Author: David Shama

The Gopher spring game is Friday, April 25, starting at 7 p.m. in the Metrodome.  Admission is free and fans will evaluate the players, but a more realistic view of the Gophers will be had in August when the team starts practice with all of its new freshmen and junior college transfers who made Minnesota’s 2008 recruiting class ranked among the 20 best in the nation.  A total of 22 players from the class reportedly have 40 yard dash times of 4.6 or better, including 13 at 4.5 or less.  The three fastest are defensive back Traye Simmons, and safeties Keanon Cooper and Simoni Lawrence, all at about .445.

Ugh.  It’s difficult to imagine a more unappealing Gopher football schedule to fans than the one coming up.  The Gophers prepare(?) for the Big Ten Conference schedule (opening at Ohio State) with non-league home games against Northern Illinois, Montana State and Florida Atlantic, plus a visit to Bowling Green.  Two of the four Big Ten home games are against the conference’s least appealing schools, Indiana and Northwestern.  Thanks to the football gods for November home dates with Michigan and Iowa.

Wild goalie Josh Harding told Sports Headliners his sister, Stephanie, is now cancer free.  It was about a year ago that Harding was promoting awareness of breast cancer after his sister was diagnosed with the disease.

Harding, who has only played in three games since March 6, said he stays ready in team practices.  Regular goalie Niklas Backstrom has been outstanding in the Wild’s first two playoff games against Colorado.

The regular season and playoff support of the Wild fans at Xcel Energy Center impresses the players.  Forward Aaron Voros said on Saturday, “we have the best fans in the league, bar none. …”

Forward Chris Simon, who joined the team in February, said the fans give him additional energy.  “It does give you a jolt,” he said.  What about on the road when that support is missing?  Simon, known as an NHL bad guy, said he “feeds” off the boos for energy.

Former Timberwolf Christian Laettner, a college superstar at Duke, was quoted in a recent issue of Sports Illustrated about whether fans from rival North Carolina or Kentucky, who he beat with a memorable last minute shot, dislike him more.  “I’ve driven through Kentucky a few times, and boy, I’m really scared the whole time I’m on the road.  I do not stop anywhere in Kentucky. I’ll urinate in a plastic bottle.”

Tim Murray of Murray’s Restaurant travels with buddies each summer to major league baseball stadiums and in August will make stadium stops in Philadelphia, New York and Washington D.C.  It will be a last chance to see Yankee Stadium in New York.  Next year his plans include the new Yankee Stadium and also the New York Mets’ stadium, also opening in 2009.

Former Edina High School tennis star Whitney Taney was named the Big Ten Conference Women’s Tennis Athlete of the Week last week, according to the league’s Web site, www.bigten.org.  The Michigan freshman was 4-0 as nationally ranked Michigan extended its winning streak to 10 matches.

Predicting it will be a “whale of a series,” an NHL insider told Sports Headliners on Monday that the Minnesota Wild-Colorado Avalanche seven game playoff could be decided by Peter Forsberg.  The source, who requested his name not be used, said a healthy Forsberg “tips” the series toward Colorado. “If Colorado wins it will be because Forsberg has a great series,” he said.

Forsberg, 34, has a history of injuries and although he’s expected to play in tonight’s opening game at Xcel Energy Center, that doesn’t guarantee he will be healthy for the entire series.  “He makes everyone around him better,” the source said.

Describing him as “such a force,” the insider said Forsberg combines with Joe Sakic, 38, to give Colorado a big time offense.  Forsberg was a free agent for most of the 2007-08 season and played just 17 games with the Avs.  He had 10 assists in his last four games of the season.  Because of hernia surgery, Sakic was on the injured reserve list much of the season, playing in 44 games with 13 goals, 27 assists and 40 points.

The NHL source, a veteran evaluator of talent, said Colorado “may have a little more firepower” than the Wild.  Asked about a Minnesota weakness, he said the Wild don’t have “as much scoring depth as some teams.”

He also said Marian Gaborik ranks with the top five or 10 offensive players in the NHL and praised him for scoring “big goals.”  He wonders, though, who will score for the Wild if Gaborik, Pavol Demitra and Brian Rolston don’t provide the offense.

The source described the Wild, who won its first Northwest Division title this season, as the best team in franchise history.  In addition to veterans like Gaborik, Demitra and Rolston, he likes this Wild team, too, because of improved young players Brent Burns, Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Mikko Koivu.  The team has become physical and “nasty” with enforcers including Chris Simon, according to the source.

Then, too, the Wild have his respect because of goalie Niklas Backstrom.  He said Backstrom at times during the 2006-07 season played like the “best goalie” in the NHL and now “looks like himself again.”

The NHL insider likes Colorado’s goalie, Jose Theodore, too.  His stats include a 2.44 goals against average and a .910 save percentage.  Backstrom’s numbers: 2.31 and .920.

In the conservative, defensive style of the playoffs the outcome often is decided by goaltending.  The source expects that style to dominate in the Wild-Avs series, partly because Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire is an advocate of controlled play.

Although the Wild will have home ice advantage in the series against the Avs who finished second in the Northwest Division, the scout doesn’t think it’s “crucial” that Minnesota win all its games at Xcel Energy Center.  He said home ice usually isn’t that important in the NHL.  An exception, though, would be the Wild playing at Calgary where they are 3-15-4 in franchise history. “That’s going to haunt you,” the source said.

Jim Lehman knows how to put a smile on Larry Mize’s face.  All he needs to do is  mention Mize’s 1987 Masters Tournament championship.

Lehman is a vice president with the SFX Golf office in suburban Minneapolis and handles business affairs for Mize.  He does the same for his brother Tom Lehman and along with SFX’s Alissa Herron also works with Tim Herron.  Both Tom and Tim, of course, are Minnesota natives and rank with the state’s best golfers ever.  Alissa is Tim’s sister.

Jim said on Tuesday he will wait until later this week to decide whether to travel to his 14^th consecutive Masters.  Mize is his only client in the tournament this weekend because Tom and Herron didn’t qualify.  He will wait to see how Mize is playing before making a decision.

Mize, a 49-year-old Augusta native, made a famous chip shot at the 1987 Masters to beat Greg Norman, a pre-tournament favorite to win.  It was a signature shot and the biggest win of Mize’s career.  The championship meant an automatic invitation every year to return to Augusta.  “For Larry being a kid that grew up in Augusta, it’s a huge thrill for him to go back and play in his home town as a past champion,” Jim said.

Tom Lehman and Herron don’t have a past championship to guarantee an invite to the Masters.  What they can look forward to is the Verizon Heritage tournament next week in Hilton Head, South Carolina.

Lehman, 49, tied for second in the 1994 Masters and has played in several Masters over the years.  Herron, 38, has played in fewer Masters but was among the top money earners in the 2005 tournament.

There are three primary criteria for Masters qualifying, according to Jim Lehman.  One is to finish among the top 30 money winners on the previous year’s tour.  Another is to be in the top 50 of the world rankings leading up to Augusta.  The third is to have a PGA tournament win since the previous year’s Masters.