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MINNEAPOLIS - The Minnesota Vikings have been in transition all year.Rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater is learning on the job. Coach Mike Zimmer is shaping his new teams mindset. Dave Mansell is making sure a 970-foot steel roof truss will be in place on time and within budget, along with tens of thousands of other tasks.Whatever happens on the field this season and next will ultimately be a mere speck on the horizon of this franchises 54-year history. The stadium under construction, set for completion in the summer of 2016 as the next NFL venue to open, will become just as much of an icon for the Vikings as any player or coach.With the Vikings playing a couple of miles away at the University of Minnesota, the modern-style stadium has begun to rise. It will feature giant glass front doors, a see-through roof and a sharp-angled asymmetrical shape not-so-vaguely resembling the ships that once carried the original Vikings across the seas of northern Europe.The yet-to-be-named, 65,000-seat facility will look like nothing else in the league when its finished.When they walk through that bowl, theyre going to be like, Holy wow, said Mansell, the general superintendent for Mortensen Construction, the local company hired to build the stadium over 1.75 million gross square feet with a total price tag of a bit over $1 billion.Mansell managed construction for several other sports venues around town and around the country, at the request of Allen Troshinsky, the vice-president of operations for Mortensens sports group. They have taken the plans devised by the architects led by Bryan Trubey at HKS in Dallas, the firm that designed AT&T Stadium for the Cowboys and Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis for the Colts.These guys are used to big, high-tech and bold.This one, though, is headed for the front of the portfolio.The job is just awesome. It sort of exceeds the experience that almost anybody working out here has ever had, said John Wood, a Mortensen senior vice-president who oversees the sports group. Its the biggest project ever built in the state of Minnesota, and so for almost all of us its the biggest thing weve ever done in our careers.The blueprints Mansell and his seven lieutenants inherited came from Trubey and his team, the result of extensive cultural and climatological research.This, after all is Minnesota, where the Vikings were forced out of their previous home at the end of the 2010 season following a massive snowstorm that toppled the Metrodome roof. All those fancy features are useless if the stadium isnt functional through the winter.The pitch of the roof will be steep so the snow doesnt pile up. The peak will be more than 300 feet, about 30 stories, above the field. The building will be largely translucent to match the citys pattern of design. The stadium will feature five 95-foot-tall pivoting glass doors facing the skyscrapers of the central business district and sunlight over the entire playing field. The south half of the roof will be built with the largest span of ETFE in the nation, a lightweight, glass-like substance formally called ethylene tetrafluoroethylene.The multi-purpose facility, which will host the Super Bowl in 2018, also has landed the NCAA mens basketball Final Four for 2019. In addition to college basketball, it also was designed to host major soccer, college baseball, concerts and any number of other events year round.A striking, modern, very progressive, edgy building, Trubey said. Its a very future-oriented culture there.Before the future arrives, there is much work to be done. But not out of panic.Mortensens on-time record has helped the companys sports group flourish, with major venues in Denver, Kansas City, Memphis and many other locations beyond Minnesota. This is the result of careful, confident planning, ever more important with the standards of such buildings increasingly cutting edge and complicated.To try to rush it, it would only lead to safety and quality issues, Troshinsky said. So as often as youre encouraging people forward, sometimes youve got to pull those reins back too so they dont get ahead of their skis.Mansells workdays are often 12 hours. Hes a blunt-speaking busybody more comfortable next to machines than in meetings. Still, his hardhat sits idle on Sundays.Were here to make a living to support our families and it doesnt do us any good if were not with our families, he said, adding: We dont plan these jobs seven days a week. When you go by these construction sites and theyre working seven days a week, I guarantee you its a train wreck.The number of workers on site these days is around 750. Many of them will come back to watch a game in a couple of years. Troshinsky and Mansell always enjoy opening days with their families, but theyre hardly regulars in the seats. Looking around can sometimes feel too much like work.We didnt do it on our own, boy, Mansell said. It takes a lot of dedicated men and women showing up here every day to do the grind right alongside us.