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Green Flag: Honda Indy Toronto – INDYCAR

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After missing two years due to issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic, race day for the Honda Indy Toronto returns to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES today. The action begins at 3 p.m. (ET) on Peacock Premium and the INDYCAR Radio Network, with the rolling start of 25 cars expected at 3:30 p.m.

This event at Exhibition Place is one of the oldest on the sport’s schedule, with the first race won by Bobby Rahal held in 1986. Only Indianapolis Motor Speedway (1911), the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (1980), Road America (1982), WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca (1983) and the streets of Long Beach, California (1984) can trace their series roots further back, and the Toronto circuit ranks fourth among these in number of series races staged (this will be the 36th).

The fans that some consider the most passionate in the series are back in masses, too. Large crowds were seen Friday and Saturday, and the promoter is expecting another terrific turnout today.

The weather is doing its part, too, with sunshine splashing down on the 11-turn, 1.786-mile temporary street circuit a few miles west of downtown.

Drivers, start your engines!

Herta Leads a Competitive Field

Colton Herta (No. 26 Gainbridge Honda of Andretti Autosport with Curb-Agajanian) won the NTT P1 Award Saturday, ending a streak of nine consecutive different pole winners to start the season. That’s one short of the sport’s all-time record set in 1952.

What it says is, this field is as competitive as any in sports, and that should be on display today.

While Herta posted a monster lap in Saturday’s qualifying session – 59.2696 seconds – a total of nine drivers delivered laps under the one-minute mark. Scott Dixon (No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) was less than a tenth of a second off Herta’s pace, and Josef Newgarden (No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet) was only a couple blinks behind Dixon.

Dixon and Will Power (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet) have each won three times on the track that last hosted the NTT INDYCAR SERIES in 2019. Newgarden has won twice.

Simon Pagenaud won the 2019 race for Team Penske, and he will be looking to continue his run of strong finishes at this track – fifth, second and first in his last three outings – in the No. 60 AutoNation/SiriusXM Honda of Meyer Shank Racing.

No other driver in this field has won on this track, but there certainly are many capable of doing so. Fifteen of the 25 drivers set to compete have won races in this series.

Newbies Throughout the Field

Because the Toronto event was not held in 2020 and 2021, more than half of the field has not raced an NTT INDYCAR SERIES car at this track.

Rookie David Malukas (No. 18 HMD Honda of Dale Coyne Racing with HMD), the No. 5 qualifier, leads the group of drivers who have no such experience on this track, although the Chicago native raced on the circuit in junior formulas, including Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires in 2019.

Toronto native Devlin DeFrancesco, who will start a career-best 12th in the No. 29 PowerTap Honda of Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport, is among the seven drivers who will make their first Toronto start of any kind today.

The other first-timers are rookie Christian Lundgaard (No. 30 HUB International Honda of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing), reigning series champion Alex Palou (No. 10 NTT DATA Chip Ganassi Racing Honda), Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Carvana Chip Ganassi Racing Honda), Scott McLaughlin (No. 3 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet), rookie Callum Ilott (No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet) and Romain Grosjean (No. 28 DHL Honda of Andretti Autosport.

Four series rookies start in the top 12. All four have their highest starting positions. Ilott rolls off seventh, Lundgaard 10th.

Small Confines, Action Aplenty

The weekend has already seen its share of cars sliding, with some either scuffing the wall or hitting it with enough force to require a significant amount of work from the respective crews.

Now, throw 25 eager drivers into a tight space, with those temporary barriers positioned on either side of the racing line. It can create trouble.

“It’s definitely a track known for a lot of mayhem,” Power said.

Said Dixon: “This (track) is pretty technical and … the best grip is against the wall, so the closer you get (to the wall) the faster you go. It’s a hard one to kind of judge. It’s going to be an attrition race with some cautions here and there.”

The 2019 race saw a big dustup on the opening lap when Power tried to overtake Graham Rahal in Turn 8.

Andretti Autosport will look to avoid the troubles it had at Mid-Ohio with its drivers tangling. But all four start in the top 12 – Grosjean and DeFrancesco occupy the sixth row — so that’s something else to watch today.

The Temps in the Tires

Racing in Toronto brings a different challenge to Firestone, which has to consider summer heat and humidity when choosing its tire compounds for NTT INDYCAR SERIES races.

The weather in Toronto typically cooler than in the U.S.

