Minnesota

Minnesota United vs. Columbus Crew preview: Broadcast info, injuries, analysis

Published

2 years ago

March 1, 2024

Press Room

Minnesota United vs. Columbus Crew preview: Broadcast info, injuries, analysis

LOONS PREVIEW

1 p.m. Saturday vs. Columbus • Allianz Field

TV: Apple TV+ MLS Season Pass

Pregame reading: Loons’ top-down youth movement is underway ahead of the home opener.

Jerry Zgoda’s analysis:

Opening bell: The Loons play MLS Cup defending champion Columbus in their home opener at Allianz Field without four starters available. Star midfielder Emanuel Reynoso, forward Bongokuhle Hlongwane, midfielder Robin Lod and left-side attacker Franco Fragapane are all out. Just like in last week’s season-opening 2-1 victory at Austin, gaps in the usual 11 could create opportunities for Medina’s Caden Clark and Costa Rican midfielder Alejandro Bran, who scored last Saturday’s winning goal. … It’s new Loon Clark’s first game at home in Minnesota. He has obtained 40 to 45 tickets for his fan club. “It’s going to be a special day for me,” he said. “I have a lot of family and friends coming to the game. I’ve been waiting for this for a while.” … The Loons will use the second of four short-term contracts allowed to him to add forward Loïc Mesanvi, a Lakeville native, to the game roster after doing the same last week.

Watch him: The game reunites Columbus star midfielder Darlington Nagbe in his 13th MLS season with Loons interim head coach Cameron Knowles. The two worked together in Portland and won the 2015 MLS Cup together. Nagbe owns four MLS Cup rings — the 10th player in league history to win four titles — after last season’s MLS Cup final at home over LAFC. He won two with Columbus and one each with Atlanta and the Timbers. “He’s one of the best player this league has seen,” Knowles said. “He has won wherever he’s gone. He has had a long career already and he’s still such an important player to their team, such an important player in the league.”… Former Loon Christian Ramirez returns to Minnesota, where he played five seasons — three in the NASL, two in MLS — before he was traded to LAFC in 2018. He scored eight goals last season and two more in the playoffs in winning his first MLS Cup with the Crew.

Injuries: The Loons list Reynoso (knee), Fragapane (thigh), Lod (leg) and Hlongwane (game fitness) as out. Kervin Arriaga is available after missing last week. Columbus list defender Mohamed Farsi (lower leg) as out.

Forecast: The Loons’ commitment to press higher up the field could get tested by the league champs.

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Minnesota

Minnesota Duluth’s Max Plante wins men’s college hockey’s Hobey Baker Award

Published

6 hours ago

April 10, 2026

Press Room

Minnesota Duluth’s Max Plante wins men’s college hockey’s Hobey Baker Award

Minnesota Duluth sophomore forward Max Plante is the winner of the 2026 Hobey Baker Award as the top player in men’s college hockey.

He edged fellow finalists, T.J. Hughes, a senior forward from Michigan, and Eric Pohlkamp, a junior defenseman from the University of Denver.

Plante scored 25 goals and had 52 points in 40 games in his second season with the Bulldogs. The 2024 second-round pick of the Detroit Red Wings finished third in NCAA Division I scoring behind Quinnipiac’s Ethan Wyttenbach (59) and Hughes (57).

He’s the first Minnesota Duluth player to win the award since Scott Perunovich in 2020 and the seventh overall.

Plante’s father, former NHL player Derek Plante, also played for Minnesota Duluth and was a Hobey Baker top 10 finalist in 1993.

Michigan State’s Trey Augustine was named the top goaltender in the Friday, April 10 ceremony. He went 24-9-1 for the Spartans with a 2.11 goals-against average and a .929 save percentage.

Wyttenbach was named college hockey’s rookie of the year.

Recent Hobey Baker Award winners

2026: F Max Plante, Minnesota Duluth
2025: F Isaac Howard, Michigan State
2024: F Macklin Celebrini, Boston University
2023: F Adam Fantilli, Michigan
2022: G Dryden McKay, Minnesota State
2021: F Cole Caufield, Wisconsin
2020: D Scott Perunovich, Minnesota Duluth
2019: D Cale Makar, UMass
2018: F Adam Gaudette, Northeastern
2017: D Will Butcher, Denver
2016: F Jimmy Vesey, Harvard

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Minnesota

New strain of COVID detected in 25 states including Minnesota

Published

19 hours ago

April 10, 2026

Press Room

New strain of COVID detected in 25 states including Minnesota

(St. Paul, MN) — State health officials are keeping an eye on a highly mutated new COVID variant called B-A 3-dot-2, or “cicada.” Minnesota Department of Health Epidemiologist Keeley Morris says, “With that many mutations it’s likely going to be pretty good at evading any immunity that people have from being vaccinated or also from prior COVID-19 infections.” She says the good news is that B-A 3-dot-2 doesn’t seem to be causing more severe illness. The C-D-C says the “cicada” variant has been detected in at least 25 states. Morris says Minnesota has detected three cases of either B-A 3-dot-2 or some of its descendants, and we also had one site that had a positive wastewater detection.

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Minnesota

Community members show up to support Mercado Central, businesses hit hard by ICE surge

Published

1 day ago

April 9, 2026

Press Room

Community members show up to support Mercado Central, businesses hit hard by ICE surge

Mercado Central on Lake Street in Minneapolis has been more than a marketplace; it’s a heartbeat, a place filled with food, culture and community. During Operation Metro Surge, that heartbeat slowed.

“We’re a co-op. We’re all business owners that just need support from our community,” Ajeleth Moreno with El Rincon Pupuseria said.

Many regular customers stopped coming and the change was impossible to ignore.

“Our regulars would not be here at all in the beginning months, but we did get really good support for the community,” Joscan Moreno said.

That community is showing up with purpose.

“I think it’s important to set an example and to show other community members that we are still here. We still need to be showing up and there’s so many beautiful examples of resilience out here today,” Rose Gomez said.

Through a wave of community support, online donations, to simply having people walk into their doors again.

“These places are few and far between, I don’t know if I know of any place exactly like this,” Simon Fitzkappes said. “And for our community to lose such a great spot, it’s really detrimental. We all hope that doesn’t happen.”

Because here, the business owners and diners alike say every visit and dollar matters.

“We’ve never got this many people here,” Ajeleth Moreno said. “We just hope it stays that way because we don’t want to be forgotten again.”

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