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PWHL Finals Takeaways: Depth leads Boston over Minnesota in Game 1

SportsNets - Sun, 05/19/2024 - 17:49

Boston got goals from four different players to earn a 4-3 win over Minnesota in Game 1 of the PWHL Finals on Sunday night in front of their home crowd at the Tsongas Center in Lowell, Mass.

And if Game 1 was any indication, this five-game series is going to be a back-and-forth doozy.

Minnesota was paced by Taylor Heise, who scored twice and added an assist.

The No. 4 seed, Minnesota headed into this game after winning three straight to oust top-ranked Toronto with a reverse sweep, while Boston pulled off a traditional sweep over No. 2 Montreal. With the win on Sunday, Boston is now a perfect 4-0 in the post-season.

For these last five games, players are sporting an emblem on their jerseys of the Walter Cup, which will be awarded for the first time to whoever gets to three wins first.

Here are our takeaways from Game 1:

Cava’s backhand wrapper

Minnesota opened the scoring 4:38 in, when Heise — the No. 1 draft pick, author of the Game 5 winner against Toronto to get her team to this final — made a pretty backhand pass to Michela Cava, in tight. Cava made like she was going to shoot, then skated around the net and deposited the backhand wrap-around just before a sprawling Aerin Frankel could get her skate against the post to close the door.

It was the first goal of the playoffs for Cava, who’s one of five Canadians on Minnesota’s roster, and is playing on the top unit alongside Heise and Kendall Coyne-Schofield.

The assist was the third point of the post-season for Heise, and she was just getting started on this Sunday night.

Tapani ties things up

Minnesota’s lead was pretty short-lived — the story of the game, those short-lived leads — and it was Finnish forward Susanna Tapani who potted her third of this post-season to tie things up at the 12:52 mark. Boston’s first goal came off the rush and a second chance, and Tapani’s backhand deflected off the post and in.

That sent most of these 4,508 fans to their feet, and the “Let’s go Boston!” chants started going in the hometown crowd.

Tapani scored that goal on her former team. The quick-skating Finn was drafted by Minnesota, and then involved in the first trade in PWHL history a little more than a month into the season, when Boston sent defender Sophie Jaques to Minnesota in return for Tapani and defender Abby Cook.

Jaques leads Minnesota in average playoff ice time, while Tapani scored two of her team’s overtime winners in these playoffs — including the winner that clinched their berth in the finals.

Her three playoff goals are the second-most registered in the post-season.

King in the house

The legendary Billie Jean King was in attendance at Game 1, and got a big cheer when she was shown on the big screen, wearing purple-rimmed glasses and a smile.

King was central in getting this league started, and now serves on the PWHL’s advisory board.

Heise’s strong play continues

The Minnesotan scored her third in two games, and it was a rocket. Her wrister found the corner, glove-side, to give Minnesota the 2-1 lead. Cava earned the primary assist on the goal.

Boston strikes back and takes the lead

Boston forward Taylor Wenczkowski laid a big hit in the neutral zone, then followed the puck down into Minnesota’s end, jumped on a rebound in the slot and fired the puck past Maddie Rooney to tie things up, with her second of these playoffs.

A couple of minutes later in the second period, Hannah Brandt gave the home team the lead, beating Rooney five-hole on a goal the netminder no doubt wants back.

No. 1 pick finds the back of the net again

Heise tied things up on a one-timer that beat Frankel as the goaltender was moving side-to-side. It was Heise’s fourth in two games, her second of the night. Cava earned the assist for her third point of the game.

It was all tied up again, 3-3, and Heise took over as the leading goal-scorer in the post-season, with four goals.

All the goals

These playoffs had been pretty light on goals and heavy on shutouts — until Game 1.

Boston took the lead again off a turnover when Jess Healey’s point shot through traffic was redirected. Rooney dropped her arms in defeat after that one, which gave Boston the 4-3 lead, and it held until the final buzzer.

When that buzzer went, Boston fans rose to their feet to cheer on their team.

Game 2 of the Final goes Tuesday night in Lowell, Mass.

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DeChambeau puts on a show but comes up short at PGA Championship

SportsNets - Sun, 05/19/2024 - 17:40

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The putt that barely toppled in on the 18th hole. The tee shot that hit a tree on No. 16 but careened back into the fairway. The chip-ins from off the green, the fist pumps in the air and the fist bumps with the fans.

Bryson DeChambeau put on the kind of show, and got the sort of breaks, that make players larger than life and sometimes win them major titles, too. Yet somehow, when he looked up at the scoreboard for the last time Sunday at the PGA Championship, his name was stuck in second.

One of golf’s most entertaining characters trickled in his last putt for a birdie to close a thrill-a-minute round of 7-under 64 — tied for best of the day — and put him in a tie for the lead at 20-under par.

A half-hour later, Xander Schauffele made birdie from virtually the same angle — his putt lipped halfway around the cup before falling in — to break the tie, break the all-time major scoring record, and capture his first major.

DeChambeau left not with a shiny new trophy, but looking at all the bright spots that came out of his thrilling performance at Valhalla.

“I gave it my all,” he said. “I put as much effort as I possibly could into it and I knew that my ‘B’ game would be enough. It’s just clearly somebody (else) played incredibly well.”

Warming up for a possible playoff, DeChambeau stood with his hands on his hips, stared at the big board near the driving range and watched Schauffele’s winning putt go in. Once it landed, DeChambeau turned quickly and exited stage left, making his way to 18 to congratulate the winner.

“I seriously thought 18 was going to do it,” DeChambeau said. “Then when I saw what Xander was doing, it’s like, ‘Man, he’s playing some unbelievable golf.’”

The 2020 U.S. Open remains DeChambeau’s only major title, but golf fans won’t soon forget the charge he put on, the fun he had with the fans, and the exhilarating near-miss in yet another heart-stopper at Valhalla.

Schauffele said he knew he’d be an underdog had the tournament gone into extra holes.

“I really did not want to go into a playoff with Bryson,” he said. “Going up 18 with his length, it’s not something that I was going to have a whole lot of fun with.”

DeChambeau’s most memorable moments came on 16 and 18. On 16, DeChambeau was shouting “Fore!” when he hooked his tee shot deep into the woods to the left of the fairway. It pinballed among the trees, then landed 221 yards from the pin in the fairway.

He pulled 8-iron and stuck the shot to 3 feet, taking a monster step forward, waving his arms, then leaning forward and putting his hands on his knees, urging the ball to do exactly what it did — land and stop for his easiest birdie putt of the day.

“I looked at (caddie Greg Bodine) and I go, ‘OK, this is what it takes to win major championships. You got to have breaks like that happen,’” DeChambeau said.

He also needed a birdie on 18 to tie Schauffele. DeChambeau teed off into an awkward lie in a bunker to the left of the fairway, but punched a 6-iron out to the first cut of rough to the left of the green.

The chip stopped 10 feet away and the ensuing putt didn’t look like it had enough steam. On the very last revolution, it tumbled in. DeChambeau pulled the ball from the hole, jabbed his fist in the air, then fist-bumped fans on his way off the course and back to the driving range.

“I (thought I) left it short again like a you-know-what, like an idiot,” he said. “Luckily it got there and it was some nice elation to finish off a round like that in a major championship. Pretty proud of myself, yeah.”

Only a day before, DeChambeau set the stage on 18 when he used a 6-iron from 10 yards off the green to chip in for eagle. It vaulted him to two shots out of the lead and was a hint of things to come.

Once one of the most divisive characters in pro golf, DeChambeau has cut down on the weight lifting and toned down on the “Mad Scientist” act that first propelled him into the spotlight. (Though he’s still big on cutting-edge equipment’s major role in his game.)

He has moved to LIV Golf. This win, combined with two other top-10 finishes in majors over the last 12 months, is helping quiet any talk that the LIV players can’t compete at the highest level.

He is honing his persona on YouTube — gobbling up followers online and fans at the course.

On one of golf’s biggest stages, he delivered some much-needed drama and good times for a sport at a crossroads. The best news for DeChambeau and his fans: He’s confident there’s more to come.

“Definitely surprised myself, impressed myself and I know I can do it again,” he said. “It’s just going to take some time.”

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Scottie Scheffler caps ‘hectic’ weekend by rallying to finish strong at PGA Championship

SportsNets - Sun, 05/19/2024 - 17:28

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The sentence seemed unthinkable at the beginning of the PGA Championship. Or any other time for that matter.

And yet there Scottie Scheffler was late Sunday afternoon, talking matter-of-factly about a week in which his burgeoning celebrity crossed over into notoriety in a way the world’s top-ranked golfer never imagined.

Asked if a so-so third-round Saturday that cost him a legitimate shot at a third career major title was the ripple effect of all the chaos that came a day earlier, Scheffler offered a response that seemed absurd — except for the part where it also happened to be true.

“I got arrested Friday morning and I showed up here and played a good round of golf, as well,” he explained.

Scheffler played another one Sunday, a 6-under 65 that vaulted him to 13 under and a tie for eighth behind winner Xander Schauffele and had all the trappings of a vintage Scheffler performance: a couple of laser-guided approaches, a handful of birdie putts and the relentlessness that has become his trademark.

Here’s what the weekend also featured: members of the gallery wearing hastily made T-shirts with Scheffler’s mug shot on the front and yelling “Free Scottie!” over and over (and over).

Oh, and questions afterward about his schedule, including whether he planned to stick around for his scheduled Tuesday morning arraignment on multiple charges stemming from an incident outside Valhalla Golf Club in the predawn hours before Friday’s second round or head home to his wife Meredith and newborn son Bennett back home in Dallas.

“I think it’s all up in the air,” Scheffler said. “I’m not really sure what the next days have in store. I think I’m able to get home … but we’ll see when I leave here. I haven’t really had much chance to assess the situation off the course.”

Jefferson County Attorney Mike O’Connell said Sunday his office had made no decisions on Scheffler’s case and is continuing to gather information.

Scheffler’s weeklong stay in Kentucky may have made the affable 27-year-old Texan more well-known than if he had finished the tournament by raising the Wanamaker Trophy in triumph.

Rather than become a PGA champion this weekend, Scheffler became a meme.

And while he thanked nearly everyone who came across his path outside Kentucky’s largest city for their support, the guys he plays with every week couldn’t help but have his back and have a little fun about the bizarreness of it all at the same time.

“Frustrating week in KY. Lost to a guy who was literally in jail Friday morning,” fellow PGA Tour pro Max Homa posted on Instagram after finishing five shots behind Scheffler. “Tough look for me.”

Homa was kidding, of course. Yet the attention has put Scheffler in the uncomfortable position of trying to balance very disparate things at the same time.

Yes, he really was placed in handcuffs and taken to jail for allegedly disobeying the orders of a police officer tending to the scene of an accident where a vendor working the tournament was struck and killed by a bus. Yes, he really did get fingerprinted. Yes, he really did still make it back to the course in time to fire a 4-under 67 that put him in contention.

Still, all of this was taking place against the backdrop of a tragedy that wasn’t far from Scheffler’s mind. He extended his sympathies to John Mills’ family on Friday while adding his arrest was a “big misunderstanding” and that his situation would “get handled.”

It’s a lot to take in. Yet Scheffler was able — for two of the final three rounds anyway — to somehow tune out all of it.

“I’ve gotten better throughout my career of leaving the off-course distractions at home and kind of keeping a pretty quiet personal life,” he said. “And this week obviously that was not the case.”

No, it was not. Much of what was happening around Scheffler — in particular the way fans had fun with the image of a player whose idea of a good time is staying in and playing board games — was out of his control. He didn’t ask for it and tried to turn the “Free Scotties” into so much background noise.

Sunday, with caddie Ted Scott back on the bag a day after Scott went home to attend his daughter’s high school graduation, Scheffler put together a charge fueled by seven birdies against one bogey that looked — inside the ropes anyway — an awful lot like business as usual.

Except, it wasn’t. Scheffler admitted he nearly fell asleep while signing his scorecard and his thoughts immediately began racing toward the opportunity to get out of Kentucky and get back to Texas, family and fatherhood.

He is scheduled to play at Colonial in Fort Worth next week. He intends on keeping that commitment, but only after having a chance to reunite with Meredith and Bennett and put a little distance between himself and three “hectic” days he never saw coming.

“I’m just kind of just wondering what time bedtime is,” Scheffler said. “I’m trying to figure out how quickly I can get home from here and, yeah, that’s pretty much it.”

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Nelly Korda wins Mizuho Americas Open by a stroke for sixth win in seven events

SportsNets - Sun, 05/19/2024 - 17:05

JERSEY CITY, N.J. — With her record-tying winning streak over, Nelly Korda got back to doing what she does best — winning.

Nelly Korda won a back-nine showdown with Hannah Green of Australia with a par on the 18th hole to capture the Mizuho Americas Open by a stroke Sunday for her sixth win in seven starts on the LPGA Tour this year.

“Oh, my gosh, six,” Korda said. “I can’t even really gather myself right now with that, the head-to-head that Hannah and I had pretty much all day. Wasn’t my best stuff out there today, but fought really hard on the back nine.”

“It was just amazing to share the stage with Hannah.”

The victory made the 25-year-old American only the fourth player on tour to win six times before June 1, joining LPGA Hall of Famers Babe Zaharias (1951), Louise Suggs (1953) and Lorena Ochoa (2008). She also is the first player since Inbee Park (2013) to record six wins in a single season.

The LPGA record for wins in a season is 13 by Mickey Wright in 1963.

Maude-Aimee Leblanc of Sherbrooke, Que., finished in a tie for 47th at 1 under. Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., finished tied for 56th at 3 over.

Korda’s 14th career victory came a week after her record-tying five-tournament winning streak was snapped by Rose Zhang at the Cognizant Founders Cup. Zhang withdrew Thursday after three holes with an intestinal issue.

After playing the front nine in 2-over and getting a motivational nudge from caddie Jason McDede, Korda matched birdies with Green on the 10th, 13th and 15th holes at scenic Liberty National to stay tied for the lead at 14 under. The pairing matched the tour’s only two multiple winners this year.

Korda, the third-round leader by two shots, shot a final-round 71 and finished at 14-under 274. Green, who was looking for her third win, had a 70 and finished at 275.

“I mean, there is something special about the grind of not having your best stuff and then still mentally being able to pull it off,” Korda said.

