Seasons

SEASON: 57 | YEAR: 2005
HEAD COACH: DAVE ST. PETER

Game 646 | January 11, 2005 | Pam Borton
Lindsay Whalen was gone to the WNBA, but Coach Borton's team still made it to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen before losing 64-57 to a Baylor team that went on to win the National Championship. All-American Center Janel McCarville led the team in scoring and was the first selection in the first round of the next WNBA draft. Jamie Broback, Shannon Schonrock and Kelly Roysland provided additional outside scoring.

Game 647 | January 27, 2005 | Kyle Lohse, Joe Nathan
The Twins finished the 2005 season in third place, 16 games behind the Chicago White Sox. Righthand starter Lohse finished with a 9-13 record for the second year in a row. Nathan, obtained from the Giants in a trade for A.J. Pierzynski, finished tied for third in the league with 43 saves and was named to The Sporting News post-season All-Star team.

Game 648 | February 11, 2005 | Marty O'Neil
Minnesota's entry in the National Lacrosse League began play in December 2004 with O'Neill as its general manager. From the beginning the indoor game was popular with a younger audience as the team finished its first season with a 5-11 record. The team made the playoffs the next year and O'Neill, who played and managed the game in his native Ireland, was named NLL General Manager of the Year.

Game 649 | February 23, 2005 | Paul Molitor
The former star of the Minnesota Gophers, Milwaukee Brewers and Minnesota Twins was a first-ballot electee into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003. He was a seven-time All-Star and finished his 21-year major league career with 3,319 hits and a batting average of .306. Although he played with three major league teams, he chose to enter the Hall of Fame as a Brewer, alongside his long-time teammate, Robin Yount.

Game 650 | March 22, 2005 | John Anderson
Coach Anderson's baseball Gophers, coming off a Big Ten title the year before, slipped to a rare sixth-place finish in 2005. Dairy Queen Classic visitors this year were from New Orleans, South Carolina and Pepperdine. Third baseman David Hrncirik was named first-team All Big Ten, while shortstop Matt Fornasiere and pitcher Matt Loberg took second-team honors.

Game 651 | April 6, 2005 | 2005 | Dean Johnson, Steve Sviggum
With sports facilities a major topic in the Minnesota Legislature, Senate Majority Leader Johnson and Speaker of the House Sviggum talked about prospects for governmental partnerships with the Gophers, Twins and Vikings. The veteran legislators said that prospects for the Gophers and the Twins, in partnership discussions with Hennepin County, were improving, and that any Vikings deal was going to have to wait for a future session. Nothing was approved in 2005, but both the Twins and Gophers received approval from the 2006 Legislature.

Game 652 | April 26, 2005 | Scott Studwell, Rob Brzezinski
With an ownership change only days away, Vikings executives Studwell and Brzezinski talked about scouting, drafting and managing against the league-mandated salary cap. The 2005 draft, in which the Vikings had two first-round picks for the first time since 1999, turned out to be one of the worst in the team's modern history. Wide receiver Troy Williamson, chosen seventh, never became a reliable starter, and defensive end Erasmus James' short career was marked by a series of injuries. <

Game 653 | May 5, 2005 | Terry Ryan, Ron Gardenhire
Manager Gardenhire and General Manager Ryan were coming off three straight divisional titles, but 2005 proved to be a challenging year for the Twins. A weak offense and injuries to key players combined to see the Twins finish 16 games behind the World Champion Chicago White Sox. Joe Mauer led the team with a .294 batting average, Justin Morneau led with 79 RBIs, and Jacque Jones led with 25 home runs. Johan Santana, 16-7, and Joe Nathan, 43 saves, anchored a solid pitching staff.

Game 654 | May 25, 2005 | Randy Sampson, Scott Stevens
It was the 10th anniversary season under Sampson-family ownership of Canterbury Park President and CEO Randy Sampson talked about the Triple Crown and other events for the season, and jockey Stevens described the life of a professional jockey. Stevens, a member of the Canterbury Hall of Fame and the leading rider in Canterbury history, also fielded questions about the 2003 movie Seabiscuit, in which his jockey brother, Gary, had a significant role.

Game 655 | June 3, 2005 | Roger Staubach
Thirty years after it happened, Staubach returned to the scene of the crime. The former Dallas Cowboy Hall of Fame quarterback and current real estate developer told Dunkers that he still believes his receiver, Drew Pearson, did not push Viking defender Nate Wright in the deciding play of the Vikings' 1975 Metropolitan Stadium playoff loss to the Cowboys. Staubach, described by his coach, Tom Landry, as "possibly the best combination of a passer, an athlete and a leader ever to play in the NFL," said he is still mildly apprehensive about appearances in the Twin Cities after the controversy surrounding the Pearson touchdown catch.

