Former Minnesota North Stars fans will watch with nostalgia when Mike Modano plays in the NHL All-Star game on Sunday in Montreal. Modano, 38, was the first overall pick in the 1988 NHL Entry Draft when the North Stars chose the Michigan native to play for them. He moved with the franchise to Dallas in 1993 and has been with the Stars since then. He is tied for second on the team in goals with 13.
Goalie Niklas Backstrom will be the Wild’s only representative in the all-star game. Last year Marian Gaborik was the one player from the Wild.
Mike Gartner, whose NHL career included playing for the North Stars, holds the fastest skating time of 13.386 seconds for making a lap around the rink in the 1993 all-star weekend skills competition, according to www.nhl.com.
Twins catcher Joe Mauer, who spends part of the off season in Southwest Florida, flew back to Minneapolis from Fort Myers on Saturday night. He’s scheduled to be at TwinsFest this weekend at the Metrodome.
Mauer is featured in Twins’ ads for spring training tickets appearing in the News-Press newspaper serving Southwest Florida. The Twins, who open their spring training home schedule in Fort Myers on February 25 against Boston, started selling exhibition game tickets on January 10. At 4 a.m. gates were opened at the Lee County Sports Complex to accommodate fans who wanted to be among the first to buy tickets starting at 9 a.m., according to the News-Press.
By 2012 the Twins could be sharing the Fort Myers area with two major league teams, the News-Press reported recently. The Baltimore Orioles, whose president is former Twins executive Andy McPhail, are interested in moving from Fort Lauderdale. The Red Sox are already in the Fort Myers area and plans are developing for a new ballpark replicating a smaller version of famed Fenway Park.
There’s a website devoted to Bert Blyleven and his deserving to be voted into baseball’s hall of fame, www.bertbelongs.com. Blyleven didn’t receive enough votes earlier this month to be voted in but is deserving of being in the hall of fame with a career that included 287 wins and clutch pitching, often performing with mediocre support.
Coach Steve Fritz and his St. Thomas men’s basketball team is undefeated at 15-0 and ranked No. 2 in the country by www.d3hoops.com.
Former Wayzata High School tennis player Karl Gregor is an assistant volunteer coach for the men’s team at Harvard. He is a graduate of the Air Force Academy.