Glen Sonmor’s favorite hockey player during his iconic coaching career was Mike Antonovich.
“Maybe he saw himself in me,” Antonovich said. “We were both a little bit crazy. We both enjoyed people. We shared a lot of things in common. He took me under his wing, and I think he wanted me to be successful. It was ‘Here’s a little guy and nobody’s giving him much of a chance. And I’m going to give this guy a chance.’ ”
Sonmor, who died last week at age 86 near Toronto, gave Antonovich a chance, coaching the 5-foot-7, 155-pound forward from Coleraine, Minn., with the Gophers, Fighting Saints and North Stars.
“Sometimes you meet that one guy or a couple people in your life and they make a big difference, and he was one guy who made a big difference in my life,” Antonovich said.
Sonmor made differences in lots of people’s lives, Antonovich said. Glen was a beloved mentor for Alcoholics Anonymous.
“I would say those (AA) people respected him as much or more than the hockey guys he played with and coached,” Antonovich said. “Glen wanted to save everybody. I think that was his mission. He wasn’t going to let you fail.”
After starring for the Gophers and enjoying a 12-year career in the World Hockey Association and National Hockey League, Sonmor helped Antonovich get a job with NHL Central Scouting. He’s in his 30th year as an NHL scout, having worked for the Winnipeg Jets, St. Louis Blues and currently the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Antonovich, 64, also enjoyed a six-year term as mayor of Coleraine.
“The (hockey) goals, records and stuff, what the hell, that’s just part of the deal,” Antonovich said. “Glen gave me the opportunity to be successful. He had a lot of faith in me — he told me that. He was the kind of guy who made everybody feel good. It wasn’t just the stars or best players — it was everybody. It was like a family. We were a band of brothers because of him. It was like he was our dad, and he tried to treat us all the same. For me, it was kind of a fairy tale.
“I’m going to miss him. I’m really going to miss him.”
Longtime St. Paul attorney Keith Hanzel, now retired, was among early pro hockey agents. Sonmor’s duties with the Fighting Saints also included being general manager.
Hanzel negotiated a lot of player contracts with Sonmor as GM.
“Glen would have given you the franchise if he liked a player,” Hanzel said. “He was not a good person to have negotiating because he just loved his players. He gave them anything he was able to within his restrictions. It was good for my players.”
Hanzel also represented Sonmor in some personal alcoholism matters. He recalled that Sonmor became so diligent about attending AA meetings that he would find a way to get to them even when he was scouting tournaments in Russia or Sweden or Czechoslovakia.
“Even when he couldn’t understand a word,” Hanzel said of the language barrier. “Glen was amazing — he went to AA literally on a daily basis, and he walked because he couldn’t drive. That’s how dedicated he was.”
Hanzel successfully represented Sonmor in court in getting a revoked driver’s license back.
“We’re walking out of the courtroom, and (fellow hockey legend and friend John) Mariucci went with us, and John said to Glen as we walked out, ‘You better take driving lessons, Glen — you haven’t driven sober for years and years.’â ”
Said Hanzel, “When we got his license back, there was never another one. Glen stayed dry the rest of his life.”
Sonmor’s cremated ashes were to be placed near Mariucci, who is buried in Minneapolis.
The Gophers men’s basketball team (6-5) has just Milwaukee remaining at Williams Arena on Wednesday before beginning the Big Ten season at Ohio State on Dec. 30.
“I do feel this year we have been way more tested than the first two years of the (nonconference) schedule,” third-year coach Richard Pitino said. “The schedule has been very difficult, from the tournament in Puerto Rico. South Dakota State (80-74 loss) I think is a really tough game to play. Oklahoma State (62-60 overtime loss).
“So I think we’ve tested our guys. I think we know where we’re at. We’ve got one of the youngest teams in the Big Ten, so I don’t think we’re going to be a finished product by any means. We’ve just got to keep improving.
“As for the overall scope of the program, I’m pretty excited about where it’s headed — we’ve got a top-20 recruiting class coming in next year, I like the young guys we’ve got in our program right now, I love the transfers who are sitting out.
“It’s not where I want to be right now, but I do think there’s great potential with this team moving forward.”
Kevin McHale, the former Timberwolves executive and coach who was recently fired after coaching the Houston Rockets to the conference finals last season, was to return to Minnesota last week. McHale, who is owed $11 million by the Rockets, isn’t interested in returning to coaching now but might be interested in NBA analysis for TNT, which is based in Atlanta.
The Timberwolves’ Andrew Wiggins (20.8), Karl-Anthony Towns (15.4) and Zach LaVine (15.0) are the only trio in NBA history to average at least 15 points in their age-19 or age-20 seasons.
Tyus Jones, dispatched to D-League Idaho by the Wolves, scored 25 points in a 117-107 loss to the D-Fenders in front of 400 spectators in Los Angeles last week. The point guard leads the Stampede in scoring, averaging 23.6 points after five games.
Ex-Gopher Ralph Sampson III is averaging 2.7 points and two rebounds after nine games for the D-League Maine Red Claws.
Former Timberwolves first-round draft pick Ndudi Ebi, 31, is averaging 9.6 points and one rebound for Auxilium Torino in Italy.
Ex-Wolves assistant Eric Musselman‘s Nevada-Reno team, in his first season coaching the Wolf Pack, plays defense like his late father Bill’s teams did, holding opponents to 36.5 percent shooting.
Heather Van Norman, the former Windom, Minn., track star who committed to the Gophers but ended up as an All-American at Louisiana State, is the mother of one-handed pass catching star Odell Beckham Jr. of the New York Giants, who play the Vikings next Sunday evening in Minneapolis. Heather became pregnant with Odell while she was training for the Olympics.