After Korda put her drive in the fairway on the par-4 No. 18, Green pulled her drive into the left rough. Her second to the green was short and left and still in the rough. After Korda hit her approach to 15 feet from the hole, Green’s chip over a bunker landed 10 feet in front of the hole and then rolled back a little.

Korda putted to tap-in range and finished out, while Green’s putt to extend the tournament to a playoff never touched the hole.

Korda then raised her hands and accepted the cheers from the crowd in this event held with a view of the New York City skyline and Statue of Liberty in the background.

“I mean, to lose to Nelly kind of like is — it’s sad, but then it’s also Nelly Korda,” Green said. “You know, like she’s obviously so dominant right now. To feel like second behind her is quite nice. Unfortunately the bogey on the last has a little bit of a sour taste.”

Jennifer Kupcho, who lost this event in a playoff with Zhang last year, finished tied for third with rookie Gabriela Ruffels of Australia and Ariya Jutanugarn and Chanettee Wannasaen, both of Thailand.

Playing hours before the leaders teed off, Wannasaen had the best round of the day with a 7-under 65. Jutanugarn had a 70, Kupcho shot 71 and Ruffels had a 72 in finishing third for the second straight week.

After being tied for the lead by Ayaka Furue of Japan and Kupcho with nine holes to play, Korda and Green turned the tournament into a two-player race with their matching birdies to open a four-shot lead over the rest of the field. When one hit it close, the other followed.

Furue finished in a large group at 9-under.

Korda is the eighth player to win six times in a year since 1980. The others are Betsy King (1989), Annika Sorenstam (1997, 2003), Karrie Webb (1999, 2000), Lorena Ochoa (2006, 2008), Park, Beth Daniel (1990) and Yani Tseng (2011).

Korda earned $450,000, bringing her career earnings to $11,880,981 and her season earnings to $2,943,708.

The tour has a week off and then heads to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, for the U.S. Women’s Open. Korda has dreamed of winning the title but has not yet done it.

“Obviously it’s on the top of my priority list,” she said. “I just know there is never any good when you put more pressure on yourself. Just going to stay in my bubble that week and take it a shot at a time.”

If she does, maybe No. 7 is not too far away.

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Xander Schauffele wins PGA Championship to claim first major title

SportsNets - Sun, 05/19/2024 - 16:55

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Every step Xander Schauffele took Sunday toward becoming a major champion brought small reminders that it was never going to be easy.

It wasn’t just Bryson DeChambeau pushing in the PGA Championship until he finally caught Schauffele with a birdie on the last hole at Valhalla.

It was the mud on Schauffele’s golf ball after a good drive on the 16th. It was the tee shot on the 17th that kicked back into a bunker instead of forward into the fairway. Needing birdie on the par-5 18th for the win, he hit what he thought was a good drive until Schauffele walked up and saw it had rolled close enough to a bunker that he couldn’t get a clean shot at the green.

“I just kept telling myself, ‘Man, someone out there is making me earn this right now,’” Schauffele said. “I get up there and just kind of chuckled. I was like, ‘If you want to be a major champion, this is the kind of stuff you have to deal with.’”

There was one other message he preached along the back nine.

“I told myself this is my opportunity — capture it,” Schauffele said.

A gutsy shot from the fairway — standing in the bunker with the ball above his feet, he worried about a shank — came up some 35 yards short with a perfect angle, and his pitch up the slope to 6 feet gave him the moment he always wanted.

And then the 30-year-old Californian, a hard-luck runner-up to Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy the last two months, delivered some magic of his own.

He swirled in a 6-foot birdie putt on the final hole to win a thriller at Valhalla. The putt denied DeChambeau — and LIV Golf — a chance at another major title and put Schauffele in the record book with the lowest 72-hole score in major championship history.

“I just kept telling myself, ‘I need to earn this — earn this and be in the moment.’ And I was able to do that,” Schauffele said. “I don’t really remember it lipping in. I just heard everyone roaring and I just looked up to the sky in relief.”

And with that, the Olympic gold medalist got something even more valuable in silver — that enormous Wanamaker Trophy after a wild week at Valhalla.

He closed with a 6-under 65 to beat DeChambeau, who was entertaining to the very end by turning a huge break into an unlikely birdie on the 16th hole and a 10-foot birdie on the par-5 18th for a 64.

“Shot 20-under par in a major championship,” DeChambeau said. “Definitely disappointing, but one that gives me a lot of momentum for the rest of the majors.”

Schauffele became the first player since Phil Mickelson in 2005 at Baltusrol to win the PGA Championship with a birdie on the last hole to win by one.

Even the last shot had drama. Schauffele crouched to study the putt and couldn’t figure out which way it was going to break. He played it straight, with just enough speed that when it caught the edge of the cup gravity was starting to take over.

Schauffele, who exudes California chill, raised both arms above his head with the biggest smile before a hard hug with Austin Kaiser, his caddie and former teammate at San Diego State.

DeChambeau was on the range, staying loose for a potential playoff, watching Schauffele from a large video board. He saw the winning putt fall, and walked all the way back to the 18th to join in with so many other players wanting to congratulate the 30-year-old.

Brooks Koepka won the PGA Championship last year and remains the only LIV Golf player to win a major. DeChambeau was close to matching him.

“I gave it my all. I put as much effort as I possibly could into it and I knew that my B game would be enough,” DeChambeau said. “It’s just clearly somebody played incredibly well. Xander’s well deserving of a major championship.”

Viktor Hovland, the FedEx Cup champion who wasn’t sure he even belonged at Valhalla while trying to work his way out of a slump, also had a 10-foot putt to tie DeChambeau. He missed the birdie, then missed a meaningless par putt and shot 66 to finish third.

Schauffele, who began this championship with a 62 to tie the major championship record, finished at 21-under 263 with that winning birdie. That beats by one shot the major record previously shared by Koepka in the 2018 PGA Championship at Bellerive and Henrik Stenson in the 2016 British Open at Royal Troon.

And so ended another memorable week at Valhalla.

Scheffler, who arrived five days after the birth of his first child, was arrested and briefly jailed on Friday morning for not following directions of police investigating a fatal car crash involving a pedestrian an hour earlier.

He got out of jail and to the course in time to play the second round and shot 66. But it caught up with him on the weekend. Scheffler fell out of contention with a 73 on Saturday — his first round over par since last August. He closed with a 65 to tie for eighth.

Two players — Schauffele on Thursday and Shane Lowry on Saturday — tied the major record with a 62. Scoring records seemed to fall just about every day on a rain-softened course.

All that, and it came down to one putt that Schauffele will never forget.

But then, he was great from the start when he holed a 30-foot birdie putt at No. 1 to break out of a tie with Collin Morikawa. Schauffele went out in 31 and figured he had a comfortable lead, only to see a board that showed DeChambeau and Hovland in close pursuit.

And then Schauffele made a soft bogey on the par-5 10th, the easiest hold at Valhalla, and he suddenly was tied. It was easy to wonder what would go wrong next, if he would fall victim to another great round like Scheffler’s 64 at The Players Championship or McIlroy’s 65 last week at the Wells Fargo Championship.

Kaiser recalls Schauffele telling him, “We’ve got to go get it.”

He hit 7-iron to 8 feet for birdie on the 11th, another 7-iron to 6 feet for birdie on the 12th and the lead was restored. He held on with pars from mud balls, and with a clutch save on the 17th, setting up a moment that was all his.

