The madness known as NFL free agency began early today and has already garnered a lot of attention. The hated Bears landed the biggest prize in DE Julius Peppers and snared one of my favorite Vikings, RB Chester Taylor. Not good.

What have the Vikings been up to? Not much. Because of the quirky Collective Bargaining Agreement and the team’s trip to the NFC title game, the Vikes are not allowed to sign an unrestricted free agent unless they lose one of their own. Now that Taylor’s gone, it’s game-on.

The team is reportedly interested in former Colts CB Marlin Jackson. Jackson, a 1st round pick by Indy in 2005, has appeared in just 11 games the past two seasons because of knee injuries. I like the idea of the Vikes landing a cornerback, but I am not sure Jackson is the guy. Another option that might warrant consideration is Lito Sheppard, who was recently released by the Jets. Sheppard, a 2-time Pro Bowler, spent the first 7 years of his career in Philadelphia and we know Brad Childress loooooooooves him some former Eagles.

Despite losing Taylor and being relegated to bit players in free agency, the Vikings have accomplished a couple of productive things this week. By putting a 1st round tender on DE Ray Edwards and a 3rd round tender on QB Tarvaris Jackson, the team has all but guaranteed both will be in purple next season.

That being said, the Vikings have a lot of work to do this off-season and if I were running the team (like that will ever happen), these would be the top 3 things on my to-do list:

1. Revamp the Secondary
We all love Antoine Winfield and for good reason, the guy is everything you want a football player to be - tough, smart, intense and talented – but he aint getting any younger. Now is the time to transition him over to free safety. Madieu Williams has been a bust; I’ve seen enough of him. Plug Winfield in at free safety and let Tyrell Johnson and Jamarca Sanford battle it out at strong safety. With Cedric Griffin coming of a torn ACL, I’d sign a veteran like Jackson or Sheppard, bring back Benny Sapp and take a corner in the first three rounds.

2. Dump Sage Rosenfels and Draft a QB
You have to think Favre is coming back and if he doesn’t you have Jackson as insurance. Yes, most fans hate to hear that, but T-Jack is better than he is given credit for. Rosenfels meanwhile is 32, has never done anything in the NFL and was horrible during the preseason in 2009. Get a low round pick for Sage and use a higher choice on a promising signal caller.

3. Replace Chester Taylor
I am a sucker for big names. I think Ladanian Tomlinson would complement Adrian Peterson well – he is a great receiver out of the backfield and could thrive in a reduced rushing role. And you know he’s got a chip on his shoulder right about now. Brian Westbrook would also fit the bill and he’s got that former Eagle thing going for him, but he just can’t stay healthy. While he has more upside than LT, Tomlinson is more reliable and reliability wins out here.

University of Minnesota - Duluth Men’s hockey team bounced back from Friday nights 3-2 loss to the visiting University of Minnesota Gophers in high fashion as they shutout the Gophers 3-0 behind the stellar play of Sophomore goalie Brady Hjelle. Hjelle recorded his first carrier shutout stopping all 22 shots on way to a victory and guarantee home ice for the first round of the WCHA playoffs. Bulldogs head coach Scott Sandelin was pleased with tonight’s performance, “I thought we went out and really played well. I liked the way our guys bounced back from last night even though I thought we played well in that game to.” The Bulldogs where also led by Jr. forward Justin Fontaine who scored his 20th and 21st goals of the season to help complete the shutout. UMD is on the road next weekend in Anchorage , AKto finish off the regular season. Story by Tom Treloar/Photo by Jay Wilcox

The Gopher men’s basketball team dropped a heart breaker Wednesday night to 3rd ranked Purdue as Devoe Joseph missed a game winning shot at the buzzer. The Gophers stormed back from a 13 point deficit and had the lead for much of the second half. Ralph Sampson finally played like his old man scoring a career high 21 points while grabbing 7 rebounds. Gophers lose 59-58. Photos by Tom Dahlin               Photo Gallery

Wolves 91, Heat 88
Minnesota snapped a six-game losing streak with a dramatic 91-88 victory over the Miami Heat last night at AmericanAirlines Arena. Five Wolves players scored in double figures, led by Kevin Love’s 26th double-double of the season - 17 points and 12 rebounds, both team highs. Jonny Flynn finished with 16 points, Ryan Gomes tallied 13 and Wayne Ellington finished with 12 points off the bench. The Wolves had a 10-point lead entering the fourth quarter and extended the advantage to as many as 14 in the final stanza. Miami rallied, cutting the deficit to a single point on two occasions with less than a minute to play. However, the Wolves would not be denied as Flynn’s driving layup with 38 seconds remaining (89-86) and Ellington’s two free throws (91-88) thwarted Miami’s bid at a comeback. Dorell Wright topped all Heat scorers with a career-high 26 points.

Brewer Three-Point Streaking
Corey Brewer set a new Wolves franchise record last night with his 22nd consecutive game with a three-pointer, breaking the previous high-water mark held by J.R. Rider (12/20/94 - 2/3/95). The record-setting three-pointer came at the 7:22 mark of the second quarter. Brewer’s 22 game streak, which started Jan. 8 vs. Indiana, is currently tied for the third-longest streak in the NBA. During the streak, Brewer has shot 44.4% (40-for-90), entering last night’s game. Houston’s Aaron Brooks holds the longest current streak at 28 games, which is also the league’s longest streak of the season. In Wolves history, there have been eight streaks of 15-plus consecutive games with a three-pointer by various players.

