Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING TAKEOUT NEWS: 4-7-23.
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Thank goodness for streaming, because it’s hard to believe the best golf tournament in America doesn’t let its broadcast partner go live on TV before 3 p.m. on the East Coast. I’m hoping for pure chaos involving LIV defector Brooks Koepka, who’s tied for the lead after round 1. Also good for Tiger Woods for still giving this a go, but you can tell just how bad the pain is ravaging his body.
Gophers Beat B.U., Play Quinnipiac for National Championship Saturday
Grease up the lightpoles, Dinkytown PD, because the Gophers will play for the national championship Saturday against Quinnipiac at Tampa’s Amalie Arena. Puck drop is 7 p.m. on ESPN2.
The Gophers scored four times in the third period to beat 6-2 Boston University in yesterday’s national semifinal. Minnesota hit no fewer than three posts and had a goal disallowed. But they still needed back-to-back goals by Eden Prairie’s Luke Mittelstadt early in the third period to seize control.
And that’s how the Gophers get you. Ten Gophers recorded at least one point. The Terriers held Jimmy Snuggerud off the scoresheet entirely, and still gave up six goals. Mittelstadt added an assist, and freshman star Logan Cooley also collected three points, including two goals. Mittlestadt, a member of the Big 10’s All Freshman Team, had two goals all regular season, but he’s got three in the post-season.
Quinnipiac beat Michigan in last night’s late semifinal to ruin the would be Big 10 national final.
Cooley and Matthew Knies, along with Michigan’s Adam Fantilli, are up for the Hobey Baker Award as college hockey’s best player. It’ll be awarded tonight at 5 p.m. Watch the presentation here.
Wild a No Show in Pittsburgh
The reason why it’s so hard to get emotionally attached to this Wild team and a chance to make a deep playoff run is, you never know what night they’ll just fail to show up. That happened in a critical game against a struggling Pittsburgh team last night; the Penguins beat up the Wild 4-1 in western Pennsylvania.
The Wild was outshot 19-5 in the first period. Poor Marc-Andre Fleury playing in front of his former ‘mates. Matt Dumba could be facing NHL disciplinary action for a dangerous check, and the Wild lost Joel Eriksson Ek and Oskar Sundquist to lower body injuries. Eriksson Ek is most problematic - he got hit with a puck above his skate.
Yes, Kirill Kaprizov is expected to play at least once before the playoffs, and Gustav Nyquist could return this weekend. But the Wild has lost that swagger in the last week, and it’s not so easy to just pick it up back up. Even when The Thrill is back, can Mats Zuccarello just instantly turn his game back on after one of the worst months of his career?
They’ll be playing a very good team in the first round of the playoffs, whether it be Dallas or Colorado. And right now, it certainly looks like the Wild will open that playoff series on the road. A week ago we were talking about a possible best record in the entire Western Conference, now they’ve got to outplay at least one other team over the final four games.
The Wild’s four games left are at home versus St. Louis on Saturday, at Chicago Monday, at home against Winnipeg on Tuesday and at Nashville next Thursday. Not exactly murderers’ row, and no matter where they finish, they’ve got to pick up some momentum before the playoffs start.
Comes down to This Weekend for Wolves
The Timberwolves are in the playoffs. But per baseball-reference.com (ironic), the Wolves’ playoff probabilities are as such:
9th - 53.3 pct.
8th - 23.5 pct.
7th - 17.9 pct.
5th/6th - 5.4 pct.
No. 7 plays No. 8 with the winner taking the seventh seed. No. 9 plays No. 10 - the loser goes home, and the No. 9 seed plays the loser of 7/8 to see who enters the playoffs as the eighth seed.
The Wolves play at San Antonio on Saturday before hosting New Orleans Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in a game that very well could decide who would have to win one game to make the actual playoffs, and who would have to win two.
Twins Need Offense to Catch up to Starting Pitching
The Twins are about where we thought they’d be after six games heading into a delayed home opener. Four wins, two losses, excellent starting pitching, subpar offense and a bullpen that’ll keep you on the edge of your seat.
In two games, the Twins have scored 18 runs. In the other four, they’ve scored only six, including a 5-2 loss at the Marlins Wednesday afternoon. Pablo Lopez was great on the mound for a second straight start. But the offense did little, and after the Twins scratched together a run to tie things up in the eighth, Griffin Jax and Caleb Thielbar combined to give up four runs.
Carlos Correa is batting just .208. He’s prone to slow starts. Jose Miranda is at .143. Michael A. Taylor is playing a fine centerfield for Byron Buxton but he’s batting .200. Versus leftie or rightie, the Twins have too many guaranteed outs right now.
The home opener today at 3. Sonny Gray is on the mound. The Twins and Astros also play Saturday and Sunday at 1. Great baseball weather this weekend.
Gopher FB, BB Lose Key Players in Portal
Gopher running back Trey Potts, the second leading rusher on the team last season, is transferring to Penn State. On the basketball side of things, Jamison Battle, the team’s best overall player, will play for Ohio State in 2023-24.
Unbeaten Loons in Chicago
The Loons take to the storied pitch of Soldier Field Saturday night (free game on Apple TV). Minnesota has scored just six goals in five games but has yet to be beaten (3-0-2).
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