In so many ways, this time was overdue. He had gone nearly two years since last winning at the Scottish Open. Schauffele had eight consecutive finishes in the top 20 at majors coming into Valhalla. He already had a pair of runner-up finishes and six top 5s.

The victory was his eighth on the PGA Tour — that doesn’t include his Olympic gold from the Tokyo Games in 2021. This one moves him to a career-best No. 2 in the world, still a long way from Scheffler but assuring Schauffele of qualifying for the U.S. team in the Olympics.

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Toronto’s Penny Oleksiak wins women’s 50m freestyle at Olympic swim trials

SportsNets - Sun, 05/19/2024 - 16:50

For Penny Oleksiak, Sunday’s race served as good practice for her hopes to make another event.

The Toronto native captured the women’s 50-metre freestyle event at the Olympic & Paralympic Trials in a personal-best time of 25.06 seconds. The time was just over the Olympic qualifying standard of 24.70 seconds.

On Friday, the seven-time Olympic medallist won the 100 freestyle while just missing the qualifying time but easily getting under the Olympic consideration time.

Each country can enter a maximum of two athletes per individual event with the deadline to go under the qualifying time at an approved World Aquatics competition being June 23.

“The focus was just to see how good I could get my 50, I’m not a 50 freestyler,” Oleksiak said. “It’s just kind of practice for the front end of my 100. … I still have until June 23 to hit that A cut to swim individually in the 100.

“So I’m just trying to make that stronger and hopefully I could get that A cut by June 23.”

Oleksiak can compete in the women’s 4×100-metre freestyle relay in Paris, but there’s no guarantee she’ll race the individual 100 freestyle there.

“If I make the time, awesome, I would love to be a part of that race and see what I could do,” Oleksiak said of the 100 freestyle. “But also, if I don’t, then I’m just stronger for the relays and we can get some medals in those. I’m excited for that, too.”

Athletes with the Olympic consideration times will be invited to compete only if the overall quota of 852 athletes hasn’t been reached after accounting for athletes qualified by way of the Olympic qualifying time, relays, and universality.

Oleksiak also failed to get under both the qualifying and consideration times in the women’s 200 freestyle Tuesday in finishing ninth.

Summer McIntosh qualified herself for a fifth individual event for the Paris Olympics, winning the women’s 200 individual medley.

The 17-year-old Toronto sensation finished with a time of two minutes 7.06 seconds to lead a quartet of swimmers who stopped the clock under the Olympic qualifying time. Sydney Pickrem placed second at 2:07.68.

“I’m pretty happy with it,” McIntosh said of her performance. “Definitely was a little bit rusty on some of my technique things but that just means there’s more room for improvement in that event.

“The more I swim that, the more I learn and have more experience in it because it is more of a newer event for me and it’s also more a sprinty event, so learning how to work those quick transitions in IM takes a bit of practice, for sure.”

In the men’s 100 butterfly, Josh Liendo set the field on fire with a second straight Canadian record on the day.

The Markham, Ont., native followed up his initial Canadian record time of 50.33 seconds in the preliminary round earlier in the day with a 50.06 second-showing in the evening final.

Ilya Kharun (51.09) of Montreal and Finlay Knox (51.42) of Okotoks, Alta., also went under the Olympic qualifying time of 51.67 seconds.

It’s the third event the 21-year-old Liendo — who earned silver at the 2023 world championships in the 100 butterfly — has qualified himself for the Paris Games. He did so on Saturday in the 50 freestyle and on Thursday in the 100 freestyle.

“Just a good trial, as they say, a good trial for the summer,” Liendo said. “I thought I handled it well and yeah, I’m just excited to, obviously enjoy this for a little bit but I’m excited to get back into work and try to see what I could do better in Paris.”

In para-swimming, Sebastian Massabie broke his own Canadian record in the men’s 50 freestyle in the S4 class. He swam a time of 38.08 seconds to shave 0.4 seconds off his previous mark.

The Surrey, B.C., native also set a new national record in the men’s 200 freestyle with a time of 3:07.00.

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Canucks’ Brock Boeser expected to miss Game 7 with blood clotting issue

SportsNets - Sun, 05/19/2024 - 16:46

Vancouver Canucks winger Brock Boeser is expected to miss Game 7 against Edmonton with a blood clotting issue.

The exact timeline for his return is unknown, but several sources stressed this, thankfully, is not considered a life-threatening situation.

It’s a big loss for the Canucks, as Boeser is having an excellent season — leading Vancouver with seven goals and 12 points in 12 playoff games.

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It all comes down to this. The Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers will play a winner-take-all Game 7 with a chance to advance to the Western Conference Final. Watch the game Monday at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.

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Pacers knock out Knicks in Game 7, advance to Eastern Conference Finals

SportsNets - Sun, 05/19/2024 - 16:05

NEW YORK — Tyrese Haliburton scored 26 points and the Indiana Pacers rode one of the most sensational first halves in Game 7 history to a 130-109 victory over the New York Knicks on Sunday, advancing to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in 10 years.

The Pacers made 29 of their 38 shots in the first half, a shooting percentage of 76.3 per cent that was the highest in the post-season since 1997 when the NBA began keeping detailed play-by-play for all four quarters. They led 70-55 at that point and pulled away every time the Knicks tried to make a run in the second half.

The No. 6-seeded Pacers set an NBA playoff record by finishing at 67.1 per cent for the game and advanced to face top-seeded Boston in a series that begins Tuesday. Indiana last reached the conference finals in 2014, losing to Miami.

Jalen Brunson left in the second half with a broken left hand, one final injury for a Knicks team that was decimated by them.

They got OG Anunoby back Sunday after he missed the previous four games with a strained left hamstring, but he clearly wasn’t moving well and was taken out of the game after just five minutes.

Pascal Siakam and Andrew Nembhard each scored 20 points and Aaron Nesmith was 8-for-8 en route to his 19 for the Pacers.

Donte DiVincenzo made nine 3-pointers and scored 39 points for the Knicks, who were trying to reach the conference finals for the first time since 2000 but couldn’t overcome the losses of Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson and Bojan Bogdanovic, before losing Anunoby and finally Brunson.

Brunson finished with 17 points and nine assists, shooting 6-for-17 after scoring 40 or more points five times in this post-season. Alec Burks came off the bench for 26 points.

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The third Game 7 between the franchises — the Knicks won in the 1994 Eastern Conference finals and the Pacers pulled out a 97-95 victory the next year in the East semifinals — was a chance for the Pacers to show off the offence that led the NBA with 123.3 points per game.

They scored 39 points in the first quarter, the most in a Game 7 in the play-by-play era, looking every bit like the team that set an NBA record this season by reaching 140 11 times.

The Pacers made 10 of their first 11 shots — it would have been 11 of 12, but Myles Turner’s dunk attempt bounced back out of the basket — and didn’t slow down much the rest of the half. Knicks fans who were screaming and chanting before the game were groaning during it as the Pacers made shot after shot, no matter how well the Knicks had defended them.

The Pacers led 39-27 after shooting 16 for 21 from the field (76.2 per cent) and 7 for 9 from 3-point range (77.8 per cent) in the first quarter. Indiana then went 13 for 17 (76.5 per cent) in the second quarter, with the lead growing to 22 points.

