The lack of Super Bowl preparations this week is not stopping the Green Bay Packers' front office from staying busy.

Head coach Matt LaFleur has been hosting player and coach exit interviews this week. One of those interviews has reportedly led to the dismissal of special teams coordinator Shawn Mennenga. The unit has improved since LaFleur hired him two years ago, but Mennenga was unable to vault them out of the bottom third in the league. There have been no reports about the future of defensive coordinator Mike Pettine.

Since Monday, the Packers have signed 16 free agents, most of which were on the team's practice squad. Those players include WR Reggie Begelton, LB Tipa Galeai, LB De'Jon Harris, G Zack Johnson, TE Isaac Nauta, DL Willington Previlon, DL Anthony Rush, CB Stanford Samuels, RB Mike Weber, RB Dexter Williams, P Ryan Winslow. C Jake Hanson, K JJ Molson, CB KeiVarae Russell, DL Delontae Scott, and WR Juwann Winfree.

The Green Bay Packers will have to wait one more year to fully realize their Super Bowl dreams after falling to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Lambeau Field on Sunday afternoon.

The Bucs got the lone score of the first quarter when Tom Brady found Mike Evans behind Kevin King for a 15-yard touchdown pass to make it 7-0.

The Packers would tie it up in the second quarter when Aaron Rodgers found a streaking Marquez Valdez-Scantling for a 50-yard score. After Leonard Fournette scored from 20 yards out, the Packers could only muster a field goal before the Bucs scored one last touchdown on a deep pass to Scott Miller to give them a 21-10 at the half. 

The Bucs would make 28-10 after they turned an Aaron Jones turnover into a Cameron Brate touchdown to put the Packers in a hole they would ultimately not dig themselves out of. The Packers would stage a comeback after that with touchdown passes to Robert Tonyan and Davante Adams to make it a five-point game in the fourth quarter.  Two fourth-quarter interceptions turned into punts mere players later as the two teams traded field goals in the final period to allow the Bucs to become the first team to play a Super Bowl in their home stadium and Brady to have a 10th berth into The Big Game.

The Green Bay Packers could clinch their second Super Bowl berth in 11 years when they take the field against the Tampa Bay Buccanneers Sunday afternoon at Lambeau Field.

The Bucs took round one earlier this season when they scored 38 unanswered points after being down 10-0 early to beat the Packers. Aaron Rodgers called the game an anomaly, a comment backed up by a rare pick-six interception and some of the worst numbers he had all season long. Of the five interceptions he threw this season, two of them were in that game. The Packers had rare off days since, including last week's win over the Los Angeles Rams. 

The Bucs clinched their spot in the NFC title game with consecutive road playoff wins over the Washington Football Team and the New Orleans Saints. Tom Brady is playing in his 14th title game with the previous 13 in the AFC as a member of the New England Patriots.

Kick-off is set for 2:40 p.m.

After an explosive first period, the rest of the game was a formality in the Green Bay Gamblers' 8-3 win over the Janesville Jets.

The Gamblers scored five goals in the first period with Kyler Grundy scoring two goals and Ryan Greene, Jesse Tucker, and Dylan Abbott registering their own tallies. The Gamblers would go on to score one more goal in the second period and two more in the third. The Jets, who filled in for the Dubuque Fighting Saints because of COVID issues, registered goals in each period.

The Green Bay Gamblers snapped a two-game losing streak Friday night with a 2-1 win over the Janesville Jets.

The Gamblers' original opponent, the Dubuque Fighting Saints, was forced to bow out before the weekend slate due to COVID-19 protocols. Enter the Janesville Jets, who currently lead the Midwest Division standings in the North American Hockey League, a level below the Gamblers' United States Hockey League.

Jake Schmaltz got the Gamblers on the scoreboard first with a goal in the opening period to give the Gamblers a 1-0 lead that would last until almost midway through the third period. That is when Cam VanSickle pushed in the rebound off of Jets goalie Riley Sims to make it 2-0. The Jets would get one past goalie Matt Davis with the extra attacker in the final two minutes but ran out of time to force the extra period.

The Gamblers will host the Jets one more time on Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. Tobin Meyer will have the call on 104.1 WRLU and worldwide at NEWRadioSportsNetwork.com.

