SPORT-SCAN DAILY BRIEF NHL 6/15/2020 Arizona 1186362 staff member tests positive for coronavirus 1186363 Bad Guys: Top villains in Bruins’ history 1186364 Don Sweeney commends Patrice Bergeron and Zdeno Chara's actions for racial justice Buffalo Sabres 1186365 NHL schedule that starts later and heads into summer might not be so unusual in future Blackhawks 1186366 Blackhawks’ Jeremy Colliton hopes to use time before playoffs wisely, improving systems and scouting Oilers 1186367 Blackhawks' Kane pays tribute to McDonough 1186368 What 2010 Blackhawks' appearances on 'Tonight Show' did for their popularity 1186369 “Long overdue”: White NHL players find their voice on racism 1186370 Colorado youth hockey culture outgrowing ice availability on Front Range 1186371 Blue Jackets’ John Tortorella ‘listens and learns’ on anthem protests 1186372 Detroit Red Wings 2016 draft review: Unloading Datsyuk yielded best pick 1186373 No Red Wings, but NHL playoffs still will have Michigan feel to them 1186374 As Detroit sits, these former Red Wings are still vying for a Oilers 1186375 Lowetide: Why you should be worried about William Lagesson’s future in Edmonton 1186376 Remembering the that made Fernando Pisani a cult hero in Edmonton Minnesota Wild 1186377 Sheltered coaches, athletes add pets to provide joy through pandemic Canadiens 1186378 Canadiens owner gives GM Marc Bergevin a vote of confidence 1186379 Youppi!, ’ legendary mascot, enters The Mascot Hall of Fame 1186380 Best of New York sports: Greatest catch, biggest choke and more 1186381 Penguins A to Z: Radim Zohorna is a big project, literally 1186382 Sharks involved in three of ESPN's 10 weirdest NHL Playoff goals St Louis Blues 1186383 With start of voluntary workouts set, Blues begin planning for July training camp 1186384 At last! The St. Louis Blues become first 1186385 ‘Long overdue:’ White NHL players find their voice on racism Vegas Golden Knights 1186386 Ex-Las Vegas Thunder player Rod Buskas enjoys life as pilot Websites 1186387 The Athletic / Bourne: With subjectivity in awards voting, a look at one ballot’s priorities 1186388 The Athletic / Cue the ‘Brass Bonanza’ – The Ballad of the 1985-86 World Leagues News 1186389 Canadian playing in Korean League says the sport can be played safely 1186390 Golf: Daniel Berger wins first event post coronavirus pandemic in dramatic playoff 1186391 Six major sports commissioners, including Adam Silver and Rob Manfred, set to discuss return-to-play plans 1186392 Radical changes floated as way to facilitate fall sports 1186393 NASCAR allows limited audience for first time since coronavirus, Confederate flag ban SPORT-SCAN, INC. 941-284-4129 1186362 Arizona Coyotes

Arizona Coyotes staff member tests positive for coronavirus

BY ARIZONA SPORTS

JUNE 13, 2020 AT 2:22 PM

UPDATED: JUNE 14, 2020 AT 1:11 PM

A staff member of the Arizona Coyotes tested positive for the coronavirus, the team said in a press release Saturday.

The person lives in the Valley and is asymptomatic, the release said. He is in isolation at home and people who have been in close contact with him have been notified.

He is the only member of the organization who tested positive for the coronavirus during Phase 2 testing protocol.

NHL training camps will open July 10 if the league and players’ union can reach an agreement to resume the season, the league announced Thursday.

Setting this date gives the 17% of players who are overseas time to return in light of U.S. and quarantine regulations.

The league and NHLPA said the July 10 start of camps — referred to as Phase 3 — is pending medical and safety conditions and agreeing on getting back to games.

Thursday also marked the first day Coyotes players were back on the ice at Gila River Arena for voluntary, small-group training sessions. Players were given the choice whether to participate.

On Saturday, the Arizona health department reported 39 new coronavirus deaths and 1,540 additional cases.

That increased the state’s documented totals to 34,458 cases and 1,183 deaths.

Arizona Sports LOADED: 06.15.2020 1186363 Boston Bruins Fights broke out on the ice, with fans leaning out over the low glass and punching Leaf combatant Forbes Kennedy. If the same play happened today with the knowledge of brain injuries, Quinn would have been Bad Guys: Top villains in Bruins’ history suspended for multiple games and Orr would have been put in protocol. But both were in the lineup for the next game.

Alex Burrows: Bruins fans should thank Burrows every time they see him By STEVE CONROY because his actions, along with a few other Canucks’ liberties, helped give the 2011 B’s the resolve to shake off a 2-0 Final series deficit and PUBLISHED: June 14, 2020 at 5:27 a.m win the club’s first Cup in 39 years. In Game 1 of what would become UPDATED: June 14, 2020 at 3:48 p.m. one of the most bitter series of the decade, Patrice Bergeron, just growing into his own as an inspirational leader, got in a post-whistle scrum with Burrows. As the linesmen tried to separate them, Burrows chomped down on Bergeron’s fingers. The next day, a seemingly Spectator sports are like any drama. There are plots and subplots, bemused Bergeron showed off the still visible bite marks on his finger to heroes and goats. a couple reporters. But it would soon become clear how much that And there are, of course, villains. Sports were reality television before chomp angered the B’s. During Bruins’ rout in Game 3, Milan Lucic and there was such a thing. took off their gloves and mockingly stuck their fingers in Burrows face, daring him to take a taste. And late in Game 4, another big Perhaps no sport captures the concept of the villain quite like hockey. win for the B’s, goalie Tim Thomas took a healthy slash at Burrows in The Bruins have had their share of players who opposing fandoms have front of the net and the two briefly swung at each other before Dennis loved to hate, from Eddie Shore to Derek Sanderson to Brad Marchand. Seidenberg gabbed Burrows from behind. The series was now 2-2 and But there also have been plenty players of whom Bruins’ fans could not the Burrows bite had clearly fortified an already tight-knit Bruins team. stand the sight. Some of these ne’er-do-wells’ transgressions were all in The B’s, of course, won the series in seven, but the bad blood even the sometimes filthy game, others bordered on the criminal. spilled over into the next season when the B’s-Canucks played one of the more acidic regular season games in memory. The Canucks won that Here’s a list of the worst villains for the Bruins’ over the years — the game, but it had to be cold comfort for them after the B’s lifted the Cup in Hateful Eight if you will: the previous June. Ulf Samuelsson: The Swedish defenseman, first as a member as the Maurice “Rocket” Richard: By 1955, it would have been understandable if Whalers and later with the Penguins, had a well-earned reputation of Bruins fans muttered and cursed at the mere mention of the great playing rough – sometimes dirty – in front of his own net. He had plenty Montreal Hall of Famer. He was not only an iconic talent who set the of fighting majors in his career, though he usually just held on for dear standard for goal-scoring – his name today adorns the trophy given to the life. But “Ulfie” earned his place at the top of the list in a 1991 playoff player who scores the most goal in a season – but he was also a fierce series when he changed the course of Bruins history. Cam Neely was competitor who perhaps more than any Hab played with his French- only 26 years old and had led the Bruins to the Stanley Cup Final in two Canadian pride on his sleeve. And in the decade leading up to this , of three previous seasons when, in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference the Habs had ousted the Bruins five times, just the start of a Boston Final, Samuelsson delivered a filthy leg-on-leg check on Neely that sent drought against Montreal that lasted 45 years. But in a game on March his career into a tailspin. Another hit in Game 6 added to the knee and 13 of ’55 at the Garden, things got ugly. After getting cut by a high-stick thigh problems that would dog the prototypical power forward for the rest by the B’s Hal Laycoe, Richard went ballistic on Laycoe, swing his stick of his Hall of Fame career. Neely played just nine games the following wildly until ultimately breaking it over the Bruin. Linesman Cliff Thompson season and never again played more than 49 games in a season. From tried to stop the assault, but Richard slugged him and went after Laycoe 1988-91, Neely played in 73 playoff games but after the hits he played again before he was finally subdued and sent to the dressing room. The just nine more post-season games. He retired at the age of 31, the same parties were called in for a hearing three days later and commissioner age Bobby Orr had to hang up his skates. Samuelsson retired in 2000, Clarence Campbell suspended Richard for the rest of the season. That with 2,453 career minutes and few friends. wasn’t the end of it, of course. Campbell showed up at St. Patrick’s Day Matt Cooke: The Penguins take the top two spots on this list of ignominy. game at the Montreal Forum and it was not a good idea. He was pelted Cooke was suspended many times in his career, though he escaped with debris and one fan slapped him. A tear gas bomb went off and the supplemental discipline for his most infamous hit. That came came in game had to be called, but the riot spilled into the streets. The next day, 2010 at Pittsburgh’s old Igloo. In a tight game against the B’s, he Richard had to make a televised plea to calm the public. delivered a predatory, blindside hit on an unsuspecting Marc Savard, Wayne Maki: The season of 1969-70 was a glorious one for the Bruins, who had already released a pass. Cooke knocked Savard out cold, who captured their first Cup in 29 years. But it began in disturbing, giving him a concussion that would soon end his career. The league’s heartbreaking fashion. In a neutral site preseason game in Ottawa, Ted dean of discipline at the time, Colin Campbell, did not suspend Cooke, Green — the B’s top defenseman and enforcer in the 1960s before a kid saying that there was nothing in the rulebook with which to hit him. But named Orr and the good times arrived — got into a stick fight with the St. the incident did spark a major rule change that policed similar head shots Louis Blues’ young forward. After avoiding a swipe by Green, Maki and it continued to raise awareness of brain injuries. Savard was never clubbed Green over his helmet-less head, fracturing Green’s skull and really the same as a player. He returned in the playoffs that year but his causing a brain injury. In what was described as a sickening scene, the career ended early the next season after taking another high, though addled Green struggled to get on his feet as his face contorted. Both hardly sinister, hit from former teammate Matt Hunwick in Colorado. players would receive lengthy suspensions, but Green was not able to Savard was dogged by symptoms for years but has recently gotten back play for the rest of the year. One of the more poignant moments the day into the game as an assistant coach with the Blues. the B’s won the Cup in ’70 was that of Green, in street clothes, wiping Pat Quinn: The burly Maple Leaf would have a more distinguished career away tears. Green did return the following year and won the Cup in ’72 as a coach and executive than as a player. But on one April night in before jumping to the WHA, winning the inaugural championship in ’73 1969, Quinn became Public Enemy No. 1 in the old Boston Garden. It with the New England Whalers. He retired from the WHA’s Winnipeg Jets was in the midst of a four-game sweep for a Bruin team that was building in 1979 before winning a few more Cup rings with the momentum toward a Stanley Cup the following year. In this playoff game, as a coach. He died last October at the age of 79. Maki’s story had a sad Orr was about to start one of his patented rushes up ice from his own ending. After catching on with the , he was end. Going up the right boards on his weak side in his own zone, Orr was diagnosed with brain cancer and died in 1974. He was just 29. approaching his line when the big D-man stepped up from his point : Lemieux wore a lot of different uniforms and irked a lot position and leveled a blow to the young superstar’s head. Whether it of opponents. His most well-known misdeed had nothing to do with the was a shoulder (the late Quinn’s contention) or an elbow (more likely the Bruins, in fact. As a member of the Colorado Avalanche in a 1996 playoff case), it was a head that knocked Orr unconscious. A pall hung over series against Detroit, Lemieux drove Red Wing face-first the Garden as teammate Ken Hodge put his glove under the prone Orr’s into the boards, breaking Draper’s orbital bone. But having started his head. He eventually came to and was helped to the dressing room. Then career in Montreal and playing in a particularly hot period of the rivalry the crowd, predictably, became surly. Fans surged toward Quinn in the with the B’s, Boston fans can certainly claim him as one of their own penalty box, a scuffle ensued and a panel of glass was broken before villains. Lemieux could be dirty, but he set the standard for all Montreal Quinn was escorted to the locker room. The mayhem didn’t end there. divers to come. His penchant for soccer-style theatrics had become bothersome even to his own team. When he laid on the ice a little too long for coach Pat Burns’ liking in the 1989 Finals against , Burns stopped a Montreal trainer from jumping over the boards to assist the “stricken” Lemieux. He and Cam Neely had their share of run-ins. Neely, in fact, dubbed him a “gutless puke” for turtling after Lemieux clipped Neely with a high stick as a member of the Devils. But what made Lemieux so maddening was that he was very good at getting top players like Neely off their game. And he played his best when it mattered. He won four Stanley Cups – one with Montreal, one with Colorado and two with New Jersey – and he earned the in 1995 with the Devils. His 80 playoff goals puts him at ninth on the all-time list.

Oskar Sundqvist: How does a guy who has only played a handful of games against the Bruins make it onto this list? Well, you play a huge role in denying the Bruins the Stanley Cup, and do so with a dirty hit. Late in the first period of Game 2 of the Cup final at the Garden last spring – the score was tied after the B’s had taken Game 1 – Matt Grzelcyk was retrieving a puck in his own end, one of his specialties and a skill that would be vital in this series. He had successfully moved it behind the net, but Sundqvist kept on coming, drilling his head into the glass. Grzelcyk suffered a concussion that would take him out of that pivotal game, which the Blues won in , and the rest of the series until the crushing Game 7. Sundqvist was assessed a two-minute minor but the league saw it for the cheap hit that it was, handing the Blues’ fourth-liner a one-game suspension, but it wasn’t a good tradeoff for the B’s. Without Grzelcyk, the Blues’ relentless forecheck gave the B’s more and more trouble as the series went on. If they’d had Grzelcyk, maybe the B’s could have finished off the Blues before it got to a Game 7, maybe not. Maybe we can still find out if the NHL gets their proposed tournament going.

Boston Herald LOADED: 06.15.2020 1186364 Boston Bruins

Don Sweeney commends Patrice Bergeron and Zdeno Chara's actions for racial justice

By Joe Haggerty

June 14, 2020 6:01 PM

Hockey players across the NHL have been rightfully applauded for the thoughtful way they’ve handled an unquestionably uncomfortable topic when it comes to the "Black Lives Matter" protests in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis.

Current NHL players like Evander Kane have expressed what it feels like to be a minority in the largely white , and past Black NHL players like Kevin Weekes, and Jarome Iginla have been valuable voices in the steps that the NHL can continue to take in the fight for justice and equal treatment.

But it’s going to take everybody to make the last few weeks a movement that will last with meaningful impact, and that means thoughtful, influential NHL players like Patrice Bergeron and Zdeno Chara getting involved as well. They both did that with meaningful, real statements over the last week and by getting involved whether it was Bergeron’s $50,000 donation or Chara marching in one of the "Black Lives Matter" rallies on the streets of Boston last week.

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Both players have long been compassionate, hard-working uniters when it comes to the Bruins dressing room, so it was no surprise to B’s general manager Don Sweeney when he saw them getting involved as both hockey players and human beings.

“You know I was reading articles this morning on Anson Carter and a couple of the players I played with that are getting involved, Trevor Daley, and having a higher profile. I applaud each and every player for their individual efforts and support them. They have the complete backing of the Boston Bruins,” said Don Sweeney last week during a zoom video call with Bruins reporters.

“From an organizational standpoint and a personal one, I applaud each and every players’ individual efforts in their own lives outside the realm of hockey. They’re human beings and they’re acting very, very well from the standpoint of humanity. I think [they both] acknowledged the listening aspect of this and the realization that we all can continue to do a much better job of that to mobilize our efforts.”

The key for Bergeron, Chara, and the rest of the NHL for that matter, is to keep these commendable efforts visible, impactful and ongoing as the business of the NHL starts to get going over the next couple of months. There’s no doubt that will happen given how plainly obvious the need is for change and reform when it comes to making certain that everybody working, playing and living in the United States is treated equally in their pursuits of life, liberty, and happiness.

Comcast .com LOADED: 06.15.2020 1186365 Buffalo Sabres Tage thoughts on Blues' anniversary

It was a year ago Friday when the St. Louis Blues won the first Stanley Cup in their 52-year history with their 4-1 victory in Game 7 over the NHL schedule that starts later and heads into summer might not be so Boston Bruins. Ryan O'Reilly won the Conn Smythe Trophy, thus unusual in future cementing Jason Botterill in infamy as the first GM in history to the next season's Smythe winner.

By Mike Harrington Botterill is deeper on the clock after another nonplayoff season and the O'Reilly trade looms as his career epitaph unless he finds a No. 2 center Published Sun, Jun 14, 2020 this offseason or highly regarded Dylan Cozens quickly develops into one. And Botterill also has to hope that University of Minnesota

defenseman Ryan Johnson, taken with the No. 31 overall pick from the The Sabres might not see the ice for the 2020-21 season until O'Reilly trade, becomes a key contributor. December, which appears to be the likely target date for training camp if Still, one of my most vivid memories of the postgame celebration on the the Stanley Cup is not awarded until early October. NHL Commissioner TD Garden ice was the chat a few of us had with Blues General Manager Gary Bettman even floated a trial balloon that next season could start Doug Armstrong. Just a few minutes after his team won the Cup, with the Winter Classic, the Jan. 1 game between St. Louis and Armstrong might have been doing Botterill a solid when he looked at me Minnesota outdoors at Target Field in Minneapolis. and said, "I think it's a good deal for Buffalo, too. They got a great player Bettman never says anything off the cuff so that's clearly what he's in Tage Thompson. They got a first-round pick. It's going to work out well thinking might happen. Assuming that's the case, is that going to be a for them." new normal for the NHL? A Jan. 1 start, which would still have the Cup So far, of course, it hasn't. But that doesn't mean it won't. Maybe final pushing toward August, seems extreme. But the coronavirus Johnson becomes a key contributor. Thompson had 14 goals in 27 pandemic is going to force the league's calendar to get moved into games in Rochester the last two seasons counting the 2019 Calder Cup different places, and it might be better for the league in the long term. playoffs, so his season-ending shoulder injury in November with the I have long been a proponent of an earlier start to the season, cutting Sabres was a real disappointment. He'll still be only 23 when next season down the preseason to open the regular schedule around Sept. 20 so starts. Botterill really needs a breakthrough from him in 2021. that the Cup final is wrapped up by Memorial Day. This entire situation Emotions of life and a crazy year pour out for O'Reilly and family after has given me pause – pun intended – to rethink that position. Cup victory My feeling now is that the NFL and college football, especially in SEC Fly away, Pilut country, have become immovable behemoths and it's in the best interest of the NHL (and the NBA) to try to avoid going head-to-head with football Maybe Lawrence Pilut will return someday. Maybe he'll never have an for as long as possible. NHL career. We'll find out. But for now, I'm glad he's gone.

