Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING NEWS: 11.21.25
The Vikings are only a 3.5-point underdog in Green Bay on Sunday. I can’t see the Packers losing by less than 10.
Wrigley Field is the backdrop for the Gophers’ penultimate regular season football game. They face a reeling Northwestern team that’s lost three straight and is allowing its opponents to convert on almost 50 percent of its third downs. It’s an 11 a.m. kickoff at the Friendly Confines.
The two-time defending Walter Cup champ Frost plays host to Toronto tonight to begin season three. Minnesota returns 17 of 23 players from last year. But remember they needed a strong finish to even make the playoffs. The PWHL is now an eight-team league.
Rest of up this weekend for the Loons’ 9 p.m. Monday playoff game in San Diego.
Surging Wild Hold off Hurricanes in Shootout
The problem with starting a game at 8:50 p.m. local time due to national TV is when that game goes overtime, and a shootout, and no one sees the end of it. Even the building seemed half empty as the Wild beat the Hurricanes 4-3 on Wednesday in a shootout with another out of this performance in net by Jesper Wallstedt.
Minnesota went 4-0-1 on this homestand, allowing just seven goals, is 5-1-0 in its last six and 7-1-1 in its last nine heading into tonight’s game at Pittsburgh.
Everyone’s hot in the Central Division it seems. This surge has not even lifted the Wild into the top four, but they’re close.
Wolves Beat Another Outmatched Opponent
The Wolves built a 25-point lead at halftime and even though they took the foot off the accelerator in the second half, they cruised to a 120-109 win over the one-win Washington Wizards on Wednesday at Target Center.
You can’t argue that Julius Randle (32 points) is Minnesota’s MVP through their 10-5 start. Anthony Edwards missed 14-of-20 shots. He seems to be a guy jazzed by pressure, and you wonder if a lack of “crunch time” minutes has him needing some mojo.
The Wolves play their first NBA Cup road game tonight in Phoenix. They’re 2-0 in NBA Cup play. Following another road game at Sacramento (it seems like I’ve seen the Kings play 15 times this season), the Wolves will get their toughest match of the season against reigning champ Oklahoma City.
Gopher Hockey
The Gopher men, winners of three of four, play host to Penn State this weekend. The Gopher women, ranked second, play a home-and-home with Minnesota State.
Gopher Hoops
The 4-0 Gopher women met a 4-0 Kansas team and the game wound up as advertised. Minnesota hung with the Jayhawks on the road, ultimately falling 63-57 in a game that was within two points in the final minute. Minnesota, which rallied from a 10-point deficit after 10 minutes, got 14 points from Tori McKinney. The Gophers are off until Monday when they get to spend Thanksgiving week in the Bahamas - they’ll play South Florida, and then either Alabama or Harvard.
Minnesota’s men play San Francisco on Saturday (in Sioux Falls).
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