Alongside the normal postgame announcements encouraging fans to check around their seats for misplaced items, and to drive safely on the way home from the rink, the Xcel Energy Center public address announcer would have been wise to offer this disclaimer about the hot and getting hotter rivalry between the Minnesota Wild and Winnipeg Jets:

“To be continued … ”

Winnipeg rallied for a 4-1 win on Monday night in a wildly entertaining sprint to the final horn between the top two teams in the Western Conference – and featuring arguably the world’s best goalie right now. Jets puck-stopper Connor Hellebuyck was the story, as he denied all but one of the Wild’s 44 shots on goal, and solidified his credentials as the driving force behind Winnipeg’s ascension to the top of the NHL standings.

These Central Division foes will have one more border battle a few days before Christmas in Winnipeg, and they seem predestined to meet again in the spring when the NHL playoffs roll around.

On Monday the Wild took an early lead on defenseman Jake Middleton’s fourth goal of the season, and they got 30 saves of their own from Filip Gustavsson. But the advantage was short-lived, as Winnipeg forged a tie, killed penalties and stopped rush after rush by Minnesota, taking the lead in the second period and locking things down for the final 20 minutes.

“We came out flying. We threw the kitchen sink at him, … and it’s disappointing. But there’s positives we can take from it,” Middleton said.

Former Minnesota Duluth standout Alex Iafallo scored his 99th and 100th career goals for the Jets, icing things with a power-play marker in the late stages of the third.

Hellebuyck, who is from suburban Detroit and was named college hockey’s best goalie after his 2013-14 season at Massachusetts-Lowell, made his NHL debut nearly nine years ago to the day with a win over the Wild in Minnesota, and has continued that habit throughout his career. Monday’s game marked his fifth straight victory over the Wild, as Winnipeg opened up a six-point lead in the Central Division standings.

“It’s always tight games against these guys, I feel like,” Wild forward Marcus Johansson said. “And you know, we wanted to get the upper hand tonight and show that we can play with everyone. But I mean, even though we did show that, we didn’t get the two points. We didn’t get the win, and that’s frustrating.”

Both goalies were tested early and often, with the Wild opening the scoring when Jake Middleton fired home the rebound of a Johansson shot. Winnipeg answered a short time later when Iafallo backhanded a puck past Gustavsson.

The Wild recorded 22 shots in the first, which was one shy of the team record, set in 2018, also versus Winnipeg.

“I think the shot guy fell asleep on the button. Minnesota, they throw a lot of pucks to the net front. I mean, we went and looked at our scoring chances, and it certainly didn’t reflect what all of the shots that were coming,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said. “But they are a team that likes to throw pucks there, with bodies around there. I thought we did do a really good job there of finding a lot of the rebounds and kind of clearing them out.”

The shots, and Hellebuyck’s saves, kept coming in the second, as the Winnipeg goalie held Minnesota off the board and former Wild forward Nino Neiderreiter popped a backhander over Gustavsson’s left shoulder to give the Jets their first lead.

Then the Wild offense cooled, and they needed more than seven minutes in the third to test Hellebuyck again. The Wild managed just five shots in the third period, as Adam Lowry added an empty-net goal with 63 seconds remaining.

“I think we gotta take some things out of it. I think there’s more good than bad out of the game, but you gotta take lessons out of everything,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “Each game is an opportunity to test yourself in different situations. I thought we did lots of good things. There’s some things we can grow from the game. We got a lot of hockey this week, too, so we gotta put this one behind us.”

Perhaps the best news of the night for Wild fans came before the game ever started, when scoring star Kirill Kaprizov returned to the lineup following a one-game absence.

Injured by a nasty knee-on-knee hit in Minnesota’s 5-3 win in Edmonton last Thursday, Kaprizov missed the Wild’s 4-3 shootout loss in Calgary two days later, but no serious injury was found when he was evaluated by team doctors upon returning from the road trip. Forward Marat Khusnutdinov, also injured in Edmonton, missed his second consecutive game and has been classified as day-to-day with a lower body ailment.

Wild forward Jakub Lauko left Monday’s game early with a lower body injury as well. Hynes said he did not immediately know Lauko’s status for their Wednesday game in Buffalo, but noted that reserve forward Travis Boyd is available if needed.

Following the one-game road trip to face the Buffalo Sabres, the Wild have back-to-back home games with Chicago on Friday and Nashville on Saturday.

