Tom Wistrcill, University associate athletic director, said over 500 new season tickets have been sold.  Single game tickets go on sale June 4.  Depending on the game, prices will range from $30 to $55 (Wisconsin game). 

When the Boston Celtics play at Target Center on Sunday expect the crowd to provide a friendly greeting to Wally Szczberbiak, but not to Michael Olowokandi.  It was on January 26 last year the two players were traded by the Timberwolves to Boston. 

New Vikings defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier:  “My purpose in being here is to help Brad (Childress) and the players win a Super Bowl.”  Frazier’s title with Indianapolis was special assistant to the head coach/defensive backs.  He said his input with head coach Tony Dungy included the Colts’ salary cap and setting the roster. 

KARE 11 sportscaster Randy Shaver said Paul Magers was back in town in late January visiting friends.  Magers, arguably the best news anchor ever in this market, is with KCBS in Los Angeles.   

Jay Pfaender of Mendota Heights is the new volunteer president of the United States Tennis Association Northern Section.  Pfaender, a former tennis player at Mankato State College, will serve a two-year term.  He is a vice president of Drake Bank in St. Paul and has long been active in community organizations. 

Edina’s Steve Subak, who died last month at 94, was one of America’s pioneer handball players and authorities.  “A great player, a great contributor and a great friend to all who knew him, Subak played and promoted the game as well as anyone in the history of the sport,” according to the US Handball Association’s Web site.

The Minnesota Vikings’ drive for a new stadium may resemble the franchise’s offense this past season, lacking momentum and struggling to find the end zone.  The team’s stadium lease at the Metrodome expires after the 2011 season and ownership can then move the team if it chooses.  The bet here is the Vikings will receive financial assistance for a stadium before 2011 but not this year.  The franchise management and ownership have stated for years their revenues are among the lowest in the NFL and they need a new facility to generate additional income. 

Of primary importance is how to fund a new stadium that with a retractable roof could approach a cost of $1 billion.  It’s anticipated the Vikings will help significantly in the funding but other financing will be needed.  As usual with stadium funding, the financing idea will be controversial.  For example, sales tax revenues from the seven county metro area dedicated to the stadium will receive plenty of opposition including from Anoka County, the intended site for a stadium until the Vikings decided they preferred downtown Minneapolis. 

Not only will it require time to work through a financing plan, but the state legislature, other leaders and the public will need to be sold on the downtown site, retractable roof, and building a third new stadium in a market place already committed to about $800 million in stadium costs for the Twins ballpark and Gopher football stadium. 

A new Viking stadium on the Metrodome site makes sense.  Owner Zygi Wilf can potentially work with the city on land development as part of a stadium deal, enhancing the east side of downtown.  A retractable roof stadium will effectively replace the Metrodome, continuing to provide this area with a large venue serving a variety of uses benefiting the community, from NCAA basketball tournaments to concerts, from high school football and soccer playoffs to tractor pulls, from small college and high school baseball to long distance running.  Such events (the Metrodome is used more for other events than it is for the Twins, Gophers and Vikings) not only serve the community, but they cause economic activity in the city with expenditures for food, lodging, shopping and more.  As the hub city in the region, Minneapolis is the best site for the stadium and like other inner cities across America needs economic activity and renewal. 

While some may swallow hard at the thought of three stadiums for perhaps a total cost of $1.7 billion, each stadium fits a purpose.  The Gophers wanted a college size stadium on campus and many in the University neighborhood didn’t like the idea of the huge crowds a combined Vikings-Gophers facility would bring to the University’s East Bank.  The Twins?  While they must play a few more years in a covered football style facility in the Metrodome, no major league baseball team plays in that kind of stadium anymore.  The Twins’ need for a new stadium has always been the most pressing. 

The Twins and Gophers stadium success was slow to develop in the legislature.  The Vikings have been pitching for a long time, too, but legislators don’t give their support to stadium bills easily and it may take awhile longer, perhaps 2008 or 2009, to see the stadium drive reach the end zone.

Former Gopher hockey coach Glen Sonmor, now a radio analyst on Gopher games, was asked if Minnesota misses Tyler Hirsch, the senior forward who left the team in late December after a career of developments that reportedly provoked the coaching staff.  “I am afraid they have missed him, particularly on the power play. . . . He’s an outstanding offensive talent,” Sonmor said.  “He was as great a passer of the puck on the power play that I have seen in a long time.” 

The Gophers were No. 1 in the country and building on a long winning streak when Hirsch was playing.  They are no longer No. 1, although they still lead the WCHA standings and are ranked No. 2 nationally.  Sonmor said the Gophers particularly miss Hirsch’s assists, and the absence of his offense has contributed to the team’s more recent struggles (losing four of six games during a January stretch). Hirsch had 18 assists in 15 games. 

Does not having Hirsch diminish the team’s national championship goal? “It would be an easier task with him there than without him,” Sonmor said.  “No doubt about it.” 

With or without Hirsch, much of the Gophers’ playoff success will be determined by the goal tending.  “When I look at the strengths of this team, I think the goal keeping is a real strength of it,” Sonmor said. 

In contrast to the past, coach Don Lucia has played two goalies this season, Jeff Frazee and Kellen Briggs.  Both have been impressive.  Sonmor said Lucia doesn’t necessarily have to pick one for the playoffs, noting that Denver won consecutive national championships using two goalies. 

Sonmor is hoping both freshmen stars Erik Johnson and Kyle Okposo say no to the NHL and return next season.  Both can potentially benefit from another season of college hockey where they can become even more dominant players and increase their confidence.  Okposo can particularly gain from another year of physical maturity. 

Johnson, the No. 1 pick in last year’s NHL draft, is the most ready of the Gopher freshmen to move on to the pros.  “He’s the real deal,” Sonmor said. “There’s no question about it.” 

Okposo? “I think that would be a real mistake for that young man to go,” Sonmor said.  “And I don’t think he will go.  I think that he is very education oriented.  And his comments seem to be along that line. .  . . I hope in his wisdom he delays it a little bit.”