Golden Gophers – Page 396 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Worth Noting

Posted on June 15, 2012June 15, 2012 by David Shama

Wondering what the football Gophers do best? Well, Lindy’s Sports College Football 2012 Preview has an answer. The publication lists the “Five Best Rivalry Trophies”…and guess what? Minnesota is the only program to appear on the list twice. Here are the top three: Floyd of Rosedale —Iowa vs. Minnesota. The Jeweled Shillelagh — USC vs. Notre Dame. Paul Bunyan’s Axe —Minnesota vs. Wisconsin.

New Gophers athletic director Norwood Teague starts work on Monday and a media photo-op is scheduled for that morning.

Former Cretin-Derham Hall head football coach Rich Kallok, more recently an assistant with the program, said he’s not sure if he will be on the staff this season. Kallok has had three hip replacements and also back problems. Two years ago he coached linebackers for the Raiders.

Raiders senior running back James Onwualu, who verbally committed to Notre Dame, is likely to be a wide receiver with the Irish, said Kallok who recently celebrated his 45^th wedding anniversary with wife Sue.

Will the Timberwolves choose 7-foot North Carolina center Tyler Zeller with the No. 18 pick in the upcoming NBA draft? Jim Dutcher, the former Gophers coach, believes Zeller can play in the NBA for many seasons.

“He’s very competitive and a good low post scorer,” Dutcher told Sports Headliners. “He shoots the turnaround and has some good inside scoring moves.”

Not long ago Nbadraft.net projected Syracuse shooting guard Dion Waiters as the Wolves’ first round selection on June 28. However, Waiters is now predicted to be the No. 11 choice in the draft going to Portland.

The Wolves drafted Syracuse shooting guard Wes Johnson two years ago and he’s been a major disappointment. Dutcher said the Wolves have given Johnson more playing time than he’s earned because he was a No. 1 draft choice. “They’re playing him so they don’t look bad,” Dutcher said.

Former Hopkins star Royce White is projected to be drafted No. 24 by Cleveland. The 6-foot-8 White is likely to be a small forward in the NBA and there are doubts about his outside shooting but Dutcher believes that might not be a problem.

The Twins continue a run against National League teams tonight when the Brewers come to town. Many baseball fans don’t know that when the San Francisco Giants were the New York Giants the National League franchise had intentions of moving to Minneapolis. The Minneapolis Millers were a Giants farm team in the 1950s and the Giants were drawing small crowds in the dilapidated Polo Grounds. The Millers’ new stadium, Metropolitan Stadium, was to become the new home of the Giants but following the 1957 season Brooklyn Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley convinced Giants owner Horace Stoneham to move their franchises to California.

Nationally known Brewers broadcaster Bob Uecker’s son Steve passed away this spring at age 52.

The Twins lost their first series since May 25-27 against the Tigers when the Phillies took two of three games from Minnesota this week.

Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe has hit 11 home runs in his last 21 games. Catcher Joe Mauer leads the team in multi-hit games and has four in eight games this month.

Tennis historian and author Jim Holden notes when Forest Lake’s Dusty Boyer won his fourth state Class 2A singles title earlier this month he broke a tie with Rochester legends Dave Healey and Chuck Darley. Boyer defeated Eden Prairie’s Scott Elsass for the championship. Both players are headed to Nebraska to play college tennis. Holden is the author of Tennis in the Northland, a comprehensive history of boys high school tennis in Minnesota.

Finishing among the top 100 Division III schools nationally in the final Learfield Sports Directors Cup standings are St. Thomas at No. 8, Gustavus No. 39, St. Olaf, No. 41 and Concordia, No. 80. The MIAC (with 10) was one of only five conferences in the nation to place 10 or more schools in the standings.

Dave Wright, former Saint Paul Saints media relations director and local author, has been named sports information director at Hamline after filling the position on an interim basis.

