A sign of the Minnesota Wild’s early-season struggles were laid bare Monday when the NHL released its three stars awards for the week that ended on Sunday. Three players who played, and beat, Minnesota last week — Utah forward Logan Cooley, San Jose forward Macklin Celebrini and New Jersey forward Jack Hughes — were recognized for their achievements.

In fairness, the Wild kept Hughes off the score sheet last week in their 4-1 loss in Newark, but Grand Casino Arena public address man Adam Abrams called Cooley and Celebrini’s names on more than one occasion over the weekend, and not for penalties, as the Wild fell to 1-4-2 in their last seven games.

The Wild have played four home games, and have four more upcoming on their current homestand, starting Tuesday night versus Winnipeg. They are 1-2-1 on home ice this season, but perhaps more concerning is that they have given up a total of 22 goals in those for games — an average of 5.5 goals against per game in St. Paul.

In the building where defensive mastermind Jacques Lemaire once patrolled the space behind the home bench, that number is notably too high,

As has seemingly been the story for way too long now, injuries are a factor, as veteran Zach Bogosian has now missed five games with a lower body injury, which has led to still youthful David Jiricek being forced into more key on-ice time. During Sunday’s whacky 6-5 overtime loss to the Sharks, a San Jose power play goal happened when Jake Middleton was in the penalty box and in his stead, Jiricek missed a defensive assignment – a mistake that ended up on the other side of the goal line.

The Wild have preached patience with Jiricek, acquired 11 months ago in a trade with Columbus. He was the sixth overall pick by the Blue Jackets in the 2022 NHL Draft, and has all of the physical tools to be a standout blueliner at this level. But Wild coach John Hynes noted in training camp that Jiricek’s decision making in the heat of the battle in the defensive zone is sometimes lacking. The San Jose power play goal was another example of a misplay by a player who as of this week has just 65 NHL games to his credit, and is still learning.

“I would say more it’s experience of being in that situation,” Hynes said on Sunday. “It’s understanding the details of it and how those things matter. So, I think it’s a work in progress.”

Two other young defensemen who have been every-night members of the Wild lineup – rookie Zeev Buium and third-year player Brock Faber – have had moments of struggle and flashes of brilliance.

Buium, who got his first taste of NHL hockey in the playoffs last season, scored his second career goal versus San Jose and has had moments where the puck-moving flash that made him one of college hockey’s more dynamic players a year ago at Denver is clearly evident. He also said that one of the biggest lessons at this level of the game has come on the defensive side, where things that you could get away with in college are almost certain to end up in your NHL team’s net.

Faber recorded three assists versus the Sharks, tying his career high, and had three golden opportunities to win the game in overtime, when the Wild controlled possession for more than three minutes. He admitted after the game that even 10 games into an 82-game campaign a 3-5-2 record is notably less than what they and the fanbase expects, and defensive miscues have been part of the problem.

“It’s like everyone’s gripping the stick a little differently. We got a group of guys that has the right intentions. Every single guy on this team wants to win. Every single guy on this team is sacrificing, doing whatever they can to win, and it’s just not working out,” Faber said. “And sometimes when you’re playing that desperate, I don’t want to make a mistake. Sometimes that causes you to make mistakes.”

While Hynes has talked about his team’s identity of “playing north” and putting the other team’s defenders under duress, the current funk has been fueled at least in part by the Wild’s own defensive miscues. Cleaner play in that end of the rink, and fewer NHL standouts getting recognized for their work versus Minnesota, look like two potential solutions for righting the ship.

Related Articles

A loss, but not pointless, as Wild’s comeback fails in OT

Marcus Foligno is Wild’s latest injury bug victim

Wild fall behind Utah quickly, lose for fourth time in five games

After fifth loss in nine games, Wild say it’s too early to panic

Marcus Foligno leading Wild with mix of fists and fun

By NICOLAS VAUX-MONTAGNY and SYLVIE CORBET

PARIS (AP) — Ten people went on trial on Monday accused of cyberbullying Brigitte Macron after they allegedly made “malicious” comments online spreading claims that President Emmanuel Macron ‘s wife is a man.

Related Articles

Trump will meet Japan’s new prime minister and address US troops in next stop on Asia trip

King Charles III dedicates Britain’s first national memorial to LGBTQ+ troops

What to know about uncontacted Indigenous peoples and efforts to protect them

What to know about the Louvre heist investigation

Conflicting accounts emerge after UN peacekeepers shoot down Israeli drone

Brigitte Macron did not show up at the two-day trial in Paris that started on Monday afternoon.

