Sport-Scan Daily Brief
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SPORT-SCAN DAILY BRIEF NHL 4/26/2020 Boston Bruins 1183502 Bruins prospect Nick Wolff knows all about hockey-crazed Minnesota 1183503 Cam Neely: No discussion with the NHL about shortening playoff rounds Calgary Flames 1183504 Calgary Hitmen alum Chris Driedger brimming with belief after big-league breakout Columbus Blue Jackets 1183505 ‘There’s no crying, no joy’: How will fans react to games in empty stadiums? Edmonton Oilers 1183506 Plenty of mysteries if Edmonton Oilers don't re-start the season 1183507 Top 20 prospect update: A lot of movement and some impressive graduations Montreal Canadiens 1183508 SIMMONS: Desperate Bettman is battling for the future of the NHL New Jersey Devils 1183509 Pelotons, Rollerblades and yoga: How NHL players are staying in shape without the ice 1183510 Discovering a new appreciation for New York sports teams’ logos 1183511 NHL restart plans intensify with player health concerns at forefront New York Islanders 1183512 Combative Islanders goaltender Billy Smith was a man of few words, all of which he backed up. 1183513 Billy Smith: Mystery and magician in goal for Islanders during 1980 Stanley Cup run Ottawa Senators 1183514 MISSING THE GAMES: It ain't easy, but fans trying to adjust to life without live sports 1183515 Fan survey results: How you feel about all things Senators Philadelphia Flyers 1183516 Simon Gagne trying to imagine how difficult a return will be for NHL players Pittsburgh Penguins 1183517 Penguins A to Z: Improved skating got Anthony Angello to the NHL 1183518 Penguins on pause: Chad Ruhwedel proves to be dependable option during time of need San Jose Sharks 1183519 On this date, April 25: Owen Nolan’s scintillating shot powers Sharks to Game 7 victory Tampa Bay Lightning 1183520 How Bucs draftee Tyler Johnson compares to the Lightning’s Tyler Johnson 1183521 Lightning’s Steven Stamkos is skating ... and yes, it is allowed Vancouver Canucks 1183524 By the numbers: Quinn Hughes is already the Canucks’ best neutral zone defender 1183525 Simulating the 2020 NHL playoffs, Round 2: Canucks vs. Golden Knights Vegas Golden Knights 1183522 Simulating the 2020 NHL playoffs, Round 2: Canucks vs. Golden Knights Washington Capitals 1183523 Nicklas Backstrom answers your questions – and his top play isn’t from the Cup run Websites 1183526 The Athletic / Differing motivation levels will be a challenge if NHL season resumes 1183527 Sportsnet.ca / Dubas details first Maple Leafs trade, GM meeting: ‘I was scared' 1183528 Leafs great Wendel Clark reveals why he didn’t fight the Red Wings 1183529 Sportsnet.ca / Quick Shifts: 6 teams that could benefit from a flat salary cap 1183530 Sportsnet.ca / Remember When? Johnny Bower earns Game 7 shutout in 1964 Stanley Cup Final World Leagues News 1183531 Florida coronavirus updates: Movie theaters, sports arenas and bars will remain closed for now 1183532 NHL restart plans intensify with player health concerns at forefront 1183533 Premier League to return in weeks EXCLUSIVE, training grounds open, UFC Fight Island in June 1183534 Football coaches prepare for if and when season returns 1183535 Throwing cold water on latest NBA report amid coronavirus pandemic — especially for Sixers 1183536 Refund demands pile up as coronavirus derails college, concerts and sporting events 1183537 Can sports ‘heal’ coronavirus stress? 1183538 U.K. Could See Live Sports Resume Behind Closed Doors: The Sun 1183539 The Latest: PBR returns with closed event in Oklahoma 1183540 Missouri Gov. Parson to release reopening plan with guidance for churches, sports SPORT-SCAN, INC. 941-284-4129 1183502 Boston Bruins days in Duluth, he said, were spent watching the high school games on TV. “The Single A games start on Wednesday and then the Double A games Bruins prospect Nick Wolff knows all about hockey-crazed Minnesota on Thursday,” said Wolff. “Each day after practice, we toss it on TV in the locker room and we’d all be watching it. That’s how it is here.” By Kevin Paul Dupont Lynn has lived in Minnesota for the last 20 years and believes the high school game remains strong there for cultural and practical reasons. Globe Staff “The cultural one is that it remains interwoven in society and history,” he Updated April 25, 2020, 12:52 p.m. said, “similar to what wrestling is in Iowa, basketball in Indiana, and football in Texas. It’s part of your growing up, your experience in high school and life. That’s a deep one.” Early into our life without the NHL, the Bruins were quick to enter the On the practical side, noted Lynn, the state moved in the mid 1990s to college free agent fray, signing