Wild – Page 9 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Quartet of Local Stars Reminds of 4 Greats 20 Years Ago

Posted on June 5, 2024June 5, 2024 by David Shama

The sensational return of third baseman Royce Lewis to the Twins’ roster yesterday and the announcement of a new contract for Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson on Monday is a reminder that this town’s four major pro sports teams each has a superb young player who likely will entertain fans for years to come.

Lewis, Jefferson, shooting guard Anthony Edwards of the Timberwolves and wing Kirill Kaprizov of the Wild are cornerstones for their teams, and prompt memories of the best foursome who ever played at the same time in this area for Minnesota’s big four teams. Twenty years ago, Minneapolis-St. Paul lit up with star power having Marian Gaborik from the Wild, Kevin Garnett of the Wolves, Joe Mauer from the Twins and Randy Moss of the Vikings.

Mauer goes into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum this summer, while Garnett and Moss are already enshrined in the basketball and football halls. Only Gaborik isn’t enshrined in his sport’s hall of fame.

Jefferson and Edwards look like they’re on track to be hall of famers for sure. Lewis has flashed the potential to be mentioned among baseball’s best players in today’s game. Kaprizov brings fans out of their seats in anticipation of what he might do but he has to build on his success to become a hall of famer.

Lewis, who turns 25 today, has played in just 72 games (counting 2024) over three seasons as the injury gods have been cruel to him and his adoring fans. But, oh my, what anticipation the gifted hitter has set for all who follow him. Last October he became the third player in MLB history to homer in his first two postseason at bats. He set the stage for the dramatic during the regular season by hitting four grand slams in a 20-game span as he helped the Twins win the AL Central Division title. Last night after his return from a severe quadriceps strain, all he did was produce one of only two Twins hits in their loss to the Yankees, hitting a home run and making a terrific play in the field.

Jefferson, 24, is a three-time Pro Bowler who in his first four seasons set an NFL record for receiving yards with 5,889. He has produced four consecutive seasons of 1,000-plus receiving yards. In 2022 he became the youngest player in NFL history to lead the league in receptions (128) and receiving yards (1,809). His new deal, reportedly for $140 million, makes him the highest paid non-quarterback in league history.

Edwards, 22, is already a two-time All-Star Game selection. This spring he was named second team All-NBA for the first time in his four-year career. An explosive scorer, he emerged this season as the alpha on the team averaging a career-high 25.9 points per game. He became the first player in franchise history to average 25-plus points per game, and five-plus rebounds and assists. He was often brilliant in the playoffs as the Wolves reached the Western Conference playoffs for the first time in 20 years.

The electric Kaprizov, who turned 27 last month and is a three-time All-Star, easily broke Gaborik’s franchise rookie record of 36 points. The Russian native had 51 points to lead all NHL rookies in 2020-2021. In Kaprizov’s second season, he broke the franchise record for goals (42) held by Gaborik and Eric Staal. His 47 goals were part of his 108 points season (100 points a first in franchise history) while helping the Wild to a record number of wins at 53.

Worth Noting

Dawson Garcia, who led the basketball Gophers in scoring last season at 17.6 points per game, has a Name, Image and Likeness deal with Dakotah Sport and Fitness in Prior Lake. The former Prior Lake all-state player grew up working out at the facility.

Charles Barkley’s TV commentary on the Timberwolves’ playoff games this spring prompted a favorite memory from Dave Mona. He recently wrote about it on Facebook reminiscing about how his company had produced a lithograph honoring the 50 greatest players in NBA history. It was back in 1997 that Mona and his wife Linda were in Cleveland charged with obtaining signatures from the players—including Barkley—on all 250 lithographs.

“About halfway through the signing it was clear he was starting to tire,” Mona said on Facebook. “He was cracking his neck and flexing his fingers. Linda, who was standing over his right shoulder, started to give him a back rub and it was obvious he loved it.

‘Can you come up to my hotel room after we’re done here,’ he suggested. ‘You’d have to ask my husband,’ she said. ‘He’s the one handing you the sharp pencils.’

Mona wrote that Barkley smiled and said: “He can come too.”

