This week in Minnesota sports: Girls state hockey, Minnesota Twins, United, Wild and more

CATHY WURZER: Well, it's Thursday, and on Minnesota Now, that means it's time for sports. We've got our two favorite sports guys here to round up what's happening this week. Wally Langfellow's the creator of Minnesota Score Magazine, the co-host of Ten Thousand Takes sports show. Eric Nelson's the other co-host of that show and the Vikings reporter for CBS Sports' Eye on Football Show. Hey, you guys. How are you?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Safe and indoors.

ERIC NELSON: Hey, Cathy. Happy snowmageddon.

CATHY WURZER: Thank you so much. Thank you. I appreciate that from both of you guys. So I really, really wanted to watch the girls state high school hockey tournament yesterday, the quarterfinal of class A games. Couldn't find it on TV, and I was so disappointed because I really wanted to see what was going on. They still held the tournament even though the snowstorm was pretty active at that time. Wally, tell us how the tournament is going.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, we've got four semifinalists set up for Class A, and that will continue tomorrow. Right now, games are going on in Class AA. Rosemont is playing second seeded Andover. And then coming up here in roughly about a half hour or so, Lakeville North will take on third seeded Edina. Top seeded Minnetonka plays tonight.

I had a chance to do Minnetonka versus Edina during the regular season on Bally Sports North, and I'll tell you something, Cathy. I hadn't done a girl's hockey game on TV or radio for about 8, 10 years. The quality of play is off the charts. I mean, these girls can really play-- the skating, the stick handling. They're just really good. So if you haven't had a chance-- obviously, it's not on television today.

The TV broadcasts start tomorrow for the girls state tournament, and we'll be on the semifinals tomorrow and then the championships on Saturday. But I think the only way you can get it today is streaming, and you do have to pay for that, so just a forewarning if you want to stream it and watch it on your laptop or phone or whatever, but good stuff. And unfortunate, like you say-- the snow has kept a lot of people away from the arena.

CATHY WURZER: So let's talk about pro hockey here, Eric. Today-- or tonight, I should say-- the Wild is at Columbus?

ERIC NELSON: Yes, indeed. In fact, the Wild got out of the Twin Cities just in time. It's like 60s and 70s in Central Ohio. So Minnesota enjoying a bit of a heat wave, but they'll be inside tonight at the Columbus Blue Jackets arena. And the Wild have won three straight. They had a very solid effort against Los Angeles on Tuesday. The Kings were sizzling. They'd come in with a four game winning streak, and they've been scoring a lot of goals.

But Minnesota won it 2 to 1-- almost had a shutout against Los Angeles. So where the Wild are now, 67 points in the Central Division of the Western Conference in the NHL. They're tied with Colorado, but they have played two more games than the Avalanche. The Blue Jackets have 41 points. That's the lowest amount in the NHL along with Anaheim, so they're a bottom feeder. And the challenge for Minnesota tonight is they're going to be in a building that's probably half empty.

There's not going to be a lot of energy or buzz. They're going to have to create their own emotion and their own juice because you don't want to lose to a team like Columbus coming off a big win over LA. And then tomorrow night, they go to Toronto, which is the self proclaimed center of the hockey universe. And the Maple Leafs are very good. They have Auston Matthews, one of the top players in the NHL.

So it's going to be two very different settings, Columbus and Toronto. But I will say this, Cathy. Felipe Gustavsson, one of Minnesota's goalies, is playing outstanding in the nets, and he was very good against the Kings.

CATHY WURZER: Say, can I ask you guys something about the Minnesota sports and events group? First, I want to know, who is that group? What are they trying to do to get more big events here to the Twin Cities?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, it's a nonprofit. It's a fledgling nonprofit. I guess that's the terminology that was given to them in the article that ran in the Star Trib earlier this week. So basically what they do is they try to attract big events-- the Super Bowl, Final Four, the NCAA swimming events, those type of things coming to the Twin Cities. And obviously, there's been some success, and Minnesota has a great reputation when hosting these events.

But I think they're starting to run into some roadblocks, and those are financial. They're looking now to get paid, these events are. They want money up front right now. So this commission, this Minnesota Sports and Events Commission-- or group, whatever they are-- says that they need and want some of that stimulus money. They want some government money to help bring in these events.

So the Final Four, the men's NCAA Final Four from 2027 through 2030 were awarded to four different cities-- Detroit, Las Vegas, Indianapolis, and Arlington, Texas, which, of course, is the Dallas Metro. All of those places ponied up money to bring in the Final Four, so Minnesota will not get the Final Four at least until 2031 when the bidding for those starts again.

So these are cities and states that are willing to put money into it. "Are we willing to do that in Minnesota?" becomes the question. They want $50 million to be able to compete. I'm not so sure that the Minnesota taxpayer wants to have any part of that.

CATHY WURZER: Well, Eric, wouldn't this happen almost organically if we had sports teams that won?

[LAUGHTER]

ERIC NELSON: Exactly, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: I'm just asking the question.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: It's true.

ERIC NELSON: That is such a novel proposal. Yeah. Let me give you some examples. First of all, we don't have championship caliber teams here in Minnesota. There has not been a major men's team competing for a title since '91, let alone win one. That would be the Twins. Now, I know the Minnesota Lynx won four WNBA championships, and kudos to the Lynx.

But the male sports folks in this market haven't done very well. So you look around the map. If the Timberwolves held up their end of the bargain, maybe the NBA Finals would be here someday. The Wild have never been in the Stanley Cup Finals. The Twins could theoretically bring the World Series back here.

Look at Houston. The Astros have been in the World Series four times since 2017. That's nothing that they were awarded. They earned it. The Golden State Warriors have been in the NBA Finals six times since 2015. So I'm going to throw the gauntlet down. Instead of us ponying up tax money to get these marquee events in the Twin Cities, how about the local teams actually winning and getting to championship caliber events?

CATHY WURZER: There you go.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Good luck.

CATHY WURZER: A novel thought. Say, before you go, Mr. Langfellow, speaking of pro teams like the Twins-- hey, spring training.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yeah, it's underway. Full squad workouts began earlier this week. And believe it or not, we are two days away from the Twins playing their first Grapefruit League games. They'll have split squad games against Baltimore and Tampa Bay in Florida. The Twins have been busy again on the free agent market. They picked up another infielder, Donovan Solano. He was a Silver Slugger award winner back in 2020.

So they keep adding pieces. And I think in general, the Twins, Twins fans, and some of the folks that we've talked to are very optimistic about what the Minnesota Twins could do this year. We shall see. Obviously, they've got to stay out of injury trouble and all kinds of other things, but I think it's a positive. And why not? They're in Florida, and it's warm down there. Let's just think baseball, anyway.

CATHY WURZER: Why not? Now, you're going to be busy with the girls high school hockey tournament. Is that right, Wally?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yeah. Well, we'll have some coverage of the state hockey tournament, and then things ramp up for us because then the boys is shortly after that, and then girls and boys basketball after that. So I've got state tournament fever coming up here in the next several days and weeks. It's from now until the end of March, actually.

CATHY WURZER: OK. I'll talk to you guys next week. Thanks much. Eric, have a good weekend.

ERIC NELSON: Yeah, same to you, Cathy.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Thanks, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: Wally Langfellow, Eric Nelson. Wally's the creator of Minnesota Score Magazine and the co-host of Ten Thousand Takes sports talk show. Eric Nelson's the other co-host. He's also the Vikings reporter for CBS Sports' Eye on Football show.