Wild's Brunette hopes to stick around

Wild's Brunette hopes to stick around

By Bruce Brothers

Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

(MCT)

Jan. 18--EDMONTON, Alberta -- Andrew Brunette recognizes that for a guy who's 37 years old and was not important enough for the Wild to keep in 2005, his days in Minnesota could be numbered. If the Wild aren't in playoff contention when March rolls around, they almost certainly will be looking to jettison a veteran or two or three.

"Obviously, you kid yourself if you think it doesn't come through your mind every once in a while," he said, "but I think you try to just worry about the moment, the race we're in.

"Hopefully, we make the playoffs, or you get into that whole hunt, you stick around. And, if it's their decision that they don't want you anymore, then you're gone."

Brunette, an unrestricted free agent after this season, takes his first two-game scoring streak into tonight's Wild game at Edmonton. He scored 117 goals in his previous five NHL seasons and has 11 in 45 games this season.

He believes he still can supply that toughness around the opposition net that teams seek, a trait he has used to make a living for 11 full seasons and parts of three more in the NHL.

Asked why he's better at it than most in the NHL, Brunette laughed.

"Not everybody's slow," he said. "Usually you don't make it to the National Hockey League if you're that slow."

Coach Todd Richards doesn't complain that Brunette might be an underdog in a speed skating race with a goaltender in full equipment, because Brunette makes up for that in other ways.

"He's tough to

knock over; he's tough to pin and contain," Richards said. "Those little battles, whether it's behind the net or in front of the net, that's where he excels."

Brunette, who is 6 feet 1, 212 pounds, has built a career on knowing where to be, getting there and protecting the puck from men with long reaches, long sticks and short tempers.

Brunette honed that ability when he was 5 or 6 and skating on outdoor rinks jammed with 35 or 40 players, he said, and perfected it while playing street hockey in Sudbury, Ontario, with 15 kids or more trying to take away the tennis ball.

If you wanted possession of the puck or the ball, he remembered, "You had to learn to protect it in tight areas."

The Wild allowed Brunette to sign with Colorado as a free agent in 2005 because his career was considered on the down slope. But Minnesota brought him back in 2008 when then-general manager Doug Risebrough admitted he made a mistake. Brunette has 248 goals in his NHL career and has scored 298 points in five-plus seasons in Minnesota.

"I've been here for a long time. I really enjoy it here; it's a great place to play," he said. "It's disappointing, a little bit frustrating the last couple of years to be where we are, but I still believe this team has what it takes to get through. We just have to find a way."

Brunette called the Wild's season "a roller-coaster ride" but said he cannot understand why fans have been quick to jump off the bandwagon.

Teammate Cal Clutterbuck observed that fans have put so much pressure on the Wild to turn things around that every game feels like "life or death."

Brunette agreed.

That "prove it to me" attitude, he said, has been evident "from Day One."

"We were six games over .500, seven games over, and it still felt like ... the atmosphere around the city, around the building, it still felt like we were way out of the playoffs," he said. "We're not going to be a first-place team, but I believe we can be a playoff team, and who knows when you get in?"

Brunette recognizes the team will make some decisions in another month or six weeks based on its playoff potential.

"I feel good," he said. "I can help somebody, and hopefully it's here."

Briefly: The Wild called up forward Cody Almond from the Houston Aeros of the American Hockey League on Monday.

Almond, 21, has played in four games with the Wild this season and seven last season. He has 11 goals and 12 assists for 23 points in 43 games with the Aeros.

To see more of the Pioneer Press, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.twincities.com .

Copyright (c) 2011, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.