Game #5: Minnesota Wild at Anaheim Ducks, Wednesday October 14, 2009 at 9:00pm (CDT), Honda Center

Minnesota Wild (1-3-0) 2pts 5th in Northwest Division2/50 Goals per Game (19th in NHL)3.75 Goals Against per Game (26th in NHL)33.3% Power Play (5th in NHL)78.5% Penalty Kill (16th in NHL)Top 5 Scorers:1. #15 Andrew Brunette ~ 3G 2A = 5pts2. #25 Eric Belanger ~ 1G 4A = 5pts3. #14 Martin Havlat ~ 1G 4A = 5pts4. #9 Mikko Koivu ~ 1G 2A = 3pts5. #5 Kim Johnsson ~ 1G 1A = 2ptsTop 3 Penalty Minutes:1. #67 Benoit Pouliot ~ 6 PIM2. #5 Kim Johnsson ~ 6 PIM3. #36 John Scott ~ 5 PIMGoaltenders:1. #32 Niklas Backstrom ~ (1-2-0) 3.00GAA .897SV%2. #37 Josh Harding ~ (0-1-0) 6.00GAA .739SV%atAnaheim Ducks (2-2-1) 5pts 5th in Pacific Division2.40 Goals per Game (23rd in NHL)2.80 Goals Against per Game (12th in NHL)21.0% Power Play (16th in NHL)72.4% Penalty Kill (21st in NHL)Top 5 Scorers:1. #10 Corey Perry ~ 2G 3A = 5pts2. #8 Teemu Selanne ~ 4G 0A = 4pts3. #19 Ryan Whitney ~ 1G 3A = 4pts4. #34 James Wisniewski ~ 0G 4A = 4pts5. #25 Joffrey Lupul ~ 1G 2A = 3ptsTop 3 Penalty Minutes:1. #13 Mike Brown ~ 14 PIM2. #21 Sheldon Brookbank ~ 10 PIM3. #19 Ryan Whitney ~ 8 PIMGoaltenders:1. #1 Jonas Hiller ~ (2-1-0) 2.28GAA .934SV%2. #35 J-S Giguere ~ (0-1-1) 2.93GAA .913SV%When you're married to a high school football and tennis coach, your view of sports in general is different than that of the general population. At least during football season, you're continually surrounded by playbooks, plans for the upcoming match-up, and stacks of game film, not to mention the ubiquitous sports cliche. Being a coach (or at the very least married to one), you often take a more objective view when it comes to watching sports. And if you're a Wild fan, it would be wise to be extremely objective about this team.While it may be cliche, it is extremely important one must "play with the team you have." If you're not familiar with the one, it simply means you can't focus on the players that can't play that night. Every team in every sport faces injuries during a season. Yes, you often miss those injured players, especially in a sport like hockey where the active rosters are much, much smaller than their counterparts in professional football and baseball. Right now, the Wild are facing injuries to Cal Clutterbuck, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, and Petr Sykora. Those injuries couldn't be happening at a worse time, but one simply cannot focus on those. Head coach Todd Richards still has a roster at his disposal, and those players he does have need to be his sole focus. Because of all the early injuries, the Wild have been forced to add to their depleted stock by calling up Nathan Smith and Andy Hilbert. Also returning to practice on Monday was Derek Boogaard, who has been out since mid-September with a concussion. Sure, Boogaard's icetime will be limited, but he will still be a part of the "team you have."The next cliche that comes to mind is "last year was last year." In the case of the Wild, it's not even a case of last year, but a case of last game, last shift, etc. Part of me was optimistic with the win in the Wild's home opener against these same Anaheim Ducks. Yet, I have to remind myself that that was then and this is now. Also, the Wild weren't dealing with as many injuries as they are now in that game. Often, the concept of "last year" gets combined with the concept "play with the team you have." Some fans are still lamenting the departure of Marian Gaborik. Face it people, he is no longer here and we should only worry about how he plays on October 30th.As one would expect, most Wild fans are fans of Minnesota hockey in general, whether amateur or professional, high school or college, boys or girls. Wild fans have grown up with the tales of legenday Minnesota hockey personalities. They are tales that have become a part of the fabric that is Minnesota hockey. Of all the stories and personalities out there, probably the most often discussed event or person is Saint Paul native, the late Herb Brooks. Some people out there are old enough to remember him playing high school hockey. However, most people associate him with the 1980 gold medal winning United States Olympic mens' hockey team. It was the semi-final game against the former Soviet Union team that launched him into legendary status. One of his greatest "Herbisms" from that period of time is that "hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard." It is a quote that should be plastered on the walls of the Wild locker room, silkscreened on the travel pillows of their charter flights, and made into subliminal messages and planted on their MP3 devices that the players listen to on a regular basis. The Wild don't have the talent that many rosters have, which of course ties into the message that one "plays with the team that they have." The players that are there must dig down deep and find the work ethic that is often difficult to beat.If this Minnesota Wild team is going to beat the Anaheim Ducks it's going to have to put behind it "who is not there anymore" and simply focus on getting the job done. They need to put the past behind them and move forward. Everyone pretty much walks the same way, by putting one foot in front of the other. But then, hockey isn't a cliche...