The NHL playoffs are always unpredictable, and now a variable is being tossed in — a global pandemic.
The league, which went on hiatus on March 12 because of the coronavirus, is ready to move to Phase 3 of its return when training camps open on Monday.
If all goes well, 24 teams will report to hub cities in Toronto and Edmonton, Canada, on July 26, the playoff qualifying round will start on Aug. 1 with five games, and the Stanley Cup will be awarded as late as October.
And testing, social distancing and hygiene will be the most important defensive systems to make sure it’s carried off.
“We’re all living day-to-day here, and we’ll see what happens,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said Saturday during a Zoom call.
How the tournament will work:
In training camps, teams will be limited to 30 skaters, plus an unlimited number of goalies. Players and other club and facility personnel were to be tested 48 hours before they arrived and then will be tested every other day. Temperature checks will be done before anyone can enter a facility.
If players show COVID-19 symptoms, they will self-isolate and be tested. Asymptomatic players will also self-isolate if they test positive and must have two negative tests 24 hours apart before returning.
Players also are being asked to limit their public access off-ice before heading to the hub cities to avoid the chance of exposure. The NHL last week said that 23 of 296 players tested during voluntary workouts were positive, a 5% rate. Another 12 had tested positive since March.
“You need to make your inner circle pretty darn small because what you do affects everybody else,” Carolina Hurricanes forward Justin Williams said in a recent Zoom call. “That’s pretty much the basis of what a team is anyway; you’re only as strong as your weakest link. But at this point, your weakest link can take down your whole team.”
Players have until Monday to opt out. Calgary Flames defenseman Travis Hamonic already has done so, as have the Dallas Stars’ Roman Polak and Vancouver Canucks’ Sven Baertschi and the Edmonton Oilers’ Mike Green.
Once in the hub cities, rosters will be 31 players and teams can bring a total of 52 people. Players will get a floor of a hotel. No one can leave the hub except for a medical appointment or a family emergency. Quarantine will be required when returning.
No fans are allowed. No family can show up until the conference finals, which will be held in Edmonton. Media interaction with players and coaches will be by Zoom. There will be daily testing for players.
“One positive test shouldn’t shut down the tournament, but obviously we have to be very cognizant of player heath and safety and if we have an outbreak situation, that turns into a different judgment,” Daly said. “But there’s no hard and fast numbers on that. That’s more of a sense of the medical professionals, and we’ll take our lead from them.”
On the ice, four bye teams will play a round robin to determine seeding at the top of each conference, while the remaining eight teams per conference will play a best-of-five series.
The breakdown:
EASTERN CONFERENCE (Toronto)
Bye teams: Boston Bruins, Washington Capitals, Philadelphia Flyers, Tampa Bay Lightning
Qualifying round
New York Rangers vs. Carolina Hurricanes
Florida Panthers vs. New York Islanders
Montreal Canadiens vs. Pittsburgh Penguins
Columbus Blue Jackets vs. Toronto Maple Leafs
WESTERN CONFERENCE (Edmonton)
Bye teams: St. Louis Blues, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Vegas Golden Knights
Qualifying round
Minnesota Wild vs. Vancouver Canucks
Arizona Coyotes vs. Nashville Predators
Winnipeg Jets vs. Calgary Flames
Chicago Blackhawks vs. Edmonton Oilers
SCHEDULE: Dates for the qualifying round, round-robin play
Teams will be reseeded after the qualifying round, and the first round will begin Aug. 11. The second round tentatively will start Aug. 25, the conference finals Sept. 8 and the Stanley Cup Final on Sept. 22.
NHL Players’ Association executive director Donald Fehr says he believes players will adjust to the unusual situation because they’re professionals.
“They adapt to whatever the world throws at them: a new coach, an injury … a new opportunity, an illness, whatever it is,” he said on the joint call with the NHL. “So will it be a challenge? Sure. Will it be different? Of course. Will the players in the long run have any difficulty handling it? No?”
The draft will then be held Oct. 9-10, around the time the next season usually starts. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman says he still plans to have a full 2020-21 season, even if it has to run later than usual.
Video of the day
The NHL is taking precautions in a bid to keep alive the tradition of awarding the Stanley Cup. It only hasn’t been done in 1919 (during a pandemic) and 2005, when the season was canceled because of a lockout.
So here’s a video from last year’s presentation to the Blues.
No word on whether there will be a social-distancing version of the Cup presentation.
What we’re reading
Medical experts: Plan for conference-only football has merit, is step in right direction
Momentum shifts: More groups call for complete ban on Native American mascots
MLB’s Mask Culture: Some baseball players may wear them during games
Daniel Norris: Tigers P wants players to hear his message after contracting COVID-19
From Mexico City to Cincinnati: Tommie Smith reflects on time with Bengals
Charles Barkley: Sports world is turning social justice statements into a ‘circus’
Palace of Auburn Hills: The Detroit Pistons’ old home was imploded
LeBron James: Why he won’t wear message on his jersey during the NBA restart
Woj: NBA insider reportedly suspended for profane email to senator
What to watch
The MLS is Back Tournament continues with three games. Toronto takes on DC United at 9 a.m. ET on ESPN2 while Sporting Kansas City plays Minnesota United at 8 p.m. and Real Salt Lake faces the Colorado Rapids at 10:30. The last two games are on ESPN.
NASCAR’s Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway airs at 2:30 p.m. on FS1.
The final round of the PGA Tour’s Workday Charity Open airs at 3 p.m. on CBS.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
