The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

Reminder that for 2023, The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey will be published on Sundays.  This WMNSS will cover all Games played by Twin Cities sports teams from December 31, 2022 to January 7, 2023.  From next Week's survey to the end of the Year, it will cover contests from the previous seven Days -- well, it'll try to.

#-1: Gopher women's hockey (Re-Entry!).  Right now, my vibes for the local sports teams aren't great.  Overall, I think all the clubs put together lost more Games than they won this screening Week -- I could be wrong, who knows, who cares -- and the prospects for these squads to win championships seem very, very low.  It feels highly likely that the last Minnesota title of any kind will remain the Lynx way, way back in 2017.

With that being said, if there is any local team that could win it all in 2023 ... well, I don't know if it's the University of Minnesota women's hockey team.  They resumed their season after their customary (and long) holiday break by hosting what is called the East/West Showcase this past weekend.  Merrimack and New Hampshire from the (where else) East Coast to play both the Golden Gophers and St. Cloud St.  And the U. were rude hosts, destroying the ... Lakers (?) and Wildcats (?) by scores of, respectively, 9-2 and 8-1.

Great.  Really, sincerely, that's great.  The problem is is that the polls don't have them at #1, and at (what I assume are) most points of the women's college hockey season, they are around the fourth- and fifth-best team in the country ... and two of the teams consistently beating them out are in the same conference as the U., Wisconsin and Ohio St.  The Gophs have played a series against both.  They have won twice and lost twice, even though one Win and one Loss are technically Ties (Points and Overtimes and Shootouts and blah-blah-blah).  But there are other, inexplicable defeats the U. has suffered that I don't think either the Badgers or Buckeyes have.

I keep saying that the rubber won't really meet the road until tournament time; this team's next series is a home one vs. St. Thomas, so they'll kick the Tommies' asses.  But if they lose more than they win against those two heavyweights in the back half of the season, there's a possibility they won't even make the NCAA Tournament.  And it could not get any clearer that, as good a program as Minnesota is, they are clearly a tier below true championship clubs.  I want to be proven wrong, but I don't think I will be.

#-2: Whitecaps (Re-Entry!).  Meanwhile, it appears as though the professional (or as much as they can be) women's hockey team in town has turned things around after two Years in the doldrums.  They also have returned from their holiday break with the first of a two-Game series versus the Beauts in Buffalo last/Saturday evening where they kicked six different kinds of dog crap out of them, 4-1.  They remain in third place in the Premier Hockey Federation, even though they're clearly behind both Boston and Toronto.  The PHF still has a hodgepodge of a schedule; the Whitecaps just played the first of a six-Game roadtrip, but that goes until mid-February.  But after finishing up in Buffalo, they start the first of a duo in ... New Jersey (?) against the Metropolitan Riveters starting on Saturday afternoon.

#-3: Timberwolves (Last Week: -4).  Extended a losing streak to six Games with a desultory 12-Point defeat at home to bottom-feeding Detroit New Year's Eve.  However, they have won three straight since to begin 2023, and it ain't bad competition: Denver, Portland, and the Clippers.  Still, this might be a dead-cat bounce; they are still 11th in the West.  And Rudy Gobert continues to be a ghost of the player the Woofie Dogs mortgaged their future for.  Meanwhile, Chris Finch is doing everything to unlock the best out of this ballclub, now benching their high-priced stars Gobert and D'Angelo Russell.  It might be a desperate move in order to save his job, but if they get him Wins, more power to him.

Busy this Week: At Houston and Pistons, then home to Phoenix and Cleveland.

#-4: Wild (Last Week: -2).  Beat the Blues in St. Louis New Year's Eve, then began the New Year by routing Tampa Bay at the X, 5-1.  But last/Saturday evening they lost in Overtime at suddenly getting it Buffalo.  Kirill Kaprizov continues to both rocket up the franchise record book and increase his Q rating by being named to the All-Star Game.  And they are firmly ensconced in third place in the Central Division.

This team is also busy this Week: Home to St. Louie, visit New York for Games vs. the Rangers and Islanders mid-Week, then back home to face The Bastard Winnipeg Jets.

#-5: Gopher men's hockey (Re-Entry!).  The other team I can see possibly winning the championship in their sport is the Gopher male icers.  But it's going to be a fight, if their 3-0 humbling at St. Cloud St. last/Saturday night is any indication.  No shame in the Loss; the Huskies are ranked fourth in the country, and they'll have a return date this/Sunday afternoon at Mariucci.  I'll put up their chances of winning it all with anyone else.  But the problem is is that there is an "anyone else."

After finishing up the home-and-home with SCSU, they play a two-Game set versus Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind.

#-6: Gopher wrestling (Re-Entry!).  I'm still pretty fucking stunned that this group of grapplers went down to Stillwater, Okla., and upset Oklahoma St. on December 4.  I thought any echo of this program's glory days were permanently behind them.  And yet they finally lost their first Dual of the season yesterday/Saturday afternoon, 18-11, at ... Northwestern?  Really, Northwestern??  But then I see that the Wildcats are ranked seventh in the nation (it looks like the U. is eighth), and even though I don't remember Northwestern wrestling ever being that good, they're good this season.  Hey, I still am a tad optimistic that they could make themselves a pest in the NCAAs.

At Nebraska Friday.

#-7: Vikings (Last Week: -1).  This is, by far, The Worst 12-4 Team In The History Of The NFL.  My friend texted me during Sunday's 41-17 beatdown at Green Bay that when these ViQueens lose, they look fucking awful.  He's right.  Moreover, this team has three times as many Wins and Losses and yet they have allowed 19 more Points than they have scored.  Does anyone think this team will win the Super Bowl with such a red flag on their stat sheet?

That humiliation eliminated the Vikes from getting the top seed in the NFC and a bye.  Worse than that, the San Francisco 49ers, the team with the best Defense in the league, has jumped them for #2.  Those Niners face Arizona; win that and Minnesota is assured of the 3-Seed and will have to go on the road for the Divisional Round instead of staying home.

Minnesota will be the 3-Seed and will have to go on the road for the Divisional Round.  The Loss, as pre-ordained as it may have been, was that devastating.  Sure, they'll beat the Bears in Chicago because Justin Fields isn't playing and Nathan Peterman is.  But any chance that they'll even reach the Super Bowl is gone now.

#-8: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -3).  Let's face it; B-ball in Dinkytown may be at its nadir in a long time, if not all time.  Mark Coyle's possible ploy to just install local legend Lindsay Whalen as Head Coach and not worry about finding a replacement for the next two Decades may be blowing up in his face.  They lost by a dozen at The Barn to Ohio St., a program that isn't a dynastic power in women's college basketball but are (or were) ranked third in the country.  The Buckeyes have found a winning formula; the U. hasn't.  And they currently sit at 8-7 overall and 1-3 in the Big Ten.  How much goodwill does Whalen still have because she's Lindsay Whalen?

At Wisconsin this/Sunday afternoon, then home to Rutgers Thursday.

#-9: Gopher men's basketball (Re-Entry!).  Man, I swear this ballclub was supposed to be better this Year.  But they are 8-7 overall and still winless (at 0-4) in the B1G after losing by three at Wisconsin Tuesday and, much more embarrassing, a two-Point Overtime Loss at Williams Arena to Nebraska.  Nebraska!!!  Ben Johnson was supposed to show improvement in Year Two.  This sure as shit is not improvement.  This could be a long goddamn Year for that team.

At least they have only one contest to deal with this screening Week: At Ohio St. Thursday.