#-1: Wild (Re-Entry!). All it takes one singular, highlight effort for The State Of Hockey to get Kirill Kirazy:
The fantasies of a fanbase, especially one who has been starved for a championship, can get very out of hand. Hell, I'm saying this after only one friggin' Game -- although Kirill Kaprizov has become only the third NHL Rookie ever to score the Overtime winner in his first-ever league match. But I think it is accurate to say that, for the first time in a long time, there is actually hope for the newest, youngest players in this organization. And after a few Years of only listening to whispers of how this Russian half a world away named is tearing through the Kontinental Hockey League, Wild fans will taste this morsel and believe they are full. Yeah, a Game-winning Goal (oh ... by the way, they defeated the Los Angeles Kings in L. A.) like this makes the thought of lifting the Stanley Cup tangible. Hopefully, this will be the first of many for him.
Like the NBA, the NHL is doing what college hockey traditionally does, having two teams play each other at least twice in one venue. They remain in Los Angeles to play the Kings against Sunday, then travel to Orange County to play Anaheim Monday and Wednesday. They will then finally open up home play with two against San Jose, the first of which is Friday night.
#-3: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -1). Unfortunately the club finally lost their first Game of the season, at dreaded Wisconsin Saturday, 3-1. Bounced back nicely Sunday to defeat the Badgers, 5-3. They were able to retain the #1 ranking in both college hockey polls. They were joined in the top spot of the rankings by the women's team. It was the first time both Minnesota hockey programs were ranked #1 (in, I'm assuming, at least one poll for both genders, even though both Golden Gopher clubs were ranked #1 last week in all of them) for the first time since October 27, 2014 (hat tip to Andy York of The Daily Gopher).
Will it last? They are playing the first Game of their two-Game series vs. Notre Dame as I type this. It begins a two-series, four-Game homestand; after playing the Fighting Irish tomorrow/Saturday, they will host Arizona St. Thursday and Friday.
#-4: Timberwolves (Last Week: -5). Lost at home to San Antonio (in Overtime, after squandering a big lead) Saturday with Karl-Anthony Towns. Won the next night, at home, also to the Spurs, without KAT, thereby ending their losing skid at seven. Then they started a new losing streak Wednesday, at home, versus The Bastard Vancouver Grizzlies, with KAT.
And then their final Game this screening week, also at home against Memphis tonight/Friday night, was postponed. Then the implications as to why started to multiply. When announcing the postponement today/Friday, the NBA said that contract tracing has reduced the number of available players on the Wolves to below eight, which is the minimum number of players a squad has to have in order to play. Then, it was discovered that both Ricky Rubio and Juancho Hernangomez are two of the people that would have to sit out the Game tonight/Friday night because they were swept up in the league's health and safety protocols.
Then, the big one. A bit later, KAT announced that he has COVID-19. You may remember that the virus killed his mother and six other members of his family. This goddamn coronavirus is a fucking serial killer destroying a family.
On his announcement through Twitter, he promised his niece and nephew that he "will not end up in a box next to grandma and I will beat this." Good on you, KAT.
This week: At Atlanta Monday afternoon to be the guests for the Hawks' annual MLK Jr. Day Game, which I hear has become an awesome annual event. They then come back to Target Center to host Orlando.
#-5: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -4). So from this point downward, all the clubs went winless. I will give the top spot of those three to the Dinkytown male b-ballers, who got crushed in Iowa Sunday afternoon by 15. But that defeat continues to prove the home=good, away=bad dynamic that not only the U. but seemingly the Big Ten most of the time evinces. They are still ensconced in the bracket -- albeit as a 7-seed, according to Joe Lunardi.
The gauntlet of this part of the league schedule ends with a return date with Michigan tomorrow/Saturday afternoon at Williams. They then visit Nebraska Wednesday.
#-6: Gopher wrestling (Re-Entry!). Start the Year dropping a dual at Nebraska, 22-14. So this continues to be the reality for this program: Once the best, now an also-ran, maybe moreso in the shrinking college wrestling world. But does losing to the Cornhuskers represent a new low?
This club is in East Lansing, Mich., tomorrow/Saturday. But things will be done differently because of COVID-19. They will play two conference foes: Maryland in the early afternoon, then the host Spartans later in the afternoon. Will these guys go 0-3 to start their season?
#-7: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -3). This squad has now lost three in a row after losing to nine to Penn St. Sunday, then getting dominated by Maryland, 90-73. Both Games were at home, ick. I keep hearing that Lindsay Whalen has put together fantastic recruiting classes, but where's the development? Where are the individual performances? Where's the heart? I don't see that coming out of team that is now a wretched 2-7.
One Game this screening week: In Nebraska Tuesday afternoon.
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