-year-old goaltender (Hasek) is still awesome. Anaheim (2) vs. Minnesota (7). The Wild will win in 7 games. I'm picking the Wild only because I'm a fanboy, and these teams split their regular season series 50/50. ...

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is driving his sport into the ground. Given the NHL's current status and the direction it's going, only the die-hard NHL fans will be left interested in watching games by the end of the decade. Does the league really want to scare away new viewers and fans? With scenes like this, that's what is going to happen: Professional hockey is a violent sport. Hockey players are tougher than any other athlete in a team-based sport. Part of the reason is because every time they step onto the ice they take the risk...

We went to the Wild game last night and they lost 3-2. Tampa isn't a great team this year but the Wild just played poorly. The guys tried really hard but sometimes their skill just doesn't match their heart. Heh, arguably their skill NEVER matches their heart :) Parrish is really starting to pick up his offensive game. He got a goal last night which was a redirection from an outside shot - exactly his style of goal :) Nice an garbage-y. His former Jefferson coach will probably buy him a steak... The crowd was as loud as its ever been...

I think fighting in the NHL should be banned because it's stupid, but on the other hand, hockey fights can be fun to witness. The rumor is that Boogaard gave Fedoruk multiple cheek fractures with his right-hander to Fedoruk's face on Friday night: Why oh why would you seek out a fight with Boogaard? If you've been watching the Wild this season, then you know that Boogaard is doing a great job of antagonizing the other team within the rules and getting opposing players pissed off. Other players want to get back at him, and most of the time he'll just...

The Wild are off to a red hot start in the NHL this year with a 5-0-0 record. Their first road game is in a few days and we'll see how well they fare outside the XCel Energy Center. I've seen three of the five games so far this season and there is a completely different atmosphere about the team this year. Now that the Wild has some firepower, the expectations are different. In my opinion, three out of the four lines on the team have a good chance of scoring any time that they're on the ice - whereas...

Wild sign coach Lemaire to extension "Lemaire said he had no hesitation about wanting to stay with the franchise he helped build." I was happy to see that in the article. You don't really hear from the Wild's front office what the coaches think about their jobs and how happy they are. I'm glad to see that Jacques is happy with his job and the team. This'll be big for the Wild as they continue to build and groom draft picks. Lemaire is a great hockey teacher and the Wild will need that kind of approach to coaching in their...

Tonight is the Minnesota Wild's season and home opener, and the NHL season began last night. Minnesota hockey fans have a lot to be excited about now that the Wild brass have opened a new chapter in the team's history by acquiring players like Pavol Demitra, Keith Carney, and Mark Parrish. Demitra is the only real bonafide star among the new faces, but on paper the overall talent level of the team has increased significantly. I'm planning on blogging after each game I attend this year. It'll be hard to do because the only way it'll...

Here's a nifty little video segment about over-the-top shots in ice hockey. Even if you don't like hockey, it's still fun listening to those thick Canadian accents of the players being interviewed in the video :) http://media.tsn.ca/nhl/hotdog_hi.wmv I think that Shremp's 2nd shot in the video is actually more impressive. I think it's the same one that a Rangers defenseman pulled off in a shootout last season.

Why oh why did the Buffalo Sabres change their logo? They got rid of the best logo in the NHL. Old logo: New logo: Now, I think the new logo is pretty sharp, but how could you do away with the satanic-looking buffalo with the red eyes??!! They had the scariest logo in all of sports, and now it's nothing but history. At least they don't have their logo from TWO jerseys' ago:

The days are just getting a little cooler, the sun is setting a little earlier, and NFL training camps are beginning to wrap up. All this can only mean one thing: the 2006-2007 NHL season is only about a month away! That's right. For those of you who follow the Minnesota Wild, make sure you get the downloadable Outlook schedule that you can import into Outlook. It'is one of the very few nice features that wild.com provides. Otherwise for the most part wild.com is lame. They put a lot of effort into that site but it just looks kind of tacky...

I was looking at a bio of Meshuggah and stumbled across this picture: The guy on the left is wearing a Wild jersey. I knew they were good people :)

This has been a long time in the works, but I now have a significantly improved music library: http://www.kindohm.com/MusicLibrary. My old "library" was basically a bunch of static content. The new library offers: Tags. Yeah, I got trendy and implemented tags. Tracks might be tagged "heavy" or "weird" so you can listen to all my "heavy" and "weird" stuff. Simple track searching. Search by tag or by title. Track and album browsing. Get your mouse on and click click click away. Dynamic playlist generation. After performing a search or while viewing an album, you can download or start playing an m3u...

