#0: Wild (Last Week: -7). Holy shit. A week after they went 0-3 -- which was right after ripping off four wins in a row -- they go and turn in yet another clean sheet, namely a 3-0 week. They rise above negative numbers because of three astounding factors: Two of the three wins were on the road; all three victories came against the three Canadian teams in the Northwest Division; and the Wild outscored Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary by a combined total of 14-1. Boom-and-bust teams rarely make for Stanley Cup champions, but I'm beginning to appreciate the wild ride this rollercoaster is taking me.
Individually, Brent Burns is still making solid inroads into becoming a factor in games. And Anton Khudobin has stepped in admirably as the third member of the goaltending corps as Niklas Backstrom and Jose Theodore recover from their injuries. Khudobin was one Oiler goal away from getting back-to-back shutouts, impressive for a second-year man. (By the way, I've heard the name "Khudobin" pronounced with a soft first syllable -- almost "hhhhhu." Thus, that makes me think of this when I hear "Khudobin" pronounced that way. Don't know why exactly.)
Fortunately for the Wild, this recent spurt has finally propelled them up the ranks in the Western Conference; as of this moment, they are tied with St. Louis in ninth place, one point behind both Colorado and defending Stanley Cup Champs Chicago for seventh (!). They have two games this week before the All-Star break, at San Jose and at Chicago. The squad won the last two games on the road; maybe this is a good sign?
#-1: Gopher women's hockey (Last Week: -2). A 2-0 week. First, they completed the sweep of UMD, a team that was ranked above them (until this week's poll, of course), by shutting them out at Ridder, 3-0. Then, even though it was on the road against inferior competition, and they were down versus Ohio St. in the third period, the Gophs scored three goals in less than four minutes to defeat the Buckeyes, 4-2. Pounding good teams at home, comebacks against bad teams on the road -- those are two signs of a confident contender. Now, they just have to win championships. They finish up their series against Ohio St. this (Saturday) afternoon, then start a series at top-ranked Wisconsin Friday evening.
#-2: Gopher wrestling (Last Week: -5). Tonight at the gym was the first time I ever saw extended parts of a college wrestling meet on TV. It was Wisconsin hosting Nebraska on the Big Ten Network. I am further interested now that I saw the Badgers win; I should go to a Gopher game. Anyway, the grapplers take a pair of away duals against teams ranked way below them, Iowa St. (my, have they fallen off ever since Cael Sanderson left to coach Penn St.) and Purdue. Interesting note off the mat: It was announced Wednesday that Head Coach J Robinson signed a multi-year contract with the U. Not an extension per se -- a contract. It's the first time ever in Robinson's career that he has signed a contract for more than a year, apparently. Weird. Well, if he wants that security, I think Athletic Director Joel Maturi has the right to not expect more embarrassing controversies like last year's real estate surprise. On Sunday, Minnesota once again visits a team ranked, but not as high as them: Illinois.
#-3: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -3). Easily dispatching Iowa at the Barn Sunday. Fran McCaffrey was probably better off staying at Siena instead of taking the easy money and joining the Big Ten, the conference several people say is the best this year. We'll see. At least it seems assured they're making the NCAA Tournament. This week: at Michigan tonight (Saturday night), vs. Northwestern Wednesday.
#-4: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -1). The Gophs couldn't complete the shock sweep at second-ranked North Dakota; the Fighting Sioux retained their #2 this week by taking out Minnesota 4-1 Saturday to split the only series these two bitter archrivals have this year. This week they start their series against Alaska-Anchorage at Mariucci. (Note: I thought there would be enough of a gap between the UND and UAA series to leave this program off of next week's WMNSS, but I saw that this week they had only one game at the beginning of the week, and next week they qualify because they'll play only one game at the end of the week. Two games, 13 days apart, and because they cover the first and last days of this particular two-week stretch, I have to rank them both weeks, and thus they don't get a week off. That's a note that, upon looking back after typing, is interesting only to me.)
#-5: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -8). Goddamn, what a pooch-screwing this was. I watched part of the team's game at home against Wisconsin Thursday. They got off to a fast start and led at halftime by 14. And then the Badgers sagged into the lane, the Gophs couldn't hit from outside for about eight minutes, and Wisky outscored the U. 41-19 in the second half to register the second-biggest comeback in program history, 71-63. To see the Badgers' point total creep up while not seeing the Gophers' number move at all was infuriating. I saw the and-one which gave Wisconsin the lead for good with 4:37 left in the game and I thought, "Fuck." And to think that I had a passing thought of going to this game. Good thing I didn't.
This team is now 0-6 in Big Ten play. This program made the Final Four in 2004, seven years ago. And unlike the men's Final Four, this one is sticking. And now they're dead last in the conference? What the fuck?! This week: at Michigan St., then home to Northwestern.
#-6: Timberwolves (Last Week: -6). I really, really wanted to give the ass slot in this week's survey to the Gopher lady hoopsters, but an 0-3 week pretty much guarantees the bottom of the dungheap. None of the opponents slouches, but the Woofie Dogs weren't competitive against either Orlando, Portland or the Clippers.
Britt Robson of SI.com (is this the same guy who used to write for City Pages?) recently handed out midseason grades for each team in the NBA. His C grade for, and the analysis of, the Timberwolves is informative; the Kevin Love-Michael Beasley-Darko Milicic frontcourt could be one of the ten best in the league, the backcourt (besides Luke Ridnour) blows, Jonny Flynn and Wesley Johnson are playing their way overseas, and they can't finish games worth shit.
Three games this week: home to Houston, home to the Bastard Seattle SuperSonics, at the Bastard New Orleans Jazz.
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