Hockey Page 570 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Matīss Kivlenieks killed by errant fireworks, autopsy reveals
Matīss Kivlenieks, a goalie for the Columbus Blue Jackets, died Sunday night from chest trauma suffered from an errant “fireworks mortar blast,” according to an autopsy in Oakland County, Michigan....
No, the Lightning didn’t cheat
At some point in the next couple days, the Tampa Bay Lightning will win their second consecutive Cup. Could be tonight, or maybe the Canadiens have one last death rattle in them and send this series back to Tampa on Wednesday. It’s hockey, weird things happen, we’ve seen 0-3 comebacks, but here it’s...
Coupe de “ill”
The Stanley Cup Final is a huge letdown after the rip-roaring semifinals, which isn’t really a surprise, because when the Lightning beat the Islanders to set up their title defense against the Canadiens, it was something of a fait accompli....
This isn’t catching Lightning in a bottle
The Stanley Cup Final kicked off, and while most news outlets spend the majority of their coverage of the Tampa Bay Lightning whining about their salary cap, and not their roster building or coaching which allows them to do things like have Nikita Kucherov miss the season and still be fine. John Coo...
How many firing squads can Carey Price turn back?
The Montreal Canadiens aren’t quite as chained to their history and tradition as the rest of the hockey world (including yours truly) likes to joke about. They can never escape it, and nor should they. it’s the MONTREAL CANADIENS, for fuck’s sake. But the drawn-out pregame ceremonies and insistence ...
This is what the Blackhawks have always been
It’s probably a story that you’ve heard a million times by now if you have any sports leanings, but it needs emphasizing. In the spring of 2010, the Chicago Blackhawks were the center of Chicago. Not just Chicago sports, but Chicago. It was a meteoric and shocking rise, simply because three years be...
Fun and exciting expansion team hires most boring, mediocre coach available
Hoo-hoo, hahahahaha. The Seattle Kraken have hired their first coach. Bahahahaha. It’s Dave Hakstol....
This Isles cheap shot is reason for NHL’s vaguer-than-vague injury reports
The NHL will get another Game 7, this one between the Islanders and Lightning, as the Isles fought back from a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2 in overtime to tie the series. And I really should spend this section talking about Mathew Barzal’s star turn, as he was basically unplayable for all of Game 6 (even ...
Lightning keep cashing in on ex-GM Steve Yzerman’s masterfully built roster
The NHL playoffs have been robust, entertaining, competitive, hard-hitting, and full of intrigue. Last night, however, was none of those things. The defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning absolutely waxed the New York Islanders 8-0. Although former General Manager Steve Yzerman has retur...
NHL refs are turning a blind eye to everything again
It used to be that I thought NHL refs, of the four major sports at least, did the best job. Which wasn’t an accolade so much as just not crashing the car in quite such a fireball. Baseball umps make up their own strike zone while daring anyone to argue with them about it. It used to be that NBA refs...
Hockey isn’t any better at picking its defensive player of the year than basketball
Recently, the discussion in basketball has been Defensive Players Of The Year and just how exactly certain players ended up with that award. As we watched Rudy Gobert stare blankly from the lane at the Clippers as they constantly kicked the ball out to whomever he was supposed to be guarding outside...
Juneteenth is being hijacked from African-Americans
There’s nothing on Earth that gets stolen from more than Black culture. From our bodies being taken from Africa to every part of our identities being appropriated and fawned over, as infuriating as it may be, it makes sense that America would want to steal our joy, too. It’s why a white-ass team in ...
Pandemic hockey giving us something to build on
The cool fact about the NHL’s semifinal round is that while the Islanders and Lightning are meeting for a trip to the Stanley Cup Final for the second straight year, the other series pits the Canadiens against the Golden Knights, a matchup featuring the largest gap between inaugural seasons in leagu...
The Avalanche are granny shifting
It’s hard to think of a series the past few years that has been more anticipated than Avalanche-Golden Knights. Rarely do the two best teams in the NHL meet up before the third round, or more likely at all given the vagaries of hockey. But with the divisional setup this year, it was going to be hard...
The Hurricanes apparently can’t escape their nature
Weeks ago, I went against my instincts, and what years of facts had told me, to buy in with the Carolina Hurricanes. What I couldn’t have predicted was that they would be so desperate to return to their nature, like some leaden blanky....
Hockey writers and Auston Matthews are still jerks
Oops, they did it again....
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....