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Stadium Construction May Finish Early

Posted on March 11, 2016March 17, 2016 by David Shama

A notes-focused column on U.S. Bank Stadium, the Vikings, Gophers, Twins and more.

Sports Headliners has learned construction of U.S. Bank Stadium might be completed early. Mortenson Construction has been scheduled to finish the new Minneapolis facility by late July but could complete the project in June.

About 1,200 workers are at the stadium each day and an early completion will be impressive if it happens. Although it won’t be a public event, a June gathering to recognize stadium workers is already scheduled.

Events the public can attend for a first look at the $1 billion-plus covered stadium are expected to be announced soon, but the first concert is booked. Tickets go on sale soon to see country singer Luke Bryan Friday, August 19.

A source said a second concert at the stadium that weekend will be announced. Acoustics in the 1,750,000 square foot facility will be exceptional for a large building.

Although the date hasn’t been publicized, it looks like the Vikings’ first game in the stadium will be a preseason game the weekend of August 26-28. After that weekend, a second home preseason game will be played. Dates and opponents haven’t been announced for the Vikings’ preseason schedule of home and away games.

Philadelphia-based Aramark will run food and beverage operations in the stadium for not only major events like concerts and Vikings games, but also small room gatherings in the year-round facility. As with Target Field, local restaurants will sell food partnering with Aramark.

The stadium’s Purple Club is the one location with direct access to outdoors. Patrons can walk outside to a deck with an elevated view looking east toward downtown green space and the historic Minneapolis Armory.

It wouldn’t be surprising if 2016 is Adrian Peterson’s last season with the Vikings. The All-Pro running back turns 31 later this month. His age and expensive contract could make him expendable if quarterback Teddy Bridgewater emerges as the offense’s igniter. Last April a source told Sports Headliners the Vikings and Cowboys had trade talks about sending Peterson back to his native Texas. He and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones are acquainted.

Ryan Burns, publisher of Scout’s GopherDigest.com, said Eden Prairie’s Carter Coughlin is the most likely Gopher freshman to make an impact next fall. The Gophers need help with pass rushing, and also on special teams. Burns predicted spot duty for Coughlin at defensive end where he could be used like pass rushing specialist Julian Huff in 2015.

“I could see a scenario where he and Julian Huff, on third down and long, try and get after the passer,” Burns said. “Carter also will bring speed and physical talent on special teams.”

Burns said Coughlin’s athleticism is impressive. “You just can’t teach what Carter has with his athletic ability,” Burns said. “That’s something Minnesota needs right away, to try and get after the passer because their pass rush the last couple years has just been abysmal. They know that.

“Carter is the one guy that is going to have his redshirt burned. If he is healthy, he is going to play a lot like Julian Huff did last year.”

Byung Ho Park, the 29-year-old South Korean Twins rookie, leads the team with two home runs and six RBI in 16 at bats during his first major league spring training. He is hitting .313. During the last two years in Japan he hit .303 and .343, with 52 and 53 home runs, and 124 and 146 RBI.

The Tigers reportedly gave ex-Twin Mike Pelfrey a two-year $16 million contract—and that’s a head scratcher. Pelfrey, 32, was 6-11 with a 4.26 ERA for the Twins last season. His career stats include a 61-81 record and 4.52 ERA.

Birthdays: Twins legend Kirby Puckett, who died in 2006, would be 56 next Monday. Timberwolves guard Zach LaVine turned 21 yesterday.

The Las Vegas-based Reviewjournal.com posted a story Monday quoting broadcaster Dick Vitale as saying controversial Louisville coach Rick Pitino isn’t going to fill the UNLV opening. There have been rumors Pitino will accept the Rebels’ coaching job, and a report even had his son Richard Pitino, the Gophers coach, joining him as an assistant. Vitale said Rick Pitino loves Louisville too much to leave the Cardinals.