I would not be a proponent of an annual Jan. 1 start to the NHL season, Pilut's clear take-the-money-and-run decision to sign a two-year deal in but I probably wouldn't start much before Nov. 15 either. You could the KHL was foolish. If he didn't like what the Sabres were selling him, essentially miss going head-to-head with the entire regular season of understandable to a point because of his lack of opportunity, he could college football as well as the World Series and anywhere from nine to have pushed for a trade. The KHL shouldn't be anybody's dream. 11 weeks of the NFL season. And if you push the start until around Dec. 1, you'd miss even more football. That said, the amount of consternation about Pilut's departure from the analytics community and on social media far exceeded reasonable The later you start, of course, the later you finish. And while it's expected discussion. For the last two years, Pilut has been the internet's latest there will be no All-Star Game or bye week in the 2020-21 season, you version of Mark Pysyk. As the party line goes, there's greatness in the have to assume those will return at some point. The Cup final now making and the team refuses to see it. regularly finishes in mid-June, with Game 7 last year in Boston coming on June 12. At least Pysyk was a first-round draft choice and has played 417 NHL games, including regular duty the last four years in Florida. Pilut earned It's reasonable to think the NHL is willing to consider going well into July All-Star nods in the AHL but hasn't shown much of anything in practice or in the future, especially when its American television rights deal is up games in Buffalo. after next season. A split package between NBC and ESPN, much like the NBA does with ABC and several cable networks, would make sense, Former Sabre Lawrence Pilut's two-year contract announced by Russian and ESPN could get some key games in slower months like June and team July. Yes, Pilut should have gotten more chances on the ice ahead of Zach In the past, concerns have been raised about making ice during warm Bogosian. But players making $6 million in salary and carrying a $5.1 summer months. It's clear the league no longer has those worries, given million cap hit don't sit in the press box when they're healthy. That's the how it does its own icemaking for its outdoor games and brings stark bottom line, especially when you consider what we've learned about supplementary equipment to arenas hosting later-round games and the the red ink at Pegula Sports and Entertainment. Stanley Cup final. There have been few complaints about ice in recent If you don't think that's a factor in professional sports, circa 2020, I Cup finals, including the 2018 games in Las Vegas that saw outside suggest you remove your nose from your heat maps and spreadsheets temperatures rise to more than 100 degrees. and watch the game a little more. Pilut needed to be exceptional to push Players from teams that go deep into the playoffs might not like the loss the needle in his favor and instead was ordinary. of June and July as vacation time, and Canadian media members who It's a bad look for the Sabres to be caught off-guard by his quick move to pile to their cottages at the stroke of July 2 might have similar issues. But the KHL and not get anything for him in a trade. But all this chatter for one issue now is how do you return the schedule to an early October months that the team has frittered away a prime prospect – who was start? With seasons going into summer, you'd have to substantially cut never even drafted – is simply ridiculous. With this team's struggles the short an offseason or cut short a regular season – no option for owners – last two years, if Pilut was so outstanding he would have earned a to get the playoffs to their standard April-June run. regular spot on the blue line. He didn't. Not even close.

NHL games in October are much like baseball games in late March or Buyouts/qualifying offers ahead? early April: You get a packed house on opening night and maybe a good crowd on your first weekend game, and then have crickets in many It's already been widely reported that the Sabres are free to make trades arenas until Thanksgiving. with the other six teams out of the playoffs, but Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman dropped this nugget Thursday: The league is pondering A later start to the schedule makes sense and this situation might be the whether to let those teams offer buyouts and give qualifying offers to their impetus for the NHL to move on it. Assuming health issues allow, it will restricted free agents during their normal windows for those activities be interesting to see how things go here in July and August as the later this month. players get back on the ice. It's an interesting idea to help the Sidelined Seven get a head start on debut for Chicago on March 11 against San Jose, the Hawks' final game their long offseasons. Doesn't seem all that fair to them to force them to before the season was paused. wait until October after the Stanley Cup is awarded to get to some of this business. The 21-year-old left winger was Buffalo's sixth-round draft pick in 2016 out of Red Deer in the . A product of Tim While Botterill hates buyouts and is unlikely to use one, he has lots of Murray's final draft as GM, Hagel was one of three players Botterill gave decisions to make about his restricted free agents and their qualifying up rights to and didn't re-sign in 2018. offers and can get some of that work out of the way if he gets the go- ahead. St. Joe's product Dennis Gilbert won Rockford's "Heavy Hitter" award. Gilbert played 30 games at Rockford and 21 in Chicago, scoring his first Stark wisdom NHL goal Dec. 27 against the .

Legendary baseball scribe Jayson Stark of MLB Network and The Athletic, referring to how Bettman and current NHLPA head and former MLBPA head Donald Fehr have fostered a spirit of cooperation in hockey Buffalo News LOADED: 06.15.2020 to get back to games: "I never thought I’d be pointing to the NHL as a model for anything baseball should aspire to. But I’m there. That is how it’s done. At times like this, neither side should be trying to win or lose, no matter how ugly their relationship or their history.

"These are the times to shove all of that aside and solve those common problems – because the solutions benefit everyone. But the dysfunction? That just stains everyone."

Stark was presented with the Spink Award last summer in Cooperstown, the highest honor in the game for a baseball writer. He's a legend in his sport. His sport would do well to listen to him now. The NHL, NBA and MLS have their return-to-play plans in gear and the NFL seems full steam ahead. Baseball is getting left behind.

Around the boards

• Ballots were sent out by the NHL last week for its end-of-season awards and must be returned by Monday at 5. Members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association vote for the Hart, Norris, Calder, Selke and Lady Byng trophies to honor the league's MVP, top defenseman, top rookie, top defensive forward and most gentlemanly player, respectively. The Jack Adams Award for coach of the year is selected by NHL broadcasters. The Vezina Trophy for top is voted on by the league's general managers.

The PHWA will hold a separate vote this week for its award, the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for perseverance and dedication to hockey. Each team has a nominee; the Sabres' representative announced Tuesday was forward Curtis Lazar.

PHWA members are prohibited from revealing their votes until the winners are announced. All votes will be revealed at that time. The annual NHL Awards Show in Las Vegas was wiped out by the pandemic and the league has yet to reveal its plans for handing out awards for this season.

As Masterton nominee, Curtis Lazar wants to be part of Sabres' future

• Most everyone you talk to is assuming Las Vegas is going to be one of the NHL's hub cities for the resumption of play, largely on the basis of its vast network of hotels in close proximity to T-Mobile Arena. While the league wants to go into Canada, it seems a little strange to think it would choose Edmonton and have both hubs in the West, creating issues for Eastern TV viewers. The entire Canadian border/quarantine situation also works against and you continue to hear Columbus and Pittsburgh as cities inching ahead in the race for the other hub.

Another possibility floating around is that the teams will cross hubs, meaning the Western Conference group would play in the Eastern hub and the East teams would head to Vegas. Remember, no fans are expected at these games and there's a feeling that allowing one team in each hub to be at home would be an unfair advantage.

• Players still need clarity on when family members might be allowed into their quarantine "bubbles" as play resumes. During his end-of-season conference call, Sabres veteran Kyle Okposo said he would not have been pleased about leaving his wife and three children under age 7 for weeks at a time had Buffalo qualified.

Columbus captain Nick Foligno, who has two young children that have endured serious illnesses, echoed similar sentiments on a recent conference call when he said, "If somebody tells me I can’t see my family, there’s going to be a fight.”

• Former Sabres draft pick Brandon Hagel was named MVP and Rookie of the Year by the Rockford IceHogs, Chicago's AHL affiliate. Hagel had 19 goals and 31 points in 59 games for Rockford and also made his NHL 1186366 “Obviously, we’re going to want to be as prepared as possible for the challenges that they’ll bring,” he said. “But we also need to stay true to our own identity and play on our toes and be aggressive.”

Blackhawks’ Jeremy Colliton hopes to use time before playoffs wisely, improving systems and scouting Oilers Chicago Sun Times LOADED: 06.15.2020

By Ben Pope

Jun 14, 2020, 7:30am CDT

The Blackhawks — along with the 23 other teams bound for the modified this summer — find themselves in an unprecedented scouting situation.

They know months ahead of time who their first postseason opponent will be.

The Hawks will face the Oilers. And with still roughly two months left on the calendar before the planned early-August series, coach Jeremy Colliton theoretically has enough time to learn not just the Oilers’ overall tendencies, but also the most minute details of their roster.

How does Connor McDavid’s index finger rotate when he releases a wrist shot? Colliton and the Hawks’ coaching staff have more than enough time to find out, if they want to.

But they don’t.

“The coaches, we’re going to absorb every bit of information that we can,” Colliton said Thursday. “But then we have to filter it, and we only want to give the players the information they need, so that they can play on instinct.”

Colliton said his “focus has been our own players and their development” for now, using things he and the staff learned from rewatching regular- season games during quarantine.

Right now, they aren’t allowed by NHL rules to join the small -led contingent of Hawks working out at Fifth Third Arena. Once training camp begins July 10 and coaches are allowed in the building, however, Colliton will still spend much of the practice time focusing on internal improvement.

That focus is clearly valuable and worthwhile. But it’s also going to be virtually impossible for the Hawks to enter the playoffs more cohesively than they left off in March, given the length of the pandemic hiatus.

“Teams probably don’t have their systems and defensive structure completely dialed in,” Kane said Thursday. “Even though you’ll have some time in training camp to try and do that, you can never really simulate a true game situation.

“You always see that in the beginning of the season, where there’s a lot of scoring to start the season. It might be a similar situation where you come back and it’s a high-scoring series.”

That’s not to say Colliton hasn’t paid any attention to the Oilers.

He was more than prepared to give an in-depth breakdown of Edmonton’s threatening cast of top-six forwards.

That group is highlighted by league-leading scorers and MVP candidates Leon Draisaitl and McDavid, but it really found its groove from late December on when rookie Kailer Yamamoto — a 2017 first-round pick — surged into the NHL. Yamamoto had 26 points in 27 games before the shutdown, helping the Oilers post a 16-7-4 record in those games.

“Yamamoto’s development as the season went on was a big plus for them,” Colliton said. “It gave them that [ability] where they could split up Draisaitl and McDavid. Together with [Ryan] Nugent-Hopkins, the Draisaitl and Yamamoto line had an excellent second half. And McDavid being healthy with the time off, it’s going to be a challenge for us. Likely they’ll play apart, and we’ll probably have to check them by committee.”

So Colliton hasn’t completely ignored the Oilers, and he won’t be doing so over the next two months, either.

But he plans to condense the long period of scouting to a manageable drip of insights. 1186367 Chicago Blackhawks "We have to keep getting better and we have to improve and it's going to challenge us all, but in the day-to-day, my job is to prepare the team for Edmonton."

Blackhawks' Kane pays tribute to McDonough After 13 years here, the 31-year-old Kane made a point that is sometimes forgotten after all that's happened since Bill Wirtz died.

Barry Rozner "The one thing is," Kane said, "you always trust Rocky Wirtz."

6/14/2020 5:50 PM Hard to argue with that.

There were plenty of times early in his career that Patrick Kane acted like Daily Herald Times LOADED: 06.15.2020 a kid who might never reach his potential.

But he was just a 19-year-old kid when he got here -- and an immature one at that. He was living life large and not always in charge of his direction.

It sounds now like one of the reasons he was able to get it together was the influence of former Blackhawks president John McDonough.

"Our relationship was maybe a little bit different than others," Kane said during a conference call. "He had some tough conversations with me, for sure. That helped me become a better player, a better person, to mature a little faster than maybe I would have.

"One thing about John is he always had your best interests at heart. Whether he was tough on you or not, he wanted the best for you as a person, not specifically the hockey player."

And Kane was as shocked as anyone that McDonough was relieved of his duties in late April.

"It was surprising. John is an amazing man," Kane said. "I called him and thanked him for everything he did for me personally and for the organization. I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for him."

To listen to the Hawks on Thursday left little doubt that Danny Wirtz is now running the show, with Rocky in the vicinity. In the meantime, and especially with playoffs on the calendar, it has been mostly business as usual in the front office. by signing up you agree to our terms of service

"We're in the midst of a season and we're preparing to restart and join the playoffs," GM Stan Bowman said on the Thursday video conference. "As far as reshaping the team, that probably would happen in the offseason and we'll have more discussions about next year's team when we get to next year.

"In the short term, the discussions I've had with Rocky and Danny have been very optimistic, very positive. Looking forward to trying to innovate and change some things for the positive from the business side and the hockey side.

"The discussions recently have been focused a little bit more on the business side, but once we get to the offseason we'll tackle the hockey part, talk about what the future years look like."

Bowman and head coach Jeremy Colliton also went out of their way to thank McDonough, who gave both their big break in the business.

"John was in a lot of ways a mentor for me. I learned so much from him," Bowman said. "He gave me the opportunity to take this role so I'll always be appreciative of that. He was great support to me and he did a lot of great things for the organization. I thank him from that perspective.

"I've known Danny Wirtz for a few years now and I've had a chance over the last six weeks to work closely with him and Rocky as well. They've been fantastic to me.

"I look at this as an opportunity to learn from Danny. Very bright guy, very energetic, has a lot of ideas. He's included me in a lot of things over the last few weeks and I look forward to collaborating with him.

"I certainly enjoyed my time with John, but I'm excited to work with Danny and Rocky. They've been very successful in all of their businesses and for me it's an opportunity to continue to grow."

After thanking McDonough, Colliton said of Danny Wirtz, "He's going to bring some new ideas and energy to the organization and I've been a part of some of that already and that's been exciting and that gives you energy. 1186368 Chicago Blackhawks "I think it's coming from the silver medal I won at the Olympics." Roaring applause ensued. "Oh look, it's Patrick Kane from the US Hockey Team," Leno said.

What 2010 Blackhawks' appearances on 'Tonight Show' did for their Kane took his seat. popularity "I don't remember being too embarrassed about it afterwards, so I'm guessing it went pretty well," the superstar winger said.

By Scott King "You try to be confident with your line and act like you're confident. June 12, 2020 9:48 AM There's definitely still some nerves there because there's such a big audience all over the world. Try not to think about that too much and just get your line out and make sure you say it the right way."

The day after bringing Lord Stanley's trophy to Wrigley Field for an "Patrick, congratulations on winning the silver medal, that's Patrick Kane, unforgettable Crosstown Classic contest, the 2010 Stanley Cup the US silver medal...", Jay continued before being interrupted. "Hey, champion Blackhawks went Hollywood. hey," Toews interrupted Leno, standing up, soon joined by Keith and Seabrook beside him. "I'm pretty sure the glare is coming from these Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Patrick Kane made three Canada gold medals over here." their second appearance on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno in 2010 on June 14. "Just wanted to rub it in on Kaner a little bit, so it was a pretty good opportunity," Toews said of the segment. The episode opened with the four players — of course sporting their radiant, red Hawks sweaters — in the parking lot of the studio where "Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Canada's Olympic "The Tonight Show" is filmed in Burbank, California, wondering where the Hockey Team. Nice job, gentlemen. Congratulations on winning the silver Cup is that was sent ahead of their arrival only to see Jay speeding and the gold. Chicago Blackhawks, ladies and gentlemen, right there. through the lot with the trophy mounted on the hood of his green Cooper Congratulations guys, good to see you," Jay told the budding stars and Mini. rejuvenated franchise before moving on with the show.

After Jay's monologue, a highlight of Kane's Game 6 OT Cup-winning The four Olympians had earned their hardware a few weeks earlier in an goal was shown, then Kane brought the Cup out on stage with Keith, overtime thriller of a gold medal game with Canada beating the US 3-2 in Seabrook and Toews following close behind him. extra time.

"What was going through your mind when you scored that goal?," Leno Toews scored the first goal of the contest and Keith assisted on asked Kane, then a 21-year-old first-time Stanley Cup champion. "It was Canada's second from longtime Duck Corey Perry. Kane assisted on pretty unbelievable," a hoarse Kane told Leno. "I think it's every kid's Team USA's first marker from former Canuck rival Ryan Kesler and the dream to actually do that and I think I was probably the only one that game-tying goal with under 25 seconds left in regulation from Zach knew it went in at the time. But it was pretty exciting and to win the Parise with an extra attacker. Stanley Cup, it's a great feeling bringing it back to Chicago." The rock band that was the 2010 Blackhawks kicked off their tour at the A highlight of Seabrook putting a powerful hit on Flyer Ville Leino in the Olympics and because of the exposure from the world games, they were Final was shown, which gave Jay "mixed emotions" from the similarities ready for their second big stop, "The Tonight Show." with their last names. Then the now famous clips of Keith taking a puck to the teeth and Toews winning the Conn Smythe during the 2010 "You got to remember we just came from the Olympics and that was in postseason played. Vancouver, there was so much attention on ," Kane said. "Chicago started becoming pretty popular that second season. Keith presented Leno with a human tooth necklace, a wink at when the 2010 Norris trophy winner only missed a few minutes in the Hawks Cup "It started being really popular to come to the games. Obviously when we Final-clinching game against the Sharks after losing seven teeth. made it to the Conference Finals (2009), the popularity just took off. So that was right around the time we were kind of getting used to leno_hawks_band.png everything."

Toews then gave Jay a red Blackhawks jersey sporting "Leno" with the Rising movie star Hugh Jackman — a guest on the Hawks' first 2010 1, prompting the comedian to invite the group to sit in with the "Tonight Show" — walked out onstage, pointing to the rising hockey stars band for the remainder of the show during interviews with actors Josh that were the 2010 Hawks and gave them a thumbs up. "How good was Brolin and Ashley Greene, plus musical guest Cee Lo Green. that game, that hockey game," Jackman asked Leno and the audience. "I'm Australian, I wasn't brought up with hockey, but I watched that game. March 16th's appearance earlier in 2010 for the four core members of the Unbelievable, unbelievable." Hawks on the program was more memorable despite less screen time and no Cup. Leno introduced the Hawks, with the entire team sitting "Obviously it was pretty cool to go," former Blackhawks defenseman and together and sporting their famed red sweaters among the studio 2010 Cup champ Brent Sopel said. "You see it on TV, but to actually be audience. there and be in the crowd . . . we got to do a lot of cool things as a group and as a team. Obviously it was just the start of putting us on a stage that The team met Leno before the show and was given a tour of the studio the world was going to start knowing who we are." and had parting words with him after the taping. Despite the recognition the squad received on both "Tonight Show" "I just remember it was a day off in LA. We were going to do that. We all episodes, Toews thinks the team, in some form, should have been given had our jerseys on in the crowd and it was pretty cool to meet Jay Leno," the same royal treatment Jackman was. Kane said a week before the NHL pause. "You grew up kind of watching and hearing about that show and I don't think we really knew what was "It was cool to be there, but I think you don't really consider yourself a going on until we got there, then they told us we'd have actual lines in the guest unless you're on the stage sitting in the chair talking to him, so it show. It's a little nerve-wracking, but we didn't really have that tough of a was different I guess," Chicago's captain said. line." Looking back at the 2010 group's cast of characters and star appeal, not "They're, of course, in town to get their [butts] kicked by the Ducks and to mention the achievements that awaited the core members, who could the Kings," the host joked during his opening monologue for March 16th's argue with Toews? The 2010 Blackhawks blended in amongst the stars, show. but they would have been deserving of a pedestal towering over them during their unrivaled launch in the spotlight. Shortly after, a light reflection coming from the audience distracted Leno, who had to stop delivering his jokes. Three years after 2010's championship run, Kane received the royal treatment Toews desired from a rival late night host. leno_kane_audience.png "I was actually able to be on David Letterman with the Cup in 2013, so "Some kind of glare in the audience," Leno said. "Over here, Jay," that was a little bit more exciting because I was actually part of the answered Kane, standing up in the crowd surrounded by his teammates. interview and getting asked some questions by him. That was pretty cool," 2013's playoff MVP said.

Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 06.15.2020 1186369 Colorado Avalanche stigma because I haven’t thought about this, or haven’t really fully realized it or understood the history of it?”

Since Willie O’Ree broke the NHL’s color barrier in 1958, hockey has “Long overdue”: White NHL players find their voice on racism been dotted with examples of racism. Just in the last decade, Simmonds had a banana thrown at him and P.K. Subban and Joel Ward were subjected to racist social media posts after scoring playoff game-winning By STEPHEN WHYNO goals. Smith-Pelly was taunted in the penalty box. As recently as April, New York Rangers prospect K’Andre Miller had a video chat during the PUBLISHED: June 14, 2020 at 12:05 p.m. pandemic hacked by someone who posted a racial slur hundreds of UPDATED: June 14, 2020 at 12:10 p.m. times.

