Meanwhile, congratulations go out to Junior Forward Ben Meyers. The Delano native has been shortlisted for the Hobey Baker Award, the Heisman of top-flight men's college hockey. Like with Taylor Heise (see below), I'm not sure what his chances are; unlike Heise, all three finalists (the other two are Denver's Bobby Brink and Minnesota State-Mankato's Dryden McKay) are still playing. But the last Golden Gopher to win the Hobey Baker was Jordan Leopold in 2002, so it's time.
Oh, and the U. faces McKay and the Mavericks Thursday. I don't know if that squad knows it, but getting rid of the yoke of the loserdom reputation of Twin Cities sports is riding on these guys now. And if they don't know, maybe they shouldn't.
#0: Wild (Last Week: -2). Beat Columbus, Colorado and Philadelphia (the first two on back-to-back weekend nights and in Overtime) to extend their winning streak to seven. However, that was snapped by a 4-3 Overtime Loss to Pittsburgh. That ends their nine-Game, tournament-necessitating homestand at seven Wins and two Losses ... both of which, incidentally, bookended this homestand. Home cookin' is exactly what this team needed; they're back in second place in the Central and have the tenth-most Points in the NHL.
Now, let's see if they can win on the road. Their whole Week will be spent away from St. Paul, and it'll be a busy one -- at Carolina and Washington tonight/Saturday night and tomorrow/Sunday night, then Nashville Tuesday and St. Louis Friday. Will this club give back all the gains they made over the past 19 Days?
#-1: Timberwolves (Last Week: -3). Believe it or not, the NBA is on its stretch run. And the Timberwolves remain both stubbornly in seventh place in the Western Conference and stubbornly behind Denver for sixth place.
They met last/Friday night -- in Denver, because Target Center's being used for the Women's Final Four. And they outlasted the Nuggets, 136-130. And yet they are two Games behind Denver for sixth in the West and the last escape pod out of the Play-In Tournament because they got crushed at Boston and Toronto earlier in the Week. Yes, they're assured of at least a place in the Play-In, and that's an accomplishment worth celebrating. But there's another goal ahead of them, and it'll be disappointing if they can't reach it because they're still not ready to run with the big boys.
Penultimate Week: At Houston, then home to Washington and San Antonio. Oh, these guys have got to run the table here.
#-2: Gopher women's hockey (Re-Entry!). OK, I'm still pissed as shit at this club. It remains unacceptable that one of the best teams in top-flight women's college hockey last Year couldn't even make the fuckin' championship Game. I thought that would be a reason Taylor Heise, who was shortlisted for the Patty Kazmaier Award, would not win it. The other two Finalists were Sophie Jaques of NCAA Champion Ohio St. and Gabbie Hughes of Runner-Up Minnesota-Duluth. They made it to the title Game, and that has to be something those two have over Heise.
But ... no, apparently. Last Saturday, Heise won the Patty Kaz, becoming the third Golden Gopher (after Krissy Wendell in 2005 and Amanda Kessel in '13) to win the sport's top individual award. She is also the second Minnesotan to win, after Wendell; Heise is from Lake City, wherever that is.
Alright, that's pretty fucking impressive. Congratulations. I'm still bitter that she and her team couldn't win what they were primed to goddamn win, however.
And I'll be a bit more charitable to Brad Frost. The future's bright with this program. Peyton Hemp was named national Rookie Of The Year, and Ella Huber was named national Rookie Of The Month. But with a program like Minnesota, the future should always be bright. Winning? Well, it's about fucking winning, isn't it?
#-3: Gopher softball (Last Week: -7). Rebounded from the opening-series Loss to win the series at Rutgers over the weekend, but began the three-Game set versus Illinois at Cowles by blowing a 1-0 lead in the Sixth Inning and eventually losing 2-1 in eight. Yeah, at 15-13-1, this squad is progressing as well as it should. Is this a bad omen for the program? After finishing up against the Fighting Illini, they have a Wednesday home Doubleheader with South Dakota St., then will travel to Iowa for three beginning Friday.
#-4: Gopher baseball (Last Week: -6). Like the softballers, the baseballers won the Saturday and Sunday contests at home vs. their opponent, Western Illinois, but unlike the softballers, that finished off a sweep. And then they went to Rutgers beginning yesterday/Friday afternoon and lost, 6-4. Similar screening Weeks, but I'm tossing the male Nine behind the female Nine because of overall record; these young men are 8-16 overall, oof. After finishing up at the Scarlet Knights, they open up Siebert Field with a Tuesday tilt against North Dakota St., then begin a three-Game series with Maryland on Friday.
#-5: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -Infinity). OK, something rotten is really going on with this program right now. With leading scorer Sara Scalia announcing she is entering the transfer portal, that makes five players on Lindsay Whalen's team this Year who are leaving. That is a sign of dysfunction. That is a sign that those players agree that Whalen can't coach. That is a sign, frankly, that she should be fired.
I could see this coming. When she was hired, I was like, "What college coaching experience does she have?" She had none! And she was given not only a HC job, but one at a BcS school? But she's Lindsay Whalen, and she can't do any wrong. You should have seen some of the genuflecting takes from some journalists at the time of this awful hire -- they all thought Whalen would do a bang-up job at her alma mater because ... uh, she's a Hall Of Fame Point Guard? Congratulations to her, by the way. She got into the Naismith (not the Women's, whose induction class was announced last/Friday night at the Women's Final Four, which I attended) HOF, and it would have been stupid coincidence, and irony, if she got fired the same Day. Because a Head Coach who's able to run off five of her own players in the span of a season, including her leading scorer, usually does -- and should -- get canned.
But, well, it looks like not Whalen. She is Minnesota Basketball. And maybe we shouldn't be surprised that whatever happens, Mark Coyle (and, maybe, a lot of the boosters) see her as The Chosen One, and she can do no wrong, even if she does a whole hell of a lot of wrong. But maybe that fantastic incoming class needs to pan out, and immediate, Coach. And hey, try not to run them off, too, m'kay?
#-Infinity: Whitecaps (Last Week: Positive Numbers). Lost Sunday's Semifinal to Connecticut (in a playoffs played in Tampa Bay) by a score of 4-2. Man, this squad was firing on all cylinders since it entered the NWHL/PHF -- winning Isobel's Cup in its first Year in the league, losing the next title Game. But they were also-rans the entire season, and I don't exactly know why. (Doesn't help that I'm not following them closely.) But will it get fixed for next Year? Who knows? Meanwhile, the PHF is starting to have some discussions with the NHL for a "partnership." If that means some strategic marketing alignment or a, frankly, sugar daddy arrangement remains to be seen. But if this team can't get an infusion of cash, they'll have to figure out what went wrong and fix it.
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