Wild (and José) Win in Shootout in St. Louis (and I was there!)

I didn't blog last night during the game, because my butt was in the stands at Scottrade Center in St. Louis watching the Wild/Blues game live! It was my first live NHL game, and it was so much fun! My brother drove me down there. He'd been to quite a few Blues games, but I never had. I was so pleased when I heard that José would be the starter.

There was a lot of scoring in the game, and the shootout was so nervewracking! I hate shootouts! It didn't start out well for José, but he showed one of the reasons I respect him so much. He shook it off, adjusted and came back strong! He was a shootout beast, and won it!! Here was his comment after the game:

"The first three shots, they had two goals," Theodore said. "After that you kind of get that rhythm. I adjusted a few things, my timing, and then I felt pretty solid."

Here's my thought on goalies and shootout...even if a goalie has the first 3 goals scored on him, if his teammates score 3 goals also, then it's a whole new game, and it continues. So it's just as much up to those scorers as it is to the goalies, right? But the goalies are the ones that get the crap fallout from shootout losses. That really aggravates me. And if a goalie doesn't really have confidence that his teammates are going to score, that has to be weighing on their mind. Luckily the Wild scored in the shootout early on, and that had to give José some confidence and gave him the time to adjust what he was doing. Way to go, Wild and José!!

José stopped 31 of 35 shots. He stopped 6 of the 9 shooters in the shootout.

I tried not to be obnoxious around all the Blues fans during the game. I was relatively quiet, but I did clap when the Wild scored goals. BUT during the shootout, I couldn't contain myself. I had to show my support for José. So after each save he had, I screamed "Joooosssssé"!! I got a few "looks" from Blues fans, but no one gave me crap. There was one other Wild fan a few rows down the way.

Then after the game, I didn't even put my coat back on, because I was so proud of José and I wanted everyone to see I was his fan, so I wanted my Theo jersey to be where everyone could see it. I walked back to the car in freezing temps with my Theo jersey uncovered for all to see!! I love that guy!!! :o)

My camera is not great, and my photography skills are even less great. So I took lots of photos, but they are nothing special. But here's one to show that I was actually there.

I Met José!

As much as I hate for you all to know what I look like, I can't not post this photo. ;o)

I hadn't posted anything about this before now, because I didn't want to jinx the meeting. But if you follow my tumblr page, you probably saw me talking about it over there.

I won the online auction that the Wild held to "meet and greet" José after practice this past Tuesday. The auction ended on Jan. 31st, and a rep from the Wild organization called me a couple days later with the particulars of what practice, etc. We were allowed to watch the practice, which is a big deal, because they've never allowed the public in for practices. There were about 30 of us there. Every winner was allowed to bring 4 people. I brought my husband.

I live in Central Illinois, so it was an 8 hour drive to get to St. Paul. We drove up on Monday and got there about 5:00. We stayed at the Holiday Inn across the street from the Xcel. The practice began at 10:30 am on Tuesday and lasted until noon (they said it ran longer than normal.) We got to sit down close to watch them. Luckily José practiced most of the time at the end where we were. I didn't see much of Backs, because he was at the other end. I took some photos, but they didn't turn out real well. I thought my camera was ok, but I guess not. :p Maybe it's hard to get good photos in those places...but here are a couple just to prove I saw the practice.

There were 2 guys sitting quite a few rows up from the rest of us, and partway through practice, José hit a puck up towards them. It landed a couple seats in front. I thought about going to get it, but I thought he must want them to have it, so I didn't. Well, in a few minutes, one of the guys came over and said "Here you are" and held the puck out to me. I said, "Oh, thanks!" He said, "You're a Theodore fan. I'm his brother." I said, "You are?" Then he stuck out his hand to shake and said, "I'm José's brother." I said it was nice to meet him and I was there to meet José after practice. Then I thanked him again and he said he could tell I was a Theodore fan so wanted to give it to me. Then he went back. When I listen to the video I was shooting, he sounds so much like José. You can tell they're brothers by their voices. Then I told José I met his brother and he signed the puck for me. He said the other guy was another brother of his. So two of them were there. I thought that was so nice of him to come down and give it to me!

So after the practice, we went to a lounge to wait for the players to shower and come out. We were called in as our player was finished. I was called first, so my husband and I went in. Actually, Brent Burns came in before José, and I said, "Oh, we're not here to meet you." I felt bad as soon as I said it, because I didn't want him to think we didn't want to meet him. But they specifically told us we won the auction for one player, and we weren't going to get to meet others. One of the PR people told him his group wasn't there yet. But I said "It's not that I don't want to meet you though" and I held out my hand to shake. He shook my hand and my husband's. Then he sat down and asked who we were there to see. Then he saw my shirt and said, "Oh, Theo?" I said yeah. He said, "Yeah, I think Theo's still upset about the goals I scored on him today." Then he laughed. He asked how we got the opportunity to do this, and I said it was an online auction. I said, "You went to the highest bidder. Does it make you feel like a piece of meat?" We all laughed.

