The Lynx will be fighting for their season Sunday night in Phoenix. Their head coach will not join them in battle.

Cheryl Reeve was suspended for Game 4 of the WNBA semifinals by the league on Saturday.

Minnesota’s head coach went berserk in the final minute of Game 3 on Friday after she felt a foul should have been called when Alyssa Thomas swiped the ball from Napheesa Collier and scored what was effectively the game-clinching layup on the other end.

Reeve ran out onto the floor and started screaming in the face of the officials. She received her second technical foul and was thus ejected from the game as she was held back by Minnesota staff members.

Reeve then made a number of controversial, expletive-laden comments in a two-minute postgame rant following the loss before exiting the press conference stage.

“We’ve talked about how dangerous it can be. You’re hearing it from the other series, you’re hearing other coaches. You’re hearing (Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon) talk about when you let the physicality happen, people get hurt,” Reeve said. “There’s fights, and this is the look that our league wants for some reason. We were trying to play through it. We tried to make excuses.

“One of the best players in the league shot zero free throws and she had five fouls. Zero free throws. Got her shoulder pulled out and finished the game with her leg being taken out and probably has a fracture. And so, if this is what our league wants, OK, but I want to call for a change of leadership at the league level when it comes to officiating. It’s bad for the game.

“The officiating crew that we had tonight, for the leadership to deem those three people semifinals playoff worthy is (expletive) malpractice.

“I can take an L with the best of them. I don’t think we should have to play through more than what they did. We got players, Masha’s on the glass and gets (expletive) cracked and there’s no call and all them said, ‘It wasn’t mine. It wasn’t my call, I don’t know, I didn’t see it that way.’ They’re (expletive) awful.”

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In the release announcing Reeve’s suspension, the WNBA cited the coach’s “conduct and comments included aggressively pursuing and verbally abusing a game official on the court, failure to leave the court in a timely manner upon her ejection with 21.8 seconds to play in the fourth quarter, inappropriate comments made to fans when exiting the court, and remarks made in a post-game press conference.”

The WNBA also announced Reeve and Minnesota assistant coaches Eric Thibault and Rebekkah Brunson were all fined — Thibault for his “inappropriate interaction” with an official on the floor, and Brunson for a postgame social media post.

Brunson reposted a video of the end-of-game incident, adding “Yeah this happened! Take out one of the best players in the league because you have no control of the game!”

Rutgers quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis taunted the Gophers’ student section after throwing his second touchdown pass of the first half Saturday. The senior, who transferred out of Minnesota in 2023, cupped a hand to his ear after the Scarlet Knights quieted the crowd at Huntington Bank Stadium with a 14-0 lead.

Kaliakmanis’ counterpart, redshirt freshman Gophers quarterback Drake Lindsey, got the last laugh, replying with two second-half touchdown passes as Minnesota rallied for a 31-28 win in the Gophers’ Big Ten opener.

Down 31-28, Rutgers drove to Minnesota’s 26-yard line, but Kaliakmanis wasn’t ready for a shotgun snap that went between his legs. He recovered it, but had to eat a 15-yard loss.

Kicker Jai Patel 56-yard field goal attempt had enough leg but went wide right, and Minnesota went into victory formation.

Minnesota (3-1, 1-0 Big Ten) avenged last year’s 26-19 loss to Rutgers in Piscataway, N.J., while Rutgers (3-2, 0-2) dropped its second straight conference game after a loss to Iowa last Friday.

Lindsey finished with 324 passing yards, three TDs and no interceptions, while Kaliakmanis finished with 249 yards, two TDs and one interception.

The Gophers scored 10 points in the third quarter, holding the ball for more than 12 minutes and taking the lead at 24-21. Lindsey threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Jalen Smith, and Brady Denaburg made a 26-yard field goal.

But Minnesota’s cornerback Mike Gerald couldn’t grab interception, and at least three defenders missed tackles, as Rutgers picked up a third and 15. After Rutgers running back Antwan Raymond picked up 20 on that carry, he capped the drive with a 4-yard touchdown run to take a 28-24 lead.

Lindsey, a redshirt freshman, went 6 for 7 on the final touchdown drive, which was capped with Javon Tracy’s 4-yard touchdown pass.

After Kaliakmanis had early success, the Gophers defense sacked him seven times.

The Gophers trailed 21-14 at the half, after Rutgers went 63 yards over seven plays to score a touchdown with 18 seconds left in the second quarter.

Fleck lamented giving up points before the half in the 27-14 loss to Cal two weeks ago and it happened to his team again Saturday.

Yet the end of the half was trending Minnesota’s way. The Gophers’ final drive reached the Rutgers’ 44, but an apparent facemask on Ijeboi, which yanked off his helmet, was missed by Big Ten officials.

With the 15-yard penalty, the U failed to convert on fourth and short.

Then after a Rutgers touchdown, Koi Perich busted off a 56-yard return, but kicker Brady Denaburg missed a 50-yard field goal wide right. He also missed a 51-yarder at a pivotal time in the Cal loss.

Kaliakmanis started perfect, completing his opening nine passes for 115 yards. He took full advantage of tons of space to find open receivers in soft spots in the Gophers defense, with chunky completions of 29, 21, 18, 12 and 16 yards. He then threaded a pass into tight coverage on a 4-yard touchdown in the first quarter.

The inaccuracy Gophers fans were used to with Kaliakmanis showed up on the following drive with a couple of incompletions.

Gophers cornerback John Nestor couldn’t catch an interception in his hands and Kalaikmanis took advantage with a 14-yard touchdown pass. Kaliakmanis then cupped his hand to his ear, taunting the quieted Gophers student section.

