Wild – Page 58 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Zimmer Weighs How Much to Use Starters

Posted on August 15, 2017August 15, 2017 by David Shama

A Tuesday notes column beginning with the Vikings.

The Vikings have their second of four preseason games Friday night at Seattle against the Seahawks. Traditionally, teams play their starters the most in the third exhibition game, which this year is August 27 at U.S. Bank Stadium against the 49ers. “Honestly, I am really weighing that a lot,” Mike Zimmer said this morning about how much to use his regulars in game three and before the season starts.

In the third game starters often play the entire first half and even part of the third quarter. What gives the Vikings head coach pause is potential injuries. He knows the capabilities of many regulars and wants to protect their bodies in the preseason, but he also needs to know they are in game shape for the season opener September 11 against the Saints in Minneapolis.

Zimmer said he’s competitive and wants to win at just about anything but he also has perspective on the preseason and sees it as a time to teach and evaluate. “We know what the record is but we don’t really go out of our way to win,” he said.

Is four the right number of preseason gam? “Yeah, I don’t have a problem,” Zimmer said. “Preseason is a lot less stressful to me. I am not as nervous on gamedays.”

The performance of the offensive line, with some new personnel and presumably good health, might have more to do with determining the success of the 2016 season than any other unit. Last year was a dark time for the group, with too many injuries and shuffling players in and out. The Vikings had a disappointing 8-8 record and third place finish in the NFC North.

Alex Boone (photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings)

Guard Alex Boone, who started 14 games last season, said the line will be improved. Despite injuries, players trying out at different spots and Zimmer still sorting out who his starting five during training camp will be, Boone believes the offensive line will be better.

Boone added, the “biggest thing is getting continuity—you have so many new guys in there and guys are kind of getting shuffled around.” By the opening game next month the goal is to have a unit where everyone is on the same page with how they approach assignments and react.

“Sometimes guys are stubborn,” Boone said. “I am stubborn sometimes. I don’t want to do things everybody else’s way. At the end of the day you gotta look at it as a collective (goal) and say, ‘Is this good for the group?’

“Right now I don’ t think we have any problems with anything. Everybody is kind of on the same board. It’s really getting footwork together and jelling together. How do you see this? How do you see that? How do you want this set? Every day we’re taking steps to get better—and that’s the key to this camp and that’s the key to this league. As long as we keep doing that, we’ll be all right.”

Boone is one of the more interesting and even entertaining Vikings to interview. During the offseason he and his wife Dana took their three young children on a driving trip in a 50-foot RV. They drove from Minneapolis to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, down to Ohio and back to Minnesota.

“It was the greatest time of my life,” Boone said. “I had so much driving for like 18 hours straight.”

Did the kids bother him? “They had an amazing time in the back, just breaking everything. Awesome.”

There’s an assumption that rookie Dalvin Cook will be the starting running back for the Vikings, replacing future Hall of Famer Adrian Peterson. While that’s likely to be true, Jerick McKinnon, with three years of experience and a reputation as one of the NFL’s more effective pass receivers in the backfield, wants more than a third down role for himself.

“…That’s what it’s all about. If you’re not here to compete, then I don’t know why you’re here,” McKinnon said.

Moritz Bohringer, the 23-year-old German native and wide receiver who is trying to make the Vikings gameday roster after spending last year on the practice team, has only been playing American football since 2013. Playing for teams in Germany for three seasons and 40 games, he caught 164 passes for 4,327 yards, averaging 26.4 yards per reception and scoring 57 receiving touchdowns.

The Gophers have football practices open to the public Tuesday (today) and Thursday at the Gibson-Nagurski Football Complex. Both practices begin at 3:30 p.m.

Trevor Hildenberger, the Twins rookie side-armer who got his first Major League save on Sunday in a win over the Tigers, has a 1.57 career ERA in four seasons as a relief pitcher in the minors. Drafted by the Twins in the 23rd round in 2014, the right-handed Hildenberger was even a relief specialist in college where he tied a Cal-Berkley school record with 10 saves in a season.