“The Toronto climate brings much more mild temperatures than our typical summer race in the U.S., demonstrating our street tire’s versatility as we (brought) the same Firestone Firehawk primary and alternate compounds and constructions as the 2022 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Pete race tires,” said Cara Krstolic, director of Race Tire Engineering and Production, Bridgestone Americas Motorsports.

McLaughlin’s crew remains the leader in the Firestone Pit Stop Performance Award standings. Points are awarded after each race based on the shortest amount of accumulated time in pit lane during a race, and the point allocation mirrors race points. McLaughlin’s group leads Dixon’s No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda by 48 points.

The Ed Carpenter Racing crew of Rinus VeeKay (No. 21 Bitcoin Racing Team with BitNile Chevrolet) was the top point scorer in the July 3 race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

VeeKay Leads Warmup

Rinus VeeKay led the 30-minute warmup this morning in the No. 21 Bitcoin Racing Team with BitNile Chevrolet, a bit of an eye-opener since he will start 20th this afternoon after a disappointing qualifying session Saturday. VeeKay’s best lap was 59.8987 seconds.

SEE: Warmup Results

Alexander Rossi was the only other driver to crack the one-minute barrier in the session, second at 59.9439 in the No. 27 NAPA AUTO PARTS/AutoNation Honda. Reigning series champion Alex Palou was third at 1:00.1391 in the No. 10 NTT DATA Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

NTT P1 Award winner Colton Herta ended up 11th at 1:00.6008 in an eventful session in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda. Herta stalled while trying to exit his pit box on the tight Toronto pit lane, and he also triggered the only red flag of the session by locking his brakes entering Turn 3 and stalling in the run-off area. Herta made no contact during the incident and returned to the circuit after the AMR INDYCAR Safety Team restarted his car.

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Washington Capitals 3-2 win ends Dallas Stars’ winning streak

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Tom Wilson, Dylan Strome and Taylor Raddysh scored to help the Washington Capitals end the Dallas Stars’ season-opening winning streak at four with a 3-2 victory Thursday night.

Wilson’s goal was his third in three games, Strome his second of the season and Raddysh his first since joining the team in free agency last summer. Charlie Lindgren made 22 saves as the Capitals wrapped up this early homestand with back-to-back wins.

The Stars fell from the ranks of the league’s unbeaten teams despite a short-handed goal by Colin Blackwell and one at even strength from Jason Robertson. Rookie Oskar Bäck set up Blackwell for his first NHL point.

Casey DeSmith was screened on two of the three goals he allowed on 26 shots.

LIGHTNING 4, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Nikita Kucherov scored the winning goal with less than a minute to play just 1:27 after Brandon Hagel had tied it and Tampa Bay rallied to beat Vegas.

Kucherov’s second goal of the game with 55 seconds left was his sixth of the season.

Janis Moser had a goal and two assists for the Lightning, who remain unbeaten. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves.

Brayden McNabb, Pavel Dorofeyev and Ivan Barbashev had goals for Vegas. Adin Hill turned aside 21 shots.

Jack Eichel, with two assists on Thursday, now has 10 points this season in five games and reached reached double-digit points faster than any other player in Vegas history. He is the 10th U.S.-born player to accomplish the feat.

After Barbashev put Vegas up 3-2 early in the second, Hagel pulled Tampa Bay even at 3 with 2:22 remaining in the third.

BLUE JACKETS 6, SABRES 4

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Kirill Marchenko and Mathieu Olivier each had a goal and an assist and Daniil Tarasov made 21 saves to help Columbus to a win over Buffalo.

Yegor Chinakhov, Adam Fantilli, Zachary Aston-Reese and Damon Severson also scored for Columbus, and Zach Werenski added two assists.

Ryan McLeod, Owen Power and JJ Peterka scored for Buffalo, and Jiri Kulich added his first NHL goal. Devon Lev stopped 19 shots for the Sabres (1-5-1), who have lost two straight road games and five of their first six overall.

CANUCKS 3, FLORIDA 2, OT

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — J.T. Miller scored 2:09 into overtime and Vancouver got their first win of the season, beating Florida.

Teddy Blueger and Quinn Hughes had goals for Vancouver, with Kevin Lankinen stopping 26 shots.

Anton Lundell got his fourth goal in the last three games for Florida and Jesper Boqvist also scored for the Panthers, who got 30 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky.