___AP NFL websites: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/DaveCampbellAP Custom Nashville Predators Jerseys .Y. -- Defenceman Ryan Murphy had a goal and an assist and Drew MacIntyre made 24 saves to help the Carolina Hurricanes beat the New York Islanders 4-2 in an exhibition game Wednesday night. Roman Josi Jersey . Hollis-Jefferson went 5-for-6 from the field and added six rebounds, while Stanley Jefferson contributed 14 points for the Wildcats, who used their trademark tough defense to dominate the games final 24 minutes and advance to Tuesdays winners bracket matchup with Kansas State. http://www.authenticpredatorspro.com/Mat...edators-jersey/. -- Mike Shanahan gave Robert Griffin III a rest, and may have turned up the pressure on himself, too. Juuse Saros Jersey . They kicked off the still-going trend of host cities winning the Grey Cup and sent Hall of Fame head coach Wally Buono to the front office a champion. P.K Subban Jersey . It has been eleven years, eight months, and 261 days since I played my last CFL game.KAMLOOPS, B.C. -- A stolen deuce in the ninth end was the back-breaker for Saskatchewan Tuesday night at the Canadian mens curling championship, as Alberta claimed a share of the lead going into the home stretch. But Saskatchewan (4-2) skip Steve Laycock says they had no one to blame but themselves at the Tim Hortons Brier. "Odds were still stacked against us even tied up coming home," he said after losing 8-6. "The real problem was we had lots of chances in that ninth end to set up a two and just heavy on a few hit and rolls and taps and stuff." Until then it had been a horse race, although Laycock was clearly the underdog. "We expected a close game all the way," said Koe, who advanced to 6-1 along with John Morris of B.C. "I was a little surprised with that steal of two in nine." Perhaps he shouldnt be, since hes at the top of the list when it comes to shotmaking by skips at this event, although Brier rookie Greg Balsdon of Ontario sits just below him with the same overall percentage of 86. Balsdons numbers got a big boost Tuesday night Eddie Mackenzie from Prince Edward Island (3-4) didnt bother to throw his last rock in the eighth end as he dropped 8-3 to Ontario (4-2). Balsdon is still very much in the hunt but knows he has his toughest games ahead. "Weve got a tough stretch coming up," he said. "Weve got Johnny Mo (Morris), Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba our next four games. If we could even split those games and end up 6-4 going into the last draw I think wed take it." Jean-Michel Menard of Quebec (3-3) was down early, came back and forced an extra end, but still lost 10-8 to James Grattan of New Brunswick (2-5). Jamie Koe of the Northwest Territories-Yukon (2-4) defeated winless Jamie Murphy of Nova Scotia 7-4. Laycock says theyd be satisfied just to know theyre in the playoffs, but theyre not giving up hope of finishing in the top group. "We know we can beat these teams when it comes crunch time, weve just got to play better than we did tonight.dddddddddddd" Koe says it would be nice to stay on top of the leader board instead of having to work his way into the final through the 3-4 game. "Im not too worried about who were tied with at the top as long as you keep going and start looking at who plays who and probably where youre at Thursday." Manitobas Jeff Stoughton was another favourite heading into the Brier and he recovered from a 9-7 loss in the morning Tuesday to steal one in the 10th and beat Nova Scotia 8-6 in the afternoon. But a clutch shot through a narrow port even had his own team covering their eyes. Nova Scotia skip Murphy was light on his last-rock draw attempt to force an extra end. The Manitoba skip agrees he and third John Mead havent been as sharp as they need to be. "Both John and I need to make better shots," Stoughton agreed. "Weve just got to clean up the little mistakes." He says their draw weight is good but their hits and peels are a little off. "Were really close and were working hard." Newfoundland and Labradors Brad Gushue retained at least faint hope of making the playoffs with an 8-5 win over Grattan. But after dropping a morning game 7-6 to Saskatchewan, the 2006 Olympic champion said there is no room left for more losses if they want to stay alive. "Yeah, that fourth loss this morning was a punch in your gut," said Gushue. "You know your backs against the wall and you cant afford to lose any more. And its not only winning for more in the round robin, its probably winning a tiebreaker, the 3-4 game, semifinal and final against some world-class teams." The odds are long and it may not be entirely up to him, he admits. "Ive seen 7-4 get in the playoffs, Ive seen 6-5 get in the playoffs. But most of the time it probably doesnt. So youre going to need some help." 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