I'm starting to like what I see.

We're not to point of putting banners up on aircraft carriers, yet, but things ARE looking up. Fresh off a western Canada sweep and a holiday with friends and family, the Blues have reason to feel good about themselves. Just not too good... there's still miles to go, yet. No time to rest on your laurels. The best part of this winning streak is the people who keep appearing on the stat sheet: Backes, Perron, Berglund, Oshie, McClement, Steen .... They are all making substantial contributions to winning, and they are all 25 or under. In my eyes, this is how it should be. While we need everyone on board, I think it should be the young'ns on the team that carry the weight. We need the youth to take charge, to go wild.

Skid Row/ Youth Gone Wild

Tonight, we face the Minnesota Wild, a team that is 6-4-0 in their last 10 (like us), 3-2 in their last 5 (like us), and have 39 points in the standings (again, like us). A brief scan of the Wild's SBN page shows complaints about inconsistency and power play scoring. Sound familiar? They are struggling to find their game, and their (expected) top players are not playing up to par (cough HAVLAT cough). But - they aren't without talent; Andrew Brunette and Mikko Koivu have really emerged as producers on this team. Also, there's Guillaume "Try A Little" Latendresse .... who is only mentioned because I love his name (and lame jokes). They have always had stellar goaltending;  Backstrom and Harding can keep them in every game. One edge that we have: both goalies lost all of their game gear in the recent equipment fire, and we know how goalies are with their stuff. Hopefully, they will struggle a bit before they get comfortable in their new equipment.

Further reading:

Blues vs Wild coverage

Hockey Wilderness

This is also your pre-party. Share craft ideas involving coal, work off the egg nog, and get your GameFace back on. The puck drops at 7 PM Central.

I apologize for the Blackhawk element, but this ad for Chicago's game against the Wild was too funny to pass up: