It’s the kind of crime that just makes a person angry, one where you wonder how anyone can look another person in the face and not feel ashamed. The Daily Beast’s article about two American Companies who are being accused of fleecing American troops. The two companies in question; BBG Global and BBG Communications Inc. provide pay-phone services for American servicemen / servicewomen as they attempt to call families at a common layover location in Germany. The companies have been bilking America’s troops as much as $40 for phone calls that last less than a minute. If that wasn’t infuriating enough, the company has instructed its operators not to reveal the cost of the calls unless the soldier calling specifically asks for that information. Most don’t, so they find out just how much that quick little call to the loved ones really cost them when they see the bill later. Thankfully the Minnesota Wild treat America’s troops with far more respect and I even know of one incident (and I have no doubt its the only time this has happened) where a soldier friend of mine was treated to a free Wild game compliments of the franchise. It was a classy and most certainly appreciated gesture on their (the Wild’s) part. So why would I even try to connect the Minnesota Wild to a company that exploit’s America’s troops? Well, I think the Wild have been exploiting its fanbase for years; especially in its early days when it fielded one of the league’s cheapest payrolls all the while banking giant profits. Yes I realize the NHL is a business and team owners are ‘businessmen’ with all due respect to women out there but is that really what a fan buys into when they make the ever tougher choice to renew their season tickets? Are they thinking, “well gee whiz, I really hope I can help this owner by giving him more of my hard earned cash so he can earn another windfall?!?!” One could argue over its last two games that the Wild have bilked its fans to $40 and far more than that for a handful of minutes of true entertainment but still being held scoreless over that span. Afterall this is the same fanbase that gave this team 400+ consecutive games worth of sellouts. Ownership has tried to mend some pain by declaring season ticket prices would be frozen for next season, but does that really excuse the team for giving poor efforts during the crucial stretch of the season. Declarations of ending the club’s playoff drought were made, but what do we have again? More early tee times being scheduled by the Wild’s players and fans instead looking forward to the draft instead of the post-season. When will this fleecing of Wild fans stop?
What does the Minnesota Wild have in common with BBG Global?
Perhaps never. The sellout streak is just history now; it may string together a few at a time but tickets are a little tougher sell now 11 years after its 1st season. Like American troops, Wild fans don’t really have all that desirable choice. They can either go without NHL hockey and save some money or they can continue to feed the greedy monster. Fans can accept a team can have its rough patches, its collection of poor seasons but they normally feel as though better times are ahead soon. I do believe the Wild are on their way to improving their fortunes, but unfortunately its another season of Wild fans forking over another fortune so they can keep theirs. If Wild fans were treated like investors, what would they be calling for right now? Would the major execs be feeling the axe by now? Or would they laugh as they enjoy the golden parachutes of massive severance packages while the club keeps charging full price for a team that is made of up of players you’d normally expect only to see during the exhibition portion of the season. So will the Wild give their fans their money’s worth or will they continue this fleecing of the State of Hockey?
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1st Period Thoughts: Minnesota had ok puck possession to start the period as the top line of Kyle Brodziak, Dany Heatley and Nick Johnson and Heatley gave himself a little space to operate as his follow through caught Shane O’Brien in the mouth. Unfortunately the Wild were not even able to put a single shot on goal despite the pressure. The Wild followed that up with its energy line; as Stephane Veilleux rocked Stefan Elliott with a huge hit. Despite the positive start, the Wild would find themselves down early as Cody McLeod sped around a Wild defender and he’d rifle a heavy shot that drew a huge rebound from Matt Hackett and Jay McClement buried the opportunity to give Colorado a 1-0 lead. Minnesota tried to answer back with some physical play as Kyle Brodziak leveled Ryan Wilson with a hit and then moments later it was Devin Setoguchi burying an Avalanche forward with good check of his own. The Avalanche were counter attacking well, looking to extend their lead as Matt Duchene ripped a low-lying shot that tried to sneak 5-hole but Hackett was able to close down the window for a whistle. Minnesota went on the attack as Nick Johnson and Dany Heatley raced up the ice in a 2-on-1 where Heatley tried to drop it back to a trailing Jared Spurgeon who missed the pass but the puck ended up on the stick of Brodziak