1K For The Great Eight

Over the storied history of the National Hockey League there have been some great goal scorers that have graced its ice. Guys like Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Mike Bossy, Phil Esposito, Brett Hull, Bobby Hull, Maurice Richard, Gordie Howe. The list goes on and on. There will, always and forever, be two names that stand atop the list. Wayne Gretzky and Alex Ovechkin. Over the weekend, Ovechkin joined Gretzky as the only two men in the history of the sport to score 1,000 career goals between the regular season and the playoffs.

The record goal for Ovechkin came in typical fashion. It came from his spot late in the 3rd period of a 3-2 overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday. It was his 26th goal of the year, his 21st in the NHL. It now, as of this writing, gives him 923 goals in the regular season. Throw in his 77 career playoff goals, and he’s at the magical 1,000 career mark. Wayne Gretzky finished his career with 894 regular season goals, and another 122 in the playoffs, giving him 1,016.

Gretzky’s records and legacy will forever speak for itself. What Ovechkin is doing is at a level all by itself. Gretzky is the greatest playmaker and all around offensive player the game of hockey has ever seen. Ovie is the greatest pure goal scorer ever. That’s not to take away from his playmaking abilities. Ovechkin has 753 assists and 1,676 regular seas points as of this writing. He also has 70 assists and 147 points in 151 career playoff games. So his playmaking ability is there, but its not as pronounced as Gretzky’s. What Ovechkin did was score goals. Wayne did too, and he did it very well in the 80s. But that was at times overshadowed by his assist totals and playmaking skills. Ovechkin just buries the puck. And he got the goal totals, and trophies, to prove it.

Ovechkin has won the Rocket Richard trophy, which is given each year to the league’s leading goal scorer, a record nine times. He’s also been runner up for that trophy one other time in his career. He holds the league record for the most 40 goal seasons with thirteen, and he’s tied with Mike Bossy and Wayne Gretzky for the most 50 goal seasons with nine. Ovechkin is also the only player in league history to have tallied 200 or more goals in three different decades. He scored 245 goals in the 2000s, 437 in the 2010s and 213 (and counting) in the 2020s. We could keep going on and on with how many goal scoring marks he has, and we probably will when Ovechkin finally hangs up his skates.

There’s no doubt in anybody’s mind that Ovechkin will be a total lock for the Hall of Fame when he’s done and it’s a first ballot election at that. He will also go into the books as the greatest goal scorer that this sport has and will ever see. It’s going to take one hell of a hockey player to come along and come close to doing anything close to what The Great Eight has done. Congratulations Alex on hitting the 1,000 career goal mark!

2026 MLB Season Preview

The time has arrived. Spring training has wrapped up and now the games count for real. Thirty teams. All with the same goal in mind. Winning a World Series come October. There’s quite a few faces that are in new places come this season, which is leading to a lot of shake ups for teams. And quite a few big storylines for this 2026 season.

Aaron Judge looking for 400 Home Runs. Paul Skenes trying to get the Pirates into a playoff spot. Tarik Skubal going for a 3rd straight Cy Young. From a team perspective, can the Dodgers hit the 115 win mark? Did all that re-tooling really help Baltimore? Can the Mets rebound from last years collapse with all the changes made this offseason? All of those questions, and so much more, will be answered over the next five to six months.

So let’s not waste anymore time. Here’s how we see the 2026 Major League Baseball Season taking place.

American League:
AL East:
1. Toronto Blue Jays 88-74*
2. Baltimore Orioles 87-75 (WC)*
3. New York Yankees 87-75 (WC)*
4. Boston Red Sox 84-78
5. Tampa Bay Rays 80-82

Taking away this division is going to be the Blue Jays. This is a team that bounced back from an under .500 season to not only win the division last year but come within one game of winning the series. Toronto took a bit of a hit losing Bo Bichette, but they did upgrade the pitching staff with the additions of Dylan Cease, Cody Ponce and Tyler Rogers. Toronto can push runs across the plate and keep the opposition off the board well enough to come out on top of this division. Right behind them are going to be the Orioles, who get into the playoffs as a wild card team. Baltimore had one hell of a re tooling in the offseason. The biggest one being adding Pete Alonso to the heart of an already solid lineup. Shane Baz was also brought on board to help with a big improvement to an already good pitching staff. There’s enough talent on the field in Baltimore to get them not only back into the playoffs, but back to a winning record again. Now we have another team right in the mix, that being the Yankees. What hurts the chances of the boys from the Bronx is the health of the pitching staff. Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón and Clarke Schmidt are all going to start the year off the field. Had they Yankees had all three healthy from opening day onward, this would be a bit of a different prediction. The offense will be there to put runs on the board. The only thing that could hold them back is that pitching staff.

