NBC color man John Madden commented multiple times how the Redskins were crowding the line of scrimmage to stop the Vikings from running effectively during Sunday night’s game. “They’re just daring the Vikings to throw the ball,” Madden said in the third quarter before Minnesota, trailing 25-0, rallied for three touchdowns behind the passing of quarterback Tarvaris Jackson in a 32-21 loss.
Some observers might say safety Dwight Smith weakly reaching out at Washington’s Clinton Portis as he ran for a fourth quarter touchdown seemed like a lump of coal in the collective Christmas stockings of Vikings fans.
With the limited use of fullbacks in the modern era of the NFL, does it make sense for fullbacks to be included on the Pro Bowl rosters?
The Wild’s Marian Gaborik was honored as the NHL’s “First Star” player for his accomplishments last week. Gaborik led all NHL scorers with eight points (six goals, two assists) as the Wild won two of three games for the week. He recorded points in all three games, including a five-goal, six-point performance in a 6-3 victory over the New York Rangers. Gaborik scored one goal in the opening period and two in each of the second and third, becoming the first player to score five times in one game since Detroit’s Sergei Fedorov in a 5-4 overtime victory over Washington in December of 1996 and the first to do so in regulation since Pittsburgh’s Mario Lemieux in an 8-4 win over St. Louis in March of 1996. Gaborik also had a goal in a 3-2 victory over the Nashville Predators and had an assist in a 4-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings.
Former Minnesota North Stars executive Lou Nanne said the comments by New York Islanders general manager Garth Snow last week were “way off base.” Snow defended the mid-season departure of Gopher star Kyle Okposo to the Islanders because he wasn’t becoming a better player under coach Don Lucia. Snow was direct and specific in criticizing Lucia for lack of development and progress.
Nanne said Lucia has “one of the top programs in college hockey,” best records during the last 20 years and he didn’t understand the basis of Garth’s comments. Asked if Lucia isn’t a coach who seldom draws criticism from the local media, Nanne said, “What are you going to criticize him for?”
For a player like Okposo to leave his team in the middle of the season bothers a lot of people. “It’s terrible,” Nanne said. “It should never happen.”
The annual Schwan Cup Hockey Tournament starts today (Wednesday). Among the games is Minnetonka against Centennial, 6:30 p.m. at Xcel Energy Center. Minnetonka defenseman Jake Gardiner is one of the state’s best players, according to Glen Sonmor who scouts the preps for the Minnesota Wild. The best player in Minnesota? Sonmor likes Roseau defenseman Aaron Ness who will bring much needed scoring to the Gophers next season. Gardiner will attend Wisconsin.
There’s a new Web site devoted to Section 8A hockey with coverage of the 11 schools including schedules, standings, scores, rosters, game recaps, players-of-the-week, and links to Minnesota’s various other hockey sites. https://section8ahockeyblog.blogspot.com/
The Gophers need to upgrade their non-conference basketball home schedule. There wasn’t one exciting opponent on the schedule. A mix of three to four schools from major conferences will make patrons a lot more content with the two months of non-conference mediocrity they sit through. And can you imagine the demand for tickets if the Gophers played a classic powerhouse like Kentucky in Minneapolis?
With an enrollment of about 50,000 students, it’s eye-opening to see several hundred students attending Gopher basketball games. Three thousand students or more seems like a reasonable turnout. If the Gophers eventually become a program of national prominence watch the students be the last ones to attend games in big numbers with others complaining there aren’t enough seats for students.