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Keine neuen Beiträge, seit Ihrem letzten Besuch am 16.11.2025 - 21:50.
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| Wild worried about Keith Ballard's future; Matt Martin debate; Marco Scandella suspended 2 games |
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| 4 Beiträge - Einmalposter
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Good late afternoon from Northern California, where its the calm before the storm, I guess.</p><p>Some Super Storm is predicted to slam the Bay Area on Thursday. I grew up in South Florida, so Im accustomed to terrible rainy weather and gusty winds and, frankly, hurricanes, so Im not too concerned. But Im not exactly sure how the Silicon Valley handles such events, and people here seem to be in freak-out mode and the weather reports from the National Weather Service do appear daunting.</p><p>Its supposed to be an absolute mess here Thursday, so wish everybody luck and lets hope everyones safe. As of now, most everybody says its very unlikely that the game would be cancelled, but as the San Jose Mercury News David Pollak reminded me today, San Jose has scrapped a game because of rain (actually flooding) before in 1995.</p><p>Onward.</p><p>Thoughts here again are with Keith Ballard, who is such a good guy and just continues to have horrible luck with injuries. The latest is serious and could be season-altering at a minimum and career-threatening at a maximum.</p><p>He has three facial fractures and a concussion. Once the swelling goes down, doctors will decide whether or not Ballard needs surgery. He has been released from the hospital and is resting at home.</p><p>Even Chuck Fletcher admitted his concern. When I asked whether Ballard may not play again this season (which would likely mean at a minimum his Wild career is in danger because hes in the final year of his contract), the Wild GM said, This is serious. Hes had concussions before. I dont know how many. Were worried about that. Bones will heal. I dont mean to make light of it, but his face will heal. But his hand was sticking right up. He was convulsing. This was scary. You could even see the reaction of the Islanders bench. They werent standing over him mocking him. They were scared.</p><p>Thomas Vanek, Ballards close friend and former Gophers teammate, visited Ballard at the hospital last night.</p><p>He was in good spirits, Vanek said. Its tough for him because Im sure you know his history with injuries. I thought he was an important player for us vocally and on the ice he was doing well, so its another setback for him. Thats why you feel bad for him. But I was encouraged how well he was actually doing.</p><p>As you know by now, Matt Martin wont be suspended. The league felt that when Ballard turned to avoid the hit, he put himself in a vulnerable position and that directly contributed to the incident and subsequent injury.</p><p>Fletcher didnt want to comment, probably because he could be fined more than hes worth.</p><p>Yeo said, Im not going to argue with the league on this one and Im sure people on the Islanders side of the coin would be looking at things differently http://www.wildteamstore.com/Matt_Cooke_Wild_Jersey, but for me, its our player, its our teammate. When I looked at it, I know that Bally was in a bit of a vulnerable position. He may have turned into it a little bit, but at the same time, I see a player launching himself at him at an area close to the boards. The more I watch it, and again its hard to watch, when its your teammate, you dont like those.</p><p>A few players said they felt Martin is a left winger and hit Ballard along the right-wing boards, meaning he traveled 70 feet to deliver the hit. I do think he was on a line change though, and as I said last night and this morning, I just think its a reckless, needless hit. I know this is a game of finishing your check. I know as (coincidentally) former Sharks serial illegal hitter Bryan Marchment once said, if you dont want to get hit, play tennis (or something like that).</p><p>But Ballard dumps the puck in the corner 100 feet away. Hes next to the boards. I dont get why he needs to be hit late. Like I said this morning, the league considers seven-tenths of a second after a player releases the puck late. This, the league says, was half-a-second.</p><p>I thought it was maybe even a little late, but its tough to tell because you really slow it down to watch it, Yeo said. But he added, Hes seeking him out. Hes on a mission there.</p><p>Obviously, all fans are going to see this in their prism. Just look at my Twitter mentions today and Im sure the blog and article comments. If youre an Islander fan, Martins a saint. Scandellas a devil. Wild fans say the opposite.</p><p>Of course, Martin has two suspensions to Scandellas zero (well, for another few hours at least; more on that later).