Conclusive evidence that this is a unique season in college and high school hockey was offered last weekend, but it was far from the only evidence of weirdness in sports.

For example, after an exhaustive week of surprising results in those sports, it was time to settle in for a cozy chair and a few hours of watching the Minnesota Vikings play the Raiders in Las Vegas, followed by the final game of a four-game road trip for the Minnesota Wild, facing the Seattle Kraken.

It was as though I was too mesmerized to get out of my chair as I watched the Vikings and Raiders crash and bang through a scoreless first quarter, then a scoreless second quarter, then a scoreless third quarter, and finally a fourth quarter that deserved to be scoreless, too, which would have been proper reward for a game that was so bad I had to keep watching to see if there would be any kind of a reward at the end. The Vikings won 3-0.

Then came the night broadcast of the Wild, who played a nearly perfect game against the Kraken, and got a 1-0 lead that Filip Gustavsson appeared capable of holding, thanks to a total team defensive effort ahead of him. The Wild got a second goal midway through the third period, and the 2-0 lead seemed secure enough that I could make a smart-alec remark to my wife, Joan. “If the Wild can hang on here, maybe they’ll score an empty-net goal and win by the same score that the Vikings won by.” The humor escaped Joan, who was busy doing other things. But that’s exactly what happened.

After a first-period goal by Matt Boldy, and a third-period goal by Marco Rossi, Joel Eriksson-Ek flung the puck into an empty net with 4 seconds remaining to give the Wild a 3-0 victory.

There was one huge difference between the Vikings 3-0 win and the Wild’s 3-0 win, The Wild had to play one of their best games, start to finish, to win the hockey game, while the Vikings had to play one of the worst games in their history before Greg Joseph kicked a 36-yard field goal with 1:57 remaining in the lowest-scoring NFL game in 16 years.

The Vikings had trusted their game to Joshua Dobbs, their midseason replacement quarterback for the injured Kirk Cousins, but Dobbs had a pretty miserable day for the second or third straight game. He wound up 10-for-23 for a meager 63 yards, and he was sacked five times. Coach Kevin O’Connell sent in Nick Mullens, activated from a couple months on injured reserve after being acquired as a dependable journeyman backup. Mullens was hailed as a hero after passing for a couple of first downs that set up the game-winning field goal, but  his 9-for-13 finish for 83 yards deserved scrutiny, too.

His first play was a pass over the middle — right to a Raiders defensive back, who juggled the ball, and after it popped out of his grasp and over his head, and Vikings tight end T.J. Hockenson caught it for a 16-yard gain. It was that kind of a game, despite raves that the Vikings have found their new spark plug. Mullens threw two beautiful soft passes over defenders for nice gains on that final drive, but he isn’t a scrambler, and if a game calls for mobility, Dobbs might be right back in there.

At that, Raiders rookie quarterback Aidan O’Connell was pretty much a bone to be chewed by the Vikings defense, which spent the day trading vicious hits with the Raiders as if to see which team could send more opponents to the sideline, little blue tent or dressing room.

The over-hyped return of Vikings star wide receiver was brief. He caught one Dobbs pass and was jolted on the catch. He caught another, over the middle, and was hit so hard that we were happy to see him get back up, and limp heavily to the sideline, tent, dressing room, and a nearby hospital which declared him out for the rest of the game with a chest injury, in his first game back after missing seven weeks with a hamstring injury.

The fact is, neither side could generate enough offense to beat a good college team on this day. The Raiders sacked Dobbs five times, while the Vikings sacked O’Connell four times, and intercepted him once, including a game-clinching snag by rookie Ivan Pace on the first play after the field goal.

In assessing the passing of Dobbs, it must be pointed out that he was not sharp, he didn’t have the charisma of his first couple of games, but he also got no help. Several times he threw perfectly catchable passes that hit receivers like Hockenson, K.J. Osborn, and Jalen Nailor right in the hands, only to have the ball dropped to the turf.

In a game neither team deserved to win, the Vikings won to improve to 7-6, which leaves them in reach of the Detroit Lions, who are 9-4 after losing 28-13 to the lowly Bears, but also wishing reach of the fast-rising Green Bay Packers, who took a 6-6 record into Monday night’s game at the New York Giants.

The contrast to the Wild-Kraken game was more than just sports or venue related. The Kraken had lost seven straight games, but the Wild, having shaken that sort of rut to win three in a row, had been thumped in Vancouver and Edmonton, where Evander Kane ran Wild ace defenseman Jonas Borden from behind into the end boards, finishing the check with an elbow flipper that caught Brodin on the back of the helmet and drove him face-first into the glass. He went off, shaky at best, and left the game.

Kane got no penalty for the hit, because the NHL has not yet arrived in the new century, where college and high school hockey are progressive enough to give stern penalties for checking from behind.

At any rate, playing without Brodin, the Wild road trip was at 1-2, and a loss to the Kraken would have been tbeir third in a row and sent them tail-spinning again. So it was timely that Gustavsson and the inspired Wild defense prevented the Kraken from scoring, and the newly revised lines with Eriksson-Ek moved up to center Krill Kaprizov and Boldy, while Rossi centered Marcus Johansson and Mats Zuccarello on the second unit.

