Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 51

Sports THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14 2000 STAR TRIBUNE PAGE C9 NHL FOOTBALL returns to lineu Wealthy 114 GA DAY MMMV 4MV WILD VS. WASHINGTON VIKINGS NOTEBOOK WhenWhere: 6 p.m., MCI Center Radio: WCCO-AM (830) they'll be in the Super Bowl," Butler said. "I think there's over an 80 percent chance that they'll be in there. "So to say we beat them, that would be good for our organization, because no one is going to be able to beat these guys once they start rolling in December." Butler either has Vikings pennants on his wall at home, or is trying to butter up his next opponent. "Let me tell you something about Dennis Green," Butler said.

"I spent time with him at the Pro Bowl. I love everything about him. He is sitting back waiting for the opportunity to get to the championship game again. Because he'll be the first black head coach in the Super Bowl. If there's any guy who can do it, I think he can do it.

"He's hungry for it, he's a hungry coach, his guys are fresh, they have a bunch of veterans, and I don't see anybody beating them once they get rolling." Kent Youngblood can be contacted at kyoungbloodstartribune.com Jim Souhan can be contacted at jsouhan9startribune.com By Kent Youngblood and Jim Souhan Star Tribune Staff Writers Vikings linebacker Dwayne Rudd will return to the starting lineup Sunday after missing two games because of a shoulder injury. Comerback Robert Tate, safety Orlando Thomas and receivers Matthew Hatchette and Chris Walsh are listed as questionable, and it would be particularly surprising if either Thomas or Hatchette played. Walsh, despite suffering a broken bone in his face at St. Louis, could try to play, and Tate said he thinks he'll be ready. Although Rudd has had a mediocre statistical season, his speed was missed against the Rams, and could be a factor against the Packers this week.

"I'm 100 percent," Rudd said. "I felt good last week. Trainer Chuck Barta advised me not to play, which was a good idea. He's smarter than me in that area." Did the defense miss him last week, when St. Louis scored 40? The Chargers waived him Tuesday.

Jacquet returned punts and kickoffs at San Diego State, although he has returned only punts in the NFL He finished second in the AFC in punt returns last season with a 12.5-yard average. "He's an excellent athlete, great speed and quickness," Vikings special teams coach Gary Zauner said. "We think we upgraded as far as bringing in a good athlete." Butler said it Packers safety LeRoy Butler was his usual, loquacious self on a conference call with the Minnesota media Wednesday, even predicting the Vikings will make it to the Super Bowl. Never mind that the Packers could possibly meet the Vikings in the playoffs, or could dent their chances of securing the home-field advantage Sunday. "To say that you beat Minnesota which we feel like is the team that's going to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl well, "They might have scored 50 points if I had been playing," Rudd said.

Hatchette said his injury, a strained oblique muscle, is still bothering him. "It just hurts," he said. "It's hard to run with it. I didn't do much today." Tate indicated he'll be ready, despite having twisted his knee against St. Louis.

"I'm fine," he said. Did he practice? "I did as much as they let me," Tate said. Thomas (broken scapula) is not expected to play, meaning Tyrone Carter will start at free safety. Roster move at receiver The Vikings cut wide receiver Joey Kent, who had been signed Nov. 14, and replaced him on the roster with wide receiverspecial teams player Nate Jacquet.

Jacquet, 6-0, 185, is in his third season. He played for Miami in 1998 and 1999, then was traded to San Diego for a sixth-round pick. WILD: 8-16-5-2, 5th Northwest Wild update: The Wild has won only once in seven games. Tonight's game will be Minnesota's second in a row against a team from the Southeast Division; the Wild is 1-0-2 against that division. It is 4-10-1-0 on the road.

It is 2-10-3-2 when the opponent scores first, and only 6-6-2-0 when getting the first goal. The Wild has outshot the opposition 263-230 in the first period this season, and outscored opponents 20-19 in the opening 20 minutes. The Wild is 2-3-4-0 against Eastern Conference teams. CAPITALS: 11-11-6-1, 1st Southeast Capitals update: Washington beat the New York Islanders on Tuesday to reach the .500 mark for the first this season. The Caps, who are tied for first place in the Southeast Division, have won seven of their past nine games and just concluded a four-game trip with a 3-1 record after winning just one of their first 12 road games.

