Staff & Contributors

Krauss Puts the Bite Back in Bulldogs

John Gilbert

There is no real explanation for it, but no matter how strong a team is and how good its record, there are going to be flat spots in a sports season. Being up and down is common, but the best teams find a way to put it all together and hit a peak

Seahawks Win Greatest - but not Best - NFL Game

John Gilbert

Let’s agree on one thing: Seattle’s victory over Green Bay in the NFC championship game was NOT the best game in pro football history. But it might have been the most amazing -- maybe even the greatest -- in NFL history

Couple Calls, Misplays Help Decide Games

John Gilbert

Officials make calls, and sometimes they make mistakes. Football players try their hardest, but sometimes they drop passes. Examples of both helped determine a couple of pretty important football games in the past week.

Quarterbacks Rule at Football Playoff Time

John Gilbert

Now we get serious with the National Football League playoffs. The wild card games are over, and the four teams that spent last weekend with byes swing into action.

UMD Athletic Achievements Led Sports Up North

John Gilbert

We got our share of excitement out of our up-close and personal sports highlights for the vanishing year of 2014

Shannon Miller Saga Dominates Sports Scene

John Gilbert

“Well,” he said, “I don’t know anything about the team, but I have heard a lot about Shannon Miller. Does UMD have any idea what an impact she has? Everybody knows who Shannon Miller is.”

UMD Chooses to Lose Shannon Miller

John Gilbert

Shannon Miller is not just the head coach of the UMD women’s hockey team. She is the head, the face, the force, and the personality of UMD women’s hockey. She IS UMD women’s hockey.

UMD Sweeps CC, Lead NCHC

John Gilbert

So the question is, if the Pairwise uses objective logic and has UMD No. 2, what sort of logic are the voters in the USCHO ratings using to rate UMD No. 9?

Bulldogs Save Final Trick to Win 48-45

John Gilbert

If you’ve got the chance to head on down to Mankato to watch the Division 2 Super Region Three football final Saturday

Bulldogs Stun NW Missouri With 3-TD Rally

John Gilbert

Words like resilience and tenacious roll easily off the tongue as contemporary sports cliches. But never have the words been as significant as in the fourth quarter of UMD’s astounding 25-21 victory over defending Division 2 football champion NW

Bulldogs Disassemble Gopher Ice Machine

John Gilbert

They had their No. 1 ranked Golden Gopher hockey team, playing the “lowly” No. 13 UMD Bulldogs, and while the Gopher folks say they knew it would be a tough series, they had no idea how tough.

College Football Rolls On, Despite Ratings

John Gilbert

Playing down to legitimate college football championships create a wide-open climax to the season, whether Division 1, or 2 -- or, for that matter, 3. Focusing on Division 1 and 2, it is impossible to guess at the favorites for the championship

Bulldogs, Miami Create Rivalry as NCHC Contenders

John Gilbert

When the National Collegiate Hockey Conference was formed, in a pro-active move after the Big Ten’s hockey representatives went off to form their own league, it was obvious to those of us with an objective eye on college hockey

Both UMD Hockey Teams Enjoy Home Life

John Gilbert

UMD’s hockey teams will play their second straight weekend where both teams are at home, affording hockey fans the chance to see four hockey games in rapid-fire succession.

Rick Nolan

John Gilbert

Reader endorsements

UMD Weekend Bigger than Homecoming

John Gilbert

This might just be the greatest sports weekend of the whole year. We’ve got so much going on in Duluth this weekend, that maybe this should have been homecoming week. Or maybe the Bulldogs should have two.

Sweeps Spark UMD to 18-1 Volleyball Rush

John Gilbert

But the biggest triumph for UMD last weekend remains the No. 2 nationally ranked volleyball team’s stunning three-game sweep against Concordia of St. Paul.

Hockey Crowds the Crowded Football Scene

John Gilbert

When you’re making plans for what to watch this weekend, the list of sports candidates is a lengthy one. 

Football, Hockey Replace Twins

John Gilbert

As the good ship Twins settles to the bottom of the lagoon, the seasons have already changed to football and hockey around here.

Triple-threat Bulldogs Run in the Rain

John Gilbert

The tandem rushing attack of Logan Lauters and Austin Sikorski flashed its full form last Saturday night, and quarterback Drew Bauer joined them in a three-pronged 100-yard rushing attack that led UMD to its impressive 38-7 football victory

Who Can Judge Peterson’s Parenting?

John Gilbert

What we can discern is that Peterson is less than deserving of the pedestal we’ve built for him. Quietly, he has led the good life, if that includes getting involved with an assortment of young women who apparently were all too willing to get involve

Bauer, Lauters Help Avoid Upset

John Gilbert

Over 5,000 rabid UMD football fans tailgated themselves into being prepared to watch their Bulldogs open the 2014 football season and could be excused for anticipating a dominating, lopsided triumph over Concordia of St. Paul.

Packers-Seahawks, MSU-Oregon Highlight Week

John Gilbert

Yes, we’re only one week into the major college football season, and this is the first week of NFL play, but for those who can’t wait, this week promises a couple of the highlight games of the whole season.

Vikings, Twins, And Private Air Shows

John Gilbert

What do you mean, bad weather? Oh, I was out of town, suffering with my J-Hawks team at the state Senior Men’s Over-35 tournament, so I missed both Saturday and Sunday at the Air Show.

