With her 2023 entertainer of the year award from the Country Music Association, a best country album Grammy and an acting role in “Yellowstone” under her belt, it’s not surprising that Lainey Wilson is on her largest tour to date. Saturday night, she packed in more than 14,000 fans to St. Paul’s Grand Casino Arena.

What was surprising, though, is how easily she has transitioned into headlining such large venues. Her performance Saturday night felt like it was delivered from a seasoned pro, not someone with a single Top 10 album to her name. That record, last year’s “Whirlwind,” figured heavily in her set list.

It’s been a long time coming for the 33-year-old, who began writing songs as a teenager and landing gigs on the side as — of all things — a Hannah Montana impersonator. (She told the crowd she knew music was her calling when she was just 9 years old.) Wilson moved to Nashville in 2011 and landed a major label deal in 2018. The 2020 single “Things a Man Oughta Know” gave her the first of her six Top 10 hits, all of which received a hero’s welcome Saturday night.

Clad in a series of colorful cowgirl outfits, Wilson commanded the stage and crowd in a manner reminiscent of Carrie Underwood or even ’90s-era Shania Twain. This was a country show, so there was plenty of drinking, but the audience kept their attention focused on Wilson, who broke out an acoustic guitar for songs like “Hillbilly Hippie,” which featured an extended instrumental outro.

Wilson co-writes all of her material, which leans into ’70s country, soul and pop. She’s also not afraid to incorporate key influences into her music. She expanded “Country’s Cool Again” into a medley with Vince Gill’s “One More Last Time,” Dwight Yoakum’s “Guitars, Cadillacs” and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s “Fishin’ in the Dark.” Later, she played “Somewhere Over Laredo,” which interpolates the hook of the Judy Garland classic “Over the Rainbow.”

Sitting on a stool alone on the stage, she crooned “Whiskey Colored Crayon” and called it her favorite storytelling song she’s written.

Wilson boosted her profile by opening for some of the genre’s biggest acts, including both Chris Stapleton and Luke Combs at U.S. Bank Stadium. So she gave each of her own opening acts a moment to shine. Maddox Batson, a fairly ridiculous 15-year-old mini Morgan Wallen, joined her for “Good Horses” (which features Miranda Lambert on the studio version) and she later invited the duo Muscadine Bloodline on stage to play their song “Pieces” as an acoustic trio.

Given her performance, and reception, we’re likely to see her back in town sooner than later.

Related Articles

Concert review: Now 83, Paul McCartney maybe amazed U.S. Bank Stadium crowd

What to know if you’re heading to see Paul McCartney in Minneapolis

Review: Paul McCartney rocks Denver with nostalgia, heart and humor

Concert review: Laufey delivers magical, jazzy pop at Target Center

Concert review: A glum Jonas Brothers lacked energy in St. Paul

GRAND FORKS — Bennett Zmolek walked into the postgame press conference Saturday night.

He answered questions from the assembled media for a few minutes. A grimace never left his face.

A 5-1 loss to your biggest rival at home will do that.

Minnesota broke a 1-1 tie early in the third period with a long-range shot from seventh defenseman Max Rud, then the Fighting Hawks unraveled the rest of the way en route to their first loss of the season.

“We weren’t good enough,” said Zmolek, UND’s captain. “We didn’t play to our standard. Bottom line, we had 20 minutes to win a game.”

After Rud’s first collegiate goal, Leo Gruba sniped one as a power play expired, Brody Lamb scored on an odd-man rush as UND pressed for offense and L.J. Mooney iced it with an empty-netter.

The rivalry series ended in usual fashion — a split.

UND and Minnesota have split their last four series. There’s only been one sweep in the last 10 North Dakota-Minnesota series.

“Minnesota played really good tonight,” UND defenseman Abram Wiebe said. “I thought they deserved the win. I thought they did a great job in the neutral zone, kind of clogging it for us. But something I thought we didn’t do was just get pucks in deep. I thought we overhandled pucks a little bit, not hitting the tape. We have to learn from our mistakes this weekend.”

UND will travel to Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y., next weekend with a 3-1 record.

The Fighting Hawks will be coming off their first setback of the season.

They cruised through their first three games, piling up goals and wins. They scored 11 goals in a sweep over St. Thomas and earned a 5-2 victory in the series opener against the Gophers.

But they struggled to get to Minnesota goalie Luca Di Pasquo in the series finale.

The lone goal came on a point shot by freshman defenseman Keaton Verhoeff in the first period.

“(Friday) night, we did such a good job of consistently playing hard,” UND coach Dane Jackson said. “We really did a good job of puck management and checking. Tonight, I thought it was a little bit intermittent. We didn’t really do a great job of resetting and being ready for the push that they had. We all know in college hockey, you’ve got to amp it up another level for the second night. I thought we were a little bit back from where we were.”

The teams traded goals in the first, then the game bogged down in the second.

Minnesota had just eight shots on goal through two periods, despite having four power plays. But the Gophers made a push in the third. They outshot UND 13-7 in the final frame.

“I think we let off the throttle,” Zmolek said. “I thought we didn’t match their intensity. I thought they deserved to win. The biggest thing is we didn’t match their intensity. We didn’t play with the grit we normally have. We didn’t get to the dirty areas.”

Penalties were also a factor in the series.

The Gophers gave UND seven power plays on Friday night. While UND didn’t score on the advantage until Minnesota pulled its goalie, the penalty killing wore on Minnesota.

On Saturday, UND handed the Gophers six power plays. They scored one power-play goal — and added another just seconds after a power play expired.

