By Chip Scoggins
Hello everyone. This is Chip Scoggins filling in for Russo this week. The Wild returned to practice Wednesday after their Olympic break and went through about a 45-minute skate at St. Thomas. They ended practice with a 3-on-3 session.
Clayton Stoner was the only player who didn't participate, but he skated earlier in the day and could practice with the team either Thursday or Friday. Stoner is recovering from sports hernia surgery. He had the surgery in Munich , Germany, by the way. That struck me as odd that a guy from Canada would travel to Germany for sports hernia surgery. I was hoping to ask him why today, but a team rep said the surgeon in Germany guarantees a faster recovery time. I'll hopefully get more info on that in the next few days.
Anyway, I talked to a handful of players about what they did on their break and how it felt getting back on the ice today.
Greg Zanon went to Florida for eight days and got back in town Tuesday night. He spent part of the vacation on a cruise and also took his two young kids to Disney World for the first time.
"I definitely took a couple of days off and didn't think about hockey at all," he said. "I think it's good for the guys. The guys had bumps and bruises. We've played a lot of games. Guys just need time to let their bodies rest up and heal and get ready for these last 21."
Andrew Brunette went to Mexico and "sat on the beach for five days" and said he didn't think about hockey.
"For me that is quite remarkable," he said. "You come back Saturday and you put the TV on and watch some Olympic hockey. You get right back in the mindset. But there was no hockey on any of the channels where I was so it was kind of a nice break."