Lynx – Page 18 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

How about 10-6 Record for Vikings?

Posted on September 13, 2017September 13, 2017 by David Shama

News about the Vikings, Gophers, Lynx and Twins in today’s notes-focused column.

Vikings rookies Dalvin Cook and center Pat Elflein impressed in Monday night’s opening game win over the Saints. Cook broke Adrian Peterson’s opening game rushing record for a Vikings rookie with his 127 yards and Elflein became the franchise’s first rookie starter at center since Mick Tingelhoff in 1962.

Dalvin Cook (photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings)

Cook was the best running back in Monday night’s game that included the return of Peterson in a Saints uniform. The No. 2 draft choice showed speed, power and moves. Former Viking Bob Lurtsema said the elusive Cook can even make a 90 degree change in direction without slowing down.

Elflein, who looks like a draft day steal after being chosen in the third round, kept pass rushers away from quarterback Sam Bradford and showed his mobility on run plays. “He is the real deal,” Lurtsema raved. “He played so well. His awareness and peripheral vision is spectacular.”

Lurtsema is known for his accurate predictions about Vikings regular season records for wins and losses. He is forecasting 10-6 for this year’s team and a spot in the playoffs after the regular season ends on December 31. He believes Minnesota will either win or tie for the NFC North title.

Most everyone sees the Vikings and Packers at the top of the division but Lurtsema labeled the Lions a potential surprise team. “They know they got something cooking there,” he said about the Lions who signed quarterback Matthew Stafford to a contract extension making him the highest paid player in the NFL.

Bradford was named NFC Offensive Player of the Week this morning after his career record 143.0 passer rating performance against the Saints. He completed 27 of 32 passes and threw three touchdown passes.

For those who like to speculate about coaching changes, it seems probable Saints boss Sean Payton has to do better than a fourth consecutive 7-9 record. His team was unimpressive in Monday night’s 29-19 loss, and Peterson had what appeared to be an emotional exchange with the head coach on the sidelines.

Jim Carter sent text messages to a half dozen football Gophers earlier this week about Jerry Kill, their former head coach. Carter, a close friend of Kill and wife Rebecca, wanted to assure the players Kill was okay after minor seizures on Sunday.

Carter, captain of the 1969 Gophers, said the players were grateful for the communication and relieved to receive an update about Kill. “I heard back from everyone,” Carter said.

Kill has been seizure free in recent years but Carter said the now Rutgers offensive coordinator had a “couple of quick seizures” on Sunday and was hospitalized that night. Carter spoke with Rebecca on Monday and learned the coach was back at work.

Kill was coaching on the sidelines when hit by a player last Saturday. The blow may have contributed to the seizures on Sunday. “I and others have urged him to go to the press box because it’s safer,” Carter said.

Kill, though, prefers the sidelines where he can be close to his quarterbacks. He is in his first season at Rutgers and coaching for the first time since resigning as Minnesota coach during the 2015 season because of health issues. He is expected to coach in Rutgers’ home game Saturday against Morgan State. The Scarlet Knights are 0-2 following losses to Washington and Eastern Michigan.

Andrew Harte, the former Gophers kicker under Kill, transferred to Rutgers where he has made two of three field goal attempts this season. Harte, 22, is from Downers Grove, Illinois and joined the Gophers program in 2013.

Jeff Jones, who was on Kill’s staff at Minnesota, is assistant director of player development at Rutgers.

Gopher redshirt senior linebacker Cody Poock, who had 14 career starts under Kill and Tracy Claeys, is now a reserve behind sophomore Thomas Barber.

Redshirt sophomore wide receiver Isaiah Gentry, who was a much anticipated recruit from Cincinnati in 2014, left the Gophers program last month after having two career catches for 36 yards.

M Club director George Adzick said more than 40 members of the 1967 Minnesota Big Ten championship team have committed to attending a 50-year celebration in Minneapolis later this month. Players will be honored during the Minnesota-Maryland game at TCF Bank Stadium on September 30.