Rob Fornasiere, the longtime assistant coach to Golden Gophers head baseball coach John Anderson, emailed several eye-catching stats about his former boss who retired at age 69 this spring. The statistics, gathered by Joel Rippel from the Star Tribune, include these gems: Anderson coached in over half of all games the baseball Gophers have ever played—dating back 136 years—and his 1,390 wins is 49 percent of the program’s total victories.

Anderson took over as Minnesota’s head coach in 1981 and since then there have been 55 other Big Ten coaches. He and Fornasiere coached together for 1,943 games over 33 seasons, winning 1,164 games.

Minnesota sports and entertainment icon Dick Jonckowski will emcee next Monday’s tribute for the late Jim Carter, the well-known South St. Paul and former Golden Gophers athlete. At Minnesota Carter played hockey but was best known as a physical running back who was a key contributor to the 1967 Big Ten title team and captained the 1969 football Gophers. The tribute, organized by former football teammate Jim Brunzell, will be held at 7 Vines Vineyard and Winery in Dellwood, and will be attended by former Carter teammates and other friends. Carter passed away in California last November.

Per a news release yesterday from the University of Minnesota Athletic Department, Golden Gophers athletes continue to excel academically. The cross country, men’s golf, gymnastics and women’s hockey programs earned a perfect academic progress rate score for the 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years.

Twelve programs earned a perfect APR score in the most recent reporting year of 2022-23: men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s cross country, football, men’s golf, gymnastics, women’s hockey, softball, women’s swimming, women’s tennis and volleyball. https://gophersports.com/news/2024/6/4/athletics-minnesota-continues-to-shine-in-academic-progress-rate

Belated Happy Birthday to Lou Nanne who turned 83 Sunday. Over a period of 25 years Minnesota’s Mr. Hockey was a player, coach, GM and president of the NHL North Stars.

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Wild Owner: Teams Want Brock Faber, Won’t Get Him

Posted on May 28, 2024May 28, 2024 by David Shama

Want to get Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold in a good mood after his team missed the playoffs this spring for the first time since 2019 and only the second time in the last 12 years?

Then ask him about Maple Grove native, former Gopher and budding star Brock Faber. Playing in his first full season for the Wild, the young defenseman finished tied for second among NHL rookies with 47 points (eight goals, 39 assists) while leading first-year players in average time on the ice per game (24:58) and season (2,047:53). In 82 games Faber ranked first in blocked shots (150), tied for first in assists (39), third in power-play assists (13), third in power-play points (16), tied for sixth in power-play goals (three) and eighth in shots on goal (136).

“Oh, my God. He’s a stud,” Leipold told Sports Headliners. “He’s a great player. He played with some injuries at the end of the year that nobody had any idea (it was happening). He’s a smart player, very cerebral on the ice. Every team in the league would love to get their hands on Brock. That will never happen.”

Injuries to other defensemen presented increased playing time last season and Leipold said the 6-foot-1, 200-pound Minnesotan responded in a way “we weren’t expecting.” The Wild owner since 2008 thinks next season will be even better for Faber, including because he will be able to team with a veteran defenseman in either 30-year-old Jonas Brodin or 34-year-old Jared Spurgeon.

Leipold gushes about Faber for both his talent and character. “He’s just a wonderful kid and people love him in the locker room. He is so respectful. …He’s only 21 but he has the maturity and the presence of a player that’s been in our team and in our league for a lot longer than just one year.”

The Wild, with Wild GM Bill Guerin making a savvy trade in June of 2022 to acquire Faber, has him under contract through next season. Even after that he would be a restricted free agent allowing Minnesota to match any offer from another team. Speculation is Minnesota, could extend control this offseason by negotiating a new deal possibly paying more than $9 million per season.

That compensation would top Kirill Kaprizov’s reported five-year deal averaging $9 million per season. The NHL All-Star forward has two years remaining on his contract and the electric scorer is a player Wild fans fret about him becoming an unrestricted free agent.

The Wild can’t negotiate with the 27-year-old Kaprizov until the next offseason. In his first four seasons with Minnesota, the team has yet to advance beyond the first round of the playoffs and it’s expected playing on a winning team will be a factor in a decision regarding a new deal.

