Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING NEWS: 1.13.25

Jan 13

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We’ll produce The Takeout on Monday, Tuesday and Friday this week. Will we be recapping a Vikings win tomorrow? Sure seems like it’s Minnesota against the world; everyone wants to see the Rams win for Southern California. But the Vikings are 2.5-point favorites in the game, to be played at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. You have to think there will be some Vikings fans there but plenty from L.A., too. Can Sam Darnold regain his week 1 through 16 form? If he had a poor first half, how loudly will people be clamoring for Daniel Jones? I think the Vikings win 24-20.

What will have more drama in the next 24 hours, Vikings/Rams or opening of Minnesota Legislative session?

The Gophers lost defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman to Miami, which finished two spots out of the final CFP spot due to defensive woes. P.J. Fleck is well paid, but it’s hard to keep assistants around with richer schools poaching.

Wild Falls in Vegas after Beating Sharks

John Hynes means business - he started Marc-Andre Fleury against the woeful Sharks on Saturday and not in what would have been his final career start in Vegas last night. Filip Gustavsson got the nod instead, and the Golden Knights rallied from an early deficit for a 4-1 win. The Wild split the two-game western swing after beating the Sharks on Saturday.

The Wild went down two men for 116 seconds in the middle period, and just after the first penalty expired, the Knights evened the score.

Vegas had lost two in a row at home, and once they got rolling, they weren’t losing. The Knights outshot the Wild 27-9 over the final two periods. Flower did get a standing O while on the bench.

Minnesota gets a couple days off before hosting Edmonton in a battle of second-place teams on Wednesday.

The Wild is still without Jared Spurgeon, Brock Faber, Jonas Brodin and Kirill Kaprizov. And they lost newcomer David Jiricek for almost a full period against Vegas.

Grizzlies End Wolves’ Three-Game Win Streak

The Wolves nearly survived an off night by Anthony Edwards, but Ant Man’s potential game-winning 3-point attempt in traffic at the buzzer couldn’t even find the rim. Memphis survived Minnesota 127-125 in an entertaining Saturday night game at Target Center.

Perhaps the best news coming out of the game is Donte DiVincenzo’s 27-point, 10-rebound, seven-assist outing. We’ll see less and less of Mike Connelly if DD continues this play.

Edwards missed all five 3-pointers and had six of the Wolves’ 18 turnovers.

Minnesota visits Washington - in last place out East - tonight, before hosting Golden State on Wednesday on ESPN.

Gopher Hoops

You’ve got to think Ben Johnson’s days as head coach are numbered. The Gophers fell 80-59 at Wisconsin on Friday, and the Gophers coach skipped his post-game media interview with his own radio station. That interview is a tale as old as time. Now, the Gophers are in crisis mode, but if you can’t keep the locals happy…you’ve got no shot. Minnesota visits Maryland - 10-1 at home - tonight. The Gophers are 0-5 in the Big 10.

The Gopher women will not have played in six days when they take their 16-1 mark on the road to Maryland on Tuesday. The Terrapins are 15-1 - Minnesota is 16-1 - and are 5-1 in the Big 10, just a half game ahead of the Gophers. We’ll learn a lot about where the Gophers are at on Tuesday.

Gopher Hockey

The Gopher men traded a pair of lopsided decisions, losing 5-1 at No. 11 Ohio State in a rare 4 p.m. Friday tilt, before toppling the Buckeyes 6-1 on Saturday. Mike Koster set the tone 2:42 in with a goal Saturday - his first or two on the night. We’ll see if the Gophers fall from their No. 3 ranking ahead of this weekend’s home series against Notre Dame (2-11-1 in the Big 10). Minnesota is just a point behind Michigan State as they attempt to win their third regular season conference championships in four years.

The Gopher women began a stretch of three weekends against the bottom three teams in the WCHA by sweeping St. Thomas. They’ve got Minnesota State this weekend, and Bemidji State the next. UMD, Minnesota and Ohio State are separated by just a point for second through fourth in the WCHA. No one’s catching Wisconsin. They’re the top four teams in the country by a considerable margin.

Frost Beats Montreal in Front of American Record 14,018 Fans

I’ve not been diligent about PWHL updates…still sour from how the league handled the dismissal of Natalie Darwitz.

The league is playing several neutral site games, kind of a barnstorming tour, and an American-record crowd of 14,018 fans watched Minnesota beat Montreal 4-2 yesterday at Ball Arena in Denver. Colorado would appear to be one of the next two markets introduced if it happens.

Edina-born, Lakeville North and UMD product Maggie Flaherty scored the game-winner as the Frost took over first place in the PWHL.

Minnesota, beleaguered by injuries the last two weeks, plays at New York in a championship series rematch Wednesday at Prudential Center in Newark.

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