Just a reminder that with this being the final WMNSS of 2017, I will reset the day the survey comes out for 2018. Per tradition, the new year will see it come out the day of January 8, which, for 2018, will be Monday. The first edition of the WMNSS not only encapsulates the events from January 1-7, but also the events of December 31, 2017.
#-1: Gopher men's hockey (Re-Entry!). A pretty blah screening week. Maybe it's the winter doldrums and the current snap of frigid weather, but I am not impressed with any of the teams this week, even the ones that went undefeated.
Take the Gopher men's hockey team, for example, which swept the Army at Mariucci this weekend by a combined score of 7-1. (I was at the Saturday game, which I blissfully was able to go to because my alma mater played Friday night and I was not called in to help the Vikings broadcast on yesterday/Saturday). Mat Robson filled in for starting Goalie Eric Schierhorn for the second time this year and notched his first career win with the U., 4-1. That victory also gave Head Coach Don Lucia his 450th win helming The Maroon & Gold.
But, while I was driving past TCF Bank Stadium (the circumstances of which escape me right now), I saw the huge sign. You see, there's a sign on the side of the huge scoreboard on the open end of the stadium. You can see this sign if you drive west on Oak Street. The sign has a rotating series of messages and ads; many of them are quick updates of the current U. teams for the season. Well, as I drove by, I saw that the men's hockey team was under .500. WAIT -- WHAT?!?!?!
I checked on a TV screen in Mariucci last (Saturday) night. They are under .500 ... in Big Ten play, at 4-7-1. They are 12-9-1 overall with the pair of wins over the Black Knights, and I can see that. But looking back, this squad suffered more than a bushel of losses so far this season. They do add up; right now they are far from the top of the conference. Saying all that, I checked the PairWise and as of right now, they sit ninth. Could be worse. But something is propping them up when the club is too talented not to be sporting a good record, conference as well as overall, of their own accord.
The New Year does bring a chance to impress: They have a home-and-home series vs. St. Cloud St., which as of right now is the #1 ranked team in the land. They play at St. Cloud Saturday evening, at 3M Sunday evening.
#-2: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -2). Finished their non-con for the season pulling away from Tommy Amaker and Harvard yesterday (Saturday) afternoon, 65-55. They have been knocked out of the polls, but they currently are 12-3 heading into pure conference play. Unfortunately, Nate Mason was kept out of the win over the Crimson.
They have won four in a row. That coincides with the beginning of their six-game homestand, which comes to an end with games against Illinois Wednesday and Indiana Saturday.
#-3: Wild (Last Week: -4). Well, it took a long time, and the season is far from over. But as of press time, they have climbed out of the early hole they dug themselves in to begin the season and hold down the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. They did it this week by doubling up The Team Stolen From Us at the X, 4-2 Wednesday (because of that I'm going to lift them up one spot), then beating Nashville by the same score Friday, also at home. Now, the Predators returned the favor in the second half of a back-to-back, blanking the Mild yesterday/Saturday, 3-0. Still, if the playoffs were to end tonight, they would be in. That is encouraging. Seeing Zach Parise starting to play for AAA Iowa is also encouraging.
They start 2018 playing three games: Home to Florida Tuesday, home to Buffalo (which, it was pointed out to me, has a lot of Minnesotans on the team, including Head Coach Phil Housley) Thursday, then visiting Colorado Saturday.
#-4: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -3). Started B1G play with a 90-63 trouncing of the Wildcats at Northwestern on Thursday. They currently sit at 12-2, with those losses by only five (at North Carolina) and three (at San Diego), but I haven't heard of any mocks putting these Gophers in the NCAA Tournament. Can they draw attention with a busy three-game stretch -- Nebraska at The Barn this (Sunday) afternoon, at Ohio St. Thursday, and home to Michigan St. Sunday?
#-5: Timberwolves (Last Week: -1). I feel bad for not paying attention to the standings in the NBA. I think the Wolves, despite all their problems, have been in fourth place in the Western Conference for some time. That's good, and I want to recognize their consistency.
Yet I also have to recognize the still-troubling run Tom Thibodeau is making his top eight players, and in particular his Starting Five, do even though we haven't reached the halfway point yet. You can see it in this week's 2-1 record. They pulled away from The Bastard Minneapolis Lakers in Los Angeles Christmas Night, 121-104, with the help of Taj Gibson's 23 points. But they coughed up a late lead Wednesday at home to Denver before Jimmy Butler (and his 39 points) saved the Woofie Dogs' butts again, 128-125 in Overtime. But they had a back-to-back; they raced out to a 23-point lead Thursday in Milwaukee, but they ran out of gas and the Bucks stormed back to win, 102-96. With more than 40 games left to go, there's no telling if Towns or Wiggins or Gibson or Butler will have anything left when the postseason rolls around.
That durability and motivation will be sorely tested this screening week because they will be playing five times. It starts off with a back-to-back spanning two years; they play at Indiana New Year's Eve, then host The Team That Was Stolen From Us v.1.0. New Year's Night. They host Brooklyn Wednesday, then have another back-to-back, where they go to Boston Friday and then host New Orleans Saturday.
#-6: Gopher wrestling (Re-Entry!). So these South Beach Duals aren't a tournament so much as they are an aggregation of matches between teams playing in sunny and warm South Florida. The U. had two duals (played two teams) Friday and another two yesterday/Saturday. OK, so this is legitimate enough to put the results in the survey.
So, how did they do? Well, if being at the bottom of the WMNSS is any indication, not that well. They played a pair of ranked teams on Friday, North Carolina and Cornell, and lost both. Yesterday/Saturday they played a pair of tomato cans, Columbia and Binghamton, and predictably they won both duals going away, holding both opponents to single digits. So they are demonstrably better than Columbia and Binghamton, but not quite as good as ranked teams. Seeing as this program has won NCAA titles in the past, not so good.
They start B1G play next Sunday vs. Michigan St. at Maturi Pavilion.
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