hockey Page 7 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Women’s hockey reforms, for better or worse
A pro women’s hockey league in North America has been something of an ungettable dream. Or at least having one unified one has been. There was the CWHL in Canada, but that folded. There was the NWHL, which became the PHF, but it ran alongside the CWHL and never with it. When the CWHL folded, the PWH...
Luis Arraez is going to put up an eye-popping batting average, but how do we equate it?
Let’s bust some dreams right at the top. Luis Arraez is not going to bat .400. He’s not even there now, and will cross into the second half of the season today at .396, which is still incredible. Very few players even get halfway through the season anywhere near the beyond-mythical mark, and Arraez ...
Connor Bedard’s impending Chicago arrival needs the proper context before it’s overhyped
It’s Connor Bedard Day. The long-sought-after Canadian is more popular than Justin Trudeau (although I’m not exactly sure how high of a bar that is these days) will be selected No. 1 overall by the Blackhawks during tonight’s NHL Entry Draft. Any other move from Chicago with the top overall selectio...
NHL Draft: Who is going to take hockey's Sidd Finch?
The NHL Draft, which takes place tonight and tomorrow, isn’t quite the NFL Draft. Most of the players taken won’t show up for a season or two with their NHL teams. It’s also not the MLB draft, where it’ll be a long time either and everyone spends those middle years going off Twitter videos from vari...
Immaculate Grid was designed for the unsalvageable like me, and the LA Kings try to convince themselves
There almost certainly is a sordid side to Immaculate Grid, just as there is to Wordle, or Numble, or Framed. In just the week I’ve been playing the Grid, I’ve probably given away my birth certificate, passport, and most of my DNA. And yet I’m not going to stop, and neither are you. ...
NHL creates inclusivity coalition after inclusivity committee proved ineffective
There are few committees and panels less effective than company-created inclusivity programs. It’s not quite on the level of egregiousness as a business conducting an internal investigation of its own toxic culture, but it’s in the same ballpark — or in this case arena. The NHL and its players’ asso...
It's all in the hips: Happy Gilmore will golf at Ball State
Maybe there will be a sequel? Indiana high school golfer Happy Gilmore — who shares his name with the titular character of the 1996 Adam Sandler film — will be continuing his career on the links at Ball State....
MLB, NHL vying to see which league can botch Pride representation more
If you put NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and MLB commissioner Rob Manfred in a maze, which one finds the cheese the quickest? In recent weeks, both rat overlords of their sports have taken stances — veiled or otherwise — against Pride in order to “protect their players.”...
Qatari ownership has come to sports on this continent, and is it just the beginning?
We’d wondered when Middle Eastern regimes would come for U.S. sports. They’ve got their mitts all over soccer now, warping how that sport works in Europe. They’ve completely altered golf. Boxing too. And yet it seemed that North America was the last frontier. ...
Dust off the trampolines, Slamball is back
Shout out to the old Spike TV network. Classic programs such as The Joe Schmo Show, Pros vs. Joes, and Slamball called that network home. Spike TV may no longer exist, but Slamball is making a triumphant return to the small screen. Starting July 21 it will be aired on ESPN....
Golden Knights' Stanley Cup win was eerily similar to their championship loss five years ago
As much as the party never stopped outside of T-Mobile Arena, the Las Vegas Golden Knights got to celebrate on The Strip with a Stanley Cup of their own. In Vegas’ inaugural season, a team lifted the Cup in Paradise and it wasn’t the NHL’s 31st franchise. It was the Washington Capitals, who the Gold...
The NHL Playoffs have turned players from heroic to selfish
It’s now an NHL playoffs tradition right up there with the handshake line. Right after a team is eliminated, usually starting with the second round, and beyond, the losing team’s coach or beat reporters or both will start to announce what injuries various players had been carrying throughout the spr...
The Oakland A's can't draw fans, yet get stadium deal hinged on attendance approved
It won’t be that much of a shock that the Oakland A’s were able to wait out the Nevada State Senate and get approval for their grift of a stadium deal. It still has to go through the House, but we know how politicians like to roll over on these things no matter what their constituents think. As Geor...
Jack Eichel beat Connor McDavid to a Stanley Cup
Sometimes, you just wear it:...
Meet Jimmy Butler, the NBA’s Neymar
They go about it in opposite ways, but Neymar and Jimmy Butler end in the same place. They’re both very good to great players. They’re billed as epicenters. It’s just as important, if not more so, that they’re seen as THE guys than just being them. Neymar goes about it with flash and showmanship, wh...
The Florida Panthers get their sharp ends back
Most want to attribute some kind of special potion or Cornwallis-like strategy cooked up by coach Paul Maurice and GM Bill Zito to explain the Florida Panthers’ success. After all, there has to be something mystical that got the lowest-seeded team to the Stanley Cup Final. But it isn’t that hard. Ma...
Golden Knights fan tries to get on TV, gets stiff-arm from reporter for his troubles
It was a manic Monday night for the Florida Panthers, as their magical run to the Stanley Cup Final, spearheaded by goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky and rising star Matthew Tkachuk, may have finally run out of pixie dust. Before the Golden Knights’ efforts to stop the Panthers from winning four out of fi...
Florida Panthers faceplanted in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final
It’s not that the Florida Panthers haven’t faced adversity in this playoff run. They were down 3-1 to the Bruins. But then, nothing was expected of them, so it’s not like they had much to lose. They certainly do now, so close to the parade, and they certainly appeared intent on losing it all in Game...
The Sooners survived Stanford again and appear destined for another WCWS title
It’s over. Maybe it was over before the festivities began in Oklahoma City? That’s why you play the game right? This year’s Women’s College World Series had eight national seeds survive regionals and super regionals to become the elite group in college softball. Seven teams hoping to knock the crown...
The Columbus Blue Jackets hate their players
In the discussion of most irrelevant franchises in North American sports, the Columbus Blue Jackets would be high on the list, if not on top of it, if anyone could remember them enough to add them. You’d think they’d take some inspiration from one of their former fellow whos-its, the Denver Nuggets,...