RandBall: Weekend Links

To the point: weekend links!

Not at all breaking news: Brett Favre is a selfish twit

Aaron Rodgers says that, despite repeated attempts to reach out, Brett Favre hasn't spoken to him or in any way talked with him in the past year - even while Favre was putting the entire Packers team through the wringer with his will-I-won't-I saga in the spring, which was a giant burden on Rodgers. [Midwest Sports Fans]

I guess it's not news that Favre is really in things for himself and nobody else, but with rumors already flying that the Jets will cut him and he'll end up in Minnesota, it's important to start reminding people what a jerk this guy is.

Minnesota: The Friday Roundup

Even in high school girls basketball, it's mildly rare to see a team held under 40 points.

NBA: Al Jefferson snubbed for All-Star team - Instead, the Western Conference coaches voted Shaq onto the team, and if you asked them why, I'll bet none could come up with a reason better than, "Uh, you know, it's Shaq. He's always on the team." Jefferson has been better this year, but Shaq's team has been better, and when healthy he's certainly the more dominant and complete player of the two. Still, between this and Kevin Love's inexplicably getting left off the Rookie team in the Rookie/Soph game, it's hard not to think that people just don't have a very high opinion of a 16-28 basketball team.

NHL: Wild trade Erik Reitz for New York forward Dan Fritsche - This one is very much a marriage of convenience. The Rangers have a million forwards but need defensemen. The Wild, on the other hand, have plenty of blueliners (especially with Kurtis Foster planning to return later this year) but not enough forwards - and with both Benoit Pouliot and Krys Kolanos back in the minors, very few centers. Enter Fritsche, who never got much of a shot in Noo Yawk after getting traded there from Columbus, and who can play either center or wing. One notable thing - at this point, you'd have to imagine that Pouliot is pretty much done with the Wild. He's currently behind both Peter Olvecky and Kolanos for that coveted final NHL roster spot, and unless he gets a brain transplant, he'll stay down in that particular pecking order. Anyway, as an intro to Fritsche: here's a long slapfight he had with Barret Jackman last season.

Minnesota: The Thursday Roundup

So a grasshopper walks into a bar. The bartender says, "Hey, we got a drink named after you." The grasshopper says, "You got a drink named Earl?" (I couldn't think of anything to write up here.)

NBA: Detroit 98, Timberwolves 89 - I want to believe that this shows signs of progress, that the Wolves led a decent team late and just needed a few breaks to get the win. I want to believe that, except a) the Wolves beat Detroit earlier this year and b) the game was at home and c) if they're going to be a good team, they have to win those games and finally d) darned if this one didn't look exactly like most of the losses in November and December. Minnesota led 86-83 after a pair of free throws with 3:40 to go, but by the time they got another field goal, they were down nine points and there were 34 seconds left. Meanwhile, Detroit was scoring on seven consecutive possessions to close the game, including once when they got two offensive rebounds before getting the ball in the hole. Inability to score or defend when the game's on the line? Sure sounds like the 2008 Wolves and not the 2009 version. Oh, and much as it'd be nice to brush the whole thing off, Minnesota has the Lakers on Friday and the Celtics on Sunday. Something tells me that January may not end as positively as it began.

MLB: Twins yank around Eric Gagne, continue to set meet and gym records for inaction - Kind of a strange report from the Star Tribune's Joe Christensen: The Twins exchanged contract offers with free-agent reliever Eric Gagne this week but halted those talks just when Gagne was ready to meet their price. According to the story, Gagne was ready to accept the team's offer, when Bill Smith yanked it and told the reliever that the team wanted to go in a different direction, exploring the trade route for much-needed relief help. Not that it's not nice that the team managed to avoid getting Gagne, who's struggled on a Guerrier-like level, but - what in the heck is going on at Twins HQ? Smith was around at the end of last year, right? He knows that the team desperately needs relief help? That it doesn't matter how many runs Justin Morneau drives in if he's got the Texas Rangers pitching staff on the mound in the late innings? Obstinance may be fun, Mr. Smith, but it is not a virtue, no matter how much you want to believe it.

Minnesota: The Wednesday Roundup

(Forgot to change the intro today. Editing it now so commenter Stu looks mildly insane.)

