Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn., Charley Walters column

May 11--Time for a switch.

The Wild lost their first two second-round games in Chicago before rallying at the Xcel Energy Center to even the series at 2-2. Game 5 is Sunday night in Chicago, and the Wild plan to stay at a different hotel this time.

"We're not superstitious, but (we) leave no stone unturned," said Mike Yeo, who has coached the Wild brilliantly throughout the playoffs.

Another possible change for the Wild on Sunday is that Yeo might alter the pregame skate for a drill or two.

The Wild'sMatt Cooke, 35, is in his 16th season in the NHL. Of playing against the Blackhawks in Chicago over the years, Cooke said, "It's a lot different now than when I first started playing there.

"It's hostile. It's loud. It's intense. The national anthem is a little bit (emotionally) overwhelming. It's fun to be in front of a crowd that is that rambunctious."

Word is that the Blackhawks are grossing nearly $3 million per second-round playoff games just in ticket sales at Chicago'sUnited Center.

Charlie Coyle has had a few of the 15 stitches removed near his mouth after the Wild wing was hit with a puck by teammate Ryan Suter during the Colorado Avalanche playoff series.

"Mouth's fine -- no worries there," Coyle said. "I forget I even have (the sutures)."

Coyle uses a little self-deception psychology when playing in Chicago.

"Sometimes you pretend (Blackhawk fans) are rooting for you, just to get it going a little bit," he said.

The Wild's playoff success against Chicago shouldn't be a surprise. Colorado, which was eliminated by the Wild in Round 1, defeated the Blackhawks four of the five times they played in the regular season and had a better regular-season record (52-22-8, 112 points, versus the Blackhawks' 46-21-15, 107 points).

In the final 10 regular-season games, Colorado was 7-1-2, Chicago 5-5 and the Wild 6-3-1.

Linebacker Anthony Barr, the Vikings' top draft pick (No. 9 overall), can expect a signing bonus of about $7 million as part of a four-year contract totaling about $12.5 million.

Minnesota's other first-round pick (No. 32 overall), quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, can expect a signing bonus of about $3.5 million and a four-year deal totaling about $6.5 million.

The Vikings gave up their second-round (No. 40 overall) and fourth-round (No. 108) draft picks to move to the final pick in the first round to take Bridgewater.

In order for the Vikings to have moved up to No. 22 to take celebrity QB Johnny Manziel, they probably would have had to package at least their No. 40 and the higher of their two third-round picks. Presumably, then, the difference in being able to get Manziel was one round -- third instead of fourth -- in the draft. Manziel was taken by Cleveland.

The Vikings used their higher third-round pick (No. 77) to take defensive end Scott Crichton of Oregon State, a wise move.

Running back Jerick McKinnon, a third-round pick by the Vikings out of Georgia Southern, rushed for 168 yards against North Dakota State in a 2012 FCS playoff game at the Fargodome. Playing for NDSU was offensive tackle Billy Turner, the son of former Vikings running back Maurice Turner. Billy, a 6-foot-5, 315-pound Mounds View High grad, was drafted in the third round by the Miami Dolphins. Dad, a running back, was a 12th-round pick in 1983.

McKinnon rushed for 48 yards against national champion Alabama in 2011, 109 yards against No. 5 Georgia in 2012 and 125 yards in an upset of Florida in 2013.

Vikings co-owner the other day visited the site of his team's new stadium, which is on schedule to be completed for the 2016 season. Meanwhile, the Vikings will play two seasons outdoors at TCF Bank Stadium.

"I love playing outside; it's going to be a great two years," Wilf said. "I think the players and coaches are embracing it."

Wilf said he and brother Zygi remain interested in acquiring a Major League Soccer franchise for their stadium and continue to talk with MLS officials.

"I think this building in this kind of urban environment, and places like Seattle and other cities, it's shown to be a successful model," Mark Wilf said. "I think with the open airiness of (the Vikings') building, the kind of features we have, it's going to be a great experience."

And another revenue producer.

Hall of famer Willie Mays -- perhaps baseball's all-time best overall player -- turned 83 years old last week. Jerry Koosman, 71, the former Twins 20-game winner from tiny Appleton, Minn., was a New York Mets teammate and close friend of Mays during Willie's final two seasons (1972-73) in baseball.

