This "Rivalry" Ends Here

There have been 72 regular season and 7 playoff meetings all time between the Minnesota Wild, and the Vancouver Canucks. And tonight, on the 73rd regular season installment of this so called "rivalry", the two meet for the final time as division rivals.

Back in the Wild's early years, the two teams fit the description of a rivalry. They hated us, and we hated them. Then it was at its most intensified state, when they met in the 2003 Western Conference Semifinals, which the Wild won in 7 games.

But since that epic playoff series, the rivalry has become, really, a non rivalry anymore. For the last 5 years, Vancouver has dominated the Wild, including an impressive 12 game home winning streak dating back to March 3, 2009 (The last Wild win in Rogers Center was January 31, 2009 on a Marc-Andre Bergeron GW OT goal).

The domination by the Canucks in recent years, has allowed them to even up the all time series record with the Wild at 29-29-14. So the winner of tonight's game, can say they were the better team when they were division rivals. (Insert sarcastic celebration here)

For something that has been considered a rivalry for this long, there sure have been a lack of great moments in these contests. Only two distinct moments come to mind when you think about this matchup:

There was that time the late Rick Rypien tried to fight a Wild fan.

And then the other was the Wild's comeback from a 3-1 series deficit in the 03 semis.

All because of Jacques Lemaire and his "lucky socks"

But after that, all you can think of is guys like Matt Johnson and Derek Boogaard getting into the occasional fight with the Canucks goon at the time, or the Sedin twins lighting up the Wild defense on a Wild power play, or Roberto Luongo's utter dominance of the Wild at Rogers Arena, and his utter awfulness against the Wild at Xcel Energy Center, or Todd Bertuzzi playing that awful Vancouver style of hockey (AKA Dive City)

There has not been a rivalry between the two teams in 10 years. And tonight, this "rivalry" will finally come to an end. Minnesota can move on and make rivalries with new divisional opponents next year, such as, Chicago, Winnipeg, and St. Louis.

And when those rivalries actually take off and become rivalries, the Canucks-Wild rivalry will just become an after-thought.


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Let's Start Some Rivalries!

For the first time since February 28, 1993, a team from Minnesota heads north to play the Winnipeg Jets. No, the 'N' of the North Stars will not be on the Minnesota sweater. No, that classy Winnipeg Jets logo and jersey won't be found on the home team tonight either. What you do have, are reborn teams (Wild in 2000, and the Jets in 2011) who will take to the ice, and will relight a rivalry that's been in place since 1979.

Right now, the teams aren't even conference foes (Wild in the NW division of the West, and Winnipeg in the SE division of the East). But starting next season, the two will be part of the "new Norris" division along with Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit Nashville, and St. Louis. As I have mentioned before, the Wild badly needed this move due in large part to the fact their road games hardly come in their own time zone (Tonight is MN's first road game in the Central time zone).

But ultimately tonight, I want to see this rivalry take off (Probably too unrealistic to expect, but a guy can hope right?!). I've heard all about the old rivalries from the old Norris division, but never gotten to see it happen in front of me (The best in playing with all the Western Canadian teams...yuck!). What you should expect from the Jets (13-12-4) is a gritty type of game that could agitate another gritty, hard working team, the Wild. If the Jets can keep in the game early on (Yes, Minnesota has been getting off to extremely hot starts on this 7 game winning streak), they can put up a really good fight.

Oh...and by the way, following the Jets, the league's best team has a date with its closest competitor for that honor, the Blackhawks, another old and upcoming Norris division foe. And believe me, the State of Hockey has not forgotten the old rivalries the Wild's predecessor carried with one of the NHL's most storied teams. The Blackhawks still receive the same vicious boos from Minnesota today compared to 20 years ago.

I have been trying to not get ahead of myself for this game (Hopefully the Wild do a better job than I have). But, this win or lose in WPG tonight, the Blackhawks game tomorrow will be a statement game for the Wild. It will be against one of the premier teams in the league. It will be seen by a national audience (The Versus 'A' team with Doc Emrick and Pierre McGuire will be in the house), and it will be played in front of our fans in our building (Tickets still remain!!!). This is a game that we can not afford to put on a bad show for.

The Wild have played ridiculously above and beyond what anyone expected of them this year. But should this ride come to an abrupt halt or slow down significantly, fine. They will return next year with a better team and in a new division, with rivalries that get kicked off starting tonight, in Winnipeg.