Vikings Reveal “QB for a Half”

John Gilbert

On a normal mid-August weekend, sports fans in Minnesota can take their pick. Watch the Minnesota Twins play a ball game, or go up to Brainerd and watch the National Hot Rod Association’s annual drag-race

Right Time for Wright Racer to Put it on the Line

John Gilbert

“Bracket racing was a lot of fun, and a good way to stay out of trouble,” said Line, who was speaking by telephone from the Summit Racing Team’s nerve center in Charlotte, N.C.

Bernie Gerl Returns to Visit Wade Stadium

John Gilbert

As a little kid, it was always fun to go to Wade Stadium and watch the old Duluth Dukes play. It was a long time ago, but refuted by the clarity of the memory, when I watched a tall, lean, professor-like catcher for the Dukes

Title or Not, 1983-84 Hockey Team UMD’s Best

John Gilbert

There are good and logical reasons for a sports team to hold a reunion, mainly after a fair amount of time has passed, from the date of a significant championship. That’s what makes the gathering of the guys from the 1983-84 UMD hockey team in Duluth

American Legion Baseball Keeps On Paying Back

John Gilbert

Look around, there’s probably a high-octane American Legion baseball tournament game at a ballpark near you.

All-Star Game Puts On a Fitting Attraction

John Gilbert

But all of the pre-game buildup was, for once, just preliminary to the main event -- the Major League Baseball All-Star game.

All-Star Game Is More Show than Go

John Gilbert

All-Star Games Also Had ‘Good Ol’ Days’

We Need More Spectacular Plays

John Gilbert

We can agree that ESPN is doing an impressive job of broadcasting the World Cup soccer matches from assorted cities in Brazil. What I would like to see is ESPN compiling a series of, say, 20 spectacular plays from each day’s games, and then play them

World Cup Gains Intense Interest in U.S.

John Gilbert

There is no doubt that U.S. sports fans have watched soccer more than ever before, and the last two U.S. games were the most-watched soccer games in this country’s history.

Beardsley Yields Record, but Can’t Erase Memory

John Gilbert

Beardsley remembers details of that race as if they happened yesterday, instead of 33 years ago. And he was amazed when told that the track public address announcer proclaimed that the greatest thing about Beardsley’s victory was that “he did it all

Out of the Fog and on to Grandma’s Record

John Gilbert

Dominic Ondoro was confident even back in the fog halfway through his first Grandma’s Marathon. Even then he was leading a swift pack of 11 East African runners that emerged almost mystically from the foggy North Shore and then disappeared again. 

NHL, NBA Mercifully Cease Firing Before July

John Gilbert

How different the NHL and NBA are, in their sports, and their followings, and, to some, in their level of excitement. But this spring, the playoff rushes in both sports turned out to be surprisingly similar.

Twins Move to Ignite a Move

John Gilbert

If I’m right, Minnesota could be on the verge of taking a giant step upward in pro sports. I’m convinced the Minnesota Wild will be a strong factor all seasoned be a contender in the NHL next season.

Bridgewatering The Gap

John Gilbert

I had watched a lot of college football last fall, and after a fantastic performance caught my eye at one point, I decided to tune in to watch Louisville play so I could focus in on this guy

Hawks Make State, as Usual, with a Bang

John Gilbert

Bang looked a lot more at ease and less stressed than some of his Hawks parents, who probably would lapse into a state of shock if Hermantown did not end its softball season with a state tournament trip.

Racing, Baseball Can’t Squeeze Out Cup Semis

John Gilbert

The forces of nature were struggling to get the final giant ice cubes to melt away from the Canal Park entry over Memorial Day

Wild Perfectly Positioned to Reach NHL Elite

John Gilbert

The much more difficult part was for the Minnesota Wild to wake up last Wednesday morning and realize they didn’t have to go practice and prepare to fly to Chicago for Game 7

Wild Home-Ice Advantage Undone by Bad Bounce

John Gilbert

It appeared there would be no chance of that, because Justin Fontaine, the former UMD star now a rookie on the Wild forward corps, had come back into his own end.

Cooke Bolsters Wild’s Playoff Surge 

John Gilbert

“I went pretty hard when I wasn’t playing,” Cooke said. “I pushed myself, so when I got the opportunity, I’d be able to make the most of it.

Duluthian Maciver Helps Steer the Blackhawks

John Gilbert

Of course, I immediately realized Maciver couldn’t fully appreciate the other team in that setting, and could only see the Blackhawks perspective professionally.

Wild Make Long Winter Appreciably Longer

John Gilbert

We’re not ready to declare winter over. Not as long as the Minnesota Wild have even the faintest hope of extending their current second-round Stanley Cup Playoff series against the Chicago Blackhawks. And after what we’ve witnessed so far

Saints Earn Trip to NCAA Softball Tournament

John Gilbert

We can hold out hope that the Minnesota Twins will make something out of this season after all, now that their high-priced starting pitchers have started to show some potential.

UMD, Saints Enter Softball Playoffs

John Gilbert

So it was on Senior Day, a blustery afternoon a week ago at Malosky Stadium, where the softball diamond was set up on the football field’s artificial turf.

Rocking The Xcel Center

John Gilbert

Fighting off checks and cheapshots, Parise was planted, facing Koivu and with his back to the net. He deftly got his stick on the sizzling missile, and deflected it from heading just inside the left pipe.

Every Kid Deserves a Break

John Gilbert

It finally happened. St. Scholastica improved to 12-0 in the UMAC softball race, and 18-10 overall on Tuesday, but the big news is they did it while playing their first actual home games of the season on their home field.

The best thing about the Stanley Cup Playoffs

John Gilbert

We’ve still got about two months of Stanley Cup Playoffs to go before a champion is named, but when it’s all over, if you could stack all the games end-to-end, they might not add up to the scintillating show