Next we have a team that’s going to come up short in the form of the Red Sox. For as banged up as the pitching staff is in New York, the complete opposite is what we’re seeing in Boston. The Red Sox may very well have, on paper, the best pitching staff in the entire league. It’s the offense in Boston that could be very well holding them back this season. You just don’t know what you’re going to get out of guys like Marcelo Mayer, Ceddanne Rafaela, Caleb Durbin and Trevor Story. It leaves quite a few question marks. The same thing can be said for what’s going on with the Rays. Tampa Bay has traded away a lot of big names that give this team it’s identity. If everything falls right this summer back at Tropicana Field, the pitching staff MIGHT be able to keep them floating around the .500 mark. Even with the new ownership in Tampa, there isn’t enough firepower here to keep them in the race for a playoff spot.

AL Central
1. Detroit Tigers 90-72*
2. Kansas City Royals 82-80
3. Cleveland Guardians 81-81
4. Minnesota Twins 75-87
5. Chicago White Sox 65-97 

What’s going to make things great for the Tigers is going to be that pitching staff. Not only do they have Tarik Skubal, they brought in Framber Valdez. You got Verlander, Flaherty and Mize as well to round out that staff. Oh, and Detroit can hit too. Greene and Torkelson can knock in the runs with Meadows and Torres setting the table. Sure, they hit a slide at the end of last season that cost them a division title, but they still managed to make the playoffs. This year, with the arms that were added, Detroit is hoping to make sure that last year doesn’t happen again. Behind them are going to be the Royals, a team that’s going to be hanging around as a team on the verge of contention. There’s no doubt in Kansas City that Bobby Whitt is the face of the franchise. Vinnie Pasquantino has some big upside to him so long as he can stay consistent. Starting pitching leaves a little hanging for the Royals. They have serviceable starters sure. But not well enough to really put the team back into playoff contention just yet. Same argument can be said for the Guardians, even with them winning the division a season ago. Cleveland was under .500 at the end of last August and got hot down the final stretch. It was great that they did what they did to win the division, but the downside is they didn’t do much f anything to really improve this team. It seems, at least on paper, like it’s the exact same club. And with the talent that’s here, its still below the bar set by the two teams that are going to finish ahead of them this year.

Then we have the Twins. There are low expectations going into this season in Minnesota. Sure they have talent in the forms of Josh Bell and Byron Bbuxtoin, but how much more can you really get out of these guys if you going into a full rebuild. Pitching you got something with Joe Ryan, but he doesn’t really have another strong arm to support him. Taj Bradley might be able to but that’s a big ask. Finally, there’s the team that seems like its stuck in a permanent rebuild, that being the White Sox. Chicago has some pluses from this offseason in they shed payroll and signed the likes of Munetaka Murakami and Seranthony Dominguez. They have a little bit of talent that could be really worth building around, and should be a lot of fun to watch this season. But as far as them being a competitive baseball team this year, that’s not really in the cards this season for Chicago.

AL West:
1. Seattle Mariners 88-74*
2. Texas Rangers 85-77 (WC)*
3. Houston Astros 83-79
4. Athletics 74-88
5. Los Angeles Angels 69-93

For the second year in a row, the American League West is going to have to go through the Mariners. Seattle brought back Josh Naylor on a long deal after getting him in the middle of last year, and they brought in utility guy Brendan Donovan via trade. Both of those moves bolster an already good Seattle lineup. With the arms in the Mariners staff, this team very much has the potential to go very deep in the postseason again this year. Now you look at a team like the Rangers, injuries cost them a season ago. They had a great pitching staff in Texas last year, which has come back in full force again this season. Eovaldi and deGrom could both be solid again this season on the hill. What’s going to be a big test is the Rangers bats. Seager and Burger can produce. Its just a question of how well the rest of the guys around them can get on for the heart of their lineup. The only reason I haven’t put the Astros as possibly having a better record is because they aren’t getting any younger. Sure, Houston still has their stars, but Altuve, Walker and Correa don’t have many good years left. You could get some decent run production out of this Houston lineup, but at the same time, one has to wonder if that pitching staff is going to be able to keep up. They have some decent arms, sure, but not like what you looking at in the top tier of the division.

