THE OPENER: Yes, Sports Take has info that’ll help you follow the NFL Draft in areas ranging from the Vikings to the pro hopes of players from the U, St. Thomas and other schools around the state. And we also have the Wild and Wolves . . . the Frost and Lynx . . . Minnesota United and the transfer portal . . . and more. Also, we have fresh reporting on the surprising termination of a Twin Cities private school basketball coach that caused a week-long uproar — and was resolved this morning. — Howard Sinker
QUICK START: Here are highlights you’ll find in Sports Take.
NFL DRAFT: Useful info for the draft (tonight through Saturday) and for afterward, as college players from throughout Minnesota and border schools get their shot at turning pro. And will the Vikings do what the experts are expecting?
WILD: An epic Game 3 went until almost 1 a.m. and deep into double-overtime before Dallas took a 4-3 win and a 2-1 series lead. Game 4 is at 4:30 p.m. Saturday in St. Paul. The winning score came after a delay-of-game penalty on Danila Yurov, who smacked the puck over the boards following a Stars scoring threat.
WOLVES: Game 3 is tonight at Target Center (8:30 p.m., Prime) and the Timberwolves have home court advantage after an emotion-packed Game 2 win in Denver. It took the Wolves five quarters against the Nuggets before they combined intensity and execution to play up to their potential. Will it last?
GOPHERS BASKETBALL: The women are hitting the transfer portal like a national power. The men added two players from NCAA champion Michigan and one of Coach Niko Medved’s former Colorado State players in the last few days.
LYNX: TV and streaming plans are set for after the imminent shutdown of FanDuel Sports Network. Are the Lynx blazing a trail for the Wild, Wolves and Frost? Also, a road map to TV and streaming the WNBA this season. There will be games on every day. You just have to know where to find them.
FROST: Positioning themselves for a three-peat in the third year of the PWHL and hoping to have the league’s MVP. The Walter Cup Playoffs start next week.
TWINS: Solid play didn’t last and things I warned you about last week came to pass, including bullpen fails that led to the Twins’ last three losses and a sweep by Cincinnati that featured decisive defensive misplays in every game.
LIFE AT BLAKE: The Blake Bears entered the state boys’ basketball playoffs without being taken seriously. They were a No. 9 seed, meaning they played all but one of their section games away from their gym in Hopkins. But the Bears persisted, making the Class 2A state tournament with a five-game tournament run, including victories over two teams that had beaten them during the regular season. It was only the second time the school had ever played at state. Then, last week, school administrators told Coach Tyler Biwan his contract wasn’t being renewed. It set off a week of anger in the Blake community.
INTENSE UPROAR: Social media reacted strongly to the original decision to fire Biwan, including angry posts by two of Blake’s top players. One posted on X: “I’ve never felt more embarrassed and ashamed to be a Bear.” The other posted: “We just went to state as the 9 seed in our section and they think to fire the guy who led us there? Nobody on the team besides maybe 1 or 2 people support this.” Coaches from around the state weighed in, including the Minnesota Basketball Coaches Association, and an online petition circulated that gathered more than 600 signers. as of Wednesday. Biwan’s post on X last week about his dismissal gathered replies from numerous coaches around the state. One former coach called him, “One of the best 10 or 15 coaches in the state, and a better person.”
DISPUTE RESOLVED: After a meeting Thursday morning involving Biwan and school officials, the dispute was resolved. Biwan asked those who were seeking his reinstatement to stop their efforts. He declined to go into further detail. VERBATIM: “Blake shared with me the reasons for its decision, and it is our intention and hope that those reasons will remain between the school and me. After hearing from Blake, I want you all to know i support the decision and believe it is in the best interests of the program, the school and me to part ways on good terms.”
BIWAN BACKGROUND: The former Blake coach is a U of M graduate who was a men’s basketball team manager under former coach Tubby Smith. He was hired by Blake in 2016. He is a senior vice president at Circana, a market analytics company, and previously worked at General Mills and Best Buy. Biwan said he learned of his dismissal last week during a 10-minute meeting with Blake’s interim athletic director. In a social media post about his departure, Bivan wrote: “Learning under Tubby Smith, he often preached ‘always leave it better than when you found it.’ We did that at Blake. Onward.”
LETTER FROM PARENTS: A letter signed by 32 basketball program parents had been sent to school officials and Blake’s board of trustees seeking an “independent investigation.” The school responded with a letter from Head of School Anne Stavney and interim Athletic Director Hugh Brown that was distributed to the entire Blake community. VERBATIM: “Leading a Blake athletic team is about much more than wins and losses (though those are important too!). It is about creating a culture that nurtures all of our student-athletes, and leading with behavior consistent with Blake’s values. When we have documented reasons to believe that is not happening, we do not renew seasonal coaching contracts. Families do not decide this; donors do not decide this. This decision is made entirely by Blake leadership, and that was the case here.”
