If you’re a Minnesota sports fan, Monday probably felt a lot better than most.
The Vikings kept the only perfect record left in the NFL, the Gophers took down Iowa, the Wild won in Vancouver, the Timberwolves rolled again and both Gophers hockey teams put together sweeps. It was the kind of weekend that keeps fans checking scores all day and smiling at every update.
The biggest one may have come in Minneapolis, where the Gophers football team beat No. 15 Iowa 13-10 to reclaim Floyd of Rosedale.
Luke Drzewiecki drilled a 47-yard field goal as time expired, sending a sellout crowd of more than 50,000 into a field rush at Huntington Bank Stadium. It was P.J.
Fleck’s first home win over the Hawkeyes and his second win in the series. For the first time since 1978, the Gophers’ football program now holds the Little Brown Jug, Paul Bunyan’s Axe and Floyd of Rosedale at the same time.
Minnesota’s next test comes with a bigger spotlight. The Gophers travel to No.
4 Indiana, which needed overtime to beat Michigan on Saturday. College Gameday will be there for the Hoosiers’ home game against Minnesota.
The Vikings, meanwhile, handled the Colts 16-10 to move to 6-0. Harrison Smith’s 40th career interception sealed it, while Kyler Murray connected with T.J.
Hockenson for the go-ahead touchdown early in the fourth quarter. Will Reichard added three field goals, and Blake Cashman turned in what might have been the best game of his career at linebacker.
Now comes the hard part. Minnesota’s next four games are a gauntlet: at Detroit next Sunday, then home for Buffalo on Monday Night Football, then a trip to Lambeau Field to face Green Bay before a home date with San Francisco.
The good news for the Vikings? They’re the NFL’s lone unbeaten team after both the 49ers and Chiefs lost Sunday.
The Wild took care of business, too, beating Vancouver 4-2 on Sunday night in Quinn Hughes’ first game against his former team since last year’s trade. Hughes scored in the return, as did Kirill Kaprizov, and Minnesota improved to 8-3-2 to sit atop the Western Conference standings.
Hughes had already stirred plenty of attention before the puck dropped. After Saturday’s practice, he spoke to reporters about how much he loves Minnesota, playing for the Wild and the possibility of a new contract soon. He’s in the final year of a six-year, $47.1 million deal, and the Wild want to keep him on an extension.
The Timberwolves are off to a loud start, too. After changing their identity in the offseason by moving on from Julius Randle and Naz Reid to get smaller and play faster, they’re 3-0 with all three wins coming by 20 points or more. On Sunday night, they opened at Target Center with a 117-94 win over the Toronto Raptors.
LaMelo Ball provided one of the night’s most memorable moments, leaving a Raptors defender off balance before stepping back for a 3-pointer. The Wolves bench loved it.
And then there was hockey. The Gophers’ men’s and women’s teams each delivered sweeps over the weekend.
The men beat the Fighting Hawks twice, 5-3 and 5-3, after leading 4-1 Thursday night before finishing that game with an empty-net goal against No. 3 North Dakota.
On Friday, Wyatt Cullen had a hat trick. Jim Rich and Pat Micheletti were on the call.
The women are now 7-1 after sweeping Lindenwood 11-0 and 5-2 at Ridder Arena.
In Other News...
Quinn Hughes Just Put Wild Fans On Contract Watch
Quinn Hughes has given Wild fans plenty to monitor as he works through what comes next, and the good news for Minnesota is that he has made it clear he likes where he is. The pending free agent spoke about wanting to remain with the Wild, praised the strength of the roster, and said his experience in Minnesota has been a positive one, all while making it clear he is not rushing the process.
Hughes is entering the final year of his current contract, and for now there is still no extension in hand. He has been productive this season, which only adds to the intrigue around how long the Wild can keep him in place, and whether a decision comes sooner rather than later will be one of the more closely watched developments around the team. [Read more 🡒]
Red Wings Are Holding Firm In Dylan Larkin Trade Talks
The Wild still have their name in the mix as Detroit weighs whether to move center Dylan Larkin, but the talks are being framed by the Red Wings as more than a simple one-for-one swap. Detroit is believed to want young centers in return, which puts a player like Danila Yurov in the conversation for Minnesota, and the salary-cap math only adds another layer of complexity to any possible deal.
What keeps this from moving quickly is the price and the timing. Detroit is not treating Larkin as a player it has to move right away, even with interest coming from multiple teams, and any real package would have to go well beyond a single prospect to satisfy what the Red Wings are seeking. For Minnesota, that means the path to landing a centerpiece like Larkin is still there, but it is not close to being straightforward. [Read more 🡒]
Wild Offseason Pressure Just Got Tied To Two Star Names
The ripple effects of the Connor Hellebuyck trade have put Minnesota in an interesting spot as the offseason chatter starts to overlap with bigger-name decisions around the league. Michael Russo and EJ Hradek used the deal as a lens for what teams may be willing to pay in future trades, how clubs value draft capital, and how those conversations can shape both roster building and contract strategy.
For the Wild, the conversation has also bled into two names that matter a lot to the next phase of the franchise: Dylan Larkin and Quinn Hughes. Minnesota has been tied to interest in Larkin, while Hughes remains unsigned, leaving plenty of room for speculation about how the market could develop and which direction the Wild ultimately choose as they weigh present-day needs against a longer rebuild. [Read more 🡒]