The Twins are 5-8 so far this season against the Indians, the team they trail by five games in the American League Central Division. With three games this week at Target Field against the Indians, a Minnesota sweep could tighten the division race fast.

It’s likely the Twins will sell a lot of last minute tickets for the series, including tonight’s crowd that perhaps could exceed 32,000.

Former Twins World Series manager Tom Kelly, recently honored with a statue outside Target Field, has his 67th birthday today.

The “clock” is moving fast on first baseman-DH Byung Ho Park, the South Korean slugger who turned 31 last month and is struggling to impress the Twins who acquired him in a much hyped free agent signing in December of 2015. Park is hitting .260 with 10 home runs and 47 RBI in 342 at bats playing for Triple-A Rochester. He has played the entire season with the Red Wings after a part-time showing with Minnesota in 2016 when he hit .191 with 12 home runs and 24 RBI.

The Minnesota Football Coaches Association is reminding prep coaches that annual membership in their organization and the Minnesota State High School Coaches Association makes coaches and players eligible for MFCA post-season awards.

Erik Haula, the former Wild forward now with the expansion Golden Knights, is among the NHL players participating in the summer Da Beauty League in Edina. He will be back in Minnesota November 30 when his Las Vegas team plays the Wild at Xcel Energy Center.

The Wild, in partnership with Minnesota Hockey and the National Sports Center, will host the Mite Fall Jamboree presented by Xcel Energy on September 15-17 at the Center in Blaine. Discounted single game tickets are offered to jamboree participants and families for Wild home preseason games September 21 and 30. More at Wild.com/mites.

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U Looks for Top Opponent at Dome

Posted on April 19, 2017April 19, 2017 by David Shama

Notes on the Gophers, Twins, Vikings and Wild:

John Cunningham, the athletic department administrator who oversees University of Minnesota basketball, said the Gophers don’t know the opponent they will be able to schedule for their December of 2018 game at U.S. Bank Stadium, but he is aiming high. “We’re going to get the best opponent that we can get,” he told Sports Headliners.

Coach Richard Pitino’s team is participating in the trial run game for the April 2019 Final Four scheduled for the new stadium. Minnesota is the host school for the 2019 Final Four and in December of next year they will play the first college game at U.S. Bank Stadium. Local and out of town NCAA representatives will observe and critique the setup for the U.S. Bank Stadium game that will preview by only a few months the 2019 Final Four to determine the men’s national champion.

For awhile the plan was to stage the Gophers game in December of 2017 but Cunningham said it became apparent the timeline for scheduling was too tight. “We felt like we could get a better opponent by moving it back one year,” he said.

U.S. Bank Stadium will also be the site of the 2020 NCAA wrestling championship, the first time the event has ever been staged at a non-arena venue.

Cunningham reported via email today the Gophers have sold over 400 new season tickets for men’s basketball. “Well above where we were last year at this time,” he wrote.

There are various basketball top 25 rankings for next season and they are paying attention to the Gophers. Athlonsports.com put out a top 25 and among Big Ten schools, only Michigan State at No. 13 was ahead of No. 17 Minnesota in the website’s rankings last Wednesday.

Lou Nanne endorses the evaluations of other authorities regarding former Eden Prairie star Casey Mittelstadt who is the state’s 2017 Mr. Hockey and will play for the Gophers next season. Nanne believes the talented forward will be selected among the first 22 players in the June NHL Draft, perhaps going in the top 15. He projects Mittelstadt as some day being an “excellent pro” but sees him maturing in college for a couple of seasons.

Dick Jonckowski, who finished his 31st and final season last month as Gopher basketball public address announcer, will be roasted by the Minnesota Minute Men starting at noon Friday, May 5 at Jax Café. Scheduled roasters include 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.

