| Game Review Archive, Part One |
| January 12, 2001 vs Colorado Avalanche (SirMarian's first ever game recap) The Wild were destroyed by the Avs on Friday, 5-0. This was not a good night for Minnesota hockey. The Gophers also got rocked by North Dakota in the first game of a two game series. The only positive thing the Wild can take from Friday's loss is the fact that Marian was not on the ice every time the Avs scored. He finished with a plus/minus rating of zero. This simply means that Wild coach Jacques Lemaire should give Gaborik more minutes! Tim and Kyle had the privilege of meeting Marian on thursday night and getting a few autographs. January 14, 2001 vs NY Rangers Who the heck does Mike York of the Rangers think he is? After Marian made a fine play that nearly gave the Wild a 1st period goal, York skated into Marian's comfort bubble and threw a few words at him. Marian responded with a light punch and said "get out of my comfort zone" in his native slovakian language. York then proceeded to shove Gaborik just before the skurmish was broken up. Mike Richter had a fantastic game and robbed the Wild about 5 times. Gaborik is still in his mini-slump and only got one shot off and finished the game with a plus-minus rating of -3, ouch. The Wild lost 4-2. Look for a rebound against Columbus! January 15, 2001 vs Columbus Blue Jackets The Wild faced stellar goaltending the past two nights. They lost the past two nights. Marian Gaborik again found his personal bubble being penetrated by the likes of men with blue jackets. They would check him for no reason just because they know he is the Wild's best player. When Marian did get a chance to move the puck he was phenomenal, but again he was only able to get off one blistering slap shot while his teammates got stopped all night by Ron Tugnutt. The cage was closed monday in Columbus. Marian again was slapped with a -2 rating, but now when the Jackets come to the Twin Cities on wednesday there will be a different story with a different ending. I predict Marian will break out of his recent scoring slump and end up being credited with a goal or assist. January 17, 2001 vs Columbus Blue Jackets Marian broke out of his slump by starting what ended up being a great comeback win for the Wild in a very entertaining game. Filip "pretty boy" Kuba came up huge in the clutch to tie the game with one minute left. Big man Sean O'Donnell finished the comeback with a game winning one-timer. Marian's goal came in the second period with an assist from fellow Slovakian Lubomir Sekeras. Marian beat Columbus goalie Ron Tugnutt from the left circle to score his first goal of January and take sole position of first place with goals by Wild players this season with 9. Way to go Marian! Columbus was so upset at the loss that they left the XCel Energy Center listening to the sad walking away song from The Incredible Hulk. Minnesota won 3-2 in OT. Hey! I was correct in my prediction that Marian would break out of his slump, I can prove it too, just check the game review archive. January 19, 2001 vs NY Islanders John Vanbiesbrouck made a spectacular save against Marian in the second period, but Wes Walz was there to tip in the rebound. Marian thus recorded his first assist of January and his second point in as many games. Simply put, Marian is the man. I don't understand what all the hoopla is about this Mario Lemieux guy, Marian just had an assist people c'mon, this is big news! If you are interested in news about moderate greatness, then go ahead and follow the Mario Lemieux story, but if you want to hear about young firepower then visit sirmarian.cjb.net to learn about THE MAN. The New York Islanders continued to struggle this season with the 3-2 loss against Marian and the Wild. A generic Islanders player had this to say about the young rookie. "Damn, that kid is as good as hell, I can't believe Jacques Lemaire scratched him against St. Louis a few weeks ago". For the best ever Marian Gaborik coverage, check the game review archive. January 21, 2001 vs New Jersey Devils The New Jersey Devils clearly showed that they were the more highly skilled team in their 2-4 win over the Wild. In order to confront this problem, Wild coach Jacques Lemaire asked Marian Gaborik if the team could clone him and make them an immediate Stanley Cup contender. Marian declined, citing 2 reasons: "Ever since I joined the NHL I always told myself that I would never end up playing God."