The Green Bay Gamblers hope a homestand against the Dubuque Fighting Saints helps snap them back into the win column beginning Friday night.

For the first time all season long, the Gamblers left the rink without collecting a single point in a two-game set. After securing three points against the Lumberjacks the previous weekend when they were the host, the Gamblers lost in Muskegon by scores of 4-1 and 6-4. Head coach Pat Mikesch says he cannot wait to see how they bounce back.

The Fighting Saints come into the weekend winning four of their last six games and playing some of their best hockey of the season. Mikesch says it was a change in the net that started their resurgence.

Puck drops at 7:05 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday nights with Tobin Meyer anchoring the call on 104.1 WRLU and streaming worldwide at NEWRadioSportsNetwork.com

You can listen to our entire interview under the Podcasts tab at NEWRadioSportsNetwork.com

The architect of the Super Bowl XLV champion Green Bay Packers has passed away.

The Green Bay Press-Gazette reported Thursday afternoon that Ted Thompson died at the age of 68. Although a cause of death has not been released, he announced at his induction into the Packers Hall of Fame that he was suffering from an autonomic disorder. Autonomic disorders affect the part of the nervous system that controls your involuntary actions like your heartbeat.

Thompson was the Packers general manager for 13 years and was responsible for drafting current Packers players like Aaron Rodgers, Mason Crosby, Davante Adams, and David Bakhtiari.

The Green Bay Packers will host the Tampa Bay Buccanneers in the first NFC Championship game to be held at Lambeau Field in over a decade.

The Buccanneers secured their fate after pulling away from the New Orleans Saints in the fourth quarter Sunday night in a 30-20 victory. Tom Brady qualified for his 14th conference title game with the win. The Bucs have already toppled the Packers this year when they rattled off 38 unanswered points in a 38-10 romp back in October.

The Packers will have an extra day of rest and preparation after beating the Los Angeles Rams on Saturday 32-18. They will also have a Lambeau Field with approximately 500 extra fans in paid attendance for the NFC Title game according to a team announcement on Sunday. Fans that opted in for tickets will be able to purchase them later this week. Cold and snow is also being predicted for the 2:05 p.m. Sunday kickoff. 

The road to state will look a little different for area basketball teams than in years past.

The WIAA announced over the weekend the division assignments for each school based on the number of institutions saying they would not be participating in the postseason this year. Forty teams opted out with the bulk of them being from Milwaukee and Madison. Teams were placed in pods with the highest seed hosting all the way through until the state tournament. No plans have been announced where those games would take place, but the Wisconsin Sports Network is reporting the five divisions will likely be hosted at five different sites. The divisional assignments are listed below:

Division 2

Luxemburg-Casco-2C

Division 3

Kewaunee-2D

Southern Door-2D

Sturgeon Bay-2D

Division 4

Algoma-2C

Gibraltar-2C

Sevastopol-2C

Area wrestling teams will see their schedules get another jolt from the WIAA.

Starting this week, teams could wrestle against as many as five other teams in a single day, a number that could grow to eight as soon as next weekend for the start of the state tournament series. Like basketball and volleyball, the regionals and sectionals will be based on a pod of teams and each division will host its own meet for individual and team state.  Only the top two wrestlers from each region will advance to sectionals and each weight class will only have eight wrestlers at the state meet. The four teams that win their sectionals will advance to the team state meet.

Below are the assignments for the regional meets

Division 2 (Regional at Two Rivers, Sectionals at Seymour, Individual and Team State at Adams-Friendship)

Region IV: Luxemburg-Casco, Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol

Division 3 (Regional at Mishicot, Sectional at Valders, Individual State TBD, Team State at Wausau West)

Region IV: Kewaunee, Southern Door

The Green Bay Phoenix women stayed perfect in 2021 while the men lost another matchup on Saturday.

In Fort Wayne, the Phoenix women got an even scoring effort in its 70-59 win over IPFW. Hailey Oskey scored 13 points in the win, but Lyndsey Robson, Cassie Schiltz, and Caitlyn Hibner all scored at least nine points in supporting roles. A 10-0 run in the second quarter gave the Phoenix the space needed to hold onto their sixth win of the New Year.