"Willie told me one day, 'Kooz, I'm going to retire,' " Koosman recalled last week. "I said, 'Willie, you can't retire -- you're the best player on our team.' He said, 'Kooz, I'm tired.' I said, 'Get over the tired stuff -- we need you.' "

Mays was 42 in 1973, when he hit six home runs and batted .211 in 66 games for the Mets. Koosman won 14 games with a 2.84 earned-run average that season.

"Willie was my hero," said Koosman, who resides in Osceola, Wis. "I grew up admiring Willie. When you're on the mound, before you throw the first pitch, you turn around to make sure everyone's at their position, and you see Willie Mays in center field -- I mean, you're so joyful to have Willie Mays playing behind you, you just can't believe it.

"I remember we were playing in New Orleans in a (exhibition) game against the Twins, and I said, 'Willie, let's go out for a walk.' He said, 'Can't do that -- everybody will recognize me, and I'd be swamped.' I said, 'Here, put on these sunglasses and this cap, and nobody will know.'

"We walked all around New Orleans, and nobody recognized him and he was so happy and had a great time."

Mays and Koosman, who plays golf regularly in New Richmond, Wis., were golfing partners.

"I wouldn't want to play Willie right now even-up in golf," Koosman said. "When he played, he would write his score on the card, a 72, before we played, then go out and shoot it.

"He taught me a lot about golf in Florida during spring training. He'd say, 'Kooz, you've got to learn how to finesse an iron.' He had these big, strong hands and it was amazing how he could control a golf ball. And with a persimmon driver, he hit the ball 300-plus yards.

"I think if Willie would have started golf early on, he would have starred on the PGA Tour, too."

Former North Star and Fighting Saint Mike Antonovich, who scouts for the St. Louis Blues, attended his first NHL playoff series in 30 years at a Wild-Blackhawks game in St. Paul last week.

Antonovich, 62, has been mayor in his hometown of Coleraine, Minn., for six years.

"It's something you can do for the community," he said. "It's enjoyable, but sometimes it gets to be a pain because of all the little stuff."

Antonovich was at former North Stars-Fighting Saints-Gophers coach Glen Sonmor's 85th birthday gathering the other day.

"Glen's my all-time favorite coach. I love the guy," Antonovich said.

Wild national anthem voice extraordinaire James Bohn rated Friday night's stirring performance before the playoff game against Chicago as the most exciting of 45 games this season because of the 19,405 amped-up spectators who poured into the Xcel Energy Center.

Wild investor and hockey aficionado Stanley S. Hubbard on this season's Wild team: "It's a much faster game than it was when the North Stars were here. I don't know if everybody would agree with that, but the new sticks have a lot to do with it. They make that powerful shot with the new sticks. I don't know if the North Stars of old could compete with today's teams, to tell you the truth."

Pat Eilers, 47, a former St. Thomas Academy star who played football for Yale, Notre Dame and the Vikings, last week, representing student-athletes, testified at a congressional hearing in Washington, D.C., on the issue of potential unionization of college athletes.

Eilers, who resides in Chicago and works for a private equity firm, is a proponent of mandatory four-year scholarships and enhanced health care and insurance benefits for college athletes, but he sees potential complications for unionizing.

"Can you imagine an 18-year-old in college trying to go to school, trying to get ready to play a game and then having a union rep telling him that he should strike, that you shouldn't go out of the locker room and play the game?" Eilers asked Saturday. "It's absurd."

Those were two St. Paul guys -- Ken Mauer Jr. as a referee and Sean Sweeney as a Brooklyn Nets assistant -- working in Thursday night's NBA playoff game in Miami on national TV.

Former Gophers third baseman Jack Hannahan of St. Paul is back in Cincinnati with the Reds after shoulder rehab in Arizona and could be activated June 1 if healthy.

Ex-Twins third baseman Gary Gaetti is back managing the Sugar Land Skeeters in the independent Atlantic League near Houston. Gaetti, 55, said last week that he's not sure whether he would want a job managing in the major leagues or anywhere else in organized baseball.

"I like doing what I'm doing," he said. "It would have to be a special offer. Independent ball is pretty neat. So is the big leagues."

