Wellman Recalled; Viewing Party Tonight

Happy Tuesday and Wild gameday, State of Hockey! It’s a busy day down here at Wild HQ, but here’s a quick blog for your afternoon enjoyment.

After talking with Head Coach Todd Richards at yesterday’s practice, it didn’t seem there would be any news to report from today’s morning skate in St. Louis. Richards said Mikko Koivu and Chuck Kobasew missed the practice for “maintenance” but that both would be in the lineup against the Blues. However, Kobasew’s leg injury is apparently still bothering him as the Wild recalled Casey Wellman from Houston late this morning to take Kobasew’s spot in the lineup for tonight’s contest in St. Louis.

As the Wild desperately searches to find it’s offensive stride, it should be interesting to watch Wellman’s impact on the lineup. In his most recent recall earlier this month, he played two games, scoring one goal and averaging 9:02 TOI. Wellman is slotted to start the night on the left side of Matt Cullen and Marty Havlat, but as Richards stated yesterday, he is likely to change things up throughout the night in search of some offensive chances. Also, Jose Theodore will get the start in net tonight.

Last, but certainly not least, remember to come out to the Wild Interactive Viewing Party tonight at the Mall of America rotunda. The fun starts at 6 p.m. and will include autographs from Wes Walz, games and cool gadgets from Best Buy and SONY, plus lots of great giveaways including a game-worn Bouchard jersey, video game systems, Wild tickets and much more. Click here for all of the details of tonight’s event. Perhaps the biggest draw of the night is the chance to watch me type like a madwoman as I write the live, in-game commentary of tonight’s game from the party. I hope someone told the MOA to put up some extra crowd-control barriers to handle the huge number of wild.com fans that are sure to show up…

TGIFair Time!

What a wonderful day at the Great Minnesota get together yesterday. I got to meet all sorts of wonderful “View from the Lighthouse” fans, and there were even some Wild fans there too.

If you missed me yesterday, don’t feel bad. In fact, I still say it’s worth it to stop by the booth during any of the remaining 11 days of the fair. You can register to win a team-autographed stick, which is given away every day. You can meet Nordy (who made me laugh repeatedly yesterday) between 12:45 and 1:45 every day. You can play “Top Shot,” which is a puck shooting game where you have to hit a lit up box. I spent a half hour yesterday feeding pucks to half pints, and some three foot whipper snapper set the record with seven targets hit on 10 shots. I won’t say his name because I passed it on to Chuck Fletcher. We don’t need some other NHL club scouting our best kept secret.

Of course, the big day to get to the Wild booth is Sunday at noon when Nick Schultz and Wes Walz will unveil the Top Ten Games in Wild history, and then sign autographs for an hour.

If you’re going tonight, I think I heard through the grapevine that Michael Russo, the most intense beat writer in the NHL, will be doing some radio show from the fair. Since he’s not one to promote his own gigs, I figure I’ll throw him a bone in this space here.

Hopefully you saw that every Wild regular season game will be televised this year. That has to make you happy heading into the weekend, so I won’t say anything more to dampen your spirits.

Enjoy the weekend!