Hockey lost a wonderful contributor, and I am mourning the passing of friend and mentor Frank Jirik who died last Thursday.  Frank’s successful sports and entertainment management career included the position of vice president of marketing and building operations for the Met Center and the Minnesota North Stars in the late 1980s.  He fought a courageous battle against cancer for several years.  Visitation will be tonight from 4 to 8 p.m. at White Funeral Home in Apple Valley.  Services are tomorrow at 11 a.m. at Risen Savior Catholic Church in Burnsville.

The Wild were 12-9-2 overall against NHL teams that remain in the Stanley Cup playoffs.  Minnesota was 5-0-0 versus the East (Carolina, Boston, Pittsburgh and Washington) and 7-9-2 versus the West teams  (Anaheim, Chicago, Detroit, Vancouver) remaining.

The Hobey Baker Memorial Awards banquet will be Thursday in St. Paul.  Among those honored will be Hobey Baker recipient Matt Gilroy from Boston University and also Don Roberts from Gustavus, the Hobey Baker Legend of College Hockey award winner.

Harmon Killebrew (see story at top of page) said it was only during the last few years of his career that players began to lift weights.  Killebrew, whose career was from 1954-1975, grew up in Idaho and as a young man lifted bales of hay and 10 gallon milk cans.

“To me those were the golden years of baseball, 50’s, 60’s and early 70s,” Killebrew said.  “I think there was more great players during that era than any other era in the history of the game.  Just look at the guys that played during that period.  …”  Killebrew played with and against many of baseball’s greatest names including Twins teammate Rod Carew, plus Henry Aaron, Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Frank Robinson, Stan Musial, Reggie Jackson, Bob Gibson, Nolan Ryan, and Sandy Koufax.

Gophers cornerback Marcus Sherels missed all of spring practice after shoulder surgery.  His brother Mike Sherels, a formers Gophers linebacker, said Marcus should be ready for the 2009 season.  He said Marcus was one of the Big Ten Conference’s best cornerbacks last season and can play in the NFL.  He also likes the team’s other starting cornerback, Traye Simmons, a senior too.  “I don’t see there’s any reason why those two won’t get a lot of recognition this year,” Mike said.

Tommy Valentini, a native of Duluth, has been named the head men’s tennis coach at Gustavus.  Valentini, who has been an assistant coach for the Gusties for the past three years, will replace Steve Wilkinson who is retiring after serving as the head coach for the last 39 years.  Steve is one of the great college tennis coaches of all-time and has liver cancer.

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MarQueis Gray has yet to play in a college football game, but he’s already stimulating imaginations.  The 18-year-old quarterback from Indianapolis finished spring practice last weekend with his teammates and he sent observers home raving about his potential.

The 6-foot-4, 215-pound Gray is a fluid, skilled athlete.  He moves gracefully on the field, even when coming out of the huddle.  He showed a smooth throwing motion in Saturday’s annual spring game, completing eight of 10 passes including two touchdown passes.  One was a beautiful spiral that went 59 yards to wide receiver Brodrick Smith for a touchdown.

Although the spring game rules didn’t allow quarterbacks to be tackled, Gray comes advertised as a runner, too.  Mike Sherels, who played linebacker for the Gophers a couple years back, has seen Gray impressively break tackles.  In high school Gray ran for 302 yards in five games during his senior year when he missed some games because of injury.

The Gophers have one of the Big Ten Conference’s best returning quarterbacks in junior Adam Weber who has set various school records.  Yet Gophers coach Tim Brewster plans to use Gray, his freshman, in each game, giving him a certain number of plays.

Three years ago at the University of Florida, the Gators had an outstanding senior quarterback named Chris Leak and a new recruit on campus, Tim Tebow.  Recognizing the skills of both, the Gators got both players on the field during the fall of 2006 and went on to win the national championship.