..."It would be too difficult to successfully name the clone, no one has a name as cool as mine and we can't simply name him Marian Gaborik 2.", said the young superstar. In the game Marian collected his third point in as many games, collecting an assist on Ladislav Benysek's 3rd period goal. "We can't put all the pressure on Marian every single game" said captain Brad Bombardir, "But there is nothing else we can do to win." The previous review was completely made up by me, Kyle Anders. The only part that was true was the fact that Marian did have an assist in the 3rd period. Go Wild! January 24, 2001 vs Mighty Ducks of Anaheim The Wild started their road trip on a positive note and Marian stretched his consecutive games with a point streak to four games. "It's always fun to roll into southern Cali and play well", said Gaborik. The Wild play LA on saturday and Marian said he is not looking forward to this game. "Whenever I am in LA there are all these movie execs that want me to star in their films, I am always like, dudes, I am a pro athlete, not a movie star. I am not your prototypical Shaq, although I did enjoy Shazaam immensely." Marian is sure to get more movie offers with his fame growing steadily every game, he had an assist on Roman Simicek's first period goal. "Despite what everyone thinks, I am not Roman or even Italian in descent." said Simicek. Wild coach Jacques Lemaire sure did pull a quick one on Mario Lemieux by trading Steve McKenna for Simicek last week. He had a two goal game while McKenna is racking up the penalty minutes in Pittsburgh, we love all former and current Wild players though! January 27, 2001 vs Los Angeles Kings Marian Gaborik scored two goals to stretch his point streak to five straight games. Manny Fernandez was equally as impressive in goal, stopping 35 shots. The Wild's dominance over southern Cali continued with their 4-1 win. After the game Fernandez and Gaborik were approached by Dreamworks owner Steven Spielberg to talk about starring in a film together during the offseason. The original concept had them being partners for the LAPD who attempt to capture drug ring leaders while consuming large amounts of coffee and donuts. Gaborik proceeded to read the script, said it was "crap", and claimed he would never talk to Spielberg again. Fernandez refused to comment on the incident. Gaborik scored on Jamie Storr in the third period and also scored an empty netter in the last minute of the game. "It was a pretty easy goal for me because no goalie was present to attempt to make a save." Gaborik replied when asked about his last goal of the game. January 30, 2001 vs Vancouver Canucks NO RECAP AVAILIBLE - Excuse: The recap was lost due to the low quality of the Microsoft Windows operating system. Marian had a goal and assist in this game. February 6, 2001 vs Tampa Bay Lightning Marian Gaborik continued his Calder Trophy play tonight with another stellar performance. He notched another goal, his third goal in as many games. Gaborik also has a seven game point streak with nine points total in those games. At the postgame press conference Marian had this to say, "Some say I am the best looking hockey player in the world, but God gave me great skills also. I feel bad for that little boy or girl out there that can't play for shit and is also horridly ugly." Marian also had a chance for another goal in the second period on a breakaway before dumbass Grant Ledyard held him and brought him to the ice. Kyle and I are starting a hate site for all opponents who have illegally or immorally touched Marian in a way he does not want to be touched. "Only Anna Kournikova may touch me in that fashion", said Marian. Wild Goaltender Jamie McClennan also had a great night, stopping 31 of 33 shots. The equipment manager was ecstatic since the goalie stick was spared this time. As with the All-Star game, we can't be upset Gaborik was not present, because if he were, the score would have been 20-12 in favor of the world team. February 7, 2001 vs Florida Panthers Marian Gaborik had his seven game point streak come to an end against the Florida Panthers. It is possible that Marian was intimidated by Pavel Bure, last season's NHL best goal scorer of the year. "No he does not intimidate me", Marian said, "He has more experience on the ice and in the sack, but I am confident in myself and in my teammates that we can get the job done." Unfortunately the Wild did not get the job done against Florida, one of the worst teams in the NHL. It may be tough for the Wild to bounce back against the Dallas Stars on friday. Marian had one of the best chances of the night to score when Florida goaltender Roberto Luongo stoned him on the breakaway. "I usually can finish a play like that. I kind of wish that Florida accidentally thought that they were down so that they would have pulled their goalie by accident. If