Gophers elude upset, face tests at Final Five
Ben Gordon was one of the chosen few University of Minnesota hockey players who stepped outside the Mariucci Arena dressing room to express renewed hope – as well as some relief – after the Gophers ducked past Alaska-Anchorage 3-1 in the deciding third game of their WCHA playoff series.
Gordon’s dark hair is now a somewhat unusual shade of blond, intending, perhaps, to be gold in the Golden Gophers’ attempt to take the hair-dyeing approach to playoff unity. It pretty well clashed with his still-dark eyebrows, but it got to the roots of his hair, as a backdrop for Gordon attempting to get to the root of MinnesotaÂ’s late-season difficulties.
“Tonight was a big step,†said Gordon, a veteran as a junior on a MacNaughton Cup-champion Minnesota squad that has only two seniors, Mike Vannelli and Kellen Briggs. “It was our first crucial game, because we had to win it to go to the Final Five, and that is definitely something we want to do.
“It wasnÂ’t really do or die for us, but we want to be in the Final Five, and our goal was to play hard for a full game, because pretty soon, it is going to be do or die.Ââ€
Minnesota has been a curious team over the last couple of months. The Golden Gophers had built up a lot of Pairwise equity over a 22-game unbeaten streak, enough to secure the league championship despite going only 8-8 before SundayÂ’s third-game decider against the Seawolves. A 9-8 record in their last 17 is hardly impressive, but the Gophers held the No. 1 spot in the Pairwise computer ratings, which mimic the NCAA’s computer system used in making selections for the 16-team tournament that starts next week.
Had the Gophers lost to Anchorage, they still would have gone to the NCAA as a high seed, as would St. Cloud State and North Dakota. But Denver and Michigan Tech are right on the bubble, being ranked in a tie for 14th, while Colorado College stands 18th and Wisconsin 20th. So the first round of the playoffs were definitely do or die for Anchorage, Minnesota-Duluth, Colorado College, Minnesota State-Mankato, Wisconsin. Denver and Tech also could be questionable, because automatic seeds from outside conferences bump 14th seeds to 16th, and potential upsets from the major four conferences could bump them further.
So Tech needs to improve its status at the Final Five, and Wisconsin needs to win it to gain the automatic NCAA berth the playoff title contains. Wisconsin, the defending NCAA champ, but a seventh-place finisher in the league, went to Denver and stunned the fourth-place Pioneers 3-2 and 2-1, while fifth-place Michigan Tech surprised Colorado College 2-1 in overtime, then lost 2-0, but came back to win 1-0 in SundayÂ’s finale.
Third-place North Dakota was the only WCHA team that won according to form, beating eighth-place Mankato 5-2 and 2-1. Elsewhere, ninth-place UMD gave it a great shot, winning at St. Cloud State 3-1, losing 3-2 in overtime, then the teams battled through three overtimes before the Huskies prevailed 3-2 on Sunday.
The reshuffling means Wisconsin and Michigan Tech will play in Thursday’s play-in game at Xcel Center – both needing to win three straight games to be sure of an automatic NCAA berth. That winner will face Minnesota in Friday night’s semifinal. North Dakota and St. Cloud State will meet Friday afternoon in the first semifinal.
Minnesota’s triumph over last-place Anchorage may have indicated how tough the WCHA is this season, but it also left the question of whether the wheels have come off the Gopher express – and if so, whether there is time to get them back on and aligned before the NCAA tournament.
The Gophers whipped Anchorage 6-2 Friday, and were cruising along 1-0 Saturday until the Seawolves struck late for a tie, and won it 2-1 in overtime. That forced Game 3, and Kevin Clarke gave Anchorage a 1-0 lead in the opening minutes, a lead that held until 4:22 of the second, when Gordon scored with a slick pass from Jay Barriball on a power play for the equalizer. Mike Carman got the actual game-winner, with a quick shot off Ryan FlynnsÂ’s neat pass midway through the third period.
