Author: David Shama

The Gopher hockey team (see above) plays RPI in the Ice Breaker Invitational starting at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, October 12.  Also in the tournament and playing earlier that night are Michigan and Boston College.  Tickets for the two-day tourney are available at the Xcel Energy Center Box Office, all Ticketmaster locations, charge by phone at (651) 989-5151 or online at www.ticketmaster.com.

Although he is an older player at almost 35, the Vikings were willing to sign defensive tackle Pat Williams to a three year contract extension because of both his ability and durability.  He has started 33 consecutive games for the team since coming here from Buffalo.  After last season he and sidekick defensive tackle Kevin Williams both played in the Pro Bowl.  In Vikings history the only pair of defensive tackles to earn that honor together were Alan Page and Gary Larsen (1969 and 1970).

Gopher kicker Jason Giannini missed three field goals in Saturday’s win over Miami of Ohio.  A junior with game experience, Giannini is expected to perform better and coach Tim Brewster said on WCCO radio yesterday he’s considering a change in kickers.

The Gophers started their 2007 schedule as the only team in the country to have both rushed and passed for over 2,000 yards in each of the past eight seasons (1999-2006). During that period the Gophers averaged 227.8 yards rushing and 230.8 yards passing per game.  Minnesota has rushed for 246 and 306 yards and passed for 188 and 271 yards in its first two games, putting the Gophers on pace to extend the streak to nine seasons.

Minneapolis area native David Gilreath, who started his high school career at Washburn and finished at Armstrong, is returning kickoffs for Wisconsin as a true freshman. He ran one kickoff back for 37 yards last Saturday against UNLV.

Defenseman John Scott, 6-8, 247, and left wing Derek Boogaard, 6-7, 254, are the two biggest players on the Minnesota Wild training camp roster. Right wing Pierre-Marc Bouchard, 5-10, 162, is the smallest.  The Wild open training camp on Friday.

The Wild will scrimmage on Sunday, September 16 at the White Bear Lake Sports Center (1328 Highway 96) starting at 11 a.m.  Dominic Nardini, a Bantam from White Bear Lake, was the winner of last season’s Hockey Day Minnesota “How I Show My Sportsmanship” essay contest and won the right to have the sports center host a Wild preseason scrimmage this season.  There is no admission charge for the scrimmage and it’s open to the public.

Rob Leer’s company, Leer Communication & Consultants, is the media relations liaison for the Minnesota Ballpark Authority that is overseeing the construction and management of the new baseball stadium.  Leer is a former sports and investigative reporter for KSTP TV.

Tennis fans across the country get excited watching the U.S. Open but the big stars seldom play in cities like Minneapolis because they aren’t interested in exhibitions or they want appearance fees that are too much for promoters to accept.  Star players could help tennis by coming to communities like ours.

Like everyone else in the business, Sports Headliners doesn’t guarantee its predictions. However, I am willing to offer up a guess on the Vikings’ 2007 season record.  So go ahead and read the prediction, with my permission to laugh, cry or kick your foot through the monitor.  I even agree to be reminded in December about the prediction.

It will be a small gathering if you pull together a group adamant that the Vikings are headed for a championship season.  Advertise for a crowd who believes the results will be mediocre at best, lousy at worst, and you should have no problem filling the Metrodome.

The elusive among us prefer to forecast a range of wins and losses.  Safe ground looks like 6-10 to 10-6 for the Vikings.  People who think like this wear plain clothes, invest all their money in treasury bonds and never buy an American car.

I drive a Chrysler and perhaps that doesn’t make me a risk taker but I am willing to be more specific than predicting a range of wins and losses.  I think the Vikings will finish close to .500.  Let’s go with an 8-8 record.

Don’t hold me to the prediction if Adrian Peterson is injured and misses a few games. The rookie running back is that important to the season’s results.  Peterson can become one of the NFL’s best running backs and he has three potentially elite linemen working for him, Steve Hutchinson, Matt Birk and BryantMcKinnie.  Those four players figure to make or break an offense that is quarterback and receiver challenged.

Peterson and friends must be just good enough point producers to complement a good defense that by season’s end might be great.  Defensive tackles Kevin Williams and Pat Williams, safety Darren Sharper and cornerback Antoine Winfield rate with the best players at their positions in the NFL.  Peter King of Sports Illustrated lists Kevin Williams as the top defensive tackle and 14^th best player in the NFL.  Sporting News assigns players a 1-5 ranking and gives fives to Williams and Hutchinson.

Last season the defense held opponents to 20 points or less in nine games.  The Vikings were No. 1 in rushing defense and No. 8 in overall league defense.  What’s needed to make the next step is better pass rushing, particularly from the defensive ends. Those ends now are Ray Edwards and Kenechi Udeze but Erasmus James, recovering from a knee injury, may become a starter later in the season.  During the pre-season the Vikings looked formidable defensively and playmakers included improving linebackers Chad Greenway and E.J. Henderson.

The 16 game schedule includes at least four teams who are clear choices to be better than the Vikings.  Playing Chicago twice and single meetings with Dallas, Philadelphia, San Diego and Denver will allow the Vikings to make comparisons between themselves and the NFL’s better teams.  A challenging schedule is not a prediction.  It’s a fact.

Gopher football coach Tim Brewster told Sports Headliners earlier this week he wants Adam Weber to carry the ball in future games fewer times than he did in last week’s season opening loss to Bowling Green.  Weber, a redshirt freshman playing in his first game, had 18 rushing attempts and gained 72 yards.  Only running back Amir Pinnix, who rushed 28 times for 168 yards, ran more than Weber for the Gophers.

The Gophers new spread offense produced 434 total yards, 246 rushing and 188 passing. “We felt very good about what the spread gave us the other night,” Brewster said.  “Obviously we don’t want our quarterback to run it 18 times each game.  We would like for him to run it anywhere from six to 10 times a game. …

“We had tremendous rushing numbers. We averaged over five yards a carry.  I was really pleased…with the offensive production.  We were at 11 out of 18 on third downs (conversions).”

The spread is a quarterback focused offense with a team dependent on its QB for running, passing and decision making.  The opportunity to be a runner carries with it the risk of injury.  Brewster said he’s prepared to play two quarterbacks this season, perhaps three.  “Injuries happen, particularly if your quarterback is running the option and doing some things that way,” Brewster said.  “That doesn’t scare us. …”

Redshirt junior Tony Mortensen, who has one game start in two seasons as a Gopher, is Weber’s replacement.  Third on the list is Brewster’s son, Clint, who may or may not be redshirted depending on circumstances.  Clint has been told to prepare every day as if he will play.  “He can never have the mindset that’s he’s going to be redshirted.” Brewster said.

Weber completed 15 of 31 passes for 188 yards and two touchdowns last Saturday.  After a shaky first half, Weber settled down and showed Brewster that despite the inexperience he was up to the assignment of quarterbacking the complex spread system.  Any doubts Brewster had were eliminated.  “I was really pleased with his composure,” Brewster said. “His ability to communicate what he saw on the field, what was happening.  He had a really nice calmness about him. …”