Wild – Page 46 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Vikes Look ‘Cooked’ with No Dalvin

Posted on December 29, 2019December 29, 2019 by David Shama

The Vikings, 10-5, play their final regular season game today in Minneapolis against the Bears, and then start preparations for next weekend’s opening playoff game. The Vikings, a No. 6 seed in the NFC, are unlikely to win in the postseason without running back Dalvin Cook, whose shoulder injury sidelined him in the December 23 loss to the Packers and will keep him off the field today.

Cook, the 24-year-old third season playmaker extraordinaire, has produced a breakout performance in 2019, and the guess is he will be available next weekend. He is clearly the offense’s most indispensable player with his ability to gain difficult yards with minimal blocking, and also outrun tacklers. With 1,135 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns (no other Viking is even in double digits), he is among the NFL’s leading runners.

Injuries sidelined Cook for 17 games the past two seasons but the team’s coaches knew what a special playmaker they had in the former second round draft choice (he excels as a wide receiver, too). That’s why after seeing the limitations of quarterback Kirk Cousins in 2018, the offense was refocused to emphasize the running game. Using zone blocking with a run game featuring Cook, the Vikings have improved their offense and at times Cousins has flourished.

But against the Packers, without Cook, the offense was a dud, producing only seven first downs. The Packers kept their defensive ends “home” and discouraged the rollouts and bootlegs that have worked well for the passing game this fall. The offensive line, including the left side with tackle Riley Reiff and guard Pat Elflein, had a long night in the 23-10 loss.

Schemes are one thing but they are a lot more successful with playmakers, and Cook is one of the NFL’s best. Football is the ultimate team game but Cook is so fast, strong, and elusive he can make plays on his own.

“The clock in your head is saying this play might be over, but it probably isn’t,” offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski said in a December 2 Sports Illustrated story. “Go to the next level, get that last shove in there and give this kid a crease, because you just never know with him.”

At times Cousins looked anxious without Cook and a successful running game in the Packer loss. The quarterback has a history of not being able to carry a team late in the season. The offensive line, while improved over its most recent predecessors, is no award winner. Star wide receiver Adam Thielen, who missed multiple games with a hamstring problem, is trying to find his way back into production. The Vikings have offensive issues as they near the playoffs. They can’t afford to be without their Cook.

Worth Noting

T-shirt seen at a local health club last week predicted the Packers are going to the next Super Bowl and showed the Lombardi Trophy. The front of the shirt also said the Vikings are bowl bound, with a toilet illustration.

The 2010 Packers were a No. 6 seed, won all their playoff road games and emerged as 2011 Super Bowl champions.

The Minnesota Wild may learn as soon as Tuesday whether the NHL is choosing Target Field as the playing site for the January 1, 2021 NHL Winter Classic. Wild owner Craig Leipold told Sports Headliners awhile ago his franchise is competing for the prestigious outdoor game that has never been held in Minnesota.

The 2020 Winter Classic is at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas and an announcement about the 2021 playing site will come next month. The Wild is competing with another city (name not publicized) for the game. The opponent for the Target Field game might be either Chicago, Colorado, St. Louis or Winnipeg.

Speculation is that elusive wide receiver and kick returner JD Spielman, the former Eden Prairie star and 2015 Minnesota prep Mr. Football, might transfer from Nebraska to the Gophers. Maybe so, but Sports Headliners is told Spielman won’t have his degree until next summer and couldn’t be a graduate transfer until then.

Cincinnati.com reports former Gophers deputy athletics director John Cunningham will earn $475,000 in base salary as the University of Cincinnati’s new athletics director. That is reportedly $77K less than previous Bearcats boss and now USC AD Mike Bohn. Gophers AD Mark Coyle’s compensation is $850,000. Cunningham oversaw the Minnesota football and men’s basketball programs, and he had worked with Coyle at Syracuse before both came to Minneapolis in 2016.

Chris Snow, the former Minnesota Wild beat writer for the Star Tribune who segued his career path into an NHL front office career, is in the early stages of battling ALS. Snow, who initially worked for the Wild after leaving the Minneapolis newspaper, is assistant general manager of the Calgary Flames.

The losing ways of the Timberwolves (lost 12 of their last 13 games) likely won’t threaten the job security of first-year head coach Ryan Saunders. But if Saunders were to be let go during the season by Gersson Rosas, the first year president of basketball operations, he could consider Staples, Minnesota native Dave Joerger, a veteran NBA head coach who was fired by the Sacramento Kings after last season.

Another option if a change was made during the season might be naming an assistant on the Timberwolves staff as interim head coach,, perhaps Pablo Prigioni. In the spring Rosas could review a list of candidates including lead Houston Rockets assistant Elston Turner. The two worked together several years ago in the Rockets organization.

Twins president Dave St. Peter speaks to the CORES lunch group Thursday, January 9 at the Bloomington Event Center, 1114 American Blvd. More information is available by contacting Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net. Reservations must be made by January 6. CORES is an acronym for coaches, officials, reporters, educators and sports fans.