Florida remained without forwards Aleksander Barkov (lower body) and Matthew Tkachuk (illness).

DEVILS 3, SENATORS 1

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Jacob Markstrom stopped 30 shots and lost his shutout bid in the final minutes as New Jersey beat Ottawa.

Erik Haula, Nathan Bastian and Paul Cotter scored for the Devils, who won for the third time in four games and improved to 5-2-0.

The Senators, who were coming off an 8-7 overtime victory against Los Angeles on Monday, struggled to beat Markstrom.

Brady Tkachuk was the only scorer for the Senators, beating Markstrom, with a power-play goal with 65 seconds remaining in the third period.

Anton Forsberg, making his second straight start and hoping to rebound after getting pulled Monday, made 32 saves in the loss.

Haula opened the scoring early in the second period and Bastian added a short-handed goal, giving New Jersey a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes. Cotter scored midway through the third.

RANGERS 5, RED WING 2

DETROIT (AP) — Artemi Panarin had his eighth career hat trick and New York rolled to a victory over Detroit.

Panarin became the first Rangers player to have multiple points in the first four games of a season. He scored twice on the power play. Vincent Trocheck also had a power- play goal and assisted on all of Panarin’s goals.

Jonathan Quick made 29 saves in his season debut. Victor Mancini also scored.

The Rangers have won the last five meetings, including twice this week. New York had a 4-1 home victory over Detroit on Monday night.

Moritz Seider and J.T. Compher scored for Detroit. Red Wings goalie Cam Talbot was pulled in the second period after allowing five goals.

KINGS 4, CANADIENS 1

MONTREAL (AP) — David Rittich made 26 saves a night after being benched in the second period in Toronto, helping road-weary Los Angeles snap a three-game losing streak with a victory over Montreal.

Los Angeles improved to 2-1-2 on a season-opening, seven-game trip necessitated by arena renovations.

Rittich rebounded after allowing four goals on 14 shots in a 6-2 loss to the Maple Leafs. Alex Laferriere, Mikey Anderson, Andreas Englund and Adrian Kempe scored.

Justin Barron scored for Montreal (2-3-0). Sam Montembeault stopped 28 shots. He made a save on Kevin Fiala on a penalty shot.

BLUES 1, ISLANDERS 0, OT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Joel Hofer made 34 saves and assisted on Jake Neighbours’ goal at 2:04 of overtime in St. Louis victory over New York.

Hofer had his second career shutout in his and the team’s second overtime victory of the season.

Philip Broberg carried the puck into the New York zone and made a centering pass to Neighbours for the winner.

Islanders goalie Ilya Sorkin made 29 saves.

Blues defenseman Nick Leddy sat out because of a lower-body injury, the first game he has missed this season. Leddy played in all 82 games last season.

OILERS 4, PREDATORS 2

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Brett Kulak scored twice and Connor McDavid added his first goal of the season to lead Edmonton to a victory over reeling Nashville.

Jeff Skinner also scored and Calvin Pickard made 25 saves for the defending Western Conference champion Oilers, who have won consecutive games after beginning the season with a three-game skid.

Filip Forsberg and Jonathan Marchessault scored and Juuse Saros made 32 saves for Nashville (0-4).

Forsberg’s goal midway through the first period gave Nashville its first lead of the season. That lasted less than six minutes before Kulak tied it.

Kulak sealed it with an empty-netter in the final minute for the defenseman’s first career two-goal game.

BLACKHAWKS 4, SHARKS 2

CHICAGO (AP) — Tyler Bertuzzi and Nick Foligno each scored a power-play goal, and Chicago beat San Jose.

Taylor Hall and Jason Dickinson also scored for Chicago. Connor Bedard and Teuvo Teravainen each had two assists.

Hall, who missed most of last season because of right knee surgery, put the Blackhawks in front 4:20 into the first period. It was Hall’s first goal since Nov. 5 and No. 267 for his career.

Tyler Toffoli and Fabian Zetterlund scored for San Jose, which trailed 3-0 early in the second. William Eklund and Mikael Granlund had two assists each.

The Sharks dropped to 0-2-2 under Ryan Warsofsky, who was promoted to head coach in June.

Petr Mrazek had 20 saves for Chicago, and Vitek Vanecek made 23 stops for San Jose.

KRAKEN 6, FLYERS 4

SEATTLE (AP) — Eeli Tolvanen, Jordan Eberle, and Shane Wright scored three goals in less than three minutes in the second period and Seattle held off a Philadelphia rally in a victory.

