With the Minnesota Wild on a bye week, we decided to get you some other Minnesota Sports Talk this week. While the Vikings got a mention or two, today's topic of choice was the Twins. Maija from Twinkie Town stopped by to help us break down the Twins offseason.

Tony and Joe talk a setback for Nino Niederreiter, the Wild's domination of Tampa Bay on Hockey Day in Minnesota, and comment on the Wild's trade deadline strategy. Then Maija lets us know about the Twins' rebuilt bullpen, their pursuit of Yu Darvish, and Minnesota's potential path to the Central Division crown.

By the way, we promised more mailbag and talk about the Wild Card Race. That had to get axed for scheduling conflicts this week, but we'll make sure to get to that next week. 

If you want to support the podcast, you can subscribe to us on your favorite podcasting app, tell your friends about our show, and take a few minutes to leave us an iTunes review! We appreciate any support!

We'll see you soon!

That happened.

For a bit of a change of pace this week, we wanted to give you, the Hockey Wilderness Podcast listener, something we haven't been able to give you for quite some time.

That is, some talk about a team that advanced out of the first round of the playoffs. 

Sure, maybe we didn't know it at the time, but Joe and Tony delivered on some Vikings talk. The HWP crew reminisced on their miserable lives of Vikings fandom, swapped some good stories, and then we went to Matthew Coller of ESPN 1500 the day after the game to recap the Vikings' miraculous win, and look ahead to a possible Super Bowl.

Oh, yeah, and we also chatted about the Wild at the end.

Topics included:

• Our journey with the Vikings
• Our most joyful Vikings moments
• Tony stanning for Randy Moss
• Why the hurt from the '98 Championship loss will never go away
• The guys break down Paul Allen's most agonized calls
• The moment when Stefon Diggs caught the touchdown
• What makes Diggs a Top-10 receiver in the NFL
• Giving the Vikings defense credit
• Case Keenum's journey and future with the Vikings
• The unsung heroes of the playoff game
• Previewing the NFC Championship Game vs. Philadelphia
• The potential of having a home Super Bowl in Minneapolis
• Nino Niederreiter's injury
• Mikael Granlund playing out of his mind
• Sorting through the Wild's road woes
• Tony's experience as a street preacher

And more!

If you want to support the podcast, you can subscribe to us on your favorite podcasting app, tell your friends about our show, and take a few minutes to leave us an iTunes review! We appreciate any support!

We'll see you soon!

Awwwww, yeah!

We took an unofficial, unplanned hiatus (and we're sorry about that!), but now the Hockey Wilderness Podcast is back! 

Tony and Joe sat down on Sunday morning to talk about Zach Parise's return, the Wild at midseason, and prospect stuff.

Topics include:

• Tony and Joe's New Year's Resolutions
• Zach Parise's return to the lineup
• Can the Wild fix their lack of speed?
• Jordan Greenway making the USA Olympic Team
• Dmitri Sokolov's World Junior run
• Chuck Fletcher finally meets Kirill Kaprizov
• Looking at 3 players who have made us happy at midseason
• Looking at 3 players who have not made us happy at midseason

And much more!

If you want to support the podcast, you can subscribe to us on your favorite podcasting app, tell your friends about our show, and take a few minutes to leave us an iTunes review! We appreciate any support!

We'll see you soon!

The Minnesota Wild are still scuffling along, sitting out of a playoff spot even after a 2-1 week. We take a look at some roster shake-ups and other news with our friend Luke Solberg (EvolvingWild) of Hockey Graphs. Luke joins our show to discuss the team's issues, potential strategies to improve, and also these topics:

• Looking at the Nate Prosser - Kyle Quincey swap
• Investigating the thought process behind the Quincey move
• Are the new rules impacting the Wild?
• The sorry state of the Wild's depth
• Nino Niederreiter still not getting enough ice time
• Joel Eriksson Ek returns- will he get the help he needs?
• Jared Spurgeon's injury
• Matt Dumba partnering with Ryan Suter
• Jonas Brodin's rough season
• Is Nate Prosser going to block Minnesota's younger defensemen?
• Evaluating Ryan Murphy
• Why won't the Wild use 4 forwards on the power play?
• Minnesota's 3-on-3 OT changes

And more!

If you want to support the podcast, you can subscribe to us on your favorite podcasting app, tell your friends about our show, and take a few minutes to leave us an iTunes review! We appreciate any support!

We'll see you soon!

The Hockey Wilderness Podcast is back of after a Thanksgiving break! When we last left our heroes (Tony and Joe) the Wild were riding high after Devan Dubnyk posted a Brick Trick. Fast forward a couple weeks, add in destruction at the hands of a couple Central Division rivals, and we get a ton of ranting. Among the topics discussed:

• Dubnyk and the goaltending not playing up to snuff
• Kyle Quincey was bad...really bad.
• Really? The Wild are looking at solving issues with...Nate Prosser?
• A disparity of skill between the top 6 and bottom 6
• Minnesota could use Luke Kunin and Joel Eriksson Ek back
• Kirill Kaprizov saga
• Your Twitter questions and much more!

