#-1: Gopher women's hockey (Re-Entry!). They rebounded from a blanking at the hands of North Dakota by sweeping Ohio St. at Ridder Arena last weekend, 4-1 and 3-1. (Ohio St. is not good in hockey either men's or women's. Just an observation.) Three goals in the first seven minutes of Saturday's series opener was a good omen for the sweep, apparently.
So they go into winter break with a 17-3-0 overall record, an 11-3-0 record in the WCHA, and the 2 ranking in the polls. When they come back to the ice after New Year's, they'll face the #1-ranked team in the polls, Wisconsin, at home.
#-2: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: 0). OK; although they have played every single game at the Barn, seeing this team play since Trevor Mbakwe was lost for good with an ACL has been impressive. They crushed MAC lackey Central Michigan by 20 to make it five wins in a row for the new-look squad.
Saying that, I am now itching to see if there has been any significant chemistry bonding since Mbakwe's injury. Tubby Smith will have to take his team on the road in the New Year for Big Ten play; we'll see if his team has enough heart to overcome the talent gap that grew wider with Mbakwe gone. They have one final non-conference tune-up before resting the rest of 2011: home to North Dakota St. on Thursday.
#-3: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -3). They got revenge for their upset loss the previous night to lowly Michigan Tech by beating them in the series-ender Saturday 6-2. But it was tied at 2 heading into the third period.
Frantic rallying against a supposedly overmatched opponent aside, they go into the break 11-3-0 in WCHA play and 14-5-1 overall. Like their no-penis counterparts, they too are ranked second in the country (UMD is first). Unfortunately for U. and men's college hockey fans, there will not be a 1 vs. 2 matchup, neither sooner nor later. They played only one series this year, and that was the second weekend of the season, Oct. 14 and 15, when the Gophers swept the Bulldogs (in Duluth, by the way) by a pair of 5-4 scores.
They are off till the 30th, when the host the Mariucci Classic and play Niagara.
#-4: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -2). Very disappointing. They cream Harvard and Alcorn St. last weekend as ungracious hosts of their Best Buy Classic. But on Wednesday, when they were playing on an opponent's home floor for the very first time all year, they get soundly walloped by Denver, 72-63. Don't tell me Denver is miles better than Harvard or Alcorn St. If they're not, then blame for this awkward loss falls on Head Coach Pam Borton, who still cannot put either the players or the play together that will allow the Goofs to get ahead of teams, especially nondescript ones, early and stay there. How good can this team be if they lose at fucking Denver???
Like the men's hockey team, they too are off till the 30th, when they begin conference play at Purdue.
#-5: Wild (Last Week: Positive Numbers). I knew it, I knew it, and I was afraid of it. After the Mild generated some stories over their great play, the team wilted under the increased media scrutiny. They followed up an impressive 4-1 whipping at Phoenix by seeing their winning streak end at 7 in an entertaining, hard-hitting 2-1 loss at Winnipeg. They then lost at home to hated Chicago in a shootout.
Did you see the final shootout goal, the one by the Blackhawks' Patrick Kane that won it for Chicago? You have to see this shit. Kane practically stops moving and stands still right in front of Minnesota Goalie Nicklas Backstrom, dribbling the puck on his stick back and forth. After Backstrom falls for a backhand deke, Kane fires the vulcanized rubber into a wide-open net. Just stupid:
I mean, why in the fuck didn't Backstrom stick his stick out and poke the puck out of Kane's control? He was standing right in front of him for a whole goddamn minute. Sheesh.
Is this two-game losing streak the beginning of a correction -- or much worse? Four games this week: The New York Islanders at home tonight, then games at the three Canadians teams in the Wild's Northwest Division. Will see how much grit this squad really has after next week.
#-6: Vikings (Last Week: -4). Man, I really thought the Vikes were going to beat Detroit at the last second! Maybe that's why I'm not so down on this club as other people are. Or, I may be feeling this good over a 34-28 loss because of the excellent play of Joe Webb. You see, I never gave up on Joe Webb. He showed enough flashes of competence last year that I was more than willing to name him the starter for this year. I knew that this team wasn't going anywhere this year, so you might as well play Webb and see how well he can manage an offense, or even guide this team to a win based on his arm, feet, smarts and heart.
Besides, I was never convinced that the 2011 quarterback crop was good enough to draft anybody. But, alas, the ViQueens jumped on the QB bandwagon in April and selected Christian Ponder, a guy who regressed so badly at Detroit Sunday that, after his third interception, he was benched in favor of Webb -- who promptly brought them back to the point where they could have scored in the last eight seconds of the game. Why not Webb? Only because the Vikes have decided that he won't be a quarterback in the NFL. What a goddamn shame.
They're hosting New Orleans tomorrow afternoon. They're done for. Ponder has already been reinstated as a starter. Unless he can stop overreaching and start making smart plays, then they're really done for.
#-7: Twins (Re-Entry!). They're on the survey, but down at the bottom, for one sentimental reason: They lost Michael Cuddyer to Colorado.
I remember talking to him when he was drafted. He seemed like an affable guy. And he grew to be a mainstay for the Twinks as they began their ascent to being one of the best-run organizations in Major League Baseball. And then, this year, we saw his true importance to the ballclub: As the rock on an underachieving team facing a never-before-experienced year of incredible disappointment.
So what if they signed Josh Willingham, a guy who could be better at the plate and is just as good a man in the locker room, and for less? Cuddyer was the longest-tenured player with the Twinks. And last year he became The Face Of The Franchise -- yes, even moreso than the M&M Glory Boys, Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau. He became that for three reasons: 1) he played all year; 2) he played consistently, if not spectacularly; and 3) he played hurt. Last year he showed the grit and determination in the face of inevitable failure that reminded Twins fans of the team's scrappy beginnings from the depths of the nineties, when the organization was in small-market oblivion. And now he's gone.
Star Tribune beat writer LaVelle E. Neal III blogged about missing Cuddyer. Honestly, he makes him seem like a saint, and I don't mean that in a bad way. When he tells how he volunteered to be a liaison to the Twin Cities community, I miss him even more.
Michael Cuddyer is no longer a Twin. Even if it's better for the team in the long run, this is a stain on the franchise that will take a long time to come back from. Shame on the team.
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