The moment finally arrived. Although he returned the other night in the Wild’s win against the Colorado Avalanche, Derek Boogaard returned to his pugilistic ways last night in Minnesota’s tilt against the surging San Jose Sharks. Although the Wild lost to the Sharks 4-3 in the shootout after Marian Gaborik tied it up with only 28 seconds left and defensemen Kurtis Foster suffered a broken leg when he violently crashed into the boards; it was nevertheless nice to see Boogaard back.

 In only his 27th game in an injury-plagued season, Boogey was hungry and last night, and Jody Shelley just happened to be the goon de jour.

Let’s get right to the fisticuffs.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIDoOEbFEME]

I would say it was a pretty convincing ass-whooping on Boogaard’s behalf, but the dimwits who actually vote on the outcomes of brawls over on hockeyfights.com have given Boogaard only 90.3% of the vote while the remaining 9.7% saw it as a draw. I don’t know what fight they were watching. I especially enjoy how Boogey keeps peppering him with left jabs while clutching Shelley’s jersey with the same hand.

There was one unfortunate aspect of last night’s game for Derek Boogaard. He failed to notch a goal or an assist so his points total for the season remains…zero.

Call me an old die-hard if you want, but I kind of like it that way.