By: Nicolas Hallett

When Skott Johnson leaves Dinkytown after nearly 40 years, he’ll take one box with him.

Inside, he said, are keepsakes from the source of Dinkytown’s charm — its people.

Johnson, a University of Minnesota alumnus, owns Autographics, a printing shop at the corner of Fourth Street Southeast and 13th Avenue Southeast. He’s been the Dinkytown Business Association president for nearly two decades. Johnson, 59, is leaving at the end of December to return to his hometown of Austin, Minn.

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By: Melissa Berman

The sound of saws and drills echoed, and the smell of wet paint filled the air as Alpha Gamma Rho chapter President Kirby Schmidt walked through his fraternity’s house Friday.

Schmidt has checked in on construction every two weeks since July, when a major renovation to the home began.

The nearly $3.5 million project is set for completion early next month, and about 40 fraternity members will move into the new house near the University of Minnesota’s St. Paul campus just before spring semester begins.

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By: Betsy Helfand

At age 23, Sarah Erickson is barely out of college. But what she lacks in years, she makes up for in experience and strong work ethic.

Erickson became the head women’s hockey coach at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn., this summer and is very close in age to players on her roster.

The former Gophers women’s hockey player graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2012 after a successful four-year career that ended with a national title.

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By: Samuel Gordon

As usual, the BCS got it right.

Still, if there was a year where a playoff would be especially fitting, it’d be this one.

No. 1 Florida State against No. 2 Auburn is the right title game matchup, and both teams boast the best credentials of any of the viable contenders.

I’m expecting a competitive, entertaining game, but I’m also not so sure Alabama isn’t the best team in the country.

That’s pretty much the story of the last 15 years.

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By: Jace Frederick

Anders Broman scored more points than any high school basketball player in Minnesota state history, but it wasn’t enough to attract his home-state school.

Now Broman, a freshman guard for South Dakota State, will face the Gophers on their home court Tuesday.

He said he understood why he didn’t get attention from any Big Ten programs.

“I’m kind of undersized,” he said. “I’m not super athletic, so I don’t have those types of things going for me.”

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By: Allison Kronberg

University of Minnesota computer science senior Timothy O’Brien has converted large sums of money into Bitcoin, a controversial and volatile digital currency. He says he worries about the instability of his investments every day.

Technologically and financially skilled students are getting involved with new investments in the global marketplace, and some say they’ve been lucky so far.

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By: Betsy Helfand

Gophers head coach Brad Frost has been toying with his lines lately, trying to find the best combinations of forwards.

“We have this motto where ‘If it’s not broken, keep fixing it so it doesn’t break,’ so that was the whole deal with changing the lines up,” freshman forward Dani Cameranesi said.

A constant that hasn’t changed is the combination of Cameranesi and senior forward Kelly Terry.

The two played with freshman forward Kate Schipper earlier in the year and have been playing with senior forward Bethany Brausen lately.

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By: Betsy Helfand

Gophers head coach Brad Frost has been toying with his lines lately, trying to find the best combinations of forwards.

“We have this motto where ‘If it’s not broken, keep fixing it so it doesn’t break,’ so that was the whole deal with changing the lines up,” freshman forward Dani Cameranesi said.

A constant that hasn’t changed is the combination of Cameranesi and senior forward Kelly Terry.

The two played with freshman forward Kate Schipper earlier in the year and have been playing with senior forward Bethany Brausen lately.

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By: David Nelson

Kierra Smith had exactly three hours to kill before the NCAA finals began. With nothing to do, she contemplated smashing a hotel chair through the television set.

To say Smith was dissatisfied with her 42nd-place finish in the NCAA 100-yard breaststroke preliminaries would be an understatement.

“I think I was so focused on results and not on the process that that probably hurt me a lot last year,” she said.

Smith, now a sophomore, has come a long way since March 22.

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By: David Nelson

Kierra Smith had exactly three hours to kill before the NCAA finals began. With nothing to do, she contemplated smashing a hotel chair through the television set.

To say Smith was dissatisfied with her 42nd-place finish in the NCAA 100-yard breaststroke preliminaries would be an understatement.

“I think I was so focused on results and not on the process that that probably hurt me a lot last year,” she said.

Smith, now a sophomore, has come a long way since March 22.

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