The Gophers women's hockey team captured attention with its 49-game winning streak (ongoing) and perfect season. Meanwhile, the Miami Heat is capturing attention with its 27-game run, which is threatening the Lakers' record of 33 consecutive victories. All we can say about that is this: The Heat is lucky to not have to play the Wolves in the next six games.
Say what? Here, we'll explain. Here are four long streaks in sports history that have ended at the hands of Minnesota teams:
• The Oakland A's hold the American League record with a 20-game winning streak in 2002. It came to a halt Sept. 6 when Brad Radke threw a six-hit shutout at the Metrodome in a 6-0 Twins victory. Still, this streak earned plenty of attention in the movie "Moneyball," which paid far less attention to the Twins' five-game ALCS victory over Oakland that same season.
• The Philadelphia Flyers have the NHL record for longest unbeaten streak at 35 games, coming in the 1979-80 season. In the final game of a six-game road trip for the Flyers, the North Stars ended that streak in style with a 7-1 victory. One caveat: The streak did include 10 ties. For those of you who hate the new NHL scoring system, that is an awful lot of ties.
• In Division III football action, Mount Union holds the NCAA record with a 55-game winning streak. It ended against St. John's in the 2003 national title game, with the Johnnies winning 24-6.
• The Packers have the NFL record for the longest home winning streak, going 25 games without a loss. That, of course, was ended by the Vikings in 1998 in one of the greatest games this generation of fans ever has witnessed. Seriously, that 37-24 victory — which was 37-10 in the fourth quarter before the Vikings took their foot off the gas — was just glorious.
MICHAEL RAND
