SPORT-SCAN DAILY BRIEF NHL 4/6/2020 Arizona Coyotes Vegas Golden Knights 1173308 AZ Media: The Bordow Jinx is real — and it’s not so 1173333 Golden Knights to provide meals to local health care spectacular workers 1173334 McNabb hopeful Golden Knights will get chance to Boston Bruins ‘compete for a Stanley Cup’ 1173309 Chris Nilan at peace still pulls no punches 1173335 ‘What it means to be a Knight’: Vegas provides meals, support for hospital staff Chicago Blackhawks 1173310 How COVID-19 crisis could impact Blackhawks, NHL's Washington Capitals salary cap 1173336 Suspended season adds to uncertainty about Capitals' offseason plans, championship window Dallas Stars 1173337 Tom Wilson thanks healthcare workers, reflects on Caps' 1173311 Stars captain Jamie Benn jumps to No. 2 overall pick in season in Instagram post NHL.com’s 2007 redraft Websites Detroit Red Wings 1173338 Sportsnet.ca / Quick Shifts: Maple Leafs will face tricky 1173312 Detroit Red Wings roster: Who's back, who's not, and Nick Robertson decision who's in between next season 1173339 Sportsnet.ca / NHL HOFer Paul Coffey on current game: 'I 1173313 These sports memories are frozen in time wish there was more hitting' 1173314 Watch memorable Red Wings games: 1950, 2008 Stanley 1173340 Sportsnet.ca / Agent Emilie Castonguay on what Cup clinchers among 10 extraordinary contests separates Alexis Lafrenière from the rest 1173341 Sportsnet.ca / Looking back at seven Oilers players whose Edmonton Oilers departures hurt the most 1173315 Lowetide: Bakersfield Condors forward prospects might 1173342 Sportsnet.ca / Could North Dakota be an NHL location if need a history lesson 2019-20 season resumes? 1173343 Sportsnet.ca / Looking back at five Flames players whose Minnesota Wild departures hurt the most 1173316 Who's on top of Minnesota sports? World Leagues News New Jersey Devils 1173344 Coronavirus in sport echoes Spanish flu pandemic that 1173317 NJ Devils' position-by-position: Mackenzie Blackwood ended NHL Stanley Cup highlighted the 2019-20 season 1173345 Trump says NFL season should start on time amid coronavirus crisis New York Islanders 1173346 Three sports habits that could change after coronavirus 1173318 Islanders’ Jean-Gabriel Pageau in limbo, personally and 1173347 Russian ping-pong? Belarussian soccer? In the age of professionally coronavirus, sports gamblers find a way 1173319 Barry Trotz says he may have overcoached Islanders at 1173348 President Trump’s call for sports to resume in August is times this season magical thinking 1173320 Islanders coach Barry Trotz working on how to prepare his 1173349 Cuomo skeptical that sports could resume by August amid team to play again coronavirus crisis 1173350 What Does a Sports Desk Do When Sports Are on Hold? New York Rangers SPORT-SCAN, INC. 941-284-4129 1173321 Artemi Panarin’s debut Rangers season is the stuff of legends Ottawa Senators 1173322 Despite Trump's optimism, a timetable for a return to NHL rinks remains a guessing game Philadelphia Flyers 1173323 Time for NHL, NBA to get serious about their seasons Pittsburgh Penguins 1173324 John Steigerwald: When they return, sports should be made-for-TV events 1173325 In covid-19 era, will 2020 see sports join 1994 MLB, 2005 NHL as champion-less seasons? 1173326 Penguins on pause: Teddy Blueger carves out niche on a critical line San Jose Sharks 1173327 Our Bay Area Media Hall of Fame: Limiting this to 25 inductees wasn’t easy Toronto Maple Leafs 1173328 The NHL might come back stronger if the pandemic puts a few teams out of business 1173329 KHL star to choose between Leafs, Coyotes 1173330 Ups and downs of Leafs Nation now a film 1173331 KOSHAN: Five of the Leafs' worst losses of the season, in review 1173332 Tales from the Juno Cup and identifying Canada’s best hockey-playing musician 1173308 Arizona Coyotes “In my first 11 seasons covering the club, they lost 90 or more nine times,” Connolly said. “Nine times. The best record in those 11 seasons was 78-84, a .481 winning percentage. That total is now up to 11 of my AZ Media: The Bordow Jinx is real — and it’s not so spectacular 19 seasons in which the Orioles have lost 90 or more. And only four times in that span have they been over .500. The last two seasons they’ve posted their worst record in club history: with 115 losses in 2018 and 108 in 2019. By Scott Bordow 2h ago “I’ve actually had players apologize to me over the years, saying, to paraphrase, ‘I’m sorry you have to keep watching this mess.’ My stock In the fall of 2001, I was the sports columnist for the East Valley Tribune. line is, ‘I still get paid whether the Orioles win or lose.’ But, yes, it’s way I had covered every Diamondbacks postseason game, home and road, easier to be around a winning team.” and as the World Series commenced, I decided to write a predictions One other note from those four years covering the Cardinals: In 1989 I column. asked interim coach Hank Kuhlmann if Tom Tupa would start at It appeared in the newspaper the morning of Game 1. My pick? Yankees quarterback the next game. Instead of giving me an answer, he leaned in five. over and kissed me on the cheek. Needless to say, I was an idiot. Clearly, Kuhlmann didn’t appreciate the transmission powers of the jinx. He went 0-5 as the interim coach. Anyway, three years later I was sitting with my wife and another couple in a Scottsdale restaurant. We had a table next to the window and as we From 1992 to 2017 local teams got a break: I transitioned into the role of were having dessert a homeless man walked by pushing his cart. He columnist for 21 of those years. The jinx took a well-deserved vacation. stopped and stared at me through the glass. But in the summer of ’17, my boss at the Republic told me I was being given the Suns beat. I didn’t think about the Jinx much. Twenty-five years After a few seconds, he opened the door, looked at me and said, “Are had passed. you Scott Bordow?” Here’s what happened the first week of the regular season: “Yes,” I replied, wondering where this was going. The Suns tied a franchise record with a 48-point loss to the Portland Trail “You picked Yankees in five,” he said. Blazers on opening night. He then closed the door, grabbed his cart and walked away. Three days later the Los Angeles Clippers beat them by 42 points. As the COVID-19 crisis puts the sports world on hold, I hope this brings Eric Bledsoe tweeted, “I don’t wanna be here.” some levity. The streak has lasted 36 years and shows no signs of abating. Head coach Earl Watson was fired. Its name? The Bordow Jinx. The Suns finished 21-61, I joined The Athletic to cover the Cardinals and Arizona has gone 8-23-1 the past two seasons. Basically, here’s how it works: If I pick your team to win or cover your team as the primary beat writer, you’re doomed. I’m thinking there may be a second career in this: have teams pay me not to cover them. Since 1983 I have followed 12 Valley teams as the main writer. Not a single one of those 12 teams finished with a winning record. Yup, I’m 0- Maybe, whenever the 2020 NFL season begins, 13 will be my lucky 12. number. The Cardinals will finish with a winning record and the jinx will die. The Jinx began in 1983-84, my first year on the ASU basketball beat. That was the final season of Bob Weinhauer’s tenure as coach, and the It has to happen sometime. Right? Sun Devils finished 13-15. The late Steve Patterson was head coach the Right? next three seasons, and ASU’s best record over that span was 14-14. Our staff I don’t remember a whole lot about those years except for a Patterson quote about media criticism directed his way. He said our insight was, For comparison to my 0-12 mark, I asked other members of The Athletic “an inch deep and a mile wide.” Arizona staff to give me their record as beat writers and an anecdote from their time on the beat. He was probably right. I was 25 years old. What did I know? Coyotes writer Craig Morgan In 1987-88 I moved to the Suns beat. Two things happened that season. Phoenix finished 28-54 and the drug scandal broke. I’m not sure, but I Record: 7-4 (if OT/SO losses count only as ties) or 3-8 (actual games think I spent as much time poring over grand jury transcripts as I did won/lost) covering games. I don’t consider my 11 years of full-time (and four more years of part- At that point, I was 0-5. time) coverage of the Coyotes a jinx. I have worked alongside Scott Bordow for 13 (hmm) years of my professional journalism career. I know Then the Cardinals came to town. Oh, what a glorious time it was. They what a jinx looks like. started the 1988 season 7-4, were tied for first in the NFC East and the playoffs beckoned. Finally, I thought, the jinx was history. The Coyotes have posted seven seasons that could be considered “winning seasons” in my 11-year tenure, and they did break that first- Boy, was I wrong. round hex in 2012.