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Jets veterans respond after Bowness openly challenges them in two key areas – Sportsnet.ca

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2 years ago

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WINNIPEG — Mark Scheifele didn’t attempt to stickhandle around the pointed question, nor did he get bent out of shape over a comment from head coach Rick Bowness sent in the general direction of him and his linemates, Nikolaj Ehlers and Kyle Connor.

The Winnipeg Jets centre casually explained his position on the matter, confessed he is among the players who needs to pay attention to his shift length and later delivered a sound byte that should answer any lingering questions about his frame of mind going into what could be a defining season for both Scheifele and this core group.

“I’m definitely a guy that extends a little bit,” said Scheifele. “Being a higher-end player, being in the top-six, I think it comes with the territory. But it’s something that we all have to work on. The older guys, the veterans, have to lead in that sense. That’s something all of us have to take pride in.”

Sure, it’s still early in training camp and this group is very much in the getting-to-know-the-new-bench-boss stages, so it’s natural that some eyebrows were raised when Bowness openly challenged his veterans to lead the way and clean up two critical areas that caught his attention in Tuesday’s 5-3 victory over the Ottawa Senators: shift length and turnovers.

Scheifele (65 seconds), Connor (65 seconds) and Ehlers (63 seconds) were the only three members of the Jets to average more than one minute per shift (though that included time on the power play which skewed the numbers slightly).

After gushing with praise about Bowness in multiple interviews since he was hired, plenty of folks on social media were wondering how Scheifele was going to respond to the first open show of criticism that was sent his way.

If you thought Scheifele was going to show frustration or threaten to take his puck and go home (figuratively speaking), you were sorely mistaken.

“Well, I don’t think he’s sending a message through you guys,” said Scheifele. “(Bowness) has been an awesome communicator. I think that’s something that we all really respect from him, is everything comes from him, everything comes from his mouth. He’s talking to us each and every day about everything he wants to see and wants to change and what he wants to focus on each and every day, and that’s a huge positive.

“He’s really up front and honest, tells you what’s on his mind. He wants you to tell him what’s on your mind, as well. That’s something I really appreciate and something that’s going to be very different, for sure. But something I think everyone likes. And like I said, it’s all a process. We’re all getting to know each other, each other’s tendencies and it’s been a good start.”

It’s natural to wonder if a mostly fresh set of eyes with the reconfigured coaching staff could be a benefit for Scheifele and company.

Folks from outside the organization like Bowness, associate coach Scott Arniel and assistant coach Brad Lauer have been watching Scheifele from afar for years and may have some different thoughts about things that might help take his game to another level.

Scheifele isn’t in the business of only wanting to be told what things he’s great at — he’s already got a great awareness of his strengths — he’s open to constructive criticism as well.

That’s an important part of trying to improve.

“I think that’s what coaching is. I believe that’s the definition. That’s what coaches are supposed to do,” said Scheifele. “They want to help you with your game, and that’s what’s really exciting for us players, is you have a new set of eyes giving you their thoughts on your game and what you can improve on and what they see and what you see.

“We all want to feel that they’re helping us and giving us the best chance to succeed. And it’s been a great start to training camp with that so far, and we’re all excited to keep that going.”

This was another example of genuine enthusiasm from Scheifele, who is in position to be a driving force this season.

Members of the media and fans alike have been programmed to believe that the modern player might not appreciate their faults discussed in a public forum, so criticism — even if constructive — isn’t frequently offered in the question-and-answer setting.

But in his first training camps with the 2.0 version of the Jets, Bowness has already shown that he’s going to operate in a way he feels comfortable.

In short, honesty is the best policy.

This isn’t about airing out players publicly or sending a message through the media.

Sure, it might work in an isolated situation, but that old-school approach is well past its best-before date as a way to try and provide a spark for a struggling player.

“I don’t do that. The players will always hear it from me first. They’re not going to read anything they haven’t heard, so there’s no surprises,” said Bowness. “I don’t see anything wrong with it. The players have heard it first. We talk about those things. If you’re watching the game, some of those things should be pretty evident to you. What am I supposed to do, pretend it’s not happening? I’m going to tell you what I see happening.

“The players will hear it first, but I’m not going to pretend it’s not going on. The most important thing is it’ll be addressed with the players first. If you’re watching the games you’ll come to your own conclusions. Some nights you’ll disagree with me. That’s fine, too.”

For Bowness, this is about establishing a new baseline — one that each and every player will be held to — and promoting good habits.

The coaching staff will be tasked with holding those players accountable, but the players will also be doing plenty of self-policing on that front as well.

“(Bowness) said it the first day. On bad teams, no one leads. Good teams, the coaches lead. Great teams, the players lead,” said Jets defenceman Nate Schmidt. “You have to have guys that drive the bus in the room and set the standard for each other. You telling me what the standard is might be different from what we talk about the standard is, versus what you guys talk about the standard is.

“So if you have everybody that believes in the same one, especially from the players’ side, then you’re going to have a lot of success.”

Sharpening up the shift length was a message that was clearly received.

“You don’t win by taking 50-plus-second shifts. You go back and look at the best playoff teams and you’re buzzin’ for 40, 42,” said Jets winger Mason Appleton. “If you get caught out there for a minute, odds are you weren’t working as hard as you could for the full minute, otherwise you wouldn’t be on the ice still. So I think that’s something that needs to continue to get better.

“Not pointing fingers. I think there’s times when I’m stuck on the ice too long, too. That’s a committee thing, and it’s just a mindset of going out there for 40 seconds and I’m going to work as hard as I can, and when the time’s right, I’m getting off the ice.”

It’s one thing to show support for a new coach before the puck has dropped on opening night of the regular season and another to do it over a longer length of time.

How this group responds to adversity when it arrives during the regular season will ultimately determine whether Bowness’ approach is successful.

What was easy to decipher on Wednesday afternoon is that Scheifele wants to be coached and to be pushed and that’s something that will bring a smile to the face of Bowness.

For a team that is going to require a full commitment and buy-in to implement the more aggressive style Bowness wants the Jets to play, having Scheifele on board is essential.

When members of the leadership group are fully invested, it’s nearly impossible for the rest of the team not to follow suit.

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

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10 hours ago

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October 18, 2024

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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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20 hours ago

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October 17, 2024

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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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October 17, 2024

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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.

___

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