The Wild had a rare loss to the Oilers last night, 2-1 at Xcel Energy. Minnesota is 2-1 this season in games with Edmonton, and is 21-4-1 in the last 26 games against the Oilers. The Wild plays at Montreal tomorrow night and has won there only twice in franchise history.

The Gophers Eric Schierhorn is a nominee for the Mike Richter Award honoring the top goaltender in college hockey. Schierhorn has started all 33 games this season and has a 18-15-0 record with a .905 save percentage, and a goals against average of 2.71. His total wins lead the Big Ten and he ranks first among NCAA freshmen. He is tied for first among freshmen with three shutouts.

Gophers coach Don Lucia told Sports Headliners Schierhorn reminds him a “little bit” of Adam Wilcox who was Minnesota’s top goalie the previous three seasons. Wilcox was among the best goalies in the Big Ten.

“Both very athletic,” Lucia said. “Adam stepped right in (as a freshman) and pretty much played every game. Eric has started every game his freshman year, which is not easy. Almost every game he has played, he has given us an opportunity to win games. We’re still working with him to quiet his game down at times, and not chase pucks.”

The Gophers play Wisconsin tonight and tomorrow evening at Mariucci Arena in their last games before the Big Ten Tournament next week.

The defending national champion Gopher women’s hockey team plays Princeton tomorrow starting at 4 p.m. in Ridder Arena. The NCAA Tournament quarterfinal game will determine whether Minnesota or the Tigers advance to next week’s Frozen Four in Durham, New Hampshire.

Minnesota’s five seniors—Hannah Brandt, Brook Garzone, Amanda Kessel, Amanda Leveille, and Milica McMillen—comprise the program’s most successful class ever. Their teams have an overall record of 145-9-6, a .925 winning percentage from 2012-13 to 2015-16. The Gophers have outscored opponents 770-179 during the four seasons.

Four of the five finalists for the 2016 Mr. Basketball Award have made college commitments: Brock Bertram, Buffalo; Johnny Beeninga, Minnesota State Moorhead; Amir Coffey, Minnesota; and Michael Hurt, Minnesota. Steffon Mitchell hasn’t made a college commitment. The award winner will be announced after this week’s state tournament.

Mr Basketball finalists 2016

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WCHA and Big Ten Explore Alliance

Posted on January 25, 2016January 27, 2016 by David Shama

WCHA and Big Ten leaders are discussing ideas that could result in more men’s hockey games between the two leagues.

WCHA men’s commissioner Bill Robertson told Sports Headliners he had an exploratory meeting recently with Big Ten deputy commissioner Brad Traviolia. Discussion included some day having a combined tournament with teams from the two leagues, and also a series of regional rivalry games.

“The next step is we’re going to continue these discussions and bring ideas to each other’s executive committees and coaches to help define how we move forward,” Robertson said. “At this point it’s all conceptual but certainly there are ideas we will continue to build on.”

The WCHA is a tradition-rich league that still boasts nationally-ranked teams but the conference lost some prestige when historic power programs Minnesota and Wisconsin opted out to help form a Big Ten hockey league. The WCHA currently has 10 teams including two from the state of Minnesota, Bemidji State and Minnesota State. The six-team Big Ten began in the fall of 2013, and the league has its critics including in Minneapolis-St. Paul where fans miss old rivalries and feel the Gophers should be in a larger, more hockey oriented conference.

Robertson, who has career marketing experiences in the NHL, is an innovator and he believes both the WCHA and Big Ten could benefit in exposure and revenues with alliances that might include something similar to basketball’s ACC/Big Ten Challenge. That annual fall matchup schedules games between teams from the two leagues that have been popular with fans and TV audiences. A Big Ten/WCHA Challenge could include regional rivalry games like Minnesota-Minnesota State and Michigan-Michigan Tech.

Robertson, whose league offices are in Edina, continues to dialogue with Arizona State about that school’s hockey program joining the WCHA. He said more will be known in the spring, and that 2017-2018 will be the earliest the Sun Devils would join the league.

