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Most memorable moment of 2019 discussed by NHL.com – NHL.com

Published

5 years ago

December 26, 2019

The year began in spectacular fashion with the 2019 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic between the Boston Bruins and the Chicago Blackhawks at Notre Dame Stadium on Jan. 1.

There were the 2019 Honda NHL All-Star Game festivities in San Jose, an outdoor game in Philadelphia, and the stunning worst-to-first run by the Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues.

The start of the 2019-20 season saw NHL hockey played outdoors in Regina, Saskatchewan, and indoors across Europe, including regular-season games in Prague, Czech Republic and Stockholm, Sweden.

It was a year that won’t soon be forgotten.

Here are the favorite hockey moments of 2019 from members of the NHL.com staff:

Amalie Benjamin, staff writer

No one believed Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara would play Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final. The Bruins captain had a facial injury, likely a broken jaw, and it was doubtful he could play with that. But doctors gave him the green light and Chara, never one to shy away from a challenge, was in the lineup, despite fractures that needed two plates, some wires and screws to hold it all together. It led to an unbelievable ovation that night from the TD Garden crowd, which showed its appreciation for the lengths Chara went for his team and his teammates. Even though the Bruins wouldn’t win the Cup, that moment stuck with me.

Tim Campbell, staff writer

So many of the best moments each year take place in the presence of the Stanley Cup. One happened in Calahoo, Alberta on July 2, when the Cup paraded down Range Road 275 in the tiny hamlet west of Edmonton. The guest of honor was St. Louis Blues coach Craig Berube, who brought the Cup back to his hometown, keeping a longstanding promise. More than 2,000 family, friends and fans flooded into the community, which has a population of 85, lining up at Calahoo Arena to meet Berube and have pictures taken with the Cup.

Nick Cotsonika, columnist

The best moment of 2019 involved Laila Anderson, the 11-year-old battling a rare disease who became part of her beloved St. Louis Blues. You could choose, say, when she found out she was going to Boston to see the Blues play in the Stanley Cup Final, or when she received her own Stanley Cup ring. But for me, it was when she was on the ice in the aftermath of the Blues’ Game 7 win in Boston. Defenseman Colton Parayko helped her hold the Stanley Cup aloft, then grabbed it and lifted it above their heads with a joyous howl. Laila will remember that forever. And so will we.

Video: Laila Anderson on Blues’ historic run, Parayko bond

William Douglas, staff writer

My favorite hockey moment of 2019 was watching Colombia and Jamaica play for the Amerigol LATAM Cup championship at the Florida Panthers practice facility in September. The game was as great as the Jamaican meat patties sold by a food truck outside the rink. The talent on the ice was good, and the people who packed the stands brought an enthusiastic soccer vibe. And you couldn’t have written a better script for the game. Colombia tied it 2-2 late in the third period, and after overtime couldn’t decide it, Jamaica won in a shootout.

Tom Gulitti, staff writer

My favorite memory of 2019 was the scene at PNC Arena after the Carolina Hurricanes completed a sweep of the New York Islanders with a 5-2 win in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Second Round on May 3. The Hurricanes and their fans had waited a decade for a moment like this. Although the Hurricanes, who had last been in the playoffs in 2009, went on to get swept by the Bruins in the Eastern Conference Final, they established a winning foundation they are building on this season, with an eye on taking the next step in the 2020 playoffs.

Mike G. Morreale, staff writer

One of the best hockey moments for me this year was witnessing Jack Hughes and Cole Caufield each establish a record on the same play. It was during the USA Hockey National Team Development Program Under-18 team’s 12-4 win against Green Bay of the United States Hockey League at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Michigan, on March 15. Caufield set the program record for goals with an assist from Hughes, that gave him its points record. Hughes, who would go on to be chosen by the New Jersey Devils with the No. 1 pick of the 2019 NHL Draft, had five assists in the game and finished his NTDP career with 228 points to pass Arizona Coyotes forward Clayton Keller (189 points, 2014-16). Caufield, selected No. 15 by the Montreal Canadiens in the 2019 Draft, scored six goals on 10 shots that day and finished his NTDP career with 126 goals to pass Coyotes forward Phil Kessel (104 goals, 2003-05).

