Wild Hockey: Keith Ballard something positive

Today, I was out riding my bike, kind of percolating. Sometimes, I do some of my best thinking when I am out riding my bike. When I am out riding the bike I like to listen to my iPod and catch up on some of the podcasts that I might have missed while I was at work.  Today, I was listening to Michael Russo's podcasts who was filling in for Paul Allen on KFAN 100.3.

First off, KFAN should consider hiring Michael Russo, I really like his approach to talk radio, maybe I am the only one that feels this way, but I like how he approaches a radio show. Maybe it's because Russo isn't trying too hard, he's just himself when he fills in for Paul Allen. That's what I like about his shows. While he might not be as polished as a Paul Allen or a Jeff Dubay and Judd Zulgad, he's fun to listen to. Plus, he talks hockey, that's not something that happens a lot in this area. I wish there were more radio shows that simply talked about Hockey 24/7. Especially in the state of hockey.

For some reason, the sports talk radio hosts seem to want to ruin a good show talking about basketball and baseball. Today, Russo was interviewing newly signed Minnesota Wild defenseman Keith Ballard... This was a good interview to listen to, if you haven't heard it yet. You can listen to this interview on the embeded audio posted below. The interview starts at the 24:00 minute mark.

I think the Minnesota Wild are going to benefit from the Keith Ballard signing.

KFAN talks about the UND vs. UMN rivalry

Today, KFAN host Paul Allen had former Gophers Nate Miller and Pat Micheletti on the nine to noon show to day and had some interesting things to say about the North Dakota vs. Minnesota rivalry. It was really a good show and if you haven't heard it, it's worth a listen.

At Bucky's Fifth Quarter, Andy Johnson aka Chuck Schwartz has a great post on the UND and UW rivalry and how Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves thought it was a priority to continue the rivalry.

The series also carries historical significance, as it's the last time these two programs will meet in the regular season as members of the WCHA. At the conclusion of the season, Wisconsin will head to the Big Ten Hockey conference, while North Dakota will join the newly formed National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC).

After 161 meetings -- UW leads the series, 86-64-11 -- it would be a shame for the rivalry to end with the upcoming conference realignment. That's why, according to Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves, it was a priority to ensure the two teams had a non-conference scheduling agreement in the future.

"A great rivalry, great history," Eaves said. "Both programs wanted to do that and keep it going. It actually was a conversation that wasn't very long with (Dave) Hakstol, their head coach, and we both reached out and both said, 'Let's get this done,' and we were able to do so."

I have to say that I am very happy about UW and UND continuing the historic rivalry.

Related articles

• Sioux nickname reason UND's not playing UMN (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• Tom Miller nails it UND vs. UMN (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• A few things... UMN vs. UND (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• One step back, before we move forward (UND vs. UMN) (thehockeywriters.com)
• Did the Minnesota and North Dakota series become more tame? (thehockeywriters.com)

Jeff Dubay resurfaces - talks about his addiction

s/t @Bruce Ciskie... The P.A. and Dubay show from nine to noon, Monday through Friday was a very popular radio show on KFAN for 10 years; then in the fall of 2008, co-host Jeff Dubay’s world fell apart on him. For college hockey fans Dubay filled the college hockey void that Minneapolis, St. Paul and the upper Midwest had.

Since his dismissal from KFAN – the station has lacked a daily college hockey presence – until recently. While Ryan Cardinal of Gopher Puck Live has done a good job filling in on Thursdays, the station has never been the same since Dubay left KFAN 100.3, there has been a void that has yet to be filled.

That being said, I do have to give credit where credit is due, Paul Allen has incorporated some good hockey minds like Michael Russo of the Star Tribune and Allen has also improved in his knowledge of the game of hockey.

Chad Hartman, MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) —“When somebody brought this out and set it on the table, I’d never seen this before,” Dubay said. “It’s these chunky, little white things. I thought, ‘What the heck is it?’ The guy said, ‘It’s rock.’ I still didn’t know what it was. I still didn’t know it was crack cocaine.”

The drug was a break from the depression, but it quickly became a habit.

“You took the drug and then the drug took you,” he said. “And that’s all it took. I was done for the next two years.”

In October 2008, while driving home after buying crack, an officer started pulling Dubay over for a broken taillight.

Dubay panicked and threw the drugs out the window. But officers found them.

“I was crying, saying, ‘My life is over.’ Please don’t. Just please give me a break,’” he recalled.

You can listen to the whole interview right here. I ran into Jeff Dubay three years ago during the WCHA Final Five and have often wondered what had happened to him. Hartman's interview on WCCO kind of catches us up. Thankfully Dubay has been clean since May of 2011. I hope that Jeff can finally get his act together and go on to live a healthy life.

P.A. makes his pitch to Zach Parise

KFAN 100.3 out of the Twin Cities is one of the best sports talk radio channels in the upper Midwest. During the past year they decided to take the last hour of their show to the FSN. If you haven’t seen this or heard this on the radio today this is Paul Allen’s sales pitch to Zach Parise, pretty good stuff by Allen on the nine to noon show today.

Parise tight lipped about where he's going

This is one of those stories that aren’t going to go away, until we know where former Fighting Sioux All-American forward Zach Parise is headed. Zach Parise hasn’t tipped his hat where he is going either, only to say that he wants to re-sign with the New Jersey Devils. You can rest assured that Parise and his agent are going to get a bunch of offers from a lot of teams.

Joan Niesen, FSN.COM --- Parise said he treats his impending free agency as something he can take advantage of, but it would seem that balancing his sanity with the desire to get the most out of this summer is something he's grappling with daily. Talk to Parise for five minutes and who knows how many times he'll say he wants to minimize the stress of the process. However, coming home to Minneapolis this offseason, though a natural move, is unlikely to mitigate the constant scrutiny.

Parise grew up in Bloomington, Minn. His father, J.P., played for the North Stars, and Parise still keeps a house in the Twin Cities, which he returned to last Friday from New Jersey. That's why he made an appearance Wednesday at the Defending the Blue Line game on the University of Minnesota campus, where he signed autographs and watched from the bench. As an unsigned player, Parise did not compete with the local hockey stars who took the ice. Instead, he subjected himself to the barrage of questions he's mostly unable to answer.

On Tuesday morning Paul Allen had Michael Russo beat writer of the Minnesota Wild from the Minneapolis Star and Tribune on the KFAN 100.3 and the two of them discussed the Parise free agency story and where they think that Zach might go. Russo seems to think that if the Wild get Parise that they might have a good chance to get Predators’ defenseman Ryan Sutter. You can listen to P.A.’s interview of Russo from the podcast that is embedded below in the blog post.

Mikael Granlund is now part of the Wild

Michael Russo of the Star Tribune was on KFAN with Paul Allen last week talking about the Wild signing Mikael Granlaund. Russo informed Allen that as soon as the World Championship was over, the Minnesota Wild would sign the young star. That wait is now over and the Wild now have their top prospect signed up and ready to go.

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