An 11-team league isn’t ideal, though, so a 12th member could eventually be added—perhaps UNLV. Las Vegas is a growing hockey market and a possible location for an NHL expansion franchise.

Worth Noting

Carter Coughlin, the Gophers’ four-star linebacker recruit from Eden Prairie High School, who is expected to sign his National Letter of Intent next month, will have to rest his left shoulder for about 3½ months following surgery last Thursday. Jennie Coughlin, Carter’s mother, told Sports Headliners the shoulder injury dates back to his junior season, and the expectation is he will be healthy when the Gophers start workouts in June. She said Carter is already recovered from the concussion he sustained in a high school all-star game earlier this month.

Richard Pitino’s basketball team is 0-8 in Big Ten games and appears headed toward a low final finish in the conference standings, but the coach will be rewarded with $450,000 this spring. In addition to his normal compensation of more than $1.5 million, Pitino will receive $450,000 on April 30 for a “contract fulfillment incentive.” If he is still the Gophers coach on April 30, 2019, he receives another $450,000.

Ken Lien, the state prep basketball authority who runs the Mr. Basketball program, travels extensively watching high school boys teams. He shared his state rankings with Sports Headliners:

Class 4A. 1. Hopkins; 2. Apple Valley; 3. Osseo; 4. Maple Grove; 5. Champlin Park; 6. Lakeville North; 7. Shakopee; 8. Wayzata; 9. Woodbury; 10. Rochester John Marshall.

Class 3A. 1. Red Wing; 2. DeLaSalle; 3. Delano; 4. Waconia; 5. Orono; 6. Benilde-St. Margaret’s; 7. Marshall; 8. Austin; 9. Minneapolis Patrick Henry; 10. Fergus Falls.

Class 2A. 1. Caledonia; 2. St. Croix Lutheran; 3. Braham; 4. Lake City; 5. Melrose; 6. Albany; 7. Minnehaha Academy; 8. Eden Valley-Watkins; 9. Esko; 10. St. Paul Academy.

Class 1A. 1. Minneapolis North; 2. Spring Grove; 3. Rushford-Peterson; 4. Central Minnesota Christian; 5. Murray County Central; 6. Hillcrest Lutheran; 7. Goodhue; 8. Browerville; 9. North Woods; 10. Battle Lake.

The Twins announced today they have given third baseman Trevor Plouffe a one-year contract for $7,250,000 in 2016. Plouffe, who was originally drafted by the Twins in the first round of the 2004 First-Year Player Draft, set single season highs last year in hits (140), RBI (86), runs scored (74), games (152), at-bats (573) and triples (4). Plouffe’s .972 fielding percentage ranked third among major league third basemen last season.

After last weekend’s two-game sweep of the Badgers, coach Don Lucia’s Gophers hockey team is 13-10 overall and 8-2 in Big Ten games. League-leading Minnesota has won five straight and could boost the spirits of often critical fans next weekend in the North Star College Cup at the Xcel Energy Center.

The Gophers play Bemidji State on Saturday while an earlier game matches Minnesota State and St. Cloud State. If Minnesota defeats the Beavers, a cup title game on Sunday against the Minnesota State and St. Cloud State winner could be opportune for the Gophers to earn more national respect. St. Cloud State, ranked No. 3 in the latest USCHO.com national poll, might be the best team in the country. The Gophers are No. 20 in the poll, while Minnesota State is No. 19.

Gophers booster and St. Paul native T. Denny Sanford celebrated his 80th birthday last month in both Sioux Falls, where Tim McGraw entertained, and also in San Diego at a party with Frankie Valli performing.

The Gophers baseball team will play some of its games starting in 2017 in U.S. Bank Stadium, the new downtown covered facility. The Gophers will have their own locker room in the multiuse facility that is expected to host over 200 amateur baseball games in its first 12 months of operation. The longest distance from home plate to the outfield will be 400 feet, while the shortest will be 301 feet. Coach John Anderson and his players toured the stadium last Friday. The Gophers will also continue to play games outdoors at Siebert Field.