Then José walked in and came over and I said, "I'm Carol." He said "Nice to meet you. Very nice to meet you" and we shook hands. Then I introduced my husband and they shook hands, etc.

It was all kind of a blur. My husband videotaped a bit of it, so I can look back and know that it did happen, because it's kind of hard to believe now that I'm back to "reality." He signed a practice jersey for me (that was part of the auction.) Then he signed a couple other things I brought for friends (Hi, Berni! ;o) We talked for a few minutes, and he is such a nice guy. He didn't seem to hate being there or like it was a burden or anything. He was so neat to talk to. I only sounded like a derp once or twice. ;o)

Here are a few screen caps from the video. Seriously, one of the best days of my life. ;o)

José Will Start Friday in St. Louis

José will start the first game in the back-to-back games against St. Louis Friday. This is the game in St. Louis, the Saturday one is at home.

And I will be at the game in St. Louis, so no blogging during the game. I'll actually get to see him play!! Go Theo!!!

Theodore To The Rescue (Pioneer Press Article)

This was an article over at Pioneer Press after the Colorado game the other night. (Thanks to miseenjeu for sending me the link.)

Theodore to the rescue
He foils Avalanche during critical time
By Tom Powers
Updated: 02/03/2011 11:55:23 PM CST

DENVER - With the Wild sagging visibly in the third period, José Theodore came to the rescue Thurdsay night. Theodore, who hadn't played since Jan. 11, was brilliant in protecting a one-goal lead while the Wild killed a four-minute penalty to Martin Havlat for high sticking.

Actually, the Wild's forwards and defensemen didn't do much to kill it. In fact, some of the penalty killers were counterproductive, putting the puck on Avalanche players' sticks instead of clearing the zone. But Theodore kept the tying goal off the board.

"Yeah, another outstanding game for him," said Andrew Brunette, who scored two of Minnesota's four goals. "I just feel bad we gave up that late one on him."

The Avs scored in the final seconds to make it a 4-3 final. Theodore stopped 38 of 41 shots.

"In the third, they were really putting pucks through the crease," Theodore said. "But we were doing a good job of boxing out and then clearing it."

Fastest two goals: The Wild scored twice in the first 1:01 to take a 2-0 lead. They easily were the two fastest Wild goals to start a game in team history. The previous mark was 3:25, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Kyle Brodziak and Andrew Brunette scored to set the new mark. On Jan. 18, Matt Cullen and Brent Burns scored in the first 3:25 against the Edmonton Oilers, which was the old record.

Jose Theodore keeps winning long after entire NHL appeared to write him off

This was a blurb over at InGoal Magazine today. Makes me so proud of him!!

Jose Theodore made 38 saves in Tuesday’s 4-3 win over Colorado, once again playing a huge role in Minnesota’s playoff surge behind equally stingy starter Niklas Backstrom. Theodore is now 9-7-2 (including his 250h career win) with a .914 save percentage, not bad for a goaltender who didn’t have a job when the season started, and was worried about his future before Josh Harding tore up his knee in a crease collision and the Wild came calling.

Which makes it worthwhile to revisit a great recent story by Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star Tribune that was written after watching a game in the press box beside Theodore. It examines the extreme ups and downs of a remarkably roller coaster career that has alternated between league MVP and media whipping boy, as well as the personality behind the heavily tattooed, guitar playing, puck stopper and the tragic loss of a child.

Gameday, Wild @ Avs, Wild Win 4-3!

The Wild are back on the road tonight, and José will get the start! The coach said they'd made the decision to start him during the break, before Backs' shutout the other night. They want to keep both goalies ready.

Go Theo!!

 

That last one was José looking back while going off the ice after the 1st period (Wild lead 2-0), and I can tell his eyes are saying, "Take that bitches!"

He stopped 12 SOG.

2nd period is over, Wild lead 3-1. He faced 10 more SOG.

That photo shows my favorite part of Wild wins. ;o) The Brotherhood of the Goalie. ;o)

Wild won 4-3 (that 3rd goal was scored with about 10 seconds left. Aargh!)

José saved 38 of 41 SOG!! Great game, Theo!!

José Will Start Thursday in Colorado, Wild Won Tonight

The Wild played LA at home tonight. Backs got a shutout and a SHOOTOUT WIN! That's a pretty big deal for him! So good for him.

And after the game Russo tweeted:

"Richards said Jose Theodore will play Thurs in Colorado despite Backstrom's 1-0 SO tonight. They want to get him playing again."

I would be happy about that if it was anywhere but Colorado. Those fans are such haters! But he'll go in there and show them how awesome he still is, and the Wild will win, and all will be well in the universe!

And here was the goalie love from tonight...FSN did not do me a solid with their showing of the love. They made the screen a little bitty tiny box, so we couldn't see crap. José had an absolutely gorgeous smile when congratulating Backs, but we couldn't really see it!

This smile would've been to die for, had we been able to see it! Oh FSN, I oughta!!!