Wild coach Mike Yeo offered some less-than-charitable opinions to his players at practice this morning, then huffed off the ice, breaking his stick as an exclamation mark, according to to those who attended today’s practice.
It’s obvious Yeo was not pleased by more than just the effort of his guys during their morning practice at the Xcel Energy Center.
It brings to mind the bag skate delivered by coach Todd Richards in the final days of his first season directing the Wild — after which veteran defenseman Nick Schultz wondered aloud, “What took him so long?”
Yeo orally backed up his men following their 4-3 overtime loss to San Jose Tuesday night, but from upstairs it appeared that too many guys were simply worn out by the team’s recent troubles and unable to fire up their internal furnaces.
Credit to Yeo for discontinuing the praise and laying it on the line in behavior no one could misunderstand before his team’s season becomes completely unravelled.
This team has way more talent than the teams coached by Richards, but an unfortunate goal here and a bad turnover there should inspire the boys, not cripple them.
Maybe they’ll take Yeo’s message to heart and respond positively.
If not, this season might be toast.
BB covered sports for the Minneapolis Tribune for 13 years and for the St. Paul Pioneer Press for 20 years following stints at the International Falls Daily Journal and the Duluth News-Tribune. He was on the Wild beat as well as Gophers men's and women's hockey at the Pioneer Press. He lives in Minneapolis. Follow Bruce on Twitter @RealBBrothers
