Positive Numbers: Gopher women's hockey (Last Week: Positive Numbers). Congratulations to the second-seeded University of Minnesota women's hockey team, who beat third-seeded Wisconsin and then, shockingly, top-seeded Ohio St. to win the WCHA Final Faceoff (played, as always, at Ridder Arena) and clinch the conference's automatic pick for the first time in five Years. My only gripe is that this is a conference tournament, and all the favorites made their way to Dinkytown. Maybe fourth-seeded Minnesota-Duluth had something to play for, but the other three teams definitely are going to make the NCAA Tournament. What I'm saying is that neither the Gophers nor the Buckeyes really needed to win yesterday/Saturday afternoon's title tilt, so I kind of question Ohio St.'s motivation. Now, if this were the NCAA championship Game, we would see a different Ohio St. than the one that was on the ice.
The sport's selection show is this afternoon at 11. The sport relies on the PairWise to include teams and principles similar to the ones for men's hockey to construct the bracket. The only bracketology I have seen so far for women's college hockey on the Internet is Matt Wellens, reporter for the Duluth News Tribune, but even he admits that this Year's bracket is pretty much cut-and-dried. Wellens thinks the Gophers will host the winner of the Bulldogs and Clarkson at Ridder next weekend. Regardless of how the bracket is set up, this is the Gophers' level of competition, finally. Let's see if they can turn this really good season into a championship one.
#0: Wild (Last Week: -2). I and many fans buried this team, oh, three Weeks ago. But they ran through a very busy screening Week running the table, 4-0, beating the Blue Jackets and Islanders at home, then Vancouver and Calgary on the road, and so they have surged into second in the Central Division, just three Points behind The Bastard North Stars. And Bill Guerin has responded in kind by ... not sacrificing good draft picks or the organization's many prospects in finding role players for the stretch run. Oh, and they gave up on the Big Rig, Jordan Greenway, shuffled off the Buffalo.
Can they keep this really good fortune up? They finish up their home and home with The Bastard Atlanta Flames Tuesday at the X, then embark on a four-Game road trip with visits to Winnipeg and San Jose.
#-1: Timberwolves (Last Week: -4). They began a very important, very scary four-Game California trip with a five-Point Loss to Golden State. But they have toughened up and turned it around, beating the Clippers by seven, The Team That Was Stolen From Us v.1.0 by eight, and Sacramento by four. I am impressed by the last three Wins all coming by single digits. As such, they now sit in seventh in the West, statistically tied with Dallas for sixth, even though fourth and 13th in the Western Conference are separated only by 5 1/2 Games.
Light screening Week: Philadelphia Tuesday and The Bastard New York Nets Friday, both at home.
#-2: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -Infinity). In their only Match of the screening Week, they snapped a losing streak of 12 Games by coming back from a 10-Point deficit in the last 75 Seconds to defeat Rutgers, 75-74. Jamison Battle sank three Three-Pointers in that span, the last of which was drained at the buzzer. It was dramatic, but considering this was only their second Win in Big Ten play and they probably still will finish last in the conference, the ecstasy fulminating (from both the stands and certain areas of the media) in beating a tournament team at the gun was way over-the-top. It's still an execrable season, so that's why they're below two clubs that lost over the Week.
They finish up the regular season tonight/Sunday night at The Barn versus Wisconsin (apparently they will not make up their road date vs. Michigan St.), then play out the string in Chicago for the B1G tourney.
#-3: Gopher softball (Last Week: -3). Got absolutely battered by Baylor Invitational host (and ranked) Baylor, 15-2 in five Innings, then won over ranked Oregon, got shut out by ranked LSU, and defeated host (and Receiving Votes) Cal State-Fullerton, the last three of which is part of the Judi Garman Classic. They finish up the tournament today against Seattle and Loyola Marymount, take a trip down to San Diego St. (also Receiving Votes) Tuesday, then host the Gopher Indoor Classic at U. S. Bank Stadium where they will play (among others) North Dakota St., Central Michigan, and Idaho St.
#-4: Gopher baseball (Last Week: -7). They're trying. God, they're trying. But they are now 0-10 to start the season. Saint Louis finished a sweep of the Goofs in Ft. Myers last Sunday, 16-9, got shut out by Wisconsin-Milwaukee at Ooos Bahnk on Wednesday, 3-0, then have dropped their first two Games of the Cambria College Classic at Ooos Bahnk, although they were close. They just got pipped Friday night by Hawai'i, 3-2, then took a mid-Inning lead on fourth-ranked and defending College World Series champion Ole Miss before losing, 9-7. Like I said above, I wish I could say more, and maybe I will when I don't have to work in the morning.
They finish up their tournament tonight/Sunday night against seventh-ranked Vanderbilt, play back-to-back home Games against Northern Illinois and South Dakota St. mid-Week, then begin a three-Game series at West Virginia over the weekend.
#-5: Whitecaps: (Last Week: -6). What the fuck is happening to the Whitecraps? A 7-1 home ass-kicking by Toronto Sunday (which completed a two-Game sweep) followed by a two-Game sweep at league-leading Boston this weekend has pushed this squad's losing streak to six Games (which, by the way, mirrors the six-Game winning streak that preceeded it). And they have now slipped behind Connecticut and into fourth place. And I thought these folks got their shit together.
And would you look at this: The regular season ends Saturday and Sunday with a home series against the Whale.
#-Infinity: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -5). I really, really want to say more about this program. Their regular season finale was a Senior Day, eight-Point victory over Purdue where I know the Boilermakers didn't care to play. That got the U. the 12 Seed going into the Big Ten Women's Tournament being played at Target Center, about three miles away, but in the first Game of the tournament they were nominally hosting, they were the first team ushered out of the tournament, a 72-67 upset by 13th-seeded Penn St. where the Gophers continued to turn the ball over and play no defense.
That cost Lindsay Whalen her job as Head Coach, no matter how much Athletic Director Mark Coyle said this was a "mutual decision." And I realize that to do this news justice is to blog post about it in a future WMNSS or possibly (probably?) in another blog post altogether.
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