Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING NEWS: 3.17.25

Mar 17

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Best of luck to J.J. Spaun trying to beat Rory McIlroy in a St. Patrick’s Day playoff at The Players Championship.

Gophers reportedly closing in on Niko Medved as their next men’s basketball coach. He’s from Roseville (of course he is) and spent one season as a Gopher assistant. He’s led Colorao State to three 25-win seasons out of the last four.

Kansas hit five straight home runs (that’s back to back to back to back to back) against the Gophers at U.S. Bank Stadium aka the Coors Field of the Midwest.

Ten days away from the Twins’ season opener (March 27 seems early) against the Cardinals (old friend Sonny Gray versus Pablo Lopez), and Royce Lewis strained a hamstring yesterday; more news to come today. They’ll most certainly start the season without him.

Vikings traded for RB depth, getting Jordan Mason and a pick from San Francisco for two picks. He’s an emerging stud who ran for almost 800 yards while starting only six games last season. If Aaron Jones wears down, the ball is his.

Napheesa Collier was named the Unrivaled League’s MVP, but was added to the injury report for the playoffs with an ankle injury. WNBA season starts in mid May. Collier co-founded Unrivaled, the 3-on-3 league.

Wolves’ Win Streak Reaches Eight

The Wolves made quick work of Utah, 128-102, last night at Target Center for their eighth straight win since losing to the Jazz Feb. 28. That’s Minnesota’s longest win streak since the 2003-04 season.

ANT had a signature slam en route to 41 points in just 31 minutes. The Wolves got to empty their bench - 13 players saw action in the game - while resting Mike Conley ahead of tonight’s second of a back-to-back, against Indiana.

The Wolves still can’t get out of the play-in round (there are 14 games left). That’s because Golden State has won seven straight. They’re in a virtual tie for sixth, but the Warriors have two games in hand.

GWH Hosts Frozen Four, Takes on No. 1 Wisconsin Friday

The Gopher women will have to beat Wisconsin for the first time in six attempts this season if they want to play for a national championship. Minnesota got two goals from Abbey Murphy and the game-winner from Sydney Morrow against her former team in a 3-2 win over Colgate Saturday at Ridder Arena. It looked like a laugher until late.

The Frozen Four is this weekend at Ridder. Minnesota takes on Wisconsin, the best women’s college hockey team in quite some time, at 7:30 p.m. Friday. The winner plays either Ohio State or Cornell. The national championship game is Sunday at 3 p.m.

Will Wild Make the Playoffs?

The playoffs are no longer a certainty for the Wild. Minnesota was booed off the ice in a 5-1 loss Saturday against St. Louis. The Wild is 1-3-0 on a season-long seven-game homestand, has lost four of five overall and is 3-7-0 in its last 10, while scoring just 14 goals.

And then the Blues went out and beat Anaheim last night, getting within two points of the Wild for fourth in the Central with 14 games left. Minnesota has a game in hand, but games in hand only work if you win them.

We all knew it would be a struggle without Kaprizov, JEEK and Brodin, but this team is playing uninspiring hockey, looking like it could have used a bigger shakeup at the trade deadline, salary cap be damned. They’re going to have to win a lot of games 2-1, and there’s so much pressure on this defensive unit and Filip Gustavsson right now, it’s unsustainable.

And tonight, the Wild welcomes the Kings, who have won five in a row.

If the Blues catch the Wild, they could still make the playoffs in the Pacific by getting more points than either Vancouver or Calgary. To be honest, the Pacific would be a lot easier than the plank walk that is Winnipeg, Dallas and Colorado.

Loons Blow 3-0 Lead, Settle for Draw against K.C.

You don’t see many three-goal leads in MLS. You see even fewer blown three-goal leads.

Minnesota led 3-0 after 46 minutes, but had to settle for a 3-3 draw against K.C., which scored three goals in 12 minutes to even things up.

Tani Oluwaseyi scored twice for the Loons, which is 2-1-1. Minnesota hosts a rare MLS matinee on Saturday against the 0-3-1 L.A. Galaxy.

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