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Leafs' Matthews faces league hearing after cross-check in Heritage Classic loss to Sabres – CBC Sports

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Kyle Dubas emphatically backed his goaltending last week.

Some 11 days later in the same building, the Maple Leafs general manager could only look on from a Tim Hortons Field private suite as another crease miscue cost his team yet more points in the standings.

Vinnie Hinostroza’s second goal of the game from a sharp angle was the difference Sunday in the Buffalo Sabres’ 5-2 victory over Toronto in the Heritage Classic outdoor showcase.

With the score tied 2-2 in the third period, under-fire Leafs netminder Petr Mrazek failed to seal his post on the centre’s shot from the corner that snuck between his arm and near post for his 10th goal of the season.

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“I knew he was going to shoot it,” Mrazek said following a 33-save showing. “I was too high.”

Despite watching another howler go in against his club, Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe declined to blame his goaltending on a windy afternoon and early evening after pulling Mrazek in Thursday’s 5-4 overtime lose to the Arizona Coyotes.

“I thought Petr was good,” he said. “It’s not an easy environment to play in, especially for a goaltender.

“He looked solid all things considered.”

WATCH l Hinostroza scores twice to lead Sabres past Leafs in Heritage Classic:

Hinostroza strikes twice to knock Leafs off at Heritage Classic

15 hours ago

Duration 1:58

Buffalo’s Vinnie Hinostroza and Peyton Krebs each had a pair of goals in their 5-2 outdoor win over Toronto in Hamilton, Ontario. 1:58

Peyton Krebs buried two goals of his own for Buffalo (20-32-8), which got 34 stops from Craig Anderson. Tage Thompson had the empty netter to go along with an assist, while Hinostroza set up Krebs’ opener for a three-point performance.

Auston Matthews added to his NHL goal lead with his 45th of the season, while Ondrej Kase also scored for Toronto (37-17-5).

Late in the game,  Matthews cross-checked Sabres defenceman Rasmus Dahlin in the side of the head and has a hearing with the NHL’s department of player safety Monday.

Matthews has no history of supplemental discipline.

After Hinostroza put the Sabres in front for the first time, Krebs made it 4-2 with 6:11 left with his sixth that trickled through Mrazek after the Leafs goaltender dislodged the net on a strange play that stood up after video review.

“I don’t know what the rule is,” Mrazek said. “I thought the post was out before the pass to the middle.”

Thompson added a short-handed empty netter for his 24th with 2:25 left in regulation as the Sabres — 33 points back of the Leafs in the standings at the start of play — downed Toronto for the second time in 12 days.

The Canadian women’s hockey team was honoured before the game and during the second intermission for their gold-medal performances at the Beijing Olympics and 2021 world championship.

WATCH l Canadian women’s hockey team joins Calgary’s Lindsay Ell for O Canada:

Canadian women’s hockey team honoured at Heritage Classic

12 hours ago

Duration 1:34

The Beijing 2022 Olympic gold medallists joined Calgary’s Lindsay Ell for the singing of O Canada in Hamilton on Sunday. 1:34

Fans in attendance at the home of the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats, roughly 70 kilometres from Toronto and 100 kilometres from Buffalo, bundled up on a day where the temperature felt like minus-7 C when factoring in the wind chill for the 4 p.m. local time puck drop.

“It was obviously an adaptation to the elements,” said Matthews.

Crews had to clear snow off the ice a couple of times prior to warm-ups at the first NHL regular-season game in Steeltown since March 1994, but the flurries mostly subsided once the action got underway in front of a sellout crowd of 26,119.

Ron MacLean speaks with captain Marie Philip-Poulin after introducing the Canadian Women’s hockey team as they are honoured during the second intermission on Sunday. (John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports via Reuters)

The Leafs sported dark blue jerseys that pay homage to the Toronto Arenas — one of the franchise’s previous iterations that played from 1917 to 1919 — while the Sabres wore cream-coloured threads.

Toronto, which was booed off the ice at home March 2 following a 5-1 loss Buffalo, entered having surrendered four goals or more in nine of its last 11 games.

WATCH l  Matthews to have hearing for cross-check on Dahlin:

Leafs’ Matthews to have hearing for cross-checking Sabres’ Dahlin

10 hours ago

Duration 0:36

Toronto forward Auston Matthews will have a hearing on Monday for his cross-check on Buffalo defenceman Rasmus Dahlin. 0:36

The Leafs have now lost to the Sabres (twice), Coyotes and Montreal Canadiens in recent weeks — clubs well below them in the standings — as they try to secure top spot in the Atlantic Division and avoid the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the playoffs.

