Up in smoke: Gophers light up victory cigars in visitors locker room after win over Wisconsin

Andy Greder, Pioneer Press
Updated ·2 min read
9

MADISON, Wis. — When the Gophers beat Wisconsin for Paul Bunyan’s Axe in Camp Randall Stadium in 2018, Minnesota players sprayed an excessive amount of Axe Body Spray inside the visiting locker room.

A different celebratory cloud wafted in there Saturday.

Minnesota players puffed on victory cigars, and a sporadic cigarette or two, after beating the Badgers 23-16 on Saturday to keep the Axe in Minnesota for consecutive years for the first time since 1993-94.

After the win, players were posting Instagram Live feeds from inside their locker room, and smiles could be seen through the haze.

Linebacker Mariano Sori-Marin brought his stogie into the press conference room. “I can do it because I’m Cuban,” Sori-Marin joked in reference to his paternal heritage.

Safety Tyler Nubin gave Sori-Marin the cigar under the guise it was of a Cuban variety, but Sori-Marin knows that it wasn’t — that would be illegal due to the U.S. trade embargo.

“We had some victory cigars in the locker room, and we are going to have to come back on Monday and do a team run to get all the bad stuff out of us,” Sori-Mari said. “But it’s fun, and like I said, you will remember it for the rest of your life.”

The Gophers kept up the tradition of mock-chopping down goalposts with the 6-foot-long wooden axe.

“We usually leave that up for the seniors,” Sori-Marin said. “It’s a special moment because it’s our last regular-season game, and for us to get sent off, chopping down goalposts is something you will remember. …

“A lot of guys were getting emotional,” Sori-Marin continued. “And they have every right to do that, because there has just been so much work put in behind the scenes, January workouts, February workouts, spring ball.”

Quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis and receiver Lemeke Brockington paired up for the deciding 45-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter and also said they were refraining from having a smoke. They did get their hands on the Axe, though.

“I did it maybe once or twice,” Kaliakmanis said of his chopping. “But everyone wanted the Axe.”

Gophers coach P.J. Fleck confirmed he will enjoy a victory cigar, too. His wife Heather has bought him some 25th anniversary My Father Cigars, and they were waiting for him in a box at their Twin Cities area home.

“I don’t care what time we get home,” Fleck said before a bus ride back to Minnesota. “Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.”

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