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Skating at the Xcel Energy Center
Those of you who know me well are well aware of my ice skating ability. That ability is non-existent. Born and bred in Minnesota, also known as the State of Hockey, I have only skated four times in my life.
Until January 26th.
First, a big shout-out to Garon Rowland for hooking me up with this amazing opportunity. It was an open skate for staff, family and friends at the Xcel Energy Center and Garon was kind enough to invite me.
I must note: while skating, I did not fall once! However, I did fall while on the ice. The story will be accompanied with a photo below.
Because seeing me skate is such a rare happening, pictures were taken.
I am close to the boards so my laps would cover more distance, never for balance. 🙂
I’m starting to feel confident about my skating ability. I’m cruising behind one of the goals here.
Now I am going too fast. If the picture is blurry, I apologize. That is what happens when you are going so fast the camera could not keep up.
I ended up in the penalty box for skating too fast.
Again, seeing me on the ice above is not a result of me wiping out while skating. After my speedy laps on the ice, I stopped to rest. However, I felt compelled to try the running man in skates. Note: I cannot do the running man in shoes on normal ground. Why I attempted such a difficult dance move on ice is beyond me. Clearly, it did not work out well.
Standing at center ice. The view of the Xcel Energy Center from the ice is amazing and completely different than from any seat in the stadium.
Again, thank you to Garon for the opportunity. I know there are people more deserving to be out there and people who are much better skaters. Rest assured, I enjoyed this as much as possible. It was an experience I will never forget.
Jason
Minor League Search, Professional Results
Earlier this week, I was searching for a history of all minor league sports teams that have been in Minnesota. Some that come to mind: the Minneapolis Millers baseball, St. Paul Saints baseball, Minnesota Moose hockey, and the Minnesota Thunder soccer club.
However, in my search, I did not find any of the above mentioned in the first four results on Google. I did find the Minnesota Wild as the highest ranked team.
I found it a bit humorous as there have been many minor league players promoted to the professional club and have times made it feel like it was the Houston Aeros skating and not the Minnesota Wild. Of course, that has no bearing on the search result.
If the Minnesota Wild is aware of this, they should not be happy about their ranking for this term. The only mention of minor-league affiliates on the Wikipedia page is regarding the Houston Aeros and Bakersfield Condors on the third paragraph.
I wonder if putting the one sentence mentioning the minor-league affiliates lower in the post would help change the ranking.
That is my odd search result of the week. Other than the Rick Santorum search controversy, have you seen anything odd that caught your eye?
Jason
Sports Weekend, part two: Wild game
We continue the sports weekend extravaganza at the Xcel Energy Center where the Minnesota Wild played the reigning Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings. This was a hard ticket to come by; fortunately, my friend Brian got tickets from his work, and took myself and his girlfriend, Jennie.
I walked to my seats, located in sect. 106, and again, was misguided by another usher. I always ask if where I am is the best side to go in on so avoid walking in front of a ton of people; it’s one of the drawbacks of going to a live event. As I’m walking through the row, I encountered two ladies sitting there. Assuming they hadn’t seen me, I tapped the closest one on the shoulder and said “excuse me”. She replied with a dirty look, both of them didn’t stand up to let me through, choosing the barely move their legs to allow me to get to my seat. Thank you, ladies.
The game was very well played by both teams. There were parts of the game where the Wild looked like they could not only hang with any team in the league, they could beat any team in the league.  There weren’t too many parts of the game where the Wild played sloppy hockey; this was one of their better efforts this season. Josh Harding did a fine job in the net for the Wild.
The Wild trailed after one period 1-0, and that score held up through two periods. The potential game changing moment occurred at the end of the second period, where Detroit committed two penalties: slashing and a delay of game, which led to the final part of the 2nd period and beginning of the 3rd period being a 5-3 advantage for the Wild. They capitalized on the power play just after the 5-3 ended, tieing the game at 1-1. Seconds later, Detroit committed a turnover in their own zone and Antti Miettinen scored, giving the Wild a 2-1 lead. Late in the 3rd period, Detroit scored a controversial goal that was originally called a no-goal on the ice due to a high stick.  The refs chose to review the call on the ice and somehow overturned the call on the ice, tieing the game at 2-2. Overtime was fast paced, but both defenses held strong, leading to the shootout.  Short summary of the shootout: Pavel Datsyuk scores a sick goal, and Chris Osgood stonewalled Krys Kolanos, Brent Burns, and Mikko Koivu; Red Wings win 3-2.
Thanks go out to Brian for hooking me up with the very awesome seats (and free parking). Even though there is not a bad seat in the Xcel Energy Center, it’s nice to be close up to greatness that is the Detroit Red Wings. The Wild did get a point out of the deal, and arguably should have had two. If they can duplicate the quality of play showed today, the Wild will make a resurgence in the Northwest Division and compete for the division title; they’ll be fun to follow.
Tomorrow, part three of my sports weekend extravaganza will lead us to the NFL Playoffs at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome where the Minnesota Vikings host the Philadelphia Eagles. This will be a close game throughout; but the Vikings should prevail. Prediction: Vikings 27, Eagles 23. Enjoy the game!
~Jason Douglas
twitter: @jasondouglas
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