Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING NEWS: 2.9.26
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Sam Darnold is a Super Bowl champion. So are Leslie Frazier and Klint Kubiak. The Vikings won’t be that mad today about missing out on Drake Maye.
If you think you’re tired today, not-so-tiny-Stanzel earned fifth overall in Sioux Falls yesterday and made it back to the Twin Cities for a Dance World Cup practice at 3:30 p.m.
Super Bowl LXI will be on Valentine’s Day in a year and a week, meaning for the first time ever…the day after the Big Game will, at last, be a national holiday.
Men’s hockey teams are all on site in Milan, with competition getting underway Wednesday. The Americans don’t play until Thursday against Latvia.
Former Olympian Jordan Chiles with an amazing Prce tribute on her floor exercise as her UCLA team beat the Gophers this weekend.
There’s increasing optimism the WBNA season could avoid a labor stoppage and start on time, with the league making concessions on housing over the weekend.
The Internet and 22-year-old boys have done away with all decorum on the golf course.
Top 3 Olympics Events to Watch Monday and Tuesday
1:10 p.m. Tuesday - USA vs. Canada, women’s hockey. It may be a preliminary game and an appetizer for a likely gold medal game, but there’s no better matchup in the Olympics. Or all of sport, for that matter. The Americans and Canadians have played in six of the seven Olympics since women’s hockey joined the fray in 1998. They’ve played in 23 of the last 24 IIHF World Championships. The U.S. has won six straight games in the series - four in the Rivalry Series headed into the Olympics, but the Canadians are the defending gold medal winner. Canada has lost just three games ever in the Olympics.
11:05 a.m. today - USA vs. Italy, mixed doubles curling semifinals. The United States will play for a mixed doubles curling medal for the first time. That kind of medal they’ll play for will be determined in a few hours. This marks the third time mixed doubles has been in the Olympics - it’s two people, not four, and they play eight ends instead of 10. The U.S. has never finished better than sixth, but that was without Cory and Korey. Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin have been sensational in these Games, going 6-3 in the round robin. Italy did beat the U.S. 7-6 this morning in a thriller to set up this match. The Americans will play either Great Britain or Sweden in Tuesday’s match, whether it be for the gold or bronze. The 11 a.m. gold medal match would be the perfect lead in to the USA/Canada hockey game.
10:15 a.m. today - men’s figure skating short program. The Quad God Ilia Malinin shook off a so-so (for him) short program to land five quads in the long program of the team competition, leading the USA to a highly-favored win. He’ll get the chance to compete for a gold for himself beginning today. Malinin landed five quads in the team long program. He has no equal, and he regularly wins these world-class competitions by dozens of points.
Gobert Calls out Wolves, Who Proceed to Get Worse against Clippers
Two nights after blowing an 18-point second half lead to the lowly Pelicans, the Wolves were outclassed in every asset of a 115-96 home loss to the Clippers.
Just no excuse, especially 48 hours after Rudy Gobert called out his teammates for lack of effort, suggesting Chris Finch bench some guys not holding their weight (they wouldn’t have enough to start a game if they only played their hard-tryers lately). That drew the ire of Finch, who wasn’t happy this discussion didn’t stay “in house”.
So after that, the best the Wolves could do was a 19-point home matinee loss to the Clippers? Disgraceful. Jaden McDaniels, who no one wanted to give up in a trade last week, scored two points and only attempted four shots in 26 minutes. Donte DiVincenzo had one point and got off three shots in 24 minutes.
Suddenly the Wolves are only a half game from falling into the seventh spot and a play-in round appearance. They’re at the quarter pole of the season, not a lot of time to right this ship heading into the playoffs.
Gopher Hoops
Two bench players saw a total of 23 minutes, so it’s no surprising the Gopher men again wore down in the second half of a 67-62 home loss to Maryland. Minnesota dropped to 4-9 in the Big 10, but their last three losses have been by a combined 11 points. Minnesota has the week off before visiting Washington on Saturday to begin a two-game West Coast swing.
The Gopher women, meanwhile, continued a torrid run with their sixth straight win, 63-52, at Rutgers yesterday. They’re inching closer to the Top 25 and host Nebraska on Thursday.
Gopher Hockey
The Gopher men lost two home games to Ohio State, and also lost freshman sensation LJ Mooney to injury. There are three Big 10 series left, starting this weekend at Notre Dame (1-15 in B10). Sure looks like a No. 5/No. 6 first-round matchup with Wisconsin.
The Gopher women beat St. Thomas 3-1 and then tied with the Tommies 1-1 on Saturday. No surprise the offense is down without Abbey Murphy. It’s unfortunate this weekend’s No. 2 Ohio State/No. 3 Minnesota series in Columbus - the Gophers’ penultimate series of the regular season - will take place during the Olympics. Just five points separate first-place Wisconsin and the third-place Gophers in the WCHA.
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