NHL: Wild 6, Toronto 1 - Made my way down to the Xcel Energy Center for this one - the Maple Leafs have played in St. Paul three times now, and I've been there for all three. And I can tell you the following, from firsthand, direct observation: The Leafs are BAD. They weren't helped by AHL goaltender Justin Pogge, who the Leafs called up from their Toronto affiliate for the sole purpose of starting this game. The plan didn't exactly work out; Pogge gave up a weak first-period goal to Cal Clutterbuck, who fired a 50-foot wrister from a bad angle that went in. Minnesota scored four more times in the second period, at least two the result of major defensive mistakes by Toronto. Really, the game was close for about a minute, after Jason Blake snuck a weak rebound past Niklas Backstrom to tie it at 1-1, but Minnesota scored a minute later and the rout was on. This is one of those games that shows nothing about the Wild but everything about the Leafs. And what it shows is this: Brian Burke and Ron Wilson have a looooong way to go up in Toronto.

Prep Hockey: #3 Centennial 3, #2 Edina 1 - Marshall Everson put the Hornets ahead early, but it was all Cougars from there. Senior forwards Tyler Pitlick and Will Hess each scored a goal and set one up, and sophomore goaltender Brett Larsen made 41 saves to get the huge win. Could this be a preview of a game we see at the Xcel Center in mid-March?

Minnesota: The Tuesday Roundup

Am I wrong, or is this town dangerously close to being gripped with McHale Fever? And not the bad, insane-decision-making kind, either.

NBA: Timberwolves 90, Milwaukee 83 - We have now reached the point of the Timberwolves' resurgence when it does not seem extraordinary for them to go on the road, playing their second game in two nights, and end up with a fairly easy win. The Bucks aren't good - 22-26 now - but it's still a road win in the second half of a back-to-back. Ryan Gomes was the star for the Wolves; a night after clanking shot after shot, he came out and scored 22 points and shot 60% from the floor and 60% from downtown, including a nail-in-the-coffin three-pointer with a minute remaining as the shot clock expired. Perhaps the most exciting thing to see about Minnesota right now is this: it seems like a different guy steps up every night to propel the team to a win. Al Jefferson is pretty much the same force inside every game (23 and 10 tonight), but complementing him is Randy Foye, or if Foye's off then Gomes is there, or if Gomes is off too then Kevin Love is crashing the boards or Craig Smith is exploding to the hoop or Bassy Telfair is finding open shots or Mike Miller (still refusing to shoot) is rebounding and creating space. Heck, even Brian Cardinal has a role to play on this team. So does Rodney Carney. And those nine guys are picking each other up and making this run happen. One injury note - Telfair limped off midway through the fourth quarter with an apparent thigh injury, and was later shown icing the muscle down. No word on whether he just took a deep bruise from a knee, or whether he's facing a possible muscle tear or sprain.

NFL: Oh hell no - Favre lackey Peter King of Sports Illustrated says that he thinks the QB is done playing - unless he can play for the Vikings. All speculation at this point of course, but GAAAAH NOT AGAIN THIS OFFSEASON WHY US LORD? WHY?

RandBall: Weekend Links

I wrote another edition of the weekend links. In keeping that theme: here's the link.

Minnesota: The Monday Roundup

Welcome back. It's Monday. Yeah, things could be better.

NBA: Timberwolves 109, Chicago 108, OT - I hardly know what to write about the Timberwolves any more. Allow me to list just some of the things that have boggled my mind: Impossible though it is to believe, the Wolves have won nine of eleven games. Read that again, think about how the season's first two months played out, then read it one more time. One of the reasons the Wolves won: Sebastian Telfair played exceptional defense against Derrick Rose, forcing the latter into horrible shots at the end of regulation and at the end of overtime. Rose is a rookie, but when did Bassy become a wily vet? The Wolves trailed 20-4 in the first quarter. Their heads did not drop; their effort did not cease. When can you remember a Minnesota team for which that was true? By the way, the game was eventually tied at 37, barely a quarter later. Kevin Love was extraordinary, getting 19 points and grabbing 15 rebounds, including five on the offensive glass to keep possessions alive or get free throws down the stretch. Mike Miller still won't shoot and Randy Foye couldn't hit the Atlantic from the deck of the Queen Mary II in this one, but it didn't matter because other guys picked up the slack (namely Al Jefferson, who had 39 points, carried the team when no other starter made it to double figures, and who may have won all the cred he needed to make the All-Star team.) But perhaps the most boggling is this: the Timberwolves are not only the NBA's hottest team, but they are consistently entertaining, they play hard, and really they offer many good reasons to watch. It's been awhile, hasn't it?

