Was 1995-2005 one of the best periods for Minnesota sports?

[IceBoxGopher]

Minnesota sports have had periods of success. the Vikings of the 70s, the Lynx in the last decade, the Twins winning championships in the 80s and early 90s, and the Stars playing for the Stanley Cup twice.

Looking back, though, I think when taking in college and professional results, 1995-2005 may have had the most amount of success at a single period of time.

Here's teams did in the big four sports for both college and professional:

• Minnesota Vikings - Reached playoffs six times, won two division titles and made it to the NFC Championship Game twice.
• Minnesota Wild - Franchise established and reached Western Conference Finals once
• Minnesota Timberwolves - Reached the playoffs eight times, won a division championship and made it to the Western Conference Finals Once
• Minnesota Twins - Won three division titles/playoff berths and reached the ALCS once
• Minnesota Golden Gopher Football - Went to six bowl games, winning three, and had two ranked finishes. Had a 10 win season once and beat No. 2 Penn State in another
• Minnesota Golden Gopher Basketball - Reached NCAA tournament four times, making the Final Four once. Won a Big Ten Championship. Earned five NIT trips, winning one.*
• Minnesota Golden Gopher Hockey - Won two national championships, one regular season conference title, three conference tournament titles. Went to eight NCAA tournaments, making the Frozen Four four times
• Minnesota Golden Gopher Baseball - Won four regular season Big Ten titles, three conference tournament championships and went to the NCAA tournament six times.

Plus, other Gopher sports had plenty of success during that time, too.

• Minnesota Golden Gopher Women's Basketball went to the NCAA tournament four times, making the Sweet 16 three times and the Final Four once.
• Minnesota Golden Gopher Women's Hockey won three national championships, four regular season conference titles, three conference tournament titles and went to the national tournament six times.
• Minnesota Golden Gopher Volleyball won a conference regular season title, went to the NCAA tournament nine times, went to the Final Four twice and was national runner-up once.
• Minnesota Golden Gopher Wrestling won four conference titles and two national championships.
• Minnesota Golden Gopher golf team won the national championship in 2002 and two Big Ten titles.
• Minnesota Golden Gopher Women's Soccer won two Big Ten titles
• Minnesota Dance Team won three national titles.
• Minnesota Golden Gopher Men's Swimming won six Big Ten titles, Gopher Women's Swimming won two conference titles.
• Minnesota Golden Gopher Men's Track won three indoor conference titles and one outdoor.

Now of course the big asterisk is the basketball situation, but if we're just looking at results, wins and losses, this was a pretty good string of years.

 

[coolhandgopher]

I don't know, I think it'd be pretty difficult to surpass the 10 year period that was 1981-1991 for the overall landscape of Minnesota sports. I'll admit to some bias, as that period took me from childhood to college, so it was when I consumed sports most uncritically, but I still think it stands up as the "golden years" for overall MN sports landscape:

Twins: '87 and '91 world champs. Wildly entertaining, free swinging teams with Puckett, Hrbek, and Gagne bridging both championship teams. Gave the sport arguably its best World Series ever with the Braves in '91.

Vikings: started the 10 year period slow, but the Jerry Burns years were very fun-two minute Tommy, Wade Wilson, Millard and Randle on the DL, Anthony Carter, Steve Jordan catching passes and if not for a dropped pass by Darin Nelson, they would have returned to the Super Bowl in '87. Plus, this epic rant by Jerry Burns.

North Stars: Two Stanley Cup finals, in '81 and '91, with several other playoff appearances over that decade. I follow hockey the least of the four sports, but I loved the North Stars when I was a kid-Cicarrelli, Bobby Smith, Steve Payne, Craig Hartsburg, Neil Broten, Gilles Meloche are names that bounce around my head without much tangible memory, but it makes me smile. Plus, there was this record breaking fight with the Bruins.

Timberwolves: They debuted in 1989 and although those early rosters were populated by the likes of forgettable pros Tony Campbell, Doug West, Randy Breuer, Troy Murphy, Felton Spencer, Luc Longley, etc, etc. etc., we were just excited to have a NBA team.

Gophers basketball: 1982 Big Ten champs, and coming out of the ashes of the Mitch Lee debacle, that wonderful core of Willie Burton, Melvin Newburn, Richard Coffey, Shik, Kevin Lynch, and Walter Bond that took them to the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight in back to back years ('89 & 90)

Gophers football: Admittedly some really lean years, with a brief burst of hope with Lou Holtz's arrival. But we'll always have Darrel Thompson's 98 yard run vs. Michigan. And Jay Carroll's three touchdowns against Ohio St.

Gophers hockey: No national championships, but six trips to the Frozen Four, and repeatedly at the top or near the top of the WCHA.

Gophers baseball: Every season over .500, 5x Big Ten West champs, 3x Big Ten tourney champs, 5 trips to NCAA tournament

Bonus territory. . .
in the early '80s, re: hockey, still riding that wave of the 1980 USA team that was comprised of so many MN kids

MLB All Star game hosted in 1985

David Wheaton's peak as a tennis pro was 1991, when he reached #12 in the men's rankings. He reached the semifinals of Wimbledon, where he was beaten by Boris Becker (along the way he defeated Ivan Lendl and Andre Agassi, among others)

 

[Go4Broke]

For a year, 'The Sports Capital of the United States'​

During a 12-month period that began with the Minnesota North Stars playing in the Stanley Cup Final in May 1991, the Twin Cities was, in the words of New York Times columnist George Vecsey, “the sports capital of the United States.”

In one incredible, whirlwind 11-month period, Minnesota was host to the NHL Final, the U.S. Open golf tournament, the World Series, the Super Bowl and the NCAA Final Four.

https://www.startribune.com/1991-92-sports-capital-of-the-usa/237517291/