But the Gophers didnÂ’t really put the Seawolves away until 1:25 remained. Killing a penalty, Tony Lucia rushed in and fired a shot that glanced up off Anchorage goaltender Nathan Lawson and hit the glass, bouncing high in the air. Lawson whirled around and looked up, and Minnesota’s approaching Kyle Okposo also looked up. They looked like a pair of infielders who had lost the ball in the lights. But when the puck hit the ice, Okposo spotted it first and whacked it past Lawson for a shorthaned goal and a 3-1 victory.
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The fact that Okposo seemed to find his missing goal-scoring touch in the series, and that Barriball continued his strong play, means freshmen, including Lucia and Carman, may reignite the Gopher offense. Okposo leads the team in goals with 19, while Barriball has 18, and the two freshmen are tied for the team points lead at 39.
Seawolves coach Dave Shyiak, whose team offered hope for the future with its spirited run at the league champs, was buoyed by his Seawolves resilience, despite being outshot 29-12 in the deciding game.
“They played extremely well, and they were going to play that way all weekend,†said Minnesota coach Don Lucia. “Last night (in Game 2) we played well for two periods, but went into a shell in the third. Tonight, I think we decided to just shut up and play – just go out and compete.Ââ€
Lucia didn’t need reminding that last year, the Gophers were riding high as the No. 1 team in the country, but lost 8-7 to St. Cloud State in the WCHA semifinals, then dropped a 4-0 game to Wisconsin in the third-place game – a game that was a springboard for the Badgers to take off and go all the way to the NCAA title, while Minnesota was eliminated by Holy Cross in the first NCAA game. The Crusaders were better than Westerners realized, but the Gophers haven’t lived it down yet.
“But this is a different team, and a different year,†said Lucia. “We really gave up nothing all weekend. In the Final Five, we mainly have to start playing with rhythm.Ââ€
Some of the Gophers donÂ’t think thereÂ’s a problem. Carman, who joins Barriball and Okposo as freshmen who have become go-to skaters in the Minnesota offense, said: “WeÂ’ve been struggling on offense the last two weekends. I think itÂ’s just jitters. Everyone gets Â’em.Ââ€
Gordon, however, has been through it before. And he didn’t deny that there are some parallels to last year for this year’s Gophers – such as starting strong, running off at No. 1 in the country for weeks on end, then faltering at the finish.
“ItÂ’s a long season,†said Gordon. “We came out hot, and I donÂ’t think anyone expected us to win as much as we did. But in the second half, I think it was going to our heads. Now itÂ’s a battle to get out of the hole.Ââ€
Maybe that’s the analogy with the golden-dyed hair – something that more purposely has gone to the Gophers’ heads. Gordon intimated that he probably would be rinsing out the dye as soon as the playoffs are over.
“I’m not sure they’d let me back home into International Falls this way,†he laughed.
And, of course, Gordon and the Gophers hope they won’t be doing any rinsing away of hair dye for three more weeks – until after the NCAA tournament.
Fighting Sioux stun Huskies 6-2 to reach Final Five final
SAINT PAUL, MN. — The popular theory that the University of North
Dakota is playing the best hockey in the country at the right time was verified Friday afternoon, when 17,511 fans at Xcel Center saw the Fighting Sioux whip St. Cloud State 6-2 in the first semifinal of the WCHA Final Five tournament.
Not only does it keep the Sioux sizzling, with a 15-2-4 record since
Christmas, but the Sioux dismantled a St. Cloud State team that had, itself, been one of the hottest teams in the nation. Beyond that, the six goals came against Bobby Goepfert, just named first-team all-WCHA goaltender, and a Hobey Baker finalist. Next up, of course, is a Saturday night date with arch-rival Minnesota, as North Dakota tries to duplicate the playoff crown it won a year ago.
The Fighting Sioux have been built on a concept of a spectacular first
line, with Jonathan Toews centering T.J. Oshie and Ryan Duncan on what is clearly the best forward unit in the country. Toews got the first and fourth goals against the Huskies. However, a second line, just put together by coach Dave Hakstol in the last week, was every bit as impressive as the first unit.
Chris VandeVelde, a freshman who was just installed on the second line
despite having only one goal, scored twice and assisted on a goal by winger Matt Watkins, while Chris Porter, one of only two seniors in the explosive Sioux lineup, added the final goal and stabilizes the trio at right wing.
The Sioux were typically humble afterward, while the Huskies were
unrestrained in their praise for North Dakota.
