In Which the All-Star Break Starts

In this episode, Mikki talks about the All-Star break and a few new players in the Wild system. She also explains why Wild fans need to stop using the phrase "bust" and answers a goalie question that's been nagging her. And, without getting into specifics, I talk about the reaction to the Hockey Canada incident. Remember, everyone is welcome here and in the Hot Girl Hockey Club.

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Creators & Guests

Host

HockeySheWrote

Wild Hockey Fan | Cozy Mystery Writer | Mom of 2 | MN Raised | She/Her | Hockey Takes that No One Asked For

What is Her Wild Side Hockey Podcast?

Her Wild Side combines hockey knowledge with a side of vibe checks. The weekly show will have game breakdowns, any topical news about the MN Wild, and fun things going on surrounding Wild's social media. This show aims to be informative while also sparking good conversation about the Wild and hockey in general without having to keep everything serious.

Hello,

welcome to Her Wild Side Hockey Podcast.

I am your hostess, Miki,

aka HockeySheWrote.

And here we are.

The Wild are officially on

their all-star break,

although there is one more

NHL game tonight.

But the rest of the teams

are on their NHL all-star break.

Let's see, how many?

32, and then they have how many extra?

So there's like 40 that are headed...

to very probably cold Toronto, Canada,

and all of the rest of the

players are most likely

headed somewhere warm.

So sorry to all the all-stars.

So I'm not going to really

discuss the two games that

the Wild played before this

break because I'm grumpy with them.

I'm very grumpy.

I'm not angry because that

would feel like being angry

at your babies.

And I guess I do get angry at my children,

but I'm just more grumpy and upset,

right?

I'm frustrated.

But I am going to talk a

little bit about Hockey Day

Minnesota first.

So last Saturday,

I know some of you are

probably from Minnesota and

maybe watched all the games.

But for those of you that

are not from Minnesota,

Hockey Day Minnesota is

basically like a holiday.

So like on Bali Sports,

they were talking about how

they have 18 hours of hockey coverage.

And even in other places.

So my hometown,

we would have a full day of games.

It would start in the morning with,

you know, mini mites, mites.

You'd have peewee, bantam.

I mean, you go all the way up.

You would have the girls high school,

like JV and varsity,

boys JV and varsity and junior gold,

which is kind of like the

outside teenage sports.

team for those that couldn't

make or wouldn't make the

high school team.

They played on junior gold.

They would also play

everybody you would go.

And I remember as like a

teenager going to the arena

at like eight in the

morning and just basically

living there all day.

By that point, I was a hockey cheerleader.

And so I did have something

to do later on in the day

during those games.

But otherwise,

we just all sat and watched.

And it is like a holiday.

I love that they pick

different towns to host it

every single time because

it's fun to see the

different communities turn out.

So this one was in War Road,

which is way up north.

And their kind of headline

game for the high school

game that plays right

before the wild start was

Rozo versus War Road,

which is that has been a

rivalry for decades.

They're only 20 minutes apart.

And they have played each

other for decades.

And they've had NHL, Olympic,

college hockey players come

out of there consistently.

It was really fun to watch

them dive into kind of the

hockey history of that.

So that's one of the things

I always like about Hockey

Day Minnesota is finding

out more about these towns

and just how hockey

developed within the town.

And Hockey Day Minnesota is

a really good way to show

why Minnesota is the state of hockey.

I know there are other

people who don't understand

why we call Minnesota the

state of hockey.

And that doesn't have to do

with how many Stanley Cups

your professional team has won.

And it doesn't have to do with trophies.

What it has to do with is...

people turning out in

support of teams that are

not professional teams.

So that's here at hockey day, Minnesota.

They showed the crowd that

looked like everybody from

Rose and war road had

turned out like every

single person that lived there,

the stands were full,

absolutely packed full.

And it was not as cold as it has been,

but it was cold.

And there have been hockey

day past that are,

have been below freezing

and it still packs the whole stadium.

