#mnwild rallies to win 2010 Prospects Tournament; Some Wild promotions; Bouchard update

Trailing 1-0 to the Detroit Red Wings in the third period Wednesday night in Traverse City, the Wild scored three straight goals from Cody Almond, tryout JT Barnett and Marco Scandella to stun the host team, take a 3-1 victory and win the 2010 Prospects Tournament championship.

"Good way to start year," said assistant GM Brent Flahr.

Matt Hackett was in for the win. Casey Wellman was a plus-3.

"I think we thought we had a chance at the start of the tournament," Flahr said. "We brought some veteran guys, but there were some real good teams here. The Rangers had a great lineup, as did Detroit and St. Louis. We played well as a group and our good players are very good."

Flahr lauded Wellman, the UMass pickup last season who's put on a lot of muscle this offseason and will vie for a roster spot this training camp.

"Wellman was a star throughout the tournament," Flahr said. "He was a little tired today, as we all were. We didn't have a lot of legs the first two periods, having played four games in five nights, but [Jarod] Palmer scored some big goals, Almond was outstanding, Scandella was real good and [Nate] Prosser and [Tyler] Cuma were our shutdown pair. Very happy."

Flahr said the Wild brass will discuss promotions and cuts Wednesday evening, but he said most players under contract and draft picks will be promoted to main camp, which begins Friday.

On Caron specifically, Flahr said, "He is a tough kid. You should have seen the fights he had here. He's fighting heavyweights. He is scary tough and certainly willing."

I forgot to mention this today, but I am hearing Pierre-Marc Bouchard will open training camp by practicing, but he has not been cleared yet for contact, which means obviously not cleared for the scrimmages. They will naturally ease him into camp.

Also, I'll write about this more later in training camp, but I talked on the phone today with Hall of Famer Mark Messier, who spent part of the day in Blaine where the NAHL Showcase got under way. The Messier Project, which is designed by Messier and Cascade Sports, announced that it will outfit the NAHL with the M11 helmet for the next three years, the revolutionary concussion-reducing helmet.