Bertuzzi Traded for Luongo I guess I'm not suprised. Bertuzzi needed a new environment after his paralyzing hit on Moore. The Canucks had a winning team that went nowhere last season. Florida is plain lousy and needed to make a change. Bertuzzi leaving Vancouver and going to the Eastern Conference means the Wild won't have to face him as much (or at all) any more in the Northwest division, but now they'll have to deal with a better goaltender in Luongo. Luongo is super-human at times in goal, and that won't help the Wild as they'll face him six times during...

Kings trade Demitra to Wild So, Pavol Demitra now plays for the Wild. Glad to see that Doug Risebrough (Wild GM) is making some moves to help the team win more now than just waiting for prospects to develop. I was going to write a post about how I figured the Wild would make a trade and sign some bigger name free agents this off season, but draft day beat me to it. I've always agreed with the Wild's strategy of building through the draft and developing prospects first over going for established talent. That's exactly what the Wild are doing here though...

The 2005-2006 NHL season began immediately after the conclusion of the league lockout that cancelled the previously scheduled season. It was a season to experiment with rule changes and to increase the popularity of the sport. Dozens of big-name free agents were available at the lockout's conclusion and teams across the entire league gobbled them up in hopes of adding significant talent. Bertuzzi was reinstated in the league after his violent hit on Steve Moore a few seasons ago. If you're a hockey fan, there was a little more drama to witness than usual during the season as all of...

Tonight will mark the end of the 2005 - 2006 NHL season. It's game seven of the finals, so there will be a champion tonight. I expressed my doubts about Edmonton earlier, but I think they're going to win. I don't know how they pulled it together with their backup goaltending, but they did. Plus, they have the momentum in the series now too. However, the game is played on the ice and not on my keyboard, so we'll see what actually happens. Watching the celebration after the game is arguably just as fun as the...

Now that the 2005 - 2006 NHL season has pretty much played out except for the Stanley Cup Finals, let's take a look at the so-called Winners and Losers of the free-agent frenzy that happened at the end of the NHL lockout last year. I'll be referencing this article. So-Called Winners Boston Bruins - didn't make the playoffs Calgary Flames - lost in conference quarters Chicago Blackhawks - didn't make the playoffs - among the league's worst Columbus Blue Jackets - didn't make the playoffs Edmonton Oilers - cup finalists Los Angeles Kings -...

It's kind of unfair at this point for me to predict the NHL champion since two games have already been played in the finals, but I'll do it anyway. Before the series started I honestly didn't have a good opinion on who'd win. But now that the series is underway I don't see how Edmonton can win. They've lost Roloson in goal and I don't see how Markkanan (Roloson's replacement) can play at a level high enough to compete in the finals. I don't know Markkanan that well though, so maybe he'll pull through, but he's been pretty much sitting...

Well at this point my predictions were all wrong. I expected Colorado to face Calgary in the conference finals, and neither of them made it. Calgary didn't even make it out of the quarter-finals. We're now looking at Anaheim playing Edmonton for the rights to represent the Western Conference. I think Edmonton will win because they skate harder, hit harder, have offense, have outstanding goaltending, and they're riding the wave of momentum after beating San Jose. Anaheim is a great team too but they've had a long break. I think momentum will be the key factor. In the east, I had...

Yikes - the first eastern-conference NHL playoff game with Buffalo facing Ottawa was crazy. Buffalo won 7-6 in overtime. I thought Ottawa would maintain their high standard of defense, but either they were lazy or Buffalo's offense is just that good. I think Buffalo's offense is just that good. Both Ottawa and Buffalo have scored the most goals in this season's playoffs. I'm rooting for Ottawa this post season, and Neil says I'm anti-American. He thinks I go home after work and wrap myself up in a big maple leaf. That's not true - but I do spend time admiring...

The NHL Playoffs are like an entirely different season from the regular season. Sure you always hear the cliche in sports: "anything can happen in the playoffs". But in the NHL, the gameplay is very different. The players skate twice as hard, the scoring chances are more spectacular, the hits are more intense, and the crowds are louder. NFL, NBA, and MLB playoff games look like regular season games. NHL playoff games are different. Anyway, Nikki and I have OLN on every night and at least have a couple of games on in the background through the evening. It's been...