“I felt pretty good,” said Goepfert, who faced many triple-A quality
shots among the 35 the Sioux fired. “They’re a good team, and that first line is really special. They made plays when I thought I had good coverage.”
Huskies winger Andrew Gordon, who set up Andreas Nodl for a 1-1 tie, and scored himself to make it a 3-2 game in the second period, was overwhelmed. “At this time of year, after playing 40 games and getting physically beaten down, the way they’re playing is incredible,” said Gordon. “They come at you 110 miles per hour, all the time. They’re peaking at the right time.”
The first goal of the game didn’t come until a North Dakota power play
at 16:20, when Toews came out from the end boards on the right, and humbly said he just threw the puck at the net, when actually he spotted a tiny opening at the extreme upper right corner and zapped a missile into the only hole Goepfert left.
The Huskies tied the game when freshman Andreas Nodl converted an Andrew Gordon feed from behind the goal, with a quick step to his backhand eluding goaltender Philippe Lamoureux at 4:09 of the second. Then the second line went to work, scoring just 1:10 later on a rush by Porter, up the right side. He fed Watkins, who one-timed a return to Watkins for a quick shot. Goepfert blocked it, but VandeVelde — a state tournament star on the same ice two years ago for Moorhead High School — cashed in the rebound.
Four minutes after that, the Sioux made it 3-1 when Watkins caught
Taylor Chorney’s rink-wide pass for another good shot, another good save, and another rebound goal plunked by VandeVelde.
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The Huskies came back again, when Gordon scored on a power play at 10:06 of the wide-open second period, cutting it to 3-2. But Toews padded the lead with yet another rebound after Oshie had outraced the defense for a loose puck, and a whirling shot from the right side at 12:29, and VandeVeld fed out from behind the net for Watkins to score again at 13:12. The two goals in 43 seconds boosted the score to 5-2, and the Sioux coasted through the third period, with Porter getting the only goal.
“We’ve been gettting better every game, and we don’t look at it as being on a roll, just trying to get better every game,” said Toews, one of 11 sophomores, and the middle man on the all-soph super-line.
St. Cloud coach Bob Motzko said: “I thought Bobby Goepfert played well
tonight. For a 6-2 loss, we did a lot of things well. Bobby had a great first period, and toews made an unbelievable play to make it 1-0. We tied the game, then we turned it over twice, and they scored both times. They’ve got something going up there. The top line is so good, and the other lines work so hard…They’re going awfully good right now.
“The think I like about North Dakota is their forwards skate straight
ahead,” Motzko added. “You never see them backing off. We were on our way to getting there, then they got that short-handed goal, right when we thought we were there.”
That would be the second Toews goal, which is listed, officially, as a
short-handed goal, but Andrew Kozek’s penalty had expired at 12:28 —
one second before Toews scored. The mistake is understandable, however. The Sioux are playing so well, and throwing the puck around with such rapid precision, that it often appears they’re playing with an extra man.
Badgers 3-goal rally beats Huskies in OT for 3rd
As far as Wisconsin was concerned, there was no way the Badgers could make up
enough
ground in the NCAA selection committee’s computer ratings for Saturday’s
third-place
game in the WCHA Final Five to matter. But the Badgers put on a display of what
pride
and caring for teammates can do for a team, rallying from a 3-1 deficit to beat
the St.
Cloud State Huskies 4-3 on an overtime goal by Ben Street.
Street, a sophomore on a team with seven seniors, grabbed a blocked shot in the
slot,
stepped to his right to get control on his backhand, and plunked it behind ace
St. Cloud
goaltender Bobby Goepfert with 10 seconds remaining in a five-minute overtime —
the
only extra session that would be allowed in the third-place game.
The loss could hurt St. Cloud State (22-9-7), which is sure of an NCAA slot, but
will
probably drop from first-seed status after two losses in two days. The Badgers
(19-18-4) go home anticipating they will have no chance to defend the NCAA title
they
won last year.
“If this loss is going to crush us, we’re not going very far,” said St. Cloud
coach Bob
Motzko. “We might have lost a No. 1 seed, but if it drops us to North Dakota’s
band
(second seeds) now, so we can’t go to wherever they go, that’s OK with me. We’re
just
darn happy to be in it, and we don’t know what the draw is going to be.”