Junior and youth hockey are filled with similar stories, too, even amid determined and long-term efforts to diversify the sport. Brian Boyle is a 35-year-old grizzled veteran of 13 National Hockey League seasons who grew up outside Boston. “There’s clearly a racism problem in our sport,” said Kane, a 28-year-old Canadian from Vancouver who is part of a new effort by black players to After seeing video of George Floyd’s death, Boyle wanted to say do something about it. “It’s been pushed aside and covered up ever since something. The forward, though, wasn’t sure how and I’ve been playing hockey. And that is a major issue that we need to didn’t want it to come off the wrong way. He wound up calling former suppress in a major way. That’s where being able to create a more teammate J.T. Brown to ask some questions — and listen. Brown is 29, diverse game, that’s where it’s going to start.” black and the only player so far to protest racial injustice and police brutality during the national anthem of an NHL game, back in 2017. Retired goaltender Ben Scrivens said he has “a healthy dose of cynicism” in seeing so many of his fellow white hockey players only now speaking The two talked about how Floyd’s death had affected Brown. out about racism. But he said it is nonetheless meaningful because players “can no longer claim ignorance” anymore. “I was kind of at his mercy,” said Boyle, who is white. “I just don’t understand this pain. I’ve never had to live this pain.” “The fact that they’re putting themselves out there is a start,” Scrivens said. “And it also opens the door for them to be held accountable going Floyd’s death in police custody has touched off an extraordinary forward.” reckoning of race and race relations and sports has been part of it, from European soccer to the NFL. It has also made ripples in NASCAR, which It seems like a lifetime ago, but it has only been six months since Aliu’s like the NHL has predominately white athletes and, by most accounts, a comments on racism in hockey rocked the league. Bill Peters — who Aliu larger fan base among whites than people of color. said used racist language toward him earlier in their careers — resigned as coach of the and the NHL formed councils to address NHL players have no sustained track record of speaking out on societal the issues. The growth in the number of players talking about racism now issues, perhaps part of the reticence that is generally found in hockey. in the NHL seems logical, at least to Aliu. There was no collective outrage after Akim Aliu, Devante Smith-Pelly and Wayne Simmonds joined the list of players who have publicly described “It’s a good step in the right direction, so I’m happy to see that,” he said, their personal experience with racism in hockey. then paused. “But I feel like it’s long overdue.”

This time, the culture of silence was nowhere to be found in a league that is over 95% white. Post: LOADED: 06.15.2020 Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid and more than 100 other NHL players made statements denouncing racial inequality, acknowledging their privilege and pledging to learn and do better. Tyler Seguin protested in Dallas, Zdeno Chara in Boston. while Patrice Bergeron, Tom Wilson and others made donations. Jonathan Toews met with activists in Chicago.

“We have to be as involved in this as black athletes,” Winnipeg captain Blake Wheeler said. “It can’t just be their fight.”

It was the kind of response San Jose’s Evander Kane hoped for when he called on white athletes to make their voices heard. Some called it “a perfect storm” — athletes, like everyone else, were at home during the coronavirus pandemic and able to focus on the graphic nature of Floyd’s death in Minneapolis and the visceral reaction.

“People, I think, are listening more,” said Kim Davis, the NHL’s executive vice president of social impact, growth initiatives and legislative affairs. Hired in 2017, she is the highest-ranked African American in the league’s hierarchy and reports directly to Commissioner Gary Bettman.

“While these things have been happening for a long time, I think the COVID pandemic has brought to light for many the racial pandemic,” Davis said. “To be able to just be paused and to stop and witness for nine minutes, somebody’s knee on someone’s neck and to watch the life be taken out of them … that’s your humanity (telling) you there’s something very wrong with that.

“I think that’s why people are speaking out. I think that’s why players are speaking out,” Davis said.

Seguin marched in Dallas along with retired goaltender Marty Turco and kneeled for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the time prosecutors say Floyd was pinned under the knee of a white police officer while his heart stopped. Seguin, a 28-year-old Canadian from outside Toronto, long believed matters of race were none of his business.

“It’s unfortunate that it took something of this magnitude to get people’s eyes open or myself having the accountability to realize and look in the mirror and say, ‘I’ve got to be better,’” Seguin said. “Am I part of the 1186370 Colorado Avalanche home rink, the Ice Centre at the Promenade, is a rarity with three NHL- sized ice sheets. Although, if a fourth were added with a complete hockey schedule, Davis said, “We could probably fill it overnight.”

Colorado youth hockey culture outgrowing ice availability on Front Range “The better the Avalanche are doing, the more interest we get,” Davis said. “Every time they win a playoff game, we’d get a few phone calls on how to play hockey. In the Stanley Cup years, it was off the charts where By KYLE FREDRICKSON we were full to capacity. At one time I think we had 300 kids on the waitlist. June 14, 2020 at 6:00 a.m. “We could easily use a handful of more rinks, especially with the

popularity and where ice sports are going. But it’s costly. There are a lot LITTLETON — The sound of wood slapping asphalt echoes down a quiet of moving parts.” neighborhood street. Progress arrives in December when the South Suburban Parks and Three children and their parents are sprinting in sneakers after an orange Recreation District is expected to open a new $61 million complex in ball. It’s rolling in the empty road between a pair of large red plastic nets Littleton featuring three sheets of ice — replacing a 50-year-old facility set roughly 40 feet apart. Their voices are rising. with only two sheets. The vast majority of active ice rinks in Colorado, though, were still built prior to the Avalanche coming to town in 1995. Don’t let the old man take you! Are you going to count that? Car is coming! Timeout! Jason Schofield in the Avalanche’s director of amateur hockey development which provides statewide resources and camp offerings for Brian and Lindsay Amos walk their kids to a nearby sidewalk as the youth skaters. Recognizing the challenge and cost of getting ice time, vehicle drives past on a warm June weekday. Their daughters — Izzy, Schofield pushes initiatives for after-school roller hockey programs that 13, and Charli, 9 — and son, Jacoby, 11, practically lived at their local teach similar concepts without the ice hassle. Many rinks have also rink, Edge Ice Arena, before the coronavirus pandemic hit. This street- expanded their recreational offerings with pick-up “lunch leagues” as an hockey haven is the next best thing. alternative to often late-night puck drops for adult games.

“It’s still fun because you’re still playing hockey — kind of,” Jacob said. “We started in Colorado as one of the smaller hockey markets and have taken some giant steps,” Schofield said. “Which makes it hard because Added Izzy: “I’d much rather play on the ice.” you do run into these situations where you have organizations competing Then again, the Amos family doesn’t blame just COVID-19 for missing for buildings and ice. On one hand, you’ve got to be trusted and a best the ice. Rinks across the Front Range began re-opening this month with friend with everybody. On the other hand, you’ve got to take care of your small groups following local health authority guidelines. But not for own backyard.” Jacoby or his Foothills Hockey Association teammates at their home rink. A current silver lining: Colorado’s hockey culture is rising quickly from the That’s because the FHA saw their contract with the Edge terminated this ashes of the coronavirus pandemic. spring after 17 years as a tenant, leaving more than 200 kids without a “We sold out every one of our programs, and this is no exaggeration, in home rink. You can spot the disappointment on Jacoby’s face, especially under three minutes,” said Davis at the Ice Centre in Westminster. “It after his season was canceled right before the state tournament doesn’t surprise me at all. The same thing is happening at rinks semifinals. everywhere.” The Amos family hasn’t returned to the Edge since. The joy of hockey has also returned on the street outside the Amos “It stinks,” Jacoby said. “It’s boring because most of the time, before, we residence. Rules are different here, like when mom shifts to “all-time were at the ice rink doing stuff. Now, we’re stuck here.” offense” or how dad can’t take shots from “far away.” Laughter is the top priority. It’s the fallout of a two-pronged problem for many hockey families and beer-league players alike in the Denver metro: 1. Not enough ice sheets There is some family debate over which team leads after the car-initiated to accommodate Colorado’s growing hockey culture. 2. Lacking timeout. The ball drops, and suddenly, the ice-time saga that’s stained transparency from city officials who decide who gets to skate. their hockey experience can fade.

Edge Ice Arena, run by the Foothills Parks and Recreation District, Game on. stunned the FHA when the district served it with a notice of a May 31 contract termination date. Their Edge residency was replaced by another local club: the Littleton Hockey Association. FHA program director Gabe Denver Post: LOADED: 06.15.2020 Gauthier said he was “not given an opportunity to discuss or negotiate for ice” prior to the notice.

Foothills Parks and Recreation did not respond to a request for comment from The Post, however, its executive director Ronald Hopp told CBS Denver in March that FHA’s eviction was due in part to “maximizing revenues.”

But why must the growth of one local hockey organization come at the potential demise of another?

Big picture: The availability of Front Range ice-time often does not meet the demand.

“Ice here feels like a commodity because there is only so much of it,” Brian Amos said. “We’re just fighting for every little scrap we can get.”

In an average year, there are anywhere between 9,000 and 12,000 active members of the Colorado Amateur Hockey Association, said CAHA president Randy Kanai. Compare that to CAHA’s estimated total number of ice rinks (with at least one sheet) currently across the state: 43.

The concentration is highest in the Denver metro with only about 15 ice rinks for thousands of skaters.

Tyson Davis is the director of the Hyland Hills Hockey Association out of Westminster, which has youth league membership of close to 600. Their 1186371 Columbus Blue Jackets Tortorella was characterized as a "changed man," someone who had realized the error of his ways.

It’s actually a little more complicated. Blue Jackets’ John Tortorella ‘listens and learns’ on anthem protests Tortorella, for instance, still believes strongly that U.S. teams representing their country at international events such as the World Cup Brian Hedger of Hockey or the Olympics are in a "different situation" than those competing domestically. He also wonders if, perhaps, there could be a Jun 14, 2020 at 5:46 AM way to recognize protests calling for social justice and inequality separate from the anthem. Jun 14, 2020 at 6:32 AM The heart hasn’t changed. That part of Tortorella still bleeds red, white

and blue. John Tortorella’s heart has not changed. His mind, however, is a different What’s more open is the mind. Tortorella said he wouldn’t punish a matter. player now for protesting during the anthem, but hopes he would be The Blue Jackets coach remains an adamant believer in standing during approached first to explain the reason. Maybe they could even discuss it renditions of the national anthem, facing the Stars and Stripes and in the locker room, as a team. paying his respects to those who have served and currently serve in the "A few years ago, I thought these men and women kneeling were military. That group includes his son, Nick, an Army Ranger. disrespecting the flag," Tortorella said. "As I listen to them, and watch It’s something he’ll always do, something that is sacrosanct on a and learn, I don’t believe that’s in their heart. That is their feeling, and I personal level. But Tortorella also has gleaned a new perspective about believe they have a right to do that. It is not mine, though." anthem protests since telling ESPN before the 2016 World Cup of The end of that statement is the key to understanding this sensitive Hockey: "If any of my players sit on the bench during the national subject — a clear distinction of thoughts that are perfectly entwined. anthem, they will sit there the rest of the game." Tortorella doesn’t have to like seeing protests during the anthem, but he Four years later, after watching America continue to struggle with the knows it’s a constitutional right that has been earned and protected concepts of equality and civil rights, Tortorella has a better idea why through the very military service that keeps his own body upright as the some may choose to take a knee. anthem plays. "I will always stand in front of that flag during the anthem because I "I have no right to tell people how to feel, but I have a right to how I feel believe that is the time to reflect and show respect to the men and regarding my stance of always standing before our flag, out of respect for women who have given their lives, and the men and women who are still those who have, and are, sacrificing for our country," Tortorella said. "For serving, to defend our Constitution and give us our freedoms," he said those who kneel during the anthem, this is their Constitutional right. This last week in an interview with The Dispatch. should not divide us." "That has not changed. Where I have, I guess, listened and learned and And that comes straight from the heart. tried to educate myself is, ‘What are the feelings of the men and women who are kneeling?’ I’ve tried to understand that better."

In that regard, he has come a long way. Columbus Dispatch LOADED: 06.15.2020 At the time of Tortorella’s "benching" decree in 2016, the athletic landscape within the U.S. was embroiled in controversy. It swirled around former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who had begun to sit on the bench during the anthem to protest racial inequality and police brutality against Black Americans.

After a conversation with a retired Green Beret named Nate Boyer, then a 34-year-old rookie long-snapper trying out with the Seattle Seahawks, Kaepernick took a knee instead. He had multiple family members who’d served; his protest wasn’t about the military, and according to Boyer, the two reached a "respectful" compromise in the form of kneeling.

At the time, as Kaepernick's kneeling roiled the sports world, Tortorella didn’t know about Boyer or that branch of the story. He just saw NFL players and other athletes following Kaepernick’s lead, kneeling during the anthem, and felt a boiling pot of disrespect welling up.

Now, he knows all about Kaepernick’s switch to the knee and why it happened, calling it "quite a story."

That’s not all the Jackets’ fiery coach has learned the past four years, either. After looking into the movement even further, he has a better grasp of what drove Kaepernick and others to protest in the first place.

He said he has realized there is an important distinction to be made, which runs right to the root of what it means to be a U.S. citizen.

"That I choose to stand during the anthem," Tortorella said, "does not mean that I don’t think there is a need for justice reform that assures the protection of all civil rights to all people."

Introspection led to his change in thought. It is also what keeps Tortorella’s heart resolute in his personal dedication to standing for the anthem.

That duality is important to remember.

Tortorella first expressed his newfound perspective on anthem protests to The Athletic this past week, after watching the nation’s ongoing turmoil over the very issues that drove Kaepernick to a knee four years ago. Various news outlets latched onto the story, and soon the 61-year-old 1186372 Detroit Red Wings In hindsight: The Wings could have had forward Alex DeBrincat (39th, Chicago Blackhawks), a Farmington Hills native who already has a 40- goal season to his credit and who has 173 points in 234 games.

Detroit Red Wings 2016 draft review: Unloading Datsyuk yielded best F Givani Smith pick Drafted: No. 46

Draft year: 23 goals, 19 assists for 42 points, 146 penalty minutes, in 65 Helene St. James, games with Guelph ( Hockey League).

6:00 a.m. ET June 14, 2020 Scouting report: Works hard, plays physical and has an infectious Updated 8:08 a.m. ET June 14, 2020 attitude.

Wingspan: Was one of the Griffins’ best players this season, recording 19 points in 37 games. Spent 21 games with the Wings (two goals, one Defenseman Dennis Cholowski on what it will take to make the Detroit assist) and showed signs he can bring a physical dimension without Red Wings. Filmed July 15, 2019 in Detroit. Detroit Free Press being undisciplined, and provide a net-front presence.

A deal made on the first day yielded what so far has been the best pick In hindsight: The Wings could have had goaltender Carter Hart (48th, the Detroit Red Wings made at the 2016 draft. Flyers), who ranked ninth in the NHL this season with 24 victories and posted a .914 save percentage and 2.42 goals-against The June 24-25 event in Buffalo, where the Wings made seven average in 43 games. selections, took place a week after Pavel Datsyuk announced he would return to Russia, even though he had a year left on his contract at a $7.5 D Filip Hronek million cap hit. General manager Ken Holland unloaded the deal on Arizona in exchange for flipping first-round picks (Wings dropped from Drafted: No. 53 16th to 20th) and the Coyotes’ second-round pick. Four years later, that Draft year: 4 assists in 40 games with Hradec Kralove in the top Czech pick has yielded the biggest payoff league. for the Wings. (Holland used the cap space freed to sign forward Frans Scouting report: Good skater, competitive and strong on the puck. Nielsen, whose production has dropped from 41 points in 2016-17 to nine points this season.) Wingspan: This was the throw-in pick from the Coyotes. Hronek has emerged as a key part of the rebuild, rising to the challenge this season Red Wings defenseman Filip Hronek tries to get around the stick of the when he became the team’s de-facto top defenseman after Danny Blackhawks' Dylan Strome during the third period of the Wings' 5-4 loss DeKeyser was lost to injury eight games in. on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019, at Little Caesars Arena. Hronek averaged a team-high in minutes per game (23:54), played on Holland and chief amateur scout Tyler Wright used four of the first five both special teams and was used against opposing top lines (hence his picks on defensemen. The team did not have a third-round pick as a minus-38 rating). His 31 points tied Robby Fabbri for fourth on the team. result of the 2015 trade for defenseman Marek Zidlicky. Hronek, 22, figures to be a core part of the Wings’ top-four corps for This is the second in a series examining the Wings’ past five drafts. The years to come. lottery for the 2020 draft is scheduled for June 26. Under the format D Alfons Malmstrom announced May 26 as part of the NHL’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wings will pick no worse than fourth overall. Drafted: No. 107

[ Detroit Red Wings 2015 draft review: Squandered picks and what they Draft year: 2 goals, 6 assists for 8 points in 41 games with Orebro in could have had ] junior league.

As is the benefit with hindsight, there are instances where the Wings Scouting report: Good mobility for a big guy (6-foot-2, 190 pounds). could have made a better choice. Wingspan: No longer in the system. D Dennis Cholowski Hindsight: The Wings could have had defenseman Maxime Lajoie Drafted: No. 20 (133rd, Ottawa Senators), who has 15 points in 62 games.

Draft year: 12 goals, 28 assists for 40 points with Chilliwack (British Jordan Sambrook poses for a portrait after being selected 137th overall Columbia Hockey League); four goals, 11 assists in 20 playoff games. by the Detroit Red Wings during the 2016 NHL Draft on June 25, 2016 in Buffalo, New York. Scouting report: Excellent skater with high-end offensive abilities. D Jordan Sambrook Wingspan: Cholowski made the Wings’ opening night lineup in 2018-19 after a solid camp. At Christmas, he ranked second among team Drafted: No. 137 defensemen with 14 points, but he also was a team-worst minus-11. Draft year: 9 goals, 18 assists for 27 points in 67 games with Erie After producing just one goal and one assist in 16 games (going minus-9) (). after the holiday break, he was assigned to the Grand Rapids Griffins, where he finished the season with 12 assists in 25 games. Scouting report: Steady defender who can move the puck.

Cholowski, 22, began this season in Detroit, but was sent to Grand Wingspan: No longer in the system. Rapids in mid-December. Mike Green’s health struggles afforded In hindsight: The Wings could have had forward Jesper Bratt (162nd, Cholowski a chance to show he belonged in the lineup, but he failed to ), who was on a 20-goal pace this season; has 100 show the growth the Wings needed to see in the defensive zone, posting points in 185 games. a minus-22 in 29 games to go along with eight points. G Filip Larsson He was called up for short intervals to offset injuries in the second half of the seasons, but recorded just two goals and six assists, and a minus-26 Drafted: No. 167 rating, in 36 games. He had 13 points and a minus-15 in 30 games with Draft year: Had a 3.86 GAA goals-against average and .872 save the Griffins. percentage in 19 games for Djurgardens IF juniors team. Cholowski is a talented player, but his lack of improvement in his own Scouting report: Skill showed through, despite injury struggles. zone and overall lack of assertiveness has disappointed. In 88 career NHL games, he has nine goals, 15 assists and a minus-46. Wingspan: He was supposed to compete for the starting job in Grand Rapids this season but struggled in his first year of pro hockey. Larsson, 21, appeared in just seven games with the Griffins, posting a .843 save percentage and 4.01 GAA. He spent more time in the ECHL, recording a 2.72 GAA and .910 save percentage in 10 games with the Toledo Walleye.

In hindsight: The Wings could have had forward Calvin Thurkauf (185th, Columbus), a prospect who posted 26 points in 53 games this season in the AHL and appeared in three games for the Blue Jackets.

F Mattias Elfstrom

Drafted: No. 197

Draft year: 11 goals and 20 assists for 31 points in 43 games with Malmo J20 (junior league in ). Played five games for Malmo’s top Swedish league club.

Scouting report: Good size at 6-4, 197 pounds.

Wingspan: No longer in the system.

In hindsight: The Wings could have had forward Joachim Blichfeld (210th, San Jose), a rising prospect for the Sharks who had 32 points in 44 games with the AHL's Barracuda in his first season of pro hockey.

Detroit Free Press LOADED: 06.15.2020 1186373 Detroit Red Wings

No Red Wings, but NHL playoffs still will have Michigan feel to them

Ted Kulfan,

Published 10:41 p.m. ET June 14, 2020

Updated 10:44 p.m. ET June 14, 2020

The NHL playoffs will have a definite Michigan flavor to them.

Not necessarily a Detroit flavor. The Red Wings had the worst record in the NHL and missed the playoffs by a wide margin.