With Seahawks safety Earl Thomas unable to play because of an injury, Vikings safety Harrison Smith has been selected for his first Pro Bowl. Since entering the NFL in 2012, Smith is one of two players to have at least 12 interceptions and 5.0 sacks. Reshad Jones from the Dolphins is the other player. The Pro Bowl will be played next Sunday in Hawaii.

New Vikings assistant coach Pat Shurmur will coach the tight ends. The club announced today that former tight ends coach Kevin Stefanski will take over as the running backs coach replacing Kirby Wilson who is joining the Browns. Shurmur, a former head coach with the Browns, was the Eagles tight end coach from 1999-2001.

Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway turned 33 earlier this month, and his returning for another season with the team seems questionable. A highlight for him last year was his 22 tackles game against the Raiders, the second best in franchise history.

Greenway was durable during the 2015 season. Ben Goessling, writing for espn.com last Wednesday, said Greenway maxed out on his per game bonus incentive by being on the 46-man roster for all 16 regular season games. Greenway, who agreed during the offseason to take less salary in 2015, earned $500,000 in bonus money, according to Goessling.

Las Vegas sports books positioned the Panthers as four point favorites over the Broncos for Super Bowl 50, according to an online story this morning by Matt Youmans for the Las Vegas Journal-Review.

Friends of the late Steve Wilkinson remembered the one-year anniversary of his death last Thursday. The legendary former Gustavus Adolphus national championship tennis coach touched many lives with the Gusties and his well-known Tennis and Life Camps.

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Vikings Answer Skeptics in Defeat

Posted on December 11, 2015December 11, 2015 by David Shama

The Vikings and their fans can feel additional confidence after last night’s 23-20 loss to the Cardinals in Arizona. Predictions earlier this week were the Vikings would not only lose but by a big score.

It was known during the week the Vikings would play without three of their best defensive players and that unit would be reshuffled with lesser personnel. Teddy Bridgewater was coming off a disappointing performance last Sunday in a 38-7 loss against the Seahawks, and Seattle linebacker Bruce Ervin said the second-year quarterback played scared.

The Vikings showed a character check last night, playing the Cardinals to a 10-10 halftime tie before losing by a field goal in the fourth quarter. With the win the Cardinals, now 11-2, further positioned themselves among elite teams in the NFL. The Vikings, 8-5, are no longer in first place in the NFC North but still are having a season that is surprising critics who didn’t see them as a serious threat to unseat the Packers as division champions, and thought even less of Minnesota after an opening game 20-3 loss to the mediocre 49ers.

Teddy Bridgewater (photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings.)

Bridgewater threw for a career high 335 yards and had a passer rating of 108 last night. That kind of work will be needed the rest of the season when the Vikings play the Bears and Giants at home, before closing out at Green Bay. No one, including critics, should be surprised if the Vikings win two or three of those games against the Bears and Giants, both with 5-7 records, and the 8-4 Packers.

If the Vikings follow the lead of head coach Mike Zimmer and his staff, good things should continue to develop in their march to the playoffs. After last Sunday afternoon’s game in Minneapolis against the Seahawks, Zimmer let it be known he expected his players to prepare their bodies for a short week of practice and Thursday’s game in Arizona. The majority of them headed for Winter Park before nightfall on Sunday. “We followed suit,” said placekicker Blair Walsh on Tuesday.

Three days of rest and rehab is different than the typical Sunday to Sunday game schedule. “You don’t come in Sunday after the game usually, unless you’re severely hurt or you need treatment,” Walsh said.

Defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd arrived at about 4:30 p.m. and stayed for more than one hour. Massages, foam rollers and cold tubs are used by players to revitalize worn bodies targeted since training camp last summer.

“It’s just hard work,” Floyd said about the rehab. “You can’t complain about it, you just gotta do it…nowadays.”