And then you go to high school hockey,

the state hockey tournament,

which is not until March.

And I will obviously be

talking more about that

once it's coming on.

But for the first place,

like the championship games,

the Excel Center is literally full.

As in the same attendance

that a wild game gets for

high school hockey.

And that is why we are the state of hockey,

because at all levels,

we support our local teams.

And just the fact that it

plays such a big role in

Minnesota culture.

I feel like for the most part,

if you were born and raised in Minnesota,

you might not know a ton about hockey,

but I mean,

you probably know more than

people in other places.

But I'm going to get back to

this Hockey Day Minnesota.

And I talked about this.

So I'm going to say I did a

guest host spot on Over the

Glass podcast.

And I will for sure let you

know when that episode is

coming out because I had so

much fun talking with them.

I think just because I do a

podcast by myself that

whenever I get on a podcast

with more people,

I am just like chatty Cathy.

So I did talk about this there also,

but I just wanted to touch on it here,

which is the land up where

Roseau and War Road are.

The towns are now that used

to be land kind of that was

between two indigenous

tribes and like the Ojibwe

and the Sioux and that

space between they called

it the Warring Road.

And so when white people moved in,

they were like, hey,

that's kind of a cool name.

We're going to keep that War Road.

And they have always kept a very,

like a very thick tie to

the indigenous culture and

the tribes that are still

around the War Road area today.

And so the jerseys that they

had were to help to show those ties.

So it said War Road Warriors,

but it was written in Ojibwe.

And they started the whole

day off with a drum circle on the ice.

And it was, again,

one of those things that

it's such a strong thing in

their community.

And I love that they kind of

centered Hockey Day Minnesota around it.

And I should be clear,

those jerseys were for the

boys hockey team,

the War Road boys hockey team.

The girls also had specialty jerseys.

They played like the night before.

And they had completely

different jerseys that were also still,

I'm trying to remember,

they still had like an indigenous theme,

indigenous theme.

And again,

so I just I like that they did that.

I believe next year is Shakopee.

So I am interested to see what they do.

And then they announced that

the next year's Hastings.

I would love for them to go

more down south.

I lived in southern Minnesota.

That's where I was raised.

And that's where my mom was raised.

And I would love to see them

go down more in that area.

I'm not sure I should give

you like my exact hometown,

but it's southern Minnesota.

just a couple miles from the Iowa border.

So, like I said, I am upset with the Wild.

But I feel like most of these fans,

if you're like me, you're like,

we're not having a good time this season.

But I'm already like, okay,

when is the next game?

Because I don't know how

long I can live without this.

And one thing that we

thankfully have now is

is the pwhl so and let me

tell you guys they have

been playing some exciting

games very close games

minnesota just won

yesterday in overtime and

then just a couple days ago

the pwhl announced their

first suspension things are

getting heated so make sure that you

Pick a team or don't.

Watch them all.

And watch.

Because that could hopefully

be a way to fill this break

with NHL hockey.

And I know they stream all

the games on YouTube.

And as is par for the course for me,

I did not look it up before

hopping on this live microphone.

But I kind of assume that

they would have the replays

of the games available.

And I hope they do know that

I've said that because

otherwise I look like a giant idiot.

So obviously, like I said before,

everyone's headed off on their vacations.

I somehow mistimed my

vacation because I am

taking that next week.

I didn't really have

all-star break in my mind

when I decided on my vacation dates,

and they were set a long time ago.

But

From what I have seen on social media,

looks like Dewey 1 is in Turks and Caicos,

which is I kind of wonder

if Dewey 2 is perhaps there also,

unless whatever injury he

has is precluding him from vacation.

There was just a really cute

picture of Rodin and Ek in Costa Rica,

like standing on this

little bridge in a jungle.

I don't know this,

but I would assume that

Foligno is probably staying home.

I know his wife is due with a baby soon,

like in the next few weeks.

And as I have always said,

babies come when they want to come.

And a due date is literally just a guess.

Like you could just throw a

dart at a calendar and

that's your due date.