“He’s just like the owner (about winning). You know, I am not happy where we are,” Leipold said. “You know we had no luck last year. But we didn’t play particularly well to overcome some of the bad injury issues.

“So, everything about that is on the table and I think everyone of our players, not just Kirill, but they all want to see a path they can look at and feel confident that we have the right hockey operations with the right strategy to get us back into the playoffs. And frankly, just being in the playoffs is not good enough.”

Earlier in the month Leipold, Guerin and other decision makers met in the Bahamas for the club’s annual offseason planning meeting. Leipold described the gathering as one where “everything was on the table.” That included a three-year plan where the brain trust looks forward to next offseason when the Wild frees itself from reportedly $14.7 million in dead salary cap space from the payroll—the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts.

Asked about key things that need to change for the Wild to improve on last season’s team that won five more games than it lost, Leipold first mentioned the penalty kill, describing it “as bad as it’s ever been.” He also said: “Our faceoffs are not good. They haven’t been good for years.”

Scoring has long been an issue for Minnesota and Leipold said the offense was “great” by the first line, okay from the second, but the third and fourth under performed. He expects Guerin to address scoring in the offseason, hinting at a move that perhaps will be made outside the organization.

Goal tending, mediocre last season, is another roster issue intriguing fans in the offseason and for next fall and winter. Veterans Marc-Andre Fleury and Filip Gustavsson, and hyped prospect Jesper Wallstedt are in the mix, with Leipold predicting the team could start the season with all three on the roster. “Specifically, what we do with our goal tending is still up in the air,” Leipold said.

The Wild will head into training camp in September with John Hynes beginning his first full camp and season as head coach. He took over a slumping Wild team late in November, replacing the fired Dean Evason.

Was Leipold caught off guard when Guerin told him he wanted to change coaches? “No, I wasn’t surprised. I really like Dean and so does Billy. We needed to shake up the team and you can’t move 22, 23 players. You can’t fire 23 players. We made a move at coaching in hopes that that would shake them up. It did. So, we accomplished what we wanted to but the hole was a little deep and we couldn’t get out of it.”

Leipold said he and Guerin gave Hynes “a really high grade” for his first time leading the Wild, a team that was plagued by injuries. Leipold described Hynes as a strategic thinker, a coach who is willing to do things differently and is liked by the players.

And, oh, yes, there is another way to keep Leipold in an upbeat mood following a season he didn’t like. Ask him about the franchise’s season tickets renewal. He reports a 90 percent renewal figure, describing it as an “extraordinary rate” and a testament to the “State of Hockey.”

Gophers-Tommies Building Hockey Rivalry

The Golden Gophers won their hockey series with St. Thomas last October and it was announced today the developing rivalry will continue in 2024 as part of nonconference scheduling for the programs. The Tommies will play Minnesota on October 25 at 3M Arena at Mariucci. The two teams meet again October 26 at Xcel Energy Center.

The Tommies, who transitioned from Division III to Division I hockey in 2021, have an improving program. They played the Gophers in an instant classic overtime at Xcel Energy Center last season, losing 6-5 before an announced crowd of more than 11,000. The next evening (October 14) Minnesota won at home 3-0.

The Gophers announced their complete nonconference schedule today as the program enters its 104^th season. The schedule begins October 11 and 12 with the Gophers hosting the Ice Breaker Tournament at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Minnesota opens the tourney against Air Force Academy on October 11 and continues October 12 against either Omaha or UMass.

More at https://gophersports.com/news/2024/5/28/mens-hockey-gophers-release-2024-25-non-conference-schedule.

Comments Welcome

Tuesday Perk You Up: Name Dropping and Telling Stories

Posted on May 7, 2024May 7, 2024 by David Shama

Quips and other nuggets to entertain and inform:

Writing columns week after week is something like being the fifth husband of a Hollywood beauty. You have a general idea what to do, but can you come up with something new?

I’ve had many career stops over the years. Never forget long ago driving by my place of work when our youngest son looked out the car window and said: “Hey, Dad, there’s the place that gives you nightmares!”