In Detroit, the Phoenix men saw its three-point halftime lead slip away as it lost to Detroit-Mercy 68-65. Three Phoenix players reached double-figures, led by 16 points from newcomer Emmanuel Ansong. The first half was marked by a long run by each team as the Phoenix went on a 15-2 run only to see the Titans answer with a 13-2 run of their own. The game was back and forth in the second half, but the Titans were able to take the lead for good with four minutes remaining. The Titans were able to turn away a last-second three-point attempt from the Phoenix to secure the sweep. 

The Green Bay Gamblers gave up three goals in two separate periods to lose 6-4 to the Muskegon Lumberjacks on Saturday night.

Alex Nordstrom got the scoring going within the first minute for the Gamblers for his eighth goal of the season before the Lumberjacks scored the next two goals over the next eight minutes. That included Alex Gagne's goal that came just five seconds after Nordstrom's. The Gamblers scored the next two goals with Jesse Tucker scoring his third of the season and Camden Thiesing registering his eighth tally of the year. Cameron Berg scored a goal in the final minute for the Lumberjacks to end the busy period with the game tied at three.

After a scoreless second period, Camden Thiesing gave the Gamblers a 4-3 lead with his second goal of the game before the Lumberjacks scored three straight goals. The game-winning goal came at the 17-minute mark when Jacob Guevin scored his third goal of the season to make the score 5-4. After scoring his second goal at the 13-minute mark, Berg got the hat trick on an empty netter to end the game. 

Aaron Randazzo made 36 saves in the defeat.

The road to the Super Bowl will go through Lambeau Field after the Green Bay Packers topped the Los Angeles Rams 32-18 Saturday evening.

After the Packers and Rams traded field goals in the first quarter, Aaron Rodgers engineered three scoring drives in the second quarter. He led two consecutive touchdown drives to open the second quarter, one on a 1-yard pass to Davante Adams and another using his feet to help the Packers to a 16-3 lead. The Rams would score on a Jared Goff touchdown pass to Van Jefferson, but the Packers were able to get a field goal as time expired to take a 19-10 lead into the locker room.  The Packers' Aaron Jones and the Rams' Cam Akers would trade touchdown runs in the third quarter before Rodgers' 58-yard strike to Allen Lazard put the game on ice in front of a crowd of just under 9,000 fans.

The Packers will now wait to see if the New Orleans Saints or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that make the trip to Lambeau Field next Sunday.

Picture courtesy of Zach Meier

The Phoenix women defeated one of its newest foes Friday night to give Green Bay basketball fans a dose of good news.

In Detroit, the Phoenix men saw Detroit-Mercy hit 17 three-pointers in its 86-61 loss. P.J.  Pipes led the way with 17 points and Josh Jefferson scored 10 points to lead the Phoenix in the loss. 

In Fort Wayne, the Phoenix women scored 19 points in each of its final two quarters to walk away with a 62-46 victory against IPFW. Lyndsey Robson scored a career high 18 points while Sydney Levy scored her highest total as a member of the Phoenix with 16 points.

The two go back at it again Saturday afternoon with the women playing at 2 and the men at 4.

The Green Bay Packers finally know the who and the when for the beginning of their playoff run this weekend.

The Green Bay Packers will play at Lambeau Field this Saturday at 3:35 p.m. against the Los Angeles Rams. The Rams earned the spot after they beat the Seahawks on Saturday 30-20 and the Chicago Bears lost their matchup against the New Orleans Saints 21-9. As the two lowest seeds, the Packers had a chance to face either team pending their weekend results. 

Lambeau Field will also have paid attendance for the first time this season on Saturday. The organization announced last week that up to 6,000 fans would be allowed to attend the game after being shut out of Lambeau Field for most of the season. Team employees and their families along with health care workers have been able to attend games in recent weeks, but this will be the first time season ticket holders who opted in to buy tickets will be eligible to go as well.

The Green Bay Phoenix women outscored Detroit Mercy 20-9 in the fourth quarter to earn the 61-48 victory.

The game was tight during the first two periods of play, but the Phoenix had a 15-2 run that stretched from the end of the second quarter to the beginning of the third quarter that set the tone for the rest of the game. The Phoenix also did a good job controlling the glass, outrebounding the Titans 35-26.