And the baby comes whenever they want.

Like my first was two days

late and my second was six days early.

You just come when they come.

And then I did see that Kirill Kaprizov,

like we know, he has to go up.

He's going to be in Toronto

for the All-Star Games.

But he and Stesha are

somewhere skiing right now.

And Stesha had a really cute

story about how she has, like,

never skied before.

And she just wants to try and stand up.

And I just think she's adorable.

I really do.

Now,

my next topic that I'm moving into is

something that I've put in

the middle on purpose.

And I just want to say,

I'm going to say it's about Hockey Canada,

but I am not talking about

anything specific.

So this is not something

that's going to need any

kind of content warning.

I'm going to kind of go with

a brief overview because

when I was on recording

with Over the Glass yesterday,

we just had a really good

conversation and it just

brought up a couple points

that I wanted to really

emphasize because I feel

like you cannot say it enough.

OK, so stick with me.

The first point is that all

of the misconduct in

general in hockey needs to

be tamped down starting at

the lowest possible levels.

I am a parent of a mini mite

and I have made kind of a

promise to myself that if I

see any kind of misconduct

or if I hear of any kind of misconduct,

that I will do something about it.

Because I will not allow my

son or the people around

him to be part of this problem.

And the other thing is,

just as fans in general, we need to... Oh,

my video's gone blurry.

We need to keep talking on social media.

And we need to keep pointing

things out and we need to

keep loud about it,

because the reason that

they restarted this investigation,

you know, another year,

five years after it happened,

another year after they

closed it is because people

didn't shut up about it.

If there is something happening like this.

As a fan, you can do something.

You can keep sharing on

social media and keep

talking on social media and

with friends and other fans

about these things that need to change.

Because the more that people talk about it,

the more that the NHL and

the teams in general are

going to realize that they

need to do something about it.

And I'm going to pause it

here because for some reason, like,

I know a lot of you probably

like listen to the audio feed,

but all of a sudden my face

has gone blurry on the

video feed and I don't know

what I'm doing.

And so I'm going to pause.

I'm going to have my husband

come help me and then I'll be right back.

Okay.

Okay.

I am back.

Uh, I walked upstairs,

had my husband come down and look.

And by the time we came back,

it was clear.

So, which is kind of the,

always the thing that happens, you know,

something breaks.

And by the time you have a

professional or someone who

knows what they're doing,

come look at it.

It's fine.

Let's move on.

I've said what I want to say

about Hockey Canada.

We're moving on.

So a couple of things that

we have found in the last

couple of days about new

and prospective Wild players.

First of all,

one of our prospects that the

Wild picked up in the draft last summer.

So the 2023 draft.

I always have to stop and

think what year it is.

Riley Height.

has had six points in his

last three games and he has

been on this scoring streak

the whole season and then

they announced the last

game that he played in he

has now passed over and he

has the most points in

prince george cougar's

franchise history the

future is bright my friends

I know everyone worries and

what are we going to do?

But we do have to also look to the future.

I know things right now are

not super bright,

but we need to look to the

future also because we have

all of these really great

players coming down the pipeline.

So keep that in mind.

There have also been two player pickups.

So one was a trade.

where Minnesota traded a player from,

I mean, he's been playing in the ECHL,

traded him for Will Butcher.

And then they picked up just today,

Declan Chisholm,

who was put on waivers by

the Winnipeg Jets.

So what Bulgarian is trying to do,

obviously, is beef up the blue line.

And it makes sense, right?

Jared Spurgeon is out for

the rest of the season.

We know that.

poor Faber has been playing, you know, 25,

30 minutes a night and it

is not sustainable.

He is starting to fatigue a bit.

And, you know,

I don't think he would

necessarily admit that he'll, I think he,

you know,

he admits that he makes mistakes.

I don't think he would admit

that it's getting to be a lot, but yeah,

One thing,

neither of these guys seems to

be kind of the oversized

defenseman that Bill Guerin

is really looking for.