PARENT LETTER: PAGE 1 | PAGE 2
RESPONSE LETTER TO BLAKE COMMUNITY: TAP HERE
UPDATE: In a follow-up to Blake families, Stavney attached Biwan’s letter and wrote, “I regret that this has been a difficult week for many in our community. We will continue to move forward focused on the best interests of our students.”
WHAT’S NEXT? Stavney is leaving Blake this summer and a new head of school has been hired. In addition, a new athletic director will start this summer. Blake has already posted the opening on its web site, one of seven coaching openings being advertised by the 126-year-old K-12 private school. Asked if he would return to coaching, Biwan said he’ll mull that over later. “Especially with how it’s been a chaotic week. It’s good to move forward. . . . Time will tell.”
MY TAKE: In a year of high-profile stories about high school coaching dismissals, resignations and leaves of absence, this was an unique situation because a private school doesn’t operate with the same transparency as public schools. Blake is an extraordinary academic school and would not routinely be a place that students leave over athletic issues. Sports don’t define schools such as Blake as much as they enhance them. Settling this on mutually agreed-upon terms is the best way for Blake to get focus back on what makes its an attractive K-12 option.
BLAKE SCHOOL WEB SITE | BLAKE ATHLETICS
FEELING THE DRAFT: The first round is tonight (7 p.m., ABC and ESPN), but the drama carries on through the weekend. During my tenure as web sports editor at the Star Tribune, the most active day of the year — based on the number of updates and readership — was the Saturday of the draft. The combination of the final day picks, the fast pace of the picking and the analysis and coverage of moves made during the first two days was a holiday for Vikings fans. As of now, the Vikings have five picks on the final day. They’ll pick 18th in the first round and 49th, 82nd and 97th is the second and third rounds on Friday. Of course, that’s subject to change in a moment’s notice via trades. Here’s a guide for getting you through the coming days:
THE FIRST-ROUNDER: Via Ben Goessling at Star Tribune. Conventional wisdom and logic has the Vikings picking Oregon safety Dillon Thieneman, who will be cast as the likely successor to Harrison Smith. VERBATIM: “The Vikings love safeties with the kind of instincts and versatility Thieneman showed at Oregon. As they prepare for a major shift at the position (possibly as soon as this fall) after Harrison Smith’s retirement, Thieneman could be a perfect successor. He ran a 4.37-second 40-yard dash at the NFL combine, putting to rest questions about his speed, and in Minnesota, he would have a chance to learn from Josh Metellus (and Smith, the Vikings hope) about how to direct the team’s ever-shifting defense.”
WHAT IF? Should Thieneman be gone with the Vikings pick, options are safety Emmanuel McNeil-Warren of Toledo and defensive tackle Peter Woods of Clemson. As he does annually, Goessling scopes out Vikings picks — trades and all — for the entire draft. GOESSLING’S DRAFT: https://fluence-media.co/bensdraft0423
VIKINGS CHALLENGE: Via Alec Lewis at The Athletic. It’s simple. Do better. Vikings executive Rob Brzezinski, who has been running the draft preparation since the firing of GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, understands the assignment. There is more uncertainty than certainty on the current roster, in part because of recent draft failures. VERBATIM: To set the stage, here is perhaps the most underdiscussed Vikings organizational factoid, a tidbit that should occupy headlines as much as the team’s quarterback conundrum: Minnesota’s roster currently contains two players who were drafted in the second round, three who were drafted in the third round and one who was drafted in the fourth round. To summarize, six of the 61 players on the Vikings’ roster were selected in what is typically viewed as the meat of the draft, the fewest of any team in the NFL by a wide margin. . . . When you don’t find starters in the middle rounds, everything else has to overextend. This doesn’t prevent winning seasons. It does, however, limit the margin for error.”