NHL All-Star Game: East 12, West 11, Defense minus 235 - Nobody plays defense in the NBA All-Star Game, the Pro Bowl is a joke even among the guys who play in it, and the MLB All-Star Game ended in a tie once and nearly ended up with second basemen pitching last year. Yet I can't help feeling that the NHL All-Star Game is the worst of the lot. It bears so little resemblance to the way the NHL is usually played, they might as well let the players wear sweats and put up mannequins dressed as goaltenders in the nets. It's skated at half-speed and defended like it's an over-60 league for guys who've had multiple hip replacements. In short, the All-Star Game sucks, and I hope you didn't waste as much time watching it as I did. Oh, and the East won in a shootout, 12-11, because what we all needed after watching two teams in garish sweaters have a glorified scrimmage was more hockey.

Minnesota: The Friday Roundup

Even though it was a short week for me, I'm still awfully glad it's Friday. Also, I am absolutely ready for spring; I know this is a dangerously hopeful position to take in mid-January in Minnesota, but I just can't wait for it to warm up.

State of Hockey: US Pond Hockey Championship starts today - At 8:30 this morning, the first six-man teams will take to the Lake Nokomis ice, all with one goal in mind - the Golden Shovel. Well, that's not totally true; many are playing with the goal of hanging out on the lake all day and drinking as much beer as possible. No doubt a few teams will find skating slightly more troublesome by the time play closes at 4:30. Still, that's part of the fun of the USPHC - it's for competition, sure, but it's more about the fun. The tournament continues all day today and Saturday, with the finals on Sunday morning. The forecast calls for classic outdoor hockey weather - temperatures ranging from the single digits above zero to the single digits below zero, and chances of snow. (The snow won't be a problem - each team has to shovel the rink before they can play on it.)

MLB: TwinsFest starts tonight - For those unfamiliar with TwinsFest, it's basically a chance for Twins fans to get themselves into the Dome and to start thinking about baseball. Players and coaches will be on hand for autographs, including much of the current roster along with pretty much every former player that lives around here, there'll be tours of the clubhouse... Basically, it's the opposite of the US Pond Hockey Championship, isn't it? The USPHC is about celebrating winter and the outdoors in Minnesota; TwinsFest is about pretending that it's spring (or almost spring). If you're one of those that would rather think about Opening Day than about the below-zero temperatures on tap this weekend, then head down to the Dome starting at 5:30 tonight.

Media Watch: Now we know why Patrick Reusse always sounds so bitter

The Star Tribune's Patrick Reusse has an interesting column today, eulogizing former Minneapolis Star writer Bob Fowler - and venerating him for being sarcastic and ripping local teams to shreds.

I suppose it could be said that Reusse's now continuing the tradition that Fowler started - that of the "angry" columnist.

Minnesota: The Thursday Roundup

Not much I can talk about this morning, so this may be more links than usual.

NHL: Wild trade for former Badger Robbie Earl. Plus: Doug Risebrough on the state of the Wild - Shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic? Well, maybe. The Wild sent minor-league winger Ryan Hamilton to Toronto for former University of Wisconsin standout Robbie Earl, who I mostly remember for being rather unsteady on his skates whenever he thought it might draw the referee's arm into the air. This isn't a major transaction - Earl will head to Houston to play for the Aeros, and Hamilton will report to the AHL Toronto Marlies - but as we head into the All-Star break, it's the biggest Wild news we have. Also: Doug Risebrough wrote - or at least signed off on - a study of the Wild's first half, as compared to last year. Quick summary: "I am right, everyone else is stupid, and if you disagree, then nyah nyah nyah nyah."

NFL: First Chapter of "History of the Los Angeles Vikings" now written - Tuesday, the town of Industry, CA voted to approve a bond issue, the first step in the construction of a stadium for an NFL team in the Los Angeles market. To preview the rest of the process: the Minnesota Legislature will not approve funding for a new Vikings stadium this year, and probably will not next year either. Zygi Wilf will start offering worse and worse stadium plans, a la Carl Pohlad, and sometime in 2011, Wilf will get "disgusted" and sell the team at a huge profit to LA-based investors. Outrage in Minnesota will reach near-Norm Green levels of hysteria, but with the Vikings' lease up after 2011, the new owners will be able to merely run out the clock. The NFL, lovers of publicly-financed stadiums and television markets above all else, will stay mostly silent on the impending move, much like David Stern and the Sonics' move to Oklahoma. Lawsuits will be filed, bills will be debated at the state level, but plans of every stripe will fall through and the semis will be packed up in January 2012. Come late fall 2012, Minneapolis will again be a "cold Omaha," and Los Angeles will have stolen another of our teams. You know what I'm saying is right...