who fired a shot that was knocked down by Semyon Varlamov but he was able to cover it enough to draw a whistle even though the Wild looked as though they may have been able to pry it loose. The Wild would not help their cause when Nate Prosser sent a puck into the stands giving Colorado its first power play of the game. On the power play the Avalanche had some great chances early as Paul Stastny fed a pass to Gabriel Landeskog who redirected it just wide, and then just seconds later it was Landeskog being denied from the top of the crease by the leg pad of Hackett before it was swept out of harm’s way by Marco Scandella. Minnesota would get the big penalty kill but tempers would start to boil over as Jamie McGinn got his shoulder underneath Marco Scandella that sent him awkwardly into the boards where McGinn was challenged by Kyle Brodziak and we’d have our first fight of the game. Brodziak threw a few right handed jabs before falling over onto his back and the relatively uneventful fight was over. The Wild would lose Brodziak with the hit as he was tagged with the instigating minor and a game misconduct and the Avalanche found themselves back on the power play. Minnesota’s penalty killers were aggressive early and Colorado struggled to get set up in the offensive zone. Colorado players were falling all over the place and those little falls combined to give Minnesota a few easy clears of the zone and the Wild would come away unscathed on the Avalanche’s power play. A few minutes later, Warren Peters would try to get some energy going as he delivered a solid hit to Landeskog who felt it was an attempted knee-on-knee hit and Landeskog didn’t like it and tried to goad Peters into a fight with a few crosschecks. It was at this point that Erik Johnson would intervene and drop the gloves against Peters who just tried to hold on, while throwing a few small jabs while the former 1st Overall pick was throwing big hooks that were landing and Peters would fall over onto his back. A clear win for Erik Johnson but Peters did manage to get Landeskog off the ice as he was tagged with a roughing call. The feistiness continued as Prosser took issue with McClement after a weak shot on Hackett and this brought in McLeod who facewashed the Wild defenseman and he’d end up going into the penalty box giving Minnesota its first power play of the game. Minnesota again looked pretty disjointed through the first 30 seconds, until Heatley threaded a cross-ice pass to Setoguchi who didn’t get quite enough on the one-timed snap shot that was gloved by Varlamov to preserve Colorado’s 1-0 lead. The Wild’s power play just did not have a lot of synergy and Minnesota would again be blanked on the man advantage so they would trail by one going into the 1st intermission. The Wild were being out shot 10-9 and while being down by just one means Minnesota was one shot away from tying the game it looked as though Minnesota was down 2 or 3 goals at this point.
2nd Period Thoughts: 1 step forward, 2 steps back is the best way to describe the period. Minnesota had some excellent early offensive pressure as Setoguchi was again denied on a fine stop by Varlamov and Wild kept buzzing in the Colorado zone. Matt Cullen found a little space and he’d tried to lift a shot over the shoulder of Varlamov but he’d get it a little too high and it ended up in the netting behind the goal. The best chance of the period came off the stick of Matt Kassian who turned on the jets to speed by Elliott for a break away and Varlamov again shut the door with a fine save as Kassian did managed to lift a forehand chance. As great as Minnesota was playing early on, the Wild would hurt themselves with some penalties which squandered the team’s momentum as well as give Colorado plenty of opportunities to extend their lead. The Wild killed off the first one, with some great hustle but they’d pay the price on Erik Christensen’s lazy hooking penalty. Towards the end of the power play, a great pass by Peter Mueller was deftly redirected by McGinn that Hackett had no chance on and the floodgates would open. Colorado would strike again a few minutes later as Jan Hejda fired a shot from the point that beat a well-screened Hackett to give the Avalanche a 3-0 lead. The bleeding would continue as Mark Olver found a little space behind the Wild defense and he’d take the puck to the crease where he was able to sneak a backhander through the pads of Hackett to make it 4-0 and Wild Head Coach Mike Yeo had seen enough and pulled Hackett in favor of Josh Harding. Yet it didn’t matter one bit as a bad turnover by Spurgeon turned into a Colorado counter attack as Gabriel Landeskog fed a pass over to Ryan O’Reilly for an easy tap in goal, 5-0 Avalanche. Minnesota tried to answer back as Nick Palmieri kept his feet moving to have a rare opportunity in the offensive zone as he lifted a shot a little too high. The Avalanche continued to pour it on over the last few minutes in the 2nd period as they toyed with the Wild who looked completely defeated. Minnesota was out shot 15-8 and was lucky to escape having given up 4 goals because it easily could’ve been 6. Ugly, ugly hockey game. See what I said above about this team fleecing its fans.
