Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING NEWS: 2.5.25

Feb 5

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Wild Blanked on Road Again

After sweeping through the first three games of a five-game road trip, the Wild comes back to Saint Paul fresh off of two shutouts, the latest a 3-0 defeat at Boston last night. While not as bad as a 6-0 decision in Ottawa three nights prior, the Wild started fast but kind of went to sleep for a 30-minute stretch. Even with three power plays in the third period, they couldn’t get one past Jeremy Swayman.

The good news is that Jonas Brodin and Marcus Johansson returned from longer term injuries. WIth Ryan Hartman’s suspension, the Wild will have to go without any extra forwards for the foreseeable future.

The Wild is below .500 at home (11-12-2) and returns to The X on Thursday to host Carolina and the Islanders on Saturday. Then it’s a two-week break for the Four Nations Tournament. The schedule after that tournament is not easy.

Wolves Lose Second Straight

Like their Saint Paul counterparts, the Wolves are a vastly superior road team. They’ve now lost two straight to begin a four-game homestand, including a 116-114 decision against a Kings team that had just traded their best player.

ANT returned from illness and was subpar, missing 14-of-21 shots. Nice to see Naz Reid break out - 30 points - but with Julius Randle out, the Wolves need more out of Edwards. Fans don’t like Randle, but they’re sure not a very good team without him.

The Wolves host Chicago tonight and a flailing Rockets team tomorrow. Houston is third in the West but has lost four straight.

GMBB Beats Penn State

There are some really good teams in the Big 10, but there are also some very average teams that make for an entertaining basketball game. That happened last night in central PA, where the Gopher men rallied for a 69-61 win at Penn State to improve to 4-8 in conference play.

Dawson Garcia led the way as usual with 19 points, but it was reserve senior Brennan Grigsby (14 points) who was the story. He didn’t miss a shot.

The Gophers host Illinois on Saturday.

The Gopher women come off a four-day break to host Iowa tomorrow.

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