HJ Sports Blog

OK, due space restraints, the girls’ and boys’ boxscores did not make the lastest edition of the ED. Click below to look at them.

The boys were in all three games they played up in St. Cloud, but just didn’t have enough to escape with a win. The play of Lucas Johnson is keeping the Dragons in games. With a mostly young group of blue liners, he is stepping up. Case in point, Johnson stopped 63 shots in Friday’s game one-goal loss to Sauk Rapids-Rice.

With a mostly weak section, the Dragons just need to take a few steps to become a threat. Over half of their games have been decided by one goal, so if they can just make some minor adjustments, they will win a few more games…even in the tough Wright County Conference.

The lady Dragons were the only of the three teams to win a game in the holiday tournaments…and actually, they were in all three games they played. The impressive part about their win over Windom was those 69 shots they got on net. I don’t care how good you are and how bad the other team is, that amount of shots is impressive. Brian Johnson’s squad seems to be progressing nicely on the offensive end.

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girlsboxes.pdf

What a weekend. I treked down to Xcel on Saturday night and saw the Wild get dominated by the Red Wings, and the dome Sunday night to see a Vikings’ game that was over after the first quarter. Good Times!

First, the Wild. What has happened to this defensive-minded team? I know they were playing the Red Wings, who are on a different planet right now in terms of their play, but allowing 51 shots is unacceptable. It is beyond unacceptable.

The talent the Wings have is awesome. They were making crisp, tic-tac-toe passes all night long and really did look like they are in another league. But as impressive as their offense was, their defense is what stood out.

The Wings did not allow the Wild to get into the zone, and when they finally made it across the blue line, they could not put on any sustained pressure. The only goal the Wild did score actually came off the stick of a Wings player.

It is early, but the Wings are going all the way this season. And the Wild have some work to do.

As far as the Vikings’ game goes, what can you say? I was pretty sure they were not going to win the game, but they laid an egg for the second straight week.

For the Vikings to be successful they have to do two things. First, they must run the ball which they were unable to do. They had just 87 yards on a 3.5 average. Second, the defense must play great ball. They were OK, but gave up 32 points and over 360 yards.

I do believe that this team does go as the offensive line goes. They were playing really well earlier in the season and it didn’t matter that other teams were stacking the box and blitzing. And when that line can give Travaris Jackson some extra time, you can see he gets confidence and makes better throws. The loss to the Redskins certainly should not be pinned on the o-line, but when they play at their best, so does the team. And obviously, some ability to throw the forward pass would cure a lot of ills on this squad.

But before we get too hard on this team, it needs to be realized that at one point they were 2-6, and that they built that winning streak by fattening up on some bad teams. Without question, any streak of more than a few games in the NFL is impressive. But the Vikings are an average team in an average conference. Average teams lose games like these once in a while. It was a good run.

These comments are only the tip of the iceburg…but I have to go do some last-minute shopping. Yay, third day in a row driving to the cities! Happy Holidays.

When I wrote my column Friday morning, the Wild were a negative team. But after impressive road wins over San Jose, and to a lesser degree, Anaheim, the Wild seem to be back to their old selves.

As of Thursday, the Wild have won 8 of 11 and are tied for the Northwest division lead.

Still, I am concerned about those recent blowout losses they have suffered, but Jacques seems to have his boys playing well again, especially on the power play.

A big test will come Saturday night when the Wild host Detroit. When they last played a few weeks ago, the Red Wings made the Wild look like a minor league team in a 5-0 win. I’ll be in attendance and will give a full report Monday on how they looked against the NHL’s best squad.