Retiring Minnetonka High School football coach Dave Nelson is one of four national candidates for the American Football Coaches Association’s Power of Influence Award that will be given out at next month’s convention.

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U Basketball Tickets Hold Steady

Posted on December 10, 2019December 10, 2019 by David Shama

As of last week, the University of Minnesota reported 6,738 public season tickets had been sold for men’s basketball. That total for the 2019-2020 home schedule compares with 6,647 sold last season, according to information provided to Sports Headliners.

Minnesota finished with a 9-11 regular season record last winter but had an entertaining team that won two games in the Big Ten Tournament and later advanced to the NCAA Tournament where the Gophers upset higher seeded Louisville. Amir Coffey, Minnesota’s best player down the stretch, opted to turn professional in the spring rather than return for his senior year. His decision lessened optimism for this season and almost certainly negatively impacted new season ticket sales.

With Coffey the Gophers would have been projected as an upper division or perhaps title contender in preseason Big Ten media forecasts. The U renewed almost 93 percent of its season tickets, and sold 565 new public season tickets.

U marketers have been proactive in pricing and packaging including offering Mini Plan tickets. Season ticket prices start at $340, while six-game Mini Plans begin at $70. A total of 1,914 Mini Plan tickets have been sold. The Gophers will play 17 home games, with 10 of them against Big Ten opponents.

The student season tickets total as of last week was 1,335 compared to 1,457 for 2018-2019.

Interest in Gophers basketball has sharply declined from what it was in the 1980s and 1990s when packed houses were common and season ticket totals were thousands higher than today. The best season attendance average Minnesota had in the last four seasons was 12,133 for the 2014-2015 schedule. The Gophers averaged 11,850 last season and the two seasons before had averages of 10,309 and 10,791. Williams Arena seating capacity is 14,625.

The Gophers play their first Big Ten home game next Sunday against No. 3 ranked Ohio State, one of the early season surprises in a league that can make a case for being the best in the nation. Based on information from the U last week, the Michigan State game at Williams Arena January 26 has the best presale with a total of 9,826 tickets committed.

The Gophers are 0-1 in the Big Ten after last night’s loss at Iowa and have a 4-5 overall record. Their 72-52 Iowa loss was an embarrassing performance highlighted by not hustling on transition defense, poor shooting by Minnesota’s three starting guards (made three of 29 field goals) and turnovers (center Daniel Otruru had at least five travelling violations and eight total turnovers). A popular preseason prediction for the Gophers before the season was a 10th place Big Ten finish and right now it looks accurate.

After last night’s Big Ten season opener, Minnesota head coach Richard Pitino has a 40-71 record in league games. Pitino is in his seventh season at Minnesota.

3rd Anniversary Herbie’s On The Park

Three years ago this month Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold opened a restaurant in the historic Minnesota Club, at 317 Washington Street in St. Paul. “The motivation” was to provide hockey fans and others attending events at adjacent Xcel Energy Center a convenient and appealing place to stop by for food and beverages.

What is the financial bottom line at Herbie’s On The Park? “We don’t lose money,” Leipold told Sports Headliners. “We make a little bit every year.”

There is nearby competition from places like Pazzaluna and the St. Paul Grill but the restaurant named after legendary coach and St. Paul native Herb Brooks has a built- in customer base and hockey niche. Brooks, who coached the hockey Gophers to three national championships and the 1980 U.S. Olympic team’s Miracle on Ice, died in 2003 but his brother Dave Brooks owns the building that overlooks Rice Park and provides offices to the Wild. A Herb Brooks statue is near the restaurant’s front door.

Leipold said the food is outstanding, and the ambiance “is just so fantastic,” partly because of the building’s history and warm tavern feeling. What are his beverage and entrée favorites?

“I love Uncle Nearest, it’s a great whiskey,” Leipold said. “The pork chop is tremendous, and the squid ink pasta is one of the best pastas I’ve ever had.”

The Wild recently announced five-game flex packs are now available for purchase for the remainder of the 2019-20 season. Fans can purchase tickets in the upper, lower and club levels starting at $64 per game for any five remaining home games.

Starting with a game at Xcel Energy Center tonight against the Anaheim Ducks, the Wild has its first three-game homestand of the season this week. The Edmonton Oilers visit on Thursday with the Philadelphia Flyers in town Saturday.

Minnesota has a seven game homestand January 16-February 6. That ties the record for second longest in franchise history.

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Wild Close on 2021 NHL Winter Classic

Posted on December 5, 2019December 5, 2019 by David Shama

Target Field could be the playing site for the 2021 NHL Winter Classic. The Twins and Wild would host the prestigious annual game that has never been played in Minnesota, and a January 1, 2021 date could help commemorate the 20th anniversary of the local NHL team.

Wild owner Craig Leipold acknowledged to Sports Headliners yesterday that his franchise is competing with one other NHL city for the Winter Classic, but the league has yet to inform him of its decision. An announcement of the 2021 playing site for the outdoor game is likely to come January 1, 2020.