Caitlyn Hibner scored 20 points to lead the Phoenix while Brooklyn Blackburn and Lyndsey Robson each pitched in 10 points in the win. Kaela Webb scored 15 points for the Titans in the loss. 

After a disappointing start to the season, the Phoenix have now won four straight games. 

The Green Bay Phoenix men's basketball team won for the third time in four tries in 2021 with an 87-78 win over the Oakland Golden Grizzlies at the Kress Events Center.

The Phoenix had to dig out of 12-point halftime deficit to capture the win thanks to strong defense and timely shooting in the second half. A 22-3 run gave the Phoenix all they needed to take control midway through the second half while Josh Jefferson scored seven of his 19 points. Amari Davis scored a game high 25 points in the win. 

No overtime or shoot-out was needed in the Green Bay Gamblers' 4-2 win over the Muskegon Lumberjacks Saturday night at the Resch Center.

The Gamblers set the tone in the first period with a pair of goals by Xan Gurney in the opening seconds and Ryan Kirwan four minutes later. The Lumberjacks would straddle the first intermission with two goals of their own, but Alex Nordstrom broke the tie at the 15:26 mark to put the Gamblers ahead for good. Alex Servagno added an empty-net goal in the final minute of the third period for insurance. Mason Lohrei collected two assists on the night while Matt Davis saved 37 of the 39 shots he faced.

The Muskegon Lumberjacks scored three goals in the final period to force overtime and the eventual 5-4 victory over the Green Bay Gamblers Friday night at the Resch Center.

Jesse Tucker got the Gamblers on the board first with his second goal of the season in the final two minutes of the first period before helping on the team's third goal. Mason Lohrei made it 2-0 before Cam Thiesing extended the lead just four minutes later. The Lumberjacks would go on to score four unanswered goals before Lohrei's clutch gene showed up again. He sank a shot with just three seconds left on the clock to tie the game at four for his second goal of the game and his ninth of the season. After a scoreless overtime, the Lumberjacks' David Hymovitch scored the only goal in the shootout to secure the victory for the visiting Lumberjacks.

The two teams square off again at the Resch Center at 7:05 p.m. Tobin Meyer will have the call on 104.1 WRLU and on NEWRadioSportsNetwork.com. 

The Green Bay Phoenix men's basketball team took the good vibes from last weekend's win and continued it with an 84-81 overtime win over Oakland Friday evening. 

Josh Jefferson had a career day for the Phoenix, scoring 25 points while Amari Davis added 18 points and P.J. Pipes scored 15 points. The Phoenix shot over 50 percent on the day and hit 10 three-pointers in the game.

There were doubts the Phoenix could come back to win after forcing the overtime period. Trailing in the extra period, the Phoenix scored the game's final seven points to secure the win.

The Phoenix and the Golden Grizzlies will meet again at the Kress Center for a second straight 4 p.m. matinee matchup.

Breakfast with the Phoenix did not go well for the Titans as the Green Bay Phoenix women toppled Detroit Mercy Friday morning 64-49.

The Phoenix limited the Titans to just 31 percent shooting from the field while also grabbing 12 steals. Freshman Jasmine Kondrakiewicz led the Phoenix with 18 points while UWM transfer Sydney Levy registered 15 points. The Phoenix bench scored 32 points, led by former Luxemburg-Casco product Cassie Schiltz's eight points. The home team never trailed in the contest, leading by as much as 21 points at one point.

The Phoenix women will be the opening act for the men's matchup against Oakland again on Saturday beginning at 11 a.m.

The Green Bay Gamblers look to continue their success at the Resch Center Friday and Saturday night when they host the Muskegon Lumberjacks.

The Gamblers swept its two-game set from Team USA U-17s last week to improve their home record to 7-0-1 on the season. The home slate ended on an exciting note for the crowd of close to 2,000 fans when Mason Lohrei continued to show why he's the top-scoring defenseman in the USHL with yet another game-winning goal with less than a second remaining on the clock. Gamblers head coach Pat Mikesch says playing at home has its perks.

The Lumberjacks come into the game with one of the top power-plays in the USHL that has them chasing the Gamblers in the standings with a 9-5-1 record. Mikesch says this game will come down to how the players with experience respond to both team's high-octane offenses.