Because he seems to be

looking more for another Middleton.

Which, yes, please.

Because Middleton is delightful.

But each of these guys,

Bill Butcher played quite a

few games in the NHL before

he went down to the AHL.

So he does have that NHL experience.

He brings that in.

And obviously...

They said he's starting down in Iowa,

but he is another

defenseman that they can

pull up if needed.

Because we're getting to

this point where earlier in the season,

Brodine was out, Spurgeon was out,

Goligoski and Merrill were

just not really cutting it.

And the Minnesota Wild were

depleting the Iowa Wild,

who was depleting the Iowa Heartlanders,

who were signing anybody

they possibly could.

So this way is just another

way to beef up the blue

line here and in Iowa,

because the problem is when

you pull up all of so like

Dakota Mermis is still here,

which is great because I

think he has really had a

good season here.

When you have all of those players up here,

then all of the other blue

line prospects who are

young and new and need some

guidance from a veteran player,

they don't have that veteran presence.

So for now,

Butcher can kind of bring that

presence to the Iowa Wild team,

which is going to be really

beneficial for them.

Now,

Declan Chisholm has been given the

number 47,

which I am assuming means that

he starts in Minnesota.

And he has only played four

games in the NHL.

He played two games this

season and then two games

two seasons ago.

I did a little reading and a

little research,

and it looks like he has a

lot of potential,

but the Winnipeg

organization has not really

given him a lot of chances

to show what he can do in the NHL,

at the NHL level.

In the AHL level, he is doing really good.

He...

he put up like a little bit

less than a point a game.

Like he is a, an offensive playmaker.

He doesn't score a lot of goals,

but he is really good at

setting up plays and, you know,

racking up assists.

Apparently he is very good

at making a pass to break out of the zone,

which is something that we

are needing because when Roby, when Robyn,

when Brodine was gone,

that was part of what we

were missing and Spurgeon being gone.

And so I am looking forward

to see what he can do.

Um, he, I,

I don't remember how old Butcher is.

I think he was a little bit older, uh,

and Chisholm, I believe was 24.

So he's not super young.

Uh,

but he's also doesn't have a ton of

experience.

You know, he's kind of that,

that middle ground.

Now I'm wondering what,

how are they going to structure that?

And obviously that's just

about the third pairing

because we know the top four.

We know that whatever,

even whatever combination

is going to be Brodine, Faber, Middleton,

Bogosian.

Because actually I feel like, well,

you know what, backtrack that.

Because for a while they

also had Mermis beside Middleton.

And I actually thought that

was working well.

So I guess scratch that.

I will say we know three

that are not going to move.

Middleton, Rodin, and Faber.

So Damon Hunt was sent back

down to the AHL.

So he's not here right now.

But we've also got Goligosky, Merrill,

and Mermis.

Alongside now Chisholm.

So then the question is,

Again, what do you do with that?

Now,

I did read that apparently I wasn't

able to find stats on it

because you guys know my

contentious relationship with stats.

And I do try sometimes that

I get frustrated.

So I was reading in his scouting reports,

though,

that Chisholm could possibly put

up points on a power play.

And I'm assuming that they

wouldn't say that unless he

has played the power play.

I don't know that because I

am not a scout and I am not

a statistician.

So that begs the question,

would he be able to take

over the quarterback of the

second power play unit from Goligosky?

Because while Goligosky is,

you know I i think he's been

doing okay on the power

play I haven't noticed him

on the power play which is

I guess a good thing um but

there are other places in

the game he's just

struggling he's just he's

losing a step you know so

that will be kind of an

interesting area to watch

and I know and and merrill

it it it's hard for me to

say because I really like

merrill as a person I

really do and actually I

really liked him um

when he first came in and

even last year at the

beginning of the year, uh,

but his play has really

slipped and I don't know why.

And I also, I didn't look at his, uh,

contract,

but I don't think they can trade him.

And even if they assign him to the AHL,

I think he might

potentially be on a one-way deal.

