What's Wrong with NHL Officiating

In another episode of blow the f#*king whistle. I have no problem with Wild defenseman Ryan Suter locking up with Detroit Red Wings forward Justin Abdelkader behind the net. That's two guys battling hard, that's hard-nosed hockey. In my opinion, Sutter started the incident. The box score will read:

19:44 DET Justin Abdelkader Roughing - 2 min against Ryan Suter
19:44 MIN Ryan Suter Roughing - 2 min against Justin Abdelkader

I do have a problem with the mugging that Zach Parise took from Danny Dekeyser. There should have been a minor penalty or two called on Dekeyser. The refs are again letting the obstruction go. They need to call the penalties that happen right in front of their eyes.

Wes McCauley, solid officiating there. Only ignored about 10 infractions

— Michael Russo (@Russostrib) December 29, 2015

(Video) Johnny Oduya's Dirty Cross-Check on Zach Parise

Another dirty cross-check and another two-minute minor penalty. Seriously, Dallas Stars defenseman Johnny Oduya's dirty cross-check on Minnesota Wild forward Zach Parise is only worthy of a two-minutes penalty. The ref was standing right there. This is a blatant dirty, bush league move is worthy of a look by the NHL's Department of Players Safety. These are the type of hits that the NHL should be removing from the game of hockey.

Johnny Oduya destroys his close friend Zach Parise with a cross-check to the back of the neck. Wild PP

— Michael Russo (@Russostrib) November 29, 2015

Friday Morning Reading

Good Morning! Good times have come our way. The second week of the college hockey season is finally here. The weekend kicks off with a double header, home-and-home hockey weekend for the UND hockey teams. The Women play both days at 2:00 pm followed by the UND men.

A limited number of tickets for Saturday's game just became available! Get yours now at http://t.co/U88nHTbquw pic.twitter.com/CehhE3rwAS

— North Dakota MHockey (@UNDmhockey) October 15, 2015

Fresh out of the oven! Watch the ALL-NEW episode of #ThroughTheseDoors, “Mother Goose” on Youtube: https://t.co/bD6jzSTQjZ

— UND Insider (@undinsider) October 16, 2015

You won't believe this... The old stick through the skate trick.

That's some talent, @Jason_Zucker16. Stick went through BOTH skates. #mnwild pic.twitter.com/u1L8AhnmZS

— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) October 16, 2015

And Finally, former Fighting Sioux All-American Zach Parise scores his fifth goal of the season. This is the quickest that Zach has gotten to five goals to start a hockey season. The Wild are 3-0 and Parise has scored (5g-1a--6pts) in three games.

PPPG (Parise Power Play Goal). #mnwild #MINvsARI pic.twitter.com/URbnvb6Itk

— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) October 16, 2015

NHL Alumni by NCHC School

Lot of players in the NHL that come from NCHC schools.

North Dakota (14)
Taylor Chorney, D (Washington)
Derek Forbort, D (Los Angeles)
Matt Greene, D (Los Angeles)
Rocco Grimaldi, F (Florida)
Brad Malone, F (Carolina)
Brock Nelson, F (New York Islanders)
T.J. Oshie, F (Washington)
Zach Parise, F (Minnesota)
Chris Porter, F (Minnesota)
Dillon Simpson, D (Edmonton)
Drew Stafford, F (Winnipeg)
Jonathan Toews, F (Chicago)
Chris VandeVelde, F (Philadelphia)
Travis Zajac, F (New Jersey)

Denver (9)
Beau Bennett, F (Pittsburgh)
Tyler Bozak, F (Toronto)
Matt Carle, D (Tampa Bay)
Joe Colborne, F (Calgary)
Matt Donovan, D (Buffalo)
Nick Shore, F (Los Angeles)
Paul Stastny, F (St. Louis)
Patrick Wiercioch, D (Ottawa)
Jason Zucker, F (Minnesota)

Minnesota Duluth (8)
J.T. Brown, F (Tampa Bay)
Justin Faulk, D (Carolina)
Justin Fontaine, F (Minnesota)
Jason Garrison, D (Tampa Bay)
Matt Niskanen, D (Washington)
Dylan Olsen, D (Florida)
Mason Raymond, F (Calgary)
Alex Stalock, G (San Jose)

Miami (7)
Dan Boyle, D (New York Rangers)
Andy Greene, D (New Jersey)
Alec Martinez, D (Los Angeles)
Reilly Smith, F (Florida)
Chris Wideman, D (Ottawa)
Tommy Wingels, F (San Jose)
Jeff Zatkoff, G (Pittsburgh)

Colorado College (4)
Curtis McElhinney, G (Columbus)
Nate Prosser, D (Minnesota)
Jaden Schwartz, F (St. Louis)
Mark Stuart, D (Winnipeg)

Western Michigan (4)
Kevin Connauton, D (Columbus)
Danny DeKeyser, D (Detroit)
Mark Letestu, F (Edmonton)
Matt Tennyson, D (San Jose)

St. Cloud State (2)
Matt Cullen, F (Pittsburgh)
Matt Hendricks, F (Edmonton)

Omaha (1) Andrej Sustr, D (Tampa Bay)

(s/t NCHC Hockey)

Video: Parise vs Toews

A nice video tribute to two former UND fighting Sioux Hockey Players Zach Parise and Jonathan Toews.

