Q1, P7. Marian Gaborik Placed On IR

Today (Monday, October 27), the Minnesota Wild placed Marian Gaborik on the Injured Reserve list. The team said that Gaborik suffered an "unspecified lower-body injury" and will be put on the IR for an unknown amount of time. Before being placed on the IR, Gaborik had not played since October, 14th and has missed the last four games for the Wild. Center Owen Nolan was taken off the IR to make room for Gaborik and may replace him on the first line. Throughout Gaborik's career, he has been plagued with injuries to his leg muscles and it has kept him out of many games in previous years. This year is also Marian's contract year , but negotiations have been at a stand-still for at least a few weeks.

I think that we need to trade Gaborik before the trade deadline this year. The Wild tried all summer to sign him but he seemed unwilling to sign with Minnesota again. So the best course of action is to trade him now so we can get something in return from another team. There have been reports that the Montreal Canadians were interested in trading their captain, Saku Koivu for Gaborik. If that deal were to happen it would be an amazing steal for the Wild. We would get rid of a player who is unwilling to play for us and is struggling with injuries. In return we would get a solid player and proven leader to boost the team to the next level. Not to mention he's Mikko Koivu's brother. Unfortunately, I feel a trade for Gaborik will not happen and we won't sign him either. I hope some team gives him a huge deal next summer and he becomes a huge disappointment. If you haven't realized yet, I'm not a Marian Gaborik fan.

Q1, P6. Army VS. Notre Dame Lacrosse Game

Two weeks ago, I was able to attend the first ever Division One lacrosse game played in Minnesota. For the main event, the West Point Military Academy (Army) faced off against the University of Notre Dame. The University of Minnesota Duluth was also there to scrimmage both teams and the game was held at the Blaine Sports Complex. The tournament and expo was sponsored by the Minnesota Swarm in an effort to spread the sport. The game was an extremely intense one and required extra time to decide the winner. With about ten minutes left in the second overtime, Army came down on a fast break where the ball was passed to in front of the net. An attackman for Army caught the ball and shot it between his legs with his back to the goalie. Army won the game 8-7. There were over five thousand people attending the game and the atmosphere in the stadium was incredible.

This weekend was a very important one for lacrosse and will hopefully get more kids into lacrosse. The governor even declared the Saturday "Lacrosse Day" in Minnesota. I was at the Sports Complex all weekend because I was playing in a lacrosse tournament also sponsored by the Swarm. The team I as on didn't have a lot of players so I go to play Attack, Middie, and Defense in every game. My team was also very bad so I had to carry the team in every time we stepped on the field. In the first game on Saturday, I scored our teams only goal and we lost 8-2. In the second game of the day, I struck fire and had a hat trick. But my individual effort wasn't enough and we lost 5-3. The following day we had one more game but had to play with no substitutes. Our team didn't show any sighs of life all game and we were shut out 9-0. Overall it was a great weekend It was one of the most thrilling sporting events I have attended. I hope the weekend tournament becomes a tradition every year and that more and more teams enter the tourney.

Q1, P5. Rangers Prospect Dies Unexpectedly

The New York Rangers 2007 top prospect, Alexei Cherepanov died on Monday during a KHL (Continental Hockey League) game in Russia. It was reported that he collapsed while sitting on the bench due to an apparent heart attack. Paramedics tried to revive Cherepanov but were unsuccessful. After the game he was sent to the hospital and he was then proclaimed dead. It was later released that Cherepanov suffers from chronic ischemia, which is a condition where there is little blood flow to the heart and other organs. Another issue with the situation was that no ambulance was at the game and when one was called, they were slow to arrive and didn't have the appropriate equipment to revive the unconscious winger. Cherepanov was the Rangers first round pick (17th overall) in the 2007 NHL Draft. Cherepanov, was 19 years old.

This was a very tragic event not only for the New York Rangers and the KHL, but for all hockey players across the world. It is so sad to see an extremely talented person die at such a young age and with an amazing life ahead of him. The KHL is looking into the incident to find out why there was no medical staff available and I hope they can get to the bottom of the matter. It's unacceptable for a sports franchise to be so unprepared in case of an emergency. Every team in every sport should learn from this disaster and take specific precautions for future incidents. I think there should be more health test taken by athletes to make sure it's 100% safe for them to play.

Q1, P4. Vikings Vs. Saints. MNF

The Minnesota Vikings Played the New Orleans Saints Monday (10/7/08) night on ESPN. The game was a very awkward one and touchdowns came in unusual ways. New Orleans marched down the field to score on their first drive. Then the next series, New Orleans had a field goal block which Minnesota returned for a touch down. Later in the second quarter, Minnesota then scored on a half-back pass from Chester Taylor to Visanthe Shiancoe. At half time the Vikings were somehow winning 20-10 even though the Saints had 130 more yards of offense than the Vikes. Later in the game, Saints running back, Reggie Bush returned a punt return for a TD then did the exact thing later, to make the score 27-23, New Orleans. The Vikings struck back with a TD pass from Gus Frerotte to Bernard Berrian. New Orleans missed a field goal on their last drive to win the game. Then the Vikings drove down the field to kick the game winning field goal with 13 seconds left in the game. The Vikings won the game 30-27. Both the Vikings and Saints are 2-3 this season.

I watched most of the game and I enjoyed it very much. The game was also one of the weirds games i have ever witnessed. Scoring came in very unconventional ways and there were some questionable officiating. The first bad call was when Adrian Peterson fumbled the ball in the first half but he was ruled down so the Vikings kept the ball. Then later, a linebacker for Minnesota face-masked Reggie Bush and caused him to fumble but the Referees missed the call. New Orleans was the better team all game and I don't think the Vikes deserved to win. They had little offensive production but still managed to score more points than any previous games this season. I do hope that the Vikings can turn around the season and get into the playoffs. I also feel they will never be Super Bowl contenders until they get a new head coach and a better quarterback.