So it's still the same.

money at the salary cap.

Now I know we do have money to play with,

you know,

so it's not as much of an issue

as it was before because

Spurgeon is going to be on

long-term injured reserve

for the rest of the year.

So those are kind of our news.

We have those two new

additions and then we have our prospects.

We've also got plenty of other prospects,

other places.

They look very promising.

I'm sure you see all the different posts.

Sorry if you're watching me

or you can hear weird sounds.

I'm like trying to adjust my chair.

But I'm going to move on to

something that needs to

stop being said by wild

fans because it's not just

said about prospects.

It's said about everyone,

and I am really tired of it.

So here's what I need you to stop doing.

I need you, Wild fans,

to stop using the word bust.

Because I think a lot of you

don't know what it means.

And I'll admit,

sometimes it might be

people making a joke.

But I feel like in this fan base,

it's not.

Because...

When Kirill Kaprizov was not

scoring coming back from injury,

I was seeing people call him a bust.

I don't know if you realize,

but he is now fourth in

franchise history with a number of goals.

And he is definitely going

to get to first place over

the next few seasons.

I also saw after the last game,

someone called Gustafson a bust.

You guys, he's just having a hard time.

Like, it was a hard game.

You cannot say a person is a

bust because of like one,

even two hard games.

Because here's the thing.

You have to...

To really make a judgment

about a player and how they are doing,

you need a large,

a large look at a large chunk of data.

And that is something.

I mean, OK,

so Kaprizov doesn't score a

goal or only scores like a

tap in goal for seven games.

But he's still putting up points.

And despite missing a number

of games with injury,

is still somehow at a point

per game player.

And Gustafson, you know,

he's just he's just been battling stuff.

He's been injured.

He was sick kind of between

the last two games before All-Star break.

I heard that he was sick and, you know,

he may have still been

feeling the after effects

of that on Saturday.

And I got really tired of

people calling Rossi a bust.

Because I would love to make

a highlight reel of Rossi

this year so far, find a time machine,

go back in it,

and show everybody who's

calling him a bust exactly

what they can expect.

Because, again,

they're taking a very small

body of work and judging

his entire rest of his career on it.

And it's just,

please stop calling players

a bust because it does not

mean what you think it means.

Now, talking about goalies like Gus,

I had a question the other day.

It was during the Hockey Day

Minnesota high school game

that I was watching.

One of the teams... Again,

I'm not... I was watching,

but I wasn't taking notes

like I do with wild games.

I listen to myself say that,

and it just sounds so obsessive.

But guys, it's because I write about them,

okay?

And I want to bring you the best news.

Anyway...

I had this question because

they switched out the

goalie at least once, if not twice.

So I like put my little thinking cap on.

And I was like, well,

can you if you pull a goalie?

And I mean,

pull a goalie because they're

maybe not playing well.

I don't mean like pulling

them because of injury or illness.

And I don't mean pulling

them for an extra attacker or, you know,

that kind of thing.

Not that just pulling them

because they're not playing well.

you put your other goalie in

my question was can you

later pull the second

goalie back out and put the

first one back in I don't

really that would have to

be a really wild game to a

wild game uh to necessitate that

But from what I am reading,

you can absolutely do that.

There are rules about when,

meaning like you have to,

it has to be the end of a play, you know,

like the goalie,

they can't just switch in

the middle of a play,

which is kind of like obviously,

but apparently not.

So just so you know, as far as I've read,

you could just switch

goalies back and forth as

long as you're doing it at

the right time of the game.

You could do that.

That would be a really terrible strategy,

says someone who doesn't

really know hockey strategy.

Anyway, you're welcome for that.

Now,

future considerations in a bag of pucks,

my miscellaneous part of the show,

because I have recorded for

a while already.

Brock Besser.

Let's talk about Brock

Besser because Brock Besser

is a wonderful human being

and I wish him all the best.

I was really excited to see

that last week he finally

got his first 30 goal

season and he really deserves that.

