Wild – Page 59 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

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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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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