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and will benefit from the increased sales these 2 will generate.

the Wild aren't exactly hurting for regular season attendance. http://espn.go.com/nhl/attendance shows them 16th with an average of 17,772 per game which is 98.4% of Xcel Energy Center's 18,064 for hockey.

they are NOT the old North Stars

Those numbers are nice, but that many people did not show up to the games. Tickets bought....yes. Attendance at the games....not so much

every time I watched a Wild game @ Xcel Energy Center, it looked like the place was packed BUT I have never attended a game myself in Minnesota.

I just wish Gary Bettman would sober up and forget this stupid "four conferences" preposal. they should just retain the East and West conferences with three divisions each and move the former Atlanta Southeast team which became the Jets to the Northeast (making a majority Canada division) , the Wild to the Central (Chicago, Detroit and St Louis are traditional MSP rival cities) and Nashville to the Southeast (making an NHL version of the "SEC")

and then of course the basis of hockey madness in minnesota i believe has always been at the grassroots levels: amateur, youth programs, college...

true statement

AND don't forget the high schools. in researching the comments about Xcel Energy Center for hockey, they mentioned that they SOLD OUT for the Minnesota High School hockey championships AND they packed the place the last time the NCAA had their hockey championships there.

it truely IS "The State of Hockey"

DON'T know how well the Timberwolves do, though. I would think that Minnesota might be one place (along with definately Toronto and maybe Boston) where the NHL out draws the NBA.

LRR for Commish (also just change the rules to take ALL soccer goals OUT of the NHL and you get my vote... and smaller goalie gear, like the monster trappers used today).

I really DON'T have a big problem with "kicked in goals" as long as it NOT something that looks like a "kickoff" in football. directed in off the side of the skate blade is fine with me. tough enough scoring on goalies with "steam shovel" trappers. either shrink the gear OR make the goal mouth slightly larger by using smaller pipe. with a 1 5/8" vs the current 2 3/8" I think you would have more "post" shots going in.

MY big "pet peeve" along with the oversized goalie equipment is the "freakazoid" rule. it was designed to increase scoring and it's done just the opposite because "good stick" goalies like Marty Brodeur used to "key" brakeouts with a good first pass which a lot of time lead to breakaways or odd man rushes. it also sets up defensemen to get "run". 

I also have a problem with the "inconsistancy" of penalties. early season they call everything that smells like "interference" BUT come playoff time it's back to "clutch and grab". what's a penalty in October should still be a penalty in May

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