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The state of North Dakota was well represented in this year's NCAA women's basketball tournament. Wahpeton's Tylee Irwin was a starter on South Dakota State's Sweet 16 team. Minot's Hannah Stewart starts as well for her Iowa Hawkeyes, who have gone one round further and will attempt to make history Monday with a berth at the Women's Final Four. Stewart won Miss Basketball in 2015, she was a three-time state champion at Bishop Ryan. Stewart is averaging 11 points per game, including a 16 point performance in the regional semifinal win over North Carolina State.

Cody Haiskanen would like nothing more than to be smashing a Northeastern forward into the boards this weekend in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The former Fargo Davies and Fargo Force standout defenseman was enjoying a solid sophomore season with his Cornell Big Red up until February 8th. That night, Haiskanen and Clarkson's Chris Klack were chasing after a loose puck deep in the Cornell end. Haiskanen won the race to the puck for an icing call, but in the process he and Klack collided awkwardly into the boards. Haiskanen went down and Klack's skate blade lacerated Haiskanen's right arm. Haiskanen knew right away something was wrong and immediately skated off the ice, leaving a trail of blood behind him. The doctors told him his injury was a millimeter away from Haiskanen permanently losing his ability to use his right hand. Haiskanen now is in the middle of the rehab process, his doctor told him he will make a full recovery and should be able to resume hockey activities in a couple months. He was enjoying a breakout season with the Big Red, scoring one goal, five assists and had a plus four rating in twenty games. Haiskanen will be watching this weekend as Cornell faces Northeastern in its NCAA Tournament opener with the hope that his team can advance to its first Frozen Four since the last time the city of Buffalo hosted in 2013.

The South Dakota State women's basketball team made history last week when the Jackrabbits appeared in the Sweet 16 facing Oregon. Wahpeton native Tylee Irwin has started 33 out of a possible 34 games this season for the Jacks, averaging 7 points a game. The Irwin name is a familiar one in Wahpeton, her dad Craig was the longtime men's basketball coach at North Dakota State College of Science. South Dakota State is the first Summit League team men's or women's to reach the Sweet 16. This is the ninth time in the last eleven tournaments that the Jacks have qualified for the NCAA's. Irwin stops by the Den to discuss the growing Jackrabbit following in Wahpeton and a second shot at playing Oregon.

The NCAA women's tournament tips off Friday and the upper Midwest will be well represented in the tournament. Minot's Hannah Stewart leads her Iowa Hawkeyes as a two seed, they'll face Mercer in the opening round Friday. Win-E-Mac's Madison McKeever is a starter on South Dakota's 28 win team that received an at-large bid to the tournament, the Coyotes face Mississippi in the first round Friday. Wahpeton's Tylee Irwin has had a big impact on South Dakota State's team that earned a six seed and will face Quinnipiac on Saturday morning. I visited with Irwin about her season and returning to the NCAA Tournament after a tough first round loss last season. I also had a chance to visit with former NDSU guard Sarah Jacobson about her decision to transfer to MSU Moorhead to finish her college career. Stewart, Jacobson and Irwin were the 2015, 2016 and 2017 Miss Basketball winners in the state of North Dakota. As always you can listen to past podcasts on Apple Itunes or on Google Play.

There's no offseason this year for Easton Stick. The former North Dakota State quarterback, who led the Bison to a record seventh Football Championship Subdivision title in early January, left Frisco, Texas and traveled to Irvine, California for the next step in his life. Irvine is the home of Rep 1 Sports, the sports agency that's representing him as Stick attempts to make into the NFL. Stick played in the East-West Shrine Game in mid-January, throwing a touchdown pass in the game. Stick has been training for the next item on his NFL to-do-list, the NFL Combine in Indianapolis later this month. Stick will head to Indianapolis and throw for the NFL scouts on Saturday, March 2nd. In today's episode, Stick describes how he found out about NDSU's invitation to the White House, along with when he found out about the Combine invite, and what he hopes to run in the 40-yard dash.

The coldest temperatures in decades in the Red River Valley has fans thinking of spring and with thoughts of spring, that means the baseball season can't be far off. The Minnesota Twins annual Winter Caravan just completed its tour of the Upper Midwest making stops all thru Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota to get fans excited for the new baseball season. There is plenty to chat about with the Twins, starting with the hiring of a new manager, Rocco Baldelli, who takes over for Paul Molitor. Joe Mauer is no longer on the roster, having retired after last season wrapped up. Minnesota has made some moves this offseason, signing sluggers CJ Cron, Jonathan Schoop and most notably, Nelson Cruz. There are lingering questions about the health of former top prospects Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano. Twins President Dave St. Peter joins the Den to discuss those issues along with Target Field hosting the season opener for the North Dakota State football team next August. I also asked him about the possibility about UND playing a game at Target Field.

Dizzo's Den returns after the NDSU football season with our weekly series interviewing the big local sports newsmakers in the area. Our first guest of the winter season is former Fosston and Minnesota Golden Gopher standout Kelly Roysland. Roysland is now an assistant coach at her alma mater on Lindsay Whalen's staff. This podcast visits on Roysland returning to the Gophers, her time in the MIAC as head coach at Macalester and her time spent at North Dakota State.

The podcast is back after a couple weeks of hiatus with a football theme. First up is Perham native and Minnesota Golden Gopher Payton Jordahl to discuss his upcoming senior season in Minneapolis. Jordahl is about to begin his fourth year as the long snapper for Minnesota. We discuss why he choose Minnesota, his upbringing in Perham and the three coaching changes he's had there. Also what PJ Fleck is really like behind the scenes. The second part of this episode I'm joined by Parkers Prairie senior Travis Yohnke, who just committed to play football at North Dakota State. We discuss why NDSU was the fit for him, his success in other sports and what he hopes to bring to Fargo. As always, I welcome your feedback and appreciate you listening!

Episode 3 of Dizzo's Den leads off with former North Dakota all-state volleyball player Emily Stroup, a junior to be on the Ole Miss Volleyball team. Stroup discusses adjusting to life in Mississippi, playing against some of the top competition in the country and what her favorite places were to play in the EDC. The second half of the show features Minneapolis Star Tribune sports writer Ben Goessling, who covers the Minnesota Vikings. Goessling describes the Vikings beginning organized team activities, how Kirk Cousins is adjusting to his new team, especially his receivers. Goessling also discusses his time at ESPN and how that helped when he went back into the newspaper world.

The second episode of Dizzo's Den has University of North Dakota women's basketball standout Lexi Klabo stop by to discuss her high school career at Fargo Davies and her potential pro prospects. Later in the episode Seth Stohs of TwinsDaily.com visits to discuss the 2018 Minnesota Twins, the top prospects in the pipeline, the launching of a blog career and Concordia Cobber baseball memories.

Dizzo's Den returns in a podcast form. WDAY 6 Sports Director Dom Izzo re-envisions his former radio show with guests from the sporting world in the Red River Valley and Twin Cities. The first episode features former NDSU linebacker and current LA Charger Kyle Emanuel, while later in the show KSTP-TV sports producer Darren Wolfson joins to describe covering sports in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Emanuel visits about his playing status with the Chargers beyond this year, not being Carson Wentz and if Nebraska can ever regain its football glory. Wolfson has plenty to share about the Timberwolves plans after making the playoffs and if the Super Bowl will ever come back to the Twin Cities. Enjoy and let me know what you think!