Lindsey threw a 78-yard bomb to Jalen Smith on the next drive and Fame Ijeboi scored his first career rushing touchdown from 2 yards out to make it 14-7.

On the next drive, Kaliakmanis threw an interception to Kerry Brown, who returned it 28 yards to the Rutgers’ 8. Lindsey threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Le’Meke Brockington on the next play.

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Cheryl Reeve is right about this — the quality of officiating in the WNBA is putrid.

Now, no one believes officiating is good at any level in any sport, particularly when there is a rooting interest involved. But compare the consistency of calls and contact allowed in the WNBA to the NBA and the difference is stark.

In the NBA, oftentimes when you don’t like a call, it’s because you don’t like a rule. In the WNBA, there’s rarely rhyme nor reason for why something was or wasn’t called.

However, that wasn’t the case at the tail end of Game 3 of the Lynx’s Western Conference semifinals in Phoenix. And it’s not why Minnesota is losing this series. While the Napheesa Collier injury was highly unfortunate, there was nothing illegal about the Alyssa Thomas steal. Her swipe of the ball was clean and, in professional basketball, once that steal takes place, any further contact is indeed deemed “incidental.”

Like it or not, that’s the rule.

Reeve’s postgame rant included many more instances with which she had qualms, and that’s fine. But there has to be an expectation that more physicality will be allowed in the postseason.

Yes, WNBA coaches have suggested the allowable contact has gone over the edge in these playoffs. Funnily enough, NBA coaches said the same thing at the start of their postseason in the spring. It’s the way it is at this point; adapt or go home.

In their hearts, coaches know as much. Rarely will a whistle save a team that’s not matching the opponent’s level of physicality. And, in the second half of each of their past two games, Minnesota has not matched that part of its game to meet Phoenix.

The result is a pair of losses. If that doesn’t change, a similar outcome is waiting for Minnesota on Sunday in Phoenix, which would end the Lynx’s season.

Sure, Minnesota is behind the eight ball, particularly if Napheesa Collier can’t play due to injuries suffered from that collision with Thomas. But the Lynx proved late in the season they can play at a high level even if their best player isn’t available.

But winning — without or without Collier — will require Minnesota bringing a hit-first mentality to the game.

The Lynx cannot allow themselves to be pushed around by a bigger Phoenix team.

Perhaps the urgency that comes with such a successful season being pushed to the brink will bring out the level of aggression required to achieve to send this series back to Minneapolis for Game 5.

That’s the change Minnesota can make happen now. Ideally for the League, an upgrade in officiating is soon to follow.

Olympic-size ice sheets, 15 feet wider than the normal NHL-size playing surfaces, were once a hockey trend that is quickly going away. Locally, the Gophers reduced the size of the ice at 3M Arena at Mariucci a few years ago, and St. Cloud State recently announced plans to do the same.

In the 1990s, when the “big ice” was all the rage, many believed that more playing surface would open up the game to more dynamic offense. It didn’t really happen that way, but there were nuances in the game on an Olympic-size sheet that caused teams to adjust their style of play.

During his run as head coach at the University of Michigan, Edina native Mel Pearson noted that playing on the Gophers’ big ice caused many young defenders to stray farther and farther away from their own net, leaving the Wolverines’ goalie unprotected at times.

Although he surely played on Olympic-size ice sheets, which remain commonplace in Europe, on his journey to the NHL, Wild defenseman David Jiricek now makes his living on standard size ice. In an effort to make him an everyday member of the blue line — and show fans why they paid dearly to acquire him — the Wild are working with the 21-year-old Czech on not wandering away from the net.

Or as head coach John Hynes explained it, “If there’s a play below the goal line, and there’s kind of a loose guy at the net front, not vacating the net front to go chase bad ice.”

With a 6-foot-3 frame and the long limbs that can be so effective for modern NHL defenders, Jiricek clearly has all the physical tools, one reason Columbus made him the sixth overall pick in the 2022 draft. Last season, Wild general manager Bill Guerin sent Daemon Hunt, the Wild’s 2025 first-round pick, and first-, second-, and third-round picks to Nashville to acquire him.

Jiricek played 27 games for the Iowa Wild and six at the NHL level (with one goal) before an upper body injury ended his season prematurely.

While his skating has been the biggest project for coaches working with Jiricek, he has a goal already in the preseason — scoring on a power play during the team’s preseason game in Dallas last week. But Hynes reiterated that there are still lessons for Jiricek to learn about when to defend and when to let his offensive instincts kick in.

“The habits and the mindset,” Hynes explained, “to be able to defend, and understand when it is time to be aggressive and when is it not time to be aggressive.”

With a good stable of defensemen at the ready, and veteran like Jack Johnson proving to be an option, it looks as if the Wild will remain patient with Jiricek’s development into a full-time NHL blue line option.

Teammate and translator

Wild rookie Danila Yurov is learning to speak better English, but it is a work in progress. Following Thursday’s preseason home loss to Dallas, Yurov spoke to the media with the help of a translator, fellow Russian and new Minnesota teammate Vladimir Tarasenko.

Along with the normal questions about Yurov’s first game at Grand Casino Arena, one reporter asked Yurov what it is like to play with Tarasenko, a hero to Yurov his while growing up in Russia. After Yurov answered in Russian, Tarasenko provided the answer in English.

“He said, ‘It’s nice to play’ because he was watching me on TV,” Tarasenko said. “So, they still have skill and it was nice to play together.”

Tarasenko, 33, has more than 800 NHL games and two Stanley Cups on his resume, while Yurov, 21, looks to make his NHL debut next month after playing in Russia’s KHL since 2000.

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