Minnesota Duluth’s Nick Wolff to a two- add an Elite League to the high school hockey agenda. The standard way deal that should have him in the club’s development camp — if the regular season for high schools lasts 25 games. But the eight-week Elite coronavirus permits — in June or July. League that starts in September is for the best players in the state, and Wolff, a 6-foot-4-inch, 215-pound left-shooting defenseman, grew up in it’s a separate 25-game season that dovetails directly with traditional Eagan, Minn., an eastern suburb of Bloomington, and played public high winter season. school hockey as a steppingstone to reach NCAA Division 1 with the “The idea behind it is to keep players from going to junior,” said Lynn. Bulldogs. “Part of the allure around going to junior is that kids get sold on the The public school game throughout most of the US, including here in longer schedule, more games. Massachusetts, typically no longer serves as a serious option for blue- "So the foresight with the Elite League, to keep kids from running off to chip kids aiming to pursue top-level hockey, be it in college or the pros. In junior, was telling them, ‘You can stay here in Minnesota, get your 50 the Bay State, the Robbie Ftoreks of the world aren’t pouring off the games.’ Some still choose to leave, but most stay, and that’s helped Needham High bus anymore, or, say, the Bobby Carpenters for St. preserve it.” John’s Prep. NEXT CHAPTER But high school hockey is alive and thriving in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Be it because of the abundant outdoor water that turns into ice (part of it), Peters takes a job in Russia the high school game remains deeply embedded in the state’s sports culture. The Bill Peters makeover and salvation tour has officially begun, the disgraced ex-Flames coach landing a two-year contract recently to take Bruins right winger Karson Kuhlman, proud son of Esko, Minn., went over the KHL’s Avtomobilist bench in Yekaterinburg (approximately 1,000 directly from the Cloquet High roster to Minnesota Duluth in the fall of miles east of Moscow). 2013. It may feel like it all happened in the Original Six era, but Peters resigned Jamie Langenbrunner played three years with Cloquet High before only some five months ago (Nov. 29), just days after the racial slurs he spending two years at OHL Peterborough and then became a regular in allegedly directed years earlier at Nigerian-born Akim Aliu came to light. the Dallas Stars lineup at age 20. Langenbrunner, now one of Boston Aliu, a 2007 Blackhawks draft pick, says he suffered Peters’s invectives general manager Don Sweeney’s top lieutenants, was the first one to get while a rookie at AHL Rockford, where Peters spent three seasons as eyes on Wolff as a potential Bruins prospect. bench boss before landing his first NHL assistant’s gig in Detroit. To this day, the state high school tournament still fills St. Paul’s Xcel Meanwhile, Aliu, now 31, awaits the results of an NHL investigation into Energy Center, home of the NHL’s Wild, to near capacity (20,000-plus) Peters’s remarks directed at him in 2009-10, as well as accusations the each spring. coach verbally and physically abused Hurricanes players during his four- year stay as Carolina coach. Rod Brind’Amour, now the Hurricanes “It’s where it all starts,” said Wolff, whose path to Division 1 included coach, was an assistant under Peters during that stretch and confirmed three years at Eagan High, followed by two seasons at USHL Des the allegations. Moines. “There were 18,000 people there [this year] for every game [at Xcel]. When I was going to high school, that was all we lived for — going Peters, 55, likely never sees the light of day again in the NHL. Please to school and going to practice every day with your best buddies. It’s note: “likely.” We all know stuff happens. It’s possible that, say, a low- absolutely incredible.” budget team coached by one of his longtime buddies one day gives Peters a shot as an assistant. But for now, in North America, he’s more Not every Minnesota kid stays true to his school. Some take one of the toxic than a bucket of pucks at the Three Mile Island Twin Rinks. myriad opportunities that so often entice players as young as 14 or 15 to select a lower-level junior program, be it near home or out of state. Often Aliu would seem a perfect candidate now to join the NHL’s diversity task their hope is to springboard from there into a Division 1 school, or force, which has been cultivated the last 20-plus years by ex-Bruin Willie perhaps segue to a higher junior league or, like Wolff, advance to the O’Ree, who entered the league as its first Black player more than 60 USHL.