hockey Page 21 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Maybe Jack Eichel should shut up
Jack Eichel returned to Buffalo last night, his first game in America’s basement refrigerator since his trade to Vegas. It did not go well, much like pretty much anything in Eichel’s career hasn’t. The Knights lost 3-1 to the Sabres, and losing is something they’ve been doing a fair bit of since Eic...
Devil’s Advocate: Banning the shift shows that MLB is moving in the right direction
I’ve never had too strong an opinion on whether or not Major League Baseball should ban the shift....
Singles were already available
Negotiations in MLB didn’t really get any better yesterday. There was buzz that the players gave up even more in their quest to get the luxury tax threshold raised, even though they still haven’t really asked for any guarantee that more than a few teams would even approach it. This was met with mor...
It’s happening to the Maple Leafs again
Even though we Chicagoans don’t get a spring — it’s winter until one day somewhere in May when it’s just suddenly summer and we’re all instantly drunk outside — that doesn’t mean we can’t recognize the signs of spring approaching elsewhere. Sure, we’ve been robbed of one of them in spring training. ...
What of Alex Ovechkin now?
I haven’t made any attempt to hide my enjoyment of Alex Ovechkin when writing about him in the past. I find his pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s goal record to be one of the more fascinating aspects of the NHL right now. His metronomic yet stratospheric production over 17 years now is really astonishing, ...
The Avs are really going to trust this to Mr. Darcy?
Once again, the Colorado Avalanche are the Showtime of the NHL. They were last year, though last season being what it was it doesn’t really count for evaluation/analytic purposes. But reverting back to an actual NHL schedule (or something closely resembling one) hasn’t slowed the Avs much. They pick...
There’s some historic goaltending going on in the NHL right now
The NHL would love for you to believe that Toronto’s 10-7 win/what-have-ya over Detroit on Saturday — and to a much lesser extent the hapless Devils and Hawks hurling themselves at each other to the tune of an 8-5 scoreline on Friday — as evidence that it’s goal-apalooza on the ice these days. The r...
It’s time to crack down on racist and abusive fan behavior at the high school level
Since spectators have returned to high school sporting events, hate speech and verbal abuse from fans has become more noticeable, if not more common. It’s almost as if the decline in social interactions reset fans to their baser instincts, and they forgot how to at least act civilized. Across the co...
Ovechkin ‘calls for peace’ but fails to denounce Putin’s invasion of Ukraine
Alexander Ovechkin finally addressed the crisis in Ukraine, saying some words in a press conference in Philadelphia that sounded nice but were ultimately meaningless....
Washington D.C.’s most famous athlete is notably silent on Putin invading Ukraine
As far as approval ratings go, Alexander Ovechkin’s standing among Washington, D.C., natives is as high as it gets. He’s arguably the greatest professional athlete to call the District of Columbia home. He’s been there for 17 seasons. He’s a 12-time all-star. He led the Capitals to a Stanley Cup tit...
No one is prepared for the Florida Panthers to be this good
Mason Marchment had his first career hat trick Friday night, leading the Florida Panthers to a 6-2 rout of the Minnesota Wild in a game that could be a Stanley Cup Final preview....
Never a silver lining in this rivalry
Talk your shit, Natalie Spooner. ...
Sidney Crosby nets 500th goal vs. team he seemed to score nearly all of them against
Sidney Crosby scored his 500th career goal on Tuesday night, and of course he did because the Penguins were playing the Flyers and exactly 10 percent of Crosby’s career goals have come in the Battle of Pennsylvania....
No Miracle on Ice, at least not for USA
So, about those Miracle on Ice comparisons for the United States men’s hockey team in Beijing…...
This was not Miracle on Ice
Fact, an American team primarily made up of NCAA players took down a veteran Canadian team 4-2 in the preliminary round of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing late Friday night. ...
No NHL stars, but plenty of drama for Team USA men's hockey
It’s obvious that the inclusion of the NHL at the 2022 Winter Olympics would’ve given a facelift to the United States men’s hockey roster competing in Beijing. Leaving Auston Matthews, Connor Hellebuyck and plenty of others at home takes away some of the best in the world. The Americans are far from...
Shaun White is gonna leave us alone now, right?
I know Shaun White never had a chance with me, even if he wasn’t an obnoxious, harassing tool. 20 years ago, snowboarding was forced into the Olympics so Americans could win an event for once. They mostly did, White did most of that, and he’s been bothering us ever since....
The Canadiens are so weird
When you still consider yourself the league’s signature franchise, maybe things just have to be weird. The pressure the team is putting on itself year after year just warps things, and that’s before you even get to the media that considers itself some sort of modern version of the Knights of the Rou...
NBC gets the story it wants
The mystery of why NBC ponies up most countries’ defense budgets for the right to broadcast the Olympics still evades me. I know what the answers are. The ratings are worth it, which means the ad rates make it worthwhile, and that those who tune in aren’t really interested in the results of various ...
Nathan Chen deserves every second of the Olympic spotlight he’s about to get
The Winter Olympics are always sports’ most unique event. For the most part, it’s a collection of niche sports getting international attention all at once. Exceptions have existed with men’s ice hockey, with five straight Olympiads allowing the NHL’s stars to participate for their countries, last ta...