I’ll say it right now: if the Timberwolves can stay injury free—and play at the level of their first six playoff wins—plan on an NBA championship parade in Minneapolis in June.

The Wolves’ swarming, electric defense last night in their 106-80 victory over the Nuggets might have been the best in franchise history.

I’ve tried to watch Wolves playoff games on TV with the sound off while listening to Alan Horton, the team’s superb radio voice. Too confusing, though, because the radio play-by-play isn’t closely synched to the TV action.

A friend, lamenting about Byron Buxton being on the Injured List for what seems like 100 times in his career, said this: “He’s made of glass.”

Didn’t ask him about Royce Lewis, who may be more talented than Buxton and more effervescent than anyone in baseball. Third consecutive season Lewis is sidelined with a major injury.

No Twins TV games on Comcast has me following the club on radio. Shocker! That’s how years ago many of us tracked the team. Even the rain delays were entertaining with broadcaster and master storyteller Halsey Hall spinning yarns that had the audience laughing and in no hurry for the skies to clear.

Wonder if the Pohlad family has Twins critic A.J. Pierzynski on their Christmas cards list?

There’s palpable optimism about next fall’s Golden Gophers football team after an off-season injection of talent and retention of top players from the 2023 roster.

Sorry, can’t use the “P” word about Gopher men’s basketball but can regarding Dawn Plitzuweit’s women’s team. Based on her first season and impressive overall coaching record she could turn out to be one of AD Mark Coyle’s best hires.

Thanks to the Big Ten’s West Coast expansion, the football Gophers have a more intriguing schedule than usual, with a trip to the Rose Bowl to play UCLA and hosting blue-blood USC. The first time the Trojans ever played in Minneapolis was in 1955. The weather for the late October game was a doozy, with the wind, sleet and snow credited with slowing down a fast USC team ranked No. 10 in the country.

The unranked Gophers prevailed, winning 25-19, with an L.A. Times reporter saying the game was played before “64,592 prospective pneumonia patients.” That quote is from coach Murray Warmath’s biography, “The Autumn Warrior” by Mike Wilkinson, who wrote when the Trojans arrived the day before the game the temps were in the 50s but when they woke up Saturday, October 29 the message was: “Welcome to Minnesota, this ain’t Tinsel Town.”

Here’s more fuel for the fan frenzy over first round draft choice J.J. McCarthy: the 21-year-old quarterback is the same age Fran Tarkenton was in his rookie season with the Vikings in 1961.

One of the many things Charley Walters and I agree on is a dislike for public speaking. The popular Pioneer Press columnist once told me: “I abhor speaking. I am not very good at it and I got nothing to say—and I’ll probably have a toothache that day.”

My friend Bob Klas has the most impressive memory for calendar dates of anyone I’ve even known. He emailed Sunday to say it was 24 years ago that coach Bill Musselman died on May 5, 2000, and that Thursday will be Lindsay Whalen’s 42^nd birthday.

I golfed so poorly the last time out I considered retirement. That notion lasted about five days, a little longer than previous retirements.

I haven’t been fishing yet, but the outlook is more encouraging than the links. My grandson discovered a “fishing hole” a couple of years ago that must be one of the best in the metro. I’d rather give you the password to my I-phone than reveal the secret spot.

Shout out to Mike Max for the referral, and the pros at Hopkins Health and Wellness for corralling my back misery.

It makes almost no sense: in the State of Hockey, neither the North Stars nor Wild have ever won the Stanley Cup.

Foreign confusion: when I worked for the Stars, we had a European player who was pulled over by the police and asked for his driver’s license. Guess what? A Czechoslovakian license didn’t work here.

Never know how this intern business will turn out. Two that we had at Met Center are now Twins president Dave St. Peter, and sports reporter and podcaster Judd Zulgad.

Zulgad posted this on X over the weekend: “The one good thing about Angel Hernandez behind the plate is he has no biases. He’s terrible for both teams.”

The explosion in pickleball popularity is the shadow hanging over tennis. Courts are being converted to pickleball. The 50 and over crowd is switching to the easier to play, more social and gender friendly game. Word is the best pickleball players are former tennis players.

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