Video: Canadiens draft F Cole Caufield No. 15

Tracey Myers, staff writer

My favorite moment of 2019 was covering the Stanley Cup championship parade for the Blues. Getting to walk the route was a treat. I talked to fans who were grateful for all those World Series titles the St. Louis Cardinals have won, but equally were thrilled to see the Blues win their first Cup. The Blues players did their part, getting out of cars or truck beds to wave Blues flags and slap hands with the hundreds of thousands of fans along the route. It was a great day for the city of St. Louis.

Bill Price, Editor-in-Chief

Nick stole my thunder a bit here. I was standing nearby when Parayko handed the Cup to Anderson after Game 7, and I will never forget the pure joy on each of their faces. Aside from that, the most memorable moment of the year for me involved Gritty, of course. Though the Philadelphia Flyers mascot made his debut in 2018, his coming-out party occurred at the Stadium Series game between the Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins at Lincoln Financial Field on Feb. 23. Gritty started the show by standing atop the stadium with a light-up LED suit. He then zip-lined down to the field and climbed steps replicating those at the Philadelphia Museum of Art to the theme song from the movie “Rocky.” That wasn’t all. Midway through the game, wearing nothing but his helmet and his perpetual smile, he streaked across the field, chased by his personal security people. Gritty, who never disappoints, made what already was an incredible night in Philadelphia, that much more memorable.

Dan Rosen, senior writer

My first thought went to Gritty at the Stadium Series game in Philadelphia. The laughs we had watching his antics. It was fun. It’s supposed to be fun. But Bill stole it. So my next thought went to my time in Columbus during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, specifically after the Blue Jackets lost Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Second Round against the Bruins. The season was over and yet the Blue Jackets stayed on the ice to salute the fans, who stood and roared for their team, chanting “CBJ, CBJ, CBJ.” Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky waved good-bye. It was sad. It was happy. It was the end. But it was a sign of how a great hockey market came together. It made me appreciate Columbus.

Video: BOS@CBJ, Gm6: Bruins shake hands with Blue Jackets

Dave Stubbs, columnist

To my pleasant surprise, Hall of Fame goalie Glenn Hall agreed to live-tweet Game 3 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final from his farm house in Stony Plain, Alberta on June 1. I sat and watched the game with Hall, the first player in St. Louis Blues history, and his son, Pat. Glenn, who would turn 88 on Oct. 3, was observant and witty on my Twitter account, embracing the spirit of social media with 17 tweets from the sofa in his den, hundreds of likes and retweets still coming well past midnight. That his Blues loss 7-2 to the Boston Bruins did little to dull his enthusiasm as he bantered online through my phone. Glenn’s final tweet: “Thanks to all you fans for writing tonight and remembering me. All these years later, I’m humbled.”

Mike Zeisberger, staff writer

To have a Game 7 in any Stanley Cup Playoff series is dramatic enough, but for it to go to double-overtime? As I told esteemed colleague Tracey Myers in the Enterprise Center press box the night of May 7, it doesn’t get much better than that. You want edge-of-your seat theatre? How’s this? The Blues defeat the Dallas Stars 2-1 in the Western Conference Second Round. The winning goal was scored by St. Louis native Patrick Maroon, who immediately pointed to his 10-year-old son, Anthony, in the stands. “I’ve taught him things,” Anthony told us while hugging his dad afterward in the Blues dressing room, which also included the inspirational Laila Anderson and actor Jon Hamm. Down the hall in the family room, Maroon’s mother, Patti, pulled out a prayer card dedicated to St. Anthony in honor of her grandson. “I kept it in my bra for the whole game for luck,” she said. It worked. Cool scene. Cool experience. Cool moment.

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

Published

1 day ago

October 18, 2024

Anne Joseph

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

Published

2 days ago

October 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

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.

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

Published

2 days ago

October 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

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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