Gophers coach Tubby Smith can win his 400th career game if Minnesota defeats Ohio State on Saturday in Columbus.
Smith and staff hosted high school basketball recruits on Sunday at the Michigan State game including Colton Iverson of Yankton, South Dakota and Chad Calcaterra of Cloquet, Minnesota. Iverson, a 6-foot-10 senior, signed a national letter of intent with the Gophers last fall. He told Sports Headliners the schools that he had been interested in committing to included national champion Florida before deciding on Minnesota.
What impressed him about Smith? “Oh, just everything,” he said. “I knew he was a great person, off the court and on the court. He just impressed me everyway he could. From touring me around campus, talking about his leadership and what his goals were for the program. …” Those goals, Iverson said, include winning Big Ten championships.
Calcaterra, also 6-10, is only a sophomore but is already drawing interest from schools like Minnesota and Michigan State. Chad’s father, John, played high school basketball in Michigan against Spartans’ coach Tom Izzo. Chad, who is one of the most coveted high school sophomores in the region, has only played in four games after missing about two months of the season with a foot injury. During Sunday’s game he showed enthusiasm for the Gophers.
Minnesota associate athletics director Phil Esten told Sports Headliners that a virtual tour of the new TCF Bank stadium will be on the Web starting February 6, www.gophersports.com. Esten said that from an elevated view the bowl shape of the new stadium can now be seen. He expects the stadium to open on schedule in summer of 2009, with the athletic department having a finished facility about 30 days prior to the first game on September 12.
The stadium will seat approximately 50,000 but is expandable to about 80,000. Esten said it will require extra expense to prepare the stadium infrastructure if stadium capacity were expanded beyond 80,000.
Esten’s grandmother is a stockholder in the Green Bay Packers. Years ago she purchased two of the original 100 shares in the Packers.
Minneapolis Community and Technical College men’s basketball coach Jay Pivec hopes to celebrate his 500th career coaching win with a victory tonight at home against Anoka Ramsey.
Marian Gaborik will represent the Minnesota Wild in NHL skill activities on Saturday and then play in the league’s all-star game on Sunday in Atlanta. VERSUS will televise the Dodge/NHL SuperSkills on Saturday at 6 p.m. and the game on Sunday at 5 p.m. This will be Gaborik’s second all-star weekend. In 2003 he won the fastest skater competition. Earlier this season against the New York Rangers he had the NHL’s first five-goal game in almost 11 years.
Gophers’ freshman goaltender Alex Kangas has been named the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Rookie of the Week after he and his Minnesota teammates had a 1-1 tie and 2-1 win over UMD last weekend. He had 18 saves in the tie on Friday and stopped 25 shots in Saturday’s victory. Kangas ranks second among all NCAA Division I freshmen goaltenders with a 2.25 goals against average and third among rookie goalies with a .920 save percentage. He is undefeated in road starts with a 2-0-3 record.
Bethel guard Tim Madson is the MIAC men’s basketball athlete of the week. Other athlete of the week selections are St. Thomas forward Carrie Embree (women’s basketball), Bethel center Dan Bonne (men’s hockey), Saint Mary’s goalie Brittany Lemke (women’s hockey), Macalester’s Nathan Young (men’s swimming and diving), and Carleton’s Kale Zicafoose (women’s swimming and diving). Also honored are the following track and field athletes: David Swanson and Ryan Doyle, both from St. Olaf, and Derall King of Hamline, and Katie Theisen and Carol Comp, both of St. Thomas.