Defensive Doings
The Timberwolves limited the Miami Heat to 15 first-quarter points last night, the fewest the Wolves have allowed an opponent this season. The previous opponent low was a 16-point first-quarter effort by the Milwaukee Bucks on Nov. 6. For the season, Minnesota is allowing an average of 27.6 points in first quarters, the most they allow in any quarter. The Wolves best defensive quarter has been the fourth quarter (24.6 ppg). Additionally, the Wolves held Miami to only 17 third-quarter points, and the 88 total points allowed were the second fewest allowed this season by Minnesota (87 points vs. Milwaukee on Nov. 6).

Schedule Notes
Last’ night’s game vs. Miami started Minnesota’s third and final four-games-in-five-nights set this season. The Wolves will visit Atlanta (tomorrow) and Oklahoma City (Friday) on this road trip before playing Portland at Target Center on Saturday. The game vs. Miami also began Minnesota’s 16th of 20 sets of back-to-back outings for 2009-10. The Wolves are in the midst of a 16-day run that has them playing seven of eight vs. Eastern Conference foes.

Click here for more photos from the Wolves/Thunder from Sunday Feb 21 at Target Center

Seven different players scored goals, including four defensemen, as Minnesota completed a weekend sweep of seventh-ranked Colorado College with a 7-4 win on Saturday at Mariucci Arena.

The Gophers got goals from defensemen David Fischer, Aaron Ness, Nick Leddy and Cade Fairchild in the victory. Minnesota led 5-2 after two periods and saw the Tigers claw back to within one goal before Fairchild added an insurance goal with 3:07 remaining in the game. The seven goals matched the Gophers’ season high from a 7-4 win over Alaska Anchorage three weeks ago. Overall, Minnesota had 11 different players record a point.

Minnesota moved to within three points of Colorado College for fifth place in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association standings and a possible first-round home series in the upcoming league playoffs. The Gophers are now 15-15-2 overall and 10-12-2 in the WCHA, while the Tigers fell to 17-12-3 overall and 11-10-3 in league play.

Minnesota outshot the Tigers 42-26 for the game, marking the ninth time in the last 15 games that the Gophers have put at least 40 shots on goal.

Four goals were scored in a span of less than two minutes of the first period as the Gophers jumped to a 3-1 advantage. Minnesota opened the flurry with a five-on-three power play goal as Mike Hoeffel scored his team-leading 12th goal of the year and his first since returning to the team last weekend from a bout with mononucleosis. Jacob Cepis started the play by cycling the puck to Jordan Schroeder for a slap shot from the point. Both Hoeffel and Patrick White were in position for the rebound and Hoeffel banged in the loose puck at the 13:11 mark.

Moments after the second Colorado College penalty expired, Minnesota scored again on a one-timer from Fischer. Nick Larson won the faceoff back to Fischer, who worked a give-and-go with Josh Birkholz for a one-timer from the slot to put Minnesota ahead 40 seconds later.

It took the Tigers just 20 seconds to counter as Rylan Schwartz put a move on Gophers’ goaltender Alex Kangas and finished with an easy score into a vacated net. However, the Gophers regained their two-goal lead just 42 seconds later on a goal from Ness at the 14:53 mark. Ness took a hard shot that Tigers’ goaltender Joe Howe was unable to handle. Cepis plowed into Howe as he was trying to corral the puck and it crossed the line to give Minnesota a 3-1 lead.

The Gophers’ 19 shots in the first period matched a season high for any period and they scored 2:53 into the second period as Birkholz scored for the second straight night. Leddy set up the play with a pass to Birkholz in the slot and he ripped a shot into the upper corner of the net for a 4-1 advantage.

Each team had 12 shots in the second period despite the fact that Colorado College had nearly five consecutive minutes of power play time, including 58 seconds of a two-man advantage in two separate five-on-three situations. The Tigers managed five shots during that time.

Colorado College finally converted on the power play with a goal from Kris Fredheim at the 16:05 mark of the second period. However, Leddy answered with a goal at the 17:48 mark to put Minnesota ahead 5-2 after two periods. Leddy took a pass from Tony Lucia and blasted a shot from the left point for his third goal of the season.

The Tigers pulled to within 5-3 just 14 seconds into the third period with a goal from Gabe Guentzel on a hard drive from just above the left faceoff circle. Colorado College made it 5-4 at the 3:46 mark when Tyler Johnson blocked a shot and chased down the loose puck in the neutral zone before converting the breakaway.

Colorado College had a power play with about seven minutes remaining for an opportunity to tie the game, but Minnesota’s penalty kill finished off a strong weekend by holding the Tigers without a shot during the man-advantage. Entering the weekend as the nation’s third-ranked power play unit, Colorado College was 1-for-7 for the game and 1-for-11 for the weekend on the power play.

Minutes later, Fairchild then added an insurance goal for the Gophers with a slap shot from the point off a feed from Zach Budish at the 16:53 mark of the period. Schroeder also picked up his second assist of the game on the play.

The Tigers pulled Howe for an extra attacker in the final two minutes and Lucia finished the scoring with an empty net goal with 1:40 remaining. Leddy had his second assist of the game for his first career three-point game.

Howe finished with 35 saves for the Tigers and Kangas made 22 saves for Minnesota.

Minnesota has four regular season games remaining and plays a two-game series next weekend at Minnesota Duluth. The Gophers conclude the regular season the following weekend by hosting Wisconsin.