When Zach Parise is forced to watch the Wild play from his couch, he doesn't scream, "Shoooot," and doesn't throw his arms up when a pass doesn't get through.
The NHL vet knows how much different the game looks on TV and from the stands than on the ice.
"It's not as easy as it looks on TV," Parise said. "It's a lot slower. It's not as easy as it looks from the press box. There's angles on the ice, there's sticks in the way that you don't see from the TV or up top. The game is about 100 times faster when you're on the ice, and the decisions that you have to make are so much quicker.
"Unfortunately you don't get that appreciation for the pace and the lack of room that's really on the ice."
Parise much prefers being on the ice, and Tuesday night against the Calgary Flames, the Wild's most dangerous offensive weapon returned to game action for the first time since Oct. 27. Despite only one practice in his recovery from a foot injury, Parise played for the first time in seven games.
"If I didn't think I could do something or I thought something was holding me back, I wouldn't play, but I feel good enough that I can go out and play," he said.
Because the Wild has played only six times since his injury almost three weeks ago, Parise said he got lucky.
"If you fast forward to our schedule in March, I probably would have missed eight to 10 games," he said. "It's not fun [sitting out]. You're so invested in the team and the games, and you get excited watching the game, and you want to be a part of the team after the wins in the locker room and be part of the fun that they're having."
