Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING TAKEOUT NEWS: 2-17-23.
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Good to see Tiger back, pulling pranks and playing a pretty good round of golf at The Genesis, too.
Tiger Woods hands Justin Thomas a tampon after outdriving him at the Genesis International Tournament.
Wolves Throw Away One They Shouldn’t Have
The Wolves have a week of the All-Star break to try to forget last night’s miserable 114-106 home loss to Washington. Minnesota led by 20 early, and by seven with four minutes left, but lost by eight.
Three games with Mike Conley, Jr. - one that makes the Wolves look like contenders, and two that makes them look like also rans. Conley had zero points in 33 minutes against the Wizards.
Last night, the Wolves were outscored 38-19 in the third quarter, but hit just six-of-25 field goals in the fourth quarter, including 1-of-9 from 3-point range.
They’ll regroup and not play again until hosting Charlotte a week from today. They’re currently in eighth place in the tight Western Conference.
Wild Continues Freefall
It’s not their only problem, but the Wild has a goalie problem.
It’s not that they don’t have one good one, it’s that they have one good one right now, and it’s the goalie the coaching staff isn’t putting in the net in important games.
Dean Evason deferred to the Hall of Famer in Wednesday’s 3-2 home loss to Colorado. Marc-Andre Fleury, a game after being benched after two periods, allowed three goals on his first nine shots faced against the Avs. Evason defended Fleury after, but it’s two straight supbar games - with some other not great ones mixed in - while Filip Gustavsson has some of the best numbers of any goaltender in the NHL since Thanksgiving.
It’s interesting because Evason generally has not deferred to his vets like predecessor. GM Bill Guerin is close with Fleury, of course. He’s also close with Alex Goligoski, who played in place of Calen Addison and played a starring role in the first Avs’ goal. It’s tough to put too much blame on Goose, who has been played sparingly to say the least. But last year, Guerin gave the former Penguin and aging defenseman a two-year extension (he’s got one year after this). The coaching staff has benched Addison twice for poor defensive play, and they’ve inserted Goligoski, who’s been collecting moth balls in the press box all season.
And we haven’t even gotten to the team’s biggest issue - it can’t score. Only five of the team’s 12 forwards in Wednesday’s lineup have scored in the last 12 games. Only five! They’re awful 5-on-5, and consistently carry half a dozen forwards who are zero threat offensively. Jordan Greenway has gone from rising power forward to a guy with two goals on a checking line that also isn’t keeping its opponents out of the net.
The WIld is four games into a season-saving homestand and has one win (in a shootout). They’re out of the top eight in the West, and host Western Conference-leading Dallas on Friday. Management seems unwilling to call up anyone from Iowa to insert some juice into this lineup, and there’s not a lot they can do trade wise, especially on a sinking ship.
Gopher BB
We’ll start with the Gopher women, who ended a six-game losing streak with a 95-92 win over Nebraska. A huge night for hometown hero Mara Braun, with 28 points and seven rebounds.
The Gopher men carry an eight-game losing streak into a Saturday night home game against Penn State. Minnesota had its game Wednesday at Michigan State postponed due to the tragedy in East Lansing.
Gopher Hockey
The No. 2 ranked (No. 1 in Pairwise) Gophers officially secured the Big 10 regular season title last night, without even taking the ice. It’s the 10th year of the Big 10, and the Gophers have won six, while no one else has more than one. They visit No. 7 Penn State this weekend. It won’t be easy, as the Gophers are without injured defensemen Brock Faber (who would join the Wild’s top four D as soon as the Gophers’ season is over) and Ryan Chesley.
On the women’s side, the Gophers are overwhelming favorites to sweep St. Thomas in the final WCHA weekend of the season. But, they’ll need help from Wisconsin in order to leapfrog Ohio State for the WCHA championship. Ohio State enters the final weekend up three points.
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