Minnesota Wild vice president of communications and broadcasting Bill Robertson is intrigued about a possible outdoor NHL game in Minnesota, but made it clear nothing is formally being planned or negotiated now with the NHL or local organizations.  “Certainly we are exploring options and will look at that in the future,” he said. “The venue would need to be determined and we would work with the NHL on that project as well, but certainly it has peaked our interest. …”  The prospect of such a game here is enhanced by yesterday’s outdoor game in Buffalo between the Sabres and Pittsburgh, and also by the future availability of new outdoor stadiums for the Gophers and Twins.  Joel Maturi, Minnesota athletic director, told Sports Headliners via e-mail that his department will consider an outdoor game involving the Gophers and “would consider renting the stadium to the Wild if they are interested.”  Dave St. Peter, Twins president, said via e-mail that his organization would consider an outdoor hockey game but that the organization does need to be comfortable with placing a hockey rink on the baseball stadium’s natural grass surface.  The new Gopher stadium will have an artificial playing surface.

It will be awhile before the puzzlement ends over the four year, $48 million contract Seattle awarded to free agent Carlos Silva, the former Twins starter.  A Twins source, not pitching coach Rick Anderson, said it wasn’t even certain that Silva would make the team coming out of spring training earlier this year. Silva was 13-14 with a 4.19 ERA last season. The year before he was 11-15 with a 5.94 ERA, giving up 38 home runs in about 180 innings.

Attention Gopher basketball fans: hope you have access to the Big Ten Network.  The much anticipated conference opener with Michigan State at East Lansing on Saturday night is only available on the Big Ten Network.

Isaiah Dahlman, the former Minnesota Mr. Basketball, has played in eight games, starting none for Michigan State.  The 6-6 sophomore from Braham is averaging 1.3 points per game.  He started eight games last season and averaged 6.1 points.

Former Gophers basketball assistant coach Jesse Evans agreed to a somewhat puzzling leave of absence last week from his job as head coach at the University of San Francisco.  The cause isn’t clear and neither is his return.  Evans has had three consecutive losing seasons and his interim successor is legendary coach Eddie Sutton, although there’s speculation he may coach the Dons beyond this season.

The 12th annual Gatorade Timberwolves Shootout is Saturday at Target Center and will include over 20 players expected to play Division I basketball.  Players of note include Rivals.com No. 1 point guard Jrue Holiday from Campbell Hall High School (California), plus Demarcus Cousins of LeFlore High School (Alabama) and Joe Jackson from White Station High School (Tennessee). The event will feature five of Minnesota’s top boys teams, plus defending Class 4A girls state champion St. Paul Central, all playing against teams from various parts of the country. Tickets for all six games are available for $10 at the Target Center box office on Saturday.  A ticket purchase also includes a free ticket to a future Timberwolves game.

Longar Longar, the center from Rochester, scored 22 points for Oklahoma as the Sooners beat nationally ranked West Virginia in Morgantown last Saturday. The 6-11 senior averages 13.4 points per game.

Sporting goods retailers across the country sold more Boston Celtics logoed merchandise than any other NBA team during the four weeks leading up to December 23, according to a story on Espn.com.  Former Timberwolf Kevin Garnett’s No. 5 Boston jersey is one of the most popular in the NBA.

Greg Jones, from Cincinnati, was a favored recruit in 2006 when Glen Mason was coaching at Minnesota and he might have become a Gopher.  Instead, he’s at Michigan State where the linebacker led the Spartans in tackles during the season and made two freshman all-American teams, Rivals.com and Scout.com.

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The Sports Headliners pick is Ohio State but Gopher coach Tim Brewster likes LSU to win the national championship on January 7 in New Orleans.  Brewster told Sports Headliners that the game will be a “great match-up” but he favors LSU because of the Tigers’ speed and athleticism.  He also thinks the best team in college football right now isn’t playing in the national championship game.

Brewster acknowledged LSU has had “distractions” because of rumors that head coach Les Miles might go to Michigan and defensive coordinator Bo Pellini is the new head coach at Nebraska.  With or without the distractions being a factor, I am going with OSU because I think coach Jim Tressel is a better coach than Miles and I often prefer underdogs in bowl games.  The Buckeyes have extra motivation after their humiliating 41-14 loss to Florida in last season’s national championship game.

