I figured now was as good a time as any to reflect on Minnesota Winter 05/06 sports. Spring has sprung here in the Twin Cities and it has been in the 70’s and 80’s the past couple of weeks.
This past winter season was as diseased as I can remember in a long time. As a matter of fact, the only team making it to the post season (sorry gals, I don’t count Women’s College sports or WNBA) was (or is, they just got in) the Minnesota Swarm. That’s right, our professional Lacrosse team is the only one, and pathetically, they backed into the playoffs. Until recently, I didn’t even know what Lacrosse was. I always knew where La Crosse, WI was, but had no idea of the sport. It has been big in the Twin Cities for a while, but not when I was going to school. I just spent the last few years wondering why all these kids were running around with undersized butterfly catchers. Of course the Duke Men’s Lacrosse team has made the term a household name now, but I’ll leave that one alone.
Even our Bemidji Curling blonde sisters - that were heavily favored to take home the Gold, found a way to fail us.
As painful as this may be, let’s take a look at how we fared this past winter:
Gopher Hockey
Holy Cross!!?? Holy Cross!!??
Those two words still ring in my ears thanks to a Fighting Sioux alum that I work with.
How we lost to a bunch of Catholic kids that, instead of finding ways to hide the truth about the Holy Grail, uncovered an even bigger secret – how to beat the best college hockey team in the Nation. There was no excuse for the Gophers to lose in the first round. They should have walked into the Frozen Four and won their third Championship of the decade but instead laid the biggest frozen egg in College Hockey history.
I’d like to give Holy Cross some credit because for one, it would make me feel better knowing that the better team won. But realistically, the Gophers were the better team and might have let that fact get to their head.
Gopher Hoops
Well, they did get a NIT bid this year, you know, that tournament created for the losers that couldn’t make the big dance. I have zero faith in Dan Monson and feel that this program will never progress under him. It really was a strange year, most games they looked like the team we expected, a crappy one. But then they would all of a sudden beat a Big Ten heavy hitter and look like world beaters for a day. Erratic, that’s what they were, and we will be lucky if they can repeat even that next year.
Wild
What does a winning record get you in the toughest division within the Western Conference?
Last place and a tee-time at your favorite Country Club.
To make matters worse, our legendary coach and leading scorer are at each other’s throats, using the media to duke out their soap opera. Gaborik claims that Lemaire fails to give him the freedom and ice time he demands and Lemaire claims that he has never given another player the type of freedom that he’s given Gaborik.
All I know is that Gaborik scored 38 goals this year even after missing several games due to injury. On top of that, despite what Lemaire says or thinks - his minutes per game were very low compared to other team leading scorers. If used right, Gaborik is a 50+ goal scorer, and one that the Wild cannot afford to lose. Not only would it be hard to replace Gabbi, it would send a message to dedicated fans that the organization doesn’t care much about what they think and would rather stick to their boring style of defensive hockey, one that we are all getting sick and tired of.
The team has money and they need to spend it this off season in order to prove to the fans that they are ready to put a winner out on the ice.
Timberwolves
Remember just a couple of years ago when this team was in the Western Conference Finals? This year was more painful than the inaugural season or any of the others leading up to their first ever playoff appearance.