There are quite a few pissed off souls over on the MN Wild message boards these days. People are disappointed with the team's performance and angry with management that they haven't been very aggressive in obtaining better players through trades and free agency. I think the fans that are angry are out of their minds. For the most part, the team is made up of low-skilled grinders and a few young, high-potential draft picks. The team has had barely any time to develop the small amount of talent that they've drafted. It will take about...

Aren't hockey games fun?

I was at the Wild game on Tuesday night and saw this hit on Andrei Zyuzin (see video link below). It was really tough to watch. After he got hit he crumpled to the ice and was kicking his legs vigorously in pain. When he lifted his head off the ice a moment later there was a pool of blood, and he crumpled back down. I've seen guys bleed in hockey before, but not kick and writhe in pain like that. It was tough to watch. I heard he ended up needing 50 stitches...

Nikki got me something that I've been wanting for a long time for my birthday: This will fit perfectly in our Wild-themed basement once we get it built and decorated. Woo haa!

Got them via FedEx on Friday: Woo haa!

I always thought that the reason the NHL and Minnesota Wild got such poor media coverage was because hockey isn't a very popular sport - especially when it's competing with other professional leagues in the area like the NFL, MLB, and NBA. But I was wrong - the reason the media coverage is poor is because the media itself is just ...

I've talked a number of times about how the Pittsburgh Penguins would be all hype this year and that their expectations were set too high (The Trap Will Not Die, Lemieux's Expectations, and Beginning the Quest for the Cup). I've contrasted the Wild and the Pens and how the Wild will have a much more solid season than the Pens because of their solid defensive play. Despite the new NHL rule changes, strong defense will beat a team with a weak defense most of the time. So last night the truth came out and the Wild visited the Pens. Wild 5,...

Check out the NHL's best plays of the week: best_of_week8_700.asx Be patient with the opening Powerade advertisement at the beginning.  Some fascinating goals by Malik, Crosby, and Ovechkin.  I've never seen the type of shot that Malik made in real life - I've only seen it in video games.  Poor Kolzig, getting burned in about 75% of these highlights. 

Last Saturday Nikki and I sat in the fourth row on the lower level at the Columbus vs. Wild game.  Every year we treat ourselves and try and get some pretty-people up-close seats.  It was fun, but I wouldn't like to sit in those seats more than once a year.  The good thing about those seats is that you get to see the players up close.  First, you get a feel for how athletic they are and how fast and hard they play.  When they skate, it's always a full-out sprint.  From up in our regular seats, it just looks...

The Minnesota Wild were predicted to perform miserably this season, and high expectations were placed on the Pittsburgh Penguins. My friends, the Wild have the 8th best record in the league, and the 5th best in their conference. The Pens are still where they've always been for the past few years: 28th in the league and dead last in their conference. Pittsburgh drafted Sidney Crosby and signed all kinds of free agents with hopes of contending for the cup this year. The Wild stayed on course with their 5-year plan and brought up their draft picks from earlier years. Which...

This past year, ESPN chose not to renew their TV contract with the NHL. This summer, the NHL struck a deal with the Outdoor Life Network (OLN) to broadcast the NHL's nationally televised games. Leading up to the season, there was all kinds of hype about how excited the OLN and NHL were about the new deal, how the OLN would give the sport of hockey much more respect than ESPN did, and how the OLN would be a part of the rebirth and revival of the NHL. Unfortunately, I think that the opposite is going to happen. While there's no...

Just a few random comments and updates... I decided I'm going to take the plunge and write a technical book. I know that the content of the book will be the most important part, but I couldn't help but put a lot of thought into the title: "Creating an estimate without requirements: using telepathy to read users' minds and let them know when they'll get what they think they want".  One of my current projects would benefit from this subject.  I figure I can make millions when I come out with this. Being a new parent has been fun and also an...

Lee and I got together on Monday night to divide up our Wild season tickets. We already have a game to go to this Saturday. Wow. The season came here fast. Even though it's just a preseason game, it'll be nice to get into the arena, see the ice, and watch a game after such a long absence of the NHL. Plus, it's a great time to watch the Wild's prospects and other players trying out for the team before the regular season starts. I remember last season Matt Foy made his debut in a preseason...

