#0: Gopher women's hockey (Re-Entry!). Yeah, the Wins are over tomato cans. But going 3-0 is still a fine feat. Plus, they crushed top-flight newcomer St. Thomas in a home-and-home last weekend by scoring eight Goals in both Games, then slaughtered Minnesota State-Mankato by a 7-2 score last/Friday night. You want a statistic that shows how unbalanced women's college hockey still is? The Gophers have now won 53 straight Games over the Mavericks.
And yet I cannot give this squad Positive Numbers. I peeped at the PairWise, and while the U. is flying right now, they remain in third behind two other WCHA schools, longtime nemesis Wisconsin and budding nemesis Ohio St. This gives me bad flashbacks to last Year, where the Gophs were behind the Badgers and Buckeyes all season and, due to both becoming entangled with Minnesota-Duluth in the standings and a conspiracy theory that the NCAA women's hockey Tournament could not have four teams from the WCHA, the Gophers did not get in.
The only way to be absolutely sure that they'll get in this Year, and to prove that this program isn't losing it, is to beat both Wisconsin and Ohio St., who, by the way, are currently ranked first and second in the country. And it just so happens that the Golden Gophers play #1 Wisconsin next Weekend at home, then go to Columbus to play at #2 Ohio St. the following Weekend. But first, one more tilt vs. the Mavs, and since this is a home-and-home, this/Saturday afternoon's matchup will be at Ridder.
#-1: Wild (Last Week: -4). They may be righting the ship now that they're able to play some Games. They played only two, but they won both, and each in diametrically opposed ways.
On Saturday it looked like it was curtains for the Wild as they were down at home to Washington, 2-0. But Minnesota got an Own Goal about six Minutes left in the Second Period, and then Mats Zuccarello (who's been coming on as of late) scored to tie it up with 35 Seconds left in regulation. They won in a Shootout, 2-0, the second of which was scored by Freddie Gaudreau and the first of which was scored by Kevin Fiala, who may have gotten out of Dean Evason's doghouse. And then last/Friday night they beat the pants off of Anaheim, 7-3, also at the X.
Unfortunately, because they have had seven Games postponed (all due to COVID outbreaks and/or policies that have nothing to do with anyone on the Wild), they have slipped from first all the way down to fourth in the Central Division. They're only four Points behind the leader, Nashville (!!!), but if there is a coronavirus outbreak or if they just play lousy for five or six Games, they'll soon find themselves fighting for their playoff lives.
On the road this screening Week: Colorado Monday, Chicago Friday.
#-2: Gopher wrestling (Last Week: -6). Crushed then-15th-ranked Northwestern Sunday, 31-9, then outlasted 10th-ranked Nebraska last/Friday night, 19-13. It might have helped that both Duals were at Maturi. But the 14th-ranked Gophers probably are around where they should be, if these two data points and a third of getting their asses kicked at #1 Iowa back on the 7th are credible. This still remains a good-to-very-good program that has no chance of winning an NCAA championship.
By the way, the last two Gopher grappler NCAA champs, from 2001 and 2002, will be feted Sunday afternoon as the U. finishes their three-Dual homestand, and the fourth consecutive Dual against ranked Big Ten opponents, vs. Wisconsin, which is ranked ninth.
And yet a seismic, potentially chemistry-destroying change hit the team this Week. Stalwart Golden Gopher Goaltender Jack LaFontaine abruptly left the team and school to sign with The Bastard Hartford Whalers. According to Gopher radio analyst Frank Mazzocco on Friday's pre-Game show, it came out of left field. LaFontaine sat with Mazzzocco on the plane home from East Lansing on Saturday to schedule interviews for the rest of the regular season. On Sunday, LaFontaine was telling people he was leaving. The Bastard Whalers must've come with one fucking huge contract.
So it appears that main goaltending duties for this team that seeks to make noise in the NCAAs will fall to Justen Close, a Junior for Saskatchewan. So far, so good, of course, but after the second Game against Alaska, they'll re-enter Big Ten play and host Michigan for a pair next weekend. Can the U. keep up the good play without their veteran backstopper?
