Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING NEWS: 2.6.26
The biggest athletic event of the weekend is in Sioux Falls around 8:30 a.m. Sunday as dance competition season officially gets underway. Still looking for gas and food sponsors. Hit me up Kwik Trip and Culver’s. It’ll be an international season that ends in Dublin for the Dance World Cup in July.
US mixed doubles curling is a surprising 3-0 after upsetting previously unbeaten Canadad early this morning. They take on Czechia at 7:55 a.m., and have an inside track on the medal round. Curling is on TV 24/7 around here. Woodbury’s own Phil Drobnick is in his final Olympics as Director of Coaching.
Twins pitcher Bailey Ober used to babysit Drake Maye is the ultimate #oneofus Super Bowl Week story. Speaking of, Seahawks by 4.
Gavin McKenna, presumed No. 1 NHL Draft pick this June out of Penn State, is facing 20 years in jail for a felony assault charge outside of a bar in Happy Valley after last weekend’s outdoor game. The victim reportedly was verbally assaulting a member of McKenna’s family. My guess is he’ll avoid jail time as an 18-year-old but he’ll slide down the draft board for sure. Also, it’s not easy to get to and from Canada with a record…
Our own Larry Fitzgerald, Jr., will get inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame later this year.
Top 5 Olympics Events to Watch This Weekend
Opening Ceremonies - pro tip, watch it live today at 12:40 p.m. on NBC and get less gimmicky NBC features that’ll run in primetime.
Women’s Downhill - Sunday, 4:30 a.m. Okay I won’t be up for this, but Lindsey Vonn got her wish with bad weather postponing her first training run. She and her torn ACL got their first run down the mountain this morning in practice, before competing Sunday. I wish her the best, and better yet not long-term affects. It’ll be shown again on NBC at 8:20 a.m.
USA/Finland Women’s Hockey (maybe) - Saturday, 9:40 a.m. on USA Network. I saw maybe because Finland has more than a dozen players down with norovirus. Their first game yesterday, against Canada, was postponed. I can’t imagine they can postpone too; as it is, yesterday’s cancellation means Canada would be playing a quarterfinal game the second game of a back-to-back. The U.S. beat Czechia 5-1 in its first game yesterday, behind two goals from Hayley Scamurra.
Figure Skating Team event - Sunday, 12:30 p.m. I’m not a huge fan of the team figure skating event, it mostly serves as a warm-up for the individual events later in the week. But you get pairs, men’s and women’s all in one session.
Women’s Snowboarding Parallel Slalom - Sunday, 6 a.m. Iris Pflum hails from Minneapolis and has to raise $40,000 a year to participate with no financial backing from Team USA.
Giannis Stays Put; Wolves Get Dosunmu from Bulls
The Wolves acquired guard Ayo Dosunmu and forward Julian Phillips from the Bulls before Thursday’s trade deadline in exchange for guard Rob Dillingham, forward Leonard Miller and four second-round draft picks.
The Bucks hung onto Giannis.
Dosonmu is averaging a career-best 15 points per game this season and will help fill a void at guard. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent this summer, but the Wolves could sign him for more money than any other team.
And we may have not seen the end of Mike Conley. A day after the Wolves traded him to Chicago for cash, the Bulls traded him to Charlotte. Should Charlotte buy him out, the Wolves could sign him since he’ll have been traded twice. And for what it’s worth, the Wolves are one player under the roster limit.
The Wolves rebounded from a miserable loss to Memphis to win at Toronto 128-126 on Wednesday. Minnesota trailed by 10 entering the third, but won for the fifth time in six games.
ANT scored 30 points and Bones Hyland had 20 off the bench. Hyland has played well enough to get quality minutes, even with the arrival of Dosunmu.
Wild Wins in OT in Nashville Before Break
The Wild has 13 less regulation wins than first-place Colorado, yet the teams hit the Olympic Break just five points apart after Minnesota pulled off a dramatic 6-5 win at Nashville.
Matt Boldy recorded a hat trick in the first 12:58, but defense wasn’t big on either team’s agenda, so Jared Spurgeon’s goal in overtime won it for the Wild. Two more assists for Quinn Hughes. I predict Boldy will be the Olympics’ breakout star. Team USA begins play Thursday, Feb. 12.
Gopher Hoops - Both Teams Earn Top 10 Wins
Three of Niko Medved’s team’s 11 wins have come against ranked foes, as the Gophers earned their first top 10 win of Medved’s tenure Wednesday, a 76-73 win over Michigan State. And they almost blew it after leading by 11 at halftime.
Jeremy Fears should (but won’t) earn a nice long suspension for any one of these acts on Wednesday, especially the kick in the nuts.
The Gophers host Maryland on Sunday.
The Gopher women could climb into the top 25 after last night’s 91-85 win at No. 10 Iowa. The Gophers were in complete control, up 16 entering the final 10 minutes, before things got a little tight late. Grace Golchoski led Minnesota with 21 points.
Minnesota has won five straight to improve to 17-6 and 8-4 in the Big 10 heading into Sunday’s game at Rutgers.
Gopher Hockey
The Gopher men host Ohio State in its penultimate home series of the season, a week after sweeping Wisconsin.
It’s a home-and-home with St. Thomas for the Gopher women, who are coming off a weekend split with No. 1 Wisconsin.
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