Known as the “State of Hockey,” the NHL Winter Classic seems overdue for a Minnesota date. “It should be us,” Leipold said. “We think that we’ve got exciting players. We think that we have a good team, and a very competitive team, and we have a great market. No one will ever question that. Our fans are fantastic. So I think we check most of the boxes, and…we hope it’s our time.”

Local interest in attracting the nationally televised event has been ongoing for a long time by the Twins and Wild. Twins president Dave St. Peter spoke of his interest in the game as recently as August of this year. The Wild hosted a successful NHL Stadium Series game at TCF Bank Stadium in 2016, but that event is less coveted than the Winter Classic that last January was played at Notre Dame Stadium, and January 1, 2020 lands in the Cotton Bowl.

The Winter Classic was first played in 2008 to evoke the outdoor roots of hockey. The event uses football and baseball stadiums, with one game drawing over 100,000 fans to Michigan Stadium. A Sports Headliners hockey source said the NHL and TV rights holder NBC prefer historic league teams from the United States like the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks. Planners also want winning teams that can attract a large TV audience.

The Wild has been a mediocre team for years and that’s been a factor in the NHL not granting the Winter Classic to Minnesota. But the team has been impressive of late and with the franchise’s 20th anniversary looming since its inception for the 2000-2001 season, and the fact so many other cities have already hosted the game, Minnesota’s lobbying efforts could finally pay off.

The Wild’s opponent might be the Blackhawks because of the rivalry between the two teams and the size of the huge Chicago TV market. The Dallas Stars, the team once based in Minnesota as the North Stars, may well be another possibility. Activities surrounding a Minneapolis Winter Classic could include an alumni game between former Wild and Blackhawks or Stars players.

The Wild is undefeated in its last 10 games, going 7-0-3. Leipold said the team is showing skill and depth, referring to the third and fourth lines as playing “fantastic.” With three goalies and a sound defense, he is excited after the Wild had a slow start to the season. “We don’t have any weaknesses,” he said.

New general manager Bill Guerin has had time to evaluate the personnel but Leipold doesn’t think there are any trades in the works right now. “But I think the next month, and month-and-a-half, is going to tell a lot as to where we think this team can go,” Leipold said.

Worth Noting

It will be interesting to see if Gophers athletics director Mark Coyle is rewarded with increased compensation this month, or shortly after the first of the year. Coyle’s work since being hired in 2016 is highly regarded, but his annual compensation of $850,000 remains unchanged from the original contract—although he did receive a three-year extension last October taking his deal through 2024.

There are many major college athletic directors earning well over $1 million including some of Coyle’s colleagues in the Big Ten. An increase of $150,000, taking Coyle to $1 million, could make sense to new University of Minnesota president Joan Gabel after the breakthrough season in football under the direction of coach P.J. Fleck who Coyle hired in 2017.

The University regents meet December 12 and 13 in Minneapolis but the agenda for the meeting is as yet unknown. Possibly blocking a Coyle increase is this week’s announcement of faculty layoffs at UMD. Although Coyle’s compensation comes from the largely self-supporting Gophers athletic department, a University system perception problem could arise because of the fiscal challenges at UMD.

Coyle’s success at Minnesota, including popular hires of hockey coach Bob Motzko and basketball coach Lindsay Whalen, is noticed by other universities. There was speculation earlier this fall USC was interested in Coyle for its AD opening. Coyle, an Iowa native who first worked for the U athletic department about 18 years ago before taking AD jobs at Boise State and Syracuse, has often expressed his liking for working at Minnesota and living in the Twin Cities with his family.

Sid Hartman’s 100th birthday will be March 15 of next year, and that day just happens to be a Sunday. It’s perfect timing to celebrate the milestone on WCCO Radio where Hartman has been heard for decades on the Sunday morning “Sports Huddle” program.

Show co-host Dave Mona told Sports Headliners the station will do a “Sidtennial” celebration. A list of about 50 potential celebrity guests for telephone interviews is being reviewed to reach a smaller total. The Sid salute March 15, Mona said, will continue during a WCCO Radio Twins spring training broadcast in the afternoon and on into the evening with more interviews, stories and tributes to the legendary radio personality and Minneapolis newspaper columnist.

The Twin Cities Dunkers organization that supports Minnesota professional and amateur sports has provided $690,500 in combined gifts to the athletic departments of the Minneapolis and St. Paul high schools over the past eight years. The organization was originally known as the Minneapolis Dunkers and dates back to 1948.

Gophers wide receiver Rashod Bateman was named the Big Ten’s wide receiver of the year Wednesday (Richter-Howard Award). Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck raved about Bateman recently, describing him as “incredibly talented.” But Fleck also praised the sophomore for his work ethic and selflessness. “When you start combining the skill with that, that’s an inferno, that’s a bonfire, instead of the fire in your fireplace with one log,” Fleck said.

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