Minnesota: The Wednesday Roundup

Must...struggle....through...so...tired...

NHL: Los Angeles 5, Wild 2 - Forget it. I don't know anything about this team and neither do you and neither does anybody. Yeah, the team was playing back-to-back games, but it hasn't been that affected by back-to-backs in the past, and yet the Wild came home after beating surging Chicago 4-1 and got out-everythinged in losing to a terrible Kings team. Yes, the same Kings team that hadn't won in four games. Really, it looks like the Wild were less affected by what happened the night before than what's scheduled to happen today; didn't they just play like a team that was thinking "WOO VACATION ALL-STAR BREAK WOO" instead of about skating?

NBA: Utah 112, Timberwolves 107 - Why can't every other team be the Clippers? It's so much easier to win games when the other team looks disinterested and talent-less. Give the Wolves some credit - they trailed late, but kept hauling themselves back into the game by sheer force of will (and some three-pointers). They couldn't find that final run to go ahead, though. Also: Mike Miller finally made a three-pointer again! Sadly, they did not stop the game to award Miller the game ball.

Minnesota Wild: TV ratings down, attendance the same as ever

SportsBusiness Journal took a look at NHL attendance and television ratings, and the news for the local club is pretty standard at midseason.

The NHL has to be happy with the mid-year numbers; not only is attendance up 1.5% league-wide, but the national television ratings are up in both the United States (over 17% on Versus) and in Canada (2% on CBC, 7% on TSN, 31% on RDS).

For the Wild, the attendance is the same as it always is - Minnesota is one of ten teams to sell out all of their games, along with the six Canadian teams, Pittsburgh, the New York Rangers, and Chicago. (In fact, the Blackhawks - whose attendance is up 42% this year - may be single-handedly responsible for the increase in league-wide attendance.)

In terms of TV ratings, though, the team is off of last year's numbers. The Wild are averaging a 2.22 rating for 22 broadcasts on Fox Sports North, a 12.9% drop from last year. To be fair, among the local ratings listed (all but the Canadian teams, Carolina, and Nashville), the Wild are still fourth in the league, behind Buffalo, Detroit, and Pittsburgh, and tied with Philadelphia.

Ultimately, things appear to be just about the same here in the State of Hockey - fans are still showing up to the rink, and only slightly fewer are watching the team on TV despite the Wild's lack of Detroit- or Pittsburgh-level success.

Minnesota: The Tuesday Roundup

Yeah, I took Martin Luther King Day off. Sorry about that; if it makes you feel any better, I didn't have much to write about anyway.

NHL: Wild 4, Chicago 1 - I suspect the Blackhawks will be a little bit miffed about this loss. Not because it came at home, only their second regulation loss at the United Center this year, and not because it happened on national TV, but because Chicago has to feel like they outplayed Minnesota almost the entire night. For one thing, Chicago put 41 shots on net, and not all of them were exactly well-defended easy wristers from outside the circles. Niklas Backstrom appeared to spend most of the night sliding - or diving - from one post to the other, but somehow the All-Star goalie stopped 40 of those shots, at least one with the blade of his stick while sliding on his belly. On the other end of the ice, meanwhile, the Wild got on track with a weak Mikko Koivu shot that went off a skate and looped into the top corner of the net, then got a pair of Marek Zidlicky power-play tallies and an empty-netter to run away with the game. Apart from the four goals, Minnesota spent much of the game running around in its own end and turning the puck over whenever possible. A win's a win, but- yikes.

NBA: Timberwolves 94, LA Clippers 86 - How very strange; the Wolves actually went into a road game expected to win, and pulled off the victory without too much drama. Minnesota got only 17 points from its bench, but the starting five picked up the slack - Al Jefferson had 20 to go with 17 rebounds, Craig Smith had 20 as well (many of them early in the game when nobody else on the court wanted to play), Randy Foye added 17 and Ryan Gomes had 14. This was an afternoon MLK Day matinee, and the first quarter was probably the worst quarter of basketball displayed by the Wolves this year, and that's saying something. I've never seen a more lackadaisically played quarter, with both teams combining to put forth no effort whatsoever. Defense was optional, rebounding - especially offensive rebounding - was avoided at every opportunity, and both teams went as hard as your average over-50 church-potluck pickup game. Maybe this matinee thing isn't a good idea - the game started at 12:30 local time, and neither the Wolves or the Clips (or any of the fans) appeared to be paying attention until about 2:00.