Gaetti, whose Skeeters got off to a 5-5 start, said he probably can't get away to attend former teammate Chuck Knoblauch'sTwins Hall of Fame induction in August.

"We've got a 140-game schedule," he said.

It's official: WCCO-AM will return as radio voice for University of St. Thomas football games next season, with Dave Lee, Eric Nelson, Fritz Waldvogel and Steve Thomson calling the action.

Ex-Twin Eddie Guardado will make the ceremonial first pitch for the Northwoods League Mankato MoonDogs' home opener May 28 at Franklin Rogers Park.

Local artist Terrence Fogarty's commemorative prints for baseball's All-Star Game July 15 at Target Field are priced at $230.

Former Twins pinch-hitting whiz Steve Braun turned 65 last week.

Pioneer Press sports copy editor Joe Bissen will make a free slideshow presentation on defunct golf courses, particularly those in Hennepin County such as Rich Acres (Richfield), Bryn Mawr (Minneapolis) and Westwood Hills (St. Louis Park), at 7 p.m. Monday at the Edina Public Library, 5280 Grandview Square.

Bissen is the author of the recently released book, "Fore! Gone. Minnesota's Lost Golf Courses 1897-1999," which features more than 80 abandoned layouts. Last week, it was named a bronze-medal winner for Midwest Non-Fiction in the Independent Publisher Book Awards competition.

Cretin-Derham Hall grad Scott Heather of Bucknell has been named baseball coach of the year in the Patriot League. Matt Busch of Roseville is a volunteer assistant coach on the team.

Former Gophers catcher Aron Amundson is varsity hitting and catching coach at Prior Lake High.

Erin Hills (Wis.), which has been awarded the 2017 U.S. Open men's golf championship, is a five-hour drive from the Twin Cities.

Former Gophers All-American volleyball player Meredith Nelson Uram will receive her MBA from Harvard Business School on May 29.

DON'T PRINT THAT

The Wild'sZach Parise is shown drinking chocolate milk on the huge Kemps billboard next to Best Buy headquarters in Richfield that for the past four years featured the Twins'Joe Mauer.

Some people think this year could be the last in Minnesota for running back Adrian Peterson, 29, unless he takes a big pay cut next year.

After last year's draft, the Vikings signed 17 free agents, four of whom ended up on the team's practice squad. Bonuses for undrafted Vikings free agents last year ranged from $1,500 to $8,000. The Vikings this year are allotted $80,000 for signing bonuses for undrafted free agents.

The difficulty for the Vikings trading QB Christian Ponder is his guaranteed salary of nearly $3 million this year.

Besides Anthony Barr, the last Vikings linebacker from UCLA was Fred McNeill, who also was drafted in the first round (No. 17 overall) in 1974. McNeill played 12 seasons in the NFL.

The Vikings passed on NFL-ready linebacker C.J. Mosley from Alabama to take Barr, who played linebacker for just two seasons at UCLA but is considered to have huge upside.

But the Vikings must have known what they were doing, because Mosley was still available nearly two hours after Thursday evening's draft began, as new Minnesota coach Mike Zimmer pointed out when asked if he had considered Mosley.

Barr went No. 9 in the draft, Mosley No. 17 to Baltimore.

As fast as Erik Haula is on the ice, he would be challenged in a sprint race by Wild teammate Ryan Suter, whose speed isn't as noticeable because he plays defense.

Word is Terry Porter, an assistant under departed Timberwolves coach Rick Adelman and considered a prospect to succeed Adelman, is a candidate for the Oregon State men's head coaching job.

Major League Baseball, the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., sportscaster Bob Costas, politicians from Idaho and Minnesota, and several corporations have written letters to the U.S. Postal Service in Washington, D.C., in an effort to have a postage stamp honoring hall of famer and former Twin Harmon Killebrew.

Chris Parmelee's promotion to the Twins was the ninth by a Class AAA Rochester player already this season. Demoted by the Twins to Rochester, Pedro Florimon was 0-3 at the plate with an error at shortstop in his first game.

OVERHEARD

Wild winger Charlie Coyle on the physical difference between Xcel Energy Center and Chicago'sUnited Center: "(Chicago) is darker in there."

Follow Charley Walters at twitter.com/Charley_Walters. He can be reached at [email protected].

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