The Winter Classic could come here just six months after the NHL Entry Draft that will be at Xcel Energy Center June 24 and 25.

The Wild have holiday home games tonight, Friday and Sunday against the Sharks, Predators and Coyotes.  All three are likely sellouts although some tickets remained as of Monday.

The Gophers need to upgrade their nonconference basketball schedule.  The list of teams isn’t a good enough value for season ticket holders and not a single 2010 nonconference game sold out at Williams Arena, while most, or all, Big Ten games will.  Not only that, but the Gopher players often appeared disinterested with a group of opponents that included Eastern Kentucky, Akron and South Dakota State.

The Gophers played one team with a marquee name at home, Virginia.  The nonconference home schedule should include at least three opponents who create anticipation and excitement.  Coach Tubby Smith is a natural for games against Kentucky, the school where he coached championship teams before coming here, and also versus Louisville and coach Rick Pitino who was his mentor at Kentucky.  And how about an annual rivalry game against Iowa State where former Timberwolves guard Fred Hoiberg is in his first season as Cyclones head coach?

The Wolves’ Kevin Love has 20 games (out of 32) this season where he’s had 15+ points and 15+ rebounds, more than anyone else in the NBA.  He leads the league in rebounding at 15.5 rebounds per game.

Teammate Darko Milicic is averaging NBA career highs in points, 9.1, and blocks, 2.4.

The Wolves are at home both tonight against the Nuggets and on Saturday versus the Nets, then play their one and only game in Boston on Monday night against Kevin Garnett and the Celtics.

Lynx fans have reason to be interested in the Connecticut women’s basketball team beyond the Huskies’ record games winning streak.  Two-time college player of the year Maya Moore is likely to be the No. 1 pick in the next WNBA draft and the Lynx own that draft choice.

Yesterday was the last day for fan voting in the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year balloting.  Voting took place in four college football divisions including Division II where one of the five finalists is University of Minnesota Duluth national championship coach Bob Nielson.  St. Thomas’ Glenn Caruso and Bethel’s Steve Johnson are two of the five finalists in Division III.

The winner in each division receives a Liberty Mutual Coach-of-the-Year trophy, plus $50,000 to donate to the charity of his choice and $20,000 to donate to his school’s alumni association. A selection committee of national media and members of the College Football Hall of Fame determines winners along with fan balloting.  Winners will be announced on the Internet January 10. www.coachoftheyear.com.

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It irks Gophers fans to look at Wisconsin’s lineup and see three Minnesotans starting but that’s reality when the two teams open the Big Ten season in Madison tomorrow night.  The Gophers are expected to start three or four players who played high school basketball in Minnesota.

The “Minnesota East” versus “Minnesota West” matchup just adds drama to a game that really doesn’t need more emotion.  The 11-1 Gophers, a top 25 team, hope for a fast start in the Big Ten Conference race but so, too, does 10-2 Wisconsin, a team that’s close to earning a national ranking and like Minnesota regarded as an NCAA tournament club come March.

And, of course, no matter when Minnesota and Wisconsin play in basketball, football or hockey, emotions soar in the Border Battle.  But having all those Minnesota natives on the floor makes tomorrow night’s game more intriguing than usual.

The Badgers are expected to start Jon Leuer (Orono), Jordan Taylor (Bloomington) and Mike Bruesewitz (St. Paul).  Leuer, a mobile sharp shooting 6-9 forward, is a future NBA draft choice and could end his senior season as the Big Ten’s MVP.  The muscular 6-1 Taylor is among the conference’s best point guards at both ends of the floor.  Bruesewitz, 6-6, is a blue collar forward whose scrappiness stands out on a team that knows only one way to write the word hustle, in capital letters.

Minnesota Mr. Basketball chair Ken Lien saw all three Badgers when they were high school players.  “I would sure like to see them in the maroon and gold,” he said.  “They went there for a reason because Wisconsin showed high interest in them because they fit into the system that (coach) Bo (Ryan) runs over there. …If the coaching situation had been different at the University some of those kids might have stayed home.”