Defenseman Ken Klee suffered a knee injury Tuesday and was to be evaluated Wednesday. The Capitals have yielded six power-play goals in the past three games. Until Tuesday, Washington hadn't given up an even-strength goal in nearly 11 periods. Peter Bondra is the scoring leader and Olaf Kolzig is the No. 1 goaltender.

John Millea NFL NOTES Rice is likely to bid 49ers crowd farewell Associated Press Bill Walsh and Jerry Rice agree that the game's most prolific receiver likely won't finish his career with the San Francisco 49ers. Confirming what's been widely known for months, Walsh said Wednesday Rice probably will play the final home game of his 16-year San Francisco career on Sunday against Chicago. "The greatest player in our era of foot- Scott Pellerin Brad Bombard 1 Peter Bondra (HafKotdg Through Tuesday Wild statistics Washington statistics SCORING. SCORING Player GP A Pts PIM Player OP A Pt PIM Soolt Pellerin 27 2 13 15 2- 19 PeterBondra 29 10 15 25 3 22 JimDowd 30 2 12 14 3- 26 UlfDahlen 29 8 10 18 0 2 Antti Uaksonen 30 7 6 13 1 12 AdamOates 29 4 14 18 1- 8 Maxm Sushinsky. 25 7 4 11 8- 29 Steve Korwwalchuk 29 8 9 17 2- 48 WesWalz 30 7 4 11 3- 8 Sergei Gonchar 27 4 13 17 4 28 Marian Gaborik 24 8 5 11 1- 12 Calle Johansaon 24 1 13 14 4 10 Lubomir Sekeraa 30 6 5 11 4- 24 Andrei Nikokshai 28 6 7 13 5 12 Darby Hendrickaun 23 4 5 9 0 14 Richard Zednik 25 5 7 12 1- 37 FlkpKube 24 3 8 9 3- 4 JetlHalpem 29 5 7 12 4- 15 StacyRoeat 27 2 5 7 5- 4 Dmitri Khristich 28 4 7 11 8 8 JeffNielsen 25 1 5 8 6- 2 ChrisSimon 20 5 1 6 3- 42 Brad Bombard 22 0 6 6 6- 16 Bulis(rs) 20 2 4 8 0 14 Peter Baitos 12 3 2 5 1 8 Dmitri Mironov 21 3 2 5 1 6 Aaron Gavey 25 2 3 5 3- 17 SyhainCote 19 2 2 4 11- 0 Ladislav Benysek 29 1 4 6 4- 12 JoeSacco 25 2 2 4 2- 19 SeanOOonnell 30 0 5 5 1 70 KenKlee 23 1 3 4 0 24 Sergei Knvokrasov 15 1 3 4 1 8 Joe Reekie 28 1 2 3 2 40 AndySutton 28 0 2 2 4- 58 JamesBlack 14 1 0 18- 2 Steve McKenna 15 1 0 1 2- 19 Glen MetropolS 4 0 1 11-0 MattJohneon 20 1 0 1 4- 58 i Trent Whitfield '801 1 1 2 Sytvain Btouin 8 0 1 1 2 21 Craig Berube 22 0 1 1 3- 18 CurtjaLaachyahyn 20 0 1 1 0 11 i BrendanWitt 28 0 0 0 3- 23 Totala 30 59 98 157 9- 470 Totala 29 70 123 193 4- 412 GOALTENOINQ I GOALTENDING Player GA SP GAA Player GA SP GAA MarmyFemandez 7 7 1 36 .910 2 6 I OlafKoteig 11 9 4 57 .911 2.4 Jam McLennan 1 11 3 38 .903 2.5 CraigBWngton 0 3 2 16 .891 3.2 Totala 8 18 4 76 .904 2.5 Totala 11 12 6 76 .904 2.6 bail will no longer wear a 49er uniform, in all likelihood," the general manager said.

