#-1: Gopher men's hockey (Re-Entry!). Gosh, I'm really, really excited for this team (knock on wood). The balance of the season was released before the New Year, and the first series (another one being played on unconventional Days, this one being Sunday-Monday) was a home one vs. Arizona St., who, for this season (at least -- hint, hint) are playing other Big Ten teams. And they get out of that series still undefeated, still the #1 ranked team in the land after sweeping the Sun Devils by scores of 4-1 and 6-4. I only bust these young men down to -1 because their streak of starting the season not even trailing in a Game was broken just short of 485 Minutes; Arizona St.'s Matthew Kopperud opened Sunday's contest with a score on the Power Play at 4:53 of the First Period. No worries -- the U. scored thrice in the Second in a span of five Minutes to put that away. Minnesota actually squandered a 2-0 lead in Monday's tilt by allowing three Sun Devil tallies in the Second Period (the Gophers have now trailed a total of about 19 1/2 Minutes this season), but Sampo Ranta (named B1G Second Star Of The Week) scored 1:31 after Johnny Walker's (what a name) go-ahead Goal, and they kept that lead the rest of the way.
What augurs even better for this club? Minnesota played this series without three of their Defensemen. Jackson LaCombe, Ryan Johnson and Brock Faber were playing for Team USA in the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship. The Americans came home victorious, upsetting Canada 2-0 in Tuesday's Gold Medal Game -- which was played, by the way, in Edmonton. As the series with the Sun Devils shows, the Golden Gophers' Offense is flying, and there hasn't been defensive deficiencies that Bob Motzko has had to worry about. And now he'll get three D-men back for the second half of the Year. Things are going really, really good for these guys ... but they go to Wisconsin for a pair this weekend.
#-2: Gopher women's hockey (Re-Entry!). My goodness, this club has been through the ringer to the start the New Year. It was announced before the end of the old Year that the Gophers' first series in 2021 was to be versus Minnesota-Duluth on Monday and Tuesday at Ridder Arena. Then, on New Year's Eve, it was announced that that series was postponed because the Bulldogs had too many players out, presumably due to COVID-19. The next series is still on track, namely a home-and-home with St. Cloud St. Saturday and Sunday. But with all this new free time I guess the U. thought, what the hell, why not play a third Game with the Huskies? And so the two schools made it a three-Game series, tacking on an additional contest for yesterday/Thursday afternoon at Ridder -- which the Gophers came back to win, 2-1.
The women's hockey team's record may not be as sterling as the men's, but the players are 6-1, the only loss being a 2-1 decision at home to Ohio St. all the way back on Nov. 22, and they're ranked second in the nation behind Wisconsin. Can they keep going, especially since their trip Sunday to St. Cloud begins a five-Game road trip?
#-3: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -1). Overall the direction of this program remains very troubling. But at least this team won a conference Game. Sunday afternoon they doubled up Wisconsin (in Madison no less) 22-11 in the First Quarter, but eventually the Badgers forced this Game into Overtime, where the Gophs scored the first seven Points of OT on their way to winning, 88-83. The scored 18 Points total in the extra frame, tying the program's record for most in Overtime.
And then they went to Iowa Wednesday and got clocked, 92-79. The Hawkeyes have a player named Caitlin Clark who's really good. She dropped 37 on the Goofs.
The squad hosts Penn St. Sunday afternoon.
#-4: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: Positive Numbers). I'm only putting the Gopher men's b-ball team underneath the Gopher women's b-ball team because the women went 1-1 for the week and the men went 1-2. It ain't all that bad, however. A bad 12-Point loss at Wisconsin and a really bad 25-Point loss in Michigan (Minnesota was down by six to start the Second Half) sandwich a 77-60 rout of Ohio St. at home. So through six conference Games the U. has won three of them, all of them at home, and lost three of them, all of them on the road. Yeah, even in pandemic times where there are no fans, a team (at least this team) plays better at home than on the road. That's OK, especially when you're playing in inarguably the best conference in top-flight college basketball. And besides, they're in the middle of a gauntlet after which I thought they would be on a seven-Game losing streak. And according to Joey Brackets, the wins the squad has accumulated in league play has bumped it up to a five-seed. No time to panic.
A revenge Game at Iowa is on tap Sunday afternoon.
#-5: Timberwolves (Last Week: 0). A moribund shitshow. Again. An 0-4 screening (home to Washington [which didn't have Russell Westbrook but won their first Game of the Year going away], and Denver, then at Denver and Portland) Week extends their losing streak to six. Karl-Anthony Towns has been injured all this time. They still can't defend worth shit. Ricky Rubio is lost on both ends of the court and has been relegated to the second team. The Power Forward position is a massive liability. And the Owner wants to sell the squad, but the only people who want to buy the Timberwolves want to move the Timberwolves. Oh God.
At least they have a four-Game homestand coming up. And it begins the first of the new wrinkle this season: Back-to-back Games against the same team in the same arena. They host the Spurs this weekend, then Memphis Wednesday (and Friday).
#-Infinity: Vikings (Last Week: -2). I really, really thought they were going to lose their season finale in Detroit. They had no reason to win it. And it was a shootout. But thanks to an apparent god-awful Roughing The Passer call on the Lions, the Vikes won their season finale, 37-35, to finish the season 7-9, third in the NFC North and with the 14th pick in the NFL Draft in the spring.
I am somewhat shocked that there is no talk that Mike Zimmer is going to be fired. Zygi Wilf has had three previous Head Coaches, and all three were fired a Year after they reached the playoffs, just like Zim has. But apparently the pandemic plus all the injuries convinced Wilf to give Zimmer another season ... even though I think, and he should, have a short leash. If they get off to a slow start. ...
Heads are still rolling, however. Special Teams Coordinator Marwan Maalouf's contract expired and Zim, in no uncertain terms, said he will not be brought back. There was one Game where, after a bad result from a Punt or a Kickoff, you could see Zimmer absolutely scream at Maalouf. That's when everybody knew Maalouf might as well pack his bags. Another departure, at least in the making, is that of Offensive Coordinator Gary Kubiak, who apparently is contemplating retirement. Most correct-minded fans realize that the Offense was not the problem this Year. But due to his health, I guess, Kubiak is probably leaving -- maybe to be replaced by his son, Clint.
The Vikes are in the cruz of a few bad intersections right now. They could still use improvement on the Offensive Line, they're still young in the Secondary, they have no pass rush (although Danielle Hunter and Michael Pierce could help with that), and on top of all that, they're capped to the max. There are many holes to fill and yet not a whole lot of money with which to fill them. People are gone, left and right -- Anthony Harris, Kyle Rudolph, Riley Reiff, to name a few. And yet there are enough pieces there (Dalvin Cook, Adam Thielen, Justin Jefferson, Eric Kendricks) that you don't want to just blow it all up. With the help of a third-place schedule, the Vikings are going to have to find a way to spackle the weaknesses shut and be a playoff team (and not just a playoff-caliber team) in 2021.
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