1. sports editor Tad reeve treeve@pioneerpress.com 651-228-5239
SPORTS 1B
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015H
St. Paul Pioneer Press
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By Marcus R. Fuller
mfuller@pioneerpress.com
Like his father before him, Amir
Coffey is a Gopher.
The four-star guard and state’s
top senior made his commitment to
the University of Minnesota official
Monday afternoon at a news confer-
ence at Hopkins High School.
“I just want to represent my home-
town,” Coffey said. “And the chem-
istry I have with a lot of the players
off the court — I’m friends with
them already. They’re good people.
It felt like home. It felt right for
me.”
Coffey’s father, Richard, was a
starting forward for the Gophers
under Clem Haskins from 1986-90,
playing on Sweet 16 and Elite Eight
teams. He hopes Minnesota can
accomplish big things with his son’s
help.
“I’m super excited,” Richard Cof-
fey said. “By no means is he a sav-
ior of anything, but I think he can
be an important piece to their suc-
cess moving forward in 2016.”
Coffey’s commitment could be a
turning point for Gophers basket-
ball coach Richard Pitino as he
works to keep many of the state’s
top players from leaving Minneso-
ta.
Coffey, who had scholarship offers
from Big Ten schools such as Michi-
gan, Michigan State, Indiana and
Wisconsin, is ranked as the 33rd-
best player in the 2016 class by
AMIR COFFEY, 7B >
By Chris Tomasson
ctomasson@pioneerpress.com
There has been plenty of talk
about cheese lately with the
Vikings even though they don’t
play Green Bay until November.
After Sunday’s 26-16 victory over
Detroit, Minnesota coach Mike
Zimmer recalled a conversation
last week with his mentor, Hall of
Fame coach Bill Parcells. He said
Parcells talked about the Vikings
perhaps being overconfident going
into their season-opening 20-3 loss
at San Francisco, and then Zimmer
said his players “can’t take the
cheese this week, either, because
people will be saying nice things
about us.”
Zimmer said Monday he spoke to
Parcells again Sunday night. Zim-
mer said he already has addressed
the team about not being overconfi-
dent heading into Sunday’s game
against San Diego at TCF Bank Sta-
dium.
“It’s a good week to be demand-
ing,” Zimmer said.
As for telling his team not to take
the cheese, that apparently is a
Zimmer staple.
“He’s always on us about not tak-
ing the cheese, not believing in the
hype, and just staying within this
locker room and don’t be distract-
ed,” said cornerback Xavier Rhodes
said.
The Vikings appeared distracted
during the ugly Sept. 14 loss to the
ZIMMER WARY, 2B >
By Mike Berardino >> mberardino@pioneerpress.com
The last time Torii Hunter fin-
ished out a baseball season with
the Twins, he had to sum-
mon every bit of his
professionalism just
to get through it.
A 79-win
Twins
team in
2007
had no chance to catch either
the Cleveland Indians in the
American League Cen-
tral or the New York
Yankees for what
back then was the
league’s only wild-
card spot. Eliminated
with 12 games remaining,
those disappointing Twins had
to slog through the most meaningless
games Hunter has experienced in any of the
past 15 seasons.
“That,” Hunter says, “was painful.”
TORII HUNTER, 5B >
By Chad Graff
cgraff@pioneerpress.com
Erik Haula
has little
interest in
talking about
last season
and the soph-
omore slump
that took
away so much
of the opti-
mism he built with a sensa-
tional rookie run.
Last season, his fitness was
called into question. His sta-
tistics dropped. His role
slipped. He was a healthy
scratch in eight of the team’s
10 playoff games.
But back at the Xcel Energy
Center this week for training
camp, Haula’s play this week
— leading to his appearance
in the team’s second pre-
season game Tuesday in Win-
nipeg — is beginning to make
coaches forget why he was in
the proverbial doghouse for
long stretches last season.
“Haula I think is a guy that
deserves some credit for the
way he is playing so far,”
coach Mike Yeo said. “He has
come into camp in good shape.
... He certainly is well ahead
of where he was last year at
this time. That’s a positive for
him and for us both.”
At this time last year, Yeo
was growing frustrated with
Haula, insinuating he was out
of shape. He started on the
third line and then was
dropped to centering the
fourth line.
ERIK HAULA, 5B >
Hopkins star, ranked No. 33 in nation, picks father’s alma mater Gophers
Win is reason to smile, but Zimmer warns against overconfidence
Wild forward fit,
motivated after
sophomore slump
U ‘felt right’ to Coffey
Say cheese, Vikings. Or don’t.
Haula
only
looking
ahead
Pioneer Press: Scott Takushi
Amir Coffey puts on a Gophers hat as he announces Monday at Hopkins High
School that he will play for the University of Minnesota.
Pioneer Press: John Autey
Vikings coach Mike Zimmer walks the field before the start of Sunday’s 26-16
victory over Detroit on Sunday at TCF Bank Stadium.
Associated Press file photo: Ron Jenkins
Torii Hunter, on his attitude toward games down the
season’s home stretch: “I’m a veteran guy. Some
guys are trying to get a salary drive or whatever. I
don’t need that. I want a ‘W.’ ”
Playing to win
AL wild-card
standings >
Team W-L GB
New York 82-67 +3{
Houston 79-71 —
TWINS 76-73 2{
Los Angeles 76-73 2{
Cleveland 74-74 4
Torii Hunter hates meaningless games —
and hasn’t played in many of them
winning NUMBERS >
Torii Hunter’s career statistics in games won contrast sharply with stats in games lost (source: Baseball-Reference.com):
Games Runs Home runs RBIs Avg. OPS
In wins 1,252 925 251 1,017 .316 .917
In losses 1,107 368 101 367 .230 .644
On Page 5B: Revamped
power play cashes in early.
Erik Haula