Credit Lynx owner Glen Taylor with approving the temporary installation of air conditioning for his team’s WNBA playoff games at Williams Arena. “Glen was driven by two distinct motives, and none were financial,” said Lynx president Chris Wright. “No. 1 was the safety of players. No. 2 was the comfort of fans.”

The Lynx won its opening playoff game in nearly 90-year-old Williams Arena last night against the Mystics. Without a temporary air conditioning system that could cost nearly $1 million before the WNBA playoffs end in a few weeks, the temperature in the building would have been about 85 degrees.

But with air conditioning temps will be in the 61 to 71 degree range for all playoff games. The Aggreko company based in Houston has contracted with the Lynx to cool Williams Arena. The company has provided forced air for Olympic and PGA events in the past.

Wright said WNBA bylaws require that playoff games be scheduled in facilities with air conditioning. With Target Center’s renovation not completed, and Xcel Energy Center unavailable, the Lynx considered various options for home playoff games including locations outside Minneapolis-St. Paul. Taylor, though, didn’t want the team playing away from its home market.

The Lynx expect crowds of 8,000 to 10,000 for early playoff games but if the team qualifies for the WNBA Finals capacity crowds of 14,625 at Williams Arena are possible. Single game ticket prices for first round home games start at $6 for a college student.

Starting pitcher Kyle Gibson, 10-10, will be a key to whether the Twins qualify for the playoffs. He has a 4-0 record with a 1.38 ERA in his last five starts. Last night he pitched six innings, giving up four hits and no walks in Minnesota’s 16-0 win over the Padres.

The Twins won’t have to worry about cold weather postponing two of their Target Field games next April. The club will be the host team in two games in Puerto Rico against the Indians on April 17 and 18, with off days before and after the series. The Twins will play 79 home games instead of the usual 81.

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Santana Flirts with No-Hitter Range

Posted on May 3, 2017May 3, 2017 by David Shama

A Wednesday notes column, including items on Twins, Gophers, Vikings and Lynx newsmakers.

Twins starting pitcher Ervin Santana has won almost 40 percent of the team’s games this spring. He won last night against the Athletics and is 5-0 for the Twins, who have a 13-11 record this season.

No pitcher has won more games in the major leagues. Among starting pitchers, Santana’s 0.66 ERA is also the best in both the American and National Leagues.

Santana gave up three hits and no runs in six innings last night, while confusing and striking out seven batters. In two games this season he gave up only two hits, and two other times just four hits.

In his April 15 win over the White Sox, he pitched nine innings and threw a one-hitter, becoming the first Twins starter since 2011 to allow just a single hit. The way Santana is pitching, it’s fair to wonder whether this season he can become only the sixth Twin in club history to throw a no-hitter. For the season he has allowed 16 hits and three earned runs in 41 innings.

The 34-year-old right hander, who was acquired by the Twins as a free agent in December of 2014, threw a no-hitter for the Angels against the Indians in 2011. Santana allowed one unearned run and struck out 10 batters.

Going into past seasons with Minnesota, Santana has been labeled a No. 2 or 3 caliber starter on a pitching staff in search of a No. 1. That has changed in a big way so far this season with Santana not just looking like a No. 1, but earning a place among baseball’s most dominant starters.

Former Twin Trevor Plouffe is the Athletics’ third baseman, and had one hit in four at bats last night. In his first season with the A’s he is hitting .209 with four home runs and nine RBI.

Another ex-Twin, Danny Valencia, played third for the Athletics last season but now is with the Mariners as a first baseman where he is batting .182 with two home runs and six RBI.

Write this name down: Nik Turley. The 27-year-old journeyman left-hander was signed by the Twins in the off season and is more than impressing at Double A Chattanooga. Turley, who has been in the minors since 2008 and was with the Red Sox organization last year, has a 0.44 ERA while allowing five hits and one run in four games including two starts.

Meanwhile, Turley teammate Kohl Stewart, the Twins’ first round draft choice in 2013, is 0-4 record with a 6.05 ERA.

