Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING NEWS: 1.8.25

Jan 8

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Wild Loses Faber, Beats Blues

Jake Middleton returned to the lineup after missing almost a month due to injury with a goal and an assist, and the Wild overcame an injury to Brock Faber for a bonkers 6-4 win over St. Louis at The X last night. At the season’s official halfway point, Minnesota is two points back of first-place Winnipeg in the Central with a game in hand.

Middleton skated 22:29 in his first game since mid December, and he’s going to need to do that and then some if the Wild are to survive the loss of Faber, who skated just four minutes before leaving with an “upper body” injury the Wild had no update on (remember when we thought the NHL’s partnerships with sports books would erase the injury vagueness?) The Wild is already without Jared Spurgeon on the blueline, and Kirill Kaprizov up front. Neither are skating.

The Wild took a 2-0 lead just a couple minutes into the game, yet found themselves down 4-2 in the second when Marc-Andre Fleury replaced Filip Gustavsson. Fleury recorded just his sixth career win in relief - half of them coming with the Wild.

Still the Wild needed a gutsy shift of 164 seconds while protecting a 5-4 lead late. Marcus Johanssen ended things with an empty netter, with Jonas Brodin (a yeoman 33:02 of ice time) setting him up.

The Wild is perfect in the New Year and has won four in a row heading into Thursday’s game with Colorado. Not many games at the season’s midway point in the last 10 years the Wild has been ahead of the Avs in the standings.

Wolves Win Back-to-Back

Things can change quickly in the NBA.

The Wolves beat the Clippers at home and the Pelicans on the road on back-to-back nights, and suddenly things don’t seem all that bad. Of course, who knows what kind of effort they’ll put forth tomorrow in Orlando. You just can’t figure this team out.

Monday against the Clippers, the Wolves fell down 19 points with a revamped lineup - Mike Conley out, Donte DiVincenzo in. But they rallied to win going away.

Last night in New Orleans, Anthony Edwards hit 7 3-pointers en route to a 32-point performance in a 104-97 win over the Pelicans. Not easy, but needed.

The Wolves are 19-17, in eighth place in the West.

Gopher Hoops

For a team not expected to be in a position to win too many conference games, what a heartbreaker for the Gopher men on Monday, falling 89-88 in double overtime at home to Ohio State.

The Gophers got incredible games from several players, including Parker Fox’s 21-point, five-rebound effort. The game featured 24 lead changes and 10 ties.

Minnesota will look for its first conference win Friday in Madison; the Badgers have won four straight.

The Gopher women put their 15-1 overall mark and 3-1 conference record on the line tonight when they host Rutgers.

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