Minnesota Sports Briefs: Lynx snap losing streak

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TULSA, OK. -- Minnesota's Candice Wiggins scored 25 points off the bench o help the WNBA Lynx take sole possession of the WNBA's best record with a 107-86 rout of the Tulsa Shock yesterday afternoon.

Wiggins hit six of her nine three-point attempts, as Minnesota improved to 14-4 this season, a half-game better than the Connecticut Sun. Maya Moore contributed 24 points, while Seimone Augustus had 17 in the victory. The Lynx shot 69.5 percent from the field and 68.8 percent from three-point range. The field goal shooting percentage was the highest ever recorded for a WNBA game. The two teams wrap up the home-and-home series tomorrow afternoon in Minneapolis.

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The NBA will hold the first-ever NBA Canada Series this October in the preseason portion of the schedule and the Timberwolves will be a part of it. Minnesota will take on Detroit in Winnipeg on October 24th, while the Knicks and Raptors play in Montreal on October 19th. This will be the first time games are being held in Canada as part of the league's international preseason schedule. In the past, the league has played games in China, Europe and Mexico. The Wolves date gives Minnesota three exhibition games to start their season, with a home game against the Bulls on October 13th, and a game against a team from Isreal at the Target Center on October 16th.

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The Minnesota Timberwolves summer league team will begin play next week in Las Vegas. A total of 24 NBA teams will send players to the annual summer league, which takes place from July 13-22. The Wolves will play the Clippers on July 16th, take on the Bobcats on July 17th, the Cavaliers on July 19th, an NBA-D League team on July 21st, and Memphis on July 22nd.

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A high-profile Houston attorney is claiming Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson was "the victim" during his recent arrest. Rusty Hardin, who recently represented Roger Clemens, says he believes Peterson did not resist arrest last Saturday morning in Houston. Peterson was detained and charged with resisting arrest after an early-morning incident involving an off-duty law enforcement officer. Peterson is due in court on Friday.

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Some of the top prospects in the Minnesota Wild organization opened a six-day development camp yesterday in the Twin Cities. The camp will showcase several players they think can be future stars, including Mikael Granlund, Jason Zucker and Charlie Coyle. There will be two scrimmages that are free and open to the public at the Xcel Energy Center. The first scrimmage will be Thursday at 7 p.m., with the second exhibition happening on Sunday at 11 a.m. Houston Aeros head coach John Torchetti is leading the camp, which runs through Sunday. Houston is the AHL affiliate of the Wild. Today's workouts are being held at the St. Thomas Ice Arena, but are closed to the public. Recently-signed free agents Zach Parise and Ryan Suter will not be part of the prospects camp.

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The St. Louis Blues have signed forward Jamie Langenbrunner to a one-year contract. The 36-year-old Cloquet native had six goals and 18 assists in 70 games with the Blues last season In over one-thousand career NHL games with Dallas, New Jersey and St. Louis, Langenbrunner has 243 goals, 419 assists and 837 penalty minutes. A two-time Stanley Cup Champion, Langenbrunner has registered 34 goals and 53 assists in 146 playoff games.

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The University of Minnesota men's hockey team will play rival Wisconsin in an outdoor hockey game at Chicago's Soldier Field on February 17th. The Golden Gopher and Badgers will play a league game in Madison on February 15th, before taking a bus to Chicago for the outdoor game two days later. The game will be part of a showcase event also featuring a game between Notre Dame and Miami of Ohio. Minnesota forward Zach Budish of Edina will appear at the news conference in Chicago today to promote the event. The February festivities are being dubbed the "Hockey City Classic."

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For the first time, the number of female athletes outnumber the men on the U.S. Olympic team heading to London later this month for the 2012 Summer Games. The U.S. will be sending 530 athletes to the London games. The squad will have 269 women and 261 men who will be competing in 25 of the 38 competitions. The games run from July 27th to August 12th. More than half of the U.S. team will be competing at their first Olympics. The oldest U.S. competitor is 54-year old equestrian rider Karen O'Connor and the youngest is 15-year old swimmer Katie Ledecky.

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The United States Army has announced it will not return to NASCAR next season as a sponsor. The Army currently sponsors Ryan Newman's No. 39 car in the Sprint Cup Series. Minnesota Congresswoman Betty McCollum (DFL-St. Paul) has been trying to end military sports sponsorship programs and praised the announcement. McCollum added that she would be meeting with officials from the National Guard to discuss their current sponsorship of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s No. 88 car.

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Defending Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart was docked six points by NASCAR on Tuesday for rules violations that occurred this weekend at Daytona. Stewart's number-14 Chevrolet was issued a penalty for an unapproved open vent hose that was found during post-qualifying inspection. Stewart's crew chief, Steve Addington, was fined $25-thousand and placed on probation until August 22nd. Stewart won last Saturday night's 400-mile Sprint Cup race at Daytona after starting 42nd.

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