Wild training camp, pre-season primer as Minnesota travels to St. Louis

When one thinks of hockey and training camp, one would hardly think of the classic Steve Martin movie, The Jerk. In the 1979 movie, Martin plays the eternal child-like character of Navin R. Johnson. Because of his unique childhood, Navin decides it's time to leave his childhood home and find himself. When Navin takes a job at Mr. Hartounian's service station, we witness one of his greatest examples of his forever child. In the classic scene, we see Navin get extremely excited over the delivery of the new phone book. For most of us, something as mundane as a phone book hardly causes us to blink an eye (although I do get almost that excited when The Hockey News publishes its annual yearbook in the middle of summer). In Navin's mind, all that mattered is that his name was finally in print, and it was something worth celebrating.While I'm not usually as excitable as Navin Johnson, part of me feels that pure sense of joy simply because training camp has started. No, I'm not running around, leaping because my name is in print. But with all the changes in the Wild organization, one cannot help feeling a strong sense of excitement that the season is just around the proverbial corner. Yet, part of me keeps thinking back to how I felt at the end of last season. By the time the season was over for the Wild, I was more than ready for it to be over. Normally, I watch the playoffs with interest, but I just couldn't get into them. With that feeling of division in my mind, I'm curious as to how I will feel by the time the Wild have about a third of their games under their belt.If you're wondering where the sense of apathy is coming from, all you needed to do is listen to recent interviews by Wild coaches, players, and management. Just this past Sunday and Monday, the Wild had their training camp scrimmages open to the public. While the Wild are often known for their fantastic marketing and fan support, they're not always known for openness with the fans. At most, the Wild have held a single open practice that was open to the public. The scrimmages were never open, and the fact that both were was history in itself. The organization went on and on about how surprised they were by the amazing fan turnout for the Sunday scrimmage. Yes, the Minnesota Vikings were playing their first game of the regular season, but they should have known that hockey fans would turn out in fairly significant numbers. Because the event was free, it made it a great opportunity for people, especially families, to see some hockey. With the "shock" verbalized by the organization, to a degree it feels like a slap to the face of the fans they keep claiming are the best hockey fans in the world. Fans don't need a pat on the back. Fans need to see an organization that is willing to do whatever it needs to win games. Fans need to know that the organization is one where actions speak louder than words. Fans need to see an organization that is proactive instead of reactive, or even worse, inactive.However, let me say that I wasn't annoyed of surprised that they interviewed new Wild winger, Martin Havlat and asked him what he thought of the fan turnout. Heck, Havlat even mentioned in interviews this past summer when he signed with the Wild that one reason for signing with them, was the amazing fan support. He clearly sounded excited at the prospect of playing at Xcel Energy Center. He is a player who clearly loves to play in a full arena every night. While that wasn't a problem in Chicago this past season, it hasn't always been that way at United Center. Nor was annoyed by the same question being asked of new General Manager Chuck Fletcher or new head coach Todd Richards. But what did annoy me, was that the interviews pretty much asked the same question about fan support to Mikko Koivu. I'm sorry, but Koivu has been here long enough to know that when you open up the doors of the X to the fans and it won't cost them anything, that the fans will show up. Heck, the fans have been showing up each and every night when a ticket can easily cost $80.Okay, I have that bit of negativity out of the way. Now, let's once again focus on the good parts. Yes, pre-season is officially upon us. Tonight, the Wild will be St. Louis for their first pre-season game of the