Write On Sports LLC - "Look for the Wild to hoist the Cup" by Leslie Monteiro

Look for the Wild to hoist the Cup

2007-04-11 21:34:43 | By: Leslie Monteiro

The hockey wonks have labeled several teams as Stanley Cup contenders. The Devils, Red Wings, Sharks, Ducks, and the Canucks are teams that are being promoted.

However, the Wild are not being taken seriously. In fact, the main stream pundits expect the Wild to lose, in the first round, to the Ducks in five or six games.

These same prognosticators predicted the St. Paul team to lose in 4 games, against the Stanley Cup favorite Colorado Avalanche, in 2003 when the team made their first ever playoff appearance.

Those geniuses were proven wrong as the team took the Avalanche to seven games in the first round and beat the Avalanche on Andrew Brunette’s game-winning goal to advance to the second round.

This fueled a great playoff run in which the Wild went to the Western Conference Finals.

This year’s team is even better than the 2003 team. They have all the components to get it done. They have great offensive players, superb defense, solid goaltending, and astute coaching. Such a team should be considered a Stanley Cup contender.

A superstar is a must for a team to win a championship. The Wild have that in Marian Gaborik.

Gaborik is one of the best-kept secrets in hockey. He does not often get mentioned in the same sentence as Ilya Kovalchuk, Alexandre Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, Marian Hossa, and other rising young starts in the league. He plays in flyover country, but he is as good as any of them.

He can score at sheer will. He can create his own shot and score. He also has a terrific knack for finding his open linemates and assisting their scores.

Gaborik’s supporting cast also can get it done. Opponents have to deal with veterans like Mark Parrish, Brian Rolson, Wes Walz, and Todd White, who are proven playoff performers. These players have performed well in the playoffs before and are primed to do so again.

This Wild has more depth than it had in 2003. Their young players have developed into reliable scorers.

Mikko Koivu, Brent Burns, and Pierre-Marc Bouchard have gone through growing pains of being NHL players. They have gone through ups and downs, but they are growing increasingly consistent.

They are finding ways to score in tight games which is important if they want to be productive players in this league. These players have made this team increasingly interesting because they create a mixture of veterans and young players who can make a difference by scoring and winning games.

There is an adage that defense wins championships. This team has a good core of defensemen in Kurtis Foster, Nick Schultz, Petteri Nummelin, Keith Carney, and Burns.

Wild head coach Jacques Lemaire always has his teams play defense first and offense last. They are very effective in shutting down the other team when they take a lead heading to third period.

They do a good job of frustrating other teams especially on the road, when fans fall asleep with their style of play. It may be boring, but the bottom line is that it works and the team wins games.

The Wild may not have a Martin Brodeur, but they have three goaltenders who are very efficient in the net. Niklias Backstorm, Manny Fernandez, and future goaltender Josh Harding have done a very good job of winning games all season. They have made the big saves when they have had to. It should remain the same in the playoffs.

Great coaching can go a long way. They have the best coach in hockey in Jacques Lemaire. He is a great gameday coach. He has a special gift of dissecting the other team's weaknesses. He knows how to get the most out of his team and put his players in position to win. He just has an intangible knack of getting guys to perform.

No one can teach that in a coach. Great coaches can be a great motivator, but Lemaire is one of the best coaches in hockey at getting his players prepared for gameday.

It is a mistake that everyone is overlooking the Wild. People are going to be in for a rude awakening. But, as long as the team and the fans believe, that is what matters.