Gene Taylor’s name was mentioned over a year ago as a possible candidate for the Gophers athletic director vacancy. Taylor, the former North Dakota State AD who was deputy athletics director at Iowa, has been hired to run Kansas State’s athletic department at a starting salary of $450,000 per year, according to an online story Monday by the Topeka Capital-Journal. That’s $400,000 less than Gophers AD Mark Coyle earns.

Word is fundraising for the Gophers Athletes Village now under construction is over $100 million. The projected cost is $166 million.

Don’t bet the title to your lake home but it’s difficult to believe the Wild won’t win tonight’s Game 4 against the Blues in St. Louis. Coach Bruce Boudreau’s Minnesota team trails 0-3 in the best of seven series but could have won any of three close games. Odds now seem to favor the Wild.

Home ice is no guarantee of victory in the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Wild is 0-2 at home in the Blues series and last season lost two of three games at Xcel Energy Center in a playoff series the Stars won 4-2.

Three of the 20 highest paid NHL players are in the Wild-Blues series, according to Spotrac.com. Ryan Suter and Zach Parise from the Wild each earn $7,538,642 and are tied for the 17th highest salaries this season. Vladimir Tarasenko of the Blues, who earns $7,500,000, is tied for 19th with two other players.

Vikings defensive end Brian Robison, who turns 34 on April 27 and is saying he may retire after the 2018 season, is married to Jayme Miller, an accomplished rodeo barrel racer. She attended college on a rodeo scholarship.

J.D. Spielman, son of Vikings general manager Rick Spielman, caught a touchdown pass in the Nebraska spring game last weekend and could be an impact player as a receiver for the Cornhuskers next fall after redshirting as a freshman in 2016.

The Vikings Miller Lite DraftFest will be at U.S. Bank Stadium on Saturday, April 29. The tailgate-themed event is from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and will provide fans the opportunity to meet Vikings players and alumni, while watching rounds four through six of the NFL Draft.

Vikings scheduled to appear throughout the day are linebacker Kentrell Brothers, wide receivers Stefon Diggs and Isaac Fruechte, defensive end Everson Griffen and tight end David Morgan. Ex-Vikings running back Chuck Foreman and safety Paul Krause also plan to attend. A complete schedule of player appearances can be found at Vikings.com closer to the event, which requires paid admissions for adults and teens.

After last night’s win by the Indians over the Twins, Minnesota has now lost three consecutive games for the first time this season. The Twins, 7-7, have lost six of their last eight and are mostly drawing crowds of under 20,000 at Target Field.

Twins third baseman Miguel Sano hit his fourth home run of the season last night. He hasn’t gone more than four games this year without homering.

Malagacy, whose sister Classy Shackles is a Minnesota bred racehorse, has qualified for the 143rd running of the Kentucky Derby May 7. Advance wagering on the Derby at Canterbury Park starts May 4.

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Nanne: Wild Need to Make History

Posted on April 17, 2017April 17, 2017 by David Shama

NHL authority Lou Nanne was asked if the Wild can come back to win their opening playoff series against the Blues. “The statistics are really bad against you, but four teams have done it,” Nanne told Sports Headliners. “You just gotta hope you’re the fifth.”

The Wild trail 3-0 in the best of seven series after yesterday’s loss in St. Louis. Nanne, who was a player, coach, general manager and president of the old Minnesota North Stars, referred to four teams in NHL history that came back from 3-0 deficits to win in a playoff series.

The Wild has lost games by scores of 2-1 twice and 3-1 yesterday. Nanne is “very surprised” the Wild are winless in three games and thought Minnesota would defeat St. Louis in the series. The key difference in the series, Nanne believes, is the goaltending, with Blues goalie Jake Allen out-performing the Wild’s Devan Dubnyk. “This guy (Allen) is giving you nothing,” Nanne said. “He’s playing terrific.”