Puck drop for both games is at 7:05 p.m. and will air on 104.1 WRLU and NEWRadioSportsNetwork.com with Tobin Meyer on the call. You can listen to our full discussion with Mikesch online at NEWRadioSportsNetwork.com on the podcasts page.

The Green Bay Packers will get a well-deserved week off after defeating the Chicago Bears on Sunday 35-16 at Soldier Field.

The first drive for both teams was long and methodical with the Bears capping theirs with a two-yard touchdown run by David Montgomery and the Packers finishing theirs with a three yard score to Robert Tonyan. Those two drives took up the entire first quarter and then some. The Bears would not reach the end zone again as Cairo Santos would kick two field goals in the second quarter and one in the third. The Packers meanwhile were able to punch it in during a decisive second quarter that saw Marques Valdes-Scantling haul in a 72-yard pass from Aaron Rodgers and Dominique Dafney catch another score from 13 yards out. Santos' leg would get the Bears to within five points, but the Packers added two touchdowns to seal the game for the Packers. Aaron Jones ran one touchdown in from four yards out and Rodgers threw his fourth score of the game to Davante Adams with under three minutes remaining. Rodgers threw for 240 yards and four touchdowns, which helped guide him to his best seasons for completion percentage (70.7 percent) and touchdowns (48) in a season. Adams also entered the record books with a franchise-best 115 catches after bringing in six catches for 46 yards. He also ended up tying Sharpe for the most touchdown passes caught by one receiver in Packers history with 18 and 145 yards shy of passing Jordy Nelson.

The Packers will now have to wait a week to find out who they will play. It could be the Bears, which snuck into the playoff thanks to the Los Angeles Rams beating the Arizona Cardinals. They will travel to New Orleans to face the second-seeded Saints.

The Green Bay Gamblers continued their struggles south of the border on Saturday as they fell to the Chicago Steel on Saturday 6-4.

After a scoreless first period, the Steel got two quick goals in the second period from Mackie Samoskevich.  Cam Thiesing cut the lead in half two minutes later after he scored on the Jake Schmaltz assist. Scoring came fast and furious in the third period with the two teams combining to score seven goals. After trading goals in the opening minutes, the Gamblers would tie the game with two unanswered goals. Thiesing, Ryan Kirwan, and Jackson Kunz helped spur the comeback. The three goals all came within 100 seconds of each other. It was short-lived as Matt Coronato broke the tie with his second goal of the period before Erik Middendorf put the game away with an empty netter. Gamblers goalie Matt Davis made 32 saves on 37 shots in the loss.

The Gamblers come home next weekend for a pair of games against the Muskegon Lumberjacks.  The games will feature 7:05 p.m. puck drops and will air on 104.1 WRLU and NEWRadioSportsNetwork.com.

For the first time this season, both Green Bay basketball teams walked off the court as winners on the same day.

In Youngstown, head coach Will Ryan got his first win as the Phoenix men's head coach as they beat the Penguins 79-69. P.J. Pipes willed his team to victory with a 30 point performance, which was a career-high for the senior guard. Amari Davis pitched in 13 points and Terrance Thompson added 11 points. Former Southern Door Eagle Ryan Claflin scored three points and collected three assists and two rebounds in the win.

In Oakland, the Phoenix women were lights out from the field as they beat the Golden Grizzlies 92-61. The Phoenix shot 56 percent from the field and had a 29-7 run in the first half that put the game out of reach early. Hailey Oskey scored 24 points in the contest while four other Phoenix players registered totals in the double digits. One of those players was former Luxemburg-Casco standout Cassie Schiltz, who scored 12 points.

Both teams will be at home next weekend with the men playing a pair of matinees against Oakland and the women meeting Detroit-Mercy for two morning games. 

The Green Bay Packers are playing for more than rivalry bragging rights on Sunday when they head south to play the Chicago Bears.

A win ensures the NFC playoffs run through Lambeau Field for as long as the Packers keep winning. They are already on a five-game winning streak which started with a 41-25 win against the Bears at the end of November. The Packers saw A.J. Dillon run over the Tennessee Titans in their 40-14 win last week.