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Arena Wars to Impact H.S. League

Posted on June 11, 2012June 11, 2012 by David Shama

It’s Minneapolis versus St. Paul starting in 2014. That’s the year Target Center will host the new National Collegiate Hockey Conference Tournament the same March weekend the Xcel Energy Center will be the site of the initial Big Ten Hockey Tournament.

Minneapolis officials will hold a news conference today announcing a five-year commitment to hold the NCHC tournament at Target Center, the 22-year-old facility scheduled soon for remodeling. Xcel Energy Center will host the Big Ten Tournament in 2014 and 2016. The two buildings go up against each other for the first time with their hockey tournaments on Friday, March 21 and Saturday, March 22, 2014.

The Minnesota State High School League plays its boys and girls state basketball tournaments at Target Center. Dave Stead, executive director, said the league has contracts only through 2013 and that means a conflict involving dates (March 19-22) for the 2014 boys tournament. With neither Xcel nor Target Center available, Stead will have to consider other sites. The University of Minnesota’s Williams Arena likely won’t be an option because of commitments to post-season college basketball.

Meanwhile the competition to see if either Target Center or Xcel Energy Center, or both, can play to capacity crowds will be interesting. The NCHC is a new league with membership consisting of North Dakota, Colorado College, Denver, Miami, Minnesota Duluth, Nebraska Omaha, St. Cloud State and Western Michigan. The Big Ten hockey playing members will be Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn State and Wisconsin. Both leagues start play in 2013-14.

The Big Ten Tournament will count on the hometown Gophers to lead the ticket sales parade. Wisconsin fans will help, too. The Big Ten will have a three-day event, starting on Thursday, March 20 and will involve all six conference teams.

The NCHC Tournament involves only four teams, with two games to be played on Friday, March 21 and the championship and third place games on Saturday, March 22. Tournament officials have to be hoping North Dakota qualifies for the four-team field each year.

North Dakota fans have proven for years they will follow their team in greater numbers to Minneapolis-St. Paul than any other hockey program in the country. A hockey marketing source said counting North Dakota alums in the metro area and fans coming in from the state of North Dakota, 5,000 to 8,000 UND rooters likely will show up at Target Center.

The competition between arenas and cities is obvious starting in 2014, and so too is the intention of the upstart NCHC which has chosen to take on the Big Ten not only on the same dates but in the backyard of Gophers hockey.

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Long Line of Bidders Expected for Parise

Posted on June 6, 2012June 6, 2012 by David Shama

Noting and quoting from hockey to horse racing, from football to music:

Minneapolis-born Zach Parise, the much praised captain and left wing with the Devils, enters unrestricted free agency in July and the New York Post website speculated today that up to 12 NHL teams, presumably the Wild included, are expected to make “serious inquiries.”

The Devils, down 3-0 in the Stanley Cup playoffs to the Kings, could see their season end tonight and that game might be the last for Parise with New Jersey, the only team he has played with in the NHL. Larry Brooks, writing for the Post, speculated that Parise’s new deal will be for more than $60 million, plus bonus money, and if Parise doesn’t stay with the Devils he could play next season for the Rangers or Red Wings, two franchises with a lot of salary flexibility.

“The Wild will be in, though Parise might want to think more than twice about going home to join a team in which he would be the best player by leaps and bounds,” Brooks wrote.

Former Timberwolves forward Mark Madsen was announced this week as an assistant men’s basketball coach at Stanford. In an email to Sports Headliners Madsen wrote that in two weeks he will graduate from Stanford with his MBA degree. He ranks with the most personable Timberwolves ever to play in Minnesota.

ESPN.go.com reported that the ESPN telecast of Sunday night’s Celtics-Heat game in Boston drew the largest national rating ever (7.9) for an NBA playoff game on cable TV.

Duluth East’s 7-foot Alkoda Manyang, a senior next school year, is an intriguing college prospect who will be watched closely by high profile basketball programs this summer.

It was 45 years ago yesterday, June 5, 1967, that a group of local investors was awarded an NHL franchise, the Minnesota North Stars.