North Dakota beat the Huskies 6-2 in the semifinals, which is why Motzko has
seen
enough of the Fighting Sioux to want to avoid them by going to a different NCAA
regional. Wisconsin fell 4-2 to Minnesota on an empty-net goal in the other
semifinal.
Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves conceded that if his team had been guaranteed an NCAA
slot, winning the way the Badgers did would have been very satisfying, but maybe
it was
even more satisfying to win when nothing else was on the line but pride. “It was
an
interesting game,” said Eaves. “Our bodies weren’t ready from having played a
tough
game last night, but they got wrapped up in the game, in the competitive
situation. You
could feel the energy on the bench grow as the game went on.
“We’re playing our best hockey right now. We’ve gone 8-3-2 at the end. If it is
our last
game, from a personal and pride standpoint, playing this way and winning this
was
better.”
Eaves explained that he had planned to start Elliott, then, at the first
whistle, pull him
for sophomore Shane Connelly. “Our intention was to start Brian, then have our
players
honor him when he came out after the first whistle,” said Eaves. “Unfortunately,
they got
a goal. So then I said we’ll wait for the next whistle.”
The Huskies jumped ahead when Andreas Nodl came out from behind the net and
fired
one past Elliott after only 29 seconds had elapsed. The next whistle came at
0:45, and
Elliott came out. Connelly, of course, is more than capable. His last game was
the
season-ending battle at Duluth — a 0-0 tie.
“It’s just a shame Brian had to go out with that goal, after all he’s done for
us,” said
Connelly, the heir-apparent to Elliott’s throne next season.
Senior Jake Dowell tied it 1-1 for Wisconsin later in the first period, when he
scored
with a neat backhand against Goepfert after Ross Carlson’s hard pass from the
left
boards. The Huskies, however, took apparent command with a pair of second-period
power plays. Ryan Lasch, their other prized freshman sniper, banged in Dan
Kronick’s
pass to the crease, and John Swanson added another midway through the period.
Down 3-1, in a game that offered them no future, the Badgers stormed back. Andy
Brandt, a senior third-liner, came up with the inspirational goal before the
second period
ended, and it stayed 3-2 until Jack Skille tied it at 13:20 of the third period,
getting in
the way of Andrew Joudrey’s shot for a deflection goal.
St. Cloud State might have put it away when Lasch cruised up the slot in the
clear, but
fired a shot that glanced off the crossbar and up and out of harm’s way.
That set the stage for overtime, and Street came up with the winner, after
Andrew
Joudrey won a left-corner faceoff, Kyle Kluberanz fired from the shot, and when
the
puck hit a cluster of bodies in front, Street plucked it free and scored.
“It’s always nice to win the last game,” said Street. “Typically, it wasn’t
pretty. But we
were down, and came back. We just wanted to finish over .500 and send our
seniors out
with a win.”
Motzko said: “No question Wisconsin is a worthy NCAA team. If they don’t get to
go,
there’ll be a lot of No. 1 seeds that will be real happy they’re out.”
Speaking for the Wisconsin seniors, Brandt said: “It’s been a battle for us all
year long.
But no one quit, no one gave up. The character of our team, and our seniors,
came through.
Some of our seniors will go on to play, and I wish them the best of luck. Others
won’t.
We came in as a group of 11, and we leave as a group of seven.
“After the game, all the players gathered around in the dressing room, and we
looked
each other in the eye. Not just the seniors, but the freshmen and everybody.
Coach Eaves
said to remember it, because this would be our last time together as a family.”
Gophers, Sioux, Huskies carry WCHA hopes into NCAA
The WCHA has high hopes for capturing its sixth consecutive NCAA hockey championship when the tournament begins this weekend, and Minnesota, North Dakota and St. Cloud State clearly stand as the best three teams in the league when it comes to accomplishing that feat.
Minnesota won the league and playoff championships, and is the No. 1 seed at the West Regional at Denver when the Golden Gophers (30-9-3) take on at-large challenger Air Force Academy (19-15-5) in Saturday’s match. North Dakota (22-13-5) the 3-2 overtime loser to Minnesota in the league Final Five title game, remains the hottest team in the WCHA, if not the country, and stands as favorite against Michigan (26-13-1) in the other West semifinal.
