Washington coach Joe Gibbs is 8-1 in his career against the Vikings. Former Gopher Anthony Montgomery plays defensive tackle for the Redskins.
The Wild’s Jacques Lemaire coached in his 1,000th NHL game Tuesday night, becoming the 14th coach in NHL history to reach that level. Scotty Bowman is the all-time leader with 2,141 games. Lemaire has a career coaching record of 476-365-160, including 229-206-91 with the Wild in six-plus seasons. The Wild’s 209 wins in the first six seasons is the most among the nine NHL expansion teams since 1991. Lemaire led the Wild to its fourth straight winning season in 2006-07 with a 48-26-8 record, setting franchise records for wins and points (104). Lemaire also coached in Montreal and New Jersey, and has never been fired as an NHL coach. He’s participated in 11 Stanley Cups as a player, coach and executive.
This week coach Tim Brewster signed four junior college players to national letters of intent who were pursued by other major college football programs, according to a news release from the University of Minnesota. Safety Tramaine Brock was recruited by South Carolina, Mississippi and Mississippi State. Quarterback David Pittman’s offers included Arizona State, UCLA and Washington State. Linebacker Rex Sharpe committed to Auburn coming out of high school and more recently was pursued by Colorado. Cornerback Traye Simmons’ offers included Florida, California and Purdue.
The Gopher basketball team plays its last non-conference home game tomorrow (Saturday) night against Santa Clara, a team that lost by 26 at Stanford earlier this week. Santa Clara, 7-4, won at Utah by 15 in November. Center John Bryant is averaging 20 points and 8.6 rebounds. The Gophers are 7-1 and have three non-conference games on the road next week, all in Las Vegas in the “Duel in the Desert” tournament.
Minnesota’s subs have out scored opponents in each of the eight games this year. The Gophers hold a cumulative 270-120 bench scoring edge. A Gopher has scored at least nine points off the bench in every game, led by Blake Hoffarber’s 21 points against Colorado State.
Former Star Tribune Timberwolves beat writer Steve Aschburner, now writing for www.sportsillustratedcnn.com, has an article this week about Craig Smith who has scored 20 points or more three times in his last eight games, including 30 and 36 point performances. Aschburner named Smith to his NBA Second Round All-Star team. The Wolves selected Smith on the second round of the 2006 draft.
Assistant general manager Fred Hoiberg said the Timberwolves franchise is trying to put a “foundation” in place of quality core players who will be with the team for several years, similar to the NBA champion San Antonio Spurs model. “Pieces” can be added, Hoiberg said, but it’s important to have continuity on the roster.
Gustavus has seven teams ranked in Division III national polls. Those teams are women’s golf (No.2), men’s tennis (No.5), men’s golf (No.6), women’s hockey (No.8), men’s swimming (No.11), women’s tennis (No.11), and women’s swimming (No.24).
USA Hockey will host its annual women’s Holiday Camp from December 26 – January 1 at the Olympic Center in Lake Placid, New York. Of the 56 players invited to the camp, 12 have University of Minnesota connections. The Gophers will have current team members Rachael Drazan, Gigi Marvin, Erica McKenzie, Anya Miller, Jen Schoullis and Emily West participating at the camp. Former Gopher Natalie Darwitz will also participate, plus Gopher recruits Sarah Erickson, Alyssa Grogan, Anne Schleper, Jocelyne Lamoureux and Monique Lamoureux. The training camp serves as a tryout and training session for the U.S. Women’s National Team and U.S. Women’s National Under-18 Team, both of which participate in world championships in the early part of 2008.