Damn Wild

Last night, the St. Louis Blues goalie Jake Allen, who was described as "dominant," and "one of the best playoff goalies ever"(?!?), was beaten by the 8th seeded Nashville Predators 4-3 in Game 1 of their Stanley Cup Western Conference 2nd round playoff series.  Those four goals were more than the Minnesota Wild scored in their first three games against the Blues in their first round matchup, combined!  So is Allen, as he was described repeatedly during the first round match up, really that good, the second coming of Jacques Plante, or did the Wild really lay an egg?

Cluck cluck!

On paper, an NHL team in Minnesota should be a dynasty team.  A knowledgeable and loving fan base; a never ending steam of America's best young high school hockey players all dreaming of being on their home state's NHL roster; money never being a real issue; a top of the line facility with arguably the best sheet of ice in all of hockey; and a state population who's been let down repeatedly by professional sports teams, a population looking for any reason to clear the family photos off the mantle and build a shrine to honor the sport TRUE Minnesotan's understand!  Over the years, Minneapolis/St. Paul has gone back and forth favoring the Vikings and Twins in their respective sports, but trust me; this city wants to be a hockey town.

Instead we've been treated to a milquetoast version of hockey.  In 17 seasons of Minnesota Wild play, they've only made the playoffs 8 times, less than 50% of the time, in a league where over 50% of the teams make the playoffs every year.  The furthest the team has gotten is the Western Conference finals, in the third year of their existence, where they were quickly swept aside by Anaheim.  Two times we made it to the Western Conference 2nd round, only to get knocked out both times by Chicago, and five of the 8 times we've been to the playoffs, we didn't even make it past our first round opponent.

This year particularly hurt.  If you watched the Wild this season, they looked different.  They were crisp and clean, tough when they needed to be, and made good teams look weak.  And they could score at will!  During the cold of January and February, I found myself starting to believe a Stanley Cup Final was finally within our grasp!  Could this be the year?

Then came March.  Seventeen games between March 1st and April 1st.  Total wins: 4.  I understand the schedule bunched up a lot of games towards the end, but the Wild didn't even look like the same team.  We lead the Western Conference by 6 points.  By the end of the season, we were lucky to be in 3rd.  The Chicago Blackhawks seemed to be the main catalyst for the fall, having gotten under the Wild player's skin, making Minnesota look like doe eyed teens ogling their childhood heroes.  They had a chance to vanquish the demon.  Instead they allowed the demon to control them again, ruining the teams chemistry and flow.

They had a four game winning streak at the end of the season, leading to false hopes they'd righted the ship as they limped into the playoffs.  They were matched up against St. Louis, coached by (in my opinion) one of the worst coaches in the NHL, former Wild coach Mike Yeo.  The Wild quickly handed away home ice by losing Game 1.  Before anyone says "Matt, in Game 1 the Wild threw everything at them and the still could't win," well whose fault is that?  Nashville didn't seem so intimidated by the Blues, on the road, for their Game 1.  The Wild then put themselves in a nasty hole by losing Game 2.  Instead of bouncing back for Game 3 in St. Louis, they once again played like a bad Big 10 team. They finally played like the pre-March Wild in Game 4, getting their only win in the series, but then pathetically exited the playoffs, losing a game of catchup in Game 5.  What made this exit sting even worse was the only team which might've given Minnesota fits in the entire NHL, Chicago, was eliminated in four games themselves.  This was our year, and the Wild blew it.

But it's how the Wild lost the series which points to a long term mentality problem within the organization.  In every game outside of 4, they had to come back, seeming to not take the game seriously until deep into the third period.  If the team had played in Games 1-3 like they played games 4 and 5, they would've probably won the series in 5 games.  This has been the history of the Wild.  They've learned they don't need to play great, just play good enough to keep the critics from ripping them apart.  If this team was in Canada, the media and fans would be tearing them to shreds.  In polite Minnesota, we say "well they tried their best."  The only reason the team won Game 4 is because the fan base started to turn on them.  The roster, loaded with talent, realized they needed to do the very least to keep the wolves at bay.  Anyone who comes off that series feeling anything positive is delusional, but already, the Wild are putting forward their chipper chants of 'we'll get them next year!'  No, no you won't.

After 17 years, the Wild have finally graduated to the pantheon of Minnesota sports franchises, embracing the motto:  "Watch us, enjoy a game, but don't ever think we're going to win it all.  If you do, we'll only break your hearts!"  They join the Vikings, T-Wolves and Twins ('91 was 26 years ago...sigh...) in our deep pool of sports pain and ambivalence.  At least I can enjoy Minnesota United FC.  As an expansion team, any wins they get are unexpected.