That is a colorful foursome. Minnesota coach Don Lucia and Air Force coach Frank Serratore are longtime close friends, dating back to when Lucia played high school hockey at Grand Rapids, and Serratore tended goal for Greenway of Coleraine, seven miles to the east. Their wives, Joyce Lucia and Carol Serratore, are extremely close friends and will sit together while their husbands’ teams battle on the Denver ice below. Lucia’s son, Tony, plays for the Gophers, while the Serratore family includes twin boys, Tom and Tim, who are solid 16-year-old prospects.
Also, North Dakota coach Dave Hakstol, who is attempting to lead the Fighting Sioux to their third straight Frozen Four, was a defenseman and captain of the Minnesota Moose in the International League when Serratore was their coach. That’s a tight clique for Michigan coach Red Berenson to try to break through.
St. Cloud State (22-10-7), meanwhile, made a strong run at Minnesota in the league stretch-run, then got worn down a bit in playoffs, concluding with two stinging losses in the Final Five. But the Huskies should have everything back in place in time for the East Regional at Rochester, N.Y., as No. 2 seed to take on Maine (21-14-2) in a Friday semifinal, while Clarkson (25-8-5) is No. 1 seeded and faces Massachusetts (20-12-5) in the other semi.
That leaves the Northeast regional at Manchester, N.H., where New Hampshire (26-10-2) is top seed and meets Miami of Ohio (23-13-4) in one Saturday semifinal, with No. 2 Boston College (26-11-1) meeting St. Lawrence (23-13-2) in the other, and the Midwest Regional at Grand Rapids, Mich. which opens with Friday night semifinals pitting No. 1 Notre Dame (31-6-3) against Alabama-Huntsville (13-19-3), and No. 2 Boston University (26-11-1) against Michigan State (22-13-3) in the other.
What’s wrong with that picture?
Nothing is wrong, it would seem, for the teams that made it. Except for the unfortunate setting that finds that if Minnesota and North Dakota both win semifinal games, they would meet each other to recreate the classic battle they waged in the WCHA Final Five championship game with only the winner advancing to the Frozen Four in St. Louis two weeks later. Too bad, if that happens, that such a time-capsule match couldn’t be played on the larger stage of a potential national championship showdown.
It’s true that St. Cloud State ranks on paper as favorite against a very good Maine team, and the Huskies did whip top-seeded Clarkson, from the ECAC, in a 4-0, 7-2 series in November, that could give the WCHA two spots in the Frozen Four. The Huskies had a rugged three-game test before ousting Minnesota-Duluth in three overtimes, which may have left them drained during two hotly contested games against North Dakota and Wisconsin at the Final Five.
Wisconsin, by winning two of three games at the Final Five, was too good too late to be considered as a team worthy of defending its NCAA championship. “I know there’s a lot of No,. 1 seeds relieved that they don’t have to play the defending NCAA champs, with that goaltender (Brian Elliott) and the way they’re playing right now,” said Minnesota coach Don Lucia, noting that the Badgers finished with an 8-3-2 flourish.
So after such a hotly contested season, only three survivors move on, and both Minnesota and North Dakota will be pulling for St. Cloud State to make it, and undoubtedly, if the Gophers and Fighting Sioux meet again, whichever one doesn’t win will grudgingly hope its conqueror will go on to bring more fame to the WCHA.
There’s always the chance for a potential NCAA final between St. Cloud State, with star goaltender Bobby Goepfert and a team-oriented attack led by Andreas Nodl and Andrew Gordon, and either Minnesota, behind the freshman duo of Kyle Okposo and Jay Barriball and the suddenly hot Blake Wheeler, or North Dakota, with its fabulous first line of Jonathan Toews centering T.J. Oshie and player-of-the-year Ryan Duncan.
But that’s far off. For now, the three tournament teams can set aside the fact that the WCHA’s intensely competitive season hurt the league when it came to the NCAA selection committee’s criteria. The case could be made that Denver, Michigan Tech, Colorado College, and late-charging Wisconsin could have been strong NCAA tournament entries.