Minnesota: The Friday Roundup

It is a rare night, when everything goes right, and that wonderful feeling of giddy joy just refuses to subside. Allow me to recap: Gopher hoops beats Wisconsin on the road in heart-stopping comeback fashion, Gopher women's hoops wins at Ohio State for the first time ever, and the Wild waxes division rival Edmonton 5-1. It just doesn't get a lot better than that, you know?

NHL: Wild 5, Edmonton 1 - I made a joke about the Wild grinders on Thursday morning. Thursday night, they showed that I was an idiot. Krys Kolanos banged home a goal on the doorstep. Cal Clutterbuck sniped a corner from the slot, after a great feed from James Sheppard. Pierre-Marc Bouchard slammed home a loose puck, and drew high praise from Jacques Lemaire, who said that the winger played his best game of the season. Heck, even Eric Belanger got into the act, on the power play. Still, after struggling mightily five-on-five for most of the season, the Wild suddenly appears to be unstoppable at even strength. Said Lemaire, "Even we don't know why." Also notable: the team appears ready to give up on Benoit Pouliot. The super-underachiever was sent down to Houston, where no doubt he'll loaf through practices again, just like he always does. Kolanos is officially the new Pouliot, and even if they need somebody else, it'll be Colton Gilles and not Pouliot filling that hole. Don't look now, though, but things appear to be turning in the right direction for the Wild.

MBB: Gophers 78, Wisconsin 74 - I must break my moratorium on writing about the Gophers, just to say this: Remember back in Minnesota's last Big Ten title season, when they went into Indiana and looked to be about done for... then somehow made up an eight-point deficit in 50 seconds, then won going away in overtime? This game felt a lot like that one, didn't it? Man, what a great win. And how about the women's basketball team, going into Columbus and knocking off a ranked Ohio State team? Seriously: what a night. What a great night.

Minnesota: The Thursday Roundup

Today I have plenty of time... and there's nothing to write about. People need to get together and schedule things better for my enjoyment, I tells ya.

NHL: Stephane Veilleux misses practice - And I'm sure it'll be a big blow if the Wild have to do without yet another hard-working but offensively-inept forward. Why, they'll be down to the bare bones - just Eric Belanger, Cal Clutterbuck, James Sheppard, Craig Weller, Derek Boogaard, and Colton Gilles will be available to fill that role! Oilers standout Ales Hemsky will also miss tonight's game, which will deprive Dan Terhaar of the chance to pronounce one of the great names in hockey today.

CHL-NHL Top Prospects Game: Team Orr 6, Team Cherry 1 - I suppose this was Canada's version of the Army All-American Game. Basically, the CHL - that's major juniors - sends out a questionnaire to all of the NHL teams, asking them to nominate players they'd like to see more of, for draft purposes. They tally the votes, and gather 40 youngsters from juniors together - all of them eligible for this year's draft - and split 'em into two teams so that they can play what's basically an exhibition for lazy scouts who don't want to spend their lives driving from Red Deer, Saskatchewan to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. The CHL gets Bobby Orr to coach one of the teams, and gets one of Don Cherry's suits to coach the other, and this year team Orr waxed the Coach. Cody Eakin (Swift Current, WHL) and David Gilbert (Quebec, QMJHL) each had a pair of goals for the Orrers. The big story, though- the probable #1 pick in this year's draft, John Tavares of the London Knights (OHL), got steamrollered in the third period and left the game with an apparent shoulder injury. The Knights - and the New York Islanders - are wating with bated breath to see what the extent of the injury is.

Minnesota: The Wednesday (light on content) Roundup

I'm a little tuckered out, so I'm going to have to cop out and just throw up links instead of a full roundup. Here's your big stories for this Wednesday morning (all links to the Star Tribune):

1. Miami 99, Wolves 96: Heat end Minnesota's winning streak, but just barely
2. Wild 6, Phoenix 3: Six goals? Really?
3. Don Lucia: "I don't have cancer"
4. Leslie Frazier a finalist for coaching jobs in Detroit, St. Louis
   

Minnesota: The Tuesday Roundup

Today's wind chill: -25 to -35! We are clearly insane.

