Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING NEWS: 1.6.25
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More than 100,000 stuffed animals thrown on the ice for the Hershey Bears’ annual Teddy Bear Toss. Some amazing photos here.
Y’all know what happened in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, I can’t look at the video of P.J. getting doused again.
Lions Blow out Vikings for No. 1 Seed; Minnesota at L.A. next Monday
The Vikings’ road to New Orleans will have to go through Los Angeles. And maybe Detroit. And Philadelphia.
Minnesota was outclassed - not good enough on offense, special teams or in the coaching category, falling 31-9 last night to Detroit in the first-ever NFL game between two 14-win teams. Yes, it was a one-point game late in the third quarter, but there wasn’t a single moment in this game where you felt like the Vikings were the better team.
Minnesota, which lost once already to the Rams this season, play the wild card round’s final game, next Monday a shade after 7 p.m.
Sam Darnold routinely missed wide open receivers - most often a foot over the heads. Kevin O’Connell twice left points on the field, eschewing a seemingly sure-thing field goal for a pair of fourth-down conversions that didn’t convert. The Vikings ran 11 plays inside the 10 yard line in the first half and didn’t score a touchdown, just converting two field goals.
Justin Jefferson caught just three passes. Jordan Addison had one catch for ZERO yards against a decimated-by-injuries Lions defense. Tight end T.J. Hockenson, a former Lion, was a non factor, reeling in just two of his eight targets, seemingly unwilling to take a hit to catch tough third down passes.
Lions coach Dan Campbell goes for it on fourth down more than any other coach in NFL history. It certainly affected O’Connell, and it was a Jared Goff fourth down touchdown with the blitz coming late in the third quarter that put the Lions up 17-9 and began the onslaught.
Early on, O’Connell twice bypassed a sure thing field goal inside the five-yard line to go for it - turning the ball over on downs both times. After watching Will Reicherd botch a kickoff that led to a Lions last minute field goal in the first half, O’Connell trusted his rookie kicker with a 51-yard field goal to close the third quarter. It would have cut an eight-point deficit to five, but the Lions got the ball in good field position and Jahmyr Gibbs’ third (of four) TD of the night provided the Lions with the game’s first two-possession lead.
The Vikings defense was good through 40 minutes. They should have even gotten two points for a safety, because there was no receiver anywhere near this Goff pass from the endzone in the first half.
U.S. Beats Finland for World Junior Gold; Tournament Comes to Twin Cities in December
The United States won its second straight IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship, rallying from two goals down in the Gold Medal game to beat Finland in overtime, 4-3. Boston College freshman Teddy Stiga scored in the 3-on-3 extra session, on a sick pass from future Wild stud blueliner Zeev Buium. He’ll be Brock Faber part two.
Canada didn’t even play for a medal.
The tournament, the best for U-20’s in all the land, is being held in the Twin Cities next December and January, with games at The X and Mariucci. This is the State of Hockey after all, but I am extremely intrigued at the widespread appeal especially if, for instance, the Vikings are playing a home game to clinch the No. 1 seed.
Kaprizov Hurt, but Wild Has Won Five of Six
Despite not having the services of injured Kirill Kaprizov since before Christmas, it’s a far different Wild team since the holiday break. The Wild swept games at Washington and Carolina late last week, moving them to 5-1-0 since Dec. 23.
Kaprizov’s return doesn’t seem imminent. But Marco Rossi has been filling in admirably alongside Mats Zuccarello. It’s a good thing Bill Guerin didn’t trade a young underperforming Rossi - he’s right alongside Matt Boldy for the second offensive threat behind Kaprizov.
Not all good news for the Wild, who lost Jared Spurgeon on New Year’s Eve due to a leg injury suffered while taking a nasty slew foot. But it could always be worse as I like to say; Spurgeon is expected to miss 2-3 weeks, and at first the injury sure looked like it could have been season-ending.
The Wild hosts the Blues on Tuesday and the Avs on Thursday. After a slow start, Colorado is just five points behind the WIld for second and seven back of division-leading Winnipeg.
Minnesota is just 10-8-1 at home compared to 15-3-3 on the road.
Wolves Desperate for a W
The Wolves didn’t lose three straight regular season games en route to last year’s Western Conference Finals, yet they’re in the midst of their fourth such losing streak this season.
Bottom line, the Wolves are a hot mess behind Anthony Edwards, who scored 53 points in a 119-105 loss at Detroit on Saturday. That sunk Minnesota to 17-17, clinging to the final play-in spot out West.
What’s the problem? Well, what isn’t the problem. No one could hav predicted (that’s not true) the fall-off of an aging Mike Conley. While KAT Is lighting up Broadway, the Wolves aren’t getting nearly enough from Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo.
You can get into tonight’s first-Monday-of-January home game against the Clippers for just $14. That’s followed by a road game in New Orleans to complete the back-to-back against the worst team in the West ($2 get in price there).
Gopher Hockey
The Gopher men warmed up for a Big 10 return to play by outscoring Mercyhurst 11-4 in a home series. The No. 3 Gophers play at No. 13 Ohio State this weekend.
You don’t expect to lose many games at home in-season tournaments, but the Gopher women did just that, getting blown out 6-2 to AHA member Penn State (ranked 12th) on Saturday. We’ll see if that loss moves the Gophers down at all from No. 3. They host St. Thomas this weekend
Gopher Basketball
What a start to conference play for the Gopher women, who moved to 3-0 in Big 10 play and 15-1 overall with a 68-61 win over a pretty good Illinois team on Sunday. It’s hard to tell with a team that played a mostly cupcake of a non conference schedule, but this team is going to give it a go in the B10.
The easy games are also over for the Minnesota men, but they haven’t shown ability to be competitive in the B10 yet this season. They began conference play with a 20-point loss to Purdue on Saturday - it was close for awhile. They host Ohio State tonight in a nationally-televised game on FS1. Is Ben Johnson’s job in jeopardy? Could anyone else do much else? (Maybe not).
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