season. One of the fans on the Wild's official team message board, mentioned that if you manage to make it to tonight's game, you might as well skip the Wild jersey and don a Houston Aeros one instead. With the exception of Kyle Brodziak, Colton Gillies, James Sheppard, Craig Weller, Shane Hnidy, and Greg Zanon very few players on tonight's bench have little if any NHL experience. And if that isn't scary enough, there's even less experience between the pipes. Your eyes aren't playing tricks on you. At best, Niklas Backstrom and Josh Harding will make a cameo appearance in the press box or in the corridors by the locker rooms. Taking a look at the Blues' roster, they're not even close to being equal in talent. Yet at the same time, comparing our regular season roster to just about any other teams' regular season roster will not be a comfortable feeling for anyone.Rosters for tonight's game against St. Louis. Forwards: #21 Brodziak, #29 DiSalvatore, #18 Gillies, #19 Hilbert, #17 Irmen, #23 Kalus, #28 Kassian, #16 Milroy, #67 Pouliot, #51 Sheppard, #27 Smith, #12 WellerDefensemen: Falk, #39 Fraser, #34 Hnidy, #4 Noreau, #Scandella, #36 Scott, #6 ZanonGoaltenders: #70 Hackett, #35 KhudobinIf you're a glutton for punishment, here's the roster for the Blues:Forwards:Paul Kariya, Patrik Berglund, Brad Boyes, Andy McDonald, David Backes, David Perron, Chris Porter, Derek Armstrong, Aaron Palushaj, Ryan Reaves, Yan Stastny, Cam JanssenDefense:Erik Johnson, Steve Wagner, Darryl Sydor, Alex Pietrangelo, Brendan Bell-, Mike WeaverGoaliesChris Mason, Ben Bishop As one would expect, unlike the NFL, tonight's game will not be televised. If you live in the Twin Cities area, you can tune into 830AM, WCCO for the game. For the diehards who live out of state, you can listen to the live stream on WCCO's website. However, if you're unfortunate to have to rely on a dial-up connection (like myself), you'll have to rely on the boxscore.Perhaps Navin Johnson had it right, and that life is too short to not get excited by the little things in life. NOTES: Here is the training camp roster...with the player's '08-'09 team listed in parentheses. Goaltenders: #31 Wade Dubielewicz - 5'10", 185lbs (Ak Bars Kazan, KHL) #32 Niklas Backstrom - 6'1", 196lbs (Minnesota, NHL) #33 Barry Brust - 6'2", 210lbs (Houston, AHL) #35 Anton Khudobin - 5'11", 176lbs (Houston, AHL) #37 Josh Harding - 6'1", 197lbs (Minnesota, NHL) Defenseman: #3 Marek Zidlicky - 5'11", 190lbs (Minnesota, NHL) #4 Maxim Noreau - 5'11", 192lbs (Houston, AHL) #5 Kim Johnsson - 6'1", 183lbs (Minnesota, NHL) #6 Greg Zanon - 5'11", 201lbs (Nashville, NHL) #7 Clayton Stoner - 6'3", 206lbs (Houston, AHL) #8 Brent Burns - 6'5", 219lbs (Minnesota, NHL) #26 Jamie Sifers - 5'11", 210lbs (Toronto, AHL) #34 Shane Hnidy - 6'2", 204lbs (Boston, NHL) #36 John Scott - 6'8", 247lbs (Minnesota, NHL) #39 Jaime Fraser - 6'1", 200lbs (Bridgeport, AHL) #41 Ryan Lannon - 6'2", 220lbs (San Antonio, AHL) #42 Brandon Rogers - 6'1", 195lbs (Houston, AHL) #47 J.P. Testwuide - 6'0", 210lbs (Denver, WCHA) #55 Nick Schultz - 6'1", 200lbs (Minnesota, NHL) Centers: #9 Mikko Koivu - 6'2", 200lbs (Minnesota, NHL) #19 Andy Hilbert - 5'11", 194lbs (New York Islanders, NHL) #21 Kyle Brodziak - 6'2", 209lbs (Edmonton, NHL) #25 Eric Belanger - 6'0", 185lbs (Minnesota, NHL) #27 Nathan Smith - 6'2", 190lbs (Lake Erie, AHL) #40 Brian Kaufman - 6'4", 205lbs (Miami-Ohio, CCHA) #46 Peter Zingoni - 5'10", 190lbs (Norfolk, AHL) #51 James Sheppard - 6'1", 204lbs (Minnesota, NHL) #67 Benoit Pouliot - 6'3", 199lbs (Houston, AHL) Left Wingers: #15 Andrew Brunette - 6'1", 212lbs (Minnesota, NHL) #18 Colton Gillies - 6'4", 194lbs (Minnesota, NHL) #23 Petr Kalus - 6'2", 201lbs (Balashikha, KHL) #24 Derek Boogaard - 6'7", 258lbs (Minnesota, NHL) #28 Matt Kassian - 6'5", 245lbs (Houston, AHL) #38 Robbie Earl - 6'0", 195lbs (Houston, AHL) Right Wingers: #11 Owen Nolan - 6'1", 215lbs (Minnesota, NHL) #12 Craig Weller - 6'5", 220lbs (Minnesota, NHL) #14 Martin Havlat - 6'2", 217lbs (Chicago, NHL) #16 Duncan Milroy - 6'1", 198lbs (Ingolstadt, DEL) #17 Danny Irmen - 6'0", 190lbs (Houston, AHL) #20 Antti Miettinen - 6'0", 190lbs (Minnesota, NHL) #22 Cal Clutterbuck - 5'10", 203lbs (Minnesota, NHL) #29 Jon DiSalvatore - 6'1", 200lbs (Lowell, AHL) #96 Pierre-Marc Bouchard - 5'10", 171lbs (Minnesota, NHL)