MLB: Bert Blyleven still not going to the Hall of Fame - The Twins legend got 63% of the vote this year, a slight improvement over last year (62%) but still considerably short of the 75% needed for admission. Blyleven has three years left on the ballot, and if he can't clear the hurdle in any of those three years, he'll have to depend on the Veterans Committee. That said, the cupboard is pretty bare over the next three years, in terms of new guys coming on to the ballot; the Hall of Fame buzz is likely to focus on Bert, Andre Dawson, Jack Morris, Dale Murphy, and a few other ballot veterans. This could well give Bert a better chance for induction in his final years on the ballot. Rickey Henderson was, rightly, voted in by a considerable margin in his first year of eligibility; Jim Rice, somewhat controversially, was voted in on his fifteenth and final try. The two will be the 2009 inductees.

NHL: Leslie Frazier still not anybody's head coach, Tony Dungy retires - Frazier is on the short list for pretty much every open job out there, including - probably - the now-open Colts job. Dungy retires as a Super Bowl champion, and as a guy who rolled up a ridiculous 85-27 regular-season record in seven seasons as Indianapolis coach. Also, we'd like to take a moment to note the classy way Dungy went out; he retired early in the offseason, giving the Colts the best chance to move on for next year. He didn't need to drag this out, he didn't feel the need to be at the center of attention for months on end - this is what we call the "anti-Favre" way of doing things.

RandBall: Weekend Links

Weekend links! (Come on, they're only a couple of days old... they're not stale yet...)

Minnesota: The Monday Roundup

So we apparently have 3-6 inches of snow on deck for today, which will be followed by five straight days on which we'll be lucky to see temperatures above 0. I plan to hide under the covers for the entire time, and I suggest you do the same.

NFL: Eagles, Steelers move on to championship games - So it'll be Baltimore at Pittsburgh next weekend in the AFC Championship game, a rematch of two in-season Steeler wins - albeit two wins that came by a combined total of seven points. Meanwhile, the Arizona Cardinals - the Cardinals! - will host the NFC Championship game, an eventuality that was likely predicted by exactly zero people. Unfortunately, they'll likely be considerable underdogs to the Eagles, who are on track to get to the final four and then lose for the 87th time this decade. It should be... okay, it'll be mildly diverting. But what else are you going to watch next weekend?

WWHL: Whitecaps 4, Strathmore 1 - Former UMD standout Jenny Potter had a hat trick, leading Minnesota's women's pro hockey team - yes, they're still around - to a three-game sweep of Strathmore (which is a town of 11,000 in Alberta, and so I guess this is sort of like beating Fergus Falls, but never mind.)

Minnesota: The Friday Roundup

Man, a five-day week the first week back after vacation is just... hard.

NHL: Philadelphia 3, Wild 1 - Hand, meet forehead! (slap) Philly can't kill penalties, the Wild can only score on the power play, so naturally when the Flyers took the first six penalties of the game, the Wild.... didn't score even once, and only managed nine shots in 14:57 of PP time (including 1:03 five-on-three). Meanwhile, the Flyers got only one power play... and converted in seven seconds. To sum up in one word: D'oh!

CFB: Florida 24, Oklahoma 14 - The Gators are national champions for the second time in three years. Just so you're aware, it is now absolutely okay to loathe them, to loathe Dan Shanoff for jumping on their bandwagon and pretending that he's a real fan, to loathe anyone you know that's in any way connected with the program. Or at least to tell them that, to hopefully knock 'em down a peg.

NHL: All the big stars come out

Who says the NHL doesn't have star power? Check out this shot from the TSN broadcast of the Rangers-Canadiens game on Wednesday night:


Dave appears to be a little unsure about the play of goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, and after the soft goals he let in in a 6-3 Montreal win, I'd have to say I agree with him.

Minnesota: The Thursday Roundup

Something fishy is going on down at Target Center. I'd like an investigation - just see if dogs still like Kevin McHale, because I'm operating on the theory that he's sold his soul to the devil (or possibly Red Auerbach.)

