It’s gameday, State of Hockey.
Well, Intra-Squad gameday. Regardless, the Lighthouse is pretty psyched to have NHL hockey, scrimmage or regular season, back at Xcel Energy Center. The Minnesota Wild and Houston Aeros have been divided into Team Red and Team White for tonight’s Intra-Squad Scrimmage, presented by Andersen Windows.
Yesterday, Yeo talked about wanting the scrimmage to have the feel of a regular-season game, so that the players would have a chance to get back into their gameday routines. The routine included this morning’s skate, with both teams separated and going through flow drills like we’d see on gamedays. Tonight’s scrimmage also will have full game operations and a good crowd is expected. If you weren’t able to grab a free ticket, the game will be broadcast on FOX Sports North and KFAN 100.3 beginning at 7 p.m. Wild.com will supply highlights, post-game interviews, a game recap and Five Takeaways from the scrimmage.
After the Red Team skate, WildTV talked with Stephane Veilleux about the excitement surrounding tonight’s game and how he was preparing for it as if it was the regular-season opener. WildTV also caught up with newly re-signed Nick Palmieri and asked him about his pre-game music choices. Finally, Chay Genoway talked to us about starting the season in Houston and this weekends Hockey Day Minnesota matchup between the University of Minnesota and University of North Dakota. No surprises on which team the UND alum is pulling for.
Here are the expected Intra-Squad lineups:
Team Red
Parise-Koivu-Heatley
Bouchard-Brodziak-Clutterbuck
Veilleux-Dowell-Palmieri
McMillan-McIntyre-Kassian
Suter-Spurgeon
Dumba-Genoway
Mara-Fredheim
Harding
Hackett
Team White
Cullen-Granlund-Setoguchi
Mitchell-Konopka-Powe
Zucker-Larsson-Coyle
Bulmer-Phillips-Rau
Stoner-Gilbert
Prosser-Falk
Kampfer-Medvec
Backstrom
Kuemper
Tonight is a chance to preview the Wild, and NHL.com writer Brian Schiazza previews the club. The story “Wild Count On Big-Ticket Signings To Fuel Rebound” is posted on Wild.com.
Finally, for those who liken themselves to Nostradamus, the Wild is running a “Drop The Puck” promotion. A puck is frozen inside of a block of ice in Gate One of Xcel Energy Center and fans can guess when the puck will thaw and fall from the sculpture for a chance to win 2012-2013 Wild season tickets and a signed Mikko Koivu jersey. WildTV is streaming the ice melt, so if you’re coming to the game tonight, smile nice for the camera as you check out the sculpture.