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Washington, DC  – On Monday, November 25, 2024, the law firm of Morris Legal, LLC in Miami filed a billion-dollar lawsuit against The American Red Cross and related entities on behalf of the Haitian Diaspora Political Action Committee (HDPAC), along with individual plaintiffs representing millions of donors and beneficiaries. (click here to Read Complaint)

The class action lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida came 14 years after the Red Cross had collected nearly half a billion dollars on behalf of the 2010 earthquake victims in Haiti and built six homes.  

The lawsuit alleges that the American Red Cross, the International Red Cross, and related entities, including their leadership, mismanaged and misappropriated over $500 million in funds raised for Haiti’s 2010 earthquake recovery efforts, and from 2010 to 2024, the American Red Cross continued to raise money on behalf of Haiti under false pretenses.

The plaintiffs assert that these funds were diverted for unrelated projects and administrative expenses, contrary to the promises made to donors, the people of Haiti, and the public at large.

The Complaint claims that despite raising significant funds for Haiti’s recovery, the defendants failed to deliver on commitments to rebuild critical infrastructure, such as homes, schools, and hospitals. The lawsuit alleges that the funds were instead used to cover existing organizational deficits and other non-Haiti-related initiatives, with limited or no tangible impact on the affected communities.

Key Allegations in the Complaint include:

Mismanagement of Donor Contributions: The Complaint asserts that most of the $500 million raised for Haiti’s earthquake recovery did not benefit the intended recipients or projects.Deceptive Fundraising Practices: The lawsuit alleges that the defendants misrepresented the intended use of the funds by appealing to donors through emotionally charged campaigns that promised direct assistance to Haitians.Conspiracy to Defraud Donors and Beneficiaries: According to the Plaintiffs, the Red Cross conspired with its partners and other subsidiaries to defraud both the donors and beneficiaries of the funds. From 2010 to 2024, the Red Cross continued to publish false information designed to cover the conspiracy.Failure to Account for Funds: According to the plaintiffs, the Red Cross and affiliated entities still need to provide a transparent accounting of how the funds were spent.

The plaintiffs seek over 750 million dollars in compensatory damages, $250 million in punitive damages, and a complete accounting of every penny raised for Haiti.

The Complaint also requests injunctive relief to ensure that future fundraising campaigns by the defendants are conducted with transparency and accountability. The lawsuit emphasizes the importance of holding large international organizations accountable for fulfilling their commitments to vulnerable communities and ensuring that donor trust is not abused.

“The Red Cross and other NGOs are poverty pimps who get rich out of the misery and misfortune of the Haitian people. I am tired of these organizations taking advantage of Haiti and its people. The Red Cross raised half a billion dollars for Haiti and built six homes. We need to know where the money went. The Haitian people deserve an explanation. The donors deserve to know how their money was spent. Every single penny raised on behalf of Haiti must be accounted for. The Red Cross needs more transparency in how they raise and spend money on behalf of poor communities.” Emmanuel Roy, Director of Communications, HDPAC.

About the Haitian Diaspora Political Action Committee (HDPAC):

HDPAC is a political advocacy organization representing Haitian Americans and the global Haitian Diaspora. The group is dedicated to promoting justice, accountability, and sustainable development for Haiti and its people.

HDPAC is the most active Haitian Diaspora organization, having organized the Louisiana Unity Summit in 2021, and more recently, the organization was invited by the Organization of American States (OAS) to participate in a discussion on how the Haitian Diaspora can participate in the next elections in Haiti. The Haitian government invited HDPAC to take the lead on Diaspora participation in the next elections. HDPAC has been leading the charge to protect the interests of the Haitian Diaspora and the people of Haiti. In September 2024, HDPAC filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump and JD Vance for conspiracy to violate the civil rights of Haitian immigrants living in Springfield, Ohio (click here for a copy of the Complaint).

For more information about HDPAC, visit their website at www.hdpac.org.

The Gophers men’s basketball team continues to flirt with disaster in nonconference games to start the season.

Minnesota was pushed by Central Michigan on Monday, but the U escaped with a 68-65 win at Williams Arena.

Chippewas guard Jacobi Heady’s game-winning three attempt at the buzzer hit off the front of the rim.

The Gophers (5-1) were a 13-point favorite against Central Michigan, which had a KenPom ranking 121 spots below Minnesota. The Chippewas (3-3), however, did have only an 8-point loss to No. 10 Marquette on Nov. 11.

Minnesota’s previous loss was to North Texas on Nov. 13, but their KenPom ranking is 72 — now 10 spots ahead of Minnesota going into Monday. The U also trailed Omaha and Yale at the half this season.

Lu’Cye Patterson was off to a slow shooting start to the season and knew he just needed to see a few go in. On Monday, Patterson finished with 19 points and made four 3-pointers, none more important than one that hit the iron, bounced high in the air before falling through the net with less than two minutes left. It gave Minnesota a 62-58 lead.

Dawson Garcia made four clutch free throws in the final minute to make it 66-61, but a Drew Barbee 3-pointer helped cut it to 66-64.

Garcia missed two of three more from the stripe, and Patterson missed one of two to allow the Chippewas chances to stay in the game before Heady’s heave.

After missing its first five shots Monday — which continued a trend of slow starts in first halves — Minnesota used a 14-0 run to go up 14-4 with 12 minutes remaining.

But the Gophers suffered a string of consecutive turnovers as part of Central Michigan’s 21-7 stretch to take a 25-21 lead.

Tied 32-32 at the half, the Gophers shot 46 percent from the field in the first half, include 40 percent from 3-point range. Both were improvements over season averages.

In the opening 20 minutes, Dawson Garcia led Minnesota with eight points and Isaac Asuma chipped in six. Both had a pair of 3-pointers.

Brennan Rigsby, the U’s second leading scorer, picked up two quick fouls and said for the final 17 minutes of the first half without scoring.

New Gophers forward Frank Mitchell had his best half of the young season, with six points, four boards, three assists, two blocks. The 6-foot-8, 260-pounder threw off Ugnius Jerusevicius and Jerusevicius retaliated for a technical foul. Mitchell later shouldered a CMU player asl players walked back to the huddle

Most memorable thing was drawing a tech on Chippewa player then pointing to his temples to indicate mind games. Then the block of a man shouldered a CMU player before timeout

Chippewas forward Ugnius Jerusevicius led all scorers at the half with 13 points. He had two 3-pointers on this season but made all three of his attempts in the first half.

After missing each of the Timberwolves’ last two games, starting point guard Mike Conley remains questionable for the team’s home bout Tuesday against the Houston Rockets — the third of four NBA Cup group-play contests — with a toe sprain.

At practice Monday, Minnesota coach Chris Finch said Conley is “day to day” with the injury. Finch said Conley was set to meet with medical people on Monday to discuss the injury.

Conley has already missed three games for the Wolves this season. Minnesota is 0-3 on those occasions. The offense has largely sputtered in each defeat.

Should Conley miss more contests, Minnesota needs to find more consistent offense sans its floor general.

Finch noted everyone must carry a “make the right play mentality.”

“It just unlocks shots for others,” Finch said. “Sometimes, the ball – of course we want it in (Anthony Edwards’) hands, we want it in (Julius Randle’s) hands early – but they’ve got to still trust the actions of the offense to get everybody else involved, and it’ll come back enough times. It just gives us a different look, as well.”

Donte DiVincenzo started the Boston game for Minnesota in Conley’s stead, while Nickeil Alexander-Walker has started the other two games Conley has missed. Neither is a true point guard by any stretch, and both seem to have to sacrifice themselves to a degree when they take on the bulk of the point guard responsibilities. Outside of Conley, rookie Rob Dillingham is the only other point guard on the roster.

He has received more run of late, and played the best game of his young NBA career on Sunday in Boston. Dillingham scored 14 points on 6 for 10 shooting in 16 minutes.

“Offensively, I thought it was really the first time he saw the whole game,” Finch said. “We look different when he’s on the floor. He gives us a change of speed. He was instrumental in helping us get back into the game. This is all part of the growth.”

That growth, the coach noted, has been continuous for the 19- year-old, who has also shown an impressive level of competitiveness on the defensive end in spite of his small stature. Still, Dillingham doesn’t figure to be a 30-minute solution when Conley is out. It’s not the role Minnesota envisions for him on this team this early in the rookie’s NBA career. The slack for Conley’s absence will need to be picked up by the collective.

If that occurs, Rudy Gobert said the team can be better for it in the long run.

“Obviously, we miss Mike and obviously everything he does on the floor for his teammates is valuable for us,” Gobert said. “But I think when he’s not there it’s a big opportunity for us to get better in those situations and even to require us to be more aware and connected, because he’s somebody that connects everyone and is unselfish. So I think playing without Mike now can probably help us for later. Keep getting better and pushing everyone to keep getting better.”

That connectiveness — the willingness to make a play for someone else — is something Gobert conceded has been lacking when Conley misses games.

“We realize that when we don’t do that, we can’t be as good,” Gobert said. “Ant has been amazing the past few games making the right play or putting us into our actions. I think that’s the key for us just trusting the action, trusting the team, trusting all our strengths. We’re a very talented team so when we do that, good things happen.”