Cretin-Derham Hall grad Ryan McDonagh, 26, is in his second season as captain of the New York Rangers, who lost to the Wild in St. Paul last week.
“He’s not the most vocal guy in the dressing room, but he definitely has the respect of the room,” said new Wild faceoff whiz Jarret Stoll, 33, traded by the Rangers last week. “Ryan’s a class act. Coming to the team, I thought he was more of a shutdown defensive guy, but I realized pretty quickly how much skill he has. He pretty much does everything out there.”
Joe Micheletti, 61, the former Gophers star from Hibbing, is in his 10th season as broadcast analyst for the Rangers.
“Ryan McDonagh is as good a defender as there is in the game,” Micheletti said. “Now that he’s in his second year as captain, I think he’s a little more relaxed in that role. That’s a lot of pressure, especially being in New York. He can be anybody’s son and you can be proud of him.”
Speaking of sons, Mike Modano, the former North Star, has become Micheletti’s son-in-law, marrying daughter Allison.
“(Modano) is just a great guy,” Micheletti said. “Any parent wants their children to marry a good person, and that’s the way I look at it. She married a great person.”
The Modanos reside in Scottsdale, Ariz. By the way, some McDonagh No. 27 Rangers captain jerseys sell for $199.
Glen Perkins, Kyle Gibson, Bert Blyleven, Terry Ryan, Kris Atteberry and John Anderson will be among head table guests at the Original Baseball Old Timers Hot Stove League Banquet on Jan. 25 at the Prom Center in Oakdale. For tickets, call 651-379-2325.
More than four dozen notable Minnesota sports officials gathered for a holiday luncheon at St. Paul’s Wild Onion last Thursday, including a who’s who list who have worked Super Bowls, NCAA playoffs, bowls, NBA playoffs, World Series and All-Star Games.
“Not a single bad call was ever made,” quipped one official.
St. Paul’s Tim Tschida, who umpired Major League Baseball for 29 seasons, including three World Series, will put on an umpiring clinic in Paris in two weeks.
“They have guaranteed my safety,” Tschida said.
Jeff Nelson, the Park High and Bethel University grad who has worked three World Series and is a crew chief, is recovering from foot surgery and will be ready for the start of next season, his 17th in the majors.
Peter Tufto, who committed to Quinnipiac, is the fourth player from St. Thomas Academy’s hockey team last season to receive a Division I scholarship.
Tight end Brian Leonhardt, the Spring Lake Park grad, has been activated by the San Francisco 49ers for Sunday’s game against Cincinnati.
Ex-Vikings public relations director Bill McGrane, who went on to work for hall of fame ex-Vikings GM Jim Finks with the Bears in Chicago, died last week at age 82.
St. Paul’s Julian Loscalzo and his Ballpark Tours group of 38 are back from Cuba, where they met with Pinar Del Rio pitching coach Juan Carlos Oliva, brother of ex-Twin Tony Oliva.
Meanwhile, hall of famer Dave Winfield from St. Paul was headed to Havana representing the Major League Players Association.
DON’T PRINT THAT
It looks like Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor will be selling even more than the 30 percent minority interest in his team to a Memphis Grizzlies minority interest group that the Pioneer Press reported weeks ago.
Kevin Garnett’s contract with the Wolves allows him the option of playing another season for $8 million if he wants or investing in the team before next season. Garnett, 39, is being paid $8.5 million this season.
Pssst: The Twins are intrigued by free agent center fielder Denard Span, 31, who hit .301 in 61 games for the Washington Nationals last season and was paid $9 million. The concern is his history of injuries.
Expect the Twins’ player payroll, which was about $115 million last season before starter Ervin Santana was suspended, to be in the $120 million range this season. Santana’s suspension for steroid use cost him nearly $6 million of his $13.5 million salary for 2015.
Count former Vikings QB Brooks Bollinger, who was QB coach at the University of Pittsburgh before taking the same position with Cretin-Derham Hall, among admirers of new Gophers QB commitment Seth Green, the former East Ridge star. Bollinger worked with Green when he was an eighth-grader at Hill-Murray.
“Neat kid,” said Bollinger, who plans to return to Cretin-Derham Hall next season.
Plans are for Byung-ho Park, the South Korean slugger in whom the Twins recently invested $25 million, to begin workouts in Arizona in two weeks, then move to Fort Myers, Fla., for workouts.
Miguel Sano, the 6-4, 260-pound slugger who the Twins plan to start in right field next season, left his Estrellas winter team in the Dominican Republic to come to Fort Myers to work on outfield play and conditioning. He hit .241 with two home runs in 15 games and is fully engaged to move from third base to right field.
The Twins by no means have given up on power-hitting outfielder Oswaldo Arcia, 24, who is training in Fort Myers.
Pete Rose, who last week was denied reinstatement to major league baseball by new commissioner Rod Manfred, in April 1982 got the first hit in the Metrodome for the Philadelphia Phillies, who played the first exhibition game against the Twins. Pete Redfern was the Twins’ pitcher.
While St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center remains a potential home for the WNBA champion Lynx for the 2017 season while renovation of Target Center takes place, the Minneapolis Armory, which used to house the NBA Lakers, could also be an option. The Vikings, by the way, are interested in the Armory for development potential.
OVERHEARD
Twins President Dave St. Peter, expecting that players still will toss baseballs to fans over the new seven-feet high safety netting from dugout to dugout at Target Field next season: “If our players can’t toss a ball seven feet, I’ve got a bigger problem.”
Follow Charley Walters at twitter.com/Charley_Walters. He can be reached at cwalters@pioneerpress.com.
