Author: David Shama

Ruegamer played three seasons with the Packers and was a teammate of Longwell.  Although he wasn’t recruited by the Gophers out of high school, he does know the area and brought up an unsolicited endorsement of Murray’s Restaurant.  “I am familiar with Minneapolis,” he said.  “Murray’s steakhouse.  That’s a good spot.”

The Vikings’ Adrian Peterson finished the regular season not only as the NFL’s leading rusher, but also was first in fumbles with nine.

Vikings’ fan Steve Gilbertson of Sioux Falls, South Dakota after being asked how happy he will be if his favorite team wins the Super Bowl: “That would be a miracle.”

Although TCF Bank Stadium opens next year, the Prep Bowl is expected to remain at the Metrodome because it’s a weather protected facility.

All eight bowl game experts in the Sporting News magazine of December 22 have the Gophers losing to Kansas in tonight’s Insight Bowl.  The publication identifies Minnesota senior defensive end Willie VanDeSteeg and Kansas junior wide receiver Kerry Meier as the best pro prospects in the game.

Four MIAC players have been named to the 2008 D3football.com All-America team. Augsburg wide receiver Royce Winford and Carleton safety Drew Ziller were both first team selections. St. Thomas center Josh Ostrue was a second team pick while Gustavus safety Joe Welch was named to the third team.

The Wild’s Niklas Backstrom ranks fourth this season among NHL goalies in both wins (16) and shutouts (three) but he’s never beaten either of the next two teams on the schedule.  The Wild have home games tonight and Saturday against San Jose and Detroit.  Backstrom is 0-4-2 versus the Sharks, 0-2-1 against the Red Wings.

The Board of The Collegiate Women Sports Awards has announced that Concordia’s Maggie McNamara is a candidate for the 2008-09 Division II Athlete of the Year, representing volleyball.  The program is in its 34th year and recognizes the top women athletes in 11 sports as nominees for the Athlete of the Year.  The Honda-Broderick Cup will be awarded June 22 in New York.  McNamara helped the Golden Bears repeat as national champions earlier this year and led the country in assists.

Ryan Longwell is 34 years old and has been in the NFL for 12 seasons.  Still, he felt the pressure before making a 50 yard field goal yesterday that gave the Vikings a 20-19 win over the New York Giants and sent the Purple to the playoffs for the first time since 2004.

When Longwell took the field with nine seconds remaining a lot of people in the Metrodome and elsewhere didn’t know whether Chicago would win or lose against Houston.  A Chicago victory and Vikings loss would have meant Longwell’s team missed the playoffs.  As it turned out the Vikings still could have made the playoffs with a loss to the Giants because the Bears lost to Houston but at the time it was an “all or nothing” situation in Longwell’s head.

Longwell responded with humor after the game when asked how much confidence he had because of his NFL experience and success including this season when he had made 28 of 33 field goal attempts, including five of five from over 50 yards.  “Oh, probably zero,” he said.  “You’re as nervous for that one as you are for the first one of your career.

“But like Tiger Woods says, once you’ve won one, you can rely on that for the next one.  You just rely on yourself, and the good Lord has blessed me with a mind that kind of stays even keel through the whole game and through every situation.

“So you approach it as calm as you can and just do what you do.  Don’t try to be super human and hit it harder, or hit it any different.  Do the same thing that has worked.”

Well, it worked and the Vikings walked away with their first division championship since 2000.  In an elated locker room after the game owner Zygi Wilf talked about how “it doesn’t get any better than this” and forecast more success for his franchise.

“I know that this is the beginning of many things to come,” he said.  “…We look forward to many seasons ahead of great football.  …I am very proud of everybody and what they did.”

Even if they have to do it like they did against the Giants in a pressure situation with time running out, the Vikings hope to make their owner proud next Sunday in their playoff game at home against Philadelphia.

In a week that could put the Gophers on the high road in the Big Ten Conference title chase, Minnesota plays Michigan State on Wednesday morning and then Ohio State on Saturday in league opening games at Williams Arena.  Last night at home the Gophers moved their nonconference record to 12-0 with an easy 82-56 win over High Point, Minnesota coach Tubby Smith’s North Carolina based alma mater.

With an undefeated record and No. 23 national ranking, the Gophers haven’t had to rebound from defeat so far this season. But rebounding, as in effective board work, figures to be important this week against Michigan State, a favorite to win the conference title, and Ohio State, a threat to finish in the first division and possibly push Minnesota back in the final standings.  In the always physical Big Ten the Gophers hope to do better than they did in nonconference play when opponents have gathered almost as many rebounds as Minnesota (402 versus 431).  Last night against High Point the Gophers had a 36-35 rebounding edge, but the Panthers had 15 offensive rebounds, the Gophers 12.

Smith acknowledged that Michigan State deserves its reputation for annually being an outstanding rebounding team and talked about that aspect for the Gophers.  “Well, that’s been a big concern of ours all year long,” he said. “We only won by what, one on the boards today?  Michigan State is much more physical, much more gifted athletically, and they’re always one of the top rebounding teams in the country. So we’ll spend some time working on rebounding the next couple of days.  That’s for sure.”

Much of the rebounding responsibility is likely to belong to freshmen big men Colton Iverson and Ralph Sampson.  They both started the High Point game and seem probable to be in the opening lineup again along with Damian Johnson, Lawrence Westbrook and Al Nolen.  The 6-10 Iverson and 6-11 Sampson have progressed quickly in their transition from high school to college and Smith is pleased with how “coachable” and responsive they have been.

Iverson leads the team in rebounds at 4.3 per game.  Sampson and the 6-1 Nolen are second at 4.0.

No doubt the Gophers and their fans are excited for Wednesday and the beginning of the Big Ten season.  “We can’t wait for it to start,” Gopher junior Devron Bostick said last night.

The nonconference schedule was soft but did include a neutral court win over then No. 9 ranked Louisville.  The schedule helped develop confidence in a young Gopher team and was a coach’s dream.  With its lengthy list of unappealing opponents, the schedule was more like a fan’s nightmare but it will be remembered with a lot more fondness if the Gophers start 2-0 this week in the Big Ten.