Positive Numbers: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -2). OK, so the Gophers are on their way to a second straight Frozen Four after winning the Regional up in UND country (that's Fargo, in case you don't know).
As the #1 overall Seed they traditionally draw the #16 Seed, which is traditionally the winner of the tournament in Atlantic Hockey, Canisius. But boy, they played like shit for most of the first two Periods. The Golden Griffins took the lead in the Second, at which point I had to turn the radio off because I couldn't stand it. But unbeknownst to me, they tied and then went ahead late in the Second Period, then poured in a half-dozen more Goals to finally overpower Canisius, 9-2. (There has been a lot of inveighing over how uncompetitive the Eighthfinals of the NCAA Men's Hockey Tournament has been. The closes margin of Victory was two; Colgate upset Denver, 2-0. The Winners beat the Losers by a combined score of 52-5! Someone tweeted that while people are debating whether college basketball should go to 90 teams, men's college hockey should drop down to eight. He may be joking, but he has a point.)
St. Cloud St. was supposed to pose a stiffer test. But the squad did not let down. Instead it buckled down and answered a Game-tying Goal by the Huskies' Adam Ingram three Minutes later with the eventual Game-winning Goal by Logan Cooley. Jackson LaCombe scored the insurance tally in the Third Period, and Jaxon Nelson scored on an Empty Net to complete the 4-1 Win. (The first Gophers Goal was scored by Bryce Brodzinski, who was named after the Match the Regional's Most Oustanding Player.)
They have more than a Week to prepare, and they'll do so in Tampa. However, their Semifinal opponent ain't no slouch, either. Boston University has won nine in a row, so they might be riding a wave of momentum into their clash Thursday the 6th. As I've said before, this Golden Gopher men's hockey team is the best chance a Twin Cities sports squad has had of hoisting a title trophy of some repute (sorry, Whitecaps, and BTW, they play tonight/Sunday night for the Isobel Cup at 8 p.m. on, I think, ESPN2), and it might be a long time before any other club gets close. So no pressure.
#0: Wild (Last Week: -4). They're not vying for a championship in two Weeks. But their spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs is all but assured not too long after falling out of the postseason picture entirely on the strength of a 3-1 Week, the only Loss (to, of all squads, Philadelphia) coming in a Shootout. They have leapfrogged The Bastard North Stars for first place in the Central Division. The last time the Wild have been in first all on their lonesome was around Christmastime 2021. And they haven't been all alone in first place this far into a season since ... well, I heard the statistic once but I can't find it, so I guess it's been a while.
What's most impressive is that their recent splendid run of form has come without Kirill Kaprizov. Matt Boldy in particular has become a scoring powerhouse. I don't want to say that they play better without him, but frankly, the stats don't lie.
Host Seattle Monday, a tricky game in Denver against The Bastard Quebec Nordiques Wednesday, then at Las Vegas to begin a home-and-home with the Golden Knights.
#-1: Timberwolves (Last Week: -5). Hey, KAT's back! And he scored the Game-tying and -winning Free Throws to help the T-Wolves outlast Atlanta at Target, 125-124. They went perfect this Week, also out-pointing New York in Madison Square Garden on Monday, 140-134. You always want Towns back in your starting lineup, of course. But this team's recent splendid(-ish) run of form should be attributed to performances by many of the so-called role players, so-called because their enormous contributions depending on the contest makes you think they could actually be a superstar. Jaden McDaniels, Naz Reid, Jaylen Nowell, Kyle Anderson, Taurean Prince, new acquisition Mike Conley, Jr. -- they have all stepped up when their teammates and team needed them to.
Now, that has translated only to a .500 record and a three-way tie for seventh in the West. But it could be worse. Moreover, they're only 1 1/2 Games behind Golden State for sixth and the final rung out of the Play-In, and they play in San Francisco against the Warriors tonight/Sunday night. They then travel to two teams well above them in the conference, Sacramento tomorrow/Monday and Phoenix Wednesday, before hosting a desperate Bastard Minneapolis Lakers ballclub Friday.
#-2: Gopher baseball (Last Week: -6). Began the screening Week losing to Houston at U. S. Bank Stadium, completing the sweep. They then went to Normal to play two mid-Week, but after triumphing over the Cardinals on Tuesday, 10-3, their Game Wednesday was cancelled due to rain. They then went to Omaha for a weekend two-Game series vs. Creighton, but I know this series was supposed to be at Siebert Field but was switched due to bad conditions on the field and impending rain, plus I swear this was supposed to be a three-Game series, not two. Anyway, they lost Friday, 5-2, but shut out the Bluejays yesterday/Saturday afternoon, 3-0.
So after a rain-ravaged Week, they'll begin Big Ten play with three at Columbus starting Friday ... weather permitting.
#-3: United FC (Last Week: 0). I missed last/Saturday night's Game at Allianz against the Vancouver Whitecaps because there was just too much water leaking everywhere. (Swear to God this will be the subject of my next blog post.) But now that I hear how it went down, I'm kind of glad I wasted the money as a season ticketholder and not show up. They didn't play bad; Mender Garcia scored again (nice find, Manny Lagos!) to put the Loons up, 1-0. But at the death of the Second Half, Simon Becher put in a rebound to tie up the Match in the 98th Minute. Trouble is, Referee Rosendo Mendoza said he would only add six Minutes to the end of the Match. Don't know how he explained that in the post-Match conference he gives to the press, but he should.
Anyway, I would be so pissed that I had "Wonderwall" yanked from my lips because of a Goal that shouldn't have happened that I would be banging my head against the steering wheel for not staying to mind the water heater instead. As anxiety-inducing as that is, foregoing that to see certain Victory yanked from my team would piss me off to no end. And don't get me wrong, I kind of blame MNUFC for not locking this Win down. This is the second home Game of the season, and it's the second time they've blown a lead at home to just settle for a Draw.
Sure, they're undefeated. But their two Wins and two Draws only gets them fourth place in the Western Conference. Saturday they travel to St. Louis to face undefeated expansion side City. A part of me admires that they're five-for-five in Wins right now, but that may be because I have a soft sport for the city of St. Louis. On the other hand, it's unnatural and, in my opinion, not right for an expansion team to be this good in their inaugural Year. They're the Las Vegas Golden Knights of MLS. Just great.
#-4: Gopher softball (Last Week: -1). Like with the male diamond sport, the possibility of rain has also altered the U. softballers' schedule. Their only Games this Week were the conference-opening ones at Northwestern. But after losing 8-7 in nine Innings Friday afternoon, yesterday/Saturday's contest was pushed to today/Sunday as part of a Doubleheader after inclement weather was forecast for yesteray/Saturday. And so that's why a pretty good club brings up the caboose in this Week's survey; they only played one Game, and it was a Loss.
After finishing in Evanston, they come home to Cowles Stadium to play a trio versus Penn St. -- weather permitting.
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