NHL: Wolves 129, Not Seattle 87 - Sure, Oklahoma City is horrible, one of the worst teams in professional sports, but still - this was a blowout. The Wolves led 42-24 after one, 72-43 at halftime, and completely pulled away from there. Let's give McHale some credit, too. For the first few games of his tenure, he looked completely unsteady - Rashad McCants would play six minutes one night, then 36 the next night, Randy Foye would lurch back and forth between point guard and off guard, Sebastian Telfair would sit for a week then get run ragged in two straight games, and so on. But now, he's sticking with Foye at the 2, and Foye responded with a career-high 32 points. Al Jefferson put up 21 and 13, Kevin Love tied a career high with 15 boards... and McCants got the exact same number of minutes as Mark Madsen, seven throwaway turns of the clock in garbage time. This is what the Wolves need, and they seem to be responding. Four in a row. Five of six. Six of eight. Who are these guys?

NHL: Niklas Backstrom named to all-star team for the first time - Fittingly, he's the Wild's only representative on the team, since there have been times that he was the only good thing on the ice for Minnesota. Backstrom has the league's fifth-best goals-against average and the sixth-best save percentage, and he's done it all while facing the fifth-most shots in the league. We wholeheartedly endorse this choice, and congratulate Backstrom (and encourage him to re-sign here, too!)

Minnesota: The Wednesday Roundup

There's just no figuring these things, sometimes.

NHL: Wild 1, Boston 0 - Remember when we were all ready to give the Wild up for dead? Now, in its last four games, it's beaten Boston and San Jose and taken a point from Detroit, and those are perhaps the three best teams in the league. I wonder just how much Marian Gaborik thinks he's worth now. (Stupid question; I'm sure he's still dreaming of Ovechkin money in the off-season.) I don't know if Niklas Backstrom is going to be named to the West All-Star team later this week, but it'll be a darn shame if he's not. He's been the absolute backbone, and made 28 saves against a high-flying Bruins team for his second consecutive shutout.

NBA: Timberwolves 94, Memphis 87 - That's three in a row. Four out of five. Five out of seven. If the Wolves hadn't blown a 29-point lead in Dallas the other night, this would be five in a row. What black hole have we fallen through here? Are the Wolves decent? Is Kevin McHale a genius? WHAT'S HAPPENING HERE?? All five Wolves starters were in double figures, and the team shot half-decent (47.3%) from the floor despite Sebastian Telfair launching up bricks all night. Rashad McCants did not play for the second straight game, a move that I wholeheartedly endorse; now, if Bassy could either learn to shoot or just stop taking shots from more than ten feet away from the rim at any time, the Wolves might actually have a chance. Of what, you ask? Well, the win moves them just a half-game back of the Grizzlies for the tenth-best record in the conference.... (It's the small victories that count, right?) One note: Mike Miller left the game, limping, after re-injuring his ankle. He came back in the second half, but it wouldn't be too surprising to see him miss another game or two.

Minnesota: The Tuesday Roundup

No games Monday, unless you count the Rangers whacking the Penguins (to the sounds of "CROSBY SUCKS" chants from the crowd throughout.)

MLB: Twins owner Carl Pohlad passes away at age 93 - The Minneapolis businessman bought the Twins in 1984, rising to prominence in the sports community for reasons both good and bad. Most involved with the Twins organization will remember him as an incredibly loyal boss, someone who tried to keep the best baseball folks around, rather than meddling in operations himself like a Steinbrenner or an Angelos. The team was in danger of moving to Tampa-St. Petersburg when he saved them in '84, and he also contributed something on the order of $150 million to the Twins' new ballpark - and of course the Twins won world championships in 1987 and 1991. On the other hand, he also offered the Twins up for contraction in 2001, angering legions of Twins fans around the state, and also had a reputation for being one of baseball's cheapest owners despite being one of the richest men in the country. In 1997, he offered $80 million towards a new stadium - which was later revealed to be a loan to the state that would be paid back, with interest. Personally, I have to fall back on this: Kent Hrbek liked him, so I guess I liked him too. But the way he ran the ballclub was seldom popular among Twins fans, even if he remains popular among players and employees.

NFL: Zygi Wilf says that Vikings head coach Brad Childress will be back for 2009 - Oh, boy, really, Mr. Wilf? No foolin'? Well, I guess we have another year of weird clock management, impotent offense, and Tarvaris Jackson to look forward to! Nothing but good news today, huh?

Minnesota Wild: Is Jacques Lemaire ready to throw in the towel?

(Ed. note: this was also posted at Hockey Wilderness.)

Interesting quotes from Jacques Lemaire on Michael Russo's Star Tribune blog, on playing young kids (emphasis mine)...

“It’s more patience from me. You can’t have that patience when you have to win. It’s when you see that if you have no chance to be there, then I can have patience. Now, that patience will take one game two points from you, another two points another game, another game another two points, and these six points will ruin you.

