Gopher Nation quick hitters

Well Gopher Nation has been dominated lately by basketball for obvious reasons. Let's throw out some quick hitters regarding the less covered sports for Gopher Nation...

Gopher Hockey - WCHA regular season and tournament champs. #1 seed in NCAA tournament but the Gophers were upset by UND in the 2nd round, 3-2. From what I have read (as I know very little about hockey) the Gophers had been struggling as of late. But they were able to pull it together and beat UND in OT of the WCHA Finals. Unfortunately the Souix outskated the Gophers in the NCAAs and ended Minnesota's chances at another National Championship. The Gophs had only 2 Srs on the team and 1 of the underclassmen considering pro has decided to stay with the program; 2 key decisions still loom. So things look to be shaping up nicely for a run at the NCAA Championship in 2007-08.

Gopher Wrestling - this is a bit late but a big contratulations to the Gohper Wrestlers for winning their 3rd NCAA Championship this decade. The team claimed 1 individual Champion in Cole Konrad (HWT), 5 All-Americans and their 6th Big 10 title in the last 9 years. Great season for the grapplers and things look up as Konrad is the lone Sr. on this year's squad.

Gopher Baseball - is off to a hot start. The unranked Gophers are sitting at 14-5 as they head into the Big 10 season and have big wins over #18 Mississippi, #10 Pepperdine, #7 Arkansas and a 2 game sweep AT UC-Santa Barbara. Those are big time wins and losses to these highly ranked teams account for 4 of their 5 losses. Big Ten Hardball wonders why the Gophers are not ranked and I can't help but wonder the same. It appears this group is playing well and should be near the top of the Big 10 when all is said and done.

Gopher Men's Swimming and Diving - 2007 Big 10 Champs and 10th place at NCAA Championshiops. 12 Individual Gophers earned All-American honors. The team was lead by Jr. David Plummer as he put the team on his back(stroke) by finishing 5th in the 200 M backstroke earning enough points to move up to 10th place.