Picks to inspire in Minnesota sports in 2024: Gophers hockey player Abbey Murphy, Minnesota United CEO Shari Ballard, Timberwolves fans

La Velle's 3: Who will inspire us in 2024? La Velle E. Neal III gives us his three choices.

The Twins finally ended an embarrassing playoff losing streak. The Wolves made their best start ever. But the Vikings were bounced from the first round of the 2022 postseason, then their 2023 chances suffered a blow with Kirk Cousins' torn Achilles. The Gophers men's and women's hockey teams suffered devastating losses in the Frozen Four. The Loons sacked Adrian Heath. The Wild fired Dean Evason, then went on a roll. P.J. Fleck's Gophers football team won its bowl game to end at a mighty 6-7. And Jessie Diggins was great.

We now leave a topsy-turvy 2023 sports season to bring you inspiration for 2024. I can't promise that the 2024 sports year will be better than 2023, but I have identified an athlete, a team and an executive who are worth watching as the calendar turns. Happy New Year.

Go to a Gophers women's hockey game and keep your eyes on No. 18.

That's forward Abbey Murphy, who might be the most interesting college player in the nation.

Her skills are wonderful. She's a great skater, handles the puck with aplomb and has a wicked shot. She's creative on the ice, able to affect games with a pass as well as a goal. She's a veteran of the U.S. hockey team and represented the nation at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. She's the driving force of a Gophers team that's trying to return to the Frozen Four despite losing 11 players from last season.

She also can't stay out of the penalty box.

Murphy is the daughter of a former Marine. She grew up in Evergreen Park, Ill., across the street from Chicago's South Side. She spent her youth wrestling and playing sports with brothers Dominic, who wrestles at St. Cloud State, and Patrick, a former wide receiver at Carthage College. She developed a feisty, hard-nosed demeanor that definitely shows up on the ice. She scores. She creates. She agitates. She's A.J. Pierzynski on skates.

She has flourished as a goal scorer this season and entered the holiday break leading the nation with 21 goals. She also leads the nation with 50 penalty minutes. She's been penalized for boarding, cross-checking, slashing, roughing and several times for interference. Opponents, and officials, know her reputation.

There was an effort to get Murphy to stay out of the penalty box and on the ice more this season. Murphy grinned while talking about her first career hat trick, which came Oct. 13 against St. Thomas. She also took pleasure in having played consecutive games without visiting the discipline box.

"It's a habit I'm trying to get out of," she said. "I think [being] penalty-free is more surprising."

She went four consecutive games without serving any time — then racked up 14 minutes over her next four games. It hasn't stopped. She's an aggressive, physical player who often comes to the aid of her teammates. She once ignited a brawl in a game against Canada, a level of conflict rare in the women's game.

"Her goal is to stay out of the box more," Gophers coach Brad Frost said. "I'm not sure if she's accomplished that too much, but it's not too often that you lead the country in goals and penalty minutes."

It's a peculiar package of traits. As the 14-3-1 Gophers enter their postbreak schedule, they are a team worth watching with a player you won't miss.

Bill Kinderman didn't care that Mavericks star Luka Doncic was sidelined against the Wolves on Thursday night. It didn't matter if he actually had a sore quadriceps, was enjoying load management or both. Kinderman is enjoying watching the Wolves finally load up the win column.

"I'm counting that as a 'W,' " he said before tipoff about Doncic's absence. "It's just another 'W.' "

Kinderman, from Coon Rapids, is an original Timberwolves season ticket holder. Think of how much bad basketball he's seen. Think of how many draft picks he's watched flop and trades he's seen fail. When Walker Kessler played fairly well last season for Utah, Kinderman worried the deal to land Rudy Gobert, with Kessler among the players and first-round picks sent to Utah for the Stifle Tower, would be the latest blunder by the franchise.

A year later, Kinderman is like most long-suffering basketball fans in the region. He's loving every minute of a healthy, cohesive, entertaining Wolves team that has been one of the NBA's biggest surprises. The Wolves entered Saturday having won 23 of their first 30 games; they have played nine 82-game seasons when they didn't win as many.

"We've never had this great of a start," Kinderman said. "I've always thought if we can just get a good start and the players get some confidence, they will build on that. And this year, that's what's been happening."

This version of the Wolves might turn out to be the best since the 2003-04 group that reached the Western Conference finals. Those were the days. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis sitting at midcourt. Prince sitting at one end, superfan Bill Beise, who wore suits to games and crouched near the sideline with a rolled-up program like he was an extra coach, at the other. Everyone expecting a show — and getting one.

Wolves games are packed again, with huge numbers of young fans in attendance. Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns are healthy and proving the two-big-man system can work. When Kyle Anderson is on the court, the Wolves' size advantage is immense. They also like playing defense. And don't like to lose.

"The thought I have is like try not to lose two games in a row," forward Jaden McDaniels said. "I don't think we have yet."

They have not, and this revival has fans wondering how far this team can go.

"All the old diehards like me, we're smiling and having a good time," Kinderman said. "We can finally say, 'Hey, look at our team.' "

Shari Ballard has transitioned from retail to restarts. Now she must reshape the Loons.

Hired by Minnesota United in 2021 to be chief executive officer, Ballard is using ability honed in her days as a Best Buy executive to maximize the fan experience at Loons games. She's planting seeds that she and the team hope will grow their fan base.

That's not easy to do here. This is a weird soccer market. The many Loons fans in the area create an energetic atmosphere at Allianz Field, but there might be more fans of European soccer around. There's some overlap of these two groups, but I have encountered fans of world football who don't want anything to do with MLS. They prefer to jam into places like Brit's Pub to catch the Champions League final over watching Emanuel Reynoso's wizardry in the Loons midfield. It's a tough group, and Ballard and the Loons need to break through to them.

Now, less than two years into her time with Minnesota United, Ballard has been presented with another challenge, one with impact that will stretch over several years. Head coach Adrian Heath and technical director Mark Watson — who had been around since the Loons' inaugural season, 2017 — were dismissed in October. In replacing them, Ballard is putting her stamp on the on-field product. Heath also had control over the roster, but she opted to create two jobs. She hired Khaled El-Ahmad as chief soccer officer in November. She was so impressed with El-Ahmad that she was willing to wait more than a month for him to leave his role as CEO at Barnsley, a third-division club in England. El-Ahmad will choose the second head coach in club history.

"I don't love that from a timing perspective," Ballard said when she hired El-Ahmad. "But I 100 percent believe he's the right candidate for Minnesota United. He's the person I wanted in the job ultimately."

Now Loons fans are waiting to meet the next coach, and then which players that new coach and El-Ahmad will bring in and what style the team will play. The 2024 season will be one of significant change throughout the organization. And Ballard, one of the most powerful women on the local sports scene, is the one pressing the reboot button.