Troy's Bryan Rust led the Pittsburgh Penguins in goals scored this season.

But there will be many reasons for Michigan hockey fans to tune in and watch, what with some of the best young players in the NHL — who happen to be from the state — competing in what should be an interesting and entertaining postseason.

Many of them could be difference-makers as their teams pursue the Stanley Cup.

Players such as Torey Krug (Boston), Kyle Connor and Connor Hellebuyck (Winnipeg), Zach Werenski (Columbus) and Bryan Rust (Pittsburgh) are pivotal players in powerful lineups.

Detroit News LOADED: 06.15.2020 1186374 Detroit Red Wings

Detroit News LOADED: 06.15.2020

As Detroit sits, these former Red Wings are still vying for a Stanley Cup

Ted Kulfan,

Published 10:43 p.m. ET June 14, 2020

Updated 10:43 p.m. ET June 14, 2020

The list of former Red Wings in the NHL playoffs isn’t that long this season, but there are some interesting names out there who could be important factors.

Certainly players such as Gustav Nyquist (Columbus), Andreas Athanasiou (Edmonton) and Petr Mrazek (Carolina) are players Wings’ fans will keep an eye on, given their up-and-down Detroit career.

Former Red Wings forward Andreas Athanasiou has one goal in nine games this season with the Edmonton Oilers.

Here's an alphabetical look at the former Red Wings competing in this summer's NHL playoffs:

► Andreas Athanasiou, forward, Edmonton Oilers (55 games, 11 goals, 15 assists in 2019-20): Sent to Edmonton at the trade deadline, Athanasiou had one goal in nine games with the Oilers before the pandemic struck. Could the time off have helped Athanasiou settle down and get comfortable with the Oilers?

► Jacob de la Rose, forward, St. Louis Blues (50 games, two goals, seven assists): Acquired for Robby Fabbri early this season, de la Rose provided the Blues with what they needed in a bottom-6 forward role. Could wind up going from the NHL’s worst team to the eventual Stanley Cup champion.

► Mike Green, defenseman, Edmonton Oilers (50 games, three goals, eight assists): The defenseman was traded to Edmonton at the deadline and injured his knee after one game. Green will be healthy and could settle a young Oilers’ lineup with his playoff experience.

► Nick Jensen, defenseman, (68 games, no goals, eight assists): Jensen supplies the defensive conscience for a prolific Washington lineup that has all sorts of offense. Jensen appears to have been a quality, low-frills acquisition for the Capitals from the Wings.

► Petr Mrazek, goaltender, (40 games, 21-16-2, 2.69 GAA, .905 SVS): The Hurricanes have a lineup that might be good enough to surprise this summer. Can Mrazek, one of the most athletic in the NHL, backstop this deep lineup to a Stanley Cup? When Mrazek is one, he’s as good as anybody.

► Tomas Nosek, forward, Vegas Golden Knights (67 games, eight goals, seven assists): The defensive forward has been a nice expansion draft pick-up and can be an unrestricted free agent in the offseason. Nosek does the dirty work in a talented lineup.

► Gustav Nyquist, center, Columbus Blue Jackets (70 games, 15 goals, 27 assists): Nyquist proved to be a great free-agent fit and supplied the Blue Jackets with steady offense. With Columbus finally healthy, Nyquist and the Jackets should give Toronto fits.

► Brendan Smith, forward, N.Y. Rangers (62 games, three goals, five assists): Smith has switched from defense to being an aggressive fourth- line forward on a Rangers’ lineup that has rebuilt and retooled in quick fashion.

► Riley Sheahan, center, Edmonton Oilers (66 games, eight goals, seven assists): The former Wings first-round pick was a low-profile free- agent signing by former Wings GM Ken Holland and had a fine season in Edmonton.

► Tomas Tatar, forward, Montreal Canadiens (68 games, 22 goals, 39 assists): Tatar led the Canadiens in scoring, and if Montreal is to surprise against Pittsburgh, it can’t rely solely on goalie Carey Price. Tatar needs to match Pittsburgh’s top offensive players.

► Luke Witkowski, forward, Tampa Bay Lightning (12 games, one goal, two assists): Witkowski started the season in the NHL, but was in the minors when the pandemic struck. Might be added to the roster for depth. 1186375 Edmonton Oilers Jones in 2018-19: 50 games, 48-30 (plus-18) even-strength goal differential on a team that posted 184-124 (plus-60)

Jones in 2019-20: 14 games, 11-16 (minus-5) even-strength goal Lowetide: Why you should be worried about William Lagesson’s future in differential on a team that posted 119-149 (minus-30) Edmonton Jones had a difficult rookie season and Bear delivered a better debut in 2017-18. The following year, the one all three played in the league, By Allan Mitchell Jones had a stronger even-strength goal differential than Bear and likely would have played tough opposition as well. Lagesson’s goal differential Jun 14, 2020 in 2018-19 is better than Bear’s and Jones’ and also superior to Jones’ this season.

What does that tell us? Defensively, Lagesson’s numbers are a little A player like William Lagesson is difficult to assess because half (or better than Bear’s and Jones’, even allowing for soft minutes in the more) of his overall value comes when he’s on the defensive side of the Swedish defenceman’s early days in the AHL. The information available puck. The league he spent most of the last two seasons in, the AHL, to us suggests Lagesson should be considered in the same range doesn’t publish time-on-ice totals, so we have to estimate how much the defensively. coach trusts Lagesson in game situations. Since his goals and assists totals aren’t eye popping, it’s easy to overlook his ability and assume he’s During his time in Bakersfield, Lagesson’s on-ice goal differential at even a tweener (too good for the AHL, not good enough for the NHL). strength was 82-58, which represents 58.6 percent of the goal share. When Lagesson was off the ice, Condors won the goal share 221-215 What if he’s more than that? Lagesson was one of three Bakersfield (50.7 percent). Condors prospect defencemen who flourished during the 2018-19 season. The two who joined him (Ethan Bear and Caleb Jones) climbed Offence the ladder to the NHL this past season. Lagesson doesn’t bring obvious offensive gifts to the rink, like Bear’s What if Lagesson is an actual NHL player, albeit with a longer passing or Jones’ speed. However, he can pass and carry and shouldn’t incubation? What if his only crime is being a half-season late for the be framed as a pure defensive defenceman. During their AHL careers, show? he is very competitive in even-strength scoring:

It’s an important item on the Edmonton Oilers’ list of things to accomplish Bear: 89 games, 11-20-31 (.348 points per game) before the 2020-21 season begins. Lagesson will be waiver eligible for the first time and could be lost to another team looking for an inexpensive Lagesson: 92 games, 11-21-32 (.348 points per game) option at the position. Jones: 122 games, 6-24-30 (.246 points per game)

Should general manager Ken Holland sign Lagesson with an eye to the Lagesson gets pucks to the net, outlets consistently and minds the store No. 7 defensive spot in Edmonton? Trade Lagesson for what can be had well. His skating style is a little unusual but he’s an effective player in during the offseason? Let’s have a look using the limited tools we have recovery and is seldom out of position. available. What does it all mean? Even-strength goal differential I’ve written on this subject several times over the last few months There isn’t a compelling offensive story to tell about Lagesson but his because it’s an important moment in the Oilers’ team building. defensive chops are fairly represented in even-strength on-ice goal Lagesson’s trade value is not high and Edmonton’s roster boasts good differential. In his first two North American seasons, Lagesson played in left defencemen to the sky. the AHL long enough for us to get a feel for his ability in this area. Here are the numbers: Why, then, am I making a big deal about Lagesson, who can’t make Edmonton’s roster? 2018-19: 67 games, 57-35 (plus-22) even-strength goal differential on a team that posted 184-124 (plus-60) The Seattle expansion is a year away and Lagesson might be the player chosen, so that has value to an organization. 2019-20: 25 games, 25-23 (plus-2) even-strength goal differential on a team that posted 119-149 (minus-30) He can probably slide in on the third pairing now, meaning Holland could deal veteran Kris Russell in the offseason with Jones taking over the job. Lagesson played well and held his own plus a little in 2018-19 that those Lagesson would represent a strong backup option. goal differentials (player and team) are exceptional. This season, with the Condors bleeding at even strength, Lagesson’s minutes were highly Lagesson’s next contract is unlikely to approach $900,000 and could be productive. as low as $735,000 on a one-year deal. The Oilers badly need effective players making $1 million or less. Based on those numbers, Lagesson would have been due for an NHL recall and playing time. He played his first NHL game on New Year’s Eve He could be far more valuable in the future than is perceived now. against the New York Rangers and spent time with Adam Larsson, Matt Benning and Mike Green in an eight-game audition. When it comes to Lagesson, we don’t know what we don’t know. His first NHL look had a mix of good and bad, but that’s typical of a new arrival on Lagesson’s numbers are interesting and suggest he is a quality player in defence. He may one day emerge as a reliable and effective two-way the AHL, but how do they compare to other players in their minor-league defenceman who is counted on for five-on-five and penalty-killing careers? Let’s look at the two men he is most associated with, Bear and minutes. Jones. His only crime is timing. There’s a logjam at Lagesson’s position and he’s Bear in 2017-18: 37 games, 19-27 (minus-8) even-strength goal not as proven as Bear or Jones. That’s not his fault, but it is his problem. differential on a team that posted 135-159 (minus-24) There’s a little lag in his arrival, and that perception can hurt him and the Bear in 2018-19: 52 games, 43-29 (plus-14) even-strength goal Oilers until Lagesson is more established. differential on a team that posted 184-124 (plus-60) This is a big test for Holland and his Oilers management crew. Will they Bear was on par as a rookie with the rest of his team, about where put a proper grade on his future? Lagesson was in his first season. Bear’s numbers in year two are slightly inferior to Lagesson’s, although it’s likely Bear (as a more established Math suggests he should be retained. No question about it. player in the AHL) would have seen tougher opposition for at least a portion of the season. The Athletic LOADED: 06.15.2020 Jones in 2017-18: 58 games, 30-54 (minus-24) even-strength goal differential on a team that posted 135-159 (minus-24) 1186376 Edmonton Oilers “The dressing room was very calm,” he said of the series. “The guys had a business-like approach.

“We were a blue-collar team that didn’t really have any superstars other Remembering the goal that made Fernando Pisani a cult hero in than Pronger. After that, we didn’t have one specific guy who was the Edmonton guy who carried us through.”

Pronger arguably should have won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff By Daniel Nugent-Bowman MVP that spring. Roloson was tremendous in net, sporting a .927 save percentage until he was injured in Game 1 of the final. Jun 14, 2020 But the 29-year-old Pisani was the driving force up front. He scored 14 goals in 24 playoff games, only four fewer than his regular season total – a personal best. The Oilers were on the brink of elimination. It was overtime of Game 5 of the 2006 Stanley Cup Final against the Hurricanes and a goal “The puck seemed to follow me. It was a lot of positive things happening surrendered would end their magical postseason run. To make matters at once,” Pisani said. “As a player, when you get on those streaks, you worse, defenceman had been penalized for tripping barely wanna make sure you ride it as long as you can.” three minutes into the fourth period. “Those are the kind of stories that really push teams to having success in The puck was in the Carolina end when Eric Staal chipped it up the the playoffs,” captain Jason Smith said. “He went from being a steady boards to teammate . Oilers winger Ethan Moreau was in contributor to being a guy who was contributing at career-high levels. hot pursuit of Stillman, charging toward him after getting up off the ice from a tumble. Stillman slowed his stride as he braced to make a pass “He was a huge contributor with his goals but his all-around game was as and, at that very moment, Moreau whacked him across the hands with good as it had ever been during that stretch for our team.” his stick. Lowe noted how Pisani was always a favourite of coach Craig MacTavish The blow caused Stillman’s attempt to slide slowly, aimlessly, toward the because he was solid in both ends of the rink, competed hard and knew middle of the ice. A lurking Fernando Pisani stepped up to intercept the where to be on the ice. puck just inside the blue line, nabbing it just ahead of Staal’s reach. “Usually players like that have their time to shine,” Lowe said.

He was in all alone. Lowe compared Pisani’s sudden offensive outburst to Chris Kontos “It was one of the plays where it seemed like time stood still,” said Pisani, scoring nine times in 11 playoff games in 1989 or John Druce scoring 14 now 43. “The shot came off perfect off my stick. I couldn’t have put it in a goals in 15 games a year later. “Fernie would be in that category for better place. All I remember is everybody jumping on top of me. sure.”

“It’s something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.” Pisani went off against the Red Wings, scoring five times in the six games. He equalled that total against the Hurricanes, with his Game 5 Pisani’s goal – netted 14 years ago Sunday – was his second of the heroics being the zenith. night. And it was momentous. It marked the first time in Stanley Cup Final history that the winning marker in a game was scored shorthanded The specifics of the pivotal marker are seared in his memory. in overtime. “I got the puck and it deflected, hit my chest and came down. I think it His shot beat Hurricanes goalie high to the glove side and was good that way because I didn’t have a ton of time to think about what pushed the series back to Edmonton for a sixth game. I wanted to do,” he said. “I looked up and saw where I wanted to go. It just literally shot off my stick. I got a quick release.” “The shorthanded overtime goal in Carolina stands out for me as one of the greatest goals ever by an Oiler,” said longtime Oiler Kevin Lowe, then That goal gave the Oilers another life in the series. Perhaps if he’d the club’s GM. scored just once more a couple games later the outcome would have been different. Pisani would close out an amazing playoff performance by scoring once in Game 6 and again in Game 7, albeit in a losing cause. It was a Pisani had Edmonton’s best chance to tie Game 7 with less than four fairytale few weeks as the hometown boy starred for the local team. minutes remaining in regulation.

But that shorthanded OT winner wound up being the apex of that spring bolted down the left wing and flipped a shot toward the net. – and his career. The puck hit Ward’s pad and scooted into the slot, where Pisani was waiting. The puck just skipped on him as he went to swat in the rebound. The 2005-06 season was the Oilers’ best in years. It was, too, for Pisani. He couldn’t shovel a second try past the goaltender.

It was his third season in the NHL, and he was coming off splitting the The Oilers lost 3-1 with Justin Williams scoring for the Hurricanes when previous lockout year between teams in Switzerland and Italy. the Edmonton net was vacant.

Pisani built off a 2003-04 campaign in which he scored 16 times in 76 How often does Pisani think about that chance? games to net 18 goals in 80 contests. He also had a modest uptick in points to 37 from 30. “Every time someone asks me about it,” he said. “As a player, you always replay the ones that you missed and the opportunities that you Still, the Oilers, backed by the offseason additions of star defenceman had. That one, the puck just bounced over my stick. If it was a couple Chris Pronger and checking centre Michael Peca, were “fighting tooth inches lower, it was right on my tape and there was no doubt that I would and nail just to get into that eighth spot,” as Pisani put it. In-season have put it in the back of the net. That’s the way things were going for me acquisitions of goaltender Dwayne Roloson, winger Sergei Samsonov then. and blueliners Jaroslav Spacek and Dick Tarnstrom helped bolster the group. “That’s always a tough one to swallow. It’s still tough to this day to watch when they do the Cup presentation because of the feelings that I had “We basically had to be in playoff mode from the beginning of March to when that final buzzer went in Game 7. It was heartbreaking and gut- solidify ourselves in the playoffs,” Pisani said. wrenching.”

The eighth-place Oilers met the Red Wings, who had a 29-point cushion The defeat was devastating, and Pisani was drained. But if there was a in the standings. It was a decisive mismatch. silver lining, it seemed Pisani was really coming into his own as an offensive player. The Red Wings won Game 1 in double overtime but the Oilers didn’t get discouraged. They took the next two games and eventually closed out It wasn’t long, however, before things took a turn for the worst. the Presidents’ Trophy winners in six. Pisani had two goals in the series clincher. The summer of 2007 was a nightmare for Pisani. He’d followed up his glorious run by appearing in 77 games, recording 14 goals and 28 points, as the Oilers struggled and missed the playoffs. That July, he began feeling ill. He was eventually diagnosed with ulcerative colitis – the inflammation of his intestine – and was hospitalized for a month and a half. He said he lost 55 pounds. He became anemic and diabetic and was constantly exhausted.

“It was pretty much the scariest thing that I’ve had to go through,” he said. “Hockey becomes very secondary when your health is in there. Hockey wasn’t really on my mind. It was being able to function and live and everyday, normal life. It got to a point where I wasn’t sure if that was gonna be the case.”

The recovery process was a long and arduous one.

His first workouts after leaving the hospital would last 15 minutes. He’d be completely wiped.

Pisani worked up his stamina and was able to return to the ice that December. He managed to play 56 games, posting 13 goals and 22 points, and was the Edmonton media chapter’s nomination for the Masterton Trophy – awarded for perseverance, sportsmanship, dedication to hockey.

It was a remarkable feat to come back from the illness. He played three more NHL seasons after the 2007-08 campaign, the last with Chicago.

Pisani battled injuries later in his NHL career but Lowe looks back to his health scare as a turning point.

“You never know what would have happened if that wasn’t the case,” Lowe said.

Former Oilers teammate convinced Pisani to give pro hockey one more shot.

Strudwick was playing in Sweden for Sodertalje, a team in the country’s second division Allsvenskan. The team was lacking a scorer and he pinched Pisani on coming aboard in January 2012.

Pisani barely lasted more than a week, appearing in three games.

“I was glad I went out. I just didn’t have the desire to play anymore,” he said. “I just wasn’t mentally there to continue on. It was better for me to pack it in and end on my own terms.”

Pisani wasn’t finished with hockey, though.

MacTavish encouraged him to give coaching a try to stay current and involved. He joined the University of Alberta Golden Bears as an assistant coach in 2013 and spent three seasons with them. He’s been with the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings as a skills development coach since 2016.

Logically, the 2006 scoring ace’s main messages are teaching players how to be in the right position and how to get a shot off quickly.

“I like helping kids get to what their goals are,” he said. “If I can help out, that gives me a ton of satisfaction.”

He also assists with coaching his sons’ teams in St. Albert; Teo is 13 and Jaxon is 11. He and his wife, Heidi, also have a 14-year-old daughter, Alexa.

It’s a busy household under normal circumstances and Pisani said he can’t wait to get back to the rink – once COVID-19 restrictions permit. (He also supports Oilers coaching clinics.)

Even though he’s out and about less than normal right now, he’s bound to bump into someone this weekend who will want to talk about his biggest moment with the Oilers.

Pisani has lost track of how many times people have approached him to tell him where they were when he beat Ward on a breakaway.

He can’t say he gets tired of it either.

“It’s cool to hear the effect you had,” Pisani said. “For the most part, it was a positive effect on everybody’s life.”

The Athletic LOADED: 06.15.2020 1186377 Minnesota Wild These pets are lucky to have found loving homes, but their humans are benefiting even more. From Pika chasing a ball down the stairs again and again, to Rocco slipping while running on the hardwood floors and Sheltered coaches, athletes add pets to provide joy through pandemic jumping into his toy basket for a soft landing, to Blitz chasing two toddlers around the kitchen island, to Bella making off with a paper bag bigger than she was while her parents put away groceries.

By Megan Ryan Witnessing these moments, in a world where there’s so much to feel down about, makes their owners truly happy. JUNE 14, 2020 — 10:28PM “It’s a stressful time,” Condie said of deciding to become a pet parent.”

So anything that can bring you joy is not a bad decision.” Gophers defensive coordinator Joe Rossi couldn’t stop glowing about the newest addition to his team. Star Tribune LOADED: 06.15.2020 “He loves defense. He’s really not interested in letting anyone score points,” Rossi said. “… He’s high-energy. He’s got good speed, good lateral movement. And, you know, he’s just lovable, wants to play all the time.”

Well, his name is literally Blitz.

Obviously, this isn’t one of the Gophers’ up-and-coming defensive stars: Rossi is assessing his new family pet, a 2-year-old chocolate lab.