As strong as that argument is, consider that Hockey East has five teams in the 16-team NCAA field, with New Hampshire and Boston College favored to meet in the Northeast final, Maine and Massachusetts getting half the chances in the East, and Boston University standing as a strong threat as No. 2 seed in the Midwest.
And the CCHA has four teams in the field, with No. 1 ranked Notre Dame and No. 3 seed Michigan State good shots at meeting in the Midwest final, while Michigan could overthrow the WCHA in the West Regional, and Miami is a long-shot, but could prove tough, in the Northeast.
Only the ECAC, with Clarkson in the East and St. Lawrence in the Northeast, has fewer than the WCHA’s three entries, once the mandatory selections of the Atlantic Hockey winner (Air Force) and the College Hockey America tournament winner (Alabama-Huntsville) were selected. Their selections bumped Denver, Michigan Tech, and other WCHA candidates out of the field.
Moreover, there is the suspicion that the selection committee is still stung by the fact that the Frozen Four two years ago was comprised of four WCHA teams at Columbus, Ohio, which was great for WCHA bragging rights, but didn’t do much to spread the wealth of college hockey beyond its cult-following level in the NCAA’s view.
Nobody expects the NCAA committee, or its computerized selection process, from doing any favors for the WCHA — although another case could be made that winning five straight championships might deserve extra merit — but it also doesn’t seem fair to punish the WCHA for its excellence. After all, when the WCHA foursome all reached the Frozen Four two years ago, all four of them had to win two tough regional games to earn their places.
This season, the WCHA teams compiled a 51-22-6 record against nonconference opponents. Minnesota was 8-1, including victories over Michigan (8-2), Michigan State, and Alabama-Huntsville, and a season-opening loss to Maine. St. Cloud State was 6-0, including the two victories over Clarkson, North Dakota was 6-2, including a victory over St. Lawrence, and two October losses against Maine.
While limiting the WCHA to three teams may seem an injustice, a greater injustice might be to put Minnesota, ranked No. 2 behind Notre Dame in the country, and No. 1 in the Pairwise computer rankings, and North Dakota, a team that rose from an injury-hampered first half to lose only twice in 21 games since Christmas (15-2-4) before falling 3-2 to Minnesota in the league playoff final, into the same regional.
It would have been easy to place North Dakota in the Midwest, or the Northeast, for that matter. In fact, in any season, the best and possibly only way to measure if one league has an edge over the others would be to disperse its teams to as many different regionals as possible. And it would only seem fair that since Hockey East, which last won the title six years ago, and the CCHA, which last won nine years ago, both have the chance to win three of the four regions, the WCHA should have a similar opportunity.
Did we mention that the WCHA might deserve more respect than to have its top team and its hottest team clash in the same regional? To recount, the WCHA has won the last five NCAA championships in a row, six of the last seven, and seven of the last 10…But now it seems the NCAA’s selection process is penalizing the WCHA for its success.
Twins stadium stampede tramples public, logic
The Minnesota Twins will get a new, open-air, boutique stadium in downtown Minneapolis. And the University of Minnesota football Gophers (remember them?) will also get a new, open-air stadium. We know for certain that next year, after the legislators figure the people will have softened their feelings about this yearÂ’s decisions, the Minnesota Vikings also will get a new, open-air stadium.
Maybe the turmoil and raving has cooled to the point where some logic might be applied to the situation.
I am all for the outdoors, just as I am a lover of all sports – especially hockey and motorsports, but also including everything from baseball-football-basketball to the more off-beat, such as soccer, and track, and anything else where good competition can be enjoyed. I might pass up going to a game in any sport to participate myself in a ballgame or some active family endeavor. But, major league sports are a definite attraction.
LetÂ’s declare that football is meant to be played outside. Even in Minnesota. ESPECIALLY in Minnesota. Baseball is meant to be played outside, too, although a closeable roof seems like a no-brainer, when 20-25 of the 81 home games might be affected by inclement weather.