MORE: “With former GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah in charge, the Vikings landed just four solid starters over four seasons: receivers Jalen Nailor and Jordan Addison, kicker Will Reichard and left guard Donovan Jackson. Others, such as safety Jay Ward, edge rusher Dallas Turner and quarterback J.J. McCarthy, could join the mix, but the dearth of impact is hard to deny.” FULL STORY: https://fluence-media.co/challenge0423
MINNESOTA GUYS: Two intriguing players with state connections. EMMETT JOHNSON: The Nebraska running back played at Holy Angels in Richfield and was the Big Ten’s leading rusher last season. He’s viewed as a probable third- to fifth-round pick. (Top running backs don’t go as high as they once did.) JACK STRAND: This is a fun one. The Minnesota State Moorhead quarterback set a batch of Northern Sun Conference records during his time at the Division II school, which was the only one that offered him a scholarship. He’s seen as a seventh-round pick or getting a larger-than-normal bonus to sign with a team as an undrafted free agent. He’s ranked as the 15th best quarterback in “The Beast,” the comprehensive draft guide from The Athletic.
STRAND’S STORY: Via Andy Greder at Pioneer Press. Strand played high school football in Bloomer, Wis., and wasn’t even planning to try college until his coach convinced him to make a highlight tape. Ne caught the attention of MSU Moorhead coach Steve Laqua at football camps in North Dakota. VERBATIM: “ ‘I remember just talking to our wide receiver coach and just saying, ‘If we end up with this guy at quarterback, we might have broken hands on half of our receivers,’ because he throws the ball so hard,’ Laqua said. . . . Strand stepped into the starting spot midway through his true freshman year, and as he developed touch to go with the arm strength, the numbers started to pile up in his sophomore season.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/strand0423
BELLY OF THE BEAST: Here’s are several Minnesota-themed draft charts compiled from The Beast, the Athletic’s exhaustive preview. HOW EXHAUSTIVE? 402 profiles, 2,700 rankings, 45,000 verified measurements and almost 300,000 words.
GOPHERS AND TOMMIES: None are likely to be drafted, but here’s a list of 17 — 15 from the U and two from St. Thomas — who could sign as undefeated free agents. The list is headed by Gophers kicker Brady Denaburg and defensive tackle Deven Eastern. https://fluence-media.co/gophstoms0423
AROUND THE STATE: In addition to Strand, here are 10 players from the Northern Sun (D-II) and MIAC (D-III) who have undrafted free-agent potential. Next on the list after Strand is Carleton quarterback Jack Curtis. https://fluence-media.co/miacnsic0423
ON THE BORDER: There are 34 players ranked from the four border colleges — North Dakota, North Dakota State, South Dakota and South Dakota State — that played in the FCS Missouri valley Conference last season. NDSU is moving to the FBS-level Mountain West Conference in July. The list is topped by NDSU wide receiver Bryce Lance, tabbed as a third- or fourth-round pick, and NDSU quarterback Cole Payton, prediction for the fourth round. https://fluence-media.co/border0423
THE OTHER BORDER: Three players from Division III champion Wisconsin-River Falls, which had a roster with a majority of Minnesotans, are expected to get undefeated free agent looks. They are quarterback Kaleb Blaha (Fridley), center Hunter McKinney (Pipestone Area) and linebacker Gage Timm of Shawano, Wis.
MORE LINKS: NFL.com has a real-time draft tracker that is organized by PICKS | TEAMS | PROSPECTS
GUT PUNCH, COUNTERPUNCH: Via Joe Smith at The Athletic. The lasting images from the Wild’s Game 3 loss to Dallas in double-overtime will be how the Wild squandered opportunities — and how Dallas tied the score and got the game-winner by taking full advantage of the few times it controlled the puck. The Wild has five unsuccessful power plays in the third and period and overtime while the Stars tied the score on a third-period power play and got the game-winner on another one. VERBATIM: “The Wild were handed this one on a silver platter. It was there for the taking. They had rallied from a 2-0 deficit, with Matt Boldy’s gutsy playmaking — after he was temporarily pulled by a concussion spotter — close to becoming forever part of Wild lore. Marcus Foligno’s bloody face after his tussle with Matt Duchene would have been put on T-shirts. The Wild held the Stars to just two shots over a 33-minute period. They had SEVEN power plays, including two in overtime. They went 1-for-7. The puck was on the stick of the best player in franchise history, Kirill Kaprizov, who hit the post with 3:57 left in the first overtime. Nobody has scored more OT winners here than him, but his snap shot from 20 feet away clanked harmlessly off the post.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/gamethree0423