“Not real smart there,” Jackson said of the stick penalties. “A team like Minnesota is obviously really good at that and they’re going to build momentum and get chances. We’ve got to be a little better there. We can definitely talk about that and continue to really stress it and make a point of being more disciplined in that area.”

UND’s last sweep of Minnesota came in November 2019 in Minneapolis. UND hasn’t done it at home since January 2009.

The Gophers last swept UND in November 2011 in Minneapolis.

The teams are scheduled to play in Minneapolis on Oct. 23-24, 2026. They’ll return to Grand Forks in 2027-28.

“We’re going to be back up here in two years,” Minnesota coach Bob Motzko said. “A series like this, because we’re a young team, in two years we’re going to have a lot of experience and be better coming back.”

UND hopes to learn lessons from Saturday’s series finale.

“I thought when they scored that second goal, something we always preach is the next shift, you have to forget about that goal and just move forward,” Wiebe said. “I thought we didn’t do that tonight. That’s something we can learn from and grow from. Obviously, it’s early in the season. We’ve got a lot of games to do that. Right now, it’s just learn from that, grow from that and go into the next series.”

Related Articles

Powell leads Tommies to lopsided win over Valparaiso

Was Gophers’ victory over No. 25 Nebraska worth storming the field?

UND delivers rivalry win over Minnesota for raucous crowd

Gophers run over No. 25 Nebraska in a 24-6 win

Gophers secondary remains shorthanded vs. Nebraska

Minnesota United’s effort to climb the Western Conference standings on Decision Day started off as poorly as possible Saturday night.

The fourth-place Loons trailed last-place Los Angeles Galaxy 1-0 at halftime at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif., with center back Morris Duggan coming off with apparent leg injury.

Plus, United wasn’t getting any help from either LAFC and San Diego — the second- and third-place teams — as both had 1-0 leads at the break.

And the situation continued to sour in the second half. MNUFC lost 2-1 to Galaxy, had to settle for a fourth-place finish and will face fifth-place Seattle Sounders in a MLS Cup Playoffs first-round series starting in late October.

Minnesota set a club record with 16th wind this season, but has fallen off that high-flying pace with only one win in its last four games since its crash out of the U.S. Open Cup semifinals Sept. 17.

On Saturday, the Loons gave up goals to Matheus Nascimento in the first half and Joseph Paintsil in the second half.

One silver lining is top striker Kelvin Yeboah returned to the field after missing three full games since the Open Cup defeat to Austin a month ago. He came in as a sub in the 77th minute.

Loons midfielder Joaquin Pereyra took a corner kick and was credited for a goal that trickled in late in stoppage time.

PHILADELPHIA – Noah Cates scored in overtime, lifting the Philadelphia Flyers to a 2-1 come-from-behind win over the Wild on Saturday night, handing Minnesota its fourth loss in the past five games.

Leading with less than 14 minutes to play on Vladimir Tarasenko’s first goal as a member of the Wild, the Flyers turned the tables and dominated the late stretches of the game. Minnesota fell to 2-3-1 with the loss.

Jesper Wallstedt, making his second start of the season for the Wild, had 19 saves in the game, as Minnesota failed to gain separation after taking a lead.

Already beset with their share of injuries, the Wild lost top-line center Joel Eriksson Ek on the game’s opening shift. While defending in front of the Minnesota net, a high stick by Flyers winger Matvei Michkov caught Eriksson Ek in the face.

There was a delay of the game while the arena crew cleaned Eriksson Ek’s blood off the ice in front of the Wild crease. No penalty was called on the play. He returned to the game with just under eight minutes to play in the opening period.

The game was not yet two minutes old when gloves hit the ice and Wild winger Marcus Foligno fought Philadelphia’s Nicolas Deslauriers in the neutral zone.

The scoreless first period ended with Minnesota killing the game’s first penalty. Through all the chaos, the Wild managed just three shots on goal in the opening period for the second game in a row.

Minnesota finally broke the deadlock early in the second via a pretty individual play by Tarasenko. First he knocked down a waist-high pass from Marcus Johansson at the blue line to keep play in the offensive zone. The puck went down low to Marco Rossi as Tarasenko drifted toward the net. Rossi’s centering pass landed perfectly on Tarasenko’s stick blade, and the veteran ripped a rising shot over the shoulder of Flyers goalie Dan Vladar.

Philadelphia coach Rick Tocchet unsuccessfully challenged the play for offside, giving the Wild their first power play of the game. Minnesota controlled the play on that man advantage and on a second one a short time later, but failed to double the lead.

But where the power play has been quiet for the last few nights, the penalty killers have been spot-on. With Wild players going to the penalty box late in the first and second periods, Minnesota kept the Flyers off the board and kept the crowd out of the game by consistently icing the puck, and with Wallstedt smothering pucks in and around the crease.

It took a fortunate bounce for the Flyers to tie the game in the third period, when Owen Tippet swatted blindly at the puck from behind the Minnesota net, and it glanced off the back of Wallstedt’s leg, landing over the goal line.

Vladar finished with 15 saves for the Flyers, who are 2-2-1 in their first season with Tocchet at the helm.

The Flyers make their only regular season visit to Minnesota on March 12 for a game at Grand Casino Arena. After a day off on Sunday, the Wild’s five-game road trip continues with a Monday night visit to Madison Square Garden for a meeting with the New York Rangers.

Related Articles

Wild add David Jiricek, Tyler Pitlick after Zach Bogosian is injured

‘Ovie show’ too much for Wild, again, as they fall in DC

Kirill Kaprizov now calls former idol Alex Ovechkin a friend

For Wild’s lopsided offense, it’s too early for celebration or concern

Jake Middleton hit leaves Matt Duchene injured, Wild ignited