Positive Numbers: Gopher women's hockey (Last Week: 0). Congratulations to the University of Minnesota women's hockey team, who defeated UMD Saturday night to win their first WCHA tournament championship in seven years. And they did it in dominating fashion, too: A 2-0 shutout of the Bulldogs after Friday night's 6-0 shellacking of North Dakota. Now, to be clear, there wasn't a whole lot at stake for the U., seeing that they have been the second-best team in Division I from the beginning of the season. And the team that is the wire-to-wire best team in Division I, Wisconsin, lost to UMD on Friday. That shouldn't tell you anything because the Badgers probably didn't try that hard. Nevertheless, the team looks really good, seeing they've outscored their last three opponents 14-0 over the last three games.
The announcement of the eight-team field is tonight at 5 p.m. They should be considered the 2-seed overall (behind Wisconsin) and host their quarterfinal tournament game Friday night at Ridder Arena.
#0: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -1). Good night for the male icers as well. Their weekend split with Wisconsin at Mariucci Arena was enough to get the U. their first WCHA regular season championship and the MacNaughton Trophy in five years.
A listless 4-1 loss to the Badgers Friday night gave second-place Denver a chance to tie for the title if the Pioneers won and the Gophers lost Saturday. And Wisconsin took a 1-0 lead into the third period of Saturday's match. But Center Erik Haula scored shorthanded early in the period to tie it. About three minutes afterward, Defenseman Nate Schmidt scored on the power play to take the lead. Kent Patterson made 17 saves to make the lead stick, and the Gophers got to raise the MacNaughton in front of their home crowd. 'Bout damn time.
So they now can look forward to the WCHA tournament, which begins with a best-of-three series at Mariucci against the team that finished dead last in the conference, Alaska-Anchorage, on Friday. Meanwhile, they are now firmly in the middle of the Pairwise rankings (even though they are 7th, second among conference foes because UMD is tops) and can look forward to returning to the NCAA tournament for the first time in three years. Plus, they host the West Regional at the Xcel Energy Center in two weeks. By NCAA bylaw, institutions that host hockey regionals get to play in their regional. So really, they have nothing to play for.
#-1: Gopher wrestling (Last Week: Positive Numbers). And the U. grapplers had a great Saturday as well. Right now, they lead the Big Ten Championships by 4 1/2 points over Iowa in West Lafayette, Ind. If they can hold on today and become the champions of arguably the best conference in wrestling, it'll be a huge confidence boost as they head into the NCAA Championships.
#-2: Swarm (Last Week: -2). Maybe this early-season coaching change is working; the Swarm beat Calgary in Calgary Saturday night, 15-11. A very young squad that was picked to be the one of the nine teams in the National Lacrosse League to be left out of the playoffs is now 5-3. So far, so good.
They are off till my birthday.
#-3: Gopher baseball (Last Week: -5). The U. had a really good day on Saturday. They scored six runs in the first two innings of Saturday's 11-3 victory over West Virginia. They thus remain perfect in their Dairy Queen Classic; on Friday (in a game I went to; ah, antiseptic Metrodome, how I missed you as a baseball stadium!) they trounced New Mexico St. 8-1, avenging a 4-1 loss Thursday afternoon in a game that does not count in the Dairy Queen Classic. (Can you play a team twice and count only one of them towards the tourney you host?) They finish up the DQ Classic this afternoon against Nebraska. They then host Hamline at the Dome on Wednesday before beginning the other tournament they routinely host, the Metrodome Tournament, Friday.
The format for this one is weird, though. Although it starts on Friday, the Gophers don't play on Friday. There are only two other teams, Kansas and Stony Brook, and they play a day-night doubleheader on Friday. Minnesota then plays a day-night doubleheader on Saturday. They then finish the tournament playing Stony Brook Sunday afternoon, but they only play the Jayhawks that one time. They have to be somewhere, I guess.
#-4: Timberwolves (Last Week: -3). Finally, after several horrible sports winters in the Twin Cities area, some times are finally giving fans something to be excited over. The men's hockey team is starting to be the powerhouse we all assumed they are. Meanwhile, Kevin Love, Ricky Rubio and the other T-Wolves are playing well and attracting media attention.
They split their four-game screening week/roadtrip, capped by a dynamic first quarter and poised clutch play in their win over Portland, the first time in 16 they've beaten the Trail Blazers. They now sit only 1 1/2 games behind Denver (a team I thought would be a lot better than they are) for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. They won't be winning the NBA Finals this year, but damn, could you even imagine seeing the day this damned organization would be back in the NBA playoffs?
By the way, good to see Derrick Williams starting to blossom. Too bad it's too late for me because I dropped him from my fantasy team a few weeks ago.
After having four games on the road they get four at home: the Clippers (whom they beat this week), Portland again, the Lakers (whom they lost to this week), and the Bastard Charlotte Hornets.
#-5: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -7). Is Tubby Smith done as head coach? His team battled Tuesday but lost at Wisconsin by 7. They then came back home to Williams Arena and clobbered Nebraska on Senior Day, 81-69, breaking a six-game losing streak. But is it too late? There will be a new athletic director very soon, and usually that means he wants his own guy. However, Smith has a $2 million buyout, and a university that has tightened its belt for the better part of a decade will definitely think before paying him money to leave. Then again, this team did go from firmly in the mix for the NCAAs to on the bubble to holding on to dear life to forget about the Big Dance to falling through the projections of the goddamn NIT, for crissake.
The B1G Tournament begins Thursday. Minnesota has "secured" the 10-seed. There was a chance they could've finished dead last if they lost to the Cornhuskers.
#-6: Wild (Last Week: -4). Wow, what a bunch of fucking quitters. They were blasted 4-0 by Los Angeles at home and gave up in a 6-0 clobbering in Detroit. Sure, they beat San Jose and lost in a shootout to Montreal. But even the latter provided a Benny Hill moment: Devin Setoguchi, skating in to send the shootout to extra skaters, lost control of the puck, tried to go back to get it, and fell. Game over:
Goddamn, are they even trying?
This week: home to Colorado, at Colorado, at Phoenix.
#-Infinity: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -6). Is Pam Borton done as head coach? They destroyed Wisconsin by 32 in their first game in the B1G tournament Thursday, and they went out on a 13-point first-half lead against Penn St. Friday. But reality set in; the Nittany Lions are ranked in the top 15, and the Gophers suck. They lose, 78-74.
It's now beyond apparent that Borton got to the Final Four solely on both Brenda Oldfield (Frese) and Cheryl Littlejohn's recruits. They haven't been to the NCAA Tournament in three or four years. There's a possibility that they'll make the WNIT, but we won't know that for another eight days. If they do make it, they'll be back on the WMNSS. But to hedge my bets I put this team in the basement; I'll bring them out for next season.
But will Borton be back? Switching coaches for this program would be a way to for a new AD to put his or her stamp on the U. But Rachel Banham (who scored 25 points in the loss to Penn St.) may be the best recruit Borton has ever brought to Dinkytown, and some people say Borton's recruiting class is pretty good. She may get yet another chance to underwhelm.
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