Blitz — a name admittedly stolen from former Gophers offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca’s dog — is just one example of pets finding new homes during the coronavirus pandemic. Pet adoptions have skyrocketed in the past three months, and shelters and breeders are trying to post photos of their animals online fast enough to keep up with demand.

And while this is a trend across society with everyone spending far more time at home than usual, sports figures have taken particular advantage. Rossi, for example, would have spent his spring on campus for football, then traveled across the country recruiting. Instead, he’s posted up in his suburban home with wife Lynsey, 4-year-old Nico and 1-year-old Luca.

Wild forward Luke Kunin should have been finishing out the regular season in hopes of a long postseason run. Instead, he and his girlfriend are cooped up in their apartment and needed to find a positive in these hard times.

So they road-tripped down to Kunin’s native Missouri to pick up their new French bulldog puppy, Rocco. Kunin called it “the perfect time” to add to their household, since’ he’d have the downtime to train Rocco and spend time with him.

“I’ve had more interviews in the last little bit about Rocco than I have hockey,” Kunin said. “I’m not used to that. It’s kind of funny.”

Kunin said several of his teammates, including defenseman Matt Dumba and forward Ryan Donato, also just took in dogs. And they can probably relate to how Kunin tried to stickhandle a toy ball with Rocco, hoping Rocco would chase it. But the puppy was more interested in chewing the hockey stick.

Olympic-qualified rock climber Kyra Condie of Shore•view adopted two cats, Pika and Pepper, where she lives and trains in . They just recently explored Condie’s in-home climbing wall.

“They got just super in my way,” Condie said. “But it was so cute that I didn’t mind.”

While her cats enjoy sprinting up and down her stairs every morning at 6 a.m., she said the climbing wall is a bit too steep for them.

Gophers football coach P.J. Fleck and his wife, Heather, already had planned on getting a puppy before the pandemic hit. And she might not know it, but Bella the Maltipoo is enjoying some rare quality time with her busy parents.

“It’s been awesome, especially for P.J.,” Heather Fleck said. “… If she does get up early in the morning, he lets her out. He feeds her, and he takes her on his little Starbucks or Caribou runs. She likes to go bye-bye in the car with Dad. And it’s been nice.

“… Now, all these dogs across America right now are going to have serious separation anxiety once everybody goes back to work. But it’s been fun.”

Bella has popped in on media video conferences and FaceTimes with recruits. And she has a basket full of Gophers gear — raincoats, bandannas, collars — at the ready for the next game day. 1186378 Montreal Canadiens And Molson said that if a member of the team chose to protest by taking a knee, like former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, or raise a fist during the national anthems whenever the games resume, he would Canadiens owner gives GM Marc Bergevin a vote of confidence have the owner’s full support.

“Every player has the right to express themselves,” Molson said. “The individuals have the right to protest however they want or to not protest Joshua Clipperton however they want.

“The most important thing is that I believe (Black Lives Matter) is an important cause, and our organization will continue to do what it can do Geoff Molson fielded questions from all angles in French and English for to support making it better for the next generation.” 90 minutes Wednesday. As for the game itself, Molson said he’s confident the NHL will return this The topics lobbed at the Montreal Canadiens’ owner, president and chief summer, which would see Montreal meet Pittsburgh in the best-of-five executive officer by reporters ranged from his team’s performance, the qualifying round for a shot at the regular 16-team playoffs. impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on business, and social justice. “There’s so much uncertainty,” he said. “You can never be 100 per cent The patience he demonstrated in both official languages also clearly certain, but I feel really good about (the NHL’s) plan.” extends to the club’s front office. Molson said the Canadiens’ practice facility will open for Phase 2 of the Speaking publicly for the first time since the NHL was forced to pause the league’s return-to-play protocol – which includes small group workouts – 2019-20 campaign in March because of the novel coronavirus outbreak, on Monday for players in the Montreal area. Molson said on a conference call that general manager Marc Bergevin continues to have his full support. There’s still plenty to be negotiated between league and the NHLPA, but it’s hoped training camps can start some time after July 10, with games “We ran into some roadblocks,” Molson said of Montreal’s disappointing following later that month or in early August in two hub cities. regular season. “I still believe that we have an extremely exciting next few years ahead of us.” And even though it was a tough season up to this point, Molson hopes his team can write an incredible story. The Canadiens were on their way to missing the playoffs for the third straight spring – and fourth time in five years – before being handed a “Do I think that this is the team that’s built to win the Stanley Cup? I don’t lifeline by the league’s return-to-play plan this summer. think so,” he said. “But I do think that anything can happen in the playoffs. Montreal earned the 24th of 24 spots despite registering just 71 points in 71 games, including a paltry 19 wins in regulation. “We’ve seen it before.”

The Canadiens were agonizingly close to making the playoffs in 2018-19, a season described as the beginning of a “reset” by Molson, but were unable to recover from two separate eight-game losing streaks this Globe And Mail LOADED: 06.15.2020 campaign before it was put on ice.

“I believe that we have a great core group of veterans that are going to lead us through,” he said. “We have some young players that are already on the team that we know are going to contribute. We’ve got some prospects coming, that we are very hopeful on.

“The plan, overall, has been well executed, despite some performance issues that we had this season.”

Molson also shot down rumours the team will be hiring a president of hockey operations to fill a management level between himself and Bergevin, who made the playoffs in each of his first three season as GM, including a trip to the Eastern Conference final in 2014.

“Every year we learn something about each other,” Molson said. “Am I satisfied because we took a step back? Of course not. I’m not satisfied and Marc knows that. But I do know that we have a good plan. And I still believe that we’re going to get through this.”

Montreal has won the Stanley Cup a record 24 times, but its been 27 years since the city’s last title. Molson understands the frustration – he remembers some of the glory years long before he owned the team – but pointed out hockey’s landscape has drastically changed.

“Our commitment to winning has never slipped,” he said. “There is an enormous amount of parity in the league right now. We saw it last year in the playoffs, we see it every year in the playoffs. There is nobody in our organization that is lowering their standards, and we never will. It may be different now ... 27 years is a long time for Montreal.

“It’s hard, and I want to get there, but the standards have never changed.”

Molson also touched on the difficult business side of the pandemic and was asked about the death of George Floyd – who died after a white Minneapolis police office pressed his knee against the Black man’s neck for nearly nine minutes – and the protests against racial injustice that followed.

The Canadiens released a statement in the wake of Floyd’s death, saying the organization was “horrified by the Images of this despicable and heinous crime.” A number of players also spoke out, namely captain Shea Weber, Brendan Gallagher and Max Domi. 1186379 Montreal Canadiens

Youppi!, Montreal Canadiens’ legendary mascot, enters The Mascot Hall of Fame

Graham Hughes/

Youppi!, the Montreal Canadiens’ official mascot, has become the first character from a Canadian-based club to be inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame.

In a virtual ceremony on Sunday, the furry orange character synonymous with the NHL club and the defunct baseball franchise was formally inducted into the Hall.

Youppi! is the first two-sport mascot to join the hall. The mascot joined the Habs in 2005, one year after the Expos left town.

With the Expos from 1979 until they were sold in 2004, Youppi! notably holds the distinction of being the first mascot to be tossed from a Major League Baseball game on Aug. 23, 1989.

In addition to Youppi!, the Orioles’ Oriole Bird, Boomer of the and the Colts’ Blue were announced last December, when the hall unveiled its 2020 inductees.

The four won admission after a lengthy voting process last October that included two rounds of voting with the public, hall members and its executive committee taking part.

The Mascot Hall of Fame, in Whiting, Ind., is also an interactive children’s museum. It has been closed since mid-March owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Globe And Mail LOADED: 06.15.2020 1186380 New York Rangers Yankees fell short of the AL pennant after winning 103 games — the most they’d won in 12 years.

Best quote in N.Y. sports history — Joe Namath Best of New York sports: Greatest catch, biggest choke and more Joe Namath’s numbers (173 touchdowns, 220 interceptions, 50.1 completion percentage) will never properly explain his talent, poise and By Howie Kussoy impact. His words three days before Super Bowl III — “I got news for you, we’re gonna win the game, I guarantee it.” — still conveys the aura. June 14, 2020 | 11:55PM After the Packers dominated the first two AFL-NFL World Championship Games, the NFL’s Baltimore Colts entered the 1969 title matchup viewed as perhaps the best team in football history. The upstart AFL’s Jets Over the past week, we have dug deep on some of the best things in entered as 18-point underdogs, a Super Bowl spread topped once in the New York sports history — from trades to pop culture cameos and free next 50 years. agents to stadiums. Here’s a look at five more categories. Still, when Namath heard a heckler at the Miami Touchdown Club, he Best catch in N.Y. baseball history — Willie Mays responded by predicting one of the biggest upsets in sports history. The Baseball may have seen greater catches, but never witnessed one more 15-1 Colts soon discovered the brash, 25-year-old quarterback’s legendary. It was Sept. 29, 1954 — Game 1 of the 1954 World Series — confidence was warranted. As the Jets defense held Baltimore scoreless when slugger Vic Wertz came to the plate with the score tied until the game’s final minutes, Namath held the ball for more than 36 in the eighth inning at the Polo Grounds. Runners were at first and minutes, repeatedly connecting with George Sauer and feeding Matt second. Wertz worked a 2-1 count against southpaw reliever Don Liddle, Snell to pull off the shocking 16-7 win at the Orange Bowl. then blasted a deep shot to center field, sending the 23-year-old Mays After completing 17-of-28 passes for 206 yards, and earning MVP honors sprinting backwards, while glancing over his left shoulder. — the only quarterback in Super Bowl history without a touchdown pass The ball traveled over 420 feet through the horseshoe-shaped stadium in to earn the award — Broadway Joe memorably jogged off the field, Upper Manhattan, before Mays made the magnificent over-the-shoulder holding his index finger in the air. catch, then quickly spun and threw to the infield — as his hat flew off — Best goal in N.Y. sports history — Stephane Matteau to prevent the runners from advancing. The 97-win Giants would take Game 1 in extra innings, then complete an improbable sweep and upset Howie Rose ensured the name — “Matteau! Matteau! Matteau! — would of the 111-win Indians to claim the New York club’s first World Series title ring out forever. Without Stephane Matteau’s wraparound goal in double in 21 years. overtime of Game 7 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals, chants of “1940” could still be ringing in the heads of Rangers fans instead. Mays never believed “The Catch” — now immortalized atop the Willie Mays World Series MVP Award — was his greatest defensive feat, but Matteau missed most of the Rangers’ dominant Presidents Trophy run no other catch will ever be so iconic. through the regular season, joining the team in late March — following a trade from Chicago — and appearing in just 12 games with the team Biggest choke in N.Y. sports history — 2004 Yankees before a pressure-filled postseason, where the Rangers were tasked with Without historical context, the 2004 ALCS could be considered the worst ending the league’s longest Stanley Cup championship drought. After collapse in sports history. In 115 years of postseason baseball, no other rolling through the first two rounds, the Rangers faced elimination in New team has blown a 3-0 series lead. Jersey in Game 6, but cashed in on his game-winning guarantee with a third period hat trick. But so much more was at stake, besides a World Series berth. The Red Sox hadn’t won a title in 86 years. The Yankees had won 26 titles since In Game 7, the Rangers looked set for their first conference acquiring Babe Ruth from Boston. In the 2003 ALCS, the Yankees came championship since 1979, until Valeri Zelepukin stunned Madison out on top of baseball’s biggest rivalry, capturing the pennant with a Square Garden with a game-tying goal with 7.7 seconds left in regulation. Game 7 comeback and dramatic Aaron Boone walk-off home run. Matteau, who’d won Game 3 with a double-overtime goal, ended the incredible suspense and agony at 4:24 of another second overtime, One year later, the Yankees were three outs from a sweep, with the swooping behind the net and slipping the most important goal in Rangers greatest closer of all time on the mound. Unbeknownst to all at the time, history past rookie , allowing the Rangers to soon win their disaster began when Mariano Rivera issued a walk to Kevin Millar, first title in 54 years. allowing pinch-runner Dave Roberts to steal second and then score the game-tying run. David Ortiz ended Game 4 with a 12th-inning homer and then hit a walk-off single in the 14th to win Game 5 after the Yankees New York Post LOADED: 06.15.2020 bullpen blew a two-run lead in the eighth.

Back in The Bronx, Game 6 was sealed by Curt Schilling, the bloody sock and Alex Rodriguez’s illegal slap of Bronson Arroyo. Then, a second-inning knockout decided Game 7, via Johnny Damon’s grand slam. Boston celebrated in The Bronx, then won the first of four titles this century.

Best dynasty in N.Y. sports — 1949-53 Yankees

The only team in history to win five straight World Series titles reigns supreme among multiple Yankees dynasties. Following a typo-like third- place finish in 1948, the Yankees hired Casey Stengel as manager despite his posting a 534-682 combined record in Brooklyn and Boston.

His fortune changed over the next five years with six Hall of Famers (Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Phil Rizzuto, Johnny Mize), two MVPs (Rizzuto, Berra), 13 All-Stars (DiMaggio, Mantle, Berra, Rizzuto, Mize, Tommy Henrich, Vic Raschi, Allie Reynolds, Tommy Byrne, Jerry Coleman, Ed Lopat, Gil McDougald, Johnny Sain) and one Rookie of the Year (McDougald).

The past beautifully transitioned to the future with Mantle taking over in center field, following DiMaggio’s retirement after the 1951 World Series win over the Giants. Despite lacking a historically dominant season like other Yankees dynasties (i.e. 1927, 1961, 1998), this group’s unprecedented stretch required three title triumphs over the loaded Dodgers (1949, 1952, 1953). The title run ended in 1954, when the 1186381 Pittsburgh Penguins The future: Zohorna is bound to play with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and get used to North American hockey in the in 2020- 21, whenever that league is allowed to resume play.

Penguins A to Z: Radim Zohorna is a big project, literally Capable of playing all three forward positions, Zohorna is said to be an intelligent player and projects as a bottom-six forward should he advance to the NHL. Additionally, there are some underlying advanced metrics Seth Rorabaugh that complement his game, particularly with zone entries.

Sunday, June 14, 2020 8:41 a.m. The biggest and most obviously obstacle for Zohorna will be getting used to a smaller North American rink (200 feet in length by 85 feet in width)

compared to what he typically played on in Europe (generally 200 feet in Note: CCPA compliance requires embedded widgets like Facebook, length by 100 feet in width). Twitter and inline videos be disabled in stories. He is an intriguing prospect, albeit one who will take a fair amount of While the NHL is on hold due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the develoment. Tribune-Review will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all

53 individuals under NHL contract with the organization, from mid-level prospect Niclas Almari to high-profile trade acquisition Jason Zucker. Tribune Review LOADED: 06.15.2020 Player: Radim Zohorna

Position: Left winger

Shoots: Left

Age: 24

Height: 6-foot-6

Weight: 233 pounds

2019-20 ELH statistics: 46 games, 22 points (10 goals, 12 assists)

Contract: One-year entry level contract that does not begin until 2020-21 with a salary cap hit of $$792,500. Pending unrestricted free agent in 2021

Acquired: Unrestricted free-agent signing, April 29, 2020

This season: Under the stewardship of general managers Ray Shero and Jim Rutherford, the Penguins have been quick to deal away high-end draft picks and prospects in the name of improving the NHL roster in the immediate sense. The Penguins’ most recent first-round draft picks to play NHL games for the franchise were defensemen Olli Maatta and Derrick Pouliot, each selected in 2012.

Throw in all the second- or third-round picks that have been dealt away for the likes of defensemen Jordan Leopold, Ron Hainsey or forward Riley Sheahan over the past 14 years, and the pool of prospects is bound to be on the shallow side.

That has prompted the Penguins to be aggressive in pursuing NCAA free agents such as forwards Zach Aston-Reese and Conor Sheary.

They also have tapped various pipelines in Europe, as well, most notably ’s , from which they’ve signed goaltender Emil Larmi, forward Oula Palve and defenseman Juuso Riikola.

This spring, they went to a country where the franchise has quite a history with — the — and emerged with a big project, literally.

At 6-foot-6 and 233 pounds, Radim Zohorna certainly doesn’t seem to have the dimensions the ultra-fleet Penguins tend to value.

Whatever motivated the Penguins to pursue Zohorna, they weren’t alone. According to Zohorna’s agent, Robert Spalenka, upwards of nine NHL teams contracted him about joining their organization.

When the Penguins scouted Zohorna, what they saw was a massive human who finished 84th in the Extraliga ledniho hokeje (ELH) with 22 points for BK Mlada Boleslav before that league came to a halt in early March.

Beyond his modest base statistics, Zohorna’s usage was rather ordinary. Primarily skating as a third-liner, his average ice time of 15 minutes, 11 seconds was ninth-most on his team.

What makes the fierce interest in Zohorna even more peculiar is he has not played substantially for the Czech Republic in a top-tier international tournament. His most recent international experience came in the 2019- 20 Euro Hockey Tour, a mid-level showcase event in which he put up three assists in nine games. 1186382 San Jose Sharks

Sharks involved in three of ESPN's 10 weirdest NHL Playoff goals

By Alex Didion

June 14, 2020 12:56 PM

The Sharks have been a part of some of the NHL's wildest playoff games of all time.

You don't have to go very far into San Jose's postseason history, as the Sharks' legendary comeback from a three-goal deficit in the third period of a Western Conference First Round Game 7 against the Vegas Golden Knights produced one of the most thrilling endings in franchise lore.

ESPN decided to rank the "most memorably weird hockey playoff overtime goals," and sure enough three of the top-10 involved San Jose.

The first Sharks mention checks in at No. 8, although this one isn't a positive bit of nostalgia for San Jose fans. Game 3 of the 2010 Western Conference Quarterfinals against the Colorado Avalanche was a slugfest, with neither team able to find the back of the net in regulation.

Less than a minute into overtime, defenseman Dan Boyle attempted to clear the puck but instead put it behind goaltender Evgeni Nabokov to give the Avs the victory. It was a routine play Boyle had executed hundreds of times, but he happened to make a rare blunder in an inopportune moment.

Colorado took a 2-1 series lead with the win, but San Jose then rattled off three straight victories to advance to the Western Conference Semifinals.

At No. 4 on ESPN's list, a San Jose win makes an appearance. Defenseman Erik Karlsson's overtime winner in Game 3 of the 2019 Western Conference Finals came with plenty of controversy, as all four officials seemed to miss a hand pass from winger Timo Meier. The St. Louis Blues were seen breaking their sticks on the ice in anger following the play, and the NHL approved significantly expanded replay capabilities for this season.

The runner-up on this list is another heartbreaker for Sharks fans, courtesy of the 2011 Western Conference Finals. Vancouver Canucks defenseman Alexander Edler's pass deflected off a stanchion on the glass and slid back to the middle of the ice, where Kevin Bieksa managed to sneak a "knuckleball" past goalie Antti Niemi to send the Canucks to the Stanley Cup Final. Niemi had lost track of the puck, thinking it had been advanced down the boards as Edler initially intended.

A frustrating and injury-riddled 2019-20 season will keep the Sharks out of the modified Stanley Cup Playoffs starting up in August.

Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 06.15.2020 1186383 St Louis Blues

With start of voluntary workouts set, Blues begin planning for July training camp

Tom Timmermann

Jun 14, 2020

Amid all that is going on now, when it comes to hockey, sometimes you hear things that may never have been said by hockey people before.

Blues general manager Doug Armstrong was reflecting on Friday about his team’s upcoming training camp, which is weird enough to say in mid- June when camp is usually three months away rather than four weeks. Just because no one will be competing for a roster spot — everyone who is there will be there for the long haul and there aren’t any minor leagues to send anybody to anyway — that doesn’t mean there won’t be things going on and decisions made.

“There’s going to be new wrinkles,” Armstrong said. “(Vladimir) Tarasenko is back into the group. That alters the lines. I think because you ended on a certain line in March does not mean you’ll start there in August. It’s more of a training camp situation. Getting the chemistry, the feel. What’s in your mind has to translate on to ice.”