The Knicks cut it to 70-55 at halftime, then scored the first seven out of the break as part of a 12-3 start to the second half that trimmed it to 73-67. But with the Pacers leading by seven, the Knicks committed three straight turnovers that helped Indiana push the lead to 84-70.

Josh Hart played through an abdominal strain for the Knicks, fouling out with 10 points and eight rebounds.

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Cozens scores twice as Canada beats Switzerland at Worlds

SportsNets - Sun, 05/19/2024 - 15:45

PRAGUE — Dylan Cozens scored twice and added an assist as Canada edged Switzerland 3-2 on Sunday to remain unbeaten at the world hockey championship.

Canada, the defending champion, improved to 6-0 in the tournament, with one of those victories coming in overtime. Switzerland suffered its first loss in six contests.

The win moved Canada atop the Group A standings with 17 points, two ahead of second-place Czechia. The Canadians face off against Czechia on Tuesday.

Switzerland stands third with 14 points.

Nick Paul had the other goal for Canada, scoring in the second period to snap a 2-2 tie. Andrew Mangiapane added three assists while John Tavares had two as all three Canadian goals came with the man advantage.

Canadian goaltender Jordan Binnington made 20 saves, including on a Swiss penalty shot in the second with the game tied 2-2.

Cozens opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 1:42 of the first. But after Kevin Fiala tied the score at 11:15, Roman Loeffel put the Swiss ahead 2-1 at 5:03 of the second.

But Fiala’s kneeing major and game misconduct later in the second opened the door for Canada, which responded with two power-play goals.

Cozens made it 2-2 at 8:26 before Paul scored the eventual game-winner at 10:39. Cozens drew an assist as the Canadians took their one-goal lead into the third.

Sandwiched between those was Binnington’s blocker save on Sven Andrighetto on the Swiss penalty shot while shorthanded.

Canada killed off two Swiss power plays in the first half of the third before the Swiss returned the favour later in the period. Switzerland removed goaltender Leonardo Genoni in favour of an extra attacker at 18:05 but couldn’t come up with the tying goal.

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Gunnar Henderson’s MLB-leading 15th HR ignites Orioles offence in win over Mariners

SportsNets - Sun, 05/19/2024 - 15:31

BALTIMORE — Gunnar Henderson hit his major league-leading 15th home run, Ryan O’Hearn also went deep and Corbin Burnes notched 11 strikeouts to help the Baltimore Orioles beat the Seattle Mariners 6-3 Sunday.

Henderson’s fifth leadoff homer of the season was the first of nine hits against George Kirby (4-4) in the deciding matchup of the three-game series. Henderson homered in each game while going 5 for 12 with two walks and five RBIs.

“That’s 15 homers in less than two months from a guy that’s in his second full year in the big leagues. It’s pretty amazing,” Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde said. “He’s one of the best players in this game right now.”

Burnes (4-2) allowed one run and seven hits in six innings to earn his first win in five starts since April 20. The 11 strikeouts matched his season high, set on opening day against the Angels.

“Really dominant,” Hyde said of Burnes. “He had everything going today.”

Craig Kimbrel, who lost his job as Baltimore’s closer after a series of ineffective appearances, returned to the role and got three straight outs for his ninth save of the season and 426th of his career over 800 games.

“I know he was itching to get out there on the mound,” Hyde said. “It was great seeing him go three up, three down today.”

Luis Urías drove in two runs and Luke Raley had three hits for the Mariners, who fell behind 5-1 in the third inning and could not make up the deficit. Seattle had won eight of nine series dating back to April 15.

At least they won’t have to see Henderson again until the teams meet in Seattle in July.

“He’s fantastic,” Raley said. “Not only is his hitting awesome, but he’s a really good defensive shortstop. A guy that can hit like that at shortstop is a really nice thing to have.”

Kirby gave up five runs over six innings. He entered with a string of eight successive scoreless innings, a streak that abruptly ended when Henderson ripped a 1-2 pitch over the center-field wall.

Henderson, the surprise MLB leader in long balls, said, “Who would say they don’t want to be at the top with home runs in the major leagues? I am just going out there and trying to help the team win, and if homers come with it, so be it.”

It was 3-1 before O’Hearn led off the third with a drive to right, and Cedric Mullins added an RBI single later in the inning.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Mariners: INF Jorge Polanco (hamstring) missed a fifth straight game, and the team will decide whether to put him on the IL after arriving at Yankee Stadium on Monday for a four-game series. “We will probably make a decision when we get to New York,” Servais said. “He is feeling better. That is why we are holding off as long as we can.” … SS J.P. Crawford (oblique) has been working out in Seattle after getting hit in the hand with a pitch during his rehab assignment. Servais said Crawford could join the team in New York.

Orioles: RF Anthony Santander sat out the game with a bruised left knee.

UP NEXT

Mariners: Logan Gilbert (3-2, 3.07 ERA) starts Monday night against the Yankees in a battle of division leaders.

Orioles: Dean Kremer (3-3, 3.72) helps Baltimore launch a three-game series in St. Louis on Monday night.

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Rangers’ Blake Wheeler available for Eastern Conference Final vs. Panthers

SportsNets - Sun, 05/19/2024 - 14:56

New York Rangers forward Blake Wheeler is ready to play.

On Sunday, after an optional skate, the 37-year-old revealed that he’s available to play in the Eastern Conference Final against the Florida Panthers after being out with an injury since February.

Eastern Conference Final: Rangers vs. Panthers

Keep up with the latest news and analysis as the New York Rangers take on the Florida Panthers for a chance to play in the Stanley Cup Final.

Full Coverage

“I think once you get rid of the red jersey, and the fact they take me off of the injured reserve, I think that’s been my goal the whole time since I got hurt: to be an option and be available again. And that’s where we’re at,” he said, per ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski.

“It’s going to be in the coach’s hands from there, but I’m ready in any capacity I can to help out.”

The Minnesota native was injured on Feb. 15 against the Montreal Canadiens. His leg bent at an unnatural angle, and he needed help off the ice.

Wheeler was placed on the injured reserve for the remainder of the regular season, but has been participating in practice the past few weeks and was allowed to take off his non-contact jersey on Monday.

New York signed Wheeler last summer after his contract was bought out by the Winnipeg Jets. Before his injury, Wheeler registered 21 points in 54 games this season.

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Judge homers to lead Yankees to seventh straight win in series finale vs. White Sox

SportsNets - Sun, 05/19/2024 - 14:56

NEW YORK — Aaron Judge and Jon Berti homered into Yankee Stadium’s right field short porch, and New York extended its winning streak to seven by beating the Chicago White Sox 7-2 on Sunday for a three-game sweep.

Judge’s homer was his 13th this season and seventh in 13 games. Eight of his last nine hits have been for extra bases.

Carlos Rodón (5-2) won his third straight start for New York, an AL-best 33-15. The Yankees have won 13 of 15 and are on their longest winning streak since Sept. 18-25, 2022. The Yankees swept their fourth series, matching last year’s total.

Chicago, an AL-worst 14-33, has been swept seven times. The White Sox wasted a 2-0 lead and dropped to a major league-worst 4-19 on the road.

“We just got outhomered,” Chicago manager Pedro Grifol said. “You got to put the ball in the seats in this ballpark.”