A team that could be on the rise soon would be the Athletics. The A’s have a guy in the heart of the lineup in Nick Kurtz who has all the talent in the world to be a big star and the best player on this team. He’s got solid talent around him in the form of guys like Brent Rooker, Tyler Soderstrom and Shea Langeliers. The A’s shouldn’t have a problem putting runs on the board. What’s going to be an issue is keeping runs off the board. Not from a defensive perspective, but it’s the pitching staff. Outside of Springs and Severino (if that) there’s not much to go off of. Bringing up the rear is going to be the Angels again this season. Mike Trout is on the back side of his career and he doesn’t have much help around him in said lineup. He’s got Soler, Lowe and Adell. But what else really is there for support. Same thing with pitching, there’s not much to go off of yet.

National League:
NL East:
1. Philadelphia Phillies 87-75*
2. New York Mets 86-76 (WC)*
3. Atlanta Braves 86-76 (WC)*
4. Miami Marlins 75-87
5. Washington Nationals 66-96

For the third year in a row the NL East title will go through the Phillies, but it will be close. Philadelphia still has a solid lineup with Harper, Schwarber and Bohm right in the middle of it. It’s running it back with the same crew from last year, and hoping that Adolis Garcia can get some of his mojo back. The team isn’t getting any younger, but they still have enough talent to make it at least one more good run left in them, both at the plate and on the hill. Behind them is a Mets team that’s going to try and get the sour taste out of it’s mouth from a season ago. Alonso, McNeil, Diaz and Nimmo all gone from last year. New York Replaced them with Polanco, Bichette, Robert Jr and Semien. New York is hoping that Soto and Lindor can also keep up their pace as place setters to get the Mets back on the right track. What’s going to be a big help is adding Freddy Peralta to that starting rotation, which if all goes well, could be one of the best staffs in the game. Another team that’s going to make noise again this year is going to be the Braves. Atlanta is going to have a hiccup with Profar being out for the year cause of the suspension and the injury to start the year for Kim. On paper, the rest of the Atlanta lineup can put runs on the board, and they have good pitching with Sale and Streider. But not having Schwellembach at the start of the year is going to hurt them a little.

Now we go down to the lower half of the division with the Marlins. Kyle Stowers show some promise as to being the heart of this Miami club on offense. If the team can get a few more pieces to really be able to build around him they could have something. Behind Sandy Alcantra, the arms in the Miami rotation leave something to be desired. Finally there’s the Nationals, who once again will be at the bottom of the division. C.J Abrams maybe out before the summer is over and Washington is staring at another at least 90 loss season this year. Just looking at what the team has, at least on paper, there’s not much if at all to start getting excited about.

NL Central:
1. Chicago Cubs 88-74*
2. Milwaukee Brewers 84-78 (WC)*
3. Pittsburgh Pirates 81-81
4. Cincinnati Reds 81-81
5. St. Louis Cardinals 74-88

This is the year Cubs rip away the central division title for themselves for the first time since 2020. Chicago got better adding Alex Bregman and Edward Cabrerra in the offseason. Those guys join a lineup that has guys like Crow-Armstrong, Happ and Suzuki among others. Starting pitching seems decent, but at least on paper doesn’t seem like they are going to blow anybody out of the water here. Looking at this Chicago team, they are good enough for a solid playoff run, but it won’t be good enough to go all the way. Right behind them are going to be the Brewers, who’ve won three in a row and four of the last five division titles. Milwaukee took a bit of a hit with Freddy Peralta no longer on that staff. Jacob Misiorowski has potential to take over that void, but there’s no promise of that. Milwaukee still has the bats to be able to push runs across the plate. Yelich, Contrreras and Vaugh are going to power the heart of this lineup. The team is good enough to get back into the playoffs as a wild card team, but it won’t go on that deep a run. A team to watch out for in this division is going to be the Pirates. Pittsburgh has a fantastic star on the hill in the form of Paul Skenes, and a hot prospect in Bubba Chandler. Pitching could be really something to build around for some time in the steel city. And the Pittsburgh offense got a good boost adding guys like O’Hearn, Ozuna and Lowe. Having those guys helping out Bryan Reynolds in the middle of that lineup means that the Pirates could make some noise.

