Midweek Stock Report: Andrew Wiggins takes flight
Every Wednesday, FOX Sports North takes a look at which athletes' stock is trending up and whose is trending down.
In other words, who is dunking all over the Orlando Magic heating up and who is cooling off.
With that in mind, let's take stock of the current Minnesota sports scene.
Andrew Wiggins, Wolves forward
Wiggins scored some points last week. It was a good week. Yeah, whatever. He put poor Nikola Vucevic on a poster Monday, throwing down a vicious dunk withno regard for human life. Wiggins led the charge in overtime, helping the Wolves to a 111-105 win over the Magic, but really, that dunk is what you're here for.
Ricky Rubio, Wolves point guard
The Wolves hit 10 3-pointers in that win over the Magic. Rubio -- remarkably -- hit six of them. The notoriously spotty shooter went a career-high 6-for-9 from beyond the arc en route to the 15th 20-point game of his career. He made back-to-back-to-back (I swear this is true) 3-pointers to pull the Wolves even in the third quarter in the best shooting performance of his six-year career.
Darcy Kuemper, Wild goalie
Kuemper made 41 saves on 43 shots to help the Wild to a 5-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday, earning him some screen time with Kevin Gorg after the game. What he didn't know was that his secondary assist on Chris Stewart's goal in the third period was his first career point. "Was that really my first?" he said, grinning like he'd just won the Stanley Cup.
Zach Parise, Wild winger
The drought is over. Parise reacted stoically after scoring his first goal since Jan. 7 in the Wild's win over the Oilers, throwing a feed from Jason Pominville on goal before picking up his own rebound and forcing it home in typically scrappy fashion.
Zach LaVine, Wolves shooting guard
LaVine's reign is over. The two-time Slam Dunk Contest champ backed out of a rematch with Magic star Aaron Gordon in this year's event, citing a recent hip injury and his commitment to winning games for the Wolves. An understandable -- even admirable -- sentiment, but a tragedy for fans of free-throw-line dunks.
The Central Division
"You’re not going to get the intensity of a Stanley Cup Final, but the intensity of an NHL preseason game would be good now and again," Wild coach Bruce Boudreau told Yahoo Sports. Woof. Goaltender Devan Dubnyk and defenseman Ryan Suter represented the Wild on Boudreau's Central Division squad for the 3-on-3 All-Star tournament, and it did not go well. The Pacific Division scored on roughly half of its 22 shots, blitzing the Central Division 10-3 in the semifinals. Dubnyk entered the game for the second half, making six saves on 11 shots. Moving on.
The Minnesota Gophers men's hockey team
The Gophers finished third at the final North Star College Cup, falling to No. 1-ranked Minnesota, Duluth 3-2 on Friday, before smoking Bemidji State 4-0 in the third-place game. An admirable attempt to emulate the old WCHA tournament (RIP) by bringing the state's five college hockey teams (Minnesota State was the odd team out this year) together at Xcel Energy Center, the NSCC won't return next year. The Gophers had little success during the tournament's four-year run, winning the inaugural NSCC in 2014, before finishing fourth in back-to-back seasons.