New York’s Nos. 5-9 batters — Anthony Rizzo, Gleyber Torres, Jose Trevino and Berti — were 7 for 15 with five RBIs.

“Just contributions from everyone, the whole roster is contributing,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.

Trevino hit a tying, two-run single in the second after picking off Zach Remillard at third to end the top half as the Yankees appealed a call that Martín Maldonado had checked his swing on an 0-2 pitch.

Berti put the Yankees ahead 5-2 with a three-run homer in the fourth against Chris Flexen (2-4), an opposite-field drive on a cutter into the first row of the right-center field seats above the former auxiliary scoreboard. The 366-foot drive was Berti’s first since the Yankees acquired him from Miami late in spring training and would have been a home run only at Yankee Stadium and at Cincinnati, according to Statcast.

“It felt good off the bat but I didn’t know if I got enough of it,” Berti said. “Fortunately it had enough. I think it might have been an out in Miami, obviously, so it’s a lot more fun.”

Judge followed a walk to Juan Soto in the fifth by lining a first pitch from Flexen into the first row. The 339-foot shot would not have been a homer at any other big league ballpark, according to Statcast.

“I said it to him a few minutes later, ’I think you’re the only person who can hit a ball like that,’” Boone said. “He held the ground so well, so he had some power behind it but I did think it was going to go and, yeah, I mean, pretty impressive.”

Rodón (5-2) allowed two runs and four hits in six innings against the team that selected him third overall in the 2014 amateur draft. He struck out six and walked two.

Clay Holmes got the final two outs on four pitches after Michael Tonkin put two on in the ninth.

“My goal was just to out there and go as long as I could,” said Rodón, whom Boone said was feeling ill in the days leading to the start,

New York starters have allowed five runs and pitched at least six innings in the last seven starts, marking the third time in team history Yankee starters allowed five runs or fewer in a seven-game span.

Corey Julks hit his first home run this season and Remillard had an RBI triple as the White Sox were held to two runs or fewer for the 24th time this season. Julks made a leaping catch at the left-field wall, robbing Trevino of a home run in the sixth.

Flexen (2-4) allowed seven runs and eight hits in four-plus innings. It was the 16th time in 22 games a Chicago starter did not pitch five innings.

TRAINER’S ROOM

White Sox: INF Bryan Ramos, who was placed on the injured list Wednesday, is expected to start a rehab assignment at Triple-A Charlotte on Tuesday

Yankees: INF DJ LeMahieu had an RBI single, walked three times, scored twice and played five innings in the field in a rehab assignment with Double-A Somerset. The two-time batting champion will play consecutive games Tuesday and Wednesday and three in a row next weekend. LeMahieu has been sidelined since breaking his right foot March 16 on a foul ball in spring training. … RHP Tommy Kahnle (shoulder inflammation) struck out two and threw 10 pitches in his third rehab outing for Somerset and fifth overall. He is likely to be activated Wednesday.

UP NEXT

White Sox: RHP Erick Fedde (4-0, 2.60 ERA) opposes LHP Jose Berríos (4-3, 2.82) in the opener of a three-game series at Toronto on Monday.

Yankees: RHP Marcus Stroman (3-2, 3.33) opposes Seattle RHP Logan Gilbert (3-2, 3.07) in the opener of a four-game series Monday night.

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Devers ties Red Sox record with homer in fifth straight game in win over Cardinals

SportsNets - Sun, 05/19/2024 - 14:45

ST. LOUIS — Rafael Devers tied a Boston record by homering for his fifth consecutive game, and the Red Sox beat the St. Louis Cardinals 11-3 on Sunday to stop a season-high, four-game losing streak.

Devers hit a two-run homer in the sixth off Ryan Fernandez, his ninth home run this season.

“It feels good,” Devers said through an interpreter. “It’s important when we win these kind of games.”

He became the seventh Boston player to homer in five straight games, the first since Bobby Dalbec from Sept. 5-10, 2020.

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“When that guy gets on a heater, it’s really fun to watch,” teammate Tyler O’Neill said. “He’s been one of the best hitters in the league for a long time.”

O’Neill homered against his former team as Boston rebounded after falling two games under .500 for the first time this season. The Red Sox outhit St. Louis 14-6.

O’Neill received a 45-second standing ovation prior to his first at-bat in the series opener on Friday. He also got a smattering of applause from St. Louis fans after the home run on Sunday.

“A very special weekend for me,” O’Neill said. “I’ve had this series circled on the calendar for a little while. The fans have greeted me with a lot of positively. This has been really heartwarming.”

O’Neill, who played for St. Louis from 2018-23, had two hits and a pair of walks. He hit his 11th home run of the season, a go-ahead, first-inning drive on a 3-0 pitch off Matthew Liberatore (1-2).

Nick Pivetta (2-2) gave up one run on one hit in six innings with eight strikeouts and no walks. He retired 18 of the 19 batters he faced.

“I was able to get in a good rhythm from pitch one,” Pivetta said.

Garrett Cooper hit an RBI double in the second, and Boston opened a 4-0 lead in the fourth on Romy González’s RBI double and Jarren Duran’s run-scoring triple.

Liberatore gave up four runs and six hits in three innings.

Lars Nootbaar homered for St. Louis, which had won five of its six previous games.

Pinch-hitter David Hamilton had a solo homer for the Red Sox in the ninth against Nick Robertson.

St. Louis scored 17 runs in winning the first two games of the series. The Cardinals have homered in seven successive games.

“We’re finally scoring runs and it feels good,” St. Louis infielder Brendan Donovan said.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: RHP Giovanny Gallegos threw a bullpen session on Friday. He went on the 15-day IL on May 6 with right shoulder impingement.

UP NEXT

Red Sox: RHP Tanner Houck (3-5, 2.17) will open a three-game series Monday at Tampa Bay and RHP Taj Bradley (1-1, 2.45). Houck threw a career-high 112 pitches over 5 2/3 innings in a 4-3 loss to the Rays on Wednesday.

Cardinals: RHP Sonny Gray (5-2, 3.05) will start Monday’s series opener against Baltimore and RHP Dean Kremer (3-3, 3.72).

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How Manoah dominated the Rays with his entire pitching arsenal

SportsNets - Sun, 05/19/2024 - 14:30

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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, young Thunder brimming with optimism after second-round playoff exit

SportsNets - Sun, 05/19/2024 - 14:28

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma City Thunder might just be scratching the surface of their potential.

Oklahoma City’s season ended Saturday night with a loss to Dallas in the second round of the Western Conference playoffs. But the fact that the Thunder even got that far should concern the rest of the league. After missing the playoffs last year, they became the youngest team in NBA history to clinch a No. 1 seed and the youngest to win a playoff series this season.

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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was an MVP finalist and proved himself worthy by averaging 30 points per game in the playoffs. Chet Holmgren was runner-up for Rookie of the Year and established himself as one of the league’s top shot blockers. Jalen Williams, the runner-up for Rookie of the Year last season, was the steady No. 2 scorer this season. Lu Dort was one of the league’s top perimeter defenders.

That core, with no starters older than 25, was among the key reasons Mark Daigneault was named NBA Coach of the Year, and why he’s looking forward to the future.