The concept of what lines look like in August has in the past been a theoretical exercise for fans looking to fill time in the offseason. At least for this year, hockey lines in August are a real thing.

The NHL and the NHL Players Association announced Thursday that teams will move to Phase 3 of the return-to-play protocol, the opening of training camps, on July 10, assuming it’s safe to do so. That will put, assuming a three-week camp, which the players have expressed a presence for, a season that starts around Aug. 1, assuming that health conditions permit and that the league and the players association can hash out the voluminous details that go along with actually getting back on the ice.

The setting of that date for the start of Phase 3 means the Blues can get a better feel for Phase 2, which began for the league on Monday. Many teams, including the Blues, which have a limited number of players in town, haven’t begun the individual, voluntary workouts that Phase 2 permit — no more than six players on the ice at one, with no members of the coaching staff present — choosing to let players continue to work out wherever they are.

The Blues have now set Monday, June 22, as the day when they will open the doors at Centene Community Ice Center (for players only; the sessions are closed to the public and media) to begin training locally.

“When we have a date for the next phase, you get a little more focused,” Armstrong said. “This reminds me a lot of August. The 22nd is the date we talked to the players about before. We have to make sure we get tests done and have checked all the boxes.”

In a normal offseason, the first players would usually show up at the Blues’ practice facility three or four weeks in advance of camp for skating and non-contact shinny games. With a July 10 start to camp, NHL players will have gone just shy of four months without any on-ice work, about as long as a team goes when it loses in an early playoff round.

With the starting date set, Armstrong has begun having conference calls with players so they understand the protocols already in place for things like traveling back to St. Louis and what they’ll have to do when they get here.

“The ball is starting to roll,” he said. “The ice is in place, our locker room is still our locker room. Once we get the go-ahead, we’re ready to go.”

The two busiest people over the next few weeks figure to be head trainer Ray Barile and equipment manager Joel Farnsworth, who with their staffs figure to be overseeing the complexities of the restart and the health protocols.

“They’re going to be working feverishly,” Armstrong said.

St Louis Post Dispatch LOADED: 06.15.2020 1186384 St Louis Blues “He was the guy that kind of kept us afloat a little bit at the start of the year,” Bouwmeester said. “He was probably the one consistent guy that was playing at a high level. ... right from the start he was lights out.”

At last! The St. Louis Blues become first There’s no doubt O’Reilly helped get them across the finish line. His first- period goal gave him eight points in the series (five goals, three assists), a Blues record for a Stanley Cup Final. His 23 points in the playoffs on Jim Thomas eight goals and 15 assists set another Blues record.

Jun 13, 2019 What a journey it’s been for O’Reilly with the Blues. As he sat at the podium with the Conn Smythe Trophy at his side, O’Reilly hearkened

back to July 1 when he spoke to Blues general manager Doug Armstrong BOSTON — Stanley met Gloria on Wednesday night in TD Garden, and on the phone after being traded to St. Louis from Buffalo. for Blues fans everywhere it’s a match made in hockey heaven. “I’m looking at the roster, I was so amped up,” O’Reilly said. “I just said, The wait is over, the curse lifted. After 52 years, the St. Louis Blues are ‘Let’s go win a Cup.’” Stanley Cup champions for the first time by virtue of their 4-1 victory over And here they are. the Boston Bruins in Game 7. With just 3:13 left in the first period, he tipped in a Bouwmeester shot Rookie goalie Jordan Binnington kept the game from slipping away in the from near the blueline for the game’s first goal. As such he became only first period, when the Blues went more than 16 minutes without a shot on the third player in Stanley Cup Final history to score his team’s opening goal and the Bruins pelted him with 12 shots. goal in four consecutive games, joining Sid Smith in 1951 and Norm Conn Smythe Trophy winner Ryan O’Reilly gave the Blues a lead they’d Ullman in 1966. never lose with a tip-in goal late in the first period. Captain Alex

Pietrangelo, Brayden Schenn and finally Zach Sanford followed with goals to make it a 4-0 game in the third period. The defense held firm in St Louis Post Dispatch LOADED: 06.15.2020 front of Binnington, and it was all over but the shouting.

There was plenty of shouting, cheering, hugging, tears on the ice afterwards. It was mayhem, the happiest type of mayhem imaginable.

There was Pat Maroon, the pride of Oakville, with son Anthony. Colton Parayko, handing the Stanley Cup to young Laila Anderson, who’s battling a rare disease.

The “Sasky Boys” — Saskatchewan natives Brayden Schenn and Jaden Schwartz — posing with the Cup in front of several hundred Blues fans who somehow found their way into the Garden.

And Pietrangelo, pausing as he spoke to reporters on the ice to listen to chants of “Let’s Go Blues! Let’s Go Blues!” He goes down in history as the first Blues player to lift the Cup.

“Heavier than I thought,” Pietrangelo joked. “My first thought was make sure Bouw (Jay Bouwmeester) gets an opportunity because that’s what you work for. You work for your teammates.”

Bouwmeester, a 16-year vet who went his first 10 years in the league without playing in a single playoff game, was the first to get the Cup from Pietrangelo. And then Alexander Steen, Chris Thorburn, David Perron ... and on it went.

The Blues have the Cup.

“It means the world to me,” Maroon said. “To bring it back home to St. Louis, it can’t be more better. And being from St. Louis and being with those fans when I was young. And even when I played in the National Hockey League for other teams, I still watched those Blues and how they suffered — and how those fans suffered.

“Not anymore. We did it!”

BenFred: Curse-breaking Blues gave us lessons for life in season for the ages

Hochman: 'It had to be this way, man.' The Blues, instant icons in St. Louis, win Stanley Cup in unique fashion

Yes they did. It actually happened. You can say it, shout it. The Blues are Stanley Cup champions, going from worst to first in one season.

No team in the four major North American team sports (NHL, NBA, NFL, MLB) had ever been in last place overall even one-quarter into a season and gone on to make the league championship series (or in the case of the NFL, the Super Bowl).

The Blues, last in points on the morning of Jan. 3, have gone one better. They’ve won the whole thing.

It probably doesn’t happen without O’Reilly, who has been playing with a rib injury for much of these playoffs. That’s the reason why his faceoff wins dropped dramatically and his shot seemed to lack its usual zip. 1186385 Tampa Bay Lightning “I think that’s why people are speaking out. I think that’s why players are speaking out.”

Seguin marched in Dallas along with retired goaltender Marty Turco and ‘Long overdue:’ White NHL players find their voice on racism kneeled for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the time prosecutors say Floyd was pinned under the officer’s knee. Seguin, a 28-year-old Canadian from outside Toronto, long believed matters of race were none of his Staff business.

“It’s unfortunate that it took something of this magnitude to get people’s eyes open or myself having the accountability to realize and look in the NHL players have no sustained track record of speaking out on societal mirror and say, ‘I’ve got to be better,’ ” Seguin said. “Am I part of the issues, but George Floyd’s death has sparked conversations, activism stigma because I haven’t thought about this or haven’t really fully realized and introspection. it or understood the history of it?” Former Lightning forward Brian Boyle is a 35-year-old veteran of 13 NHL Since Willie O’Ree broke the NHL’s color barrier in 1958, hockey has seasons who grew up outside Boston. been dotted with examples of racism. Just in the past decade, Simmonds After seeing video of George Floyd’s death while in Minneapolis police had a banana thrown at him, and P.K. Subban and Joel Ward were custody last month, Boyle wanted to say something. But Boyle, now with subjected to racist social media posts after scoring winning goals in the Panthers, wasn’t sure how and didn’t want it to come off the wrong playoff games. Smith-Pelly was taunted in the penalty box. In April, way. He wound up calling onetime Lightning teammate J.T. Brown to ask Rangers prospect K’Andre Miller had a video chat during the pandemic some questions — and listen. Brown, 29, is black and the only player so hacked by someone who posted a racial slur hundreds of times. far to protest racial injustice and police brutality during the national Junior and youth hockey are filled with similar stories, even amid anthem of an NHL game, raising his right fist in 2017 before two games determined and long-term efforts to diversify the sport. while he was with Tampa Bay. “There’s clearly a racism problem in our sport,” said Kane, a 28-year-old Boyle was with the Lightning at the time of Brown’s protests. In their Canadian from Vancouver who is part of a new effort by black players to recent call, the talk was about how Floyd’s death had affected Brown, do something about it. “It’s been pushed aside and covered up ever since who is from the Minneapolis area and is now with the Wild. I’ve been playing hockey. And that is a major issue that we need to “I was kind of at his mercy,” said Boyle, who is white. “I just don’t suppress in a major way. That’s where being able to create a more understand this pain. I’ve never had to live this pain.” diverse game, that’s where it’s going to start.”

Floyd’s death has touched off an extraordinary reckoning of race and Retired goaltender Ben Scrivens said he has “a healthy dose of cynicism” race relations, and sports has been part of it, from European soccer to in seeing so many of his fellow white hockey players only now speaking the NFL. It has also made ripples in NASCAR, which like the NHL has out about racism. But he said it is nonetheless meaningful because predominately white athletes and, by most accounts, a larger fan base players “can no longer claim ignorance” anymore. among white people than people of color. “The fact that they’re putting themselves out there is a start,” Scrivens NHL players have no sustained track record of speaking out on societal said. “And it also opens the door for them to be held accountable going issues, perhaps part of the reticence that is generally found in hockey. forward.” There was no collective outrage after Akim Aliu, Devante Smith-Pelly and It has been only six months since Aliu’s comments on racism in hockey Wayne Simmonds, who are black, joined the list of players who have rocked the league. Aliu, a former NHL defenseman, said then-Flames publicly described their personal experiences with racism in hockey. coach Bill Peters had repeatedly used racial slurs while coaching him in This time, the culture of silence was nowhere to be found in a league that the AHL a decade ago. Peters resigned from the Flames, and the NHL is more than 95 percent white. formed councils to address racial issues. The growth in the number of players talking about racism now in the NHL seems logical, at least to The Penguins’ Sidney Crosby, the Oilers’ Connor McDavid — two of the Aliu. league’s stars — and more than 100 other NHL players made statements denouncing racial inequality, acknowledging their privilege and pledging “It’s a good step in the right direction, so I’m happy to see that,” he said, to learn and do better. The Stars’ Tyler Seguin protested in Dallas, the then paused. “But I feel like it’s long overdue.” Bruins’ Zdeno Chara in Boston. The Bruins’ Patrice Bergeron, the Information from Times staff was used in this report. Capitals’ Tom Wilson and others made donations. The Blackhawks’ Jonathan Toews issued an eloquent statement and met with activists in Chicago. Tampa Bay Times LOADED: 06.15.2020 “We have to be as involved in this as black athletes,” said Jets captain Blake Wheeler, who is from the Minneapolis area and played at the University of Minnesota. “It can’t just be their fight.”

It was the kind of response the Sharks’ Evander Kane, who is black, hoped for when he called on white athletes to make their voices heard. Some called it “a perfect storm.” Athletes, like everyone else, were at home during the coronavirus pandemic and able to focus on the graphic nature of Floyd’s death — bystanders recorded video on their cellphones while a white police officer held a knee on Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes while he was handcuffed on the ground — and the visceral reaction to it.

“People, I think, are listening more,” said Kim Davis, the NHL’s executive vice president of social impact, growth initiatives and legislative affairs. Hired in 2017, she is the highest-ranking African American in the league’s hierarchy and reports directly to commissioner Gary Bettman.

“While these things have been happening for a long time, I think the (coronavirus) pandemic has brought to light for many the racial pandemic,” Davis said. “To be able to just be paused and to stop and witness for nine minutes, somebody’s knee on someone’s neck and to watch the life be taken out of them … that’s your humanity (telling) you there’s something very wrong with that. 1186386 Vegas Golden Knights

Ex-Las Vegas Thunder player Rod Buskas enjoys life as pilot

By Mark Anderson

June 14, 2020 - 4:32 PM

Editor’s note: The Review-Journal’s “Where Are They Now” series catches up with athletes who played high school, college or professional sports in the Las Vegas Valley. Stories will run at least once a week.

Even as the COVID-19 pandemic has grounded flights throughout the world, Rod Buskas has still taken to the air.

The former NHL veteran who played two seasons for the Las Vegas Thunder is a senior Hawaiian Airlines pilot shuttling customers even though Hawaii has been under a 14-day quarantine for arriving fliers.

“That’s what’s really hurt Hawaiian Airlines,” Buskas said. “They’ve even quarantined the interisland (arrivals), so no one wants to go to Hawaii right now. Once they lift that quarantine, the future bookings look very strong, and people will want to go. They’ll want to go to Hawaii big time just like Vegas. I think once that’s lifted, we’re going to start lifting a lot of planes that are parked right now.”

Buskas, 59, got his private pilot’s license during his hockey career, which included playing on the first Thunder team. That 1993-94 team, which played in the now-defunct International Hockey League, averaged about 9,000 fans and often outdrew UNLV’s famed men’s basketball team at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Not only could Buskas see a future for the sport in Las Vegas, but he also saw one for himself and his family. His children, Blake and Paulina, graduated from Green Valley High School. Blake also graduated from UNLV and now is pursuing a career in aviation; Paulina went to The University of British Columbia in Vancouver and is a civil engineer in that Canadian city.

“I didn’t know where else I wanted to move,” Buskas said of settling in the Las Vegas area. “I was starting my career in aviation. I thought Vegas was a perfect spot.

“We went there for one year, and we’re there about 27 years later.”

Flying has taken Buskas to Japan in the Far East, Australia and New Zealand in Oceania and both U.S. coasts.

And he knows the Las Vegas-Honolulu route well, having flown his share of wide-body Airbus 330 jets between here and the airline’s hub city.

“I do a lot of Vegas because that sends me home, but I could end up going to any one of our routes,” Buskas said.

Buskas is seeing a disruption in the airline industry similar to the one experienced after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He began flying for Hawaiian shortly before that dark day, but was furloughed from 2003 to 2007 because of the economic impact on aviation from the attacks.

“I got called back, and everything’s been good since then up until now with the pandemic,” Buskas said. “It’s another tough time for the airlines.”

He is hopeful the airline industry gets out of the penalty box soon and returns to full strength, and Buskas looks forward to being able to return to T-Mobile Arena to watch the Golden Knights.

Buskas has been a season ticket holder all three years.

“We sit down there and critique the game from the other side of the glass,” he said. “It’s a lot easier.”

LAS VEGAS REVIEW JOURNAL LOADED: 06.15.2020 1186387 Websites So, I don’t mind starting with offence as a starting point. But since it isn’t an offense-only award, I like to ask myself, “After watching that season, who do you think is the best defenceman in the world?” If there was a The Athletic / Bourne: With subjectivity in awards voting, a look at one draft to play a season that starts tomorrow, every D-man on earth is ballot’s priorities available, and you’ve got the first pick of a defensemen, who’s it gonna be?

And if the answer to that question is a player who had a great offensive By Justin Bourne year, too, then it shouldn’t be an overly hard question. This year, those things lined up well for me. Jun 14, 2020 A lead on my actual vote: Who do you think I think is the best

defenceman in the world? Like many passionate hockey fans, I’ve had many debates about how Calder Trophy votes should be cast for the NHL’s Hart Trophy, awarded to the league’s most valuable player. To be specific, it’s awarded to the player adjudged Awarded to: The player selected as the most proficient in his first year of most valuable to his team. competition in the NHL.

Oh, that “to his team” qualifier. That really twists conversations in a knot. How I vote: The candidates are always narrowed to a half-dozen guys by the second half of the year and often to a smaller number than that. It’s But it’s not just the Hart Trophy that contains some measure of also one of the easier awards to understand, with very little range for subjectivity. Let’s go through the awards the Professional Hockey Writers interpretation. Association votes on, the criteria for those votes and how I perceive each one. Let’s start with the one mentioned off the top. That said, when it comes down to a tough year — as this one was — I like to ask myself the question, “Which player left me thinking they’re Hart Trophy going to be the better NHL player over the course of their careers?” Awarded to: The player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team. That’ll usually help you find the guy you think looked “most proficient” after his first year. How I vote: I think we’re voting on the player who had the best season in the league at his respective position in relation to the players with the Whoever you answer with — and let’s just say it, we’re mostly talking next-best seasons. I’m aware that isn’t how the description is literally about Quinn Hughes and Cale Makar — it isn’t a slight on the other. But worded, but I believe that’s how it’s been awarded in historical context we have to pick one, and given both were so excellent, the idea of and is at the heart of what we’re trying to identify. “picking one” is as helpful as it was with the Norris. You’re picking a guy for your team after watching them both play one season. Who ya got? I don’t believe when they decided to create this trophy that the people doing it were asking one another, “Hey everyone, who do you think had My pick: A defenseman the most disproportionately great season in relation to the second-best Lady Byng Trophy player on his team?” Awarded to: The player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of If you’re voting along literal lines, you’re voting for the Sabres’ Jack sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard Eichel (who had a great season!) as the absolutely vital, crucial, most of playing ability. valuable piece of a team that would’ve otherwise been much, much worse. (Sam Reinhart was statistically their next-best forward.) And while How I vote: My take on how to vote is changing, which I think is a good we’re talking about voting along literal lines, the answer would almost thing. I used to be pretty concerned with being out of step with other always be a goalie. voters, but I’ve come to grips with the subjectivity of the award and I’m leaning into it more as of late. Given it’s impossible for us to know how I also don’t believe having a good teammate somehow disqualifies a players truly are on the ice, I try to go more with what I see versus some player from ever winning the award. Evgeni Malkin had a good formula of low penalty minutes (PIMs) and high points. teammate, as I recall, as did Corey Perry, Patrick Kane and I think did, too. Go back as far as you like. , Martin St. My thinking is that yes, the guy who wins the award shouldn’t have a ton Louis, Joe Thornton — great years elevate other great players, who get of PIMs. But given the randomness of some reffing calls, if a guy has four elevated in kind and who elevate teams. I think the Taylor Hall selection PIMs or 14 or even 24 (though we’re getting to the upper limits of what I’d unwittingly set a precedent (which winner’s team had the most think is reasonable), there’s probably not a lot of separation between underwhelming second-best player?) that was out of step with historical orders of “not a dirty player.” Some guys play a more competitive game. I norms and intentions. don’t think that makes their play ungentlemanly.

I consider who players had to work with to a degree. In fact, who was So, I’m leaning more toward the idea that it can’t be a player who has really driving the bus for that team (and how much in relation to other tantrums and yells at the refs or even teammates a lot. I’m looking for a team drivers) is still at the core of how I vote. guy who plays hard between the whistles then mostly talks to teammates and drinks water. I also like to see that there’s emotion there in other If my actual vote were a baseball pitch: Curveball ways, so we’re not mistaking “gentlemanly” for “disinterested” (and that Norris Trophy can come out in other ways, mostly celebrations). I’m looking for a guy who plays a lot and contributes a lot and doesn’t lose his head in any Awarded to: The defense player who demonstrates throughout the circumstance. season the greatest all-round ability in the position. A note on this vote: This is probably the hardest vote to put together, How I vote: I think voters get a harder time for their Norris choices than given there’s very little research you can do to get you closer to an they deserve. The knock is often that they just look at the D-man who answer. had the most points and hand out the trophy, but I don’t know that offense is a bad starting point. Selke Trophy

For one, I think the hardest thing to do in the game is create offense, so Awarded to: The forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the somebody doing that frequently, from a position that isn’t generally asked game. to do so, is immensely valuable. (I believe it’s more valuable than just How I vote: My answer is probably more cut and dried than with the other defending well.) awards: You’ve just watched the regular season. You’re now in overtime My belief is that what we’re looking for is the best season by a of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final and the draw is in your own zone. defenceman. That should really be the definition of the award. (What’s Which forward are you picking to go over the boards first? funny is when I start trying to define what I mean by “best” — largest total I know some people complain that centers too frequently win this trophy, contribution, maybe? — I come back to the word “value” pretty quickly but come on. They influence the initial possession with the faceoff, they and I can’t help but feel reaffirmed in my concept of what we’re looking play low, they’re reading numerous switches, they’re undeniably more for in our MVP discussion.) important than wingers when it comes to “the defensive aspects of the game.” If you want a best defensive winger award (The Hossa-Stone Award?), that’s a case worth taking up. But the 10 best centres are going to have endless more opportunities to demonstrate their defensive abilities while wingers more commonly stand on stations of the ice and prep for the play maybe going their way.

