Wild vs. Leafs - Official post-game / mortem...

Wild vs. Leafs post-game / autopsy

Wild drop 7th straight in 3-0 loss to Toronto

Written by Derek Felska | 21 March 2011

Nicknames, they're something hockey players and fans usually love. Sometimes they can be shortened versions of a person's original name to make it sound a little more friendly, while others are earned for something funny or situation from their childhood that stuck. Nicknames were much more colorful back in the day then they are now. Names like 'Mr. Hockey', 'Super Mario', 'Terrible Ted', 'the Golden Jet', 'the Great One', Dave 'the Hammer' Schultz, Ken 'the Rat' Linseman and Maurice 'Rocket' Richard are all names which became famous and became an indelible part of the hockey lexicon. Now there seems to be less creativity and Alexander Ovechkin simply becomes 'Ovie', kind of weak compared to those names from the past in my opinion. Teams also can earn nicknames which can either be flattering or embarrassing or are more mean spirited names thought up by fans of opposing teams. For instance the Red Wings were known throughout the 1970's and 1980's as being the 'Dead Things.' For those who disliked the penchant of some Colorado players for flopping to the ice whenever an opponent skated by the team was given the name of 'Divealanche.' In the case of tonight's opponent, during the many seasons in which Toronto was more of a practice in futility than being a contending NHL team fans maligned them as 'the Buds' or the 'Maple Laughs.' I have not heard too many nicknames for the Wild, apart from broadcasters occasionally saying 'Minny' instead of Minnesota (which annoys the hell out of me), but the most common name used to slam the Wild are to call them 'the Mild' which was a reference to the neutral zone trap employed by former Head Coach Jacques Lemaire. I wonder what you'd call the Wild right now? Apart from just from a few adjectives to describe the most recent epic fail, an 8-1 drubbing at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday makes the one feel a bit angry to put it lightly, everyone except Head Coach Todd Richards who was his normal cliched, not going to call anyone out weak sauce post-game interview that makes fans (and reporters) roll their eyes in disgust. What sort of new nicknames could we give the Wild now? The Futile Ones? The Heartless? The Chokers? I know, none of them are all that great but neither has been the Wild's play as of late as they've lost their last 6 games and are 2-6-2 in their last 10 contests.

The Maple Leafs who many felt had no chance of even coming close to qualifying for the post-season are in a all out drive for the final spot in the Eastern Conference. Currently, Toronto sits in 10th place with 74 points which is 5 points behind 8th place Buffalo. The Leafs have been absolutely stellar since the All Star break and the Wild can expect to see a very focused and determined opponent this evening. As far as the Wild goes its almost time to check if there is a pulse left. Seriously, someone may want to bring a defibrillator just to see if they can get a heartbeat going because the sort of play we've been witness to lately has been apathetic at best. So will the Wild show the fans it cares and embrace the role of spoiler and give Toronto a costly setback in their comeback bid or will they be a gracious opponent that rolls over and embraces its fate? (click on the link for the rest of the article)

I could tell the Wild were done before the puck dropped. You could see it in the body language of the players. No heart at all. So that's why an autopsy is in order. I have a Where are they now little paragraph on Morten Madsen. Enjoy!

the only thing enjoyable about this game were the following;

1. cheap lower lvl seats for college night, woot woot for having valid college email addy so it worked.
2. the leafs fans next to us had a really cute little kid who was giving me grief all night. before puck drop she predicted a shut out. kid knows her shit.
3. the Wild fans next to us are good buddies with Nate Prosser and you could tell they are incredibly proud of him and hope he does well. the guy may even be a new member here in the future.

Nothing this season has really surprised me in the end. The team always seems to go through a hot streak to make some fans believe the Wild are a playoff team, but when push comes to shove and playoff level hockey starts hitting the ice, the Wild don't have the skill to step it up to that level.

I'm getting tired of watching all of Koivu's work in the offensive zone go to waste with the likes of Miettinen and Bruno as his linemates. This is like Gaborik not getting quality linemates all over again.