Allen has stopped 114 of 117 shots in the series from becoming goals. “He’s just been excellent right now,” Nanne said. “You just gotta hope that it changes.”

The Wild had a regular season record second only to the Blackhawks in the Western Conference and was a favorite earlier this month to make the Stanley Cup Finals. Now Minnesota will be desperate for a win Wednesday evening and try for step one in a miracle comeback. Obviously the Wild need to score more goals, but Nanne also believes Dubnyk has to play better.

“They (the Wild) gotta make sure they cut down the chances they give up,” Nanne said. “Dubnky has gotta make sure he doesn’t give up a bad goal. These last two games there’s been a goal a game he should have had. You gotta have them. St. Louis is not giving up those kind of goals. You can’t, then.”

Any other advice for Wednesday night? “Just keep playing hard is the main thing,” Nanne said. “You gotta play hard every shift.”

Worth Noting

The Wild isn’t living up to the potential Sports Illustrated headlined in its latest issue. The six-page story began like this: “The State of Hockey, AKA Minnesota, has never won a Stanley Cup, but with a fiery coach, a resilient core and some homegrown stars, the Wild are giving their loyal fans hope.”

Another feature in the issue included “what if” scenarios for various prominent sports figures, imagining different outcomes in their careers. Included was a photo of legendary college basketball coach John Wooden wearing a Gophers jacket. Back in the 1950s Wooden chose UCLA over the Gophers when Minnesota officials called him later than he anticipated because of a snowstorm and telephone issues. Wooden had already accepted the UCLA job and chose not to go back on his word, even though he was attracted to Minnesota including because of his Midwestern roots.

Don Lucia lost a longtime coaching rival when Red Berenson retired after 33 seasons at Michigan. Berenson retired earlier this month and Lucia recalled that Michigan defeated his Colorado College team in overtime in 1996 for the national championship. “He owes me a ring,” Lucia said with a laugh.

When Lucia had moved on to the Gophers, the two schools met in Frozen Four games. “…I was able to get my revenge in ‘02 and ‘03 because both those years we beat Michigan in the semis,” Lucia told Sports Headliners.

Lucia has long admired Berenson for his competitiveness and professionalism. Lucia thought the Big Ten coaching legend might even retire a year ago. “There was always speculation. I mean, hey, let’s be honest. Not many guys are coaching when they’re 77 years old.”

Lucia, 58, has been the Gophers coach since 1999 and has a contract with two more seasons. No date has been scheduled but he expects to meet sometime this spring with athletic director Mark Coyle. Adding a year or more to Lucia’s deal certainly could be part of discussions. “More is always better than less in any industry,” Lucia said.

Lucia has been conducting meetings with his players and doesn’t expect to lose any underclassmen to the pros other than junior defenseman Ryan Collins. “I’d be very surprised if anything else happened. …I think we’re pretty much getting our group set for next year.”

The Gophers have elected captains for next season but Lucia said an announcement date hasn’t been scheduled.

The Gophers spring football game on Saturday drew several thousand spectators including school president Eric Kaler, and major athletic department donors Dick Ames, and John and Nancy Lindahl.

Gophers coach P.J. Fleck used the game as a recruiting tool for his 2018 class that already has 10 verbal commits and is so far No. 11 in the nation, according to 247Sports composite rankings.

Stanley Jackson, the Big Ten Network color commentator who analyzed the spring game, said during the telecast the Gophers are a “dark horse” candidate to win the West Division next fall.

Free tickets are being offered to state high school and college head football coaches for the 10th annual Minnesota Football Honors event May 7 at U.S. Bank Stadium. The Minnesota Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame is hosting the event, and making six tickets per school available upon request. Coaches needing more information can email sean@nffmn.org.

Although the Twins have lost two of their last three games, during that period Minnesota’s starting pitchers have a 0.43 ERA. Preseason Central Division favorite Cleveland is in Minneapolis starting tonight for a four game series.

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