Something to consider: Previous seasons point flashing neon arrows to guys who prove they’re great defensively consistently, so we don’t need to ignore previous seasons. But it isn’t a lifetime award. It’s not a cumulative award. It’s an award for the most recent season. My vote went to someone who’s been great in previous seasons, yes. But I also voted for that player because he best answered my first question: Who’s the guy I want going over the boards first for my team tomorrow?

In all, I think there’s subjectivity to the award voting that’s welcomed, as evidenced by the inclusion of 175 voters (155 writers and 20 selected broadcasters). It’s OK to feel a little differently about how we should vote and who that leads to, as long as we’re roughly on the same page about what we’re trying to identify.

I welcome disagreement, but opinions aren’t met with green checkmarks or red X’s. With 175 votes circling around the occasionally vague award definitions, I think we generally get where we’re aiming to go.

The Athletic LOADED: 06.15.2020 1186388 Websites John Anderson: has coached for decades at the NHL and minor pro level. He has won multiple championships at the International Hockey League and AHL level.

The Athletic / Cue the ‘Brass Bonanza’ – The Ballad of the 1985-86 Tim Bothwell: was a head coach in major junior and the IHL, and was an Hartford Whalers assistant in for two years. He coached women’s hockey at the Olympic level, winning a gold medal as an assistant with Team Canada in 2006. By Scott Burnside Mike Liut: player agent Jun 14, 2020 : broadcast analyst

Steve Weekes: goaltending coach and assistant coach in the NHL On March 8, 1986, forward John Anderson showed up for a road game in Hartford and was told by the trainer that GM Brad Shaw: associate and assistant coach in the NHL for 15 years Maurice Filion wanted to see him. Paul MacDermid: owner of the OHL’s . His son Lane Uh oh. was born in Hartford and drafted by Boston. Ferraro called one of his first NHL games. Anderson had been acquired the previous offseason from the , the team that had taken him 11th-overall in the 1977 draft. Paul Lawless: part of the ownership group of an ECHL team in Austin, Texas. He’d had a pretty good gig in Toronto playing with Rick Vaive and Bill Durlago, but Quebec wasn’t so bad either. The team was rock solid, with Paul Fenton: executive in Nashville and briefly the GM of the Wild. He Peter Stastny, Michel Goulet and , and his life away from the played in just one game during that 1985-86 season. rink included a house with an indoor pool that was situated on a Stew Gavin: an investment specialist in Toronto. Many of his clients are mountain outside Quebec City. tied to the hockey community.

So when Filion told Anderson that the Nords had made a trade, Whew. Cue the “Brass Bonanza” one more time. Anderson’s first thought was: Where am I going? But beyond the post-career accomplishments, what makes this group Other side of the rink, Filion told him. special is the lasting impression on the community and a legacy that Uh oh. continues to this day with autograph sessions at the local ballpark, reunion events, alumni games and Whalers jerseys hanging from the XL When Anderson trudged around the event level at the venerable Hartford Center in Hartford where the AHL Hartford Wolf Pack play. Civic Center, he soon ran into the man who’d just turned his world upside down, Hartford GM Emile Francis. And then there’s this.

Francis told him he’d been trying to land him since Anderson had broken The 1985-86 Whalers team might well be the only team, at any level, that into the league. Then, as they approached the Whalers’ locker room, was honored with a full-blown parade — after they were knocked out in Francis stopped. the second round of the playoffs.

“He said, ‘Look, I’m going to level with you,’” Anderson recalled. “The Truth. locker room is kind of shitty compared to what you’re used to in The Whalers arrived at the start of the 1979-80 season along with Quebec.’” Quebec, Edmonton and Winnipeg from the remnants of the World But the man known as “The Cat” told him it was good enough for Bobby Hockey Association. The Whalers made the playoffs that first season and Hull and Gordie Howe, so it’d be good if Anderson didn’t make a big deal were promptly swept in the first round by Montreal. They then missed the of it with the guys. playoffs for five straight seasons.

And so began Anderson’s run with what might be the smartest hockey “We were the Bad News Bears,” said Lawless, the 14th-overall pick in team in the history of the NHL, the 1985-86 Hartford Whalers, for what the 1982 draft. would be their greatest season ever. Lawless figures he might have been the first player who was angry to be Even now, more than 35 years later, the roster boggles the mind for the called up to the big leagues. He’d just made Canada’s World Junior team influence they continue to have on hockey. when he got the news.

Joel Quenneville: Florida Panthers head coach, second all-time in wins It would take some time to get over it. among NHL coaches and a lock to go to the Hall of Fame. Before became the Whalers’ first and arguably only Ron Francis: a Hall of Fame player and the GM of the expansion Seattle superstar player, the skilled center expected he’d be a Washington franchise. Capital.

Dave Tippett: Edmonton Oilers head coach and a former Jack Adams Dale Hawerchuk, one of four centers expected to go at the top of the Trophy winner (coach of the year). draft, had been tabbed by the Winnipeg Jets at No. 1. Los Angeles had its sights set on Doug Smith. Hartford originally had the third pick and Doug Jarvis: four Stanley Cups as a player in Montreal, two more Cups was expected to take Bobby Carpenter, leaving the Caps with the fourth as an assistant coach in Dallas and Boston, and remains in an advisory pick and presumably Francis. position with the Vancouver Canucks. But the Caps made a deal to move into the third spot and took Carpenter. Kevin Dineen: played almost 1,200 NHL regular-season games, won a Stanley Cup as an assistant in Chicago in 2015 on Quenneville’s staff, “Apparently neither team wanted me,” Francis joked. won an Olympic gold medal as head coach of Canada’s women’s team The only person who seemed really enthused with the pick was the at the 2014 Olympics, and is currently the head coach of the AHL’s San team’s head scout, Bill Dineen, father of Francis’ future teammate Kevin. Diego Gulls. “Everyone else, not so much,” Francis said, laughing. Ulf Samuelsson: won two Stanley Cups as a player in Pittsburgh (with Ron Francis). He’s been an assistant coach at the NHL and AHL, Francis went back to his junior club in his hometown of Sault Ste. Marie, including several years as an assistant to Tippett in Arizona and with Ontario, after his first training camp, but by November 1981 he was back Quenneville in Chicago, where he won a Cup in 2015. He was part of with the big club. Francis’ pro scouting staff in Seattle before recently taking over the Leksands IF head coaching job in Sweden. Francis’ first road roommate was longtime Toronto captain Dave Keon.

Dean Evason: interim head coach of the Minnesota Wild. For the first month they roomed together, Keon didn’t say a word to him. And so they did. Their first conversation consisted of Keon asking Francis how old he was. “We didn’t know what the hell we were doing,” Ferraro said. “You can imagine. It was a gong show.” “I’m 18,” Francis told the future Hall of Famer, who was 41 at the time. The two pooled their money and bought an AMC Matador for $600. “He said, ‘Hmph, I got three kids that are older than you.’ Then he turned Three weeks later, the muffler fell off. They never replaced it. Later that out the lights and rolled over,” Francis recalled. season, they left the keys in the ignition and abandoned the car on the street. But Keon watched over Francis, taking him out to dinner on the road and teaching him the finer points of being an NHL player. The two developed “Because it was such a piece of garbage,” Ferraro said. a lifelong friendship. From the moment he got to Hartford, Ferraro (5-foot-9 and 170 pounds It was the kind of education that would be passed on to other young when he was drafted) was “Peewee.” players who followed Francis into the Whalers locker room. “I haven’t been called Peewee since,” Ferraro said. “But with them, I’m Those young teammates, guys like Dineen and Ferraro, Gavin and Dana Peewee all the time. I love those guys. I love that team.” Murzyn, all looked up to Francis and revered him as though he were a grizzled veteran. Murzyn, the fifth overall pick in the 1985 draft, signed his first contract just four days before the start of the 1985-86 training camp and then “We were like, geez, this guy’s done it all,” Evason said. “And he was a made the club out of camp. Management suggested that he and another year older than us.” young player, Lawless, move in with a man named Jim Ellis, a retired school principal and avid Whalers fan. And while there was some rookie initiation stuff going in other places, it didn’t happen in Hartford. Ellis refused to take any rent payment, but the players paid all of the utilities. “Ronnie really stopped a lot of that for our group,” Evason said. In the basement was a fridge. When Murzyn and Lawless moved in, it He told the guys that if they were a team, they weren’t going to be doing was full of soft drinks, chocolate and all kinds of snacks. stuff like shaving the rookies and stuff like that. Murzyn recalled asking politely if there was a way to find some room for a Dave Tippett came to Hartford out of the Canadian national program and few beers. played for Canada at the 1984 Olympics in Sarajevo. The next day it was wall to wall Miller Lite. Tippett’s wife, Wendy, used to joke that if the Whalers were selling out games with 15,000 people she felt she knew 5,000 of them. The two young players got along famously and were an important part of the young core being assembled in Hartford. The wives and girlfriends were an integral part of the fabric of the Whalers franchise. They helped with the team foundation and took turns To this day, Murzyn believes Lawless might have had the largest head in overseeing charitable events including the Whalers’ Waltz, a black tie the NHL, although there are no records to confirm this. event for 500 that was one of the highlights of the charitable scene in Hartford. Lawless’ former teammates referred to him as “Jughead” and Lawless was a good sport about it. Many of the players met their future wives in Hartford. Francis met his wife, Mary Lou, at a charity event. One game in late October, Lawless took a puck to the face and the corresponding picture with his face all stitched together made the front Quenneville’s wife, Boo, was from the area and her family would page of the Hartford Courant with the words: “I thought my head frequently host holiday gatherings for the Whalers family. exploded.”

Gavin became a Whaler on the eve of the 1985-86 season. “We were all over him about that,” Murzyn said.

On his first day in Hartford, Gavin was at the Sheraton next to the rink Lawless remembers the shot, which came off the stick of Moe Mantha. and met a Whalers fan. Later, he went to do some shopping and ran into the same fan. The trainer was stitching him up and it’s a big number — 63 stitches as Lawless recalls. “My original thought was, geez, this place must be really small,” Gavin said. And he’s thinking, that’s it for the night. Might as well grab a beer and relax. All roads to the Hartford Whalers led through the Sheraton, which opened at the same time as the Hartford Civic Center in early 1975. Nope.

For three months, Ferraro lived in Room 1001 with Paul MacDermid after Head coach Jack “Tex” Evans made his way to the trainers’ room they were called up from the AHL. between the second and third periods and after a brief discussion with the training staff, Lawless was back on the ice for the third. Ferraro said he’s not sure why he didn’t ask for his own room. A different time? To be sure. The only time Ferraro ended up with his own space was when MacDermid’s future wife, Pam, came to visit and MacDermid paid for a One of the team’s biggest offensive stars outside of Francis was Sylvain separate room. Turgeon, who hailed from the mining town of Rouyn-Noranda in northern Quebec and scored 43 times in that ’85-86 season. The next year at training camp, MacDermid was back in Room 1001. Turgeon’s pride and joy away from the rink was a Volkswagen bug that Ferraro was taken by Hartford 88th overall in the 1982 draft. In his last he was always working on. In fact, Anderson recalled Turgeon had two, year as a junior in Brandon, he scored 108 goals. one that he used for parts.

“I figured, not knowing anything, that I would probably make the (big) One day, Turgeon showed up at practice and his eyes were almost team,” Ferraro said. completely shut.

Four days into camp in 1984, he was sent to Binghamton of the AHL. The players asked him what had happened and Turgeon told them he’d been working on the VW and since he was only doing a little bit of work At the time, Washington and Hartford shared the farm team there. he hadn’t bothered to use a welding mask. Ferraro had run into Evason, an old Western Hockey League foe and Washington prospect, at the airport on the way to their respective training Turns out he missed a couple of games, Anderson said. camps. Evans, the coach of few words, was not amused. They agreed that if they ended up in Binghamton they would room together. “What the fuck?” was all he mustered. This was not a time when players went off to lavish summer homes in From Liut’s perspective, the cumulative hockey intelligence on the Kelowna or the Muskokas. Many of the players set down roots in the Whaler roster helped define the team’s identity. Hartford area and stayed. “It was kind of their team,” Liut said. “They took ownership of it. You have There were charity softball games in the summer and lots and lots of golf. to.”

“You basically got a place in town and you stayed there all year,” Dineen Francis, Turgeon, Ferraro, MacDermid, Anderson and Dineen made up said. the top six of the group by the time the season was heading into the stretch, providing a dynamic one-two punch offensively on a team that Quenneville took summer courses so he could become a licensed finished fifth in goals scored. stockbroker. “Kevin was a dynamic player,” Quenneville said. “He could change the Torrie Robertson helped build stages for local concerts. complexion of a game.”

Tippett got into real estate and renovation, buying derelict older homes “One thing about it, man, Andy could pass,” Ferraro added. that he and his wife would fix up and then resell. Occasionally, he’d hire some of his teammates to help out. The bottom two lines were different but equally important. Lawless, Gavin and Evason provided energy, skill and youthfulness and were a great During the season, the team would often practice outside at one of a complement to the team’s hard-working shut-down pair of Tippett and handful of local rinks, and that would mean changing in the Whalers Jarvis. dressing room, getting bundled up in Whalers parkas and driving somewhere. Often at high speed. “They weren’t huge but they played hard all the time,” Anderson said of the team’s role players. “There were a lot of races,” Tippett said. Anderson said the Whalers had a “bunch of real good hockey guys,” “It probably wasn’t smart in hindsight,” he said. “But back then it seemed players who just process the game differently. like a lot of fun.” On the back end, there was Dave Babych, who arrived via trade with There was at least one fender bender on the return trip to downtown Winnipeg and played mostly with Quenneville. Hartford. That accident featured five or six Whalers standing around in their hockey gear trying to assess the damage. “Just give Babber the puck and let him go,” Quenneville said.

Samuelsson, if he wasn’t riding with Murzyn, would make the trip to Quenneville was a reliable, calming force. practice in his Saab. During his call-up during that 1985-86 season, Shaw remembers the “He would always have his helmet on and his visor and his chin strap Whalers locker room as a casual place. done up. Every single time,” Evason said. “You can imagine people driving by him at that point in Hartford.” “Just do your job and be a pro and everything’s going to work out kind of thing,” Shaw said. “The simplicity of that was shocking for me.” One day, Samuelsson got to practice only to realize he’d left his skates downtown. The arena had a skate rental kiosk and Samuelsson rented a Shaw recalled how Quenneville often employed a move when it looked pair. like an opponent was about to beat him wide, turning at the right moment and flicking his stick to send the puck into the corner. “I’ll never forget it, the skates had to be 35 years old,” Murzyn recalled. “Even Tex noticed. He was like, ‘What the hell?’ But at least he wasn’t “He called it the lizard tongue,” Shaw recalled. late for practice.” “I really learned the NHL game by watching these guys,” Shaw said.

“There’s a 1,000 Ulfie stories,” Ferraro said. “He is like his own show all The sheer hockey brainpower that showed up for work every day might by himself.” have been the absolute best fit for the low-key head coach, Evans, and Like the night in Toronto when Samuelsson got kicked out of the game. his assistant, Claude Larose.

“He loses his mind,” Ferraro recalled. Evans was not from Texas but in fact had been born in Garnant, Wales, in 1928. A defenseman, he played 753 NHL games and hundreds more No helmet. No gloves. But as he’s leaving the ice at , in the minor pros. he spies the squeegee they used to sweep away excess water at the end of the arena His coaching gig with the Whalers lasted almost five seasons and was the only NHL head coaching job his career. “And he beat a hole in the front of the Zamboni,” Ferraro said. “We’re all watching him from the benching going, what is he doing?” Evans’ practices were, well, consistent. Every one the same. Some players referred to him as “Groundhog Jack.” “That was not out of the ordinary for Ulfie.” “Every day it was the same thing,” Lawless said. “It was frigging hilarious. Perhaps no single player was as critical to that 1985-86 team than It was just a simple way of coaching. He wasn’t a technical guy but let me netminder Mike Liut, who was acquired the previous season from St. tell you, it worked.” Louis along with Jorgen Pettersson for and Mark Johnson. Evans’ pregame addresses to the team were equally minimalist. “It would “There was no more galvanizing thing for this young team than getting literally be anywhere between three and five words,” Gavin said. Mike,” Ferraro said. “Let’s go” or “Work hard” or “Go get ’em.” In one of Liut’s first games, the Whalers had a 4-2 lead against Vancouver and ended up losing 7-6 in overtime. But it was a team that didn’t require a lot of coaching. As their careers evolved, it turned out “we had a boatload of coaches,” Ferraro said. “We “The drink cart in the middle of the room had no chance,” Ferraro said. had smart people that were playing.” “He destroyed it. We’d never had anybody like that.” Today, special teams groups almost always meet as a unit. The Whalers’ If players ended up shooting too high at the end of practice, Liut would special teams meetings were a little less structured, usually consisting of scream at them to go and shoot at the other end of the ice on an empty a bunch of guys standing around listening to Tippett and later Jarvis net. explaining how Peter Stastny liked to play low or how they could take Guy Lafleur’s one-timer away when they played the Canadiens. “He’d say, ‘When you can hit the net come back,’” Ferraro said. “Those were our penalty killing meetings,” Tippett said. “I don’t even When the dust cleared at the end of the 1985-86 regular season and the know if we had white boards.” Whalers were playoff-bound, it was on Liut who led them there. The Whalers finished fifth in penalty killing efficiency that season. “There’s no way our team would have taken that jump without Mike,” Ferraro said. “His ability to think the technical part of the game was something that was very natural to him and was a great ingredient for our team,” Quenneville said of Tippett. “He took relentless to a whole different level. In Game 3 of the opening round, Francis crashed into the boards and Jarvy’s the same.” broke two ribs against the Nordiques.

On the other side of the puck, Francis was the focal point of the power He was able to play in the Montreal series, but needed a flak jacket. “So play. “Everything we did on the power play went through Ronnie’s there’s a lot of frustration … not being able to contribute maybe at the hands,” Ferraro said. level that I could,” Francis said. “How well we were playing. How much we cared for each other and how much we believed in each other. You Dean Evason always kind of have those ‘what-ifs’ when you lose.”

As the playoffs approached, Evans subtly changed tactics, sometimes Ferraro called the loss devastating. “I remember thinking that this team is matching lines against opponents. His signal to change lines for the really good. We’re going to be good,” he said. matchup he wanted was to touch his nose with a rolled up program or roster. By the time the Whalers got back to Hartford, plans were in place for a parade. “So we’d have to look back to see if Jack was touching his nose,” Tippett said. So what if the Whalers’ playoff run ended halfway to a Cup? That didn’t seem to matter to the people who lined the streets of downtown Hartford. Still, through the first half or even two-thirds of that season, it looked as though it would be more of the same for the luckless Whalers franchise. Players wondered if it was some kind of a joke. “Guys were a little embarrassed, but I’m telling you, there were 50,000 people out on the Ferraro recalls being in the team’s travel agency office trying to book a street,” Anderson said. trip into Hartford for his father and saw that a teammate had booked a trip to Florida the day after the regular season. “Amazing,” Lawless added. “It was six, seven people deep in downtown Hartford. It was unbelievable. … To this day, people are still coming up to Hartford went winless in 10 games at one point in late January and into me and saying, ‘we miss you guys so much.’” February (0-9-1), tumbling to last place in the , six points behind Buffalo for the last playoff spot. But they went 12-4-2 in their last No one knew then that this would be as good as it would get for the 18 games and ended in fourth place, four points ahead of Buffalo. That Whalers. set up a first-round matchup with the talent-laden, first-place Quebec Nordiques. They finished first in the Adams Division with a franchise-record 93 points the following season. But the Nordiques exacted revenge in the first Ferraro has a distinct impression that early on in the best-of-five series it round, winning in six games. looked ugly. They made the playoffs the next five years, from 1988-92 but didn’t win a “My recollection is we didn’t touch the puck. And Lutie (Liut) was single series. amazing,” Ferraro said. “None of us had been in an NHL playoff game.” They missed the playoffs the next five years and in the summer of 1997 Liut made 37 saves in Game 1 and scored the OT they were gone to Carolina where they became the Hurricanes. winner to give the franchise its first postseason NHL win. Gone but not forgotten. The next night, the Whalers took a 3-0 lead into the third period and won 4-1. One summer a few years back Quenneville’s in-laws hosted a weekend gathering of friends and former teammates that morphed into a major The Whalers dominated Game 3 at home, winning 9-4 with Anderson Whalers reunion. collecting six points. It was the franchise’s first and ultimately only playoff series win in the NHL. As the weekend wound down, there was a public gathering where a lot of the former Whalers signed autographs and mingled with fans. That set up a second-round series against Montreal. It was epic. Some 5,000 people showed up. “We were kind of floored by it,” Murzyn “We played our hearts out and so did they,” Anderson said. said.