When Leuer was in high school the Gophers coach was Dan Monson.  He was fired during Leuer’s senior season.  His father, Mike, told Sports Headliners that Jon certainly had interest in Minnesota.

“I think if you go back four years ago it was a little bit tumultuous at Minnesota and there was a lot of uncertainty,” his dad said.  “I think Jon wanted to go to a place where he felt it was stable, a good environment and winning tradition.   He had a lot of good choices.  …Minnesota was high on the radar on the list but when it was all said and done Wisconsin was his best fit and that’s what he decided on.”

Taylor, a junior at Wisconsin, had committed to the Badgers before Gophers coach Tubby Smith arrived here.  Bruesewitz, a sophomore, was a high school senior at Henry Sibley the same year Royce White played at Hopkins and Rodney Williams was at Cooper.  Three similar forwards and the Gophers preferred White and Williams.

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Minnesota athletic director Joel Maturi answering a question on how well new football coach Jerry Kill, who last fall coached Northern Illinois to an upset win over the Gophers, will recruit: “He recruited well enough to beat us.”

Tracy Claeys, the Gophers new defensive coordinator, will be the speaker at the C.O.R.E.S luncheon on Thursday, January 13.  If Kill is in town, he will also speak. C.O.R.E.S members can make reservations by contacting Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net. C.O.R.E.S is an acronym for coaches, officials, educators, reporters and sports fans.

Brainerd football coach Ron Stolski, who is also executive director of the Minnesota Football Coaches Association, emailed this about Kill: “It is a great hire.”

The association’s annual spring clinic will be March 31-April 2. www.mnfootballclinic.com

Former Gophers national championship football coach Murray Warmath’s 98^th birthday was yesterday.

Akron athletic director Tom Wistrcill, a former Gophers associate athletic director, was in town before Christmas to watch his Zips lose to Minnesota in a game that Akron received about $80,000 to play at Williams Arena.  Wistrcill said there are no immediate plans to schedule another game between the two schools.  Akron’s coach is Keith Dambrot who was LeBron James’ high school coach.

Akron is James’ home town and despite his defection from Cleveland to Miami, Wistrcill said James remains popular in Akron.  James’ relationship with Dambrot enabled the Zips to have a sponsorship with Nike.  James still works out during the summer at the Zips’ basketball court.

Former Gophers basketball star Clyde Turner runs his annual holiday basketball camp for youngsters starting today and continuing through Thursday at Farview Park in Minneapolis.

After the Vikings-Giants Monday night game in Detroit two weeks ago, interim coach Leslie Frazier attended a downtown 7 a.m. breakfast with community leaders who gathered to hear a year-end review about the Gophers and local pro teams.  Frazier didn’t arrive back in Minneapolis until about 3 a.m. that morning.

Vikings quarterback Brett Favre and wife Deanna flew to Milwaukee earlier this month to visit a five-year-old boy dying from cancer.  The youngster has been writing the number 4 backward and Favre has honored him by wearing a towel with a backward 4.

The University of Minnesota Duluth football program is the only one in Division II history to have two 15-0 seasons.  The Bulldogs won Division II national titles this year and 2008 with 15-0 records led by coach Bob Nielson.  If administrators at the local branch of the U are wise, they will consider Nielson, who has experience as an athletic director, as Maturi’s eventual successor in the Gophers athletic department.

No need to look twice but that was Ivy League Yale ranked No. 1 in college hockey last week.  Yale was No. 1 in the USAToday/USA Hockey Magazine men’s poll while the Gophers were unranked.

Instructive words from Wayne Gretzky directed at hockey crazed parents in last week’s The Fischler Report: expose your children to other sports.  “Especially the ages of 10 through 13,” Gretzky said in the report.  “You need a break from hockey.  It refreshes you.”

Ticket King notified potential buyers via email that tickets for $25 each were available for last week’s Wild-Calgary game at Xcel Energy Center.

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