Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning players said they found out about the NBA and other sports leagues’ postponing games only when they got to the rink in Toronto on Wednesday night. By that point, they said they didn’t have sufficient time to discuss following suit.
“It was so close to our game that we were just getting ready,” Bruins captain Zdeno Chara said. “After our pregame meal, we took naps and then we were on the bus, so I don’t think any of us were watching the TV until we got to the rink. And at that point, obviously, it was too close to the game to start any discussions or try to move the games to different dates. We were basically following the schedule the NHL provided to us.”
Chara, however, voiced support for his peers across other sports who decided to sit out Wednesday in protest of ongoing racial injustices, including the recent police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Games were postponed Wednesday across the NBA, WNBA, MLS and MLB.
“We support fighting against racism and injustice,” Chara said. “There’s different ways to express that fight. NBA players expressed their opinions about it by boycotting the games today. We support NBA players and all the leagues that showed that support.”
The NHL drew criticism from two prominent players in the recently formed Hockey Diversity Alliance, including San Jose Sharks winger Evander Kane, who said the league’s “lack of action” was “incredibly insulting.”
Actually it’s incredibly insulting as a black man in hockey the lack of action and acknowledgement from the @nhl, just straight up insulting. https://t.co/1KrpUvFhaQ
Meanwhile, in an appearance on Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Minnesota Wild defenseman Matt Dumba said the NHL “is always late to the party on these topics.”
“It’s kind of sad and disheartening for me and for members of the Hockey Diversity Alliance — and I’m sure for other guys across the league,” Dumba said. “But if no one stands up and does anything, then it’s the same thing: that silence. You’re just outside looking in on actually being leaders and evoking real change when you have such an opportunity to do so.”
Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said he would have been “100 percent behind” his players if they had decided to sit out Wednesday.
Tampa Bay players also said they didn’t have serious conversations about boycotting Wednesday’s game because they found out about the NBA boycotts very close to puck drop.
“I think the world has changed in just this short time that we were at the rink,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “When I got here at 4:30, I think what’s happening now at 11:15 is much different than what was happening at 4:30. At the time … those weren’t things being discussed with our group. We were preparing to play the Boston Bruins.”
Before Game 3 of the Bruins and Lightning’s second-round series — which the Lightning won 7-1 — the NHL held a “moment of reflection” during which the words “end racism” appeared on the video board. The NHL, however, did not hold a similar pregame ceremony for its second game of the night, the Colorado Avalanche–Dallas Stars match in the Edmonton, Alberta, bubble.
For the late tilt, a pregame moment of reflection was scheduled to be held but didn’t take place. It wasn’t immediately known why. Stars players said after their 6-4 Game 3 loss that they were unaware the moment of reflection had been scheduled nor did they know one had been held earlier in the evening in Toronto.
Neither team had a discussion about boycotting the game.
Dallas coach Rick Bowness said he spoke with forward Jason Dickinson, the Stars’ NHLPA rep, before the game to see if “everything was OK.” Dickinson indicated that the players wanted to play. Colorado coach Jared Bednar said none of his players indicated to him that it was being considered.
“If our players, even one player, had come to me and said, ‘Hey, I don’t think we should play,’ then we would have addressed it as a team. But I never got word from anyone in the room,” Bendar said. “It’s obviously an important topic. It’s something that we need to think long and hard about as a country. But I just think that tonight maybe wasn’t the time and place for us.”
Colorado forward Nazem Kadri, a member of the Hockey Diversity Alliance, said that a boycott “crosses your mind when you see other leagues doing something like that” and he applauded the NBA players for their decision.
“The [anti-racism] signs are great, but eventually words get stale,” Kadri said. “It’s about action and making a difference.”
Stars forwards Tyler Seguin and Dickinson took a knee during the American and Canadian national anthems during a game against the Vegas Golden Knights in the round-robin tournament. Neither one said there was any considerable discussion about taking action on Wednesday night.
“It wasn’t a big serious conversation. Just a couple of us talking. To be honest, I woke up from my nap and I didn’t even realize what the NBA was doing until I got to the rink,” Seguin said. “I support the movement. Hockey needs to do more. But we can all show our actions in different ways.”
Dickinson said there are different ways players can show support for the movement but acknowledged that “it’s hard for some guys to have this hit home” because many of the league’s players aren’t American.
“I don’t want to say anybody’s blind to it or ignorant, but we are a league of a lot of Canadians, a lot of Europeans,” he said. “It’s hard when something like this doesn’t hit home. You look at the MLB. You look at the NBA. They’re primarily American players. It’s easy to hit home for them. It’s easy for them to take a stand against something. [Seguin] and I take a knee, and we get backlash that we’re not Americans, that we shouldn’t be speaking on something like that. But we believe that we’re close enough as Canadians where we have a right to say something.
“In Canada, we’ve seen similar things. So it’s difficult to appreciate things as outsiders to America. But we try to give our two cents when we can. And tonight, it just didn’t seem like it was the right call to do.”
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe remain undefeated in women’s doubles at the WTA Finals.
The 2023 U.S. Open champions, seeded second at the event, secured a 1-6, 7-6 (1), (11-9) super-tiebreak win over fourth-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in round-robin play on Tuesday.
The season-ending tournament features the WTA Tour’s top eight women’s doubles teams.
Dabrowski and Routliffe lost the first set in 22 minutes but levelled the match by breaking Errani’s serve three times in the second, including at 6-5. They clinched victory with Routliffe saving a match point on her serve and Dabrowski ending Errani’s final serve-and-volley attempt.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face fifth-seeded Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk on Thursday, where a win would secure a spot in the semifinals.
The final is scheduled for Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 5, 2024.
EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.
The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.
Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.
TAKEAWAYS
Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.
Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.
KEY MOMENT
New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.
KEY RETURN?
Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.
OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN
The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.
The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.
Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.
Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.
Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.
It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.
The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.
Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.
Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.
The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”
Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.
The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.
Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.
UP NEXT
Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