Brewster noted that in the previous two years Illinois was 4-19 and now the Illini, coming off a 9-3 season, are in the Rose Bowl where they have the task of meeting USC next Tuesday, New Year’s Day. No doubt Brewster, who was 1-11 this season, wants to not only copy the Illini’s explosive spread offense but also the success of challenging for a Big Ten title and earning a trip to Pasadena.  With all of his Big Ten loyalty, though, he isn’t predicting a win by the Illini over the Trojans.  He said “facing probably the best team in college football” means a long day for Illinois.

I agree with Brewster about the Rose Bowl. I also wouldn’t wager a Buckeye leaf that Michigan will beat Florida in Lloyd Carr’s last game as the Wolverines’ coach.  Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Tim Tebow, only a sophomore, is the future; Carr is the past.  On New Year’s Day in the Capital One Bowl the athletic Gators will make the present go very fast for Carr and Michigan.  Brewster agrees with my pick, noting it’s “going to be hard for Lloyd and his kids.”

The best of the bowls on New Year’s Day could be the Outback Bowl with Wisconsin and Tennessee.  Brewster foresees a competitive game and said the offenses are similar including use of play action passes.  The Badgers are impressive in bowl games, 9-3 since 1993. I say Bucky will give the Big Ten its only win on New Year’s Day.

The best storyline of the bowl season to many observers is Indiana.  The historically horrible Hoosiers are playing in the Insight Bowl on Monday night against Oklahoma State.  It’s Indiana’s first bowl game since 1993 and only the 10th in school history. Part of what drove the Hoosiers to bowl land was the team’s dedication to coach Terry Hoeppner who died before the season.  Brewster said the former IU coach “will be watching up above” and predicted the Hoosiers’ emotion will carry them to a win over the Cowboys.

Tomorrow night Joe Paterno’s Penn State team plays Texas A&M in the Alamo Bowl.  Looks like a close match-up but I like Paterno to win in what will be the 500^th game of his young career.  I can’t wait to see the ageless one in game No. 1,000.  Brewster is an admirer of Aggie quarterback Stephen McGee who he likens to the Gophers’ Adam Weber.  McGee, just like Weber, led the Aggies in passing and rushing for the season.

Michigan State isn’t given much chance in tonight’s (Friday) Champs Sports Bowl against Boston College and quarterback Matt Ryan, a Heisman Trophy hopeful earlier this season.  But, then again, remember underdogs often surprise in bowl games and this season of college football has delivered some of the most stunning upsets in memory.

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Brewster said the recent national letter of intent signings of four outstanding junior college players is just a prelude to his first recruiting class that will be completed by February 6 when high school players can commit to colleges.

Last week the Gophers signed safety Tramaine Brock, quarterback David Pittman,  linebacker Rex Sharpe and cornerback Traye Simmons. Brewster described the foursome as “the cream of the crop” among junior college players.

Brewster said the junior college players are expected to make an immediate impact.  He doesn’t recruit junior college players to provide depth.  All four will have two years of eligibility and can participate in spring practice starting in late March.

Pittman is a versatile athlete who may play defense and that would mean all the junior college recruits are helping to rebuild one of the nation’s worst defenses.  The task is made more difficult by the loss of star senior safety Dom Barber but Brock and Simmons will help in the secondary.  Rivals.com rates Simmons the no. 4 junior college defensive back in the country.

The Gophers recruiting is rated No. 24 in the country by rivals.com.  Among Big Ten Conference schools only Ohio State, Michigan and Illinois rank higher.

Brewster can’t talk specifically about recruits at this time, including those who have made verbal commitments and players who are likely to do so.  “It will be a tremendous recruiting class,” Brewster said.

Among those players interested in the Gophers but not committed is quarterback MarQueis Gray, from Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis.   Gray is likely to commit to Minnesota or Oregon within the first several days of January.  He is rated by rivals.com as the No. 2 dual purpose quarterback in the nation.

Brewster has a few scholarships remaining for this recruiting class but he declined to say how many the Gophers will use in 2008.  No doubt other schools are aware of Brewster’s recruiting success and wondering who he may close his recruiting class with.  His son Nolan, among the nation’s best prep safeties, is verbally committed to Texas but speculation continues that he may sign with Minnesota.

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