Dirty Hockey

Hey Wild Fans!

In this installment of "The 5-Hole" I thought we'd discuss the virtues of playing "dirty" hockey, and then segue into a few words about imports (don't worry, I'll explain in case you're already confused :-).

Currently the Wild are in the state of Alaska on a six game road trip that will see them play a pair of games against each of their Western Division rivals who are based in Seward's Folly.

Wenatchee's first two-gamer is now in the books, and their most recent contest as I write this blog was a 3-to-1 loss to the Fairbanks Ice Dogs on Saturday, November 13th (which for you real stat fanatics, was the first time the Wild had ever lost when playing on the 13th day of any month! - previously 3-0-0), which saw the team drop the backend of that series.

The problem in that game for the Wild seemed to be team speed and the continuing spell that Ice Dog goaltender Joe Phillipi has cast over Wenatchee. Fairbanks outskated the Wild in every zone on the ice and really sparkled in creating transition all evening long, while Phillipi improved to 4-0-0 with a GAA of 1.25 and a save percentage of .962 in his last four starts against Wenatchee going back to game two at last season's Robertson Cup Tournament.

Wenatchee had their chances, but unlike the first game of that series when the Wild won 2-to-1, they failed to get much traffic around the net and didn't linger in those "dirty" areas down low in the offensive zone to create opportunities.

Conversely, it was Wenatchee's ability to play "dirty" in the first game of that series against Fairbanks that most helped them en route to victory. In my opinion, that was the Wild's guttiest effort of the season and in the purest hockey terms, their most beautiful win of 2010-2011 as well.

No, it wasn't a glamorous victory filled with breakaway goals or lots of dazzling offensive plays. No one scored a hat trick or received a long pass to light the lamp while shorthanded, nor did anyone net a puck on a wraparound or crazily bounce one in from a hundred feet away.

Nope! Instead it was good old fashioned grit and elbow grease that got it done. Blocking shots, winning battles for loose pucks, timely teamwork on special teams and getting muddied in those "dirty" spots on the pond all earned the Wild a big win over their archrivals and served to bolster the collective fortitude of this still developing young team (albeit the follow up performance was lacking in the same moxie!).

Speaking of "dirty" play in antonymic terms, it appears that an undeniably deliberate attempt to cause injury has in fact relegated Wenatchee forward Carl-Johan Sjogren to watch from afar until at least the end of November with a knee problem.

Sjogren was contacted by the lunging leg of Dawson Creek forward Derek Johnston late in the final period of Wenatchee's 8-to-nothing blowout victory over the Rage on November 4th at Town Toyota Center and hasn't played in four games since then. Johnston received a kneeing major and game ejection for his belligerant act and, although he was allowed to skate in the following game, was eventually suspended by the league after their review of his decidedly malicious conduct.

Meanwhile, C.J. has been on crutches to aide in the process of his recovery and has taken an impressively mature high road on the matter. When I asked him on radio if he thought Johnston kneed him with the intent to cause harm, C.J. unassumingly responded "I don't know, if he did mean to do it then that's too bad, there's no place for that in the game".

I've been increasingly delighted when watching the 6'2" 215 pounder from Tumba, Sweden, who recently turned 20 years of age, interact with his teammates and also have thoroughly enjoyed chatting with him myself. He is uncharacteristically mature for his age and, in spite of his inability to speak perfectly fluent English (although he communicates quite while nonetheless) and his frequent curiosity towards some of the unfamiliar customs of daily life here in the United States, C.J. leads by quiet example with every stride he takes both on and off the ice.

C.J. will no doubt be a huge difference maker for the Wild during the back half of the season, and since joining the team on October 1st, has already amassed points in six of his eight games played and is averaging a point per game (1g, 7a for 8pt in 8gm).

Sjogren always reminds me so much of bigger forwards at the NHL level like Russia's Alexei Kovalev and the Slovakian born Marian Hossa. C.J. is Swedish of course and is Wenatchee's third ever import player from outside of North America (not counting Armand Deswardt of course, who was born in South Africa but played all of his hockey in the United States...nice try Wild archivists!). Ironically the Wild's other two imports in team history are both from where Kovalev and Hossa hail from.

Going back to the club's inaugural season, you might remember Russian born forward Andrey Smirnov, who played in Wenatchee's second, third and fourth ever games in team history at the Showcase Tournament in Blaine, Minnesota in 2008. Smirnov had no points in that trio of tilts and didn't make the trip back to Wenatchee, thus ending his very short stint with the team, but still becoming their first ever player from foreign shores to step on the ice for the Wenatchee Wild.

Fans also might recall the name of Slovakian born winger Martin Dubec, who played with the Wild back in 2008 as well. Dubec saw action in only two games for Wenatchee and suffered a seriously broken leg in period three of his second contest. The injury kept Dubec out for the remainder of that season, however he has fully recovered and began the 2010-2011 season with the NAHL's St. Louis Bandits where he put up 1 goal and 4 assists in 10 games before being cut loose by St. Louis last Friday (November 12th).

Might "Dubie" return to Wenatchee and help fill the void left by the now injured Carl-Johan Sjogren? Seems almost too ridiculous to suggest I suppose, and even though C.J. will heal up and rejoin the team soon (we hope!), perhaps the Wild should center their attention strictly on players from North America in the future? We all love those flashy imports, but it seems that the ones arriving to Wenatchee are cursed to require maintenance all too soon after their arrival!

Get well soon C.J.! And all the best to Martin Dubec and Andrey Smirnov, in wherever hockey and life take you both!

Please share your thoughts with me on this installment of "The 5-Hole"!