Nicolas Platter knows about patience.  The 26-year-old Californian waited two-plus seasons to become the Minnesota Thunder’s starting goalkeeper.  Platter told Sports Headliners he learned patience during his high school and college soccer careers when he waited for opportunities.

Platter didn’t play regularly in high school until his senior year.  In college at Cal-Davis he waited awhile to play, too.  The exercise in patience even included last season with the Thunder when Platter had to recover from an off-season ligament injury to his right thumb.

Eventually he won the starting goalkeeper position with the Thunder.  He played in 18 games, finishing fifth in saves among goal keepers in the USL.  The year before, 2006, he had played in only five games.  He played in just two games with the Thunder in 2005.

The season is early but Platter has been a major contributor to the Thunder’s success.  His statistics include four shutouts (tied for second in the USL) and a 0.714 goals against average (tied for third best in the league).  The Thunder’s record is 4-2-1 and the team is tied for third place in the USL.  The Thunder has only scored more than one goal in a game once this season, more evidence of Platter’s importance to the team’s successful start.

Last season the Thunder was 5-12-11, finishing next to last in the standings.  The roster has been improved and Platter likes what he sees. “We believe we can win,” he said.

The Thunder won for the first time in 11 years at Vancouver in late April, Platter said.  Now second place Vancouver plays here tomorrow night (Saturday) at the National Sports Center in Blaine.  Platter described it as a “big game” and a hoped for point in the standings.  “Any time we play Vancouver it’s always a struggle,” he said.

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Stubhub.com lists tickets ranging in cost from $22 to $275 for the Twins-Yankees series at the Metrodome tonight through Monday.  Contrast that with the Orioles series at the dome starting on Tuesday where the range is $1 to $149.

Advance sales for the Yankee series were about 100,000 as of Wednesday afternoon, with hopes for 120,000 total, Twins vice president of marketing Patrick Klinger said via e-mail.

The Twins have to be the only team in baseball where the starting left fielder (Delmon Young) has no home runs, the right fielder (Michael Cuddyer) has one and the No. 3 hitter in the batting order (Joe Mauer) has zero.  The Twins, though, rank fifth among 14 American League teams in runs scored.

Cuddyer, well-known for his love of magic, does one of his card tricks on the following Web site:https://ballhype.com/video/michael_cuddyer_s_card_trick_2/.

The annual Minnesota Twins Fantasy Camp will be January 10-18 at the Lee County Sports Complex in Fort Myers, Fla. The camp is a weeklong event for those 30 or older. Campers participate in major league-style batting and infield practice on the Twins spring training fields and play up to two games each day. Campers receive daily instruction from former Twins players attending the camp.  The cost is $3,895 and more details are available at www.twinsbaseball.com.

Vikings defensive end Ray Edwards told KSTP TV’s Ryan Kibbe earlier in the month that next season he plans on breaking Michael Strahan’s NFL sack record of 22.5.  Edwards, drafted on the fourth round by the Vikings in 2006, has been a part-time starter in the past but looks like a regular in 2008.  Read more at https://kstp.com/article/stories/S454606.shtml?cat=10005

Coach Tim Brewster makes two appearances today to promote the Gophers’ 87-county drive to raise funds for TCF Bank Stadium. He will be at the Golden Valley McDonald’s restaurant (720 Winnetka Ave. North) at 10 a.m. and participate in the Grand Opening of the new McCafe.   He will also be a guest on the “Twin Cities Live” show that airs from 3 to 4 p.m. on Ch. 5.  He will talk about the 87-county tour and phase three of the fund-raising project for the stadium.

Former Mounds View star Nick Horvath became a New Zealand citizen earlier this year and is playing professional basketball in that country, according to https://www.stuff.co.nz/4563576a1823.html.  Earlier this week he was averaging 17.9 points while shooting over 50 percent.  A center, Horvath was averaging over 10 rebounds per game and was second in the National Basketball League in blocked shots.

Balkrisna Sukharan of Blaine has seen his horse, Lookinforthesecret, win $488,940 since January of 2007 when the six-year-old thoroughbred was purchased for $12,500.  The latest success was last Saturday at Canterbury Park when the horse won the $50,000 Honor The Hero Turf Express.  Lookinforthesecret has run 19 times since being purchased, winning 13 of those starts and finishing second five times.

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Big city newspaper reporters are objective in their evaluations of teams.  That’s why it commanded attention when Kevin Seifert, who covered the Vikings for nine years at the Star Tribune before leaving the newspaper last week, expressed his optimism about the team in an interview with Sports Headliners.

“The sky’s the limit for them,” he said.  “They obviously think they’re close. …”

The Vikings’ personnel have been upgraded in recent seasons including the 2008 acquisition of Pro Bowl defensive end Jared Allen from Kansas City.  Seifert mentioned the addition of Allen and the retirement of Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre, and then said the Vikings “have as good a chance as anyone” to win the NFC North Division championship.

Expectations for 2008 clearly include the playoffs for the first time since 2004.  “Anything less than getting in the playoffs is a disappointment, and I am sure they (the Vikings) will tell you the same thing,” Seifert said.

Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway told Sports Headliners that this time of year “every team all across the country is pretty optimistic at this point.”   Part of the optimism here and elsewhere is that teams are starting fresh, a “new slate,” as Greenway describes it.

“We’re laying the groundwork and the framework now for what hopefully will be a playoff team,” he said.  “But we have a lot of work to do before we can even put ourselves in that category.”

Seifert will be joining ESPN.com to write about the NFL and will continue to live in this area.  His nine year memories of reporting on the Vikings include how much news continually comes from that assignment and the unexpected death of offensive lineman Korey Stringer, a story that continues to this day.

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