Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING NEWS: 3.1.24
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No fewer than three upsets in boys hockey section finals last night, including Chanhassen making The Tourney by beating previously unbeaten Minnetonka. No ‘Tonka, Lakeville South or Maple Grove at The X? The Tourney is fine but section final week is where it’s at. White Bear Lake and Hill-Murray and Cretin/STA tonight for the 15th and 16th spots in the real march madness.
Caitlin Clark lit up the Gophers Wednesday - they’re in good company. She’ll be in the WNBA next year, after declaring for the April 15 WNBA Draft yesterday. She’ll go to Indiana to play alongside 2023 No. 1 Pick Aliyah Boston. The Lynx will pick seventh.
PWHL Minnesota plays just a couple furlongs from the Belmont Park finish line when they take on New York at UBS Arena on Sunday. They lost 4-3 to Toronto at Mariucci on Tuesday.
ESPN says the Vikings are set to cut Alexander Mattison, who was handed the No. 1 RB job last year and didn’t do much with it. Ty Chandler is the guy for now, with Cam Akers recovering from Achilles surgery. I’d expect the Vikings to make a move there.
Loons host Columbus on a 60-degree early March day trying to move to 2-0.
Momentary Lapse Begins Spiral for Wild, Whose Playoff Hopes Hanging on by a Thread
Eight seconds. That’s all it took for the Wild’s one-goal, first-period lead to become a one-goal deficit. Minnesota never scored again, falling *-* in Nashville and dropping eight points behind the Predators for the final playoff spot. The Wild is a point back of St. Louis ahead of their game in St. Louie on Saturday.
Connor Dewar scored 9:51 into a rapidly moving first period, giving the large Wild contingent that made their way to Nashville something to cheer about. But just 49 seconds later, Yakov Trenin tied things up, and off the ensuing faceoff, just eight ticks later Cole Smith put the Preds on top for good.
The Wild pressed in an emotional second period, but Filip Forsberg scored a backbreaking late in the stanza on a power play. Roman Josi scored 92 seconds into the third and that was all she wrote.
Twenty two games left for the Wild, who are great when things go their way but don’t handle adversity well. They reportedly won’t trade Marc-Andre Fleury, who will undoubtedly get the start in a must-win game Saturday in St. Louis. They’re all must-win at this point, especially with red-hot Nashville having now won seven straight.
Wolves’ Win Streak Hits Three
After that stinker against the Bucks first game out of the break, the Wolves have rattled off three straight wins, giving them seven wins in eight games.
They beat Memphis 110-101 at home on Wednesday in game four of a seven-game (!!) homestand. Anthony Edwards scored 34 points as the Wolves regained first place in the West with a 42-17 record.
Edwards averaged 30-plus points in February - he joins Kevin Love as the only player in franchise history to average 30 in a calendar month. K-Love did it twice.
The Wolves host Sacramento tonight and the Clippers on Sunday.
Gopher Hockey
The Gopher women are huge favorites when they host the best-of-three first round of the WCHA Tournament this weekend against Minnesota State. Barring something unforeseen, it’ll be a Badger/Gopher Frozen Four rematch in the WCHA Semifinals next weekend.
The Gopher men have plenty to play for in their Big 10 finale series in Ann Arbor tonight. They’re in third place and three points up on fourth-place Michigan. Third-place team likely gets Penn State, while fourth will host Notre Dame in the first round of the B10 Tournament next week.
Gopher Hoops
The Gophers hung with No. 13 Illinois for more than 30 minutes on the road Wednesday, before the Illini pulled away for a 105-97 game in which defense was non existent. Dawson Garcia poured in 29 points and Cam Christie 23 for Minnesota, which shot 60 percent from the field, hit 14-of-20 3-pointers, and still wasn’t in the game down the stretch. They’ll continue to jockey for Big 10 Tournament position when they host Penn State on Saturday.
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