"I'm hoping everyone at 3Com Park on Sunday acknowledges it on their feet, chanting, 'Jerry! Jerry! Walsh said Rice, scheduled to make $4.2 million next season in a contract that runs until VIKINGS from CI Focus changes from loss to another chance to clinch home field This happened, perhaps to a lesser degree, in the Vikings' 4 1 -13 loss in Tampa on Oct 29. The Vikings will do now what they did then: try to correct the errors. "You want to forget about it," comerback Kenny Wright said. "But you have to review it), then get your mind focused on the game ahead. There's no loss of confidence." Defensive coordinator Emmitt Thomas has said from the start this is not a defense that will dominate teams.

There is youth, especially in the secondary, with Wright in his second year and Robert Tate in his first full year at comerback. All season, Thomas has schemed to protect his cornerbacks. Before the St Louis game, he said the key was for the cornerbacks to keep plays in front of them. The Rams exploited this by completing pass after pass underneath that coverage. That said, the Vikings could do some things that might change the outcome should the two teams meet again: Disrupt the wide receivers' patterns.

The Vikings' cornerbacks generally don't play bump-and-run coverage at the line. But it is still possible to alter the timing of a route with contact within the first 5 yards. Sunday, they did very little of this, which only helped the Rams get into and stay in a killer groove. "I believe we had a good scheme," Wright said. "But we didn't come out and get good drops." Get quicker route recognition and reaction by the safeties.

As was the case in last year's playoff game, the Vikings were playing without starting free safety Orlando Thomas. And while rookie Tyrone Carter has played well, he simply hadn't seen all of the routes the Rams were using. Perhaps with a veteran in the game, the Vikings could have moved the safety up, creating less of a seam for receivers to exploit. The Rams always knew where Carter was and threw underneath him quite often. The Rams did much the same thing last January against Anthony Bass.

As the game went on, it appeared the safeties' drops got even deeper, creating more space. Limit mistakes. Yes, the Rams simply beat the Vikings defenders several times. But sometimes they benefited from Vikings mistakes. Correctable mistakes.

"No doubt about it," Wong said. "For example, there were a couple of third-down plays that we gave to 'em We messed up on our techniques a little bit, and didn't do what the coaches wanted. ball, basketball and hockey leagues. The gambling advertisements, which were still on Yahoo's NFL page Wednesday, began running Dec. 1.

The NFL didn't find about the ads until Friday, an attorney for the league said. Testaverde probable Quarterback Vinny Testaverde, who injured his left groin in the Jets' loss to Oakland, practice Wednesday and is listed as probable for New York's game Sunday against Detroit Etc. With Jake Plummer and Dave Brown nursing injuries, Arizona might give third-stringer Chris Greisen his first NFL start Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens. Plummer is listed as questionable and Brown probable for Sunday's game, but Greisen will start if neither of the others improves enough to practice by Friday, interim coach Dave McGlnnis said. Bears quarterback Cade McNown will start Sunday's game at San Francisco after missing six weeks because of a separated shoulder.

He hasn't played since being injured Oct. 22 against Philadelphia. Washington lost left guard Keith Sims for the season because of a ruptured left Achilles' tendon. Left guard Glenn Parker will miss the New York Giants' game Sunday with Dallas after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. Running back Jerald Moore cleared waivers and has been re-signed by the Saints, and linebacker Phillip Ward was released.

Jerry Rice WILD from CI 2004, likely will be released after June 1 because of the 49ers' salary cap woes and the pressure from San Francisco's young corps of receivers. Yahoo! backtracks Tonya Antonucci, director of production for Yahoo! Sports, said the company, which broadcasts audio of NFL games on the Internet, will eliminate ads by 30 football wagering services from its NFL Web page after the league threatened to cancel its business with the world's biggest Internet portal. The ads might have generated as much as $48 million in annual sales, media executives said. Yahoo is one of seven companies vying for rights to produce the NFL's Web site and is seeking to extend agreements with base- Wild can only tie Hurricanes despite suffocating defense The Wild took the eame to the Hurricanes from the start, holding Carolina without a shot for the first 5:12. Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice said his team, which had been in Weinke heads AP squad; Hamilton on second team COLLEGE NOTES "One chance could be dangerous," Lemaire said.

