Decker leads the Big Ten in total receptions and yardage. He expects teams, including probably Penn State, to be physical with him at the line of scrimmage. Decker was asked how he can be even more effective against the physical approach. “You gotta watch professional NFL receivers to see what they do to get off the line,” Decker said. “For me, I think I have to use my strength more, my physicality more to win the body position and just get in and out of my routes. I’ve worked on it all off season and I am going to continue to work on it, and it’s going to get better.”
The Twins announced yesterday that 21-year-old outfielder Ben Revere has been named the 2009 Sherry Robertson Award winner as the organization’s Minor League Player of the Year and righthanded pitcher David Bromberg, 22, has been named the 2009 Jim Rantz Award winner as Minor League Pitcher of the Year.
Revere hit .311 with two home runs, 48 RBI, 75 runs scored and 45 steals in 121 games playing for Class-A Fort Myers. He won the Robertson award last year, too. The 6-5, 255-pound Bromberg also played for Fort Myers where he was 13-4, with a 2.70 ERA in 153.1 innings. The right handed pitcher held opponents to a .224 batting average in 27 games (26 starts).
The St. Thomas-Saint John’s game tomorrow in Collegeville renews a football rivalry that began in 1901. The 15th-ranked Tommies are 5-0 overall and have won seven games in a row, the fourth longest win streak in Division III. The sixth-ranked Johnnies are 6-0 and the defending MIAC champs. Both teams share the MIAC lead at 4-0. The last time the teams were unbeaten in the second half of the season was 1942. The Tommies’ most recent win in Collegeville was 1986 and their last win over St. John’s came in 1997. Tommie place kicker Brady Beeson was a backup at Saint John’s last season.
The Gophers have sold about 250 three-game ticket packages consisting of basketball games with Wisconsin, Brown and Stephen F. Austin, according to an email from Jason LaFrenz, assistant athletic director. About 300 three-game ticket packages have been sold for Michigan State, St. Joseph’s and Tennessee Tech. A three-game package costs $90 and both packages are still available.
There are unobstructed single game seats in Williams Arena remaining for all games, according to LaFrenz.
St. Thomas senior basketball guard Joe Scott was named a second-team Division III preseason All-America by the Sporting News magazine. He’s the only Minnesota collegian among 45 players named to the Sporting News’ All-America teams in Division I, II, III or NAIA.
The Gopher hockey team, which defeated British Columbia in an exhibition game a week ago Sunday, opens its season in Grand Forks tonight as part of a two-game series with North Dakota. The Sioux returns 16 letter winners from last year’s WCHA championship team and has 10 freshmen on the roster. The Sioux won two games last weekend against Merrimack. Freshman forward Michael Cichy had a goal and two assists in his collegiate debut series and was named the WCHA Rookie of the Week. Brad Eidsness played both games in goal, finishing with 15 saves on Friday and 16 saves on Saturday. The sophomore was a third-team all-WCHA selection last season. Senior defenseman Chay Genoway was last season’s WCHA Defensive Player of the Year and was named to the Inside College Hockey preseason All-American team.
The Wild has two of the NHL’s 50 best players, according to Sporting News NHL. Goaltender Niklas Backstrom is No. 40 and right wing Martin Havlat ranks No. 43, https://www.sportingnews.com/nhl/article/2009-10-14/sporting-news-nhl-top-50-nos-11-30
Former Gopher Thomas Vanek may be able to play within days for his Buffalo Sabres team after sustaining an upper body injury earlier this week.
Former Gopher hockey assistant Mark Mazzoleni is an assistant at St. Norbert College.