Hockey Page 496 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

16-year-old Taya Currie is first girl drafted in OHL history
Eventually, there’s an important question that needs to be answered, but for now, this is simply really cool....

Habs go up 2-0 on Jets as Scheifele whines about his suspension for dirty hit
The Canadiens sure did learn their lesson from Game 1 against the Jets: don’t try to score an empty-net goal, because that apparently is justification for trying to remove someone’s head from his body....

Date goes great for Avs fan, could open NHL's eyes to what actual inclusivity looks like
Sometimes sports are cute, and the last two days have been pretty freaking cute in one corner of the sports world. Much like a tweet to the Arizona Diamondbacks last month about a date taking place at their game, it started with a simple tweet to the Colorado Avalanche account on Tuesday....

Alex Nedeljkovic may not win the Calder Trophy, but he’s undoubtedly been the NHL’s most valuable rookie
Earlier today, the three finalists for the 2021 Calder Trophy were named....

Blackhawks sued for endorsing alleged sex assaulter by another victim
First a former player sued the Chicago Blackhawks over alleged sexual abuse from a coach, and now they’re being sued by a former high school player in Michigan where said coach, Brad Aldrich, landed after the Hawks gave him a positive recommendation for the job. The plaintiff is suing the Hawks for ...

If it’s not the Leafs this season, which teams have the best (worst?) shot at passing the Rangers 54-year Cup futility?
The New York Rangers are the historic gold standard for futility in the NHL, having gone 54 years without winning the Stanley Cup until finally getting the job done in 1994 (see Mark Messier with the Cup above) — after decades of being taunted with “1940” chants in enemy arenas....

Top 5 NHL playoff saves of all time
We always remember the goals: Bobby Orr flying through the air, Ray Bourque scoring in the Stanley Cup Finals at 40 years old, and Matteau! Matteau! Matteau! Legendary moments. But what about the goals that didn’t happen? What about the goals that were snagged away with a flash of the leather or a f...

Seems like old times, eh Leafs?
By now you know the key points. The Toronto Maple Leafs haven’t won the Stanley Cup since 1967, haven’t been to the Final since then either, haven’t beaten the Canadiens in a series since their ’67 title clash, won their first division title since 2000 this season (thanks to being in the all-Canadia...

The Penguins tried to game the system and lost big
One of the many catchphrases that Eddie Olczyk has been trying to “fetch” for more than a decade is “Goaltending: If you don’t have it, you got no chance.” Like most of the things Eddie O says, it probably sounds way cooler and more clever in his head. It’s not a play on words, it doesn’t rhyme, it’...

I’m pretty sure NHL Network’s Dominic Moore is Merlin reincarnated
I don’t believe in the supernatural. There has not been anything I’ve experienced that couldn’t be explained naturally. I’ve always viewed magic, illusionism, and fortune-telling as impossible. That being said, I’m pretty sure NBCSN’s Dominic Moore is a wizard....

Maybe it’s about Connor Hellebuyck, not Connor McDavid
The reflex is to point and laugh at the Edmonton Oilers once again. It’s combined with frustration that the game’s best player is leashed to such a clown car of an organization, one of the most brilliant individual seasons going completely to waste. And if you’re a long-term hockey writer or analyst...

Obligatory 'Is This It For The Capitals?' post
In a sport as random and silly, and at times downright stupid, as hockey, it’s oxymoronic to try and weave some overarching narrative from a playoff exit. Games and series are decided on a few bounces and deflections most of the time. Change any one variable, and you can get a completely different r...

The Panthers got a finish lesson
It sounds stupid to almost everyone who loosely followed the Panthers-Lightning Game 4 yesterday, considering that the Cats gave up six goals and lost by four. But for most of the game, especially in the first period, Florida kicked the absolute shit out of the Lightning. They relentlessly attacked ...

Please enjoy Dan Feeney’s glorious mullet as Jets O-line guzzles beer at Islanders playoff game
Shortly after 3 p.m., the puck dropped for game four of the Islanders-Penguins series. But it was 5 o’clock somewhere at the ol’ barn in Nassau County....

Nathan MacKinnon is unplayable
Everyone knows that after his 105-point-in-a-56-game season that Connor McDavid is the best player in the world. But what my book presupposes is... maybe he isn’t? (an old joke, and I’ve come to have no use for Wes Anderson over the years and you likely have to, but it’s still a good one). ...

Here’s another violent hit the NHL will do little about
The NHL is going to have another black mark that it won’t do enough about after Nazem Kadri went... well, Nazem Kadri:...

Hey, the NHL playoffs are actually pretty great
Playoff hockey is really cool, and my Twitter timeline seems to agree. It was littered yesterday with tweets echoing the sentiment that playoff hockey is the best of sports. I have to be honest — even my football-loving heart would agree. Seemingly every year, there’s a physicality and an intensity ...

Lawsuit claims ex-Blackhawks coach, a convicted sex offender, masturbated in front of player, threatened retaliation if he didn't participate in sexual activity
I don’t mean to turn this into “Chicago Controversies This Morning,” but it just so happened that another pretty gross story broke out of these parts last night:...

After 28 years, hockey finally corrects its Habs-Leafs mistake
The NHL has been through so many realignments that sometimes you wonder if it shouldn’t just do a random draw before every season (actually, that’s not a terrible idea). It’s when you get to the real aims of past realignments that things get more interesting. ...

Vladimir Putin ‘scores’ eight goals in Russian hockey game
If you think you’ve seen horrendous defense before, you clearly haven’t watched a bunch of guys skate against an authoritarian strongman....