If you want to support the podcast, you can subscribe to us on your favorite podcasting app, tell your friends about our show, and take a few minutes to leave us an iTunes review! We appreciate any support!

We'll see you soon!

The Hockey Wilderness Podcast is back! Joe returns from his two-week hiatus in Florida and joins the podcast. Just in time too as we cover a multitude of topics including:

• Jason Zucker's scoring streak
• Devan Dubnyk with 3 consecutive shutouts
• What should be call 3 consecutive shutouts by a goaltender?
• The mood changing around the Wild after 3 big wins
• What do we think of the current line combos?
• Coyle nearing a return
• Your Twitter questions

If you want to support the podcast, you can subscribe to us on your favorite podcasting app, tell your friends about our show, and take a few minutes to leave us an iTunes review! We appreciate any support!

We'll see you soon!

The Minnesota Wild needed to finish their homestand strong, but instead ended up dropping 2 of 3 games. Disappointing, for sure, and Tony tries to guide you through that disappointing week. He makes it about 15 minutes, then turns to your questions in the mailbag. 

Topics include:

• Has Dumba's play since last week improved enough?
• Minnesota wasting Dubnyk's best start of the season
• Turning the TV off during a lackluster effort in Boston
• What's wrong with Devan Dubnyk?
• Checking in on the rest of the Central
• Can Minnesota send Tyler Ennis down?
• Why Joel Eriksson Ek needs to be in the NHL 
• Projected lineup when Coyle returns
• Are Ennis and Marcus Foligno meeting expectations?
• Does the Matt Duchene deal hurt Minnesota?
• Egg Nog or Egg Nah?
• Tony's favorite book
• If Minnesota traded into the first round in June, who should they have drafted?
• Can a lack of commitment or attitude explain the Wild's struggles?
• Is Ketchup the worst condiment?
• If Tony could pick any team to be the GM of, which would it be and why?

And more!

If you want to support the podcast, you can subscribe to us on your favorite podcasting app, tell your friends about our show, and take a few minutes to leave us an iTunes review! We appreciate any support!

We'll see you soon!

We're back! Sorry friends, we weren't able to get a show in last week, but we made up for it by giving you a fun, jam-packed episode covering big news for the Minnesota Wild, and in-depth breakdowns of what ails them.

Joining Tony today is Derek Peterson from The Athletic Minnesota, and together they discussed:

• Their new interest in the Timberwolves
• Marcus Foligno's full cage
• Mikael Granlund's return making Jason Zucker better 
• Luke Kunin making the most of his shot
• Zach Parise's back surgery
• Nino Niederreiter's return
• What's wrong with Matt Dumba
• Trying to fix the blue line
• Can Kunin really replace what Parise brings to the table?

Good news, everyone! We're finally on Google Play! Subscribe to us there, or on iTunes, or Stitcher, or wherever else podcasts are bought and sold!

Also, you can leave us an iTunes review and help boost our signal and reach new listeners looking for smart Minnesota Wild talk. If you know any of those potential new listeners, you can tell them about us!

That's all for this week. We'll see you soon!

The Minnesota Wild took 3 of 4 points this week, but things are looking down in the State of Hockey. Injuries, injuries, injuries. More than half of the Minnesota Wild's Top-9 is out of the lineup for the near future, and it's most of what we talk about today. Is it kind of a bummer? Yeah. But we try to have some fun on this week's episode, regardless.

Topics include:

• Injuries to Nino Niederreiter, Charlie Coyle, and Marcus Foligno
• The Wild being able to gut out a devastating victory in Chicago
• Breaking down Jason Zucker's controversial assist
• Minnesota blowing a lead against Columbus
• Landon Ferraro's first goal
• Devan Dubnyk coming up short when he's needed most
• Are these injuries dooming the Wild?
• Should we change our minds about Chris Stewart?
• Looking for the silver lining after this week
• Luke Kunin debuts- should he be in a bigger role?
• Checking in on Tyler Ennis
• Can the Wild make a move for reinforcements?

And more!

If you want to support the podcast, you can subscribe to us on your favorite podcasting app, tell your friends about our show, and take a few minutes to leave us an iTunes review! We appreciate any support!

We'll see you soon!

Tony and Joe are back with the Hockey Wilderness Podcast episode 121! We take no breaks around here as we talk the first two games of the rocky start of the Minnesota Wild's season. 

Other topics discussed:

• Marcus Foligno seeing more minutes than Nino Niederreiter
• Mikael Granlund is out with a groin problem
• Ryan Suter just takes up way too much time on the power play
• Carolina Hurricanes exposed a slow Wild squad
• Ruing the day the Wild traded away Jason Pominville
• The Tyler Ennis experiement
• What's the best way to watch a Wild game?

If you want to support the Hockey Wilderness Podcast, please leave us a review on iTunes! Subscribe to the Hockey Wilderness Podcast on iTunes, iHeart Radio, Stitcher Radio, PocketCast and many more!