“This is a young team that is evolving, and we have runway because of the age of the team and the experience level of the team,” Daigneault said. “A lot of people talked about our experience in a negative fashion this year, like, ‘You guys don’t have experience.’ But part of that is it gives you an incredible runway moving forward, and it gives us a lot of optimism as we continue to go.”

Gilgeous-Alexander has emerged as a superstar the past two years. Last season, he was a first-team All-NBA selection. This season, he was an All-Star again and ranked third in the NBA in scoring. He also finished second in the league in steals and seventh in the balloting for Defensive Player of the Year.

Daigneault said Gilgeous-Alexander improved on little things this season.

“I think it’s easy to get awestruck by his talent and what he’s accomplishing and how efficiently he does it and the place that he’s carved out in the league,” Daigneault said. “But the secret behind that is very consistent work, very targeted work, and incremental improvement.”

Holmgren was the No. 2 pick in the 2022 draft, but the 7-foot-1 forward missed last season with a foot injury. He came back and played every game this season, creating problems on both ends of the floor with his versatility. He was the missing piece for a defence that lacked a rim protector last season.

“Right now this is, in my opinion, the lowest level of Chet Holmgren we’re going to see, which is pretty exciting,” Daigneault said. “And the reason I’m so confident saying that is because of his appetite for improvement. He’s a guy that is incredibly focused. Basketball is his number one priority. He sleeps in his sneakers. He will have a great summer physically and skill-wise.”

The Thunder also got significant contributions from Josh Giddey, Isaiah Joe, Aaron Wiggins, Jaylin Williams and rookie Cason Wallace. Wiggins, 25, is the oldest player in that group.

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Beyond the talent, the Thunder had excellent chemistry on and off the court. The players often would bark and joke around during each other’s postgame interviews.

“I think, above all, it was just very fun,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I think that’s where it all starts. Like every day you come to work where it doesn’t feel like work. You come to work, and you try to excel individually and as a group. When you have so much fun, it makes everything else easier. It kind of clouds all the bad stuff because you’re having so much fun.”

Oklahoma City’s confidence started to build as the wins piled up.

“We proved in the regular season with the season we had that there’s no one we couldn’t beat, literally,” Daigneault said. “It’s just never my mentality to look left and right. Looking right in front of me, we had everything we needed. We had a special group of guys. Part of what made them special is how they operated collectively.”

Gilgeous-Alexander believes the series loss to Dallas will accelerate the team’s growth process.

“I think this is a bump in the road,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We learn from it. We get better. And hopefully get to our goal in the end.”

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Springer slides down, then steps up as Manoah tosses gem in win vs. Rays

SportsNets - Sun, 05/19/2024 - 14:20

TORONTO — Inside a quiet Toronto Blue Jays clubhouse Friday night after a 4-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, manager John Schneider called George Springer into his office and told his leadoff man the time had come for a change. Davis Schneider was moving atop the batting order with the four-time all-star, slumping badly at .196/.271.288, sliding to sixth.

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The specifics of their conversation, “I’ll keep between us two, but I get it, I understand,” said Springer. “I need to do what’s best for the team and I understand that wholeheartedly. I’m not mad. There’s nothing to be mad about. I play for the Toronto Blue Jays. I don’t play for myself. … At this moment, (Davis Schneider) deserves it. He deserves to do it. He’s been swinging the bat well and there’s no secret that I haven’t lived up to my end of the bargain. That’s OK. I understand. I’m going to be the same hitter. I’m going to think the same way. The only difference is I’m not going to lead off the game.”

Springer collected an RBI single on Saturday and looked even more like himself Sunday, when he ripped an RBI double at 102.1 m.p.h. off the bat during a two-run fourth, walked twice and scored twice in a 5-2 victory that prevented a three-game Rays sweep.

Along with Daniel Vogelbach, who opened the scoring in the second inning with his first homer of the season, and Alejandro Kirk, who drove in his first runs of the month with a two-run double in the sixth, Springer’s efforts helped back a resurgent Alek Manoah, who pitched his team to victory for the first time since last Aug. 4 at Boston.

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The right-hander, so pivotal to the Blue Jays’ trajectory both short- and long-term, allowed just one hit, a walk and two hit batters over seven shutout innings in his most promising start yet.

He topped out at 95.6 m.p.h. with his sinker, manipulated his slider to get five whiffs, seven strikeouts and six outs on balls in play. He used his changeup to keep the four lefties the Rays lined up under control, with Ben Rortvedt chopping one up the middle for the only hit against him. And perhaps most importantly, he commanded all of his pitches, never once experiencing even a hint of trouble.

“A ton of confidence in that pitch right now,” Manoah said of his slider, a key element in his recent progression. “And biggest thing is really not thinking about the vertical or the horizontal on it or anything, just kind of reading swings and manipulating it towards those swings. It’s just being able to attack with it and trust it and whatever happens, happens.”

For the Blue Jays, now 20-25 as they begin a 13-game stretch against the struggling Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers and Pittsburgh Pirates, to correct, they’ll need sustained rebounds from Manoah, Kirk and Springer, among other players.

Slow starts are not unusual for Springer, although with the club’s issues scoring runs this season, the Blue Jays can’t afford to simply wait for him to come around. Like the team as a whole, he believes he’s been better than his numbers suggest — “It’s been a weird year. Again, I don’t know how to describe it,” he said — and his expected batting average of .254 and expected slug of .373 seem to support that.

Still, his average exit velocity is down to 87.2 m.p.h. from 88.3 m.p.h. a year ago, his launch angle is down 2.5 degrees at 9.5, and his hard-hit percentage is down nearly five per cent at 35.2 per cent.

Getting the ball elevated more has been one focus (he did that on his double) but “I’m not necessarily working on anything in the batter’s box,” he said.

“I’m trying to compete. I develop game-plans for the start of the game and depending on who it is, I’ve had a lot of experience with a lot of these guys so I have to try to navigate it,” he continued. “It’s kind of understanding the situation. I’m trying to get a pitch to hit and when I do hit it, hit it away from guys. I know I’ve done a good job of keeping the ball in the strike zone. I’ve hit a lot of balls hard but that’s kind of irrelevant. I’d rather see it hit 15 miles an hour up and be a hit. I’ve got to stay with it. Keep going. Don’t get frustrated. I understand that there’s a lot of urgency and that I need to hold up my end of the bargain. I understand that.”

The same applies more widely across the roster and the switch atop the lineup is one way manager John Schneider is refusing to surrender to fate while GM Ross Atkins preached urgency and patience with the roster Saturday.

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Springer has batted leadoff in all but 49 of the games he’s started in for the Blue Jays since he joined the club for the 2021 season. The 34-year-old had been a catalyst in the spot for the Houston Astros beforehand, as well, so changing his place in the lineup isn’t something Schneider did lightly.

But when Springer missed three games due to the viral illness that had been circulating through the club in the past week, Davis Schneider moved up and performed well in the role, and combined with the urgency of the moment, led to this weekend’s change.

“We are confident in George and we need him to be who he has been. That’s no secret,” said John Schneider. “Wherever he’s hitting, we just want him to continue to make the progress that he’s making. The walks today, the double, he was excited about the steps that he’s taken. … The guy is too damn good to kind of be in a rut for a whole season. The confidence is never going to waver in him no matter where he’s hitting. But getting him going in the right direction is huge.”

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Especially since the Blue Jays need to act fast if they’re going to leverage a season that still has ample runway in it, but not if they let the hole they’ve already dug get too deep.

“It’s May, there is time, but the more you tell yourself that there is time, the faster you will run out of it,” said Springer. “We’ve played better than our numbers show. We’ve done a lot of good things as a team. We just haven’t put it together. We’ve lost a lot of one-run games and games that have gotten away from us. We also won some games that we probably shouldn’t have. That’s the game. We haven’t done everything together yet.

“The one constant is that guys understand what we need to do. And it’s not like we’re not out there trying. We’ve just got to stick together, and hopefully all aspects of the game come together. And again, it is only May, but you don’t want to use that as a crutch.”

They don’t and they can’t, not if they want the second quarter of the season to look better than the first, not if they want to avoid the more significant changes that will inevitably come without steadier and more consistent positive results.

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Caitlin Clark adjusting to the WNBA, finishes first week on a high note

SportsNets - Sun, 05/19/2024 - 14:12

NEW YORK — Caitlin Clark is adjusting to life as a professional women’s basketball player.

Her first week in the league had moments where she looked very good and others when she struggled. The schedule wasn’t kind with the first three games against two of the top teams in the league with New York and Connecticut.

It’s going to take some time for the Indiana Fever’s young star to find her groove against the incredible talent in the league.

“I’m just trying to remind myself, like, I know this is my job now, but, like, I have fun playing this game and I think that needs to be my focus through the course of this year. It’s just like, have fun, that’s when I’m at my best, too, and that’s when I was at my best in college,” she said after a 91-80 loss to the New York Liberty on Saturday.

The 22-year-old Clark had her best game of the young season against New York, but it still wasn’t enough to get the Fever their first win of the season. The No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft from Iowa had 22 points, including 10 in the first quarter when she came out aggressively.

“I thought I came out and just played harder, and I think that’s going to be just my biggest focus going forward,” Clark said. “Just come out and compete and play hard. I thought our whole group did that.”

Her offensive numbers are pretty impressive as she’s averaging 17.0 points, 5.7 assists and 4.3 rebounds. She’s now just the fourth player to have over 50 points and 21 assists in her first three games, joining Sue Bird, Nikki McCray and Candace Parker.

There are definitely areas for improvement. She’s only shooting 40% from the field — down 5% from her final college season and she has 21 turnovers in the first three games. Her 10 in the opening game were the most ever by a player in their debut.

Opposing players have been sticking up for Clark when asked about the rookie.

“I think the media needs to give her a little bit of grace and time to develop into a player,” Liberty center Jonquel Jones said. “She’s learning every game she’s out there. Her impact on this league is going to be tremendous and only grow as she matures.

“But just give her some time, man. Look at Kelsey Plum and how it was for her when she first came into this league and the player that she is now. Just give her some grace.”

Even if her stats haven’t been at the same eye-popping level they were in college yet, Clark has already left her mark. Her first three games with the Fever have been huge for attendance and TV ratings. The Connecticut Sun sold out their home opener for the first time in 20 years. The game set a record for highest viewership on an ESPN network for the WNBA.

More than 17,000 fans turned out for the Fever’s home opener against the Liberty on Thursday night.

New York had a sellout on Saturday and the Liberty had more than $2 million in ticket revenue for the game at the Barclays Center, a WNBA record, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to talk about the team’s revenue.

“I think the buzz and eyes that Caitlin has brought from Iowa now to the WNBA is going to be a collective win for all. When I first started in the league, some teams weren’t even making revenue,” Liberty forward Breanna Stewart said. “It’s a long time coming. We’re happy to be at this point, but we’re not satisfied.”

Clark said she was most excited when she got back to Indiana that she was going to be able to move into her apartment. She had been living in a hotel since getting to the city last month.

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Conners happy with PGA Championship showing ahead of RBC Canadian Open

SportsNets - Sun, 05/19/2024 - 13:47

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Categories: Canada Sports News, Ontario Sports News, Pro Sports News

Manoah fired up after punching out his seventh batter of the day

SportsNets - Sun, 05/19/2024 - 13:42

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Categories: Canada Sports News, Ontario Sports News, Pro Sports News

Klopp tells fans ‘I love you to bits’ after final match with Liverpool

SportsNets - Sun, 05/19/2024 - 13:20

LIVERPOOL, England — For the last time as Liverpool manager, Jurgen Klopp ran over to The Kop and delivered those repeated fist pumps that have been his signature during his transformational spell at Anfield.

The Liverpool fans — many with tears in their eyes, just like some of the team’s players — responded with a series of deafening roars, and then cheered Klopp as he did a circuit of the field.

Soon enough, he had disappeared out of view down the tunnel.

Gone, but never forgotten.

“I’m one of you now — I love you to bits,” Klopp said among his last words as he addressed the crowd inside Anfield after his final game as Liverpool’s manager, a 2-0 win over Wolverhampton on Sunday.

The match on the final day of the Premier League season doubled as a tribute to a German coach who led Liverpool to seven major trophies in his nearly nine years at Anfield and forged such a connection with the city that he has been compared to Bill Shankly — the club’s legendary manager from 1959-74.

No wonder Klopp looked emotional throughout an afternoon that Liverpool fans never wanted to come.

They lined the streets outside Anfield to welcome Klopp and his players, and then produced a paper mosaic of the word “JURGEN” in the stand opposite the dugouts as he emerged for the game.

“People are calling it The Last Dance. So let’s dance,” Klopp told Sky Sports just off the field before kickoff – and Liverpool obliged by strolling to one final victory for Klopp thanks to goals by Alexis Mac Allister and Jarell Quansah.

In some ways, it was business as usual for Klopp.

He touched the “This is Anfield” sign in the tunnel on the way out to the pitch.

He patrolled the middle of the field with his hands behind his back during the warmups, watching his own team — and then, with that trademark glare, his opponents.

He waved to fans behind the Liverpool dugout and tapped his heart just ahead of kickoff, before soaking in an emotionally charged rendition of the club’s anthem, “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”

“This morning I woke up,” Klopp said before the game, “and I was completely in game mode.”

The farewell party really started after the final whistle, which he marked by embracing each member of his backroom staff and also Wolves manager Gary O’Neil. Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk was in tears as he hugged Klopp near the center circle.

The goodbye celebrations reached a crescendo as Klopp walked back out onto the field about 45 minutes after fulltime, wearing a red hoodie with the words “Thank You Luv” on the front and “I’ll Never Walk Alone” on the back, to speak to the crowd one last time.

“It doesn’t feel like an end. It feels like a start,” Klopp said. “Because I saw a football team full of youth, full of creativity, full of desire.

“For a few weeks, I got too much attention and it feels really uncomfortable but this time I realize a lot of things. People told me I turned them from doubters into believers. That’s not true. Believing is an act. You had to do it yourself. You did it. And nobody tells you now to stop believing.”

With Liverpool right back Trent Alexander-Arnold now in tears, Klopp continued in his speech to the home fans: “Because we have you, the super power of world football.”

He followed it up by chanting the name of Arne Slot, his likely successor.

“Arne Slot, la la la la la,” Klopp sang, to the tune of “Live is Life” by Austrian band Opus.

Liverpool finished third in the standings, nine points behind champion Manchester City, but at least won a trophy in Klopp’s final season — the English League Cup.

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