Tubby Smith and his staff are hosting Golden Gopher Alumni Basketball Day on Saturday, February 9.  Activities consist of a breakfast, watching practice, socializing and attending the Iowa game in the afternoon.  Basketball alums needing more information should call the basketball office, 612-625-3085.

The Wolves’ Ryan Gomes had 25 points and 10 rebounds in the team’s 83-67 win over the Bulls Wednesday night, Minnesota’s third straight win at home.  Gomes came into the evening averaging 14.8 points and 8.6 rebounds in his previous 20 games, all starts.  That’s a nice streak for the third year forward who entered this season with a career scoring average of 10 points and 5.26 rebounds.

Asked about his improvement, Gomes said on Sunday:  “Just going into the game being aggressive from the start.  Not trying to wait around and see how the game is going.  I think when I first came here (traded from Boston last summer) that’s what I was doing, trying to pick and choose when I had the opportunity instead of being aggressive on the catch every time.  And that’s opened up many opportunities for me to get in the lane, (and for) me to get other guys open shots. …”

Wolves’ personnel needs include adding a big center so that undersized Al Jefferson can vacate that position and play power forward. Coach Randy Wittman said earlier this week a “bruiser” could complement Jefferson, reducing his rebounding load and not force him to guard bigger players.  If foes keep using centers on Jefferson hoping to negate his low post scoring with height, then Wittman foresees mismatches for a big Wolves’ center guarded by a power forward.

Among the NBA’s 32 teams, through games as of Wednesday night, the Wolves ranked 23^rd in attendance averaging 14,474 fans. The Minnesota Wild ranked ninth in the 30 team NHL, averaging 18,568 and playing to 102 percent of capacity.

Minnesota is an NHL best 21-0-0 when leading after two periods. The Wild and Vancouver (20-0-0) are the only teams without a loss when taking a lead into the third period.

After nine games without a goal, left wing Brian Rolston has scored in each of the past four games, his longest streak of the season. The Wild is 13-3-2 when he scores a goal this season.. He is three assists away from becoming the fifth player in team history to reach 100.

Right wing Pavol Demitra had two assists Wednesday, giving him 400 for his NHL career. He ranks ninth all-time amongst Slovakian-born players. Demitra has 676 points in 720 career games. His point total is also ninth-best for players born in Slovakia.

The Gopher hockey team, fifth in the WCHA standings, hosts second place North Dakota tonight and tomorrow night.  North Dakota has won seven straight and is tied with Miami for the nation’s longest winning streak. North Dakota has held five of its last six opponents to one goal and ranks third nationally in scoring defense at 2.00 goals per game. North Dakota is eighth nationally in offense at 3.28 goals per game. Goaltender Jean Philippe-Lamoureaux leads the defense, ranking sixth with a 1.80 goals against average and .932 save percentage. Defending Hobey Baker Award winner Ryan Duncan leads the offense with 10 goals and 16 assists for 26 points, while linemate T.J. Oshie has a team-high 12 goals and 14 assists for 26 points.

Minnesota’s Alex Kangas ranks third among all Division I freshmen goaltenders with a 2.28 goals against average and a .918 save percentage. He has not allowed more than three goals in any game this season and six of his 14 games have gone to overtime. Kangas has a .900 or better save percentage in 10 of his 13 starts.

The Gustavus Adolphus women’s hockey team is 10-0 in the MIAC, 15-1 overall and ranked fourth in the nation in the USCHO.com Division III poll.  Michaela Michaelson of St. Catherine is the conference’s player of the week after scoring five goals in games last Friday and Saturday.

Three Gopher recruits who have signed National Letters of Intent have been named candidates for the Let’s Play Hockey Ms. Hockey award. Sarah Erickson (Bemidji High School), Anne Schleper (St. Cloud Icebreakers) and Kelly Seeler (Eden Prairie High School) are in the top 10 for the award, announced yesterday by the hockey publication.

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Adam Weber might catch a pass or two next fall, and he won’t take every snap in Gopher games, but make no mistake the sophomore-to-be quarterback from Mounds View figures to remain Minnesota’s starter.

Coach Tim Brewster said last week that “I truly expect him to be our starting quarterback” and the Gophers won’t have multiple starters.  Almost in the same breath, Brewster made it clear he expects “dynamic” play out of the quarterback position and he doesn’t want to ask a player to do things he isn’t comfortable with.

That will mean some opportunity for transfer David Pittman who had 556 completions for 6,346 yards and 61 touchdowns in junior college. He is so athletically versatile he will probably play at wide receiver, running back and perhaps in the defensive secondary.  Brewster said Pittman may even throw a pass or two to Weber when the Gophers alter their personnel in the team’s varied spread offense.  The coach describes Pittman as a leader, a player with charisma and someone who is “going to help us immediately.”