Video: Zach Parise Has Filthy Mitts #Buccigross

Today, the Minnesota Wild defeated the St. Louis Blues 4-1. With the win, the Wild win the series 4-2. What's more impressive, there were five goals scored in this game: Four-of-five goals were scored by former college/WCHA hockey players.

Hey, I am not done yet, three-of-four goals were scored by former Fighting Sioux forwards.

This Pretty Much Sums up the Wild's Night

Tonight, the Wild got outplayed, out worked and looked like a bunch deer in the headlights. I think Zach Parise sums it up best with his post-gane comments. Not a great effort by the hometown team, but the series is tied 2-2.

Zach Parise was blunt after the #mnwild's 6-1 loss. "I thought we were pretty brutal to be honest."
— Chad Graff (@ChadGraff) April 23, 2015

Minnesota Wild: Zach Parise Takes A Puck To Mouth In Edmontonb (Video & Vine)

The life of a hockey players is tough. It looks like Minnesota Wild forward Zach Parise lost some teeth in this incident because he bends over to pick them up off of the ice. My mouth hurts watching this. Check out the vine embedded below, it illustrates this really well.

Wild Head Coach Mike Yeo Goes off on Team

This was long over due. Finally, Mike Yeo has seen enough garbage and bravo sierra from his hockey team.

After losing 8-of-10 games, Yeo went off on his team at practice today. You can tell by the video, that Yeo uses a lot of course language. Yeo explained his emotional out burst after practice.



Again, I think this response is long over due. This should have happened about five games ago. There is way to much talent on this team to be sitting out of a playoff spot. If the Wild don't pick it up soon, they're going to miss the playoffs. I also believe if the Wild don't recover soon, Yeo is going to be the former head coach of the Minnesota Wild.

Mike Yeo: Zach Parise has a concussion

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The Minnesota Wild received some bad news on the status of Zach Parise. According to Minnesota Wild coach Mike Yeo, Parise has suffered a concussion. In Parises' absence, Thomas Vanek is going to be reunited with former line mate Jason Pominville. The two played together when they were teammates with the Buffalo Sabres.

Parise has a concussion, says Yeo #mnwild
— Michael Russo (@Russostrib) November 6, 2014

Mike Yeo updates Media on Zach Parise

Yeo met with media today to give an update on Parise and talk about the road trip. WATCH on WildTV: http://t.co/JAIGYjvg0H #mnwild
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) November 5, 2014

This is not good news for the Minnesota Wild. Zach Parise is a key player in the Wild's lineup.

Updated: Zach Parise Injured - Upper Body Injury

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The Minnesota Wild forward Zach Parise is injured and not skating at the morning practice. Hopefully, he won't be out of the lineup too long. Zach is the heart and soul of the Wild. According the Minnesota Wild, Parise will not be going on the road trip.

Russo's Rants -- The Wild dropped its first home game of the season tonight to the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the biggest concern after the game was the status of Zach Parise, the Wild’s leading scorer and heart and soul.

Parise didn’t emerge for the third period after sustaining what coach Mike Yeo called an upper-body injury. There were two big collisions I remember with Parise tonight. One came his first shift when he was bowled over from behind by Robert Bortuzzo. The other came 5:44 into the second when he was cross-checked the ice by Blake Comeau in the slot. Comeau received an interference penalty on the play.

So perhaps the injury stemmed from one of those two hits.

Yeo didn’t reveal the seriousness or nature of the injury postgame. He said he hoped to have a better update after practice Wednesday and said “I sure hope not” when asked if he felt it was serious. The Wild does leave after practice for a trip to Ottawa and Montreal (it’s actually a 3-game trip that also goes to Parise’s old home, New Jersey, but the Wild returns to Minnesota for a day-and-a-half after the Canadiens game), so the hope obviously is that Parise is on that charter to Canada’s capital.

Yeo: Parise not on the road trip (upper body injury). Meeting with doctors today. #MNWild
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) November 5, 2014

RT @BlountStrib: Parise not on ice at Wild practice Wednesday morning.
— Michael Russo (@Russostrib) November 5, 2014

BLOG: Zach Parise injured in #mnwild's first home loss of the season http://t.co/wDpL0crEK0
— Michael Russo (@Russostrib) November 5, 2014

Torey Krug Injured after Slash from Zach Parise (Video)

Yesterday it was announced that Boston Bruins defenseman Torey Krug will be out for 2-3 weeks with a broken finger. Now we know how Krug broke his finger, watch the slash from Minnesota Wild forward Zach Parise.

