The daily digest of Twin Cities culture | Secrets of the City

Marian Gaborik skated across the blue line and unloaded a monstrous snap shot that nearly decapitated the goalie. The shot missed the net by mere inches, slammed into the plexi glass, and pierced the frozen air like a rifle shot. With the Minnesota Wild training camp opening at the end of the month, Gaborik's arsenal was already locked and loaded for attack.

Too bad Gaborik might not even be a Wild player in a month. The Minnesota Wild are currently in dire straits trying to sign the dynamic forward to a multiple year contract extension. They've offered him $8.5 million a year and he still hasn't signed. Since Gaborik is in the last year of his current contract and becomes a free agent after the season, the Wild have expressed a strong desire to have him signed to a long term deal before training camp opens. Gaborik's agent has expressed a desire to not negotiate with just one team (The Wild) and wait till the end of the season when he can negotiate with 30 teams (the rest of the NHL). While Gaborik fired off glorious snappers in a St. Louis Park ice rink, there was a strong feeling that it just might be the last time we see him as a member of the Minnesota hockey community. A dirty halo of money talk swarmed all around him like Pig Pen from the "Peanuts."

The whole "trade me or sign me" Gaborik debate has put a giant suck hole over the Twin Cities hockey scene. But nonetheless, the Minnesota boys of winter have forged ahead and are hard at work. That's right people, hockey is already back in town. The autumn pumpkins and hay bales may have just arrived in the Twin Cities, the Vikings have only played two games, and the Minnesota Twins are still fully engaged in a fall classic pennant chase. But if you listen closely, you'll hear vulcanized rubber pucks ringing off goal posts. Tucked away on a quiet side street in St. Louis Park, a cornucopia of professional hockey players are preparing for their long march through the NHL season. The group is a mix of Olympians, collegiate all Americans, career minor leaguers, NHL All Stars, and some of hockey's best young talent. Marian Gaborik was among the group of players that were recently in town to get their legs and lungs in shape before they have to endure the rigors of hockey boot camp for their respective pro teams.

The practices were a sweat drenched exorcism on the players' summer sins. Guided by a staff of stern looking dudes in Tampa Bay Lighting track suits, the players skated through rigorous drills that were aimed to rid the guys of all their lazy fishing trips, beer swilling, and skirt chasing. Besides Gaborik, the Minnesota Wild had Nick Schultz, Martin Skoula, Derek Boogaard, James Sheppard, Nicklaus Backstrom, and Pierre Marc-Bouchard in attendance. A dejected Mark Parrish was there trying to salvage not only his career but his ego as well. A native son who played high school hockey at Bloomington Jefferson and college at St. Cloud State, Parrish was cut loose by his hometown Wild this summer. Last year, Parrish found himself so deep into Wild coach Jacques Lemaire's doghouse he was actually underneath it. During the two-on-ones at the practice, Parrish skated as if he was being chased by hounds.

A who's who of University of Minnesota Gopher hockey players were there as well. Paul Martin (New Jersey Devils) played defense with Keith Ballard (Florida Panthers), while Gino Guyer, Barry Tallackson (NJ Devils), Stu Bickel, Eric Rasmussen (NJ Devils), Wyatt Smith (Tampa Bay Lighting), and Ben Clymer all played forward. Minnesota pride on ice was back in town.

The only way to get in to hockey shape is by playing hockey. Unlike other sports where athletes can get their off season cardio work on any old treadmill, hockey players need to get their cardio exercise in the frigid air of a dank ice rink. Their lungs need to harden off and they need to get a little frost on the tongue. There was a strict back-to-basics hockey conditioning routine going on. The players went through a series of grueling and highly unglamorous skating exercises. In fact, the elite players on the Wild roster (Gaborik, Schultz, Bouchard, and Sheppard) performed the very same "skate the circles" drill that little kids do all over the country.

As sports fans, we only get to see the polished product. The speed of the game and neon arena glitz tend to give the game a nice rosy sheen. During the regular season, we watch in amazement how Bouchard will snipe a power play goal. The fog horn will bellow throughout the Xcel Energy Center and we all stand up in our euphoria and clap our hands to that banging rock anthem that follows every Wild goal. When Derek Boogaard smacks the shit out of some poor dude, the fans roar their approval like the crowd at a gladiator battle in the ancient Roman Coliseum. But out from under the white hot glare of the stadium lights, we rarely see the toil and grind these players go through. In bitterly cold and lonely ice rinks-just like the one in St. Louis Park-players earn their playing time. It is the place where a hundred snappers are performed so that the third period power play can be so deadly. This is where the cardio is built up so a player like Boogaard can make it through another punishing tussle.

The whistles shrieked through the icy arena and the players skated their guts out. Whistle. Skate. Whistle. Skate. The much maligned Wild defenseman Martin Skoula kept pushing and pushing down the ice. James Sheppard, the Wild's baby face second year player, was gasping for breath after leading a string of players in a piggy back skating line. After a solid hour of skating, all the players wheezed for air on the goal lines.

As I walked out of the arena, though, the Marian Gaborik dust cloud was still lingering in the Minneapolis air like L.A. smog. Will he follow the likes of Johan Santana, Torii Hunter, and Kevin Garnett and become yet another Twin Cities franchise cornerstone to hijack his way out of town? Who knows? But down at the far end of the practice arena, Derek Boogaard was already preparing for Gaborik's departure. Boogaard, the mammoth Wild enforcer, slipped on a white Wild jersey with Gaborik #10 on the back and started skating down the ice. Although no one in his right mind would ever mistake the dainty Gaborik for the cinderblock faced Boogaard, it was definitely a start.