Torchetti lights fire for Minnesota
A coaching change has brought some immediate success to the Minnesota Wild, which has won three consecutive games since John Torchetti replaced Mike Yeo. Five players scored goals Thursday night in a 5- 2 win in Edmonton. The Wild moved within two points of the idle Colorado Avalanche in the battle for the final wild- card spot in the Western Conference. Minnesota holds two games in hand, but Colorado owns the regulation and overtime win tiebreaker 28- 26. The Wild has scored five goals in each of the three games, a first in franchise history. Wideman’s concussion excuse carries little weight: Dennis Wideman has a right to disagree with the 20game suspension for hitting linesman Don Henderson and Gary Bettman’s subsequent decision to reject Wideman’s appeal. Wideman didn’t do himself any favours when he blamed stupid referees and stupid media for his predicament. But Wideman didn’t display any super intelligence when he said he was concussed and didn’t know what he was doing when he hit Henderson. The concussion argument doesn’t carry much weight because Wideman continued playing and gave several coherent interviews after the game. Flames experiment at centre: Montreal isn’t the only city where fans are clamouring for a young player to be given a chance to play centre full time. In a scenario similar to the Alex Galchenyuk debate here, Calgary fans want to see 19- yearold Sam Bennett in the middle. Coach Bob Hartley has decided to make the move in what is described as a push to make the playoffs. The Flames are 11 points out of a wild- card spot and the number crunchers at sportsclubstats.com rates their playoff chances at 3.7 per cent. Canadiennes begin semifinal at home: There will be playoff hockey in Montreal this spring. Les Canadiennes have wrapped up first place in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League and will face the Toronto Furies in a best- of- three semifinal series next weekend. The opening game is at Étienne Desmarteau Arena in Rosemont Friday at 6: 45 p. m. The second game will be at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard Saturday at 5 p. m. Game 3, if necessary, will be Sunday at 3 p. m. at Étienne Desmarteau. Les Canadiennes will close out the regular season this weekend at Étienne Desmarteau with a pair of games against the Boston Blades. It’s Fan Appreciation Weekend and the popular skate with Les Canadiennes promotion will be held after the 5: 30 p. m. game Saturday. Sunday’s game starts at 1 p. m. Ex- Hab Weaver to hold summer camp: Mike Weaver, who was a popular defenceman with the Canadiens, will be back in Montreal this summer to run a weeklong Defense First hockey camp at Westmount Arena. While the camp stresses defence, Weaver notes that registration for the July 11- 15 session is not limited to defence. He points that it’s important for all players to play defence. For more information, contact Weaver at mike@ DefenseFirst. com. Philly reporter on injured- reserve list: Best wishes for a quick recovery go out to veteran Philadelphia reporter and all- around good guy Tim Panaccio. He was a victim of Montreal’s icy sidewalks while in town to cover Friday ’s game. He slipped, breaking his ankle in two places and tearing ligaments. He said it: “It truly is the best trophy in sports. I’ll admit I was hoping you’d give me a day with it this time around. Before I was president, the Blackhawks had gone almost half a century without seeing this thing. Now you’ve got the hat trick. I think it’s pretty clear the luck I’ve brought to this team.” — U. S. President and Chicago native Barack Obama welcoming the Chicago Blackhawks and the Stanley Cup to the White House.