that was the case I definitely would have scored on their ass." Marian also said that it would be "cool" to be Pavel Bure because you could date Anna Kournikova of the women's tennis circuit. Manny Fernandez was in the net for the Wild, his 29 saves were not enough for a win. February 9, 2001 vs Dallas "Stars" "There are only two things I hate in life, nuclear war and the Dallas Stars," Marian said after his two point performance against Minnesota's former NHL team. Marian took a great feed from Scott Pellerin and converted the breakaway which ended up being the game winning goal in the second period. "My prediction?" Gaborik said after being asked to speculate about the series 20 years down the road. "Minnesota 99, Dallas 1, and the one loss will be due primarily to poor officiating". Once again Dallas' big name players failed to produce as they got their only goal from some guy named Grant Marshall. "Yeah I didn't even know who that dude was", explained Stars captain Derian Hatcher, " I thought he was some recent pick up until I later realized that he had in fact spent the past seven years on our team." Minnesota became the only team in the NHL to beat Detroit and Dallas twice with no losses. Manny Fernandez is as good as hell, he made 28 saves to get the victory and said he was still interested in a proposed movie deal starring him and Marian Gaborik in the offseason. The Wild play Mario Lemieux and the rest of the Penguins next, look for Matt Johnson to recieve a match penalty for "intent to injure" and for Lemieux's jaw to drop after he sees Marian play in person for the first time. February 11, 2001 vs Pittsburgh Penguins The Minnesota Wild held Mario Lemieux to no points in their 4-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Mario felt so dejected after his failure that he insisted his team listen to "Loser" by Beck after the game for several hours. Marian had a typical game, feathering a gorgeous pass to Jim Dowd for the first goal of the game. It will be quite interesting to find out how the Wild play on wednesday against the Penguins once again. Marian has lately been garnering a lot of attention with his recent high level of play. Most of this attention is local, but he is also getting national press as well. Before the season started, Sergei Krivokrasov was the best goal scorer of the year before, with 10 goals during the 99-00 season. Marian already has 14 goals and is setting himself up for an incredibly bright future in the NHL. The Wild also managed to stop Alexei Kovalev's torrid goal scoring of the past two games. Collect your Marian Gaborik cards now while they are cheap, they won't be later! Marian will have tough time trying to beat out Brad Richards of Tampa Bay for Rookie of the Year honors. February 14, 2001 vs Pittsburgh Penguins Marian celebrated his birthday by making the first bad play of his career. He was called for tripping about one second before Scott Pellerin scored on the power play to give the Wild a 2-0 lead. The goal was disallowed and the Wild did not recover. The newly rivaled Penguins scored on Manny Fernandez's ass twice to win the game, as Mario Lemieux had his revenge. Mario was complaining all week about the Wild's defensive play before Jacques Lemaire stood up for his team by announcng that Kevin Stevens is not a highly skilled player and has no right to talk. He then proceeded to say that Lemieux was being a baby about the closed style of play. Lemaire threatened to make a comeback at age 55 if that was the case. "I could score on anyone's ass 30 years ago, if the NHL wants to change the rules, I could do it now as well." Gaborik added, "If we do something illegal, we get called a penalty for it, the neutral zone trap is not a penalty, Lemieux needs to realize this, we need to play the way we do, otherwise we'll lose a lot more often, we will simply look like the woeful Columbus Bluejackets." With the loss the Wild drop to 3 games under .500. Marian was also called for hooking in the first period in his 0 point, four penalty minute performance. February 16th, 2001 vs Los Angeles Kings NO RECAP AVAILABLE - Excuse: I wrote a motivational piece for the Wild's playoff push when my Netscape Navigator commited an illegal operation and shut down before I could save it. I checked the details portion of the close dialogue box to find that there was an "invalid page fault", I have done this a million times before and there has never been an "invalid page fault." Netscape, Microsoft, and Bill Gates can kiss my ass. Sorry that the recap for this game has been lost. The Wild lost 4-0. Next page |
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