(LtoR) Dave Mona, Bob Lurtsema, Roger Staubach, Dave St. Peter

Game 656 | June 9, 2005 | Tamika Williams, Amber Jacobs
A forward out of Connecticut, Williams was taken by the Minnesota Lynx in the first round of the 2002 WNBA draft. Jacobs, a guard from Boston College, was taken in the third round of the 2004 draft. The team finished the 2005 season with a 14-20 record as Katie Smith led the team in scoring for the sixth straight year.

Game 657 | July 12, 2005 | Jason Gore
A member of the winning 1997 U.S. Walker Cup golf team, Gore won the Scholarship America Showdown in 2005 at Somerby Golf Club in Byron, Minnesota, near Rochester. Gore won three times on the Nationwide Golf Tour in 2005, moved in mid season to the PGA Tour, and promptly won the 84 Lumber Classic.

Game 658 | July 26, 2005 | Mike Tice
This was a major transition year for the Vikings. Randy Moss was traded to Oakland, an injured Daunte Culpepper gave way to veteran Brad Johnson at quarterback. Running back Onterrio Smith was released after multiple drug offenses, and Mewelde Moore and Michael Bennett shared rushing duties. First-round draft choices Troy Williamson and Eramus James proved to be of little help. Despite that, the team finished 9-7, but Tice was dismissed at the end of season after four years as head coach.

Game 659 | August 3, 2005 | Mark Lye
In town to play in the 3M Championship, golfer Lye joined the Champion's Tour upon reaching age 50 in 2002. A graduate of San Jose State, he won his only PGA event in 1983. In 1996 he had a cameo part in the movie Happy Gilmore.

Game 660 | August 19, 2005 | Tony Oliva, Jim Perry, Frank Quilici
The Minnesota Twins had a major promotion in August 2005 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the 1965 team that won the American League title. Nearly 20 former players and coaches attended. Perry went 12-7 on the pitching staff. Oliva hit .321 to win his second straight American League batting title, and Quilici joined the team mid-season and fielded and hit well as a second baseman in the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Game 661 | August 25, 2005 | Glen Mason
Behind one of the strongest running games in America, Mason's Gopher football team again finished 7-5 and made a return trip to the Music City Bowl, where they lost 34-31 to Virginia. Laurence Maroney rushed for 1,464 yards and 10 touchdowns, before opting for the NFL draft after his junior season.

Game 662 | September 9, 2005 | Zygi Wilf
On May 25, 2005, New Jersey developer Zygi Wilf purchased the Vikings from Red McCombs. McCombs had owned the team since 1998. Frustrated with his inability to strike a deal for a new stadium, McCombs announced his intent to sell the team in 2004. McCombs pursued an earlier deal with Arizona businessman Reggie Fowler, but when that deal fell through, Wilf and his family completed the purchase for a reported price of $625 million. Wilf told Dunkers he expected to make additional development investments in the local market.

(LtoR) Dave Mona, Lester Bagley (physician), Zygi Wilf, Dave St. Peter

Game 663 | October 6, 2005 | Bob Kurtz, Doug Risebrough
It was the fifth season behind the radio microphone for veteran broadcaster Kurtz. He and President/General Manager Risebrough previewed the up-coming 2005-06 season. The Wild roster was the third youngest in the league, and they were led in scoring by veteran center Brian Rolston. Winger Benoit Pouliot was the team's first-round draft choice.

Game 664 | October 11, 2005 | Dwane Casey, Clem Haskins
With Kevin McHale returning to the front office, Casey took over as coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves. A veteran NBA assistant who played his college ball at Kentucky, Casey had a long friendship with former Gopher Coach Haskins, who was making his first Dunkers appearance since being dismissed as Gopher coach. Haskins said he deeply regretted the way things ended in Minnesota, but that he greatly enjoyed his years here. Casey built a record of 53-69 over the next year and a half and was fired in favor of Randy Wittman midway through the 2006 season.

Game 665 | October 25, 2005 | Don Lucia
Winners of the MacNaughten Cup, this Gopher hockey team won the WCHA title with a conference record of 20-5-3. Although heavily favored, they lost to unranked Holy Cross in the firSt round of NCAA post-season play. Ryan Potolny, Phil Kessel, Alex Goligoski and Danny Irmen were the leading scorers.

Game 666 | November 10, 2005 | Dan Monson
The Gophers took a major step backward in the 2005-'06 season, slipping back to 10th in the Big Ten and finishing with an overall record of 16-15. The team did make the NIT tournament, where they defeated Wake Forest and lost to Cincinnati. Vincent Grier; Maurice Hargrow and Adam Boone led the team in scoring.

Game 667 | November 22, 2005 | Pam Borton, Kelly Roysland
A year removed from a Sweet Sixteen appearance, and missing stars Lindsay Whalen and Janel McCarville, the 2005-'06 Gopher women's basketball team made it back to NCAA play behind the play of Roysland and Jamie Broback. Roysland, an outstanding athlete, finished her career in 2007 as the 12th leading scorer in team history. The Fosston, Minnesota, native played a final year of volleyball after completing her basketball eligibility.

Seasons

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