“I see a lot of similarities,” Sherels said.  “…They had Chris Leak, and Tim Tebow was the young upstart, future phenom.  Obviously, we saw glimpses of what he (Tebow) was to become, the player that he is today.  Chris Leak was, at that point, a three year starter.  Much like Adam Weber he was very comfortable with the offense, a future pro draft pick. They (the Gators) found a really good balance as far keeping Tim Tebow’s plate small and having him (take) 10, 12, 15 snaps a game.  Just having him be really good at all of those plays.  Chris Leak-Adam Weber is that every down guy and the leader of the team.”

It requires a large imagination to see Gray duplicating what Tebow, who will be a senior at Florida this fall, has already accomplished.  The Gators’ quarterback has won the Heisman Trophy and played on two national championship teams.

Yet it’s tempting to liken Gray’s potential with well-known names.  Minnesota’s quarterback looks like a better passer than Ohio State’s 6-foot-6 Terrelle Pryor, the No. 1 high school recruit in the nation a year ago.  Brewster has likened Gray to another tall quarterback, 6-foot-5 Vince Young who led Texas to the 2005       national title.

And then long ago Sandy Stephens, a powerful 6-foot, 215-pound quarterback who could run better than he passed, helped the Gophers to the 1960 national championship. Stephens may have been the most physically gifted quarterback the Gophers ever had.  Even though Gray has yet to play a game, and will face failure and success as a young quarterback, go ahead and imagine that one day he will be a candidate for the school’s most talented guy ever to play that position.

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The 2010 Gopher football schedule still needs two more non-conference teams. The two non-conference teams already booked are home games with South Dakota September 11 and USC September 18.

Seantrel Henderson, the 6-foot-8 Cretin-Derham Hall tackle who is rated the No. 1 prep prospect in the country, is playing AAU basketball this spring.

The Vikings, who upgraded their pass catching by drafting explosive Percy Harvin from Florida last weekend, might have had an extraordinary receiver trio in Bernard Berrian, the team’s leading receiver last season, along with Harvin and T.J. Houshmandzadeh, a coveted free agent who left Cincinnati and signed with Seattle rather than coming here.  You wonder whether the opportunity to play with quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, who has been a high achiever, was a major factor in turning down the Vikings who have two guys with modest resumes, Tarvaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels. Both are trying to prove they deserve to be the starter.  Figure Houshmandzadeh knows what he’s doing, though.  His last name means “son of wisdom” in Persian, according to Wikipedia.

Harvin has apparently fast tracked his learning curve.  It was just weeks ago that he reportedly tested positive for marijuana but last weekend announced he’s more mature and learned from past mistakes.

Local journalist Larry Fitzgerald Sr. told Sports Headliners via e-mail that his son Marcus, a former wide receiver at Marshall University, will be among the rookies and free agents trying out for the Vikings at the team’s mini-camp tomorrow through Sunday.

Cornerback Asher Allen, the Vikings third round pick, will likely see his former Georgia teammate Matthew Stafford in the second game of the regular season.  Stafford, who was the first overall pick in last weekend’s NFL draft, could be starting at quarterback for Detroit while Allen might have spot assignments for the Vikings, assuming he makes the team.

Allen was asked if going against Stafford in practice, versus a player better than he would see in a game, elevated his skills.  “Picture this for a second: This was my practice; it was Stafford throwing to Mohammed Massoqoui, who is with the Browns now, and Knowshon Moreno (Denver first round pick last week). That was practice. That was for three years. …There were plenty of fights out there between the guys. Just how competitive we are.  By the time you got there you were ready for the game. You were looking around like, ‘Man, this is not the same. This is pretty easy.’ …”

With catcher Joe Mauer set to join the Twins, it won’t be surprising if erratic center fielder Carlos Gomez is optioned to the minors later this week to clear roster space.  Another possibility is to place catcher Mike Redmond, who has had problems with a groin injury and now a sore shoulder, on the disabled list.  Redmond, who turns 38 next week, probably is in his last season with the Twins who have the 26-year-old Mauer and also good catching prospects.

Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon talking in the Sporting News about which players he couldn’t make the playoffs without: “If you look at the whole group, quite frankly, it’s hard to replace Navi’s position (catcher Dioner Navarro) and it’s hard to replace J.B. (Jason Bartlett at shortstop). …”   Bartlett, the Twins former shortstop, is solid defensively and hitting .368.

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