Tag: blogging

Sunday Sports Shorts

Team Venezuela beat Team Dominican Republic for the first time in the World Baseball Classic tournament, 5-1. 

Fourteen years ago today, Syracuse and UConn went to six overtimes in the Big East Tournament Quarterfinals.

Marquette wins the Big East Championship. The Golden Eagles defeat Xavier to capture their first Big East title. Congratulations to Marquette! Well deserved! 

Duke wins the ACC Championship. The Blue Devils defeated Virginia on Saturday night. It’s their first ACC title since 2019. Duke has now won 9 in a row—one of the hottest teams entering the NCAA tournament. 

Howard University defeated Norfolk State Spartans 65-64. The win gives Howard its first NCAA men’s basketball tournament birth since 1992, the last time before this season that the Bison won the MEAC Tournament and regular season title. 

Edmonton Oilers took on the Toronto Maple Leafs in arguably the most anticipated Saturday night game. Connor McDavid scored No. 55. Oilers had a 3-1 lead, but then the Maple Leafs rallied. They scored five unanswered goals, and they never allowed Edmonton to gain confidence. The Maple Leafs won 7-4. Maple Leafs are a tough team to beat when all their key players contribute. 

Sunday Sports Shorts

The Washington Wizards took on the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center. The nets didn’t have Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in the building. The Wizards didn’t have Bradley Beal on the court. Wizards gave up a 20-point lead. The Nets fought and rallied in the second half. Both teams exchanged baskets in the 4th quarter, but the Nets came out victorious, 125-123. Cam Thomas led the Nets with 41 points. Kristaps Porzingis finished with 38 points. Kyle Kuzma left the game with an injury. The nets had one of the most impressive comeback victories of the season. 

The Clippers had a 17-point lead entering the fourth quarter on the road against the Knicks. The almighty Knicks rallied back to take the lead in the fourth quarter. They almost stole this game from the Clippers, but Nicolas Batik’s three-pointer tied the game at the end of regulation to force it to overtime. That’s where the Clippers took advantage of the momentum. The Clippers won 134-128. Kawhi Leonard and Paul George combined for 65 points. Norman Powell added 24 points. It’s a crushing loss for the Knicks. 

Michigan State Spartans took on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in a fascinating Saturday afternoon game. Rutgers played outstanding against the Spartans, thanks to Paul Mulcahy. Paul led Rutgers to victory, 61-56, after scoring all 17 points in the second half. The Scarlet Knights improve to 16-7. 

Atlantic Division drafts Central Division to win the 2023 NHL All-Star Game in Florida. Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk had a goal and an assist. He was named the MVP of the All-Star Game. 

Saturday Hockey News with Miguel

The New York Rangers played smart and intellectual hockey against the Vegas Golden Knights at the garden on Friday night. Goaltender Jaroslav Halak made 33 saves for the Rangers. Vincent Trocheck scored a goal and an assist to Filip Chytil, who made a sweet goal in the third period. The Rangers won this game 4-1. 

New Jersey Devils, the best road team in the NHL, traveled to Dallas to take on the Dallas Stars. Jack Hughes scored two goals in this game, and one came in overtime to give the Devils a 3-2 over the Dallas Stars. Vitek Vanecek deserves more recognition for his goal-tending performance. He saved 33 shots for the Devils. Also, the Devils blocked 24 of the Stars’ shots. 

It was a thrilling finish between the San Jose Sharks and Carolina Hurricanes. Trailing 4-3 with less than a minute to go, Martin Necas ties the game 4-4 with 11.5 seconds left in the third period. Necas forced the game to go to overtime and struck once again by scoring the game-winning goal to send everyone home. The Hurricanes won 5-4. 

Vancouver Canucks played with a lot of intensity and high energy against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Bo Horvat added four assists. Elias Pettersson scored two goals. CanuCks defeated the Blue Jackets 5-2. Canucks wore the old-school jerseys from the 1990s. 

Saturday Hockey News with Miguel

New Jersey Devils took on the Anaheim Ducks. Almost 20 years ago, they faced off in the Stanley Cup Finals. As for this game, Jack Hughes scored two goals for the Devils. He has 21 goals in 22 games. The Devils jumped and scored three goals in the first period. Anaheim had no answer for New Jersey. The Devils won 6-2—an outstanding road performance by the best road team in hockey. 

Winnipeg Jets traveled to Pittsburgh to take on the Penguins. The Jets started the goal with a power-play goal. Two coaches’ challenges were in the first period, and both goals were waived. However, the Jets answered those challenges by scoring back-to-back goals late in the second period to go up 3-1. The Jets would win this game 4-1. It’s their seventh win in the last eight games. Mark Scheifele scored two goals for the Jets. 

On Friday night, it was Connor McDavid’s birthday. The captain turned 26. Did he have a good birthday performance on the ice? He certainly did. McDavid finished the game with three points – 2 goals and one assist. The Oilers dominated the Sharks from start to finish. Oilers trounce the Sharks 7-1. 

Saturday Hockey News with Miguel

The St Louis Blues have won another game on the road, and this time, it came against the Calgary Flames. Jordan Kyrou scored twice in this game. Calgary tried to spark a rally in the 3rd period when they cut the lead to 1; the Blues pulled away by scoring two goals to close the game, 5-2. Calgary Flames have lost five in a row. 

Minnesota Wild took on the Chicago Blackhawks. The game is known as the Mats Zuccarello hat trick. Zuccarello recorded his second hat trick. He also had an assist. His point streak is nine games. Will Zuccarello follow in the footsteps of Mitch Marner? Kirill Kaprizov also had a solid performance on Friday. Kaprizov scored a goal and had two assists. Goaltender Jean-Marc Fleury made 29 saves for Minnesota, who now have won four straight games and six in a row at home. Minnesota is playing great hockey lately. 