"That's a good team. Maybe you guys don't see it like that, but it's a good team." Pellerin scored his third goal of the season and his second shorthanded at 12:05 of the first period, but credit Dowd, too. The center swiped the puck at mid-ice and made the pass that sprung Pellerin free. Pellerin, with the puck on his stick, raced Hurricanes defenseman David Tanabe to the net. As Tanabe caught Pellerin from behind and fell on him, Pellerin shoved the puck between goaltender Arturs Irbe's legs and Pellerin and Tanabe ended up in a heap.

It was Minnesota's fifth shorthanded goal of the year. The assist was Dowd's 13th, tying Pellerin for the team lead. "Jimmy made a great pass, and I tried to make a move to the net," Pellerin said. "The guy hit me from behind and everything kind of went to the net and it slid through the five hole. "I heard the crowd first, and then I saw the puck in the net." The Wild's next-best scoring chance came midway through the third period.

On a three-on-one breakaway, a shot by Pellerin from the right circle slammed off the post. The Wild had a handful of other odd-man rushes, but too many shots sailed wide of the net or were missed altogether. "We missed the shot a few times, but they were good plays on our part," Lemaire said. "It's a good tie. We'll take this any day." St.

Paul since Sunday, had trouble getting its legs going. "That was my concern," he said. "Other than eating and practicing, there wasn'tmuch else they could do." The Wild had 29 shots on goal; Carolina's 19 matched the season low for a Minnesota opponent, as did the third-period goose egg. "We hit a post in the third period, and in the first period we had a couple chances where we were getting three and four shots at a time," Fernandez said. "With a couple of breaks, we could have won the game." The Wild hurried to the airport afterward, with a scheduled 2 a.m.

arrival in Washington, D.C., where they will face the Capitals tonight. Jamie McLennan will start in goal, which gives Fernandez time to think about his next game, Sunday against Dallas at Xcel. Fernandez was the Stars' property for the previous six seasons and played 33 games in the NHL for them, including 24 last season. "I'm going to be honest with you guys," he said. "I'm a little bit nervous, because I know most of the guys on that team and the damage they can do." One more thing about Carolina's late-game o-fer: There were no predictions of a repeat tonight or Sunday.

John Millea can be contacted at Jmlllea9startribune.com We could have gotten off the field. That being said, our offense could have scored, and that changes a lot of things. But there are definitely a lot of correctable things." Get healthy. The Vikings were without two starters, Thomas and linebacker Dwayne Rudd. Thomas' confidence and Rudd's speed might have leveled the field a bit at the Trans World Dome.

And finally: Get the Rams at home. Whether the Vikings will have to face St. Louis again is unclear. But their focus is on Sunday's game with the Packers, where they can win home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Members of the team remain convinced that a matchup with the Rams would be much closer in the Metrodome, where some features of the Rams offense including personnel shifts before the play would be more difficult to pull off in a noisy environment The bottom line? The Vikings are not in a position to change things at this point What they have to do is execute their scheme better.

The next few weeks will show whether it's enough to reach a Super BowL "We have to go out and perform at the level you're capable of performing at," Tate said. "We can't listen to what people have to say about usj. Everybody is entided to say what they want to say! Our objective is to do what we have to do as a team and we'll be OK." That starts Sunday against the Packers. "I think overall this team is pretty eager to get out and prove a point" Rudd said. The Vikings defense responded to their loss at Tampa by playing relatively well in an overtime loss at Green Bay that was clinched by Brett Favre's surreal tipped completion to Antonio Freeman The Packers netted just 217 passing yards that night From News Services Florida State placed three players including St.