</p><p>Obviously an emotional topic. Look, even former congressman Anthony Weiner, an Islander fan, joined the fray and expressed his opinion.</p><blockquote lang="en" class="twitter-tweet"><p>@Russostrib @StapeNewsday spoken like a man who doesn't watch Matt Martin play much. He hits everybody and is not dirty.</p> Anthony Weiner December 10, 2014</blockquote> <blockquote lang="en" class="twitter-tweet"><p>Let's hope Ballard is back on the ice soon. But to blame Matt Martin for the crazy way that contact went down is just wrong.</p> Anthony Weiner December 10, 2014</blockquote> <p>My opinion? Who cares? It doesnt matter. If the NHL suspends Matt Martin, whats that do for the Wild? Its a waste of your time to even get all angered. Just hope for Ballards recovery.</p><p>Wild plays the Sharks Thursday.</p><p>Scandella won't be playing because he was suspended two games for an illegal check to Brock Nelsons head.</p><p>After practice and before his hearing, Scandella didnt want to comment until Thursday. He pleaded the fifth, so to speak.</p><p>Obviously were hoping hes not suspended. Hes a huge part of our team, Yeo said after practice.</p><p><s>But two head shots in 10 days, the league wont be letting him off the hook. The Wilds clearly guessing two games Mikko Koivu Jersey.</s></p><p>In the NHL video which can be seen here, the league says the main point of contact was Nelson's head, that his jaw absorbed the brunt of it, that head contact was avoidable and it noted how Scandella was just fined for a similar hit on T.J. Oshie 10 days ago.</p><p>Scandella loses $11,021 http://www.wildteamstore.com.50 in salary (two days pay out of 186 days this season). Luckily for him, his recent extension doesn't kick in til next October.</p><p>If he's suspended again in the next 18 months, he'll lose game checks.</p><p>So, Christian Folin will draw into the game Thursday and if Scandella is suspended, so will Justin Falk. Asked why Falk over Matt Dumba or Jon Blum, Yeo said with Ballard and Scandella out, the Wild loses two left-shot D and with San Jose and Arizona (Saturdays opponent) heavy teams, having a big body that can skate and shoot was the deciding factor.</p><p>Sounds like Darcy Kuemper will return to the net Thursday even though Niklas Backstrom was in the cage for the Islanders win.</p><p>Still discussing that a little bit. Well wait til [Thursday] to announce our decision, Yeo said. Looking at a couple different decisions the opponent that were playing, Backy coming off a game that he should feel rea; good about http://www.wildteamstore.com/Darcy_Kuemper_Wild_Jersey, he should feel real good about and well evaluate everything.</p><p>Weve got a pretty good idea which way were going.</p><p>Yeo made crystal clear if Kuemper plays, this isnt so much allowing him to bounce back from the Anaheim loss but more so Backstroms 1-9-1 record with a 3.63 goals-against average lifetime at San Jose.</p><p>The Wild, by the way, has won four of its past five on the road BUT is 2-11-2 in its past 15 in this glorious city.</p><p>Yeo talked a lot again how Wild players stepped up after the Ballard incident Mikael Granlund challenging Kyle Okposo, a fiery Mikko Koivu with everyone from referee Brad Meier to every Islander and Kyle Brodziak fighting Martin.</p><p>The way that we came out after that, it said a lot to me and I hope we can continue to with that same kind of passion that we played with the rest of the game, Yeo said. I could feel it on the bench. That stuffs contagious when guys take themselves out of their comfort zone and theyre making a statement to the rest of the group, if you mess with one of us, then youre going to have to deal with the entire group.</p><p>Vanek said, It just shows obviously guys care and respect Bally. Everyone stepped up in that way. Only time will tell how significant that game is http://www.wildteamstore.com/Jared_Spurgeon_Wild_Jersey, but not just getting wins, but showing those battles out of those guys, that can go a long way.</p><p>Brodziak said he has never seen a scene like Ballard on the ice.</p><p>It was scary, he said.</p><p>On fighting Martin, Brodziak said, Someone had to do something. You definitely dont want to be a team that just lets things like that happen. We all care for each other and I know if I didnt do something, someone else probably would have. I think thats how you build a camaraderie you need in this league.</p><p>Lots of Wild players mentioned how all they could think about while Ballard was on the ice was his wife, kids and parents.</p><p>Talk to you after the Scandella ruling.</p>
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| Beitrag vom 06.05.2015 - 10:44 |
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| dougharvey |
06.05.2015 - 10:44 |
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