In the end, my top criteria (and I may have used this before) was impact. In other words, how did the win(s) affect the team and its season? The hockey teams are great, but their years have just started. I'm giving the Vikings a mulligan on the entire season because they have a rookie Head Coach. And the University of Minnesota volleyball squad will not be able to save their sorry season no matter what they do from this point on. The U. footie players were on their way to that abyss of irrelevance, but a pair of clutch wins at home against the two new members of the B1G, Maryland and Rutgers, have revived their tournament hopes.
I went to both games, the last two games at Robbie Stadium. In a game that featured several great saves by both goaltenders (aside: I neglected to note in the WMNSS after that particular game that I saw several fantastic saves by both netminders in the Gophers' tie against Ohio St.), the Gophers finally put the biscuit in the basket. In the 84th minute Katie Thyken somehow ran down the middle towards the Terrapins' goal unmarked. Olivia Schultz found her, and Thyken slipped it into the left post for the only score of the match. Then, on Sunday afternoon (I was debating whether or not to just stay home; I caved into my wanderlust) I enjoyed both a bucolic setting amidst the last of the turning leaves at Robbie Stadium and a 2-0 upset of the then-16th-ranked Scarlet Knights. Both goals (in the 33rd and 62nd minute) were scored by Josee Stiever off of corner kicks with assists by Ashley Pafko. The first one, I believe, was a header that bounced off the ground; the second came from a high kick (so high that the leg was straight-up perpendicular to Stiever's body) with her back to the goal. Moreover, the Gophers seemed to control the game from jump. And don't forget that Goalkeeper Tarah Hobbs turned in a pair of clean sheets.
Because of that, the Gophers have gone 4-1-1 in their last six games, meaning that women's soccer blog All White Kit gives the U. a faint (though much better than before) chance of reaching the NCAA Tournament. However, AWK advises the Gophs to continue their hot streak. They finish the regular season Halloween night at Northwestern; the Big Ten Conference soccer tournament begins this time next week.
#-2: Vikings (Last Week: -4). Again, the 19-13 overtime victory at Tampa Bay does not make them a Super Bowl contender. But boy, after choking away the lead last week in Buffalo, they needed this to prove to themselves they belong in the NFL. They're still one of the worst teams in the league, but they at least are better than Tampa Bay, which on Tuesday traded two players before the league trading deadline as they rebuild for the future.
The sensation after the game appears to be the Vikes' first round pick in this year's draft, Anthony Barr. Some thought the club was reaching for the UCLA Linebacker, but on Sunday he apparently (I say apparently because, remember, I was at the Minnesota women's soccer game) was all over the place. And he stripped the ball on the second play in OT from Wide Receiver Austin Safarian-Jenkins, picked it up and ran it back all the way to score the touchdown and end the game. I still think back to the second game of the season, where New England just picked the defense apart. But as the education of Teddy Bridgewater continues, it's the D that has improved before the O -- maybe. We'll see how they fare this Sunday against Washington, a game I expect to work.
#-3: Gopher women's hockey (Last Week: 0). Both Minnesota hockey teams swept games at home by scoring ten goals over the weekend, and for the second straight week the maroon-and-goal "M" stands abreast astride College Hockey Nation as the #1 team in men's and women's college hockey and getting every single first-place vote. So why are the ladies above the men? Because they had a better combined margin of victory, destroying North Dakota at Ridder Arena by scores of 5-2 and 5-0. Hannah Brandt is this week's WCHA Offensive, and Milica McMillen this week's WCHA Defensive, Players Of The Week. They play Bemidji St. at home for a pair this weekend.
#-4: Gopher men's hockey (Re-Entry!). Meanwhile, the U. male icers beat Bemidji St. by scores of 5-2 and 5-3. Travis Boyd is this week's B1G First Star Of The Week for scoring the go-ahead goals in both victories over the Beavers on his way to a four-point (three goals and an assist) weekend. They have a home-and-home series against St. Cloud St. this weekend; there on Friday, here on Saturday.
#-5: Wild (Last Week: -2). This could have been one hell of a week for the Wild, maybe the best they've ever had ... except for that goddamn loss to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden Monday. I was staying out after work Monday because I had to return some shaving gel that I was being paid to try and shave with as part of a marketing research project, and I was listening to the Mild game while going home. Last time I heard it was 2-0 Minnesota. But somehow New York came back to win, 5-4. By the time I shut off the game five players left the ice -- three of them Wild players due to injury incurred from cheap shots, the other two Rangers players thrown out of the game because they were the source of said cheap shots. If it was the Rangers' plan to play dirty in order to win, well, it seemed to work.
But they won the other three games of the week, capped by Tuesday's very impressive 4-3 win over Boston in Boston. They also blanked the Arizona Coyotes 2-0 and blitzed the Tampa Bay Lightning 7-2 in games at home. The team's sudden copious scoring output continues to be impressive, and may be the surest sign yet that the team's young guns are getting a lot better and are starting to gel as a group. This screening week's games are all at home: San Jose, The Bastard North Stars, Pittsburgh.
It won't get any better for this godforsaken team: They have a four-game road trip staring in their faces, beginning with a trip to the state of Indiana this weekend (Hoosiers Wednesday, Purdue Saturday).
#-7: Gopher football (Last Week: -1). As speculation grows that Head Coaching vacancies in Michigan and Florida are imminent, there has been talk that a program builder such as Jerry Kill would be a candidate to either powerful, proud program. In his press conference before the game Saturday at Illinois, Kill put a realistic kibosh on that hypothetical: "If we don't win against Illinois, I might get a one-way bus ticket out of Minnesota." (I'm paraphrasing; I don't have his exact quote in front of me.)
It's not that bad, but Kill is right to know beforehand to boo-hoo any possibility he could be moving up. Not after failing to capitalize on their nascent lead in the Big Ten West Division. This was a team undefeated in conference play losing to a team winless in conference play. These are games you're supposed to win. The Gophers don't have to be Michigan St. good to beat the Fighting Illini in Illinois, just good. But the Goofs just couldn't shake an inspired team trying to defend their stadium for Homecoming (was it Illinois' Homecoming game?). They jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead after one quarter and led 14-3 at halftime.
The Gophers stormed back with 21 points in the third and managed to take a 24-21 lead. But in the fourth quarter Minnesota Running Back David Cobb, who ran for 118 yards and two touchdowns and has been the Most Valuable Player on the team all season, had a fatal strip of the ball on a carry by Illinois Linebacker T.J. Neal at the Gopher 14. Cornerback V'Angelo Bentley scooped it up and took it back for the game-winning TD and the 28-24 win.
This is the flipside to the top of the Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey. The Minnesota football club is at the bottom of this survey also because of impact. This was a team that looked really good, and even though they faced one hell of a month to end the schedule, they seemed capable of making hay against the soft part of their schedule. Illinois appeared to be the seventh win. With this upset loss (and yes, I consider this to be an upset loss) the U. has squandered any good vibes they had generated from the student body, alums and casual fans from the area. It now appears that the losing streak we all feared will happen has started a week early, and since this squad is bad enough to lose to Illinois, it'll get crushed in their remaining four games. In other words, Heart of Texas Bowl, here we come! Again!
They are off this week. Next game is home to Iowa.
No comments:
Post a Comment