GONE MISSING: Via Dane Mizutani at Pioneer Press. Superstar Kirill Kaprizov, who had a goal and two assists in the Wild’s 6-1 Game 1 victory, has barely been a factor since. Kaprizov has been stymied in part because of the absence of teammate and BFF Mats Zuccarello, who hasn’t played in the two losses since because of an upper-body injury. VERBATIM: “Though it wouldn’t be fair to place the blame solely on Kaprizov at this point, he needs to be better for the Wild if they’re going to have a chance moving forward. He simply hasn’t been good enough. The recent struggles were underscored by the fact that Kaprizov only managed to muster up a pair of shots on goal in Game 3 despite logging a whopping 36 minutes, 22 seconds of time on the ice. He also failed to produce on the power play and was a big reason the Wild as a whole went 1 of 7 with the man advantage. It’s not a coincidence that Kaprizov’s downturn has coincided with Mats Zuccarello missing time with an upper body injury. They are best friends off the ice and have almost a telepathic connection on the ice that often unlocks everything for the Wild in the offensive zone. It’s pretty clear that Kaprizov has been lost without Zuccarello.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/kirill0423
THREE-PEAT? The Frost end their season Saturday at Vancouver (6 p.m., FDSN) and will finish the PWHL season in third place. They won’t know their semifinal playoff opponent until afterward for two reasons. (1) Montreal and Boston are still battling for first place. (2) The first-place team gets to choose its first-round playoff opponent from the third- and fourth-place finishers. The semifinals and finals are both best-of-five. Keep in mind the Frost won the Walter Cup, named for the PWHL’s founders, after finishing fourth in the 2024 and 2025 regular seasons. PLAYOFF GUIDE: https://fluence-media.co/pwhl0423
PANNEK FOR MVP? Via Theodore Tollefson at Pioneer Press. While the Frost are going for their third straight title, Kelly Pannek is making a bid to become the team’s first PWHL Most Valuable Player. The former Gophers and Benilde-St. Margaret’s star leads the league in goals (15) and points (32). She’s also tied for third in assists. Those totals increased Wednesday with a goal and two assists in the Frost’s 5-4 loss at Seattle. VERBATIM: “She’s putting pucks in the net, she’s playmaking, she’s winning face-offs, she’s reliable every night,” Frost Captain Kendall Coyne Schofield said. “It’s been awesome to see her get rewarded, but I think she’s always been this good. It’s just people are now talking about it because of the points being put up on the board.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/pannek0423
TIMBERWOLVES SMACK BACK: Via Anthony Slater at ESPN. Wolves forward Jaden McDaniels opted to turn up the verbal heat after his team tied its playoff series with Denver at one game apiece. He went after Denver’s defense, showing the same ferocity that both teams displayed in Minnesota’s 119-114 Game 2 victory. He named names. VERBATIM: “Jaden McDaniels called several Nuggets players ‘bad defenders,’ identifying Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Cam Johnson by name. ‘They’ve just been saying a lot,’ Johnson said in response. ‘All season, all series. Let them talk. Let them get everything they want off their chest.’ . . . After practice on Wednesday, Johnson, coach David Adelman and starting guard Christian Braun were asked about McDaniels’ comments. ‘I can't wait for his podcast,’ Adelman said sarcastically. ‘He's a really good player. Everyone has a sounding board these days. It'll help his social media.’ “
BRAUN’S RESPONSE: "It's part of the rivalry. I don't think it caught anybody off guard. He's kinda speaking his truth and what he believes. We'll allow them to do that. We kinda want to take care of our own." MORE: https://fluence-media.co/talk0423
WOLVES GOOD FOR BUSINESS: Via Chris Hine at Star Tribune. Combine words off the court and action on the court and you have a smoking-hot rivalry that’s great for the NBA. VERBATIM: “Timberwolves vs. Nuggets is a full-fledged modern NBA rivalry, and it’s great for the game. So, too, are McDaniels’ chirps. Viewers get interested in sports when there are villains and rivalries. It’s just as important for people to root against certain players or teams as it is for them to support their favorite ones. That’s what drives casual viewership, and it’s one reason why the NFL, especially when Tom Brady and the New England Patriots were perennial contenders, always got huge ratings. If you’re a casual fan who saw McDaniels’ comments on social media, you might now make it a point to watch Game 3 to see how Denver responds. If you’re an old-school hoops fan, and you enjoyed the 1980s and 1990s, when players like Michael Jordan and Larry Bird wanted to crush their opponents at all costs, Timberwolves-Nuggets is for you.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/rivals0423
WOLVES VS. WILD: My friend Scott Winter, a sports journalism professor at the U, offered me his Minnesota playoff take. “Angry Wolves are better Wolves. Embrace villainy. But that doesn’t work when you get two-minute penalties in hockey. So the Wild need to stop that.”