Tolvanen’s goal broke a 2-2 tie at the 14:57 mark. Eberle made it a two-goal game with a goal at 17:44. Eight seconds later, Wright scored to give Seattle a three-goal lead.

Jared McCann tied the game at 2-2 with the first of Seattle’s four second-period goals.

Cam York and Jamie Drysdale scored to pull Philadelphia within 5-4 in the third period, but Oliver Bjorkstrand responded with a goal to push Seattle’s lead to two with just over five minutes left in the game.

Scott Laughton scored twice for the Flyers in the first period, while Brandon Montour scored one in for the Kraken.

Chandler Stephenson had an assist in his 500th NHL game. Seattle’s Philipp Grubauer had 21 saves.

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Canada’s Dabrowski, New Zealand’s Routliffe out of Japan Women’s Open after walkover

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OSAKA, Japan – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe are out of the Japan Women’s Open tennis tournament.

Spain’s Cristina Bucsa and Romania’s Monica Niculescu advanced to the final on Thursday by way of walkover.

The fourth seeds were supposed to play the top-seeded Dabrowski and Routliffe in the semifinals.

Bucsa and Niculescu will next face third-seeded Ena Shibahara of Japan and Laura Siegemund of Germany in the final.

Dabrowski and Routliffe defeated Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Eri Hozumi in the quarterfinals 6-2, 6-4 on Wednesday to advance.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Mountain West commissioner says she’s heartbroken over turmoil surrounding San Jose State volleyball

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LAS VEGAS (AP) — Mountain West Conference Commissioner Gloria Nevarez said Thursday the forfeitures that volleyball teams are willing to take to avoid playing San Jose State is “not what we celebrate in college athletics” and that she is heartbroken over what has transpired this season surrounding the Spartans and their opponents.

Four teams have canceled games against San Jose State: Boise State, Southern Utah, Utah State and Wyoming, with none of the schools explicitly saying why they were forfeiting.

A group of Nevada players issued a statement saying they will not take the floor when the Wolf Pack are scheduled to host the Spartans on Oct. 26. They cited their “right to safety and fair competition,” though their school reaffirmed Thursday that the match is still planned and that state law bars forfeiture “for reasons related to gender identity or expression.”

All those schools, except Southern Utah, are in the Mountain West. New Mexico, also in the MWC, went ahead with its home match on Thursday night, which was won by the Spartans, 3-1, the team’s first victory since Sept. 24.

“It breaks my heart because they’re human beings, young people, student-athletes on both sides of this issue that are getting a lot of national negative attention,” Nevarez said in an interview with The Associated Press at Mountain West basketball media days. “It just doesn’t feel right to me.”

Republican governors of Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming have made public statements in support of the cancellations, citing a need for fairness in women’s sports. Former President Donald Trump, the GOP nominee in this year’s presidential race, this week referenced an unidentified volleyball match when he was asked during a Fox News town hall about transgender athletes in women’s sports.

“I saw the slam, it was a slam. I never saw a ball hit so hard, hit the girl in the head,” Trump replied before he was asked what can be done. “You just ban it. The president bans it. You just don’t let it happen.”

After Trump’s comment, San Diego State issued a statement that said “it has been incorrectly reported that an San Diego State University student-athlete was hit in the face with a volleyball during match play with San Jose State University. The ball bounced off the shoulder of the student-athlete, and the athlete was uninjured and did not miss a play.”

San Jose State has not made any direct comments about the politicians’ “fairness” references, and Nevarez did not go into details.

“I’m learning a lot about the issue,” Nevarez said. “I don’t know a lot of the language yet or the science or the understanding nationally of how this issue plays out. The external influences are so far on either side. We have an election year. It’s political, so, yeah, it feels like a no-win based on all the external pressure.”

The cancellations could mean some teams will not qualify for the conference tournament Nov. 27-30 in Las Vegas, where the top six schools are slated to compete for the league championship.

“The student-athlete (in question) meets the eligibility standard, so if a team does not play them, it’s a forfeit, meaning they take a loss,” Nevarez said.

Ahead of the Oct. 26 match in Reno. Nevada released a statement acknowledging that “a majority of the Wolf Pack women’s volleyball team” had decided to forfeit against San Jose State. The school said only the university can take that step but any player who decides not to play would face no punishment.

___

AP college sports:

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