Sports enterprise reporter | General assignment

Joe Christensen, a Star Tribune sports team leader, graduated from the University of Minnesota and spent 15 years covering Major League Baseball, including stops at the Riverside Press-Enterprise and Baltimore Sun. He joined the Star Tribune in 2005 and spent four years covering Gophers football.

The National Sports Media Association named Christensen as the 2003 Maryland Sportswriter of the Year and 2014 Minnesota Sportswriter of the Year.


Darwitz, Wendell-Pohl named to Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto

Minnesota hockey icons Natalie Darwitz and Krissy Wendell-Pohl are part of a seven member Hall of Fame Class that will be honored in Toronto on Nov. 11.


St. Thomas men's hockey will switch conferences in two years

The Tommies will join two other Minnesota colleges and UND in the NCHC in 2026, a year that will mark another milestone in the transition from D-III to D-I sports.


PWHL Minnesota, with brutal streak over, looks to even series vs. Toronto

On Wednesday night, Minnesota meets Toronto at Xcel Energy Center in Game 4 of their PWHL playoff series.


Gophers shortstop Oakland named Big Ten softball player of the year

Jess Oakland, the Gophers' sophomore leader at shortstop, ranks among the nation's leaders in batting average (.455), home runs (19) and on-base percentage (.553).


Gophers football punts spring game, adds new open practice idea

The Gophers football team won't have a spring game but will have one practice open exclusively to Dinkytown Athletes members


Gophers QB recruit wins his state's Gatorade player of the year honor

Drake Lindsey of Fayetteville, Ark., has graduated early and will enroll this month at the university, making him eligible for spring practice.


Former Hopkins star Nnaji leaves basketball to pursue medical degree

Maya Nnaji, an Arizona sophomore basketball player from Hopkins, said she needs to focus on her primary goal: becoming a physician.


Michigan State scores late to tie Gophers men's hockey

The Spartans' Tiernan Shoudy deflected a waist-high shot from the point past Gophers goalie Justen Close with under four minutes remaining in regulation.


Michigan State scores late to tie Gophers men's hockey


Gophers reward Motzko with bigger deal than Wisconsin gave Hastings

The Gophers signed men's hockey coach Bob Motzko to a two-year contract extension, and moved his yearly compensation ahead of Mike Hastings' at Wisconsin.