3rd Period Thoughts: The 3rd period was really about trying to put frosting on a turd. Minnesota was hoping to create just about finding a way to create something positive. The Avalanche was playing very relaxed as one would expect holding a 5-0 lead going into the 3rd period. The Wild was trying to dump and chase and establish a forecheck but Colorado always seemed to have that extra step and the opportunities to shoot were fleeting at best. Finally the Wild got a little break as David Jones would try to tight rope his way near Wild blueline that would be poked away from him by Devin Setoguchi who was off to the races on a break away. As Setoguchi closed the distance the puck would start to roll and it was Matt Hunwick giving the Wild winger a slight tug on the jersey with his stick as he fired it wide of the mark. But NHL referee Mike Leggo pointed to center ice awarding Setoguchi with a penalty shot. Setoguchi would race towards Varlamov and without too much hesitation he ripped a wrist shot by the Colorado puck stopper to cut the Avalanche lead to four, 5-1. The Wild would get a little spark from Setoguchi’s goal but it would be short-lived, interrupted by an Avalanche injury to Matt Duchene who had his ankle bend in a way it shouldn’t. Duchene would be helped off the ice, putting no weight on that ankle at all which caused a whole bunch of people in their yahoo! fantasy leagues to rush to drop him. Colorado would get a goal on a strange bounce as Stastny worked the puck towards the slot that was directed by the skate of David Jones that beat Harding to make it 6-1. The goal would be reviewed and you couldn’t really see a distinct kicking motion and the Avalanche would be awarded the goal. Things would go from bad to worse when a horrific line change would lead to an easy goal for Cody McLeod and Minnesota would be glad its over as they fall 7-1.
I’ll be honest, I am going to keep this short and sweet. Minnesota’s defense was absolutely horrendous. Poor defensive coverage left Hackett and Harding out to dry repeatedly. Bad penalties kept rolling the dice for the Avalanche before they finally were able to capitalize on their power play opportunities. I didn’t think Hackett played too poorly but I’m glad Yeo pulled him because nothing is served by leaving him in there for some ugly rout.
I am tired of writing this all too familiar story of a non-existant offense, a discombobulated defense and half-hearted efforts by a certain portion of the team. What more needs to be said; other than it probably will happen all over again on Thursday against Phoenix.
Wild Notes:
~ The Wild roster toinght was as follows: Dany Heatley, Devin Setoguchi, Matt Cullen, Darroll Powe, Kyle Brodziak, Nick Johnson, Warren Peters, Matt Kassian, Erik Christensen, Stephane Veilleux, Nick Palmieri, Tom Gilbert, Nate Prosser, Steven Kampfer, Kurtis Foster, Marco Scandella and Jared Spurgeon. Josh Harding would share the duties with Matt Hackett. Niklas Backstrom, Cal Clutterbuck and Justin Falk were the healthy scratches.
~ The 3 Stars of the Game were: 1st Star Gabriel Landeskog, 2nd Star Jamie McGinn, 3rd Star Steven Downie
~ Attendance was 13,385 at Pepsi Center.
Where Are They Now?
HC Lugano’s Hnat Domenichelli
C – Hnat Domenichelli (HC Lugano, Swiss) ~ In 2001-02 the Wild wanted to shake things up, so it dealt Andy Sutton who had been bouncing back and forth between playing on forward and defense to the Atlanta Thrashers for the speedy Hnat Domenichelli. Domenichelli was once a big time scorer for the Kamloops Blazers where he had a monster season playing on a line with Jarome Iginla where he piled up 59 goals and 148 points in 62 games. He would bounce around the NHL and AHL for a few seasons but was unable to replicate big offensive numbers from junior in the NHL. The Edmonton-native was a bust with the Wild, scoring just 1 goal and 5 assists in 28 games; but he did have reasonable success playing for Minnesota’s AHL affiliate in Houston where he helped the Aeros win a Calder Cup in 2002-03. After that championship season he would take his game to Switzerland where he has been ever since playing for a few clubs in the last 8 years, even going as far as attaining dual citizenship and has played for his new home nation in the Olympics. Domenichelli is currently playing for HC Lugano where has 14 goals, 33 points and 18 penalty minutes in 48 penalty minutes.
Wild Prospect Report:
Regina’s Colton Jobke
D – Colton Jobke (Regina, WHL) ~ Jobke’s overage season continues to see the Pats’ defenseman be a leader as he added an assist in Regina’s 4-3 win over Prince Albert Sunday night. The Delta, British Columbia-native has 10 goals, 28 points and 82 penalty minutes in 65 games.
C – Tyler Graovac (Ottawa, OHL) ~ Graovac is starting to make a regular appearance on the score sheet again and while he’s no where near being called a blue chip prospect, he may be salvaging his chances at an professional career after tallying an assist on Sunday against Guelph where the 67’s fell 4-3 in a shootout. The Brampton, Ontario-native has 7 goals, 22 points and 29 penalty minutes in 44 games.
C – Anthony Hamburg (Omaha, USHL) ~ Much the same as Graovac, Hamburg is also improving his stock with an improved 2nd half of the season. The 6’1″, 190lbs forward had a goal and an assist in a 4-3 loss against the Tri City Storm on Sunday. The Phoenix, Arizona-native has 10 goals, 29 points and 57 penalty minutes in 45 games.
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