Author: David Shama

Wild goalie Josh Harding is raising awareness about breast cancer and helping to generate money for research.  Tonight from 6 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. he and teammate Derek Boogaard will be at Xcel Energy Center to sign autographs for fans attending the Minnesota Swarm-Toronto Rock lacrosse game.

A $5 donation to “Fund the Fight” is requested from each autograph seeker and because room in the autograph line is limited it’s suggested that fans arrive by 6 p.m.  Fans can also purchase a special “Fund the Fight” $10 ticketto the game. 

Harding’s sister Stephanie, 26, from Regina, Saskatchewan, was diagnosed with breast cancer about three months ago.  There had been no cancer in the Harding family and the diagnosis startled Josh.  “Growing up as a kid I never thought about it,” Josh said during a recent interview.  “Now I am starting to learn a little more about breast cancer. …” 

To help generate funds for breast cancer research Harding has established a Web site, www.fundthefight.com. At Wild games he’s wearing a custom made mask featuring pink ribbons and the words “Fund the Fight, Find a Cure.”  He will auction off his mask on the Web at season’s end.  Other hockey memorabilia is available now for auction. 

“She will get through this,” Harding said. “She has a lot of support from everybody else.  Just hopefully they caught it (the cancer) soon enough and they can get rid of it.” 

Harding, 22, is in his rookie season with the Wild and has been a backup.  He has a 2-0-1 record, with a 0.66 GAA and a .978 save percentage. 

He was a second round draft choice of the Wild in 2002.

The Twins season opening game at the Metrodome on April 2 could be sold out before week’s end.  Patrick Klinger, vice president of marketing, said 45,464 tickets (48,000 capacity) had been sold earlier this weekend.  A year ago at this time the Twins had sold 39,995 tickets for the opener. 

The new Minneapolis ballpark and the Twins 2006 Central Division championship is creating more ticket interest, according to Klinger.  He said about 8,400 season tickets were sold last year but 2007 season sales have past 9,000 and the Twins are targeting a final total of over 10,000. 

Herb Carneal, who has been broadcasting Twins games since 1962 and has health problems including diabetes, is expected to do play-by-play on KSTP Radio for a few innings of the Twins season opener on April 2. 

The Wild’s Marian Gaborik is a passionate race car fan.  He has a race car simulator in his Minneapolis home and spends hours with it.  The simulator is custom made and he bought it last September.  Although he wouldn’t say how much the simulator cost, he told Sports Headliners the price was five figures.“It’s an expensive toy but I like it,” he said. 

Minnesota will be making its nation-leading 31st appearance in the NCAA hockey tournament when the Gophers play Air Force tomorrow. The Golden Gophers have won five NCAA titles (1974-76-79-2002-03) and have advanced to the semi-finals 19 times. Minnesota is 49-31 all-time in the NCAA’s and has qualified for seven consecutive tournaments. 

Basketball booster Ken Lien reports that Crystal Clear Sports is covering all the class A, AA, AAA and AAAA semi-final and championship boys’ state tournament games.  www.crystalclearsports.net

Joel Maturi told Sports Headliners there will be an emphasis on hiring a basketball coach who can make Minnesota a winning team in the Big Ten Conference but other criteria will be part of the selection process, too. 

During a recent interview the Gopher athletic director said he is looking for a coach “who hopefully would want” to end his career at Minnesota.  Maturi knows Big Ten jobs are prestigious and he’s searching for a coach who isn’t using Minnesota as a career building experience to target another college or NBA position. 

Maturi said the basketball program’s academic performance needs improving.  He’s looking for a coach who provides leadership that translates into players graduating.  He isn’t interested in a coach who “will cut corners” academically to win games. 

The selection criteria, too, will include a coach who demonstrates an understanding of this market, whether it’s our climate challenges or the abundance of sports and entertainment options that challenge Gopher basketball for attention. 

Maturi is looking for “somebody that likes kids.”  He clarified that some coaches like kids more than others and he clearly is searching for a coach who can enjoy and invest in young people, as challenging as they can be. 

Then Maturi talked about winning, describing it as “probably most important” among the criteria.  “We believe Minnesota’s rightful place in basketball should be competing for championships, and we haven’t done that in a number of years,” he said.  “We need to find the fit of the person who will do that.  In doing that… re-energize the Barn (Williams Arena). …Get people to come back and that will make it if not the greatest, certainly one of the greatest places to watch college basketball that there is in the country.” 

Maturi, of course, isn’t saying who is on his short list of candidates but here’s who I think might be:  Flip Saunders of the Detroit Pistons, Tony Bennett of Washington State, Kevin Lowery of Southern Illinois, Sean Miller of Xavier, Lon Kruger of UNLV, Gregg Marshall of Winthrop, Jeff Bzdelik of Air Force, Reggie Theus of New Mexico State, Tom Crean of Marquette, Todd Lickliter of Butler, Kevin Stallings of Vanderbilt and Derek Wittenberg of Fordham. 

Here’s who may not be on the list but perhaps should be:  Eric Musselman of the Sacramento Kings, ex-Stanford coach Mike Montgomery, and former Timberwolves coach Dwane Casey.  Footnotes: Musselman’s dad, Bill, vaulted the Gophers into big time basketball in the 1970s and maybe young Eric has had enough of the NBA (see Ron Artest bio).  Montgomery was a wonder winning championships at academically oriented Stanford. Casey was once a highly regarded assistant coach at Kentucky and was 20-20 when fired in January by the Timberwolves. 

Here’s who is on the no chance list: most of the basketball world including Bobby Knight, and anyone from the state including Gopher interim Jim Molinari and Winona State’s national championship coach Mike Leaf. 

Final note: you can bet your mortgage there was no deal already in place last fall with Saunders when Gopher coach Dan Monson left the program. 

Final, final note:  the guess here is the new coach will be Miller or Lowery.