PORTAL SUCCESS: The Gophers women are reloading in the transfer portal like an elite team after reaching the Sweet 16 and losing to eventual national champion UCLA. Their big issue was losing two post players who completed their eligibility — and replacements are coming from other Big Ten schools. Gracie Merkle, a 6-foot-6 center who was fifth in the conference in scoring (19.8 points per game) and led Division I by making 72.5% of her field goals. Also added is 6-foot-3 Tayla Thomas, who averaged 10 points, 7 rebounds and more than a block per game for Northwestern. They also added point guard Leah Harmon who is coming from Central Florida after playing one year at Miami. Minnesota also has four freshman players coming in, a class ranked 19th in the nation by ESPN It’s fair to have even higher expectations for the 2026-27 Gophers, who are morphing into a team that opponents circle on their schedules. MEN: Coach Niko Medved has worked the edges of the portal, picking up two reserves from national-champion Michigan — including 7-foot-2 center Malick Kordel — and one of his former Colorado State players — guard Kyan Evans — who started every game for Medved as a sophomore and saw his junior year playing time reduced as the season went along at North Carolina.
HOCKEY UPDATE: The men’s hockey transfer portal closes Monday and, so far, the Gophers have taken in six players while having seven leave from last year’s team. The women’s portal closed on April 6. To see comings and goings for all men and women in D-I and D-III men, you can follow the Gopher Puck Live transfer tracker.
LOONS BACK: After a sloppy start, Minnesota United is moving up the MLS standings, tying a team record Wednesday with their fourth straight win — 1-0 at Dallas, which had an 11-match winning streak at home. At 5-2-2, the Loons have climbed into a third-place tie in the Western Conference. They play Saturday at Allianz Field against LAFC, which also has a share of third place. (3:45 p.m., FOX). STANDINGS
LYNX TV FIX: FanDuel Sports Network will go dark soon after the first round of the Stanley Cup ends and the Lynx have announced that streaming service Victory+ will carry 26 of their regular-season games. The others will be part of the league’s broadcast and streaming package on an assortment of networks. Victory+ is a streaming service that includes a group of pro teams, as well as an assortment of other sports. I set up the Victory+ app on Roku and it seems easy to navigate. Games will be streamed without charge this season. TWO QUESTIONS: Will the Lynx continue to stream for free after this year? is this the route that other teams that are currently on FanDuel — the Wolves, Wild and Frost — will take in the future?
FOLLOWING THE W: Here’s the schedule of which networks will show WNBA games and when. MONDAY: Peacock and USA. TUESDAY: ESPN. WEDNESDAY: USA. THURSDAY: Prime. FRIDAY: Ion. SATURDAY: ABC, CBS. SUNDAY: NBC, CBS, ABC, ESPN. Got that?
LYNX TV SCHEDULE: https://fluence-media.co/lynxtv0423
TWINS BLUNDERS: It took a visit from the Twins for the Mets to end their 12-game losing streak and the bullpen — once again — was to blame. Relievers spit up leads on Saturday and Sunday vs. the Reds and came back weakly for an encore on Wednesday. With two outs and the game tied at 2 in the eighth inning, Taylor Rogers walked a batter and Justin Topa entered to walk another one before a game-winning bloop single. Yet another example of how slim of a margin for error the Twins have.
HA! Twins fans don’t have much reason to laugh at their rivals, but there was a precious moment in Minnesota’s win on Tuesday over the Mets. After a New York reliever failed to retire any of the five batters he faced in the ninth inning, when the Twins scored their winning runs, his replacement struck out Royce Lewis, setting off an “M-V-P!” chant from the crowd.
GRAND OPENING: Via CCX Media. Brooklyn Park’s Zanewood Recreation Center (a/k/a “The Wood) has its formal grand opening celebration from 4 to 7 p.m. today to show off the new building at 7100 Zane Ave. N. The $9.8 million facility expansion includes a new gym, arts space and a “Teen Tech center” sponsored by Best Buy. The space was funded by a 2018 referendum and grant money, including a $100,000 gift from the foundation created by former Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen. VERBATIM: “You talk about helping youth reach their full potential, you think of resources and opportunities,” said Thielen. “This is a space that creates both of those: resources, beautiful resources, beautiful opportunities with the programming and the space to be able to do [that] programming. It’s a perfect opportunity to help these youth be at their best and to be who they want to be.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/zanewood0423
AND FINALLY: Via CCX Sports. Even without the controversy surrounding Blake, I would have shared this video about what the school did for a rival at the end of the regular season. Brooklyn Center had played its entire schedule on the road because of problems with its gym floor. Biwan reached out and offered to let Brooklyn Center be the home team in Blake’s gym so the Centaurs could hold a Senior Night celebration. Here’s what happened:
THANKS FOR READING AND REACHING OUT.
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