The Twins’ starting pitchers in the White Sox series are expected to be Francisco Liriano (13-7), Brian Duensing (8-2) and Carl Pavano (16-11). Their records this season against the White Sox are: 2-0, 2-0 and 2-1.
The Gophers 41-38 loss to Football Championship Subdivision South Dakota on Saturday was among the most difficult for the program in a long time. Since 2006 the Gophers are 1-1 against FCS division North Dakota State, 1-0 against South Dakota State and 0-1 versus South Dakota. That’s a 2-2 record against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams.
Gophers coach Tim Brewster told Sports Headliners that suspended players Kyle Theret and Dom Alford will return for the USC game on Saturday. Whether they start the game is to be determined.
Woodbury’s Lamonte Edwards was considered a potential breakthrough freshman this summer for the Gophers but the running back had an ankle injury that slowed his development and Brewster told Sports Headliners “you would love to be able to redshirt Lamonte.”
The Wild expect to renew about 85 percent of season tickets, a lower percentage than in the past, according to team executive Billy Robertson. Tickets remain for each home game including the home opener on October 14 against Edmonton.
The Wild have the longest current consecutive streak of 409 home sellouts in the NHL but Robertson said if that ends “we will start another.” The team has been aggressively promoting partial season ticket packages, and single game seats went on sale last Saturday. A Coon Rapids man, Allen Dick, pitched a tent outside Xcel Energy Center last Wednesday to be first in line to buy tickets.
The Wild’s first two games of the regular season will be on October 7 and 8 in Finland against Carolina. Both games will be televised starting at 11 a.m. Minnesota time on Versus.
Mikko Koivu is from Finland but he told Sports Headliners his Finnish and Wild teammate Niklas Backstrom is responsible for pointing the team toward the best restaurants when in Helsinki. Koivu is the Wild’s first and only full time captain.
Forward Matt Cullen signed a three-year contract in July to play with the Wild. A college player at St. Cloud State and Moorhead native, Cullen said he’s being recognized a lot more these days than earlier in his career with stops in several other NHL cities. “Nobody knew I played in the NHL until I signed with Minnesota,” he said.
The Big Ten Network has named former Gopher Neal Broten as Big Ten Icon No. 31. The Big Ten Icons program is counting down the top 50 student-athletes in Big Ten history on www.BigTenIcons.com based on their collegiate playing careers.