The Bears can clinch a playoff birth with a win on Sunday. They blew past the Jacksonville Jaguars as they continued their multi-game winning streak. After starting the season 5-1, the Bears lost their next six in a row before winning their last three games. 

Both teams can still get what they want with a little help from other teams, but both teams control their own destiny with a win. Kickoff is set for 3:25 p.m. at Soldier Field. 

The Green Bay Phoenix women's basketball team earned its first Horizon League win of the season while it remains elusive for the men's squad.

In Oakland, the Phoenix needed an extra period to beat the Golden Grizzlies 78-76. Leading throughout the game, the Phoenix were outscored 24-13 in the fourth quarter en route to the overtime period. They would go on to hit four of their shots from the field and nearly hit all of their free throws to narrowly outscore the Golden Grizzlies in the final frame. Five Phoenix players scored in double figures, including 17 from Caitlyn Hibner.

In Youngstown, the Phoenix men fell short to the Penguins 84-77. The Phoenix were keeping pace with the Penguins until a run in the middle of the second half put the game out of reach. P.J. Pipes led all Phoenix players with 21 points while Amari Davis pitched in another 18 points. Naz Bohannon paced all scorers with 32 points and 12 rebounds for the Penguins in the win.

It will be the same matchups on Sunday with the women playing at noon and the men playing at 3 p.m.

The Green Bay Gamblers hope the winning continues when they travel to Geneva, Ill. on Saturday to face the Chicago Steel.

The Gamblers are coming off a holiday sweep of the Team USA U-17 squad at the Resch Center, including a 5-4 overtime win on New Year's Eve thanks to yet another game-winning goal by defenseman Mason Lohrei. The Steel comes into the game a couple of weeks removed from their last weekend set as they split a pair with the Muskegon Lumberjacks.

The Steel have already taken two of the first three games between the two teams, though it was the Gamblers that took the last match-up by a score of 7-4. 

The puck drops on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. with first place on the line.

Kewaunee High School head athletic trainer Brady Schrauth shared some insight on the life of an athletic trainer earlier this week. The Kewaunee athletic trainer has shared his sense of fulfillment in the athletic world and his journey to get where he is today. He says his career path and taking the time to help athletes through rehab, health sustainability and performance is rewarding.

Schrauth has persevered through the last year in the midst of a pandemic by empowering his athletes to safe and healthy lives on and off the playing grounds. 

Schrauth was unable to interact with his staff and athletes for an extended period of time but was able to adjust accordingly, he received his COVID-19 shot in the first rounds of distribution among the front line workers.

The Wisconsin Badgers mens’ basketball team defeated their Big Ten Conference rival Minnesota Gophers on New Years Eve, 71-59.

The Badgers rebounded well after a traumatic home loss to Maryland earlier this week. Wisconsin started the game hot with five straight points from Micah Potter and a Johnathan Davis slam dunk to go up seven points over the Gophers. Minnesota did not shy away from Wisconsin as they finished the first half of play within seven points of the Badgers. Wisconsin came out with some serious firepower in the second half to go on a 21-7 scoring run, putting them ahead of Minnesota 48-29. Potter continued to add to the lead while D’Mitrik Trice and Aleem Ford chipped in to finish Minnesota off. The Badgers shot 40% from the three-point line and finished the game off with a 50.8% from the field. Potter led all scorers with 18 points and helped improve his team to 9-2 overall. Wisconsin will travel to Penn State for another Big Ten Conference game on January 3rd at 11am to ring in the new year. 

The Green Bay Gamblers pulled off their second consecutive win over Team USA on New Years Eve in overtime fashion, 5-4. 

Green Bay saw a hot start out of the gates with goals from Mason Lohrei, Jake Schmaltz and Cam Thiesing to prop a 3-2 lead in the first period over Team USA. The Gamblers saw their lead slip away in the second period after a USA goal until Schmaltz added his second goal of the night to tie the match back up, 4-4. Neither team could find the net in the third period which sent the match into overtime. Green Bay saw vintage Lohrei come up with the game winning goal, his fifth game-winning goal of the season (leads the USHL). The Green Bay win propelled them into a first place tie with the Chicago Steel in the Eastern Conference standings. The Resch Center will see the Gamblers and Muskegon on Friday, January 8th for a 7:05pm puck drop.