For the first time there is no team above a 0. This is the way I envisioned the survey to go: Some teams better than others, but no team worthy enough to rise out of the morass that is Minnesota Sports Mediocrity.
#-1: Wrestling (Last Week: -5). Only team in the survey to go undefeated this week ... but their two wins were against unranked Arizona and Michigan States. So what, I say -- the go on the road this weekend, including against Ohio State, a team that whipsawed them earlier this month.
#-2: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -2). A fast-forming rule as I write these surveys is that if a team has the week off, they stay in exactly the same place as they did the week before. Good to see that Coach Lucia is getting better and that the mystery illness is some type of viral infection, not a toomah. Home-and-home with MSU-Mankato this weekend.
#-3: Wild (Last Week: -6). They rise mostly because they hardly played All-Star Week. Awesome ass-kicking of Toronto to start the second half. Thought of downgrading the Wild after Niklas Backstrom got lit up for four goals in the second period of the ASG, but they don't play defense in the ASG so every goalie gets lit up. But he didn't get lit up Tuesday; he stopped 27 Maple Leafs shots. They traded for C/LW Dan Fritsche today. Who's Dan Fritsche? Play three this week, two on the road.
#-4: Timberwolves (Last Week: -4). Well, they proved themselves incapable against a sliding Detroit team at home and the bandwagon filling up. Still, they ripped off three wins including one on the road against Milwaukee and a good home win versus Chris Paul and the Bastard Charlotte Hornets. Kevin Love isn't the undersized stiff I feared he'd be. Simplifying the playbook has really turned Randy Foye's career around. And Al Jefferson ... well, he may have a more pronounced forehead than K.G., but this guy's gettin' real good. Maybe McHale does know a thing or two about b-ball. But it doesn't get any easier this week: vs. the Bastard Lakers at home Friday, at Boston Sunday, at Indiana Tuesday, then fly back home to host Atlanta Wednesday. How good is this team?
#-5: Gopher women's baseketball (Last Week: -1). The separation is here: None of these four teams inspired confidence last week. The Lady Gophs are the best of the four because their loss was at Purdue, although that win at home against Northwestern on Sunday should not have been that close. The opportunity to move up is easy because they have a light week: home against Michigan State Groundhog Night.
#-6: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -3). On the other hand, the male counterparts lost at home to Purdue and won a close one at rebuilding Indiana. For an up-and-coming program, neither losing at home or gnashing your teeth against the team that should be last in the conference is acceptable. A very intriguing matchup against Illinois at the Barn tonight will tell us what kind of team the Gophers can be. I'm already writing off at Michigan State Wednesday as a loss, but in this conference, this season, who knows?
#-7: Swarm (Last Week: 0). That the Swarm were able to come back against the World Champion Buffalo Bandits in the second and third periods doesn't take away the bitter taste in my mouth from their 4-0 deficit at the end of the first. They are now 1-10 against them all-time, a startling 0-5 at the X. And they'll stay down here for another week, for they next play a back-to-back in two weeks.
#-8: Gopher women's hockey (Last Week: Positive Numbers). Oh, how the mighty have fallen! I was at their loss on Friday to UMD ... the loss that snapped their 16-game winning streak. That second period, when the Lady Bulldogs scored all their goals, was the neck-breaker: The defense got stupid, Goalie Alyssa Grogan became quite sieve-like, and opposing Goalie Johanna Ellison played very well after UMD's Laura Fridfinnson scored the winning goal shorthanded. The Lady Gophs didn't do much better Saturday, needing a shootout to win. And all the doubts come back to me. ... They play two at Minnesota State this weekend.
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