#-4: Timberwolves (Last Week: -3). So the Wolves have kind of hit a roadblock this screening Week. They trounced the Rockets in Houston Sunday to extend their winning streak to four, but lost in New Orleans on a last-second Three-Pointer by Brandon Ingram on Tuesday and then could not catch The Bastard Vancouver Grizzlies in Memphis Thursday.
They remain in good position to participate in the Western Conference Play-In Tournament, which is why I place these guys above the Gopher women ballers. But there are two recent developments that might explain the slide in this team's recent play. First, Naz Reid is shooting horribly this season. Second, and this stat is mind-blowing, someone on Twitter noted that Karl-Anthony Towns leads the league in being called for Offensive Fouls. Not only that, it's not close, and he has led the NBA in that category for several seasons now. Combine that with his, uh, lacking defensive play and his penchant for complaining for fouls, and this could become a defining trait of KAT's career ... if it hasn't already.
They host The Bastard Philadelphia Warriors Sunday before playing in New York and Atlanta on back-to-back nights. God, that sucks.
#-5: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -2). Got crushed at home Sunday by Maryland, 87-73. But they then sent the pain along, going to Wisconsin Wednesday and dominating the Badgers, 82-66. This is a weird statistic: As Coach, Lindsay Whalen is 4-0 at Wisconsin. They host Ohio St. and Iowa.
#-6: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -5). Yeah, reality is getting harsh for this club. Their losing streak reaches three after road Losses against Indiana and Michigan St. They had a real good shot at upsetting the Spartans in East Lansing, but a drive and pinpoint pass by A. J. Hoggard for a Lay-Up by Joey Hauser with a tenth of a Second left in the Game gave Sparty the 71-69 victory. Moral victories might be the only victories this team has the rest of the way. Sorry to be so down, but it might become true.
This Week: Host Iowa Sunday, at Penn St. Wednesday.
#-Infinity: Vikings (Last Week: -7). So the probable happened after the Vikings finished off the 2021-2 season with a 31-17 Win over the Chicago Bears on Sunday, thus finishing at 8-9: Head Coach Mike Zimmer was relieved of his duties after eight Years at the helm. What was a tad more surprising, if only because he was General Manager for so long, was that Rick Spielman was also fired, and he was not promoted to some other front office position within the organization, as I speculated could happen.
It was time. Now that the ax was swung, all the reports about Zimmer's treatment of players, headlined by Eric Kendricks saying he now hopes there will be better communication and a team environment based less on fear, come crashing ashore. I understand that's the nature of journalism when Head Coaches get shit-canned, but this would be some palace intrigue I think we fans should know while the team was still struggling through its season, not after. But that could just be me.
In his post-firing press conference, Mark Wilf answered a question about whether the franchise needs a rebuild by saying he thinks they're still only a couple pieces away. Really? Zimmer and Spielman rode-or-died (and the answer obviously is the latter) on a bunch of veterans Zim trusted to the point they were given large and long contracts. Foremost among these, of course, is Quarterback Kirk Cousins. If he were a Free Agent, he probably would be the best FA QB out there. And yet he has obvious limitations that put a hard ceiling on any club that wants to win the Super Bowl. Moreover, he is owed more than $40 million next year. And Mark Wilf thinks the team's only a couple pieces away?
Don't rush this process. Find the right GM first, and have him, or her, find his, or her, Head Coach. The most notable names out there (Dan Quinn, Brian Daboll, Kellen Moore) might be picked up even before the Vikes find their GM. So what? What this squad and franchise needs is a serious overhaul. The new GM needs to either convince Cousins to play for less money next Year or flip him so that the organization can get out from under his onerous contract. All the other issues flow from the resolution of the Cousins issue. Fixing this team will take time, and I think a Year or two of retrenchment is not only in order, but is the best way for this team to finally break through and even think about winning a Super Bowl. I kind of hope Mark Wilf knows this too and only said what he said so he doesn't lose his ticket base.
We'll see how this goes. But right now, of the Big Four Sports Teams in the Twin Cities, it's the Vikings who now seem to have the dimmest hopes of a championship.
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