Author: David Shama

St. Thomas will start five native Minnesotans when the Tommies play in a Division III Final Four game tonight against Middlebury (Vermont) in Salem, Virginia. While the Gophers are mediocre, other Division I, II and III schools have success with Minnesotans including the 28-3 Tommies.

St. Thomas starters are Tyler Nicolai from Hopkins, Alex Healy, White Bear Lake, Teddy Archer, DeLaSalle, Tommy Hannon, Cretin-Derham Hall and Anders Halvorsen, Henry Sibley.  Among the reserves is former Cretin-Derham Hall athlete John Nance who transferred to St. Thomas from the Gophers where he was a quarterback on the football team.

During the last three seasons the Tommies’ 81-8 record is the best in Division III basketball.  Head coach Steve Fritz is 592-246 (.705) in 31 seasons, winning 16 regular-season MIAC titles and 10 MIAC playoff titles.

Fritz’s lead assistant is Johnny Tauer.  In 1994 Fritz coached Tauer, then a 6-5 junior forward from Cretin-Derham Hall, in the Final Four.  The Tommies (24-7) finished fourth in the tournament.

The Minnesota Football Coaches Association’s clinic is still open for registrations.  The March 31-April 2 clinic, with headquarters at the Doubletree Hotel in St. Louis Park, will have four featured speakers, Gophers coach Jerry Kill, Wyoming coach Dave Christensen, Vikings assistant Fred Pagac and Brainerd prep coach Ron Stolski.  www.mnfootballclinic.com

The Twins didn’t provide financial figures but spring training in Fort Myers is a plus for the franchise’s business operation.  It was a wise decision when years ago the franchise moved its spring training camp from Orlando in central Florida to Fort Myers near the Gulf of Mexico where thousands of Minnesotans vacation and other natives of the state have relocated.

Luke Hughes, who is trying to make the Twins’ roster as a reserve infielder and leads the team in spring training home runs and RBI, didn’t have an impressive 2010 Venezuelan Winter League season.  He hit .196 in 51 at bats.  Hughes, only the eighth Australian ever to hit a home run in the majors, had 15 home runs with New Britain and three with Rochester in 2008 for his best single season home run total in U.S. pro leagues.  He has five this spring.

Outfielder Jason Kubel, who is batting .441 this spring, is playing for a better contract in 2011.  This is the last year of his deal with the Twins and his batting average slumped from .300 in 2009 to .249 in 2010.

Ten finalists were announced last night for the Hobey Baker Award recognizing college hockey’s best player: Cam Atkinson, Boston College, Carter Camper, Miami of Ohio, Jack Connolly, Minnesota-Duluth, Matt Frattin, North Dakota, Andy Miele, Miami of Ohio, Gustav Nyquist, Maine, Chase Polacek, Rensselear, Justin Schultz, Wisconsin, Paul Thompson, New Hampshire and Paul Zanette, Niagara.  Connolly (Duluth) and Polacek (Edina) are Minnesota natives.  The award winner will be announced on April 8.

The latest issue of The Fischler Report includes an article saying that “reportedly” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has signed a five-year contract extension.  The newsletter praises him for doing a “remarkable job over nearly two tumultuous decades.”

Houston Aero Jed Ortmeyer, who skated in three games with the Wild this season, was nominated for the Fred T. Hunt Award given to the AHL player that best exemplifies sportsmanship, determination, and dedication to hockey. The Aero forward has a rare blood disorder that makes his blood clot too easily and requires taking blood thinners before playing, creating a higher risk of injury.

The Wild signed German goalie Dennis Endras to a contract for next season. He was MVP of the 2010 IIHF World Championship where he had a 4-2 record with a 1.15 goals against average and a .961 save percentage.

St. Olaf won the President’s Cup recently for first place finishes by the men and women in combined Nordic-Alpine skiing.  The Oles finished ahead of such schools as Boston College and Colorado College in national championship competition.

Joe Mauer has been making news with his left knee problem but his grandfather told Sports Headliners the Twins catcher is headed for an exceptional season even by Mauer standards.

“I know he’s going to have a big year,” Jake Mauer said.  “He’s bigger, he’s stronger.  I think he’s looking forward more (to the season) this year than he did last year because of the goals he’s set.  He wants to be the batting crown champion again.  He wants to be the Most Valuable Player again.”

Mauer is a three-time American League batting champion and won the AL MVP award in 2009.  At 27, he’s likely approaching his best years.

This week, perhaps today, Jake expects Joe to catch for the first time in a 2011 spring training game.  “He’s snapping at the bit, boy,” Jake said.

Joe had off-season knee surgery and has since experienced soreness, but most recently has been okay, according to his grandfather who is wintering in southwest Florida.  Jake said his grandson has stopped taking the synthetic lubricant Supartz for the soreness.

If Mauer irritates the knee he will take more of the substance.  “He may hurt it running, he may hurt it sliding or something,” Jake said.

His grandfather said talk that Joe has been working out at first base are “not true.”

The NCAA basketball tournament features parity but Kansas is a popular choice among expert sources to win the national championship.

Former Gophers coach Jim Dutcher likes the Jayhawks as do CBS TV analysts Greg Anthony, Charles Barkley and Seth Davis. “They’re well coached, they’re well drilled, they don’t beat themselves,” Dutcher said about Kansas, 32-2.

Dutcher told Sports Headliners “if there’s a team in the Big Ten” with a chance to win the national title it’s No. 1 tournament seed Ohio State, but he said the Buckeyes’ close wins this winter over mediocre Northwestern indicate that an opponent able to run a slowdown offense can upset them.  Dutcher said that deliberate style gives the Buckeyes “fits.”

Asked to name a potential tournament Cinderella story, Dutcher talked about San Diego State, a 32-2 team and No. 2 West Region seed whose coaching staff includes his son Brian, a University of Minnesota graduate. Jim Dutcher said that while the Aztecs have a high seed and been ranked among the nation’s top 10 teams, there are college basketball observers who doubt the quality of teams from the Mountain West Conference.

The Aztecs’ reputation is not only questioned, but they have never won an NCAA tournament game.  “They’re kind of in the Butler category of a year ago,” Dutcher said.

Butler, from the low profile Horizon League, made it all the way to the national championship game as the 2010 Cinderella before losing to Duke.

San Diego State opens tomorrow against Northern Colorado, 21-10 and a No. 15 seed.  Dutcher told his son by telephone on Sunday that “you’ve got to overcome poor coaching and get them (the Aztecs) to Anaheim.”  Then Dutcher would travel from Minneapolis to see the Aztecs during the second weekend of the tournament.

Anaheim might be the site of a San Diego State versus Connecticut game as part of the tournament’s West Region.  Dutcher predicted the No. 3 seeded Huskies could be upset, though, by Missouri on Saturday of this week if both teams win opening games tomorrow.  He likes Missouri, a No. 11 seed, to possibly upset No. 6 Cincinnati tomorrow.