Vikings defensive end Jared Allen said about yesterday’s win that “we just kinda wanted to shut the outside people up and show ourselves that it’s all about what we do.”
Gophers coach Tubby Smith talking about what how the number of points scored isn’t most important: “I would be happy with a 6-0 (win).”
Center Ralph Sampson III, who twisted his ankle in practice last week and missed the Iowa game, has had previous ankle issues, Smith said. Colton Iverson started at Iowa and displayed a strong work ethic, grabbing five rebounds in 21 minutes.
“I am always trying to be a hustle guy,” Iverson said last week. “When somebody is out there hustling, everyone picks up the pace and the team works hard.”
Last Friday Mr. Basketball chair Ken Lien ranked the top prep teams for Sports Headliners. His top five in big school 4A were: Hopkins, Cretin-Derham Hall, Cooper, St. Cloud Tech and Eagan. St. Paul Johnson was No. 1 in 3A followed by St. Paul Central, Benilde-St. Margaret’s, DeLaSalle and Columbia Heights.
The top five in 2A were Crosby-Ironton, New London-Spicer, Plainview-Elgin-Millville, Morris Area and Staples-Motley. Minnesota Transitions was No. 1 in 1A followed by MACCRAY, Ellsworth, Sebeka and Ada-Borup.
Five of those teams will participate on Saturday at Target Center in the 13th annual Timberwolves Shootout. Hopkins will play against Champlin Park starting at 8 p.m. in the final game of a six game schedule. Other games include Staples-Motley versus the Minnesota Transitions, and Crosby-Ironton against Plainview-Elgin-Millville. There is a $10 admission to see all six games and the cost includes a free ticket to a Timberwolves game.
SI.com named one of Wild goaltender Josh Harding’s masks the top goalie mask of the decade. The mask debuted in 2006 and featured illustrations of various historic goalie masks. https://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0912/all-decade.nhl.top10.goalie.masks.2000s/content.10.html
Wild players Niklas Backstrom, Mikko Koivu and Antti Miettinen were named to the Olympic roster for Finland last week. Marek Zidlicky and Martin Havlat were named to the Olympic roster for the Czech Republic.
Miettinen said the best Christmas gift he ever received was his gift in 2009. His wife, Johanna, had their first child, a boy named Noel, on December 20.
Vikings beat writer Sean Jensen left the Pioneer Press for a position with the Chicago Sun Times. Among his final assignments here was an interview with Trent Dilfer about Brad Childress and Brett Favre. https://www.twincities.com/ci_14090130.