Author: David Shama

David Shama is a former sports editor and columnist with local publications. His writing and reporting experiences include covering the Minnesota Vikings, Minnesota Twins, Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Gophers. Shama’s career experiences also include sports marketing. He is the former Marketing Director of the Minnesota North Stars of the NHL. He is also the former Marketing Director of the United States Tennis Association’s Northern Section. A native of Minneapolis, Shama has been part of the community his entire life. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota where he majored in journalism. He also has a Master’s degree in education from the University of St. Thomas. He was a member of the Governor’s NBA’s Task Force to help create interest in bringing pro basketball to town in the 1980s.

Nanne Pumped to See Wild Rookie

Posted on January 6, 2021January 6, 2021 by David Shama

The Wild started training camp this week and the team opens its NHL season next week, debuting prize rookie Kirill Kaprizov. Minnesota hockey legend Lou Nanne, 79, is excited to watch the native of Novokuznetsk, Russia who is known for his offensive efficiency including game-winning goals.

“I can’t wait to see him,” Nanne told Sports Headliners. “I am like everybody else, wildly anticipating what he can do. I enjoyed watching him in the World Juniors…but now he’s in the NHL and we can see what he can do.”

What does the former Gopher, North Star defenseman and team president like about the 5-9, 195-pound forward? “Everything. The way he skates. The presence he’s got on the ice. The way he can shoot the puck. The way he can score goals. Stability on his skates—he’s built like a little fire truck…and he’s got magnificent hands.”

It appears based on past performance the Wild will struggle with goal scoring and Nanne emphasizes the importance of goaltending if Minnesota is to become a playoff team in 2021. “You don’t make the playoffs without goaltending if you’re not going to score a lot of goals, and I don’t see the Wild being a great goal scoring team. They’ll score enough to win (sometimes) but they don’t have an excess of scoring.

“They should be improved with Kaprizov coming because he can score goals, and (Kevin) Fiala coming into his own. So those two (Fiala led the team in points last season) give you some hope for a consistent scoring team. But they have to play tight defensively and they definitely have to have good goaltending.”

A playoff prediction for Minnesota? “Well, they’re going to have to battle to make a playoff position because they’re in a division where you’ve got Colorado, Vegas and St. Louis which are three teams that should be in the playoffs,” Nanne said.

Nanne, who thinks the Stanley Cup finalists could be Colorado and Tampa Bay, is one of six players on the 1960s WCHA All-Decade team announced Monday. The former Gopher All-American defenseman was named one of the WCHA’s 50 greatest players in 2002.

Nanne is looking forward to his 57th year of providing TV commentary for the boys state hockey tournament. Speculation is the tournament could be played in April, the latest dates in memory. It’s unknown, too, whether the boys basketball tournament will still follow the hockey tourney.

Worth Noting

It will be an interesting trio of games just ahead for Gopher center Liam Robbins who is emerging as one of college basketball’s best at his position. Tonight Minnesota plays Michigan, with freshman center standout Hunter Dickinson, and again on January 16. In between those dates (Sunday) is Iowa center Luka Garza, the favorite for college player of the year honors.

When the Gophers upset Iowa last month in a 102-95 home overtime win, Garza had the better stats with 32 points and 17 rebounds but Minnesota’s junior center, who transferred from Drake last year, was also effective with totals of 18 and five. Minnesota, 10-2, and Michigan, 9-0, play for the first time this season in Ann Arbor and the Wolverines are led in scoring by Dickinson at 16.9 points per game.

Robbins, who needs to avoid early foul trouble in his upcoming tests, is averaging 14.2 points per game and coming on strong as of late. His last three games include the first double-double of his Gopher career, scoring 27 points and grabbing 14 rebounds in Minnesota’s win over Ohio State Sunday.

Robbins’ value to the Gophers includes defense where the presence of the 7-foot Iowa native is a deterrent to potential scorers. He leads the Big Ten in blocked shots averaging 2.8 per game.

Former Gophers basketball public address announcer Dick Jonckowski has been diagnosed with stage 3 non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. The popular emcee and comic has been told the cancer is “not very aggressive.” He will have a series of eight rounds of chemo treatments. Several years ago he beat stage 4 non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

Ex-Gopher guard Andre Hollins is doing graduate work at the Carlson School of Management and serving as a graduate manager on the men’s basketball team.

The St. Thomas football program, headed to Division I status next fall, is looking for three nonconference games to balance out its Pioneer Football League schedule.

It’s not known whether WCCO Radio, the longtime broadcast home of Tommies football, will be airing games next fall.

Historic numbers: The Gopher hockey program, celebrating 100 seasons, boasts a 10-0 team for the first time in more than 80 years.

The CBSsports.com 2021 NFL Mock Draft out Tuesday has the Vikings using the No. 14 pick in the first round to select edge rusher Gregory Rousseau from the University of Miami. Marshall, Minnesota native Trey Lance, the quarterback from NDSU, is predicted to go at No. 8 to the Panthers. Gophers wide receiver Rashod Bateman isn’t included among the 32 mock picks in the first round.

