Last night was our first visit this season to the Xcel Energy Center to see the Wild play the St. Louis Blues. Pre-season games aren’t usually the greatest, but the Wild won 7-0 and it was great fun to be back in that atmosphere.

My aunt and uncle moved their season ticket seats to the upper level (section 216) and I really like the location. Much more reasonable price too.

Bring on the regular season!

The University of Minnesota men’s golf team finished fifth (out of fifteen teams) at the PING/Golfweek Preview, held last weekend at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Junior All-American Victor Almstrom fired a final round 69 tying for second at 5-under 211. The second-place finish was a career best for the Swedish native.

Here are the Gopher individual scores:

• T2, Victor Almstrom, 70-72-69-211 (-5)
• T16, Clayton Rask, 76-72-72-220 (+4)
• T41, Andy Paulson, 73-76-77-226 (+10)
• T41, Ben Pisani, 76-71-79-226 (+10)
• 73, Justin Kaplan, 79-85-78-242 (+26)

And the top five team scores:

• 1, Charlotte, 288-288-291-867 (+3)
• 2, Oklahoma State, 294-279-298-871 (+7)
• 3, Southern California, 293-293-287-873 (+9)
• 4, Alabama, 301-290-290-881 (+17)
• 5, Minnesota, 295-291-296-882 (+18)

The next Gopher men’s golf event is the Windon Memorial Classic, to be held October 7-8 in Glencoe, Illinois.

Last week I was hosted by the gracious Steve Smith (aka Blimp Guy) at his home course, Hillcrest Golf Club of St. Paul. This is the same course that was mentioned recently in Shooter’s column:

That was Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Marian Gaborik, both of whom begin official Wild training camp workouts Friday in St. Paul, at Hillcrest Golf Club the other day playing with Houston Aeros player and Hillcrest member Danny Irmen.

I saw Mr. Irmen’s locker in the clubhouse and it was fun imaging those three playing the same holes I did.

The greens had been punched two weeks ago and had already returned to prime condition. Chris Bailey, one of Hillcrest’s pros (and an awesome Tapemark participant), said they were even faster before the recent rain.

Steve reported that the club had an issue with the driving range this year. Someone purchased a house next to the range and filed suit against the club, saying there were more than 7,000 golf balls that ended up in the yard. The club agree to put up a net and a judge ruled that the range be closed until that was completed. Amazing…

7MM Hillcrest Golf Club Photo Gallery

Not many posts lately, as writing web entries here has become too close to “work” for my taste. Plus I haven’t really done much the past few weeks except golf (which I cover on the Golfing in Minnesota site) and work, which has mainly involved flying back and forth to California way too often.

It finally struck me this week that my job currently makes me feel not happy. I decided to write a private not happy list, which I can summarize as:

• compensation
• no time for entrepreneurial projects
• organizational issues
• too much stress

I really like the work I do, my office and toys, most of the people I work with and the flexibility I have to make my own rules. Huge increases in responsibility and work hours with no increase in salary or ability to delegate tasks, though, makes me not happy.

So I’ve decided to follow two paths: 1) update my current job description and create a proposal to improve things internally and 2) update my resume (for the first time in four years) and start putting out feelers. The former is much preferred to the latter, but I like to be prepared.

Especially if it makes me happy again…

The weather finally cooperated yesterday for the 13th Annual Tapemark Women’s Golf Event, held at Southview Country Club in West Saint Paul. Threatening rain clouds moved out, the sun shined and the temperatures rose into the mid 80s.

LPGA teaching pro Sheryl Maize conducted a clinic before the tournament, which also featured a new “Beat the Sponsor” event on the second tee with the Anderson Agency’s Shaun Irwin.

Southview’s chefs again did a great job providing lunch before and dinner after, while fun was had by all during the silent auction, wine drawing and awards ceremony.

Proceeds from the event help support multiple charities that help people with learning and developmental disabilities and their families. The men’s and women’s events have raised more than $5.7 million during the history of the events.

The 2008 women’s event will be held Monday, September 15, 2008.

Here are the flight winners:

Championship Flight
1st, Carey Dubbs, Lynnda Frederick, 74
2nd, Sandy Braegelmann, Rachel Wight, 75
3rd, Sally Deyak, Shawna Johnson, 76

1st Flight
1st, Polly Foss, Mary Hynan, 80
2nd, Katie Gordon, Jeri Meola, 83
3rd, Nancy Roach, Judy Waryan, 85

2nd Flight
1st, Jennifer Jeannette, Mary Jo Abler, 84
2nd, Terri Banaszewski, Terri Fleming, 87
3rd, Margaret Bolles, Sharon Doyle, 89

Fun Flight
1st, Deb Weston, Donna-Jean Hill, 95 (*won playoff)
2nd, Michele Hein, Michelle Wirth, 95
3rd, Jeanne Eliason, Joyce Krech, 99