Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING NEWS: 3.29.24
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Give me Sweet 16, first round NCAA Hockey and Opening Day over a couple Cinderella upsets last week.
Not sure I’ve seen such a newsworthy Twin Cities sports day across the board. We’ll start with the latest of the events…
Gopher Hockey Rallies for Regional Semi Win; Faces B.U. Saturday
Seemingly spinning their skates, the Gophers’ turned to their hottest player to save their season. Jaxon Nelson scored twice in the third period, including the game-winner with less than five minutes left, as the Gophers rallied to beat Omaha 3-2 in the Regional Semifinal in Sioux Falls. Minnesota will face Boston University on Saturday for the right to play in the Frozen Four in St. Paul in two weeks. The Gophers have made the last two Frozen Fours.
Nelson has scored 10 of his team’s last 25 goals. Bryce Brodzinski assisted on both. First, with the Gophers trailing by a goal, Brodzinski caused a turnover behind the Omaha net. He fed a wide open Nelson for a tie game.
Another fabulous pass from B.B. and Nelson finish for the game-winner, albeit after a fortuitous bounce as an Omaha player fell down with the puck.
Nelson is an undrafted but soon to be signed free agent.
Wild draft pick Jimmy Clark scored the Gophers’ other goal.
Wolves “No Longer for Sale” After A-Rod, Lore Reportedly Miss Deadline
Sure seems like a case of Seller’s Remorse. Two years into a deal to sell majority interest of the Wolves (and Lynx) to Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore, Glen Taylor announced yesterday that the pair had missed a deadline and the team is “no longer for sale”, with Taylor retaining majority control and A-Rod and Lore having 40 percent.
Now, what really happened? Just a few weeks ago, there seemed to be some doubt over financial backing for A-Rod and Lore. However, media reports and both sides expected the final purchase to get pushed through. There was also talk that maybe the financier wasn’t approved by the NBA.
Or did Taylor, who agreed to sell the team for $1.5 billion, suddenly realize his valuation just two years later is nearly double that?
Rodriguez in particular has embedded himself into Target Center. He has a house on Minnetonka. He’s at every game courtside. He’s even mentioned one of their first things to do will be bring Kevin Garnett back to Target Center.
Do these two guys tell Taylor “sorry” and look for someone to buy their 40 percent? They did not go through all this to not have majority control of the team.
There will be lawyers, for sure.
Will it overshadow a giant game in Denver tonight? The Nuggets are a half game up on Minnesota and Oklahoma City, and host the Wolves tonight.
Twins Win Opener; Lewis Hurt
At least Byron Buxton made it through the season opener unhurt. But the player the Twins can not afford to lose more than any other - Royce Lewis - pulled up gimpy rounding second base with an apparent quad injury. There were no further details available other than Lewis went for an MRI. He did talk to the media after the game.
The Twins won 4-1 at Kansas City, with Pablo Lopez dazzling through seven innings. No Jhoan Duran, no problem, at least yet. Brock Stewart and Griffin Jax each pitched a scoreless inning in relief.
Lewis homered in the first inning, and Carlos Correa drove in two runs with three hits.
Joe Ryan gets the game two start on Saturday in KC.
By the way, two MLB openers postponed due to bad weather. The Angels and Giants began the season on the road. No warm weather team should ever be on the road during the first week to 10 days of the season.
Wild Edges Sharks to Keep Very Slim Hopes Alive
It won’t do good unless the teams in front of them start losing, but the Wild’s going to have to win and they did just that, 3-1, over a bad San Jose team last night at The X.
The Wild was by far the better team, but needed a goal 16 seconds into the third period by Matt Boldy to take the lead for good. A resurgent Filip Gustavsson made 26 saves and Joel Eriksson Ek returned from an injury to score his 30th goal of the season. Fellow Swede Jonas Brodin also came back from injury.
A loss to Vegas at home on Saturday would pretty much end things for Minnesota. They’ll wake up today no fewer than eight points behind L.A. for the final playoff spot with 10 games left.
Portal Decimating Gopher Hoops
So you want to be a college basketball coach…
Ben Johnson finally has the Gophers going in the right direction, needing maybe a player or two for depth to compete for an NCAA berth next year and…he loses three key sophomores to the portal in a two-day span. He’ll replace them, yes, but this constant of change isn’t good for anyone not named Duke or Carolina.
Pharrel Payne is the biggest loss. The local center (Cottage Grove) started 19 games and averaged 10 points last season. They’ve lost four players overall since Sunday.
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