The Daily Wild - April 8, 2008

[rinkrat]

As Jacques Lemaire delivers his postgame and postpractice comments from now on, he will be doing so in front of a fresh new pipe-and-drape number with the 2008 NHL Stanley Cup Playoff emblems set behind him.

While so much had been made about how the Wild were playing in "playoff" games for weeks now, that was still very much in the finger-quote sense. The true playoffs are here, and there is a noticeable difference -- beyond even the drapes and the playoff insignias on the name cards above players' stalls.

Press conferences last longer, media crowds around players are deeper (sometimes even in an intellectual sense) and personnel changes are dissected from more angles.

Minnesota Wild - Features: The Daily Wild - April 8, 2008 - 04/08/2008