2005

It was the year of Hurricane Katrina. And, it was the year of the Minnesota Gopher women’s hockey team, who won their second straight and third overall NCAA championship.

#25 (tie) Athletes

Krissy Wendell and Natalie Darwitz

Rarely have two elite athletes been so closely identified in their public image. They were teammates on the Minnesota Gopher women’s hockey team for three years, where they won 93 games while losing 14 and tying five, and won the Gophers second and third NCAA championships in 2004 and 2005. Both were three-time all-Americans. They also were teammates on the U.S. Olympic hockey teams that won silver in 2002 and bronze in 2006. They were Natalie Darwitz and Krissy Wendell.

Darwitz was the #2 scorer on that 2002 team. She also holds the NCAA record by scoring 2.85 points per game for the college career. Darwitz is the Gophers all-time leading scorer with 246 points (107 goals and 144 assists). She scored the game-winner against Harvard in overtime to win the 2005 national championship. Wendell scored 237 points (106 goals and 131 assists), and scored the previous three goals against Harvard. 

Darwitz holds more scoring records, but Wendell got the big awards. She was Ms. Hockey in 2000, while Darwitz was beaten out by Ashley Albrecht of South St. Paul for the award in 2000. And, Wendell won the Patty Kazmaier Award in 2005, as both were three time finalists for the award. Wendell was a senior in 2005, and it might have been assumed that Darwitz, who was a junior, would win it the following year. But, she played for the U.S. team in 2006, then announced that she would not return to the Gophers after that. 

Darwitz attended Eagan high school, and helped the Wildcats to a state runner-up finish as a seventh grader and consolation titles as an eighth and again as a tenth grader. She scored 487 points in 102 high school hockey games. Wendell played just three years of high school hockey, one year on the boys team, and scored 335 points in 62 games. She led her Park Center team to the 2000 state championship and was named Ms. Hockey Minnesota. She scored 21 goals in six state tournament games. Earlier, she had been the fifth girl ever to start in the Little League World Series at the age of twelve with the Brooklyn Center team in 1997. 

• Despite the graduation of Lindsay Whalen, the Gopher women’s basketball team won two  games in the NCAA tournament, then lost to the eventual champion Baylor Bears in the regional semi, 64-57. It was Baylor’s closest game of the tournament. Janelle McCarville emerged from the shadow of Lindsay Whalen. The Gophers finished up rated in the top 20 for the fourth straight year.

• Hopkins won its fourth boys state basketball title, but needed the greatest and most miraculous shot in tournament history to do so.

• Augsburg wrestling won its ninth NCAA D3 championship as Marcus LeVesseur finished his college career at 156-0 with three NCAA D3 titles.

• St. Thomas softball won its second straight NCAA Division 3 championship.

• Apple Valley native Kristina Koznick was in her tenth year as a member of the U.S. Alpine ski team, and was rated as the #4 slalom skier in the world at the end of the year. As a young girl, she trained at Buck Hill, which would soon give us Lindsey Vonn.

#15 (tie) Dynasty

#11 (tie) Leader

#32 Athlete

Augsburg Wins Their Ninth D3 Wrestling Title Behind Coach Jeff Swenson and Unbeaten Marcus LeVesseur

Augsburg has now (2020) won 13 NCAA D3 wrestling titles, the first ten from 1991 to 2007 under coach Jeff Swenson. Augsburg long had had a solid wrestling program, winning ten MIAC titles under coaches Edor Nelson, Ron Pfeffer and John Grygelko. One of Grygelko’s wrestlers, a 1977-1978 all-American, was Jeff Swenson. Swenson became head coach in 1986 and won seven of eight MIAC titles. Then, in 1991, came the first national title with many more to follow. Swenson’s dual meet record was 368-56 from 1987 to 2007. Nik Lewandowski was the first four-time all-American from 1997 to 2001. The 2005 team was perhaps his best. It lost one dual meet while winning 15, but it was the only year in which ten Augsburg wrestlers all won all-America honors. Not only that, but the 2005 team featuring the remarkable Marcus LeVesseur.

LeVesseur racked up one of the best records in Minnesota high school history. He was the seventh wrestler to win four or more state titles in 2001—three at Minneapolis Roosevelt in 1998, 1999 and 2000, and the fourth for Bloomington Kennedy. He finished his high school career on a 141-match winning streak. He then started wrestling at Minnesota but was unhappy, and transferred to Augsburg. He missed a year of competition, but wrestled for the Augies and won national championships in 2003, 2004 and 2005. He won 155 straight college matches without a loss. He was the second collegiate wrestler ever to go unbeaten throughout his career after Iowa State’s Cael Sanderson (159-0). So his high school and college winning streak, combined, was a mind-boggling 296 matches. 

LeVesseur was also an outstanding football player who established a variety of Augsburg record for rushing and touchdowns. He later turned to mixed martial arts, where he recorded a record of 22-7.

#22 Event

Blake Hoffarber’s “Butt Shot” Saves Hopkins’ Butt in Overtime

Hopkins won its second state title in four years and its fourth overall in 2005, but it needed the most famous shot in tournament history to do so. The #1-rated Royals took a 37-22 halftime lead over #2 Eastview, but the Lightning roared back to take the lead at 49-46 on an Alex White three near the end of regulation. Blake Hoffarber hit a long three to force overtime. Eastview once again took the lead at 60-58 as Darren Kent stuffed a put-back through with just 2.5 seconds left. Hopkins now was the full length of the court away from a chance to win or tie. Hopkins threw a three-quarter court pass that Hoffarber caught on the left wing only as he was falling down. He threw up a two-pointer while sitting on the three point line. Miraculously, the shot fell through the hoop as time expired. After that, of course, Hopkins was not going to lose. Andrew Henke scored seven points in the second overtime to make the final 71-60. Hoffarber finished with 25 for the game and 53 for the tournament. 

Hoffarber’s shot was shown endlessly on national television and on social media until most Americans had seen it. He was even asked to recreate the shot on one of the national morning TV talk shows—and, he made that one, too!

Year	Athlete of the Year	Team of the Year	Coach of the Year	Event of the Year
2005	1 (tie). Natalie Darwitz and Krissy Wendell, Minnesota Gopher women’s hockey 2. LeVesseur, Augsburg wrestling (national individual champion) 3. Kristina Koznick, Alpine skiing	1. Minnesota Gopher women’s hockey (25-1-2, WCHA and NCAA champions) 2. Minnesota Gopher women’s basketball (26-8) 3 (tie). Augsburg wrestling (14-1) St. Thomas softball (both NCAA Division 3 champions)	1. Halldorson 2. Kenny Novak, Jr., Hopkins boys basketball (state champion) 3. Swenson	1. Hopkins beat Eastview 71-60 in 2 OT in the boys Class AA basketball final as Blake Hoffarber made the “butt shot.” 2. Baylor beat the Minnesota Gophers 64-57 in the NCAA women’s basketball Elite 8. 3. Gopher women’s hockey beat Wisconsin 3-2 in OT for the WCHA playoff title.