Sports Throwback Thursday: Donnie Baseball in the 1980s

We will not end this Thursday (the day before Friday) without giving you the only Sports Throwback Thursday. On today’s Sports Throwback Thursday, we will chat a little bit about the greatness of Don Mattingly in the 1980s. He put up staggering numbers.

From 1984 to 1986, Donnie Baseball hit 89 home runs and 145 doubles. He batted .340 and struck out 109 times. In today’s game, players are striking out over 200 times. When Donnie is healthy, he’s Tony Gwynn with power. He’s, without a doubt, one of the greatest hitters of all time and arguably the best hitters of the 1980s. 

Donnie retired after the 1995 season. He was one season short of winning a championship with the Yankees. Mattingly is not in the hall of fame, but I wish Donnie were in the hall of fame. I’m a harsh grader regarding who should be in the hall of fame, but I can make an exception for Donnie’s baseball because he was a special player for this franchise. 

Saturday Hockey News with Miguel

New York Rangers won in a shootout contest against the defending champions Colorado Avalanche, who were short-handed in this game. Artemi Panarin scored the winning goal. Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin stopped 41 of the 42 shots. Braden Schneider scored a goal in the second period, his fourth in the last ten games. Avalanche didn’t have Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog, Evan Rodrigues, Bowen Byram, and Artturi Lehkonen in their lineup. 

Edmonton Oilers took care of business against the Minnesota Wild on Friday night. The Oilers jumped early in the first period with two goals by Conor McDavid and Derek Ryan. Minnesota would respond with two goals on their own by Joel Ericksson and Mats Zuccarello to tie the game at 2-2. It looked like momentum shifted towards Minnesota way. Edmonton said not tonight. Oilers would end the game with three unanswered goals by Kailer Yamamoto, a power play goal by Leon Draisaitl, and an empty net goal by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Goaltender Stuart Skinner finished the game with 42 saves for Edmonton. 

Calgary Flames tried to make a comeback, but it was too little too late. Columbus Blue Jackets won 3-1. Patrik Laine is one of the stars of last night’s victory for the Blue Jackets as he scored the first goal of the game, which set the tone for Columbus. 

New York Islanders stopped the red-hot New Jersey Devils as they came to the Prudential Center and defeated the Devils, 6-4. The devils made a late push by scoring two goals after trailing 6-2, but the Islanders had enough defense, speech, and physicality to hold on to the lead. 

Jake Gyllenhaal New Limited Series, Xander Bogaerts’ Contract

Oscar nominee Jake Gyllenhaal will have a lead role in Apple TV’s new limited series called ‘Presumed Innocent.’ The project is an adaptation of the 1990 film which featured Harrison Ford. The showrunner for the upcoming series is the 11-time Emmy award, David E. Kelly. 

San Diego Padres will not go away quietly this off-season. They hit the jackpot with one of the best shortstops in baseball. The Padres and Xander Bogaerts agreed to a $280 million, 11-year contract on Wednesday night. Padres have a ferocious lineup from 1 through 4: Fernando Tatis Jr, Juan Soto, Manny Machado, and Xavier Bogaerts. 

The St Louis Cardinals have found the successor of Yadier Molina. Wilson Contreras will sign with the Cardinals for five years and $87.5 million. He will join All-Stars and MVP-caliber players Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt. 

The Rangers came to Las Vegas to play great hockey on the ice and not in a casino. Ranger’s young core: Kaapo Kakko, Filip Chytil, and Alexis Lafreniere scored three of the Ranger’s five goals. They defeated one of the best teams in the NHL, the Las Vegas Golden Knights, 5-1. 

Sunday Sports Shorts

Portland Trail Blazers traveled to Utah to take on the Utah Jazz. Blazers shooting guard Anfernee Simons scored a career-high 45 points while shooting 15-for-25 from the floor in a 116-111 victory over the Jazz. Power forward Jerami Grant added 33 points. 

South Carolina rallied from an 11-point second-half deficit to defeat the Georgetown Hoyas 74-71 overtime on Saturday. Forward Gregory Jackson scored 22 of his points in the second half. Johnson had 17 points, eight assists, and seven rebounds. Hayden Brown added 16 points and matched Jackson’s eight rebounds. 

Conor McDavid and Leon Drasitk each scored two points for the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday. The Oilers played terrific offense against the Montreal Canadiens. After the Oilers led 3-1 in the second period, the Canadiens rallied to tie the game. Momentum shifted towards Montreal’s side, but the Oilers regained it by scoring two more goals. The Oilers won 5-3. 

Saturday Hockey News with Miguel

It’s time to shake things up a bit. We are switching from “Saturday Morning Sports with Miguel” to “Saturday Hockey News with Miguel.” Saturday mornings belong to hockey. The move is exciting, and I will provide updates about the Hockey world. 

The New York Rangers continue to struggle to close out games. Ottawa Senators rallied back to beat the Rangers, 3-2 at the garden on Friday night. In his 300th NHL game, Senators’ Brady Tkachuk scored with 18 seconds left to go in overtime. The Rangers have fallen back compared to this last season. Nagging injuries and losing poise in the third period are things they need to improve and work on. 

The headlines in Nashville belong to Kevin Lankinen because he posted a career-high 46 saves in a 4-1 victory over the New York Islanders. Lankinen returned in a big way since he was out from November 23rd. The Predators are currently on a three-game winning streak.