Wild forward Zenon Konopka got 30 stitches in his face in Jaunary. It was pretty ugly.

SEE ALSO: Zach Parise: Wild star's top 10 goals [VIDEOS]

But we'd think those wounds have mostly healed by now. So it's hard to say exactly why an official during game one of the Wild-Blackhawks series looked so scared while watching Konopka on Tuesday night.

More »

Image by Tatiana Craine

Collins on Twitter: "I meant to say success. My apologies, got a little tongue tied."

:::: UPDATE :::: Susannah Collins, reporter who said Blackhawks "had a tremendous amount of sex," is fired [VIDEOS]

While previewing the first game of the Blackhawks-Wild playoff series from outside Chicago's locker room, CSN reporter Susannah Collins apparently had sex on the mind, or at least floating through her subconscious.

SEE ALSO: Cal Clutterbuck accidentally punched a ref twice last night [VIDEO]

That's because her attempt to say "The Blackhawks had a tremendous amount of success during the regular season" came out of her mouth as follows: "The Blackhawks had a tremendous amount of sex this regular season." Oops!

More »

With Harding unable to play tonight, the team is now carrying three goalies.

In November, Wild goalie Josh Harding went public with his multiple sclerosis diagnosis. He vowed to continue his NHL career, but the odds looked to be against him sticking around for long -- only one other player saw game action in the pros following an MS diagnosis, and Jordan Sigalet's one-game NHL career is probably best remember for a scary on-ice collapse he suffered during a minor league game.

SEE ALSO: Wild goalie Josh Harding on MS diagnosis: "I don't look at this like I've got to take a new path"

Harding has seen action in four games so far this season, though in one of them he was mysteriously yanked after giving up just two goals. But today's news provides the first real evidence that Harding is having a hard time playing through MS.

More »

More »

C'mon Tim, we know you can afford a Summit at least.

Tim Pawlenty now works as a lobbyist for America's biggest banks. But that doesn't mean he's too high and mighty to drink cheap bear at the hockey game.

SEE ALSO: Wild goalie Josh Harding on MS diagnosis: "I don't look at this like I've got to take a new path"

Pawlenty -- like many others in the State of Hockey, especially service industry workers near the Xcel Center -- is geeked about tomorrow night's Wild home opener. We are too, but if you're still bitter about the lockout and not totally jazzed to get your first look at what promises to be one of the most exciting teams in franchise history, check out this video countdown of blockbuster acquisition Zach Parise's top 10 goals, then come back and read the rest of this.

More »

The NHL lockout has cost 32 workers their jobs at Eagle Street Grille, according to its owner.

In a letter addressed to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, the owner of the Eagle Street Grille in downtown St. Paul urges an immediate end to a lockout he says has forced him to lay off two-thirds of his staff.

SEE ALSO: Wild goalie Josh Harding on MS diagnosis: "I don't look at this like I've got to take a new path"

Owner Joe Kasel says Wild game nights account for over 50 percent of his gross revenue -- revenue that's nowhere to be found as more and more games are canceled due to the NHL's no-end-in-sight labor dispute.

More »

Harding: "I want this to be a story where when we look back, it was a happy story."

About two months ago, Wild goalie Josh Harding, 28, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, an incurable (but treatable) disease that affects the brain and spinal cord -- in particular, the protective covering around nerve cells. He went public with his illness this week.

Symptoms include vision problems, loss of balance, and problems moving. It's not news anybody wants to hear, but it's especially grim when your livelihood depends on vision, balance, and movement.

SEE ALSO: Zach Parise: New Minnesota Wild star's top 10 goals [VIDEOS]

Nonetheless, Harding -- who signed a three-year, $5.7 million contract in July and is expecting his first child with his fiancee --  doesn't plan to let MS get in the way of his hockey career.

More »

Parise and Suter have us jazzed about the Wild for the first time in many, many moons.

When Minnesota Wild management did their best Miami Heat impersonation and signed free agents Zach Parise and Ryan Suter to identical 13-year, $98-million contracts last week, the franchise immediately became relevant for the first time in nearly a decade.

After years of neglecting them, we here at City Pages Blotter plan to follow casual Twin Cities sports fans in paying more attention to the team this season and beyond. With that in mind, we thought a good place to start would be to compile a countdown of Minneapolis-native Parise's top goals.

Check out his top 10 below the jump... and then daydream about how awesome it'll be to watch the NoDak alum pull off these sweet moves in a Wild sweater.

More »

Wikipedia.

The DNR believes there was a concerted effort to oppose the wolf hunting season.

Minnesota's first-ever regulated wolf hunting season is already unpopular with the vast majority of respondents to a Department of Natural Resources survey.

Of the 7,351 who participated in the survey, only 1,542 -- about 20 percent -- supported the hunting season mandated by the Legislature this year, according to Chris Niskanen, spokesman for the DNR.

There is some debate over how legitimately the survey reflects the general population, however. Niskanen says the DNR believes there was a "concerted campaign" by certain groups to mobilize in opposition to the hunting season. The full survey results will be made available next week.

More »

We first profiled Derek Boogaard in our 2007 cover story.

Derek Boogaard, the former Wild player whose death made him a poster boy for anti-enforcer sentiment, received more than 100 prescriptions for various pills from NHL team doctors in the years before his death.

That's perhaps the most alarming finding in a New York Times report out today that gives a by-the-prescription analysis of how easily Boogaard obtained drugs -- at times, a simple text message to a team doctor would do -- and how widely known his abuse problems were within the league.

Most of the information was provided by Boogaard's father, Len. The paper trail was incomplete, and it's unclear what Boogaard told doctors to get the pills, but the story paints a troubling picture of how his drug abuse was handled by the Wild and New York Rangers.

More »