The Paris prosecutor’s office said the eight men and two women are accused of spreading “numerous malicious comments” online about the first lady’s gender and “sexuality” and of mentioning the age gap with her husband as “pedophilia.” Seven of the defendants were in court Monday, while three others were being represented by their lawyers.

Some of the defendants, aged between 41 and 60, are very active on social media, with posts sometimes accumulating tens of thousands of views.

Delphine Jegousse, 51, known as Amandine Roy, who describes herself as a medium and an author, is considered as having played a major role in spreading the rumor after she released a 4-hour video on her YouTube channel in 2021.

Aurélien Poirson-Atlan, 41, known as Zoé Sagan on social media, has seen his X account suspended last year after his name was cited in several judicial investigations.

Others include an elected official, a teacher and a computer scientist.

The chief judge said they are all accused of cyberbullying the first lady, which led to “a deterioration of her physical and mental health.”

The Macrons have for years been dogged by conspiracy theories that Brigitte was born a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux, who supposedly then took the name Brigitte as a transgender woman. Jean-Michel Trogneux is the name of Brigitte’s brother.

The two-day trial in Paris comes after the Macrons filed a defamation suit in July in a Delaware court as their lawyer said they’ll be seeking “substantial” damages from U.S. conservative influencer Candace Owens if she persists with claims that Brigitte is a man.

Owens is a right-leaning political commentator whose YouTube channel has about 4.5 million subscribers. In 2024, she was denied a visa from New Zealand and Australia, citing remarks in which she denied Nazi medical experimentation on Jews in concentration camps during World War II.

A verdict in the Paris case will likely be issued at a later date.

In September 2024, Brigitte and Jean-Michel Trogneux won a defamation suit against Jegousse and another woman who were sentenced by a Paris court to fines and damages for spreading the claims about the first lady online. A Paris appeals court overturned the ruling in July. Brigitte and her brother have since turned to France’s highest court to appeal that decision.

The Macrons, who have been married since 2007, first met at the high school where he was a student and she was a teacher. Brigitte Macron, 24 years her husband’s senior, was then called Brigitte Auzière, a married mother of three.

Emmanuel Macron, 47, has been France’s president since 2017.

A gunman was sentenced to nearly five years in prison Monday for a 2023 robbery at a St. Paul park and a June shooting that wounded three at a downtown pool party.

Tyson Joseph Volk (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

Tyson Joseph Volk, 20, received his sentence in Ramsey County District Court after pleading guilty to the two cases in August. Three counts of attempted second-degree murder filed in the shooting were dismissed as part of a plea deal he reached with the prosecution.

According to court records, Volk was out on bond in the robbery case when he fired a 9 mm handgun nine times on June 21 at the rooftop pool at Kellogg Square apartments at Kellogg Boulevard and Robert Street.

The shooting was fueled by a physical fight a month earlier between Volk and a 23-year-old man, the criminal complaint said.

On the rooftop, Volk and another man approached the 23-year-old, who then punched Volk. Volk stumbled backward, pulled out a gun and started firing.

The man was struck in the knee, while a 20-year-old man suffered a gunshot wound to the pelvis. A 16-year-old boy was hit in the ankle.

Marquez Demar Hill-Turnipseed then fired shots toward Volk, according to a complaint charging the 23-year-old with possession of a firearm by a person who was ineligible due to a conviction of a crime of violence.

Earlier cases

Less than three weeks earlier, on June 1, Hill-Turnipseed allegedly fired a barrage of bullets from a Dodge Challenger into several groups of people at Boom Island Park along the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, a shooting that killed 23-year-old Stageina Whiting and wounded four men.

Related Articles

Jonathan Weinhagen resigns from Mounds View school board amid federal fraud allegations

Former chamber exec, Mounds View school board member Jonathan Weinhagen indicted

Family of St. Paul man who died in prison calls for accountability from DOC

Man admits to sneaking into woman’s Eagan apartment, raping her

Investigators drop $10M fine against Wells Fargo exec of Lake Elmo

Hill-Turnipseed, of Minneapolis, was charged under a sealed complaint with aiding and abetting murder and other counts. He was arrested in early July in Chicago.

