Minnesota Sports Briefs: New U athletic director is VCU's Teague

• University of Minnesota

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MINNEAPOLIS - New University of Minnesota athletic director Norwood Teague says he has the ability to raise funds and make friends in order to propel the Golden Gopher programs to a higher level.

Teague, who will take over for the outgoing Joel Maturi sometime early this summer, says any successful athletic director will have to be a good fundraiser. When Teague arrives in the Twin Cities on a permanent basis, he will be coming from Virginia Commonwealth University , where he has been the AD for the past six years. Teague was introduced yesterday in a press conference on campus.

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The University of Minnesota men's hockey team released it schedule for the 2012-13 season. Minnesota will open play against Michigan State at Mariucci Arena on October 11th or 12th. A full slate of games against WCHA opponents will take on extra special meaning next season, which will be the final season of play in the WCHA by the Gophers who are the defending league champion.

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The women's hockey coach at Minnesota State-Mankato has been suspended by the WCHA for the first four games of next year. The league says Eric Means was given the penalty for actions during a game in February when his team played Minnesota-Duluth. Means served a one-game voluntary suspension at the end of last season for the incident, as well.

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A blizzard is on its way out of Minnesota into a neighboring state. The North American Hockey League has approved moving the Alexandria Blizzard to Brookings, South Dakota. The Brookings Blizzard will begin play in the 2012-2013 season -- while the fate of an Alexandria team remaining in the league is still uncertain.

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The MIAC has named its weekly award winners in baseball and softball. The MIAC Baseball Co-Players of the Week are Concordia-Moorhead sophomore Braden Rahman of Moorhead and Carleton sophomore Jeff Dsida of Winnetka , Illinois . The league's baseball Pitcher of the Week is Concordia-Moorhead senior lefty Zach Frappier of Fargo . Saint Mary's junior Erin Stenseth of Eau Claire , Wisconsin is the MIAC Softball Player of the Week, while St. Thomas freshman Kendra Bowe is the conference's softball Pitcher of the Week.

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The Minnesota Timberwolves had a day off yesterday and will get back to the practice floor later today. Minnesota lost to Golden State 93-88 on Sunday night, blowing a 21-point lead and getting called out by point guard J.J. Barea after the contest. The Wolves close out the season with a Thursday home game against Denver at 7 p.m.

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Timberwolves star Kevin Love has been cleared to play in Thursday's season-closing game against Denver , but the team will not play him as a precaution. Love continues to recover from a concussion suffered in an April 11th game. The team doesn't believe it is worth it to risk injury in a game that is meaningless to end the season on Thursday. This is the second consecutive season in which Love will miss the last few remaining games because of injury.

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