Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING NEWS: 3.23.26
Sports aren’t important today, although we’ll hit a couple notes after addressing the news of the weekend.
We Mourn Jessi Hinrichs (Pierce)
The world lost an all-time great early Saturday morning, when friend of The Takeout Jessi Hinrichs died in a house fire along with her three young children in White Bear Lake.
I’ll never forget the first time I met Jessi. It was early on in my time at the Wild, and she invited herself. in a way Jessi only could, to a morning skate. “I want to work in the NHL,” she said.
It seemed to take about 48 hours and she was a fixture in the press box, writing for anyone and everyone, including Wild dot com and NHL dot com. Jessi stormed through doors with her talent, zest for life and the game and a sense of humor for the ages. And her sports knowledge was so much deeper than hockey.
Later on, when I had a fledgling hockey podcast, she was my first guest. When I launched THIS sports daily newsletter way back in 2021, she was one of my earliest subscribers. She had so much success herself, but she loved helping colleagues become better, too.
Jessi was unapologetically herself. A working mom. You literally have never heard someone say a negative thing about her.
My thoughts are with Mike, who suffered not only the loss of his soulmate, but his three young children. And Jessi’s poor dad. I cannot believe this loss.
Please donate to the family’s gofundme if you feel so inclined.
Gopher Women’s Basketball into Sweet 16 on Battle’s Jumper at Buzzer
Amaya Battle’s dramatic jumper as time expired broke a tie and lifted the Gophers into the Sweet 16. The bucket gave Minnesota a 65-63 win over Ole Miss at The Barn. The Gophers will play either No. 1 seed UCLA or Oklahoma State in Sacramento on Friday. The Bruins beat Minnesota by 18 at The Barn in their only meeting this season.
Battle starred with Paige Buckers at Hopkins, and could have bailed on the Gophers during lean years. Many of her teammates could have done the same. But Dawn Plitzuweit is one heckuva coach. And she remembers that she didn’t do this alone. Lindsay recruited a number of these players, and laid a strong foundation in Dinkytown even if the W-L record didn’t always show it.
Wolves Win in Boston
It’s best just to buckle up for the last 10 games of the NBA’s regular season.
A couple nights after losing at home to a .500 team in Porland, the Wolves rallied multiple times for a 102-92 win at Boston last night. The Celtics lost at home for just the 11th time this season.
Where would this team be without Bones Hylad? Imagine writing that in November. He poured in 23 points off the bench as Minnesota continues to play without Anthony Edwards. A game after Chris Finch criticized Julius Randle for lack of rebounding, Randle shot just 3-of-14 from the field but grabbed 10 boards.
The Wolves scored just 14 points in the first quarter. They trailed by one entering the fourth, but yielded just 15 points in the final 12 minutes.
Thanks to the Suns’ five-game losing streak, Minnesota is all but assured of avoiding the play-in round. Four teams are separated by 2.5 games for third through sixth, with the Wolves in sixth.
The Wolves host Houston, a team they’re officially tied with in the standings, for a huge game on national TV on Wednesday.
Wild Beats Stars in Possible Playoff Preview
In a game that took a backseat Saturday at Grand Casino Arena, although not many knew of Jessi’s passing, the Wild beat the Stars 2-1 in a probable playoff preview. Vladimir Tarasenko scored the winner in overtime. He’s got 20 goals! I was probably wrong about that being a bad trade (the Wild only gave up future considerations).
The Wild hosts Tampa Bay on Tuesday.
Colorado leads the West (and the NHL) with 102 points with 13 games left. Dallas is five back but has played one more game. The Wild is five behind the Stars but has played one more game than Dallas. How do you feel about the Wild and Stars with Dallas having home ice?
GWH Fills Vacancy…Internally?
The interesting thing about the announcement of Greg “Boom” Mays’ promotion to head coach of the Gophers was this: the University used stats such as NCAA and Frozen Four appearances. Those same stats were not good enough for the guy who led the program for 19 years, but good enough for his associate coach who has only coached in the women’s game for three years.
Let’s face it, there is a death of high-end coaches in the game. One Muzzi signed an extension in Ohio State, who was this team going to realistically get? But, were names like Natalie Darwitz or Bethany Braun, both former Gopher assistants with much more experience, seriously considered?
The men’s team is still without a coach, with a couple finalists including SCSU head coach Brett Larson.
Loons Play Seattle to Scoreless Draw
Jamie Rodriguez, the former European star, made his home debut as the punchless Loons played to a scoreless draw with Seattle at Allianz Field on Saturday. Minnesota has scored just two goals in its last four games and hasn’t scored a single goal in the last two.
The Loons do not play this week.
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