Wild vs. Blue Jackets - 10/16/10

Wild vs. Blue Jackets post-game

Umberger's shorthanded tally dooms Wild in hard-fought 3-2 home loss to Columbus
Written by Derek Felska

Saturday, 16 October 2010 12:25

Sibling rivalry. Its something anyone who has brothers and / or sisters can relate to. The natural rivalry that takes place for attention, dominance in the household, and just about anything that siblings sometimes squabble over. It never has to be a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but you argue, prod and goad your sibling into a fight just to show them you must be right and they must be wrong. I know in my childhood I loved getting my little brother into trouble, and on more than few occasions did I take the opportunity to rough him up. Does that make me a bully, since I'm the older brother? Maybe, but it never got too crazy and I knew as well as any older brother does that when the punches are thrown that I am going to receive a lot less sympathy from my parents when the dust settled. Yet, what would happen if I was the same age and size as my brother? That certainly is the case for the Minnesota Wild and its expansion brother / sister / cousin the Columbus Blue Jackets. If you ask Blue Jackets fans, they'd say they've been the red-headed step child of the league that has been picked on from its first day in the league back at the start of the 2000-01 season. For this franchise it is also its 10th NHL season, but they have not seen quite as much success in terms of wins and losses or at the gate as Minnesota has. Yet last year both teams were fairly close to one another in the standings with the Wild finishing 13th and the Blue Jackets finishing 14th in the Western Conference. So at this point, both teams' fanbases are unhappy with the way everything turned out last season and are hoping this season will be different even if they may have doubts whether that will happen or not. Perhaps this is the precise environment you want to have if you're looking for a scrappy contest between expansion siblings. Columbus defeated the Wild during pre-season but that isn't saying too much since Minnesota went winless against NHL teams during its exhibition schedule.

For the Columbus Blue Jackets, it was an all too familiar pattern for the town that also calls the Ohio State University as its home as the team made very few significant moves in free agency, opting to give younger players a chance to work their way into holes in the lineup. New Head Coach Scott Arniel will try to replicate the success he had with the American League's Manitoba Moose with the Blue Jackets are eager to have their second shot at the post-season. The Blue Jackets do have some great (still fairly young) talent in all around leader Rick Nash, goaltender Steve Mason and talented forwards Jakub Voracek, Derrick Brassard and Nikita Filatov. However like the Wild the patience has worn thin. Minnesota does not have the stable of youngsters the Blue Jackets do, but they have more depth than ever in franchise history but it would be nice to see some more of its players raise their game to make the internal battles for spots on the 2nd-thru-4th lines actually interesting for a change. These teams typically have an extra gear or little more edge to their game when they face one another, but with teams that possess similar levels of talent as well as similar weaknesses the game will likely come down to whoever wants it more. So that begs the question, who is going to want it more tonight? (click on the link for the rest of the article)

There is a complete post-game plus a WCHA Men's hockey roundup at the end...enjoy!