The Wild expect crowds of over 12,000 at Xcel Energy Center on both Friday and Saturday for the NHL Entry Draft. The Saturday attendance could be the largest of the weekend, partially because more players with Minnesota ties will be selected than on Friday. Wild season ticket holders have been given priority with draft day tickets.
The entry draft hasn’t been held in Minnesota since 1989 when the North Stars hosted at Met Center. The North Stars’ first pick was Rochester’s Doug Zmolek.
Tickets are $20 for the Wild Fan Fest at St. Paul’s downtown Crowne Plaza on Friday from noon to 5 p.m. and can be purchased on wild.com. Celebrities expected to participate include Gary Bettman, Scotty Bowman, Brad Brown, Jack Carlson, Ryan Carter, Tom Chorske, Cal Clutterbuck, Chris Dahlquist, Karyn Bye-Dietz, Colton Gillies, Mikael Granlund, John Harrington, Darby Hendrickson, Phil Housley, Willard Ikola, Dave Jensen, Antti Laaksonen, Reed Larson, Craig Leipold, Gigi Marvin, Brad Maxwell, Rob McClanahan, Lou Nanne, Bob Paradise, J.P. Parise, Mark Parrish, Steve Payne, Shjon Podein, Jenny Potter, Tom Reid, Gordie Roberts,Marco Scandella, Jared Spurgeon, Brad Staubitz, Clayton Stoner, Wes Walz, Doug Woog, Tim Young and Tom Younghans.
Ricky Rubio’s parents are expected to live with the 20-year-old during the coming season. Rubio said he’s excited about house hunting in Minneapolis.
Look for Tubby Smith’s Gophers basketball team to open with home exhibition games against Bemidji State on November 1 and Augustana November 7, followed by the regular season opener versus Bucknell at Williams Arena on November 11. The schedule hasn’t been officially announced yet.
The Twins rank No. 39 among MLB, NBA, NHL and NFL teams in the annual ESPN The Magazine Ultimate Standings measuring how much franchises “give back” to the fans. The Wild rank No. 92, the Vikings No. 106 and the Wolves 118 of 122 franchises.
The Twins, who continue Interleague play this week against San Francisco and Milwaukee after sweeping San Diego last week, are among baseball’s winningest franchises ever in games between the American and National Leagues. The Twins’ record is 144-109.
The 38th annual Minnesota High School All-Star Football Game will be played on Saturday starting at 7 p.m. in TCF Bank Stadium. For the first time since 1979 teams will have North and South designations, not Metro and Outstate. Players from the metro and outstate areas will be on both teams. The game is one of the successful projects of the Minnesota Football Coaches Association.
Indicative of the trend toward winning warm weather baseball programs, Athlon Sports didn’t include a single Big Ten player on its 2011 college All-America team.