The Athletes Village at the University of Minnesota is part of the “Nothing Short of Greatness” fundraising campaign with a $200 million goal. The Athletes Village project will cost about $166 million and the additional $34 million is targeted at existing facilities including renovation at Mariucci Arena. Fundraising now is over $100 million, with the goal of eventually privately raising the $200 million from individuals and others. “It’s breakfast, lunch, dinner fundraising,” said athletic director Mark Coyle.

About 200,000 construction hours have already gone into the Athletes Village, with facilities opening early next year. Sophie Skarzynski from the Gophers hockey team was among the speakers at a celebration progress event for donors, construction workers and others last week. She had the audience laughing with this remark for the construction crew: “It’s very comforting to know that not only the student-athletes are up at 5:30, but you guys are too.”

Reservations for the CORES program and lunch on Thursday, May 11 need to be made by Monday. Michele Tafoya, the sideline reporter on NBC TV’s Sunday Night Football who lives in suburban Minneapolis, will speak to the CORES crowd at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Bloomington, 1114 American Blvd. Dick Jonckowski is the popular emcee at CORES programs. CORES is an acronym for coaches, officials, reporters, educators and sports fans. More information is available by contacting Jim Dotseth, dotseth@comcast.net.

CORES attendees and other friends of Jonckowski will want to attend the Minnesota Minute Men’s roast of “The Polish Eagle,” who for 31 seasons was the Gophers basketball public address. Tickets remain for the event that starts at noon Friday at Jax Café. Scheduled roasters are Vikings executive Lester Bagley, former Gophers football star Jim Carter and WCHA men’s commissioner Bill Robertson. More information is available by calling Terry Sullivan, 952-451-2104, or at Minnesotaminutemen.com.

As the Vikings move through practices this spring and summer preparing for the season, a national storyline off the field will be the recovery progress of quarterback Teddy Bridgewater from his devastating knee injury last year. Bridgewater is passionate about his rehab and has made progress but is far from having full mobility. A leader who is admired by teammates and coaches, it’s not yet clear whether the 24-year-old will ever return to the field—or if he does, when that will be.

Morris Area High School has been named the Minnesota Football Program of the year. The award is sponsored by the Minnesota Vikings, Innovative Office Solutions, the Minnesota Chapter of the National Football Foundation and KFAN 100.3 FM. A check for $10,000 will be presented to the school today, and on Sunday the award will be recognized as part of the Minnesota Football Honors Event at U.S. Bank Stadium. (See April 6 Sports Headliners).

While Target Center undergoes renovation this year, the Lynx are looking to make a marketing opportunity out of the franchise’s one season at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. Chris Wright, president of the WNBA team and NBA Timberwolves, said about 20 percent of the team’s season ticket holders are from the St. Paul area, with most of the balance from Minneapolis and suburbs. “We’re going to grow our business in St. Paul,” Wright told Sports Headliners.

The Lynx has sold approximately 700 new “full season ticket equivalents” and expects to total around 3,600 or more. Equivalents are full and partial season ticket packages. The Lynx, who play a opening exhibition game in St. Paul on Friday night, averaged almost 8,000 in attendance last season, tops in the WNBA, according to Wright. He expects corporate revenues to increase this year also.

There’s no consensus favorite to win Saturday’s 143rd running of the Kentucky Derby. Smart handicappers will be looking at experienced jockeys in predicting the winning horse. Canterbury Park will offer live racing on Saturday and wagering on the Derby. The Shakopee racetrack opens the 2017 meet on Friday night.

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New Pressure on Wild in Playoffs

Posted on April 11, 2017April 11, 2017 by David Shama

The Wild enter Wednesday night’s opening playoff series against the Blues facing expectations that are a franchise first. Coach Bruce Boudreau and his players produced the best regular season results in wins and points since Minnesota became a member of the NHL in 2000-2001. The results also created anticipation the Wild will make a deep playoff run.

“Expectations from fans to get past the first round and into the second are huge,” a pro hockey authority told Sports Headliners. “They (the Wild) are not used to the expectations that you’re really good and should advance to the conference finals.”