If Gary Kubiak decides to leave the Vikings as offensive coordinator, that’s one fewer father-son connection on the team. Clint Kubiak is quarterbacks coach, while head coach Mike Zimmer’s son Adam Zimmer is co-defensive coordinator with Andre Patterson, whose son AC Patterson is an offensive quality control coach.

Former Vikings head coach Jerry Burns, who has spent part of his retirement years in Jamaica, will be 94 January 27.

It was 60 years ago last week that the Golden Gophers football team played in its first Rose Bowl, losing 17-7 to Washington. The Gophers returned to the Rose Bowl in January of 1962 and defeated UCLA, 21-3.

Anonymous basketball authority talking about the Timberwolves who are 2-5 and have lost five consecutive mostly one-sided games: “They’re hard to watch.”

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Look for Vikings GM, Coach News Soon

Posted on January 4, 2021January 4, 2021 by David Shama

What’s the future for Vikings general manager Rick Spielman and head coach Mike Zimmer?

A source outside the organization told Sports Headliners that the franchise ownership will meet with both Spielman and Zimmer tomorrow (Tuesday). The source does not know what direction that meeting will take, including the possibility things remain status quo.

Another source close to the organization said the Wilf ownership is frustrated with the on-field results versus financial investment. The Vikings haven’t qualified for the NFL playoffs in two of the last three years—yet Minnesota has one of the league’s higher payrolls. Ownership has also invested extensively in stadium and practice facilities.

The second source said the only thing owners Zygi Wilf and Mark Wilf are “concerned about is winning.” Although Spielman and Zimmer have worked for them since 2005 and 2014 respectively, the source said emotion including loyalty to the GM and head coach won’t drive a decision.

Both Spielman and Zimmer received contract extensions last year that are believed to give them each three more years of security. Owners expressed confidence in the two men by extending their contracts and indicated they will trust their leadership into the future. If the Wilfs wanted to make a change, though, buying out Zimmer and Spielman won’t be a deterrent, with the source saying the owners will “pay anything to win.”

The Wilfs are passionate football fans and Zygi has talked openly about winning a Super Bowl. Before buying the Vikings, he was a devoted follower of the New York Giants decades ago. Now at almost 71 years old, he has to decide if he is satisfied with the direction and leadership of his team.

The Wilfs and others in their ownership group are high level business people who make thoughtful but efficient decisions. It seems all but certain that by the end of the week Vikings fans will know whether it’s status quo or there is major change coming in the organization.

Worth Noting

John Schneider, the University of St. Thomas alum and GM of the Seahawks, might be headed elsewhere, according to an online story yesterday by the Seattle Times. Schneider has long been praised for his work in helping make the Seahawks a consistent NFL contender but he doesn’t have final say on personnel, with that authority going to head coach Pete Carroll. Reports are Schneider could fill the Lions’ GM vacancy.

Gophers fans are hoping P.J. Fleck rumors about going elsewhere don’t become an annual annoyance. Talk emerged recently that an NFL team has interest.

Richard Pitino’s Gopher basketball team probably played its best game of the season last night in defeating Ohio State at Williams Arena, 77-60. Minnesota, 10-2, plays its next two games on the road, at Michigan Wednesday and at Iowa Sunday. In road losses to Illinois and Wisconsin the Gophers have been out scored by 39 points.

The Golden Dunkers, the men’s basketball support club for the Gophers, has a campaign to secure more followers on social media like Twitter so that the organization can have a custom URL on YouTube.

Who is the best player on the Twins? MLB.com says it’s third baseman Josh Donaldson in a story today ranking the best on each AL and NL team. Donaldson, the story says, “tends to alternate healthy seasons with injury-plagued ones. It’s the healthy-season turn.”

The Twins rank No. 5 among all teams, per a listing by MLB.com on Saturday. Clubs ahead of Minnesota in the power rankings are the Dodgers, Padres, Yankees and Braves.

It could be that Twins DH extraordinaire Nelson Cruz is waiting to see if the NL will use the designated hitter in 2021. A source said a decision on the DH may come by mid-January, and that will impact the number of suitors to sign Cruz to a new contract. The Twins seem likely to be a finalist.

It’s interesting that Wild general manager Bill Guerin didn’t appoint either Zach Parise or Ryan Suter as the team’s new captain. Jared Spurgeon will have that title while Parise and Suter remain alternate captains.

College hockey prominence is back in Minnesota with four of the state’s five Division I teams ranked in any top-10 polls. The undefeated 9-0 Gophers are the nation’s best team, according to many voters.

Local sports journalists Eric Nelson and Wally Langfellow debut their daily sports talk radio show today on AM 1440-KYCR in the Twin Cities. “Ten Thousand Takes” will air Monday through Friday from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from noon to 1 p.m.

