Wild, Curtis Are What Hockey In Minnesota Is All About

Big wins for the Wild and a preview of my Q&A with Minnesota Whitecaps forward and All-Star, Jonna Curtis.

Hey, sports fans. It has been a great week across Minnesota, not only for hockey, but football as well. A quick shout-out to my hometown Hutchinson Tigers for winning the state football championship last night at U.S Bank Stadium. Not only that, but the Minnesota Vikings beat the Green Bay Packers and the Minnesota Gophers beat the Wisconsin Badgers to bring Paul Bunyan’s Axe back home. It has been a great week for Minnesota football, for sure.

However, this is a hockey blog, so let’s turn our attention where it should be. I guess the stars aligned, not only for Minnesota teams to play its rivals in football, but in hockey as well in recent games. The Minnesota Gopher Men’s Hockey beat rival North Dakota 5-1 in Fargo on Friday, the Wild hosted the Dallas Stars last week and beat them down 7-2 and the hated Winnipeg Jets visited St. Paul on Friday and the Wild blew them out, 7-1 at the Xcel Energy Center as well. Not missing a chance to troll the Jets, the Wild had jokes at the Jets’ expense.

Yes, the Wild lost a couple of games in Florida this week against the Lightning and Panthers, both scores of 5-4, but those are two of the best teams in the NHL and we were right there with them. One-goal games on the road aren’t bad. See the aforementioned blowouts that the Stars and Jets suffered if you want to compare. A few notable stats that stand out in terms of the Wild season thus far:

The Wild have only scored 2 goals or less once – the season-opening, last-second win in Anaheim.
The Wild have not lost three-consecutive games under Head Coach, Dean Evason.
They are 8-4 in one-goal games and 6-1 in overtime games (2-1 in games that go to a shootout).
Eight of their wins have come in games in which the Wild have scored five goals or more.

At 20 games into the season, and with a 13-6-1 record, I have to say the Wild are a different team than we’re used to in Minnesota. Historically speaking, the Wild have always been a defensive-minded team where they would get a one or maybe, two goal lead and then basically play prevent-defensive and try to shut things down with a neutral-zone trap. Not anymore, they are so balanced on defense AND offense, that they keep scoring after getting a lead. The Wild next host the Tampa Bay Lightning tomorrow at the Xcel Energy Center beginning at 1:00PM. More Wild coverage next week.

A Preview: Jonna Curtis Leads the Minnesota Whitecaps On, and Off the Ice

I had the honor and privilege of talking with Minnesota Whitecaps forward, Jonna Curtis this past week and asked a few questions. Jonna is an Elk River, MN native and aside from hockey, is an advanced product assurance engineer in St. Paul, MN. She has a long list of career achievements in her high school, collegiate and professional career. I will have my entire Q&A with Jonna and more in my next blog this coming week. Do not miss out!!!