“I don’t think that there’s ever a night off,” Toronto defenceman Morgan Rielly said. “Teams come out and play us hard. It’s on us to respond. I don’t think it’s an issue for us long term, but as of right now it’s been tough sledding.”

“It’s something that we haven’t been happy with,” Keefe added. “We’re going to get more than enough opportunity to play against teams that are not to the bottom half of the league.”

Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews raise his arms in celebration after scoring during the second period to give Toronto a 2-1 lead. ( John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports via Reuters)

Kase opened the scoring 40 seconds into the middle period when he shovelled a William Nylander rebound past Anderson for his 12th of the campaign.

Buffalo responded just 41 seconds later when Hinostroza stripped Leafs defenceman Timothy Liljegren and fed Krebs for his fifth.

The Leafs retook the lead at 2:57 when Matthews fired his 45th on a shot that dribbled through Anderson to get within two of the star centre’s career-high of 47 goals as “M-V-P” chants rang around Tim Hortons Field.

But the Sabres got back on even terms once again at 10:53 when Hinostroza’s pass struck Toronto defenceman T.J. Brodie in front and went in for his ninth.

Coming off an ugly performance where he allowed four goals on 12 shots before being pulled in Thursday’s loss to Arizona, Mrazek made a terrific glove save on Casey Mittelstadt early in the third before failing to stop Hinostroza’s winner.

“It doesn’t feel good when you lose the game,” Mrazek said. “When you win you always find more positive than negatives.”

Outdoors in the elements, it was once again more of the latter for Toronto.

WATCH l What Canadian teams might do ahead of NHL trade deadline:

What Canadian NHL teams might do ahead of the trade deadline

4 days ago

Duration 6:02

March 21st is fast approaching, and Rob Pizzo looks at what changes we could see from the teams north of the border. 6:02

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Shane Pinto has a goal, three assists as the Senators roll over the Sabres – Sportsnet.ca

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Here’s what we know about the allegations against Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara

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LOS ANGELES –

Only a week has passed since the Los Angeles Dodgers abruptly fired Ippei Mizuhara, the interpreter and constant companion of their new $700 million slugger, Shohei Ohtani.

But the biggest story of baseball’s spring is still murky — and shocking — as the regular season begins in earnest Thursday.

The scandal encompasses gambling, alleged theft, extensive deceit and the breakup of an enduring partnership between the majors’ biggest star and his right-hand man. Investigations are underway by the IRS and Major League Baseball, and Ohtani publicly laid out a version of events Monday that placed the responsibility entirely on Mizuhara.

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Here are the basics as Ohtani and the Dodgers prepare for their home opener against St. Louis on Thursday:

Why was Ippei Mizuhara fired by the Dodgers?

Ohtani claims his close friend repeatedly took money from his accounts to fund his illegal sports gambling habit. Ohtani also says he was completely unaware of the “massive theft,” as his lawyers termed it, until Mizuhara confessed to him and the Dodgers last week in South Korea, where the team opened its regular season against the San Diego Padres.

Mizuhara has given more than one version of his path to this trouble, which was catalyzed by the IRS’ investigation of Mathew Bowyer, an alleged illegal bookmaker. Mizuhara has consistently said he has a gambling addiction, and he abused his close friendship with the Dodgers superstar to feed it.

Did Shohei Ohtani ever bet on sports?

That’s the biggest question to be answered in Major League Baseball’s investigation, and the two-time AL MVP emphatically says he has never gambled on sports or asked anybody to bet on sports for him.

Further, Ohtani said Monday he has never knowingly paid a bookie to cover somebody else’s bets. Mizuhara also said Ohtani does not bet, and Bowyer’s attorney said the same.

Mizuhara told ESPN on March 19 that Ohtani paid his gambling debts at the interpreter’s request, saying the bets were on international soccer, the NBA, the NFL and college football. If that were true, Ohtani could face trouble even if he didn’t make the bets himself — but ESPN said Mizuhara dramatically changed his story the following day, claiming Ohtani had no knowledge of the gambling debts and had not transferred any money to bookmakers.

MLB rules prohibit players and team employees from wagering — even legally — on baseball. They also ban betting on other sports with illegal or offshore bookmakers.

What’s next for Ohtani?

Ohtani has played in every Dodgers game since the story broke, and he is expected to be their designated hitter in most regular-season games this season while baseball’s investigation continues.