“So where do I stop? It’s not just Reitz. It’s everybody. Pouliot, Weller, Veilleux, all the guys that didn’t play the last five, six minutes last night.”

Because you’re scoring, the margin for error is thinner than ever?

“Exactly. If you see at a time you have no chance at all, then I’ll play them to give them more confidence. They’ll make mistakes, they’ll get a goal against, doesn’t matter. When we have no choice that they have to get better. But now, we’re still in between. Until we decide where we’re going, I have to be like this.

“Like last year, we were great for awhile, we had a tough stretch of not even a month (he’s talking in February, early-March). Two-three weeks max that everything was upside down. We could have went down, but everyone picked it up and we went up. But we had to cut down on certain guys to play. Some guys played more, other guys played less because you want to win.”

So you’re saying you can’t afford to play certain guys here unless the season tanks? “Then I can play them.”

I don't know, but it sounds to me like Lemaire's waiting for the high sign from upstairs that it's time to focus on next year instead of this spring.

And maybe that's not such a bad idea.

After all, this is a team that has only three skaters (Owen Nolan, Kim Johnsson and Andrew Brunette) over the age of 31, and just three more in the 29+ age bracket. With the team still struggling to find scoring, especially at even strength, perhaps it's time to focus on developing a newer generation of Wild stars.

Amongst the youngsters, Cal Clutterbuck (just 21) has found a regular place in the lineup thanks to his seemingly limitless energy and physical play, but others - James Sheppard (20), Colton Gilles (19) and Benoit Pouliot (22) all have been watching from the press box at one time or another.

On top of that, look at the core group of players that's signed beyond the end of next season. Brunette (two more years) is 35, but Antti Miettinen (two more years) is 27, Nick Schultz (four more years) is 26, Mikko Koivu (two more years) is 25, Pierre-Marc Bouchard (four more years) is 24, and Brent Burns (three more years) is 23. That's a young group that'll be around for certain in 2010-11, and with the team still struggling this year, maybe it's time to focus on 2010 and beyond instead of clawing for a first-round playoff exit in 2009.

Minnesota Wild: Young 'Uns Update

Another Wild prospects update is up over at Hockey Wilderness.

Minnesota: The Monday Roundup

Yes, it was nice to take the holidays off. Thanks for asking.

NFL: Philadelphia 26, Vikings 14 - And so this season ends much the way last season ended: with nothing gained, and with plenty of question marks about next year. Tarvaris Jackson put together a nice December, but I suppose we were kidding ourselves if we believed it could last. The Vikings QB was an abysmal 13-35 passing, including 1-10 (ARGH!) in the fourth quarter when the game was still on the line, and also threw an ugly interception that was returned for a touchdown. With better quarterback play, the Vikings could have won, maybe should have won, but instead they're going home. Really, the game had a little bit of everything that Vikings fans have been complaining about - not only the bad quarterback play, but some inept clock management by Brad Childress at the end of the first half, plus one major special-teams screwup, a 62-yard punt return that set up a Philly field goal. Perhaps the most telling fact about the game was this: the Eagles made it inside the Minnesota red zone just once, and were held to a field goal when they did, but the three points after that punt return, a 71-yard screen pass to Brian Westbrook for a TD, and the interception return for a TD were enough to beat Minnesota. A better team would have beat Philadelphia. But the Vikings, weaknesses and all, are not that team.

NHL: Wild 2, Colorado 0 - It's an unfair comparison, but it's hard not to contrast Owen Nolan and Marian Gaborik. The former, who missed much of December with a lower-body injury, went to the Wild coaches and demanded to get back into the lineup. The latter sat out most of the year, whined his way through a couple of games, then elected to have season-ending hip surgery so as to protect his value on the free-agent market in the off-season. No use crying over spilt milk (or selfish Slovakians), though, so perhaps it's best we focus on Nolan. He's scored four goals in three games since returning from injury, including the only two goals of the game on Sunday, and since his return the Wild are 2-0-1. I've made a lot of jokes about Nolan's age, but considering that the team was 2-7-1 without him and now has picked up five points in three games, with the first two of those games against the two best teams in the Western Conference, maybe I need to stop making jokes.

RandBall: Weekend links

Hey, how about starting your Sunday with some weekend links at RandBall?

(Vacation's almost over - I'll be back as usual on Monday morning.)