By inclement weather, I don’t mean a nagging drizzle, in which baseball can still be played – albeit with concerns that someone named Mauer, or Morneau, or Santana doesn’t slip and injure something. I’m referring to the near-freezing, hard drizzle, where the game might go on, but fans will simply choose to not attend. Sports columnists and broadcasters, sitting inside their heated and cooled press boxes, keep urging us that they could still play a ballgame in bad weather. But it’s the fans that matter.
Many fans will choose alternatives to sitting outside in miserable weather, and columnist/broadcasters sheltered by air-conditioned, food-and-drink-filled press boxes have no business demanding that fans should brave the elements that sportswriters and broadcasters never face at a game. Maybe we should build a retractable roof over the grandstands, and the field, and leave the press box uncovered. See how those fingers can work those computer keys in a little drizzle, or some sleet.
The most distasteful part of the Twins stadium issue was the outright panic generated by what amounted to media-supported blackmail. The Twins would leave for sure if we didn’t build them a stadium, we were told. Remember, they raved, weÂ’re not building it for Carl Pohlad and the Twins, weÂ’re building it for ourselves, so that we can continue to enjoy major league baseball in our own boutiquey little stadium.
When the issue stalled, stadium forces whined that public money built the Guthrie, although they conveniently avoided carrying out the comparison, because one private owner doesn’t control every event in the Guthrie and serves as the only beneficiary of 100 percent of the revenue.
Remember, now, IÂ’m a sports guy, and I prefer outdoor baseball and football, and always did. That goes back to the time when some of the same people coerced us to build the indoor Metrodome. So IÂ’d love to see the right deal on the right stadium. The media continued to push the stadium as our way of living up to other major U.S. cities, which virtually all have built new stadiums.
Overlooked in the debate by all was a nugget brought out by Pat Kessler, on WCCO-TV’s “Reality Check,†which cuts through the flak and hyperbole on major issues. Kessler said researching the 11 years that the Twins have been professionally lobbying the legislature and the populace for a new stadium, he found that a total of 14 new major league baseball stadiums have been, or are being, built. Three of those 14 were financed 100 percent by team owners. Can you imagine that? The remaining 11 are financed on an average of 50 percent by team owners.
Altogether, that’s an average of about 60 percent owners’ money for each of the last 14 new stadiums, folks. In Minnesota, Carl Pohlad, billionaire extraordinaire, owns the Twins and could easily afford to build the entire stadium by himself, yet he somehow manipulated a deal where he would pay 25 percent. Not 100 percent, not 60 percent, not 50 percent, but only one-fourth of the new playground for his boys – even though Pohlad and the Twins stand to make all the profit from tickets, concessions, and ad revenue at the new stadium.
Did the stadium-pushing media fail to do the same research as WCCO-TV? Or, worse, they did the research but decided not to offer the results that didn’t boost their stance. We canÂ’t blame Carl. He made his millions, which became billions, by banking, where you maneuver and manipulate to take what you can get, without any needless spending, and without letting up anybody indebted to you. Carl did it well, and apparently, heÂ’s still doing it. He gambled, and held out, figuring his patience would allow the media to finally whip itself into a frenzy. Sure enough, they have helped stampede baseball fans and the legislature into believing that their constituents — the taxpaying publilc — would agree that it was a good thing for them to be socked for 75 percent of the expense.
It would have been very interesting if the legislature had said, “OK Carl, we’ll pay for half of a new stadium, and if you want it, you pay for the other half.†Or, how about if Carl pays his one-fourth, but then pays himself for building the suites, which will make him huge earnings? At the very least, perhaps Pohlad could have been embarrassed into kicking in for a retractable roof.
As the media stampede gained momentum, anyone who hesitated to jump on their bandwagon was ridiculed for trying to run the Twins out of town. Columnists and broadcasters blasted legislators with outrageous accusations that were almost slanderous. The targets included thoughtful legislators who merely wanted to figure out a more rational way to finance a new stadium. They certainly wanted the Twins to have a new playground, but also felt compelled to stay in harmony with their constituents.
But the media surge immediately branded them as trying to run the Twins out of town with their hesitancy.
Three decades ago, when the Twins, Vikings, and Gopher football team all clamored for a new, indoor stadium, I didnÂ’t like the move, although it made some sense for baseball to escape the changeable Minnesota elements for air-regulated 70-degree conditions under a roof. Baseball is best played outdoors, but in a major league season now starting in April and finishing in October, there is the risk of some cold, drizzly, even snowy and sometimes wind-chilly days.