Weber was the Sporting News all-Big Ten freshmen team quarterback last season.  Playing as a red shirt in the mentally and physically demanding spread offense, the first year quarterback set school single-season records for passing yards (2,895), completions (258), touchdown passes (24) and total offense (3,512) during the 2007 season.

Brewster was pleased with Weber’s development during the 12 game season (he started every game) but wants more progress.  That will include not only mastering the complex offense even more and throwing with better accuracy (19 interceptions), but Brewster expects Weber to be a team leader, to be vocal and show charisma.

The Gophers begin spring practice on Wednesday, March 26. The annual spring game open to the public is Saturday, April 19.

The development of Weber and Pittman will be storylines to watch in the spring, but also of interest will be the defense.  Minnesota ranked last among Big Ten teams during conference play giving up almost 500 yards per game.

Brewster said the Gophers will approach spring drills with an “emphasis to be physical” on defense and there will be a lot of time devoted to tackling.

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The Twins announced last week that former closer and all-time saves leader Rick Aguilera has been elected to the team’s Hall of Fame. Aguilera will become the 19th member when inducted during an on-field pre-game ceremony, Saturday, June 21. 

The Hall of Fame honors players, managers, coaches and off-field personnel who have contributed to the organization’s growth and success.  The late Halsey Hall deserves enshrinement, joining the others inducted since the Hall of Fame’s inception in 2000.  In the 1960s and 1970s Hall provided color commentary on Twins broadcasts for WCCO Radio and WTCN TV (now KARE).  He was affable, knowledgeable and absolutely hilarious.  This town has never had a better story teller than Hall who could have listeners laughing so hard from a good yarn or a fast quip that your belly was shaking.  Hall was as entertaining as a Harmon Killebrew home run or a Tony Oliva line drive. Both, by the way, are in the Twins Hall of Fame.

Inflation makes a huge impact on building costs.  A Twins executive wrote via e-mail that the projected expense in 1997 to build a retractable roof baseball stadium in downtown Minneapolis near the Mississippi River was about $350 million.  The downtown open air stadium being built now will cost beyond $520 million.

The Timberwolves much anticipated game with Kevin Garnett and the Celtics in Boston last Friday produced a larger TV audience than other Wolves games of late but the telecast’s 2.6 rating is very modest.  (A rating point is a percentage of households watching a particular program).

The Wolves’ Al Jefferson was named the NBA’s Western Conference Player of the Week on Monday for games played January 21-27, the league announced. Jefferson averaged 28.8 points, 12.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.3 steals as the Wolves went 3-1 on the week.

Timberwolves’ first-year center Chris Richard, who had played in only 24 of the team’s 43 games while averaging 9.2 minutes, was assigned to the Sioux Falls SkyForce of the NBA Development League on Monday. Listed at 6-9, Richard told Sports Headliners on Sunday that his height is 6-7 or 6-8.  The second round draft choice from Florida has a one year contract with the Wolves.  He’s impressed with his likeable attitude and on-court hustle.

Third-year guard Rashad McCants said the right knee that caused him to miss 44  games last season because of microfracture surgery is 100 percent healthy.  What does bother him, he said, is the Wolves not winning more games.  McCants played on a national championship team at North Carolina, a state championship in high school and said “he’s not used to losing.”

The Gopher women’s basketball program was hoping for its 23^rd Williams Arena crowd of over 10,000 on Sunday when Minnesota defeated Michigan State to move within one-half game of first place in the Big Ten Conference behind Ohio State.  The advance promotion was billed “Pack the House,” bench seats were available for $5 and a large group of basketball alumni were welcomed back.  Announced attendance was 9,849, but capacity is 14,625.

Minnesota’s Emily Fox was named the Big Ten Conference Player of the Week on Monday after the junior guard led the Gophers to a pair of important victories over nationally ranked Ohio State and Michigan State. Fox averaged 22.5 points and 5.0 assists in the wins.

Minneapolis Community and Technical College men’s basketball coach Jay Pivec earned his 500^th career coaching win with a victory last week and was the subject of a feature on January 25 in the online Downtown Journal.

Tonight’s Willd-Anaheim game at the Xcel Energy Center starts at 6 p.m. and will be seen on the VERSUS network.  The teams play for the fourth and final time this season tonight. The road team has won the first three games including the Ducks 4-2 win at Xcel Energy Center on January 18. Brian Rolston leads the Wild in scoring against the Ducks in 2007-08 with four points.  A 1,000-pound Brahma bull from the World’s Toughest Rodeo will greet fans from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the lobby of Xcel Energy Center. The rodeo is at the Xcel Friday and Saturday nights.

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