Penguins sign Crosby and Lemieux The Penguins are talking like they're going to be the shit this year. Lemieux's words: "Five or six teams have a real good chance (to win the Stanley Cup) and we feel we're one of those teams" You have got to be kidding me. Last year, they were the worst team in the league with the worst ticket sales. And now they're suddenly in Stanley Cup form? Sorry, but I don't believe it'll work out like that. Despite the fact that the Penguins have signed a number of high-profile free agents to help boost them out of the...

Wings' Draper hopes 'trap' leaves NHL I love articles like this that depict "the trap" as a defensive hockey strategy that employs illegal obstruction tactics (e.g. clutching, grabbing, and hooking). Teams that clutch and grab aren't really using "the trap". They're making up for not really understanding how to play good defense, in my opinion. The offensive players beat them and they have to compensate with illegal tactics. The real "trap" strategy is all about cutting off passing lanes and using legal checking to impede the progress of the puck carrier. That's what it has always been about, and that's what it...

The new league begins...http://www.virtualpuck.com RSS:http://www.virtualpuck.com/rss.aspx

There are a lot of nay-sayers out there who are very, very disappointed that the Minnesota Wild haven't taken advantage of the new free agent market in the NHL. They've signed a few "role" players here and there but haven't made any big moves like many other teams have. Stars and solid veterans like Petr Forsberg, Mike Modano, Paul Kariya, Teemu Selanne, and Chris Pronger (to name only a few) have been picked up by teams trying to improve their odds for winning the Cup (e.g. Columbus, Atlanta, Edmonton, Pittsburgh). Also, existing elite teams like Philadelphia and Toronto are opening...

A while back I mentioned that I had put away plans for VirtualPuck.com.  Well,. I'm back at it.  This weekend some friends of mine were significantly bummed when I told them that I hadn't worked on it since March and that I actually forgot about it.  They actually inspired me to pick it up again.  So I cracked open the code and was pleasantly suprised to see that it was actually in pretty good shape.  I really had no recollection of where I left off and how good or bad the code was.  Today I added some RSS feeds, some caching, and support for...

Eklund's Hockey Rumors is a fantastic blog.  I don't know much about the guy yet, but he definately seems to have some very close ties and inside relationships with players and agents.  He updates very frequently, and it's insane reading stuff like this: More rumors from the edge....Chris Pronger got traded to Edmonton for Eric Brewer, Jeff Woywitka, and Doug Lynch.Naslund signed with the Canucks.Dallas thought they signed Modano, then Boston made another offer, and now nothing is certain..in fact Chicago may be involved...Naslund re-signed with Vancouver.Kariya strongly rumored to San Jose.Kovalev to Montreal is a good possibility.Martin Skoula signed with...

Tonight we went to the MN Wild select-a-seat in an attempt to find some nicer seats to upgrade to (not that ours are bad at all), but we didn't find anything better.  There were two open seats one row down from us, but we liked the angle of our seats better.  Ours are just behind one of the goal lines on the side of the arena and it's a great vantage point to see plays develop and goals scored. I brought along our camera just for fun, and got a few good pictures.  All of the pictures can be viewed in...

Today is going to be interesting in the NHL.  The greatest number of free agents in NHL history will become available today at 11:00 central time.  Watch the TSN transaction log for details.  The large number of free agents has occurred because of the new collective bargaining agreement between the NHL and the NHLPA and the events leading up to it.  Teams have not extended offers to a lot of high-paid players in order to get rid of salaries and keep team payrolls under the new salary cap. It will be fun today seeing where high-profile players like Forsberg and Modano end up.  A...

Lately my interest in video editing has been growing. Here's the result of my latest insane idea. If you know me, there's a good chance that you're in the video, so you should watch it: Mike's NHL 2K5 Experiment (High Res ~ 18.5 MB) Mike's NHL 2K5 Experiment (Low Res ~ 8.5 MB) I've always had the idea of putting friends, coworkers, celebrities, etc into some type of a sim-hockey league. I've worked on it with SQL Server and .Net, and now the idea has manifested itself on my XBox. In ESPN's NHL 2K5 video game, you can create your own custom players...

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?ID=131708 Excellent.  This is what's going to make this (or the next) upcoming season exciting.  The Wild's draft picks are starting to mature and will be in Wild sweaters in the next few seasons.  We'll soon start to see the payoff of smart drafting and enjoy many years of serious contention for the mug.  A lot of Wild fans are very disappointed at the lack of big-time free agent signings in the Wild organization, but I believe Risebrough is doing the right thing by investing the money in developing draft picks.  The Wild's young players like Gaborik and Bouchard will only...