Mike Yeo's right: The Wild's perennially abysmal around Thanksgiving

Update: Zach Parise has indeed rejoined the team for practice and Christoph Bertschy was reassigned, meaning Jordan Schroeder or Justin Fontaine will play tomorrow. Fontaine did have a decently-long chat with Mike Yeo before practice.

UPDATE 2: Actually, >>>>>>>>>>

Just a reminder, check out my postgame blog from last night here.

As I reported, I expect Zach Parise to practice today and I'll update the blog with his comments afterward. In the NHL, if you're hurt and not practicing, you're basically not permitted to speak to reporters, so today should be Parise's first real public comments on his injury.

Also, click here for my game story

And, click here for my notebook on injury updates and Devan Dubnyk's workload.

But, driving home Wednesday night, I was thinking about Mike Yeo's comments about the family distractions that come with being the home team around Thanksgiving. Even before the game, Yeo was saying he almost prefers to be on the road this time of year (home teams went 6-6-1 Wednesday night) because it's just a normal road routine. In other words, when you're at home, family floods the Twin Cities and it's a lot harder to prepare and get your mind focused on hockey than if you're on the road).

After the game, he said it again: "There's a lot of distractions this time being home. You've got family, you've got whatever, but we're professionals and you've got to find a way to make sure you're prepared mentally."

You're entitled to think what you want about Yeo's Thanksgiving distraction synopsis, but whatever the reason, it dawned on me how right Yeo was about the Wild's poor results at home around Thanksgiving (especially the day BEFORE) since I have covered the team.

So this morning, I decided to dig into the media guide to take a look and see if I could affirm the fact that Wild stinks at home annually this time of year.

As I suspected, just one time in my 11 years covering the Wild has the Wild won the home game BEFORE Thanksgiving and the overall record during Thanksgiving week is abysmal.

2015: 0-1, 3-2 loss to Vancoucer.

Come home and lose in a shootout to St. Louis.

2013: Day before Thanksgiving, 3-1 loss to Arizona. Day after Thanksgiving, 3-1 loss to Colorado.

2012: Maybe lucky for the Wild, no Thanksgiving games because of the lockout.

2011: Day before Thanksgiving, 3-2 win over Nashville, the two home games right after Thanksgiving, 5-2 loss to Edmonton and 5-2 loss to Calgary.

2010:Day before Thanksgiving, 6-1 loss Philadelphia, day after Thanksgiving 5-2 win over Nashville

2008: Day before Thanksgiving, 4-3 loss to Dallas, Day after Thanksgiving, 4-2 win over Tampa Bay.

2007: Day before Thanksgiving, 4-2 loss to Vancouver. Day after Thanksgiving, 4-0 loss to Columbus.

2006: Day before Thanksgiving, the Wild played in Montreal and lost 4-2 and returned home for day after Thanksgiving and won, beating Arizona 4-0.

2005: Day before Thanksgiving, 4-3 loss to Edmonton, day after Thanksgiving 5-3 win over St. Louis

2004: No Thanksgiving games because of the lockout.

I didn't do 2000-02 because, well, you get the idea and the home games around Thanksgiving were sporadic.

Basically, whether Yeo's right or not about the distraction reason, the Wild stinks in these annual Thanksgiving week home games.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! Enjoy your day. As long as you're not a pro hockey player, it's OK for you to be distracted by family today.