Key defensive players Anthony Barr, Linval Joseph and Harrison Smith were unable to play last night because of injuries. But Floyd said earlier in the week it does no good for the team to worry about the injured and absent.

“Never worry. If you worry you’re setting yourself up for failure,” he said. “No need to worry. Just come in with a game plan and fight as hard as possible. That’s all we ask for. We’re not asking you to do something out of the ordinary, just come do your job and be prepared to play tough.”

Even the critics can’t knock the Vikings’ effort last night.

Worth Noting

Tom Moore, who turned 77 last month and was an assistant coach for the Gophers in the 1970s and Vikings in the 1990s, is assistant head coach of the Cardinals. This is his 51st season of coaching, 37th in the NFL. Moore attended high school in Rochester, Minnesota and played college football at Iowa.

The Cardinals have sold out every game at University of Phoenix Stadium since the retractable roof facility opened in 2006, and noisy crowds provide the team with a home field advantage. Dating back to 2006 and going into last night’s game against the Vikings, Cardinals’ opponents had 132 false start penalties, the most in any NFL stadium during that period.

Both Sports Illustrated and the National Football League Players Association have ranked the playing surface at University of Phoenix Stadium best in the NFL. The playing surface is natural grass that can be moved outside in one giant tray to grow and be effectively maintained, and then put in place for Cardinals games.

It’s an oddity having the Vikings last night, then the Wild tonight and the Timberwolves on Sunday all playing games in the Phoenix area over a four-day period.

Andy Dalton, the Bengals quarterback who the Vikings could have drafted, has thrown for 3,000 yards in all five of his first NFL seasons. Only Peyton Manning has done that. In the 2011 NFL Draft the Vikings chose Christian Ponder with the No. 12 selection in the first round. The Bengals selected Dalton with the third pick in the second round.

More than half of the St. Thomas football roster could play Division II football, according to Tommies head coach Glenn Caruso. The talented Tommies, 13-0, host 12-0 Linfield tomorrow in a 2:30 p.m. Division III semifinals game. The Tommies have reached the semifinals for the third time in five years.

Caruso said Linfield has been a favorite since week one of the season to win the national title. “They are supremely loaded with talent,” he said.

Linfield will need to not only match the Tommies’ talent but also Caruso’s willingness to take risks. A trick play or surprise move like an onside kick is who the Tommies are. Caruso believes too many coaches are “risk averse.”

Would Caruso welcome moving indoors to U.S. Bank Stadium if the Tommies are playing home December playoff games in future years? “I don’t want to give away home field advantage (outdoors and on campus),” he said.

The Tommies, though, would consider a regular season game in the new Minneapolis stadium—perhaps against legendary rival Saint John’s.

Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor has heard the rumors Prince and Jimmy Jam Harris have interest in buying the team but said no one representing them has approached him.

Among the highlights of the Minnesota prep basketball season will be tomorrow’s annual Breakdown Sports Tip Off Classics at Minnetonka High School involving boys and girls teams. Class 4-A boys powers Apple Valley and Hopkins play at 3:45 p.m. in the most anticipated game. The schedule of games throughout the day and into the evening will showcase nationally ranked prep players including two seniors who are Gophers recruits, Amir Coffey from Hopkins and Michael Hurt whose Rochester John Marshall team plays an 8 p.m. game against Shakopee.

Hurt’s brother and teammate Matthew is a Rivals.com five-star recruit in the class of 2019. Other players in the tournament being followed nationally include Tre Jones and Gary Trent Jr. from Apple Valley, and Theo John and McKinley Wright from Champlin Park. Class 4-A Champlin Park plays 3-A DeLaSalle at 7 p.m. in another anticipated game.

Two of the winningest college hockey coaches face each other tonight and tomorrow evening in Ann Arbor. Michigan coach Red Berenson has won 818 games while the Gophers Don Lucia has 680 victories. The two rank second and third for most wins, with Boston College’s Jerry York first with 997.

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