Kill, staff recruited well in a short time

After listening to new Gophers football coach Jerry Kill talk about his first recruiting class at Minnesota, I got the impression he and his staff can't wait to recruit for 2012. They only had a few weeks to put the 2011 class together after Kill was hired in early December.

Had Kill and his staff been working with the usual amount of recruiting time, I'm sure they wouldn't have lost four outstanding players who didn't make their decisions until the last minute and would have made the 2011 class a better group.

Watching Kill and his staff operate, and the job they did in such a short time after joining the Gophers, you can bet they will bring some outstanding football players to Minnesota.

Kill and his staff did an excellent job by keeping eight of the 12 football players who had committed to former coach Tim Brewster. However, I'm not sure how many of those four they actually lost because it might be possible they didn't continue to offer scholarships to all of Brewster's recruits.

Yes, Kill and his staff are already on top of the players available in 2012, and I'm sure they will have some commitments from the best players in the state for that year in a short time.

Bouchard sparks Wild According to General Manager Chuck Fletcher, the reason the Wild is playing its best hockey of the season is that in addition to the great goaltending of Niklas Backstrom, Pierre-Marc Bouchard has overcome the concussion that sidelined him almost all of last season.

"The last game before the All-Star break in Chicago was probably his best game of the season," Fletcher said. "He had a goal and an assist there and played very well."

"We're starting to get a lot of contributions from Pierre, and I'm sure for him it's very gratifying after being off the ice for so long," Fletcher said. "He is 100 percent healthy -- and I'm knocking on wood as I say all these things -- but his conditioning is coming back, his timing is coming back and he has a smile on his face. It's great to see and he feels very good about himself right now."

Fletcher was asked what caused the turnaround for Backstrom after he struggled earlier in the season.

"Well ... Nik would be the best one to answer that, but certainly since I've been here, this is the best he's played."

Describing Backstrom's performance in the 1-0 shootout victory over Los Angeles on Tuesday, Fletcher said: "He was in a zone. It looked like he was completely in control of the crease and his positioning. He controlled all the rebounds, caught the pucks. It just felt like he was going to make all the saves he had to make and he did. The way Backstrom is playing right now, we have a chance to win every game."

The Wild is 13-6-1 in its past 20 games and it looks like the team could earn a playoff spot if it keeps playing like it has recently.

Former Gophers quarterback Adam Weber recently took part in the 2011 Eastham Energy College All-Star game in Tempe, Ariz. He completed 17 of 34 passes for 163 yards and one interception and rushed seven times for 24 yards and two touchdowns to attract the attention of the several NFL scouts who were on hand. ... Michael Floyd, the former Cretin-Derham Hall wide receiver, was recently honored as Notre Dame's Most Valuable Player.

Rivals.com named wide receiver Quentin Gardener of Guyer High School in Denton, Texas, a Gophers recruit, as one of their five sleepers for the 2011 recruiting class. They wrote: "This versatile athlete will be adding serious ball skills and a mental toughness that the Gophers will surely take advantage of."

Former Holy Angels standout Chase Polacek, a senior wing for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), has been named the ECAC men's hockey player of the week for the second consecutive week. Polacek had two goals and three assists in victories over Brown and Yale last weekend. Polacek leads the ECAC with 39 points (16 goals, 23 assists) through 26 games, including seven power-play and one shorthanded goal. Polacek also has recorded seven game-winning goals, including four in a row from Jan. 14-Jan. 28. ... Former Gophers defenseman David Fischer is the top scoring defenseman for the Florida Everblades of the ECHL, with three goals and 17 assists, and has a team-high plus/minus rating of +13 through 41 games. ... Former Gopher Ben Gordon leads Reading of the ECHL in scoring with 20 goals and 23 assists.

Trent Lockett, the former Hopkins basketball star, continues to have a standout sophomore season with Arizona State. His averages of 13.8 points and 5.5 rebounds per game are second highest on the team, and he also is averaging 2.6 assists.

Former Twins pitcher Frank Viola will be the pitching coach for the Brooklyn Cyclones, the Mets' Class A affiliate, in the New York-Penn League this season. ... Former Mounds View standout Mark Hamburger was traded from the Twins to Texas in an August 2008 deal that brought Eddie Guardado back to the Twins for a few weeks that season. Since then, Hamburger has developed into one of the best relief pitchers in the Rangers farm system.

The Florida Marlins invited former Chaska star Brad Hand to spring training. Hand, 20, is considered one of the Marlins' top pitching prospects after being selected in the second round of the 2008 draft.

In 2010 he split time between Class A Jupiter and Class AA Jacksonville, starting 27 games and going 9-8 with a 3.31 ERA. What was most impressive, though, was Hand's 138 strikeouts and only 54 walks (two intentional) in 146 2/3 innings pitched.