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Wild's Cooke on visiting Avalanche: 'I always have my head on a swivel... I hit guys and I expect to be hit'

Bruce Hemmelgarn / USA TODAY Sports

The Minnesota Wild took down the Colorado Avalanche and their home opener 5-0. Now they've traveled to Denver to play the Avalanche in their building for their home opener.

The tension between Wild forward Matt Cooke and the Avalanche stems from a hit Cooke laid on defenseman Tyson Barrie in their first-round playoff series last season.

Denver Post columnist Mike Kiszla wrote after the incident, "Free advice to Cooke: Keep your head on a swivel. The first shot of the game might be a fist directed at a lowdown, dirty Wild man certain to be greeted in Denver by a chorus of boos."

Cooke is used to playing over boos, so he's not worried about fans letting their feelings out when he steps on the ice Saturday night. He wanted to repond to Kiszla's comment, though.

"I always have my head on a swivel. That’s the way I play the game. I hit guys and I expect to be hit. That’s part of the game and what I expect," he told Michael Russo of the Star Tribune.

He's not going to change anything going into the second game of the season.

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