Postponements are a pain – even if doubleheaders are great. Expansion means that teams don’t often return for another trip to make up lost games. So the benefits of playing outside most of June, July and August, become shaky on the few foul-weather days in those months, and during the many foul-weather days in April, May, September and October. A roof makes some sense, and a retractable roof – regardless of the expense – makes the most sense of all.
The current plan left an interesting trail. Not long ago, tunnel-visioned people in the sports media assumed that all citizens shared their zeal, so they clamored for surveys and sought a public referendum for various sports causes. Surprise! The tax-paying public has unfailingly voted down any such public financing of private-owner-team stadiums. So this time, the zealots excluded the voters and insisted that there couldnÂ’t be any referendum. They said the people elected those legislators and councilors, so let them now do their work and decide for the voters. They knew, of course, that it is far easier to intimidate a few legislators than to coerce a herd of people anxious to not spend their money to build a playpen for billionaire owners and millionaire players.
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The media tirades came from younger types who canÂ’t remember the past, and from older fellas, confident they had already outlived most of the folks who recall their identical tirades that the Twins and Vikings would move if we didnÂ’t build them an indoor stadium. Some of us still remember.
Almost everybody in Minnesota, including non-sports-fans, wants the Twins and Vikings to stay in Minnesota. Frankly, I donÂ’t foresee either of them moving anywhere. But for some reason, almost every sports broadcaster and columnist seemed to buy into and contribute to the Twins-will-leave-this-time-for-sure campaign.
The issue became one of legislative votes, but it wasnÂ’t simply for or against public financing. The vote, we heard, was either in favor of guaranteeing billionaire owner Carl Pohlad a chance to gain fabulous wealth, over and above his already stupendous wealth, or to vote in favor of the Twins leaving Minnesota. LetÂ’s see, voting for or against a public gift makes sense; suggesting the vote was for a public subsidy or to force a major league sports franchise to leave was Ridiculous.
Last time all this happened, we laughed at the absurdity of the threats, but agreed to build the Metrodome because there was some merit to escaping the elements. This time the majority didnÂ’t laugh, but for some reason, enough legislators bought into the plan even while their constituents seemed to see through the blackmail. Using such an unreasonable and invalid method to secure the needed votes – by the narrowest of margins – seemed bizarre. But then we’re living in an era where, if a gane of Saudi Arabian extremists commits a terrorist act against the United States, our government would respond almost immediately by going to war…with Iraq.
So the legislature passed a Twins Stadium bill for downtown Minneapolis, beyond Target Center. First Avenue is elbow-to-elbow with people almost every night, as the trendy younger folks hustle off to neat restaurants, bars, night clubs and concert venues. Years ago, an attempt to clean up Hennepin Avenue pushed the less-desirable element to First Avenue, but when First Avenue became the trendiest spot in town, where were the homeless, the drug-dealers, the muggers, supposed to go? They migrated back to Hennepin Avenue. As they say, everybodyÂ’s got to be somewhere, and short of eradicating them, solutions seem scarce.
So the pushers of the new stadium, who had repeatedly said that Minneapolis needs the stadium down past Target Center, in order to save the city from the hassles of recent increases in murders, muggings, drug-dealings, street crime, and the nuisance of pan-handlers. Those untidy happenings occur less in Minneapolis than in other major cities, but itÂ’s an issue, nonetheless.
Apparently, the stadium advocates have it figured out, because theyÂ’ve assured us that the street people and the homeless and the bad element will disappear, just because thereÂ’s a ball game tonight. Hopefully, the muggers will be responsible enough to not rob those fans of their umbrellas.
About the Author
John Gilbert is a lifetime Minnesotan and career journalist, specializing in cars and sports during and since spending 30 years at the Minneapolis Tribune, now the Star Tribune. More recently, he has continued translating the high-tech world of autos and sharing his passionate insights as a freelance writer/photographer/broadcaster. A member of the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year jury since 1993. John can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11am on 610 KDAL(www.kdal610.com) on the "John Gilbert Show," and writes a column in the Duluth Reader.
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