Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING NEWS: 3.10.25

Mar 11

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Big high school hockey weekend for the 218 area code. Often imitated, never duplicated, the Pulltab Sports All Hockey Hair Team. Matt Cullen looks like he could still play; Greg Zanon looks like he could still yell at me regularly.

Vikings re-sign RB Aaron Jones for two years at $20 million total. Thirteen million is guaranteed. He’s no spring chicken, but the rest of the locker room will be inexpensive (they’re not signing Aaron Rodgers).

Frost is suddenly secure in a playoff spot and just a point out of second in the PWHL after Kendall Coyne-Schofield gave them a 2-1 OT win over Toronto yesterday.

Gable Steveson is the first heavyweight in NCAA history to win four national titles. He made mincemeat of this guy.

Wolves Back into Sixth after Blowing Out Spurs

The two hottest teams in the Western Conference really want to avoid the play-in round. The Wolves hit 21 3-pointers and blew out the Spurs 141-124 last night at Target Center to win their fifth straight and move back into sixth place in the West. They leapfrogged Golden State, which has won four straight.

Anthony Edwards had 25 points, and Julius Randle has looked like a new player since returning from injury. Randle had 14 points, seven rebounds and 10 assists; his third straight game with nine or more assists. Rudy Gobert returned from injury last night and had 16 points and eight rebounds in just 20 minutes.

The Wolves get the Nuggets in a playoff rematch on Wednesday.

Free-Falling Wild Opens Crucial Homestand with Loss to Pens

Wild GM Bill Guerin made it clear his big trade deadline acquisitions would be stars Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek and Jonas Brodin returning. The problem now is, will they return in enough time to save the season.

The free-falling Wild has dropped back-to-back 3-1 games, including a home tilt against Pittsburgh yesterday. Sid Crosby scored twice and Evgeni Malkin once against their former teammate and good friend Marc-Andre Fleury.

Minnesota has dropped into the final playoff spot in the Central. They’re only seven points away from missing the playoffs, with 17 games to play. If I was generous, I’d say they skated three top six NHL forwards yesterday. Their actual trade deadline acquisition, played just over four minutes in his second game.

Minnesota has won just 14 of 29 home games and Sunday’s game began a seven-game homestand. Things don’t get any easier on Tuesday against Colorado; the Avs traded for one of my favorite all-time Wild players Charlie Coyle at the deadline.

Gopher Hockey

Bob Motzko told reporters earlier this season that a share of the Big 10 regular season championship without a first-round tournament bye was fine. Well, now his team gets 18 days off to before playing an NCAA Tournament team who is likely to be playing well. Last-place Notre Dame beat the Gophers two games to one at Mariucci over the weekend, including a 4-1 series-clinching win last night. While the Michigan States of the world are likely to play for two more weekends before the NCAA’s begin, Motzko’s crew will be practicing for 18 days. You have to wonder if this result will send the Gophers on the road as well; they were a shoo-in to be the No. 1 seed in North Dakota.

The Gophers were thisclose to handing 34-1-2 Wisconsin a loss in the WCHA Championship Game. Instead, the Badgers scored the winning goal with less than 30 seconds left, sending Minnesota to the No. 4 overall seed and a probably NCAA quarterfinal matchup with Wisconsin. What do they say, the hardest thing to do in sports is to beat a team six times in one season? (Stolen from my friend Will, with permission). Minnesota will host Colgate on Saturday in the trick No. 4-No. 5 matchup. The Frozen Four is the next weekend in Minneapolis.

Gopher Hoops

The Gophers lost by eight to Rutgers on the road yesterday in their regular season finale. They do quality for the B10 Tournament as the No. 12 seed, playing 13th-seeded Northwestern in the tourney opener on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m.

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