Wild Make Avs Night One to Forget

With a season of very high expectations in Minnesota, the Wild open the regular season at home against division rival, the Colorado Avalanche. The two teams met 13 times last season, regular season and playoffs, and Minnesota advanced against the Central Division champs to the second round of the playoffs after a game 7 overtime victory. 

With a roster deeper than most in the NHL, Minnesota came out flying and made the Avalanche look like they didn't belong on the same ice as Minnesota. Jason Pominville scored the lone goal in the first, but the overall period was dominated by Minnesota. The score made the game seem much closer then it actually was. The period would end at 1-0, but the Wild put up 17 shots to Colorado's 5.

As the second rolled around, the floodgates opened for Minnesota as four different players would tally goals in the period. Just over four minutes in, soon to be breakout defenseman, Jared Spurgeon, finds a lane, takes his shot, and boom, the Wild are up 2-0. Not even three minutes later, the top line strikes again. This time it was Zach Parise who lights the lamp right off of an offensive zone face-off. Minnesota's offensive zone presence in the second period kept on pushing shot after shot on net, and much of this was due to amazing puck support deep in the zone and the wonderful cycle. As the period drew to a close, Nino Niederreiter and Ryan Suter would both find the twine as a total of four of Minnesota's 21 second period shots found their way behind Semyon Varlamov. His night would end here. 

As one would expect, the Wild took a little off in the third, but did enough to maintain a shutout and still have much of the offensive zone play. There were still a couple of great scoring chances right on top of the crease for Charlie Coyle, Zach Parise, and Jonas Brodin, but were unable to put the puck home. As the clock ran down, there were many things you could take from this game and just say wow. Maybe it was the franchise record 48 shots on goal totaled for Minnesota, or the five different players who found the net tonight. 

Special teams was a spot where Minnesota was not that great at last season, but today showed a gigantic improvement. In four power plays surrendered to the Avs, Minnesota would not allow one single shot. This was not the 27th ranked penalty kill from last season. Although the power play did not score tonight, they still looked dangerous with crisp puck movement, and a willingness to shoot the puck multiple times.

Minnesota's top line put on a show tonight as well. the trio of Pominville, Parise and Granlund totaled a combined seven points, and were a combined plus 10 rating on the night. The trio also totaled as many shots, 16, as the complete Avalanche roster could muster up for the game. They looked in mid season form and were controlling the game like they were the best line in the entire NHL. If this keeps up, I could see this tremendous trio to possibly total 200 combined points come seasons end. This line is dangerous and the NHL needs to take notice of this. 

Having a quiet night tonight was Thomas Vanek. The newly acquired forward only put two shots on net, but I expect many great things from him this season. I don't think that he played to his full potential tonight.

The Avs and Wild face-off once again on Saturday night, but this time at Pepsi Center in Denver. Will the Avs have a response to this beating, or will the Wild come in and spoil the home opener party for Colorado?

Zach Parise not a fan of the Dump and Chase

#488511295 / gettyimages.com

s/t to Chris Peters. Former UND All-American Zach Parise isn’t a fan of the dump and chase. I know a few UND hockey fans that will agree with Zach’s opinion. This has been a topic of much debate on Sioux Sports.


Me personally, I know why you see the dump and chase in college hockey. I have seen UND run it from time-to-time. College hockey teams tend to lineup at the blue line and it’s tougher to just skate across the blue line. If they refs aren't calling the obstruction closely, and they're letting the players "play the game", sometimes teams will have no choice but to dump and chase the puck in to the offensive zone.   It is what it is. The NHL is a much different game than college hockey, and I don't see the dump and chase going away anytime soon.

Michael Russo, Star Tribune -- “I read a study this summer that showed shots generated off carrying the puck in as opposed to dumping it in, and it's like 4-to-1. It's not even close,” said Parise, who is set to make his preseason debut with linemates Mikael Granlund and Jason Pominville against the Penguins on Thursday night. “I just found it so interesting because everyone's like, ‘Forecheck, forecheck, forecheck.'

Personally, I am not a big fan of the advanced stats either. In a nut shell, the stat that matters the most is wins and losses. Also, goals and assists are what drive a hockey player's salary. Ugly wins count just as much in the standings as pretty blow out wins.

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Early Minnesota Wild Line Combinations

On my way home from classes this morning, I was listening to Paul Allen and Michael Russo on the Nine to Noon show on KFAN for some preseason Minnesota Wild talk. Right now it looks as if Parise is playing with Granlund and Pominville, which puts Vanek down with Koivu and Coyle.