The Whalers won the opener at The Forum in Montreal 4-1, but the That spring of ’86 remains a singular moment in the star-crossed Canadiens bounced back to win Games 2 and 3. franchise.

Dineen scored 1:07 into overtime in Game 4 to make it a best-of-three. Coach Evans passed away from prostate cancer in 1996. He still lived in Connecticut. After a Montreal win in Game 5, it was Dineen who was again the hero, scoring the only goal in a 1-0 win in Game 6 at home, setting up a Scot Kleinendorst died as a result of injuries sustained in an accident at a deciding game at the legendary Forum against the sparkling rookie paper mill in Minnesota last December. netminder Patrick Roy. The real-life losses add a sense of melancholy when those that remain The Habs took a 1-0 lead late in the first period and that’s the way it convene and the discussion turns, as it always does with this group of stayed for much of regulation. But with 2:48 to go in the third period, players and their extended families, to the Whalers. Dave Babych hammered one over Roy’s shoulder to tie send Game 7 to overtime. What happens if Nilan doesn’t thwart that golden scoring chance in overtime? “It stunned them,” Anderson said. “They were on the ropes for a bit.” What if the Whalers and not the Montreal Canadiens had won a Cup that “It was like a lightning bolt,” Ferraro said of Babych’s goal. “We were, ‘Oh spring? my God, we’re in it.” Does it change everything? Or nothing? Early in overtime, Ferraro had the puck in the Montreal slot with Anderson breaking for the net on the right side. Questions without answers.

Anderson opened up, ready to take a shot. “People didn’t know how good we were,” Anderson said. “It’s kind of what if? What if? It always sticks in your mind.” But just as the puck got to Anderson, a backchecking Chris Nilan broke up the play.

A few shifts later, with 5:55 gone in overtime, Canadiens forward Claude The Athletic LOADED: 06.15.2020 Lemieux came out of the corner with the puck and beat Liut with a wicked backhander from in close to end the series.

“That was the end of it,” Anderson said.

Francis would go on to win back-to-back Cups in Pittsburgh in 1991-92 after a trade that many observers believe was a death knell for the Whalers franchise. But the ’86 loss still brings with it a sense of regret. 1186389 World Leagues News

Canadian playing in Korean Baseball League says the sport can be played safely

Jamie Edmonds, Sports anchor/reporter

Published: June 14, 2020, 9:59 PM

DETROIT – As Major League Baseball owners and players continue to haggle over money and details, the chances for a 2020 season are dwindling. Meanwhile, the Korean baseball League is up and running and playing games.

Jamie Romak was drafted by the Atlanta Braves out of high school. He spent years in the major and minor leagues, then he settled on guaranteed contracts overseas. The Canadian has played in South Korea for the SK Wyverns since 2017.

“The years I’ve been here, we’ve been really good,” Romak Said. “We won the Korean series in 2018.”

This year are certainly been unique. Instead of starting the season on time, the league was shut down for a month due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

“There are ten teams in the league and they pretty much kept players and staff together,” Romak said. “There was one entrance coming and going. They moved non-married Korean guys to a dorm complex. It was all about keeping our exposure limited to general public.”

Romak said they continued to practice and play games against each other. Then, at the beginning of May, the league returned with precautions.

“I’ve never been tested once,” Romak said. “Everyone asks me that, but I’ve never been tested once. They have thermal temperature checks at the entrance every day. That’s not uncommon with a lot of places here. They want you to wear masks coming and going.”

Romak said so far, it’s working. No player has gotten the virus. They currently play games without fans, with the hope of fans returning at some point. Romak said it’s been fun to have all eyes on the KBO recently.

“Everyone is desperate,” he said. “Sports fans want sports. Baseball fans are getting their fix on Korean baseball. The exposure on ESPN and TSN. I have old friends messaging me. Guys I’ve played with in States are following along.”

The only thing that would make this season better is if Romak’s wife and two young boys could join him. So far, they’re stuck in quarantine in Canada. He can’t wait for them to join him soon.

Romak believes if they can play baseball there, then they can figure out how to play baseball here. The Korean league plans to play a full 144- game season, with playoffs beginning in November.

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Golf: Daniel Berger wins first event post coronavirus pandemic in dramatic playoff

Ben Francis

American Daniel Berger secured victory in the first professional golf tournament in three months, as the sport made a dramatic return from a coronavirus-enforced break.

Berger beat compatriot Collin Morikawa in a sudden-death playoff at the Charles Schwab Challenge at Fort Worth, Texas, to secure his third PGA Tour title.

Both finished 15-under after 72 holes, forcing the encounter into a playoff.

Morikawa then lipped out a three-foot putt on the 17th that would have moved the playoff to a second hole, handing Berger victory.

The 23-year-old also missed a putt for victory in regulation, after missing a seven-footer for birdie on the 18th green.

"It was a range of emotions," says Berger on his win. "I've grinded hard the last two months to be in this position and I'm thankful it paid off."

All three of Berger's tour victories have come in the second week of June.

The top two finished one clear of Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Rose and overnight leader Xander Schauffele, with Jason Kokrak's late charge also earning a share of third place.

DeChambeau, was leading with two holes to play, but bogeyed the 17th for his only dropped shot of the day.

World number one Rory McIlroy began the day three shots off the lead but struggled over the front nine en route to a four-over-par 74 that left him nine shots adrift and in a share of 32nd place.

Kiwi Danny Lee failed to make the cut, after shooting even-par for two rounds.

The Charles Schwab Challenge was the first of five PGA Tour events scheduled behind closed doors, with next week's event set to take place at Harbour Town Golf Links in southern California.

Meanwhile, on the second-tier Korn Ferry Tour, Kiwi Tim Wilkinson finished in a tie for 56th, with a score of three over par.

Wilkinson finished 15 shots behind winner Luke List of America.

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Six major sports commissioners, including Adam Silver and Rob Manfred, set to discuss return-to-play plans

By Katherine Acquavella Jun 14, 2020 at 4:51 pm ET2 min read

Commissioners from the top United States sports leagues will meet for a conversation hosted by ESPN on Monday regarding the resumption of sports competition amid the coronavirus pandemic. Gary Bettman of the NHL, Cathy Engelbert of the WNBA, Don Garber of MLS, Roger Goodell of the NFL, Adam Silver of the NBA and Rob Manfred of MLB are expected to participate in the two-hour long discussion.

The discussion will be hosted by Mike Greenberg, who will speak with each league commissioner about their sport and the approach to return. According to ESPN, the topics of discussion will include the health and safety of players and workers, the economic impact and plans going forward, games without fans and potential broadcast innovations, the consequences and legacy of "asterisk seasons," and the potential long- term impact of COVID-19.

How to watch 'SportsCenter Special: The Return of Sports'

Date: Monday, June 15

Time: 9 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN

Streaming: ESPN app

The ESPN special will also highlight the social justice reform efforts among the leagues following the country's unrest due to the death of George Floyd. Some of the other prominent guests in Monday's program will include Los Angeles Angels manager Joe Maddon, Portland Trailblazers guard Damian Lillard, Phoenix Mercury forward Brianna Turner and Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane.

Most sports leagues in the U.S. have been shutdown since mid-March due to the coronavirus. The NBA and MLS have both announced their plans to resume play next month at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World in Orlando. The pair of leagues will not have any fans in attendance at their games. The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) will make their return to play later this month with the 2020 Challenge Cup, a nine-team, 25-game tournament without spectators in Utah, set to begin on June 27.

At this time, the NFL has not made any changes to its 2020-21 season plans. Meanwhile, MLB, NHL and WNBA are currently in the works on a season restart plan for their respective leagues, but have yet to determine any official return dates. MLB suspended their operations on March 12, and the MLB Players Association continues to engage in negotiations with the league for a return to play format, but the two sides remain at a stalemate. The NHL agreed on a return to play with a 24- team postseason format assuming that there aren't any setbacks in terms of positive coronavirus tests. The WNBA season is still postponed indefinitely, they were set to begin their season on May 15. cbssports.com LOADED: 06.15.2020 1186392 World Leagues News Maine athletes lost the spring season to the coronavirus outbreak. As plans to reopen schools are evaluated, Utterback decided he should be proactive and develop a return-to-sports model that takes into account Radical changes floated as way to facilitate fall sports the guidelines provided last month by the NFHS.

Moving baseball and softball from spring to fall, and football and soccer The NFHS divided sports into three groups. Those that can be played from fall to spring, has been suggested as an idea to help Maine schools individually or using social distancing are categorized as lower risk. adhere to coronavirus safety guidelines. Sports that involve some close contact, but with protective equipment, are considered moderate risk. Sports with sustained contact and high probability that respiratory particles will be transmitted between participants are in the higher risk category. By Travis LazarczykMorning Sentinel With those guidelines in mind, Utterback’s proposal shifts football,

considered a high-risk sport, and soccer, a moderate-risk sport, to next Softball and baseball championships played on a crisp fall day as the spring. leaves change color? A full afternoon of high school football “Are people going to be OK with fall sports as we know them? Obviously, championship games at Portland’s Fitzpatrick Stadium on a warm early there’s going to be concerns,” Utterback said. summer day? Utterback’s proposal begins with with moving baseball and softball from It’s possible. The state is slowly reopening from the coronavirus spring to fall, with throwing workouts to build up arm strength starting on pandemic, and discussions are ongoing about how and when to reopen Aug. 2. Golf would also begin on Aug. 2, with matches starting Aug. 10. schools. While nothing has been determined yet as far as returning to On Aug. 17, traditional fall sports field hockey and cross country would school this fall, Maine athletic administrators have begun brainstorming begin preseason, along with tennis, which would move from the spring. ways to ensure any return to classrooms also includes a return to sports for high school athletes. Utterback’s plan would divide the winter sports season into two groups. Winter I would begin in late November, the typical starting time for the David Utterback, the athletic director at Brewer High, recently crafted a season, with basketball, hockey, skiing, swimming and indoor track. plan that would restructure Maine’s high school sports seasons, in an effort to help schools adhere to safety guidelines recommended by the A Winter II season would commence on Feb. 1, with wrestling, girls’ National Federation of State High School Associations. volleyball and competition cheerleading. By starting those sports near the end of the basketball season, gym time should be more readily available. Most notably, Utterback suggests that the Maine Principals’ Association consider moving baseball and softball from spring to fall, and football and Utterback’s plan also would divide spring sports into two seasons. soccer from fall to spring. Beginning March 29, Spring I would feature lacrosse and track and field. Spring II would begin in late April, with football and soccer. “We’d like to offer what we can offer safely,” Utterback said. Utterback stressed that his idea is just that, an idea. While Maine is not alone in tossing around creative ideas to get sports up and superintendents work with the state to form a plan to get schools open, running this fall, assuming that students are back in classrooms. States having no backup plan for sports would be disastrous for Maine high across the country are having similar discussions. Athletic directors in school athletes, Utterback said. Maine’s neighbors in northern New England – Vermont and New Hampshire – have consulted with their counterparts in nearby states. “It’s better than the alternative, which is cancellation (of another season),” Utterback said. “We have a task force on a fall return to sports,” said Mike Desilets, the athletic director at Bow High School in New Hampshire and the president Burnham said the concept of a revised sports calendar has reached of the New Hampshire Athletic Directors Association. “We want to stay coaches and athletic directors, and that MPA officials have begun to get ahead, stay prepared for whatever might happen.” feedback.

“I don’t think there’s a state out there that hasn’t had that conversation,” “We’re hearing all the responses to it before it’s even out there as a said MPA Executive Director Mike Burnham, noting that right now it’s viable option, but people are talking about it,” Burnham said. “nothing more than conversation.” CONCERNS Burnham noted that Utterback had “put in a tremendous amount of work,” on what a plan for switching sport seasons would look like but reiterated Flipping the seasons for some sports creates a number of questions that that it’s the MPA’s goal to have a traditional fall season, with preseason would need to be answered. starting Aug. 17 for football, soccer, field hockey, cross country, girls’ Athletes who play multiple sports might be forced to choose between volleyball and golf. sports that are currently in different seasons but would overlap under “If it’s the only way for us to save a season, that’s when the conversation Utterback’s plan, such as those who participate in both football and (of switching seasons) is worth having,” Burnham said. lacrosse, or football and track and field, or field hockey and softball. The same could be true for those who coach multiple sports. Burnham said the MPA’s own guidelines for resumption of activities are likely to be released this week. They will be structured around the usual Skowhegan Athletic Director Jon Christopher said schools with artificial fall sports and are being designed in consultation with school turf field could easily play football or soccer in the spring. The majority of superintendents, administrative leaders and the Maine Department of schools that play on grass, however, would run the risk of having to Education, and will include a detailed plan for how to handle activities in practice and play on wet fields as they thaw in the spring. July. Plans for August would come at a later date. “With field conditions the way they typically are in the spring, we would On Thursday, the Department of Education announced that the state, destroy wet fields if we played football, soccer, etc. in the spring,” rather than local school boards, will determine when students can return Christopher said in a text message. to classrooms this fall. In New Hampshire, asking schools to purchase new protective shields to Whenever traditional classes resume, athletic directors not just in Maine add to high school football face masks, no matter when the sport is but across the nation agree that sports and extracurricular activities are played, is a concern, Desilets said. an important augment to the academic experience. “If we get to the point where we have to put a face shield on every “Just like everybody, we’re watching the data,” said Geri Witalec-Krupa, helmet, I don’t think we can do that,” Desilets said. athletic director at Bellows Free Academy in Fairfax, Vermont. Witalec- In Vermont, the idea of flip-flopping fall and spring seasons has not Krupa also serves as Vermont’s liaison to the National Interscholastic received much support, Witalec-Krupa said. Many Vermont high schools Athletic Administrators Association. “If we have any form of in-person share fields with town recreation departments. Would town rec programs learning, we have to provide sports in the fall.” be expected to flip seasons, too? Would towns be asked to cede time on FLIP-FLOP SEASONS? fields normally used by youth sports programs to high school teams? “We’d be taking out a lot of sports to play one,” Witalec-Krupa said. Playing some sports deemed lower risk for coronavirus transmission while shelving others for the 2020-21 school year is a possibility, but an option that comes with its own questions. How would a school deal with having two or three times the usual number of students sign up for sports like golf or cross country if other sports options are unavailable? And even if all sports are offered, what happens if more students choose a sport considered a safer option?

“Are we prepared for an influx of students who say ‘Hey, I want to play varsity golf,'” Witalec-Krupa said.

There are factors at play that nobody can predict or control. In Ohio, for example, where a flip-flop of the fall and spring sports seasons has been proposed, concerns were raised about spring sports athletes possibly losing a second consecutive season if the pandemic causes schools to close again this fall.

New Hampshire has discussed having intramural sports in each school if varsity play isn’t feasible in the fall. In Vermont, skill sessions with varsity coaches is an option in lieu of a season. Like in Maine, any idea short of a regular varsity season is considered a last resort.

Utterback hopes his proposal can be a starting point for discussions on getting high school sports up and running safely.

“You can’t wait until the end of July or mid-August,” Utterback said. “If we can provide the DOE and CDC information, this will help make decisions.”

As the state examines coronavirus data, which seems to change weekly, athletic directors, coaches, parents and especially student athletes hope for a return to sports in the fall. Even if it looks a little different than usual.

Press Herald LOADED: 06.15.2020 1186393 World Leagues News Wallace said he was baffled by Ciccarelli's response.

"I think he just solidified his career ... no longer being a part of NASCAR," Wallace said. "I would encourage NASCAR to really step up and look at NASCAR allows limited audience for first time since coronavirus, that if he tries to reinstate." Confederate flag ban NASCAR, which once embraced Confederate symbols and has roots in the South, has a checkered racial history.

June 14, 2020, 5:20 PM UTC / Updated June 14, 2020, 9:47 PM UTC NASCAR began asking fans to stop taking Confederate flags to races in By Doha Madani 2015 after Dylann Roof killed nine Black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina. After the massacre, photos circulated online of Roof posing with the flag. The request was ignored by many fans.

NASCAR opened up its races to spectators in Florida on Sunday, the first NBC UNIVERSAL LOADED: 06.15.2020 time fans were in the stands since restrictions were put in place for the coronavirus and just days after the sport banned Confederate flags.

The racing league, the first major professional U.S. sport to resume during the pandemic, allowed just 1,000 first responders and military families at its race at Homestead-Miami Speedway for the Dixie Vodka 400 NASCAR Cup Series event. The speedway's grandstands can normally handle over 50,000 fans.

The limit on the number of attendees was required to observe a number of safety measures, including social distancing, temperature checks and cashless transactions. Everyone was required to wear face coverings.

Photos showed spectators socially distancing in the bleachers, sitting far apart in the sparsely filled stadium.

WELCOME BACK, NASCAR FANS! Oh, how we have missed you. pic.twitter.com/Ia2J7pN0KU

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) June 14, 2020

Florida is reporting a record spike in confirmed coronavirus cases. The state reported more than 2,000 new cases both Saturday and Sunday. There have been more than 18,000 new cases in the state since June 3 as medical experts see a new wave of the coronavirus spread in a number of states that reopened last month.

Lightning struck as the race was underway Sunday, bringing out the yellow caution flag. The race is the third event NASCAR has held in the last week, following races at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia. Although the company announced it would resume its schedule last month, the race Sunday was the first to allow an audience and the first since a major policy announcement from the league.

Green, green, green!

The #DixieVodka400 from @HomesteadMiami is underway on FOX! pic.twitter.com/LvykbKbgUw

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 14, 2020

On Wednesday, NASCAR announced that it would officially ban Confederate flags at all its events and properties. The only Black driver in the league's top series, Bubba Wallace, praised NASCAR for the decision to take a stand after he had called on it to make a change.

"It's not a race thing. It's about walking into an event and feeling uncomfortable," Wallace said Thursday on NBC's "Today" show. "That's it. If you felt uncomfortable, you would want change. So I'm speaking out for the people that show up to the racetrack and feel that type of way."

Wallace raced at Martinsville on Wednesday with a special paint job honoring Black Lives Matter on his car.

Although many people have applauded the decision to ban the flag, a polarizing symbol that for many represents the South's history of slavery and discrimination, some were unhappy with NASCAR.

Ray Ciccarelli, a Truck Series driver, said in a Facebook post Thursday that he will no longer race for the league after the 2020 series. He said he does not believe in kneeling during the national anthem or taking away people's "right to fly what ever flag they love."

"I could care less about the Confederate Flag but there are ppl that do and it doesn't make them a racist," he said.

All NASCAR is doing, he wrote, is "f------one group to cater to another." He added: "and I ain't spend the money we are to participate in any political BS!!"