Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING TAKEOUT NEWS: 3-6-23.
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Gopher Baseball no-hit by No. 7 Vanderbilt at U.S. Bank Stadium. Softball at U.S. Bank this weekend…
Gopher BB may Lose Battle, Cooper Next Season
Who will be wearing the maroon and gold next season? That was the question overshadowing a last-second, disappointing home finale to Wisconsin. Andy Greder of the Pioneer Press reports that Jamison Battle and Ta’Lon Cooper, the team’s best two players, are both considering finishing their college careers elsewhere.
So we’re about to find out how good of a recruiter Ben Johnson is. He’s already lost one top recruit. He may lose his best two players. The Gophers are big in these parts, but money is spent on pro teams. No Gopher athletes are getting rich on NIL deals.
As for the game, the Gophers led Wisconsin by nine at the half. The Badgers stormed back, but Battle missed the front half of a one-and-one with a chance to tie things up and the Gophers lost 71-67.
The Gophers, who won two conference games and are seeded 14th and last, face 11th seeded Nebraska in the opening round of the B10 Tourney Wednesday at around 9 p.m.
GWH Wins WCHA Tourney, Hosts NCAA’s This Week; GMH Hosts Michigan State in B10 Semi
An unbelievable WCHA Final Faceoff at Ridder this weekend. Things went according to plan on day one, leading to No. 1 and No. 2 Ohio State and Minnesota dueling in the championship game on Saturday. It was the Gophers who upset the Buckeyes 3-1. It wasn’t enough to clinch the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, but they’ll be No. 2 and on Saturday host either UMD or Clarkson at 2 p.m. UMD and Clarkson play Thursday at Ridder.
The Gophers are 3-1-1 this season against OSU, and it would not shock anyone if they met again later this month in the Frozen Four championship game in Duluth. The Gophers’ best players were the best players on the ice against the Buckeyes on Saturday. Abbey Murphy, unfathomably “just” a third team All-WCHA selection, scored the GWG in both games. Now, Murphy’s reputation precedes herself. Is she an agitator? Yes. Does she occasionall dive? Perhaps. She’s no one I’d ever want to play against, that’s for sure. She even took a punch in the head at the end of the first period Saturday, leading to a five-minute power play.
The Gopher men will host Michigan State in a one-game Big 10 Semifinal this Saturday at 7 p.m. The Spartans had never won a B10 Tournament game, yet won two over the weekend. Minnesota hopes to continue its march to a No. 1 overall seed.
Wild’s Trade Deadline Day was Busy; Can They Catch Dallas?
Sometime Friday, Bill Guerin went from “stand pat” to “go for it.” Most of the fanbase thought the Wild GM had made his moves earlier in the week, trading for Marcus Johansson and injured Gustav Nyquist. But Guerin was able to send underperforming power forward Jordan Greenway to Buffalo for a couple draft picks, getting some salary off the books.
Guerin pried Oskar Sundqvist from Detroit for a fourth-round pick. He’s a checking forward (Wild has a few of those…) but has a winning background and will be tough on other teams’ top players. He’s also got seven goals and 21 points in a third line role.
The big get Friday was John Klingberg from Anaheim for a fourth-rounder, a depth veteran and a college prospect they weren’t going to sign. Klingberg is an extremely gifted offensive defenseman. There are definitely flaws in his defensive game - but in the Wild’s defensive system he may be just fine. He was brilliant in his first game - the Wild’s 3-0 win at Calgary on Saturday night. The interesting thing of course is that Dean Evason sat Calen Addison because he didn’t want to play “a power play specialist” who wasn’t providing much else. And then the Wild traded for someone similar, albeit a more gifted veteran offensive player.
The Gus Bus kept rolling in Calgary, making 31 saves as the Wild extended its points streak to nine games. Marcus Foligno and Matt Boldy both snapped out of scoring slumps. Boldy has been off for awhile but looked invigorated with Johansson on his wing.
The Wild hosts Calgary Tuesday. Minnesota is just three points back of first-place Dallas in the Central. The Flames have lost five in a row to come really close to falling completely out of the playoff race. They’re at the Stars tonight.
Wolves’ Win Streak Hits Three
The Wolves’ four-game road trip out west started with a bad five-point loss to Golden State, but they stormed back with three straight wins, capped off with a thrilling 138-134 win at Sacramento on Saturday. Mike Conley had his best game with Minnesota, scoring 24 points to complement Anthony Edwards’ 27. Kyle Anderson finished just short of a triple double with 18 points, nine assists and seven rebounds.
The Wolves are back home for two games this week, starting Tuesday against Philly. They’re suddenly back in sixth - out of the play-in tournament - in the Western Conference standings. There are only 16 regular season games remaining.
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