Preseason Games Six & Seven; Mascot and Roster

Friday night, the Wild skated into Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets in the penultimate preseason warm-up. And, well, maybe the team wishes that they'd stayed at home, after getting knocked around to the tune of a 5-3 loss. The Wild were down at one point 3-0, but they weren't able to come back all the way, and a late Minnesota power play ended up resulting in a Columbus short-handed goal. And this all coming less than 24 hours before the Wild were scheduled to take on Montreal, a team picked by many to be a legitimate challenge for the Stanley Cup this year.

Well, the Wild put together most of their season starters (minus a couple of injuries) and they proceeded to wallop the Canadiens 3-0 to close out their preseason. Gaboik and preseason scoring phenom Stephane Veilleux contributed goals, and Niklas Backstrom shut the door repeatedly on the talented Montreal offense. The Wild now has to find a way to keep their focus as they await their first real game of the season on Saturday, against the Boston Bruins.

But that's not the only Wild news from over the weekend. The team unveiled its first-ever mascot yesterday, showing "Nordy" off to the gathered crowd. Yup. A mascot. In all honesty, as strange as a mascot seems to us here, we have to admit that he'll connect with kids that might not be all that thrilled to watch a little black puck on a big sheet of white.

Finally, the Wild seems about ready to lock down their final rosters, and it looks like Benoit Pouliot is in, as well as Erik Reitz. Injuries to Marek Zidlicky and Josh Harding could extend the stay of Tomas Mojzis and Barry Brust. It also seems as though the Wild are going to give another teenager a shot to prove himself in the NHL. No, not this year's first-round pick, Tyler Cuma, even though he had a great preseason. It looks like last year's pick, 19 year-old Colton Gillies has done well enough that he'll get the chance that James Sheppard got last year. The Wild has definitely cultivated a young core of players, and if Gillies can do half as well as Sheppard did last year, this could be a very interesting season for the defending Northwest Division champions.