How the Wild reacts to the pressure of the playoffs beginning tomorrow night in St. Paul will likely be the biggest sports story in the state during the spring. The source quoted above asked that his name not be used, but he had a lot to say about the Wild and Blues including predictions regarding both tomorrow night’s game and the series winner.

He looks for the underdog Blues to be aggressive early in Wednesday evening’s game. “I think they will try to score early on (goalie Devan) Dubnyk and rattle his confidence. The Wild don’t (always) play well when other teams play them physical.”

The Blues finished third in the Central Division, while the Wild placed second to the Blackhawks. Odds-makers see the Wild, who had the second best record in the Western Conference, as a likely Stanley Cup Finals team but the Blues are a long-shot. Scoring early tonight figures to give St. Louis a lift to its hopes of winning one of the first two games in the series. Game 2 is in St. Paul Friday night before the games 3 and 4 in the best of seven series switch to St. Louis.

Even casual Wild and Blues fans will be watching Dubnyk closely. The Wild’s 30-year-old goalie was sensational much of the season but faltered toward the finish. “People in the industry think he was overused,” the source said. “Too many minutes and too many games. Is he fresh for the playoffs? That remains to be seen?”

Dubnyk played in 65 of 82 regular season games. He was the winning goalie in 40 of the Wild’s 49 victories and only seven goalies had a better goals against average than his 2.25. But only three NHL goalies played more minutes than Dubnyk’s 3,758, according to Hockey-reference.com

Boudreau’s handling of the team was often praised this season. The new coach brought strong leadership and a calming influence to a team that had played mediocre hockey in recent seasons. Several players produced career seasons and at times this winter the Wild looked to some observers like the best team in the NHL.

But Boudreau, fair or not, was labeled in other NHL head coaching stops as being a leader who couldn’t get his teams into deep playoff runs. The worst thing for his image would be an upset series loss to the Blues coached by Mike Yeo who was the Wild’s coach a little over a year ago.

Yeo certainly has incentive to show his former franchise, including general manager Chuck Fletcher, that letting him go was a mistake. The Blues were failing on February 1 when they fired Ken Hitchcock and replaced him with Yeo. He helped lead St. Louis to a 21-8-2 record while earning a reputation for being among the league’s best defensive teams.

But revenge for Yeo against the Wild will be a challenge. Minnesota is more talented and deeper than the Blues, and has home ice advantage. While warning the series could be close, the source quoted here predicts the Wild will win round one in six games.

That should keep the fanbase satisfied—temporarily.

Worth Noting

Wild total attendance for regular season home games this season was 781,915, for an average of 19,071. Both figures are franchise records. All 41 home games at Xcel Energy Center were sellouts, with 34 topping 19,000 in attendance. The previous total regular season attendance record was 779,974 in 2014-15, while the previous average attendance record was 19,062 set last season.

The Twins entered today’s game against the Tigers an MLB-best 5-1 but lost 2-1 to Detroit. All the games have been against Central Division teams. A year ago, the Twins who lost their first nine games of the 2016 season, didn’t earn their first win against a division team until April 25.

For now the Twins are going with rookie left-hander Adalberto Mejia as their fifth starter. In his only start so far he pitched 1.2 innings, giving up two earned runs in a earning a loss against the White Sox. Before this season the 23-year-old was named the sixth best prospect in the Twins’ system by Baseball America.

The WNBA’s draft Thursday night consists of three rounds with the first round televised by ESPN2 starting at 6 p.m. Minneapolis time. The second and third rounds will be on ESPNU. The Lynx hold the 12th, 24th and 36th picks respectively in the first, second and third rounds.

Draftsite.com projects the Lynx will select Baylor guard Alexis Prince, Kansas State center Breanna Lewis and Syracuse center Briana Day with their three choices. Forward Nia Coffey, the former Hopkins all-stater who was a dominant player for Northwestern, is projected going to Dallas as the 10th player overall selected in the draft.

The Timberwolves, whose specific draft position in June awaits the NBA Draft Lottery, will have a high pick and they need help at power forward. The 2017 draft could have several power forwards chosen in the first round and the Wolves may end up with perhaps the best of the group, Arizona’s Lauri Markkanen.

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