Wild 2014/2015 Regular Season

[CaptainMusky]

I loved the cooperalls. Started with long Ines in about squirts then progressed to short version in HS. I hated the taklas and how they fit. I knew there was a feminine side that loved a girdle.

[CaptainMusky]

Rehab was wrong word choice on my part. It read conditioning.

[O.T.C.]

Cooperalls for 1 season, then me and a buddy busted out the breezers and everyone else fell in line quickly, parents didn't like that purchase. Our idols Cam Neely(mine) and Gretzky my friend were wearing breezers so that was that. Didn't the Canuck's wear them ? They looked bizarre I remember. Was glad Neely got traded to Boston.

[Bear55]

Fun read here, lots of cooperalls around when I was a kid but I never owned any. I think by the time I hit bantams they were all but extinct.

[lovebigbluegills]

Here's a little flashback of Cooperalls

Johnson and Hill Murray 1984

[lovebigbluegills]

Doesn't seem all that long ago when goalie gloves and pads weren't colored either

[outdoors247]

30 years ago, Sherwood Coffey in hand.

BOO! I knew there was something about you Leech!

J/K - I played for Burnsville during my hockey years. I have to say that Edina was our nemesis. I believe you are a little older than me so I don't think we ever shared the ice together.

BTW - We wore Cooperalls for a few years. I believe it was in Bantams or Midgets if I recall correctly.

[CaptainMusky]

Here's a little flashback of Cooperalls

Johnson and Hill Murray 1984

That is awesome! I love the defenseman near the end when the goalie for Johnson made a huge save and he pumped both fists in the air!!!

I sure miss those clear boards. Didn't a rink in the cities install them?

[BartmanMN]

You must have double jointed ankles.

[bobberineyes]

I think he's getting ready to bite it.lol

[leechlake]

it hurts even to watch it, I was 18 at 47 now my tongue would be out from being out of breath skating 100 feet and I would wipe out the camera man.

[bobberineyes]

I was going to download a picture of a big chunk of cake leech.....but I don't have it in me .About the only skating I do anymore is at the outdoor rinks taking on the 12 yr olds.

[leechlake]

I was going to download a picture of a big chunk of cake leech.....but I don't have it in me .About the only skating I do anymore is at the outdoor rinks taking on the 12 yr olds.

easy to dislike Edina, took me a few years to get there but I do too. I really prefer pie over cake by 10 fold though.

[CaptainMusky]

About the only skating I do anymore is at the outdoor rinks taking on the 12 yr olds.

A few weeks ago I laced em up at the outside rink next to the arena in town. Wouldn't you know it there were a bunch of HS aged kids out there. There were a couple of old farts like me too, we pretty much stayed on one end. After a bit they HS kids asked if we wanted to play a game. We coughed and hacked and said sure after we slammed a beer (sarc). Everyone threw their stick in the middle and one of the kids proceeded to be blindfolded and do the honors of throwing sticks in either direction.

Strangest thing, all those kids ended up on the same team. LOL I noticed it right away, but those little buggers notched the blades of their sticks. LOL

Anyways, I was good for a 15 to 20 second burst then needed a break.

It was fun and everyone had a great time. My thighs hurt for a while after that one.

[leechlake]

Musky-

I lost my skating ability about ten years ago. Frankly, playing anymore kind of depressed me to the point I play very little anymore. It's always been funny to me that parents grumble about how their kid is playing hockey not knowing how hard it really is. They don't let us have parent/player games (once called father/son games) anymore but when we did have them it gave a lot of parents some perspective and they didn't chirp as much...at least for a while

I guess most of us are also experts on the Wild in the same vane. Kind of funny.

[bobberineyes]

Playing and going to the rink and having fun are two different things. Sure we all lost lots of steps and some moves over the years but you can't tell us you forgot how to skate leech. Musky I hear ya on the wind, its amazing what sitting for work and having a few beers watching the tube will do for one after a couple of decades. I'll take a couple of sore legs over a pulled hammy any day.

[bbfenatic]

Scoring hasn't been much of an issue this year, we are on pace to score way more goals than last season, however we are also on pace to give up a lot more goals than last season. Obviously that points to our goaltending issues and maybe some soft team play.

