Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

SCHROEDER, Minn. -- Eagles had tag-teamed overhead all the way up the North Shore, and as we turned onto the gravel road toward the cabin, I rolled down the car window and breathed in the piney air. The lake that I always think of as "my lake" (but everyone else thinks of as "Lake Superior") sparkled in the afternoon sun. The air was silky, the sky was bright blue, it was a beautiful day.

"By the way," I told my friend Joey McLeister, as we hauled our bags out of the car, "the cabin only has one bedroom. You can have it and I'll take the couch."

TORONTO -- Wobbly-legged and pale, Mika Zibanejad emerged from a grand ballroom at the Toronto Congress Centre earlier this month ... with a big smile.

Threw up?

"Yeah, exactly," said the "Persian Prince," a 6-4 Swedish centerman whose mother is Finnish, whose father is Iranian and whose stock is skyrocketing into a potential top-10 pick Friday when the two-day NHL entry draft commences at Xcel Energy Center.

GARRISON, Minn. -- "Fish on!" someone hollered.

A dinner bell clanged, signaling one of the 20 anglers aboard the 50-foot launch had hooked one. Guide and boat captain Greg Eno scrambled for a landing net.

"Oh, it's a big one," an angler shouted, seeing Jay Maher's rod bent in half. After a couple hours of fishing on a choppy Lake Mille Lacs Wednesday evening, the group had landed several small walleyes and keeper-sized perch. But Maher clearly had something much bigger.

While fellow anglers ooed and aahed, Eno netted the walleye -- a 27 3/4-inch dandy.

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The thrill of watching the NHL playoffs has never dimmed for Al Shaver, even though nearly 20 years have passed since he last called a Minnesota North Stars game on the radio. This spring, as he followed the first round on TV from his home in British Columbia, one series summoned memories of an unlikely playoff journey that happened two decades earlier.

Bitter postseason rivals Vancouver and Chicago clashed for the third consecutive season, with the Canucks avenging their second-round losses to the Blackhawks in the previous two years. That reminded Shaver of the hate-hate relationship the North Stars had with Chicago long ago in the Norris Division. In 1991, the Stars barely squeaked into the playoffs, then shocked the NHL by upsetting the top-seeded Blackhawks -- and they kept rolling until Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals, when they lost to Pittsburgh and Mario Lemieux.

That ended one of the strangest and most exhilarating seasons of the North Stars' colorful history. It began with four games in the Soviet Union, where the team worried about radiation poisoning from Chernobyl and dabbled in the black market. Fewer than 6,000 fans showed up for the home opener, prompting owner Norm Green to give money away at games. Bob Gainey was a rookie coach, and Mike Modano was just 20 years old.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Purchased along a stretch of two-lane blacktop in northern Wisconsin a few years back, my vintage pickup camper bit the dust this winter beneath a ton or two of snow. This was the same camper in which I took practice showers for two weeks before learning the exacting contortions required of all who master RV hygiene. Also during time I conquered the camper's plumbing, heating and air conditioning, and could fall easily into the handyman RV banter so familiar to members of the recreational-vehicle "family."

Black water. Gray water. Broken water pumps. These were words over which some of my tightest campfire friendships were cemented

MINNEAPOLIS -- Jeff Francoeur played in the World Series for Texas last fall, then signed with a team that seemingly had no chance of putting him back in the Fall Classic this year.

Royals General Manager Dayton Moore, the former Braves executive, convinced Francoeur that Kansas City was the place to be.

Congressional budget cuts have defanged the federal wolf-control program in Minnesota, stunning state officials who say they aren't allowed to trap, kill or remove wolves that prey on livestock or pets.

The recent changes would effectively end efforts to control a growing population of wolves that killed record numbers of pets and livestock last year.

The Department of Natural Resources was notified Monday that Congress last month wiped out the U.S. Department of Agriculture's program to remove wolves that attack or threaten farm animals and pets. Only authorized federal trappers are allowed to trap or kill the wolves, which otherwise are protected by the federal Endangered Species Act.