Rookie Brock Faber was brilliant leading the defensive corps, paired with Jake Middleton, and another Minnesotan, Alex Goligoski, was activated and paired with captain Jared Spurgeon.

The Wild come home now to take on the Flames Thursday and the Canucks Saturday, and their victory at Seattle has to make them feel like the upswing is still active.

With both UMD’s men and women on the road last weekend, there was time to pay more attention to the various college leagues that Minnesota colleges are involved in. UMD went to Miami and rallied from a 2-0 deficit for two goals by Ben Steeves in the second period, and after Cole Spicer scored for a 3-2 UMD lead, Miami tied it. That brought a scoreless overtime, followed by a shootout.

On the three-man shootout, Quinn Olson went in and scored, and goalie Zach Stejskal stopped the first Redhawk shooter. Then Steeves skated in, made a slick move at the crease and flipped in a one-handed shot. Stejskal made a second stop, clinching the shootout.

With adjusted lines, the Bulldogs won 3-1 on Saturday, with Blake Biondi seeing some time at center and scoring the first goal, in the second period. Steeves followed with another goal, and after PJ Fletcher cut it to 2-1 early in the third, Luke Loheit clinched a 3-1 triumph wit 0:11 remaining.

Those were hardly the only tight battles.

Colorado College made what must be a historic trip to Grand Forks, and trailed the North Dakota Fighting Hawks 2-0 midway through the second period, but Noah Laba and Max Burkholder tied it before the period ended, and Laba scored again at 0:35 of overtime to give the Tigers a stunning 3-2 victory.

The next night, the two traded goals through two periods, with Logan Wili getting both CC goals, then Gleb Veremyev scored at 2:54 of overtime for another 3-2 overtime victory and an improbable sweep of the Fighting Hawks, who had just been voted No. 1 in the country a week earlier. The shocker of the weekend, though, was in Kalamazoo, Mich., where Western Michigan broke from a 3-3 tie eight minutes into the third period and whipped the Pioneers 7-3.

The next night, Western almost struck for a sweep, when Joe Cassetti’s second goal tied Denver 5-5 with 14 seconds remaining. Denver found relief at 1:02 of overtime, when Massimo Rizzo scored unassisted for a 6-5 victory and a split. St. Cloud State seized the opportunity, winning 4-1 at Omaha to strengthen their hold on first place, but after Kyler Kupka tied the Mavericks with a Huskies goal at 17:29 of the third period, Omaha came back to win the shootout and prevent a St. Cloud State sweep.

The NCHC standings show St. Cloud State 7-0-1, North Dakota 5-3, Denver 5-3, Western Michigan 4-4, CC 4-4, Omaha 3-4-1, UMD 2-5-1, and Miami 0-7-1.

The CCHA has the biggest surprise, though. First place is St. Thomas, which bounced back from a 3-1 loss to sting Minnesota State Mankato 2-1. The Tommies, at home, trailed 1-0 on Adam Eiseles’s goal in the second period, but came back in the last seven minutes for the tying goal by Lucy Latin and the game-winner by Noah Prokop at 16:16 for a 2-1 victory and a split.

Bemidji State swarmed to a 7-1 home victory over Lake Superior State, but got swarmed 6-1 in the second game. Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan split with Tech winning 4-2 in Houghton and Northern winning 3-1 in Marquette.

That means St. Thomas leads at 7-5, followed by Tech 6-4, MSU-Mankato 5-4-1, Bemidji State 5-5, Bowling Green 5-5, Northern Michigan 5-5, Lake Superior State 5-6-1, and Ferris State 3-7. Augustana is listed ninth, but its games don’t compute this season by NCAA rules.

The Big Ten also had some surprises last weekend, as Minnesota went to Columbus and claimed a 5-4 victory over last-place Ohio State, then had to rally for a 1-1 tie on Aaron Huglen’s goal, only to have the Buckeyes steal the extra point in the shootout. The Gophers are 0-3 in games decided by shootouts this season. Michigan State swept Notre Dame 5-2 and 2-1 in East Lansing to claim first place at 7-1-2, ahead of Wisconsin (8-2) which swept Penn State 6-3 and4-1 in Madison. Minnesota follows at 5-4-3, then comes Notre Dame 4-4-2, Michigan 3-5-2, Penn State 2-5-3, and Ohio State 0-8-2.

The women, not to be left out, had their own adventures last weekend, as Minnesota knocked off Wisconsin 5-3 in Minneapolis, but got hammered by the Badgers 5-1 in the second game. First place Ohio State extended its lead by sweeping MSU-Mankato 6-1 and 4-1 in Columbus. Minnesota Duluth went to St. Cloud and stopped the Huskies momentum 2-1 on Tova Henderson’s overtime goal, but the Huskies started their momentum anew with a 5-1 victory in the second game, scoring two empty-net goals at the end. So the Buckeyes are first at 13-1, followed by Minnesota 10-3-1, Wisconsin 10-4, St. Cloud State 8-5-1, UMD 8-6, MSU-Mankato 3-11, Bemidji State 2-12 and St. Thomas 1-13.

As the high schools move into full speed, the Duluth area teams rose up also to upset the norm when playing strong Twin Cities teams. Denfeld surprised Orono 3-1 at Essentia Duluth Heritage Center to open a big day on Saturday, and Hermantown added the climax at night with a thorough 5-0 triumph against Centennial.