Last 15 games they have averaged 1.67 goals/game and if you take out the 7 goal barrage against buffalo they avg 1.28 over 14 games which is a poor trend and would not matter who was in the Net...not going to win with scoring that little. My question is for everyone, am I being too critical of this bunch? I see poor passing, poor shooting, lack of hustle at critical times, not playing the body, D not clearing in front and D getting burned more than in the past...but maybe I am not catching all the good stuff for whatever reason. Can someone explain all the good stuff I am missing? We all know the tending has been pathetic at best so no need to go there. Other than Parise (god bless him) I just don't see a gritty team doing whatever it takes to win games night in and night out. ? I might be "Blinded by the (negative) Light" Help me out - thanks.

[CaptainMusky]

BB there hasn't been much good. Very little in fact. The only things I'm encouraged by are zucker escalating his defensive game, Parise continuing to be the real leader of the team and I'm optimistic that if they play how they are capable of they will win a bunch of games. I don't see this team being like buffalo etc so that has to count for something.

But expect more and should get it too. I think the expectations may have been overblown but even at that they shouldn't be where they are that is for sure.

[CaptainMusky]

Playing and going to the rink and having fun are two different things. Sure we all lost lots of steps and some moves over the years but you can't tell us you forgot how to skate leech. Musky I hear ya on the wind, its amazing what sitting for work and having a few beers watching the tube will do for one after a couple of decades. I'll take a couple of sore legs over a pulled hammy any day.

I did get a couple oohs and ahhhs with some sick moves those kids never saw coming but those were quickly followed by me turning the puck over lol

[yakfisher]

BB, sometimes I think you are a little harsh with this team. You made very similar comments last year during the January slump and then jumped right back on board when they swung it back around. But, maybe you're right if we are going to have a slump every year at this time we need to find a way to do it different. You can't coach heart and it only takes one bad attitude to destroy the teams morale. Maybe we need changes to some key positions.

I think the tending situation has really cast a dark cloud over the team. It's almost like they figure the goalie is going to give up whatever we put in. Add to that all of the family tragedies, illnesses, injuries and line swaps it has to be tough on all of them mentally. Plus, I wonder if there are a few guys, like Granlund and Haula, suffering from some post concussion issues too. The crispness is missing and with no real heavy hitting options to throw out there it is just hard for the team to get excited about anything. Like the Goophs, something is miss firing on this team and something needs to be done. I hear the Rangersis looking for a top 2 center maybe we can swap Koivu for a big D-man.

On a side note, I just saw a good chunk of the AHL All-star game today and Dumba looked horrible. Made at least 3 turnovers and didn't hustle back when caught out of position. I know it's an All-star game, but if you're there as a defenseman show some pride and take care of your end first. It's not like he has locked up his spot in the big show just yet.

[bbfenatic]

On a side note, I just saw a good chunk of the AHL All-star game today and Dumba looked horrible. Made at least 3 turnovers and didn't hustle back when caught out of position. I know it's an All-star game, but if you're there as a defenseman show some pride and take care of your end first. It's not like he has locked up his spot in the big show just yet.

Thanks for the input CM and Yak, all good points. On Dumba I did not watch the game but the local media was all over the fact that Dumba got 2 assists...then Yak tells the real side of how he played...that is why our local media is terribly biased IMO and you don't get the important stuff as bad as it may be. IMO it is soooo much better to watch the Wild on NBCSN, they know more about the game and they call it straight up.

Glad to have the games started back up and I hope the Wild prove me wrong and go on a major W streak.

[bobberineyes]

I can see this team come out flying after the break. Even though they have the lowly oilers tonight,and a couple more times in Feb, I feel that it's going to be like how they started this year. Going to have to get things going since we have lots conference games coming as well.

[yakfisher]

I hadn't even read about the assists, just tried to see what he was doing on the ice granted it was another goal fest, but he made no effort to stay at home or get back on his man after coughing up the puck. He's got a lot of learning to do. I think Dumba is going to have to be paired with a solid stay at home d-man or figure out when to better take his chances if he ever wants a permanent job in the big show.

[OnAFly]

It's an all star game. The defenseman aren't trying. The goalies aren't really trying. The forwards are just going for a pretty play or anew odd man rush. I wouldn't judge him on this game.

I don't disagree the he needs to be paired with a defensive defenceman. Hopefully his time in the AHL will teach him how to properly play defense. Zucker got, Dumba can too.

[schmitty3]

Can't judge him on his effort in an all star game. Being in position is the last thing he's thinking about.

Nice to get the W tonight, but we've really got to start burying more of our opportunities. They aren't even making it hard on the opposing goalies, either missing the net, or shooting it right into the gut of them.

Side note, no way we win that game with Backstrom in net. Dubynk made a couple big saves when the game was tied that kept us in the game.