Paul's Chris Weinke on the Associated Press All-America team selected Gophers center Ben Hamilton was named to the second team. In addition to quarterback Weinke the Heisman Trophy winner Florida State placed wide receiver Marvin Minnis and defensive end Jamal Reynolds on the team. Weinke led the nation with 4,167 yards passing and threw 33 touchdown passes with only 1 1 interceptions. He guided the third-ranked Seminoles (11-1) to a national title game against No. 1 Oklahoma (12-0) in the Orange Bowl on Jan.

3. Miami also placed three players on the team: linebacker Dan Morgan, wide receiverpunt returner Santana Moss and safety Edward Reed. Oklahoma's Josh Heupel made second team, with Purdue's Drew Brees the third-team quarterback. TCU's LaDalnlan Tomllnson and North-western's Damien Anderson, the nation's top two rushers, were the running backs. SMU put on probation SMU was placed on two years' probation by the NCAA on Wednesday, just as the school was recovering from being the only major college football program to get the "death penalty." The NCAA cited recruiting violations in broadening the penalties already imposed by the university.

The governing body said former SMU assistant coach Steve Malin, who was fired, engaged in academic fraud and I Tbe AP AIl-Aoierica tean FIRST TEAM OFFENSE Quarterback: Chris Weinke, Florida sr Running back Daman Anderson, Northwestern, jr; LaDamian Tomlmson, TCU, sr. Wide receivers: Antonio Bryant, Pittsburgh, soph: Marvin Minms. Florida sr. Tight End: Brian Natkin, Texas El Paso, sr Canter Oommic Ratda. Nebraska, (r Guards-tackles: Chns Brown, Georgia Tech.

sr. Leonard Davis, Texaa, sr; Steve Hutchinson. Michigan, sr; Chad Ward. Washington, sr. Placekicker: Jonathan Rultin, Cincinnati, soph Alt-purpose: Santana Moss.

Miami, sr. FIRST TEAM DEFENSE Una: Andre Carter, California, sr: Casey Hampton. Texas, sr; John Henderson. Tennessee, jr, Jamal Reynolds. Florida sr.

Uneback-era: Keith Adams, Clemson, Rocky Calmus. Oklahoma, i. Dan Morgan. Miami, sr; Carlos Polk, Nebraska, sr Backs: Jamar Fletcher. Wisconsin.

Edward Reed. Miami, r. Dwight Smith, Akron, sr; Fred Smoot, Mississippi St sr Punter: Nick Harris, California, sr. SECOND TEAM OFFENSE Ouarterback: Josh Heupel, Oklahoma. Running backs: Rudl Johnson, Auburn; Ken Simonton.

Oregon St Wide receivers: Fred Mitchell, UCLA; David Terrell, Michigan. Tight end: Todd Heap, Arizona SI Canter: Ban Hamilton, Gophers Guards-tackles: Jeff Backus, Michigan; Joaquin Gonzalez, Miami; Kenyatta Walker, Fkxv da: Pork Chop Womack, Mississippi St. Placekicker: Jamie Rheem. Kansas St Ali-purpoee: Aaron Locked. Kansas St.

SECOND TEAM DEFENSE Line: Mario Fatateni, Kansas Julius Peppers, North Carotins Richard Seymour, Georgia; Justin Smith, Missouri. Linebackers: Adam Archuleta, Arizona Anthony Oenman, Notre Dame, Levar Fisher. North Carolina Jason Glenn, Texas Backs: lay Cody Florida Anthony Floyd. Lounuee; T. Thatcher, Oklahoma, Uto Sheppard, Florida.

Punier Brian Morton, Duke. made payments to students two years ago. The NCAA did not place any restrictions on TV appearances or eligibility for bowl games. Etc. Morningside College has announced it will leave the North Central Conference after the 2001-2002 school year.

It also will not field a football team for the 2001 season, according to the NCC office Gary Darnell ended speculation about his future as Western Michigan's football coach by agreeing to a five-year contract Darnell led the Broncos to a 9-3 record this season. -aw. f.ftftawaa... a. a.

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