He had such a rough year last year,

both on and off the ice.

And, you know,

there were some people that

just would not really take

into consideration the off ice stuff.

which now that I'm thinking about it,

I had an argument with

someone about this kind of a situation.

I don't remember if it was

exactly the Besser situation itself,

but things off ice can

absolutely affect you on ice.

Things outside of your job

are going to affect your

performance at your job.

And obviously,

he's a professional athlete.

And so they do have ways to

try and help themselves not

get mired down in it.

But they are also humans.

So we need to remember that.

They're not robots, except Faber.

But he's not an emotional robot.

He is simply a hockey robot.

They are not emotional robots.

You know, if their kid is sick,

that's going to you know,

they're going to have that

in the back of their mind.

If a loved one has passed,

that's going to be in the

back of their mind.

If a pet has passed,

it's going to be in the

back of their mind.

And obviously they're going

to do everything they can

because they are

professionals to kind of at

least push it back a little

while they're on the ice.

But if anyone else has gone

through just a very emotional time,

you will know that feelings, grief,

feelings, emotions,

they come bubbling to the

surface at completely random points,

and you cannot stop them.

So to see Brock then move on

to this season and play so well,

just we need to support all

Minnesotan Brocks.

Brock Besser, Brock Nelson, Brock Faber,

Minnesota Brock's in general.

The three Minnesota hockey

Brock's that I know seem

like fabulous people.

So USA Hockey just announced

that they are mandating

neck protection starting next season.

And I absolutely applaud

them because I have had my

son wear a neck protector

since he started hockey last year.

So this is his second season with it.

And honestly,

it doesn't really bother him.

his helmet bothers him.

He always tells me that the

one thing he hates about

hockey is wearing a helmet,

which I'm like, well, sorry, dude.

But I think a lot of people

who were complaining about

that are thinking about the

neck protection that they

used to have that was very

thick and very cumbersome and very warm.

And I'm sure that it's still warm.

You know,

it's still something around your neck.

But the one that my son has is very thin.

It's very thin, but it's still...

It's still going to protect him.

And it might not stop an injury,

but it will make it a lot less severe.

That is what we are going for.

You know, it's like a seatbelt.

A seatbelt is not

necessarily going to stop

you from being injured,

but it will stop you from

flying through the windshield,

which is obviously going to

be a much bigger injury.

So applause to them.

And I just want to say again, Merrill,

I love him as a human.

And if I need everyone to

make sure that they saw the

picture of his mullet from

the game on Saturday against the Ducks,

because his mullet,

if that game was not satisfying,

his mullet was top notch.

It just I applaud him.

So wrapping up here,

things I'm working on

during the All-Star break, mostly

is the Minnesota Wild Lore Guide,

because I have been given

permission to use the

amazing family tree that

two of my friends made.

And I will obviously be

crediting them on the page.

I started working on it, but then I

you know,

got like partway through and I was like,

wait,

I'm going to do this completely

differently because that's

how I do any kind of large project,

but it is coming.

And so I will probably

record in a few days once I

put out the initial part of it,

because I think this is

going to turn into like a many,

a many part thing.

So, um, until then,

You know, everybody is a beauty.

You're all welcome in the

hot girl hockey club.

Everybody is welcome.

Because even if the NHL does

not feel welcoming at all times,

the fan base,

we have areas of this fan

base and every fan base

that will welcome anybody with open arms.

Anybody who is just here to

have a good time and not be

a bummer on anybody else.

You're all welcome here.

So please remember that.

And please have a wonderful few days.

Try to survive without hockey.

Put out the good hockey

vibes for PWHL as they continue to play.

Although I know some of them

are going to be at the all-star game.

So I guess we won't have that many.

I actually didn't look at the schedule,

you guys, but, um,

Still,

I really want them to do so well at

the all-star game because I

really enjoy when they kick

the boys' butts.

Sorry, boys.

Okay, I need to stop doing this.

I get to the end and I just

start rambling on.

All right, so everybody,

I will see you next time.