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Thu Dec 12, 2019 3:55 pm
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Each week, The Reporters put their thumbs out to the good and the bad in the world of sports. USWNT Shirts . This week, they discuss sports off-day, the MLB All-Star game, Canadas field lacrosse team and Huston Streets comments upon being traded. Bruce Arthur, Toronto Star My thumb is up to Wednesday of this past week. Now, you probably read and heard a lot of sympathetically depressed moaning about how it was the slowest sports day of the year - no baseball, no hockey, no basketball, no football, and nothing to entertain those in search of sports except... Well, Major League Soccer, the Tour de France, and the ESPYs, featuring Drake. Thats hardly nothing, the semi-vacancy of the ESPYs aside, but you know what? Good. We could use some time with less sports. The days are packed with sports. Christmas day is basically a basketball tournament now. We could use some time to breathe, take a walk, reconnect with family, learn to make a bookshelf. Sports are fun, no question. But how can we miss them when they wont go away? Steve Simmons, Toronto Sun My thumb is down to major league baseball, the Minnesota Twins and broadcasters of the All-Star game for failing to appropriately recognize the passing of Tony Gwynn just one month ago. Its not like Gwynn was just another player. He was a 15-time All-Star, perhaps the most beloved figure in a game with not enough beloved figures, and yet somehow there was no tribute to Gwynn throughout the three hour Derek Jeter infomercial that we endured. And I have nothing but regard for Derek Jeter, who has had a storied career; but there should have been something for Gwynn. For the fans. For baseball. A moment of silence. Some words of tribute. Something. At least Adam Jones of the Baltimore Orioles had it right. He wrote in marker on his baseball cap the initials TG with the number 19. He had the sense of moment baseball didnt have. Gary Lawless, TSN Radio My thumb is up to Canadas national mens field lacrosse team for winning the world championship last night. Canada defeated the U.S., handing the Americans just their third loss in tournament history dating back to 1967. All three of those U.S. losses have come to Canada and all three in championship games, 1978, 2006 and now 2014. Lacrosse is our national sport but its box lacrosse most Canadians play, not field. In fact, Canada has never lost a box lacrosse game at the worlds. Winning the field championship doesnt qualify as a shock but more of a nice surprise. Congrats to Team Canada, who just so happened to be one of the youngest teams weve ever sent to the worlds, and will be a very serious threat to repeat in 2018. Dave Hodge, TSN My thumb is up to the refreshing comments of relief pitcher/closer Huston Street as he departed the bottom-feeding San Diego Padres for the playoff-bound Los Angeles Angels. There would be lots to say about the horrible state of the Padres franchise, but street said this; "I believe in the ownership--they want to win--theyre not satisfied with the status quo. I blame the players for what has happened here." Well, even though theres plenty of blame to go around and it does extend to the front office and to ownership - the Padres field a lineup that is not of big-league quality - Street is quite right, as a player, to let others find fault with others and to say that, of all the reasons teams lose, the biggest reason is always that players perform badly. Stitched USWNT Jerseys . The 40-year-old midfielder was put in charge on Tuesday when David Moyes reign ended after 10 months with the defending champions in seventh place in the English Premier League. USWNT Pro Shop .Johnny there, who knew he had that speed? teammate Tommy Wingels said.Scott and Matt Irwin were unlikely goal-scorers Tuesday night as the previously stingy San Jose Sharks finally sprung a leak or two, blowing a pair of three-goal leads before coming away with a 6-5 shootout victory over the Washington Capitals. https://www.cheapuswnt.com/ . Ryan Callahan trade talks caught a lot of people off guard. Details are now emerging about why the Rangers would consider such a move. Darren Dreger: He wants a lot of money. Its been widely reported that Callahan is looking for a seven-year term around $6 million per year. That is not accurate. Im told that it is more than $6.Martin St. Louis scored in overtime to give the New York Rangers a 3-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens in Game Four of the Eastern Conference Final. The Rangers are now one win away from their first trip to the Stanley Cup Final since winning in 1994. St. Louis, who has 13 points in 18 postseason games this year, has 81 points in 81 career playoff games, his 1.00 points per game in the playoffs ranks fifth among active skaters. He currently has seven points during a six-game point streak and had a game-high nine shot attempts. On the winning goal, the Canadiens failed to clear the zone several times and Rangers LW Carl Hagelin found St. Louis wide open on the right wing. St. Louis took his time and picked the top corner on the short side. Hagelin, who scored a shorthanded goal earlier in the game, has tied St. Louis for the team lead with six goals in the playoffs. Rangers C Derick Brassard returned to the lineup, after missing a couple of games due to injury, scored a goal and was dominant in the faceoff circle, winning 18 of 24 draws (75.0%). He was also one of three Rangers (Derek Dorsett, Benoit Pouliot) on the ice for more than 70% of 5-on-5 shot attempts. Both teams had 29 shots on goal (and 56 shot attempts overall), but the Rangers had better possession numbers at even-strength. They had to because the Canadiens had eight power plays to the Rangers three. The Canadiens did manage to get their first power play goal of the series -- initially credited to P.K. Subban, but sure appeared to be deflected by RW Brendan Gallagher -- but the Habs are 1-for-17 (5.9%) in the series and they are going to be hard-pressed to beat the Rangers without an effective power play. Subban played a game-high 33:16, with 12:51 coming on the power play. Game One against Boston, a Double-OT win when he played 33:49, is the only game this season in which Subban played more thaan he did in Game Four against the Rangers. Fake USWNT Jerseys. . Canadiens C David Desharnais, who had three assists in the previous 12 games, did record assists on both of Montreals goals, though Desharnais, along with linemates Max Pacioretty and Brendan Gallagher, were all on for one-third or less of the 5-on-5 shot attempts. Pacioretty didnt register a shot on goal, with one shot blocked counting as his only attempt in 21:47 of ice time. G Dustin Tokarski stopped 26 of 29 Rangers shots. While he went down too early on the winning goal, Tokarski made a number of quality stops and gave the Canadiens a chance to win. He has a .917 save percentage in three games, which is good, but not good enough to overtake the Rangers when Henrik Lundqvist is on top of his game. Lundqvist has a playoff-leading .931 save percentage in 18 playoff games. With C Derek Stepan out due to a broken jaw and LW Dan Carcillo suspended, the Rangers turned to rookie LW J.T. Miller, but Miller ended up playing only 3:09, knocked out of the game for some time by an Andrei Markov hit that drove him into the Canadiens net. Miller didnt play from the midpoint of the second period until taking a shift in overtime. Inserted into the Montreal lineup for a suspended Brandon Prust, LW Michael Bournival played 8:42, lowest on the team, but had respectable possession numbers in that time. Its not as if the Canadiens havent had opportunities in this series. The possession numbers favour the Rangers, but only slightly, and if the Canadiens power play starts clicking, then maybe they could turn the tide. It will have to start with Game Five, in Montreal, but to do it three times in a row is a tall order, indeed. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' ' |
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