A team that could take a step back from last year would be the Reds. Sure, Cincinnati went on a surprise run last year, but lightning won’t strike twice this year. Sure they got talent in the lineup to build around with Elly De La Cruz and a returning Eugenio Suarez. But there still seems to be a few gaps in that lineup. Same thing for the Reds pitching staff. Doesn’t leave much to be desired. Bringing up the rear in this division is going to be the Cardinals. St Louis has one of the youngest teams in the game, and with names like JJ Wetherholt, Ivan Herrera, Masyn Winn, and Matthew Liberatore that could be good down the line. It leaves hope for the future in St Louis, but it’s not for a deep run this year.

NL West:
1. Los Angeles Dodgers 100-62*
2. Arizona Diamondbacks 83-79
3. San Diego Padres 82-80
4. San Francisco Giants 81-81
5. Colorado Rockies 60-102

Another year of dominance out of the West for the Dodgers. There’s not much to really dive into details with Los Angeles, because they are the defending world champions and have the most balanced lineup in baseball. When you have the best player in the game in Ohtani there, you going to be tough to beat. Oh yeah, and Ohtani is going to be back on the hill this year after coming off Tommy John. Nobody in the West, or most of baseball for that matter, is really going to be able to touch the Dodgers. The closest team that is going to come into contention in the West would be the Diamondbacks. Injuries to Corbin Burnes and Merrill Kelly are holding Arizona back from really being a threat in the West. The pitching staff and bats are still decent for Arizona. Bringing Arenado into the mix adds some leadership t the lineup that have Marte and Carroll in it means they could make some noise. But given how top heavy this division is, its going to be tough. Then there’s the Padres, who have the potential to finally get a winning record. San Diego is going to be powered by the heart of it’s lineup with Tatis and Machado. They got some solid hitters, for sure. But it’s the pitching that leaves me wondering. Nick Pivetta and Joe Musgrove can give you solid outings, but that’s about it.

Now we got a team that will be lucky to finish around .500 in the form of the Giants. San Francisco has the best overall hitter in the game at the top of their lineup in Luis Arraez. And they have guys who can drive in runs in the form of Adames and Chapman. But there’s still a bit of depth issues for the Giants that could hold them back. The same goes for the pitching staff. Right behind Logan Webb and Robbie Ray, there isn’t much to really go behind in the Giants staff. Finally, we have the worst team in baseball in the Rockies. Outside of Mickey Moniak and Hunter Goodman, there’s no solid hitters in the Colorado lineup. They did nothing really to try and improve itself from a season ago and that was one of the worst in baseball history. Colorado may get a couple more wins this year than last, but its not going to be much. It’s going to be a long summer in the mile high city.

Let The Madness Begin!

It's here, the time is now. March Madness! The NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament has arrived. Thirty-One conferences are represented by sixty-eight schools. All fighting for the right to be called the best team in college basketball for the 2025-26 season. The next three weeks are turning into the craziest three weeks on the sports calendar. It’s time to determine a national champion in college hoops!

There’s a lot to take in for the teams in this year’s tournament. All thirty-one conferences in the NCAA are represented here. Eight of those conferences have more than one school in the dance: MAC (2), Atlantic 10 (2), WCC (3), Big East (3), Big 12 (8), ACC (8), Big Ten (9) and the SEC (10). We have two schools this year that are making their first ever appearance in the tournament, that being California Baptist and Queens. We’ve got Tennessee State (1994), Santa Clara (1996), and Idaho (1990) making their first tournament appearances in this century. And then there’s Hofstra (2001) and Miami of Ohio (2007), the only other schools who haven’t played in the dance in the last 15 years.

The four top seeds in this year’s dance are Duke, Michigan, Florida and Arizona. If history is any indication, there’s a good chance we are going to see at least one of these schools in the final four. There’s only been four instances in the history of the tournament where we’ve had none of the top seeds there: 1980, 2006, 2011 and 2023. And in two instances have all four top seeds reached the final four: 2025 (Auburn, Florida, Duke and Houston) and 2008 (North Carolina, Kansas, Memphis and UCLA).

The big question is who’s going to be the big Cinderella team this year? Keep an eye on a few teams. Like the Miami RedHawks. They sit as an 11 seed in the Midwest and come into the tournament at a 31-1 record on the year. The only team to beat them this year was an upset loss at the start of the MAC tournament to UMