Sports
Wild, riding 6-game win streak, finish road back-to-back at Utah
Feb 26, 2026; Denver, Colorado, USA; Minnesota Wild left wing Matt Boldy (12) skates with the puck towards an open net in the third period against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images The Utah Mammoth will look to play with more pace in their game when they oppose the Minnesota Wild on Friday night in Salt Lake City.
Utah opened its post-Olympic-break portion of the schedule with a 4-2 home loss against the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday.
Dylan Guenther scored twice and Karel Vejmelka made 22 saves for Utah, which had won back-to-back games prior to the break.
“We played a good team, but I didn’t like our grind. I didn’t like our physicality,” Utah coach Andre Tourigny said. “I thought we didn’t have the pace we should have in our zone and on the forecheck. I don’t think we were the fastest team tonight, and that’s what makes us special. We need to realize that and be much better next game.”
Mammoth forward Logan Cooley returned to the lineup after missing 28 games with a lower-body injury, and he chipped in an assist in the loss.
“It’s good to be back out there with the guys,” Cooley said. “It’s no fun sitting in the stands watching them. It kind of felt like a long journey. There was a lot of hard work that went into it. … It felt good to be back.”
Captain Clayton Keller paces Utah with 38 assists and 55 points in 58 games, while Guenther has a team-leading 27 tallies in 56 games.
The Mammoth, who sit fourth in the Central Division, hold the top Western Conference wild-card spot. They are 11-4-1 in their past 16 games and 17-9-2 on home ice this season.
“You haven’t played for a while, so you want to make nice plays,” Guenther said of the Wednesday loss. “You don’t really have your A-game yet, so just playing your B-game solid, and I thought we did that better in the third (period).”
The Friday game will be the second of three meetings between the Mammoth and Wild. Utah upended Minnesota 6-2 on Oct. 25 in Saint Paul, Minn.
The Wild travel to Utah for the second game of a back-to-back set following a 5-2 win over the Avalanche on Thursday in Denver.
“I thought the guys did a good job preparing, whether they were at the Olympics or not at the Olympics,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “I thought everyone came together as a group and played well. Now we got another big one (on Friday) against Utah. I think to get a win was obviously nice and important for us, and now we can build from there.”
Matt Boldy scored twice and added two assists, Joel Eriksson Ek netted a pair and Mats Zucccarello added the other for the Wild, who have won six straight and are 9-1-1 over their past 11.
Kirill Kaprizov chipped in a pair of assists as the Wild improved to 18-8-3 on the road while moving into second place in the Central Division.
Filip Gustavsson made 44 saves before being replaced late in the third period after vomiting in the goal crease. Jesper Wallstedt took over and allowed one goal on two shots in 1:04 of relief.
Wallstedt, the likely starter on Friday, is 14-5-4 with a .913 save percentage and a 2.76 goals-against average in 24 games (23 starts) this season. He has never opposed Utah in his career.
–Field Level Media
Sports
FIFA watching Iran developments as World Cup nears
Nov 29, 2022; Doha, Qatar; United States of America midfielder Yunus Musah (6) battles for the ball against Iran midfielder Mehdi Torabi (16) during the second half of a group stage match during the 2022 World Cup at Al Thumama Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Danielle Parhizkaran-Imagn Images FIFA said Saturday it is keeping an eye on events in Iran after the United States launched a military strike on the nation.
The action comes just months before the start of World Cup play in June, with matches to be played in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Iran qualified for the tournament through its participation in the Asian Football Conference.
Iran is scheduled to play Belgium, New Zealand and Egypt in Group G. Two of the games are set for Los Angeles, one in Seattle.
FIFA secretary general Mattias Grafstrom said the organization is monitoring what happens.
“I read the news (about Iran) this morning the same way you did,” Grafstrom said at the International Football Association Board’s annual general meeting in Cardiff, Wales, per ESPN.
“We had a meeting today and it is premature to comment in detail, but we will monitor developments around all issues around the world.”
The World Cup draw took place in Washington, D.C., in December, with Iran represented.
“We will continue to communicate as we always do with three (host) governments as we always do in any case. Everybody will be safe,” Grafstrom said.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Tre Carroll aims high as Xavier hosts Georgetown
Feb 21, 2026; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Xavier Musketeers forward Tre Carroll (12) dribbles the ball against Butler Bulldogs forward Michael Ajayi (5) during the first half at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Robert Goddin-Imagn Images Tre Carroll continues his drive for a conference scoring crown, as well as some school history Saturday, when Xavier hosts Georgetown in a Big East rematch in Cincinnati.
Carroll leads the conference in scoring for all games (18.5 points per game) and is second in league games (19.5). A Xavier player has never led the Big East in scoring during its previous 12 seasons in the conference.
Xavier defeated Georgetown 80-77 on Dec. 20 in Washington, D.C. 80-77 to give coach Richard Pitino his first Big East win.
The two schools enter Saturday’s game with identical overall and conference marks at 13-15 and 5-12.
Xavier has dropped three straight games, five of six and eight of 10 overall, while streaky Georgetown has dropped five straight following a four-game win streak that came on the heels of a six-game skid.
The Hoyas will be without starting guard KJ Lewis for the remainder of the season. The team’s leading scorer, at 14.9 points per game, went down with a left ankle injury during Tuesday’s 76-60 loss to Marquette. Lewis is third on the team with 5.1 rebounds
“In these Big East games in the dog days of February, teams that want it the most are winning, and right now it’s very disappointing, as we’re not playing the way we should be playing at home,” Georgetown head coach Ed Cooley said. “But, you know, we’ll move on and prepare for Xavier. It’s a lot of frustration around, just around Hoya Nation. As part of what we do, we’ll rise above it, and we’ll prepare for the next game.”
Malik Mack is now the active leading scorer on Georgetown at 13.7 points while Vincent Iwuchukwu is scoring 11.6 points.
Xavier is coming off of a 94-84 loss at Providence on Wednesday. Four Musketeers reached double figures, led by Roddie Anderson’s 27 points. Carroll was held to 15 points, three points below his season average.
“Until we get that defensive identity, it’s gonna be really, really hard,” Pitino said after his team allowed at least 85 points for the 12th time this season. “We can’t just rely on trying to outscore teams and that’s kind of what we are right now.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Joey Aguilar Eligibility Ruling Is a Win for College Football
Quite often in this modern era of college football, it feels like the NCAA has lost the plot.
So many of the recent changes to the sport — such as the transfer portal, NIL and revenue sharing — are long overdue modern updates which have helped put some well-deserved power back in the players’ hands.
The NCAA, though, has refused to enforce or take a stand on issues that have arisen from these changes — things like tampering, exceeding the roster salary cap and the like — insisting that it is the government’s job to establish these guardrails.
Thankfully, the NCAA hasn’t totally given up on what really matters in college football: the first word in the sport’s name.
The NCAA secured a big win in court last week with the ruling that Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar would not be receiving an extra year of eligibility.
Thankfully, logic won out and Aguilar, who turns 25 this summer, won’t be back for his eighth season in college football.
His argument for one more year was an extension of Diego Pavia’s case last season which got him an additional year of eligibility. Pavia argued, with Aguilar and a host of other college football players joining the lawsuit, that years played at junior college shouldn’t count against Division I eligibility.
There’s many reasons why this argument doesn’t hold water but probably the biggest is…the second word in junior college.
The injunction that allowed Pavia to play last season was a net positive because of what he brought to the 2025 season as a Heisman finalist who led Vanderbilt to its first 10-win season in program history.
It also set a dangerous precedent, one which clearly made Aguilar think he could similarly get an extra year.
In theory, I’m ok with the occasional additional year of eligibility. When granted, they are basically always connected to players who have missed extensive time to injuries throughout their careers and whose pro prospects are low because of their injury history and age.
That doesn’t track with Aguilar’s path. He redshirted in 2019 at City College of San Francisco before the 2020 season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He then transferred to another JUCO program, Diablo Valley, playing in 16 games over the 2021-22 seasons.
After that, he hopped to the FBS level with a transfer to App State, where he started 25 games over two seasons there, missing minimal time.
The Pavia injunction made Aguilar eligible for the 2025 season so he landed at Tennessee after originally transferring to UCLA for what was essentially his bonus year.
It was an extremely successful season. He started all 14 games, racking up 3,565 passing yards and 24 touchdowns. He led the Southeastern Conference in passing yards during the regular season.
But once again, it was a full season competition — Aguilar’s fourth at the collegiate level with 10-plus games and fifth with six or more. That’s a full career and then some.
So it’s a relief the NCAA fought the case in court and even more that the Tennessee state judge sided with the organization over the local athlete.
Don’t get my point twisted: Player empowerment is good for college sports.
But with that power comes responsibilities. Among them, the responsibility of realizing when it’s time to move on to the next stage of football and/or life.
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