Barbara Williams emailed that her husband John Williams and also Steve Nestor are “fine” following surgeries yesterday. Williams, the former Gophers All-American tackle, was the recipient of a kidney from Nestor. Both Williams and Nestor are expected to be walking today. https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/johnbjwilliams

Pete Najarian, the Minneapolis native who has gained fame for options trading and appearing on CNBC, will vacation with former Gophers teammates in August. The families of Najarian, Ray Hitchcock, Darrell Thompson and others gather each summer at a Wisconsin Dells resort. “I think the adults have more fun than the kids,” Hitchcock told Sports Headliners. “We tell the same stories over and over.”

Coach Jerry Kill will be part of the Gopher Gallop promotion at Canterbury Park on Friday night, according to an email sent to Gophers fans. The Gophers and the Goal Line Club encourage fans to wear their “Gopher gear” and receive free admission to the race track. Prize giveaways include a trip for two to Minnesota’s opening game at UNLV on August 30.

Canterbury Park’s new 10-year agreement with the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux, pending approval by the Minnesota Racing Commission, will provide millions in additional revenue for larger horse racing purses and enable the local track to compete for better horses against regional facilities like Iowa’s Prairie Meadows. Spectators here will see better racing and the Minnesota horse breeding industry will receive a much needed incentive to produce more foals. The larger purses are expected to begin this year.

Mike Max said a permanent replacement for the late Dark Star on The Sports Show is undecided but hockey legend Lou Nanne will fill in this Sunday. Star, who passed away last Friday, was a regular on the TV show for 16 years, along with Max, Patrick Reusse and Sid Hartman.

The inaugural Tapemark Women’s Pro-Am started yesterday at Southview Country Club in West St. Paul. The championship will be played on Sunday. The men’s Pro-Am begins Friday and also concludes on Sunday. Tom Lehman won the tournament in 1990. Last year’s winner was Ben Freeman while six-time tournament champion Don Berry finished second. Check the Tapemark website for updates during the week. www.tapemarkgolf.org

This will be the 41^st year of Tapemark charity golf. The Klas family, including Bob Sr. and Bob Jr., have helped raise about $7 million for local charities benefitting the developmentally and learning disabled.

More than 225 people attended the awards banquet on Sunday announcing Jake Heppner (Eastview) and Christine Easton (Eden Prairie) as the Mr. Lacrosse and Ms. Lacrosse winners. The Mr. and Ms. Lacrosse Goalie winners are Thomas Gilligan (Benilde-St. Margaret’s) and Bailey Dunning (The Blake School). The third annual awards banquet, held at the Crowne Plaza Riverfront Hotel in St. Paul, was presented by the Minnesota Swarm and hosted by The Minute Men. www.minnesotaminutemen.com

Dave and Linda Mona have award winning singer Suzy Bogguss booked for the third annual Camden’s Concert on July 25 at the Hopkins Center for the Arts. Bogguss was at the Dakota Jazz Club last year when the Monas saw her perform and asked the country music star about entertaining at Camden’s Concert III. The Monas liked her music, stage presence and personality. “She’s the biggest name (performer) we’ve had,” Dave said.

Camden’s Concert raises money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The two previous concerts have raised $26,000 and $32,000.

The Mona’s grandson Camden Mona is 4½ years old. He takes many medications because of Cystic Fibrosis but is feeling fine and looks like any normal pre-schooler. Last year the Monas staged a contest and invited concert goes to guess the number of M&M’s in a jar, telling them if they doubled their total it would be closer to the number of pills Camden takes in a year.

“He took 10,570 pills last year including enzymes,” Dave said. “A woman who has Cystic Fibrosis guessed 10,300.”

The benefit event on July 25 includes a silent auction with sports offerings and other items, plus food from Pinstripes restaurant. Tickets are available by calling the Hopkins Center for the Arts, 952-979-1111, or via the organization’s website. www.hopkinsartscenter.com/

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