Ohtani says his legal team has alerted authorities to the theft by Mizuhara, although his team has repeatedly declined to say which authorities have been told, according to ESPN.

Ohtani’s new interpreter is Will Ireton, a longtime Dodgers employee and fluent Japanese speaker who has filled several jobs with the team in everything from game preparation and analytics to recruiting free-agent pitches. But Ireton won’t be Ohtani’s constant companion, and manager Dave Roberts said Tuesday he’s optimistic that Ohtani will become closer to his teammates without the “buffer” provided for years by Mizuhara.

What don’t we know?

MLB’s investigation of Ohtani’s role in the events could last weeks or months, and it’s unlikely to be publicized until it’s complete. No one outside of Ohtani’s inner circle knows what it will find or how serious any repercussions could be, and nobody outside the circle is making informed speculation about the process.

One major question looms: How did Mizuhara have enough access to Ohtani’s bank accounts to get the alleged millions without Ohtani knowing? Is the slugger overly trusting, or is he wildly negligent in managing his vast fortune, which includes years of lavish endorsement deals in addition to his baseball salaries? Why didn’t the team around him, including his agent, do more to prevent the possibility of the theft he claims?

Finally, where is Mizuhara? Anybody who knows isn’t saying. He was fired in South Korea and apparently didn’t travel home with the Dodgers. Japanese media have visited his home in Southern California to look for him. Although he was born in Japan, Mizuhara’s life is in the U.S. — but his life will never be the same.

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NHL analyst gets absolutely roasted for ‘insanely rich’ take on Zach Hyman

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They say everyone is entitled to their opinion, but when you’re a member of the media and you share a truly awful take, you’re going to get called out for it.

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That’s what happened when NHL analyst/podcast host Andrew Berkshire decided to post a video on X (formerly known as Twitter) mainly attributing Zach Hyman’s success to the fact that he grew up “insanely rich.”

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The post came on the heels of the Oilers winger reaching the 50-goal milestone for the season and was rightly ripped apart by several notable colleagues, former players and fans in general.

In the video, which has been viewed more than 5.4 million times as of Wednesday morning, begins by stating that he has been in the sports media industry professionally since 2012 and that the industry “has to do a better job of telling truthful stories,” before discounting Hyman’s accomplishment.

“The story that’s being sold right now … is that, you know, if you work hard, if you stick to it, you can get there too, 31-year-old guy finally hits the 50-goal mark, harder worker, all that,” Berkshire said.

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“Yeah, great, except you’re missing the part of the story where Zach Hyman grew up insanely rich.”

Berkshire, who works as an analyst and host with the Steve Dangle Podcast Network, then details how Hyman’s parents bought a league to “guarantee him playing time,” and that he did “exclusive training that only a rich person … could afford.”

“This is a person that has had every single possible advantage to get where they are today,” Berkshire continued, before also bringing up the fact that Hyman has been fortunate enough to play on teams and lines with Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid most of his career.

While Berkshire does state that Hyman is a hard worker and brings grit when he plays, he also discounts it almost immediately.

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“Working hard, everybody works hard. You think every NHLer didn’t get there by working hard?” he asks. “Let’s not build this stupid narrative of ‘work hard, you’ll succeed.’ It’s just not true.

“There are people who’ve worked as hard as Zach Hyman their entire lives and never got a sniff of the American Hockey League, let alone the NHL because they didn’t have the advantages he had.”

Former Leafs defenceman turned NHL analyst Carlo Colaiacovo thought the whole take was ridiculous, posting the following: “Let me tell you something Andrew. You can’t buy your way to the NHL. You definitely can’t buy your way to having the career Hyman has had which includes scoring 50. Pretty ridiculous thing to say.”

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Retired NHLer Bobby Ryan was one of the first to weigh in, calling the opinion “purely false.”

“As someone who has maybe lived on both ends of the ‘financial edge’ I can say this is just purely false. Who cares, he accomplished a feat not many do and to downplay the way it’s reported is just wrong. You show up, do the work, good things happen,” Ryan posted on X.

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Jonathan Goodman, who claims he was Hyman’s personal trainer and tasked with getting the budding pro ready for the combine, had a glowing review of his former pupil’s work ethic.

“Yes, he had advantages. His family was wealthy and father obsessed with his success,” he said. “But the dude worked hard. Harder than anybody I’ve ever seen.”

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But, perhaps another former NHLer, Jason Strudwick said it best, replying to the video by asking: “Did Hyman not sign an autograph for you one time?”

 

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