Now I know that many of us Wild rubes wanted to see Vanek with Pommer and Granny, however, according to an interview Russo did with Coach Yeo yesterday, he said that Parise playing with Granlund and Pommer was the lethal combination at practice thus far.

Russo also believes that come opening night, you will see Jared Spurgeon playing along side of Ryan Suter due to his outstanding play at the end of last season and in the playoffs. I couldn't agree more, however he has a lot of proven chemistry with Marco Scandella already, so why screw that up when it already is a pretty good combination?

                                                                                   That being said, I am not too sure if Jonas Brodin

is worthy of top line defense minutes right now. After his facial injury last season, his play really fell off and was not the dynamic defenseman pre injury. I think that his playing style should be well complementary of Scandella so I see no problem if these two start out the season together, giving Spurgeon the top line minutes he has earned.

Then you also have to address the third defensive pairing. Keith Ballard was plagued with injury for much of last season, so that was a disappointment for all you Gopher fans who follow the Wild as well. Ballard is almost a shoe in right away to be playing as a defender on that third pair, but who plays with him? As of right now, it looks as if Christian Folin will be along side him to open the 2014-2015 season, but I still say don't count out the hard hitting youngster, Matt Dumba. In his games with the Wild last season, before going back to juniors, Dumba proved that he had what it took to be a solid NHL defenseman, who holds a legit scoring threat on the blue line. However, in the one game Folin was able to suit up for Minnesota last season, he recorded an assist, his first NHL point, and was a plus three against the always tough St. Louis Blues. It will be interesting to see how the third defensive pairing plays out. Could Ballard even be the odd man out? I doubt it right now, but it is an 82 game season so lets see if he stays healthy, or is a little more present on the blue line when he is playing.

Transitioning back to the forwards, specifically lines three and four, you know almost for certain that Haula will be centering Nino on that line, but who will be the winger on the other side? Will it be Matt Cooke, or Jason Zucker? With Zucker being out most of last season with injury, he is a great unknown as to how he is going to preform this season, however, when he is healthy, he has shown us that he is deserving to play with the big club no matter what. I think you start Zucker on that third line with Haula and Nino and put Cooke down with Brodziak and Justin Fontaine. The Cooke-Brodziak-Fontaine was a line that had shown some chemistry last season, and sure, why not have a potential 20 plus goal scorer on the fourth line with Fontaine?

With training camp starting this Friday, it should be interesting to see how the lines pan out come October 9th when the Colorado Avalanche roll into town.

Minnesota Wild All Time Greatest Player

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Well we all heard Eric's opinion on who the greatest player in franchise history for the Minnesota Wild is, Marian Gaborik, and that will probably be a lot of other peoples choices because of how dynamic of a goal scorer he is.

However, one has to argue for Mikko Koivu. The captain has been with the team for 601 games played, plus three playoff runs.  The captain is much deserving of this honor along with his 452 points and a +26 rating in his career, I'd say this honor goes to Mikko Koivu.

Parise Scores.....

Even more reason to be positive about the upcoming 2014-15 season. Parise scored 33 goals during the 2013-14 season and playoffs.

Now They're all on the Same Team

So cool pic.twitter.com/FquugYYSIO
— Jeff Dubay (@jeffdubay) July 1, 2014

Now all three are on the same team.  Anyone else excited about Thomas Vanek being a member of the Minnesota Wild?

Zach Parise Gives Mike Yeo Some Serious Props....

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Last week, former Fighting Sioux forward Zach Parise gave Minnesota Wild head coach Mike Yeo some serious props. Seriously... The fire coach Yeo crowd isn't going to be very happy with Parise's praise.

Michael Russo, Star Tribune --(Zach) Parise who led the Wild in playoff scoring, said during a phone interview. “I think he did a really good job — [the entire coaching staff] all did a really good job — down the stretch for us, especially in the playoffs. I mean, we were really prepared. We knew exactly what to expect. We exploited weaknesses. It’s a big chess game, the playoffs. I think they did a really good job making adjustments on the fly. It was real impressive.”

As a young, first-time NHL head coach, Yeo has made his share of mistakes, but Parise saw several examples of growth this season. It began before the season when Yeo reacted to last year’s first-round loss to Chicago and adjusted his system to allow the Wild to be less of a dump-and-chase team.

Late this season and into the playoffs, Yeo tinkered with his lines more and was more apt to make in-game adjustments and hold underperforming players accountable.

“There’s a lot of things you can tell that experienced coaches do,” Parise said. “Even things as small as tinkering lines when someone’s going and when someone’s not or the way they run the benches. I can only imagine how tough it’s got to be [for a young coach].

Just for the record, I think that Mike Yeo is a very good coach and he did some great things during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. I think we have just scratched the surface with Yeo. I predicted not so long ago, that the Minnesota Wild are going to win a Stanley Cup sooner rather than later.