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Ex-U Coach Previews Gophers-Badgers

Posted on December 30, 2020December 31, 2020 by David Shama

The University of Minnesota basketball team, playing at home, has defeated No. 4 ranked Iowa and No. 17 Michigan State in the last several days, but the Gophers must prove they can win big games on the road starting Thursday afternoon in Madison against Wisconsin, according to Jim Dutcher.

The 9-1 Gophers have played once on the road this season, experiencing a beat down at Illinois, 92-65. Since then Minnesota has home wins against St. Louis in a nonconference game and the Big Ten Conference victories over Iowa and Michigan State. The Gophers’ surprising success has landed them at No. 21 in the latest AP ranking of the nation’s best teams.

Wisconsin, 8-2 and ranked No. 6 by the AP, lost to Maryland Monday night in Madison. Dutcher, who coached the Gophers to a Big Ten title in 1982, remains a close follower of college basketball, and is optimistic about a Minnesota win in Madison if his former team shows up defensively.

“At home your offense will carry you,” Dutcher told Sports Headliners. “On the road your defense has to carry you. Those three-pointers that you make at home don’t go down quite as easy on the road. Defense travels, offense doesn’t always travel, so I think just clamp down (Thursday). I don’t think Wisconsin is that hard to guard. Their big guys are more perimeter big guys than post up.”

Even with their undefeated record at home, the Gophers have experienced breakdowns defensively keeping opponents in games and certainly did against then No. 13 ranked Illinois. “Can they (the Gophers) bend their knees and stop somebody when they have to?” Dutcher asked. “Because a lot of conference games are going to come down to the last two minutes. Those are the games they didn’t win last year. Those are the games I think they can win this year.”

Minnesota, 8-12 in league games in 2019-2020, lost 71-69 to the Badgers in Madison last March when Wisconsin was on its way to a Big Ten championship. Earlier in the season, playing at Williams Arena, the Gophers defeated the Badgers 70-52, holding Wisconsin to under 30 percent field goal shooting. The Gophers made more than 40 percent of their field goals, including three-pointers.

The Badgers, as usual, are among the elite defensive teams in the country. They are giving up the fewest points per game among Big Ten teams at 60.6, while the Minnesota average is 73.9. Dutcher, though, offered a strategy for Thursday’s game:

“They (the Badgers) got beat inside by Maryland pretty soundly, and our center (Liam) Robbins is playing really good now so I think rather than start the offense at the three-point range, start the offense in the post. I just feel they (the Gophers) got a great chance to go and beat Wisconsin.”

Dutcher believes the Gophers are capable of being Big Ten title contenders but to do it they have to be better offensively in road games than they were at Illinois. Against the Illini, the Gophers made only 27.5 percent of their field goals including 25 percent on three pointers. That’s a different offense than Minnesota has shown at home scoring 90 points or more four times and topping 80 in seven games.

“They’re a great shooting team in Williams Arena,” Dutcher said. “They weren’t a great shooting team in Illinois. Hopefully they can get on somebody else’s floor and take their offense with them, but they’ve been impressive (this season).”

Minnesota’s nine victories are the most in the Big Ten. The Gophers, 2-1 in the Big Ten, have overtime wins against a good St. Louis team and highly ranked Iowa. In the Iowa game if a Hawkeye hadn’t missed two free throws in the closing minutes of regulation, Gopher junior point guard Marcus Carr wouldn’t have had the opportunity to send the game into overtime with a three-pointer with five seconds remaining. It was also Carr who made a three-pointer with 31 seconds left in the game to pull Minnesota within 81-78 of Iowa.

And it was Carr who made the winning basket in an early season 67-64 win over Loyola Marymount. Carr is averaging 24 points per game (third best in the Big Ten) and leading the league in assists per outing at 6.1. Dutcher believes the Canadian native, who had 20 points, seven rebounds and five assists in his last visit to Madison, could some day be remembered among Minnesota’s best guards in program history.

“He’s not one dimensional,” Dutcher said. “It’s not just the three; he can really penetrate and finish at the rim. So he’s definitely an all-conference player and maybe even more than that.”

Badgers point guard Brad Davison, the Maple Grove native, is likely to guard Carr and Dutcher acknowledges he is a capable defender. But the retired coach said Carr is difficult to handle and is complemented by senior forward Brandon Johnson’s outside shooting and the inside and outside threat of Robbins. “Minnesota gives you a lot of problems defensively,” Dutcher said.

The Gophers’ offense, averaging 84.3 points per game, would be even more effective if junior guard Gabe Kalscheur hadn’t been in a long shooting slump from three-point distance (.188 conversion percentage). Dutcher, though, offered at least a partial explanation. “He’s probably been their best defensive player. When you’re really concentrating, playing tough defense, sometimes it affects your offense. …”

Minnesota will need defensive help against the Badgers, including on the perimeter. Wisconsin’s key to winning the game is using its trademark assets of solid defense, minimal turnovers and hitting three-point shots. “…They gotta make some threes to beat Minnesota,” Dutcher said.

Maybe, though, it will be Carr and the Gophers who again find good fortune and win the game with a three-pointer. “He’s really hit some big shots, right when they needed them,” Dutcher said.

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