Both cases against him are pending.

In Volk’s robbery case, a 19-year-old man told St. Paul police he went to Weida Park in the Payne-Phalen neighborhood to smoke marijuana with two acquaintances just after midnight Oct. 2, 2023.

He said Volk pulled out a handgun, pointed it at his face and then pistol-whipped him while a juvenile recorded the incident on a cellphone. He was robbed of his iPhone, clothes and Nike Air Force shoes. Police found two videos of the robbery on Volk’s phone.

The return of “White Christmas” marks the end of an era for Chanhassen Dinner Theatres.

Michael Brindisi, CDT’s longtime president and artistic director, died unexpectedly in February, just two days before the company opened its production of “Grease.” He oversaw the successful debut of “White Christmas” last year and had already made the decision to bring it back for an encore.

The current program lists Brindisi as “original artistic director” of the show and it includes his original director’s note, written in October 2024: “There are a lot of veteran performers and designers who have worked on our play … on more than a few occasions, I’ve heard the exclamation from many, including yours truly, ‘I’m getting too old for this.’ … We should all keep doing what we love for as long as we can, but when we can’t, that’s OK too. Just count your blessings and you’ll be all right!”

In many ways, “White Christmas” shows off CDT’s strength as a song-and-dance powerhouse. For two and a half hours, the cast and crew made magic on that stage, offering a welcome dose of escapism into a much less complicated time.

The musical is based on the 1954 film of the same name, which also happened to be the highest grossing film of that year. It was constructed around Irving Berlin’s song “White Christmas,” which he wrote for 1942’s “Holiday Inn.” The track was such a massive hit — Bing Crosby’s version sold an estimated 50 million copies worldwide — Berlin wrote a new batch of numbers to accompany it for a new movie. (The stage version debuted in 2004 and added Berlin’s name to the official title.)

As is to be expected under such circumstances, the plot is paper thin. It follows World War II vets Bob Wallace (Michael Gruber) and Phil Davis (Tony Vierling) who’ve become popular entertainers. They meet sisters and fellow performers Betty (Ann Michels) and Judy Haynes (Andrea Mislan) and propose a collaboration, both on stage and off.

Really, the story exists merely to connect the songs, which — if you’re allergic to holiday music like me — thankfully aren’t all Christmas numbers. And the dynamic choreography by Tamara Kangas Erickson (who has since taken over as CDT’s leader) injects true glee into the proceedings. Don’t be late returning from intermission, lest you miss the show’s highlight, the eye-popping, toe-tapping “I Love a Piano.”

The show remains every bit as exciting and fun as it was last year and, beyond a few new faces in the ensemble, the biggest change is Kersten Rodau, who replaces Brindisi’s wife Michelle Barber. (Barber is currently starring in a production of “Come from Away” at Asolo Repertory Theatre in Florida, where their daughter Cat is associate artistic director.)

Barber is usually one of the best things about CDT productions, but Rodau does a fine job in the broadly comic role of Martha Watson, who runs a struggling Vermont hotel owned by Wallace and Davis’ wartime boss General Henry Waverly (Joenathan Thomas, who has both the presence and the voice of an actual general).

Related Articles

‘The Last Yiddish Speaker’ asks its audience who they will be

First look: Five observations from the new ‘Purple Rain’ musical

Theater review: Guthrie’s ‘Primary Trust’ gets to the heart of things

In new Prince ‘Purple Rain’ musical at the State Theatre, a renowned creative team aims to ‘find the soul of the music’

Theater review: Penumbra’s powerful ‘Marisol’ offers a captivating chaos

Two young performers — Jenalia Valerio and Malle Cenizal — return to swap nights playing Waverly’s granddaughter Susan, a character that brings a sweet sense of innocence with a dash of determination to the show.

Sweet is a great way to describe “White Christmas” as a whole. Audiences love it, as like last year, many of the performances leading up to Christmas are already sold out. Plenty of seats remain for the January shows and given what a delight it is, “White Christmas” is worth seeing even after the candy canes and ornaments are packed away. Brindisi’s final CDT production is a real gift.

‘Irving Berlin’s White Christmas’

When: Through Feb. 7
Where: Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, 501 W. 78th St., Chanhassen
Tickets: $131-$98 via 952-934-1525 or chanhassendt.com
Capsule: Like last year, “White Christmas” is both merry and bright.