2010 Skills Competition

Yesterday the Wild held their skills competition and it was pretty fun for me and my brother, who got to meet Clayton Stoner, John Scott and Derek Boogaard for their autographs. You just don’t realize how gigantic some of these players are, especially Boogie and Scott, until you see them in person or are standing next to them. I was really disappointed that I couldn’t meet Mikko Koivu or Cal Clutterbuck, who were reserved for Season Ticket Holders…but oh well. I got my picture taken with the Stanley Cup (my only regret, thinking back now, is that I didn’t actually touch the cup…stupid aren’t I :|), bought a signed mystery mini-helmet (Derek Boogaard), watched some of the Gustavus-St. John’s game and watched the This Week in Hockey presentation with guests Phil Housley, Neal Broten, Mike Ramsey, Chuck Fletcher, and Todd Richards.

The skills competition was really interesting, green basically killed red in all of the events, but the best part was just watching the players be so laid back. Mikko was hilarious, hooking and smacking the high school players with his stick, taunting Tim Shaughnessy, the Hill-Murray goalie. Bruno was hilarious too, running from bench to bench, doing some interviews and just being the funny Bruno that he is. Probably the funniest moments were when Mikko tripped over himself in the puck control relay while he was head to head with Eric Belanger, Greg Zanon getting taken out by Shaughnessy on his shootout attempt, and John Scott’s shootout “attempt”.
I learned today that I’m a good influence because the best part of the day was probably when we got home and my brother started saying Wild players’ names. Before today he only knew Owen Nolan, Mikko Koivu, and Brent Burns, and now he practically knows the whole roster…his favorites to say are Cal Clutterbuck and Derek Boogaard :)

P.S. I know that this is my first post since the home opener, and I promise to be more diligent in blogging :))

NEXT UP: Wednesday vs. Detroit Red Wings, 7:00pm CT

Read more...