text: Wednesday October 8
  ALCS PREVIEW (YANKEES/RED SOX)
  NLCS GAME 1 (MARLINS 9, CUBS 8)
  WILD PREVIEW
  As I mentioned yesterday, today I will be getting some much needed help! This writing something every day is so much more difficult than I ever imagined. So, from time to time, especially in baseball�s offseason, I may have other people write up some postings. Maybe the writer will be someone from another site. Maybe it�ll be a friend who just has something to say. Maybe it�ll be some frequent reader of the website who wants a chance to write something. I don�t know what the process will be for this, but we�ll figure it out as we go. So, that leads us to today�s guest columnist.
  Kirk Beller refers to himself as �a desk jockey and Minnesota native who currently resides in Fargo, ND as an unwitting hostage of the Peace Garden State.� He's �a Twins junkie, avid SethSpeaks reader, and a constant annoyance to Seth�. (NOTE � Kirk�s words� NOT Seth�s!) Kirk and I went to high school together in Perham, MN. I never realized until he sent me an e-mail through this website just how big a baseball fan he was, which is really unfortunate. However, Kirk is also a huge hockey fan. So, I asked him if he might be interested in writing up a preview to the Minnesota Wild season, and thankfully, he was willing to. I think he did a great and thorough job. If you have any questions or comments you would like to address to Kirk, just send me an e-mail, and I will be sure he gets them. So, without further ado, here is Kirk Beller�s preview of the 2003-04 Minnesota Wild season, starting with a brief recap of last season.
  2002-03 Season Recap
  The 02-03 season was the third in the NHL for the Minnesota Wild. For the better part of the year, the Wild maintained a small lead in the Western Conference�s Northwest Division, before being passed by the Colorado Avalanche and the eventual division champions, the Vancouver Canucks. The Wild did manage to survive a second-half scoring drought by the team�s only real star, Marian Gaborik, and were able to lock up the 6th seed in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The magical run that followed has been well documented: a dramatic game-seven goal by Andrew Brunette on Patrick Roy in overtime propelled the Wild to the second round after trailing in the series 3-1 (and propelled Roy into retirement). This was followed by a another game-seven victory over the Vancouver Canucks, making the Wild the first team in NHL history to rally to win two series in the same postseason after trailing three games to one.
  The playoff run ended in a four game sweep at the hands of Jean-Sebastien Giguere and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, marking the second time in less than a year that a Minnesota team was knocked out of the playoffs by a team from Anaheim. Considering the age of the franchise and the level of talent currently on the roster, such a deep playoff run can only be considered a resounding success. Team Strengths
  Undoubtedly, the success of last year�s team can be traced to the organization�s executives and their philosophy on team-building. General Manager Doug Risebrough has followed through on the team�s �build-a-contender over a period of years� theory, rather than jumping into the free-agent fray in an attempt to �win now� with a patched-together group of players. The resulting team chemistry is partially due to his roster decisions. Coach Jacques Lemaire deserves the lion�s share of the credit in the chemistry department, however. He has instituted a higher speed version of the trap that he used in his previous coaching stint in New Jersey. While this system is usually very unpopular among players--Mario Lemieux once criticized the Wild after a loss in Minnesota as �playing a style of hockey we�re not trying to promote�--Lemaire has managed to get an incredible amount of buy-in to this system from his team, largely because of the success the Wild has seen under it. The fact that Lemaire has his name on the Stanley Cup nine times probably doesn�t hurt matters either. Lemaire is regarded as a real teacher of the game who demands solid two-way play from all of his players. The commitment on the part of players to his system can best be summed up in a quote from Vancouver GM Brian Burke which was repeated ad nauseum during last year�s playoff run: �[The Wild] is not a hockey team, it is a cult.� Cult or no, the rest of the league recognized his efforts by selecting him for the Jack Adams award for coach of the year. On the ice, the Wild have just one player you need to know; after being selected number three overall out of the Slovak Republic in the Wild�s entry draft, Marian Gaborik has gradually elevated his game in each of his three seasons. He was on pace for a 50-goal season last year when he stalled out after being named Minnesota�s first ever All-Star selection. He remedied this in the playoffs however, when he registered 17 points over the Wild�s 18-game run. He�s fast, he�s a sniper, and under Lemaire he has developed into a two-way player. This year could very well be the year that he takes the step to stardom. 2002 first-rounder (#8 overall) Pierre-Marc Bouchard joined the club for the second half of last season, and was able to log some ice-time during the playoff run. That can only be a plus for a player who won�t see his 20th birthday until April. Team Weaknesses
  The downside to the Gaborik story is that he hasn�t yet signed a contract with the Wild and is unlikely to be in uniform with them when the team opens the season (tonight on ESPN) in Chicago. The same goes for last year�s biggest surprise (and player with the name that is most fun to say) Pascal Dupuis. Dupuis put up 48 points over the �02-�03 season.