2014

Ebola. The Sochi Olympics. Taylor Swift. But, enough with the disasters already.

The Minnesota Gopher hockey team, the Gopher women’s hockey team and the Minnesota Lynx all finished second in their respective playoffs. For the men’s hockey team, second was better than expected, as they beat arch-rival North Dakota 2-1 in the national semi-finals before losing to Union 7-4 in the final. 

• For women’s hockey, second was a letdown. Five team members were absent with the U.S. Olympic team, and yet the women hadn’t lost. After beating Wisconsin 5-3 in the semi, a third straight title and sixth overall seemed almost assured. But, Clarkson gave the Gophers their first and only loss of the year, 5-4 in the final. Hannah Brandt was still on board and earned all-America honors. This one loss prevented the Gophers from winning five straight titles from 2012 to 2016. 

• The Lynx won just one less game than in 2013 at 25-9, but Phoenix was 29-5 and proved to be too tough on their home court, winning games one and three by double digits and the series two games to one. Maya Moore was the WNBA MVP, scoring 24 ppg. 

• The Gopher football team went 8-5 again and went to a third straight bowl game under coach Jerry Kill, who revived the hopes of Gopher fans before health problems forced his retirement. The Gopher softball team won the Big 10 title under coach Jessica Allister. 

• In the high school ranks, Eden Prairie won its fourth straight Class 5A football title and its eleventh overall, as coach Mike Grant was national coach of the year. Lakeville North surprised Hopkins in the Class AA boys basketball final as J.P. Macura scored 43 points. The Apple Valley boys and Mr. Basketball Tyus Jones were favored to repeat as state champs but fell to Cretin in the section. Eastview won the girls Class AA title behind coach Melissa Guebert and star guard Madi Guebert. Samantha Seliger-Swenson, a setter from Hopkins, was Ms. Volleyball. 

• The Minnesota Wild were 43-27-12 in the regular season and beat the Colorado Avalanche, winning game seven in Denver 5-4 in OT on Nino Niederreiter’s second goal of the night. But, they lost to Chicago four games to two in the second round. Josh Harding was 18-7-3, 1.65, but could not play in the playoffs.

#25 Dynasty Eden Prairie Football Apple Valley is the wrestling school, Edina is the hockey school. But, if it’s football you want, Eden Prairie is your school. The Eagles have won twelve state football titles, all under coach Mike Grant. Grant is the son of former Vikings coach Bud Grant, and he played his college ball at St. John’s under John Gagliardi. He was a tight end for the Johnnies’ 1977 national champions. How could he not succeed? He won his first and second titles in 1996 and 1997, beating Blaine 23-22 and 32-28 in back-to-back nailbiters for a combined record of 27-0. Linebacker Travis Neel, with 128 tackles, and defensive back Ryan Iverson, with eight interceptions, led the way in ’96. Iverson returned to win the Minnesota Mr. Football award in 1997. The 2006 championships were rated #11 nationally by MaxPreps after beating Lakeville South 21-4 in the state final. They met Cretin-Derham Hall in the state final three times—beating the Raiders 24-14 in 2000 and 50-21 in 2007, but losing 16-5 in 2009.  From 2011 to 2014, they won four straight state titles, beating Wayzata 13-3, Lakeville North 28-7, Rosemount 28-7 and Totino Grace 28-27. The 2012 team recovered from a 16-0 loss to Wayzata to repeat as champion. Then in 2014, they roared back from a 21-7 halftime deficit as Will Rains ran 57 yards for a touchdown on fourth-and-three to make it 21-14, then QB Grantham Gillard threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Blake Cashman on fourth-and-six to tie the game. Then, trailing 27-21, Rains ran 75 yards around the left end with 2:46 left iin the game. Eden Prairie finished 14-0, and Grant was named national coach of the year.  He won his twelfth state title in 2017, beating Minnetonka 38-17. He won his 300th game at Eden Prairie in 2019, bringing his grand total to 351 wins, fourth best all-time in Minnesota.

#41 (tied) Coach Jerry Kill It’s no secret that Minnesota Gopher football has struggled since its last Big 10 championship season in 1967. It’s hard to believe that in 1967 the Gophers were second in Big 10 football titles with 18. Michigan had 21, Illinois and Ohio State 12. Nobody else was in double figures. The Gophers trailed Michigan in the Little Brown Jug rivalry just 34-21-3. Ohio State led the Gophers 7-5. Since then, Michigan leads the Gophers 41-4, Ohio State 39-2. Through the end of the 20th century, Michigan and Ohio State won 34 Big 10 titles between them; Iowa, Michigan State and Wisconsin three; Illinois and Northwestern two; Penn State one. The Gophers (and Purdue) did not win a single championship. Joel Maturi hired Jerry Kill in 2011 from Northern Illinois. The Huskies were 2-10 the year before Kill took over. They were 10-3 three years later. So it would be at Minnesota. The Gophers were 3-9 the year before he arrived. In 2014, they were 8-5 and went to their third straight bowl games.  The Gophers had started 4-1 in 2013 when Kill announced he was taking a leave of absence for treatment of epilepsy. The Gophers went on to win four straight Big 10 games for the first time since 1973. In 2014, the Gophers started 5-1, and Kill was named Big 10 coach of the year. The Gophers started 4-3 in 2015 when Kill announced his retirement due to his worsening health. The two coaches before Kill had gone 17-33. The two coaches after Kill would go 34-23. Much of the credit for this improvement was because of coach Jerry Kill and the progress made during his all-too-brief tenure as Gopher football coach.

Year	Athlete of the Year	Team of the Year	Coach of the Year	Event of the Year
2014	1. Moore 2. Jones 3. Samantha Seliger-Swenson, Hopkins volleyball	1. Minnesota Gopher women’s hockey      (26-1-1, WCHA champion) 2. Minnesota Lynx   (28-11 including playoffs) 3. Eden Prairie football (state champion)	1. Kill 2. Mike Grant, Eden Prairie football 3 (tie). Melissa Guebert, Eastview girls basketball John Oxton, Lakeville North basketball (both state champions)	1. Lakeville North beat Hopkins 84-82 to win the boys state  basketball title. 2 (tie). Clarkson and Union beat the Minnesota Gophers in the women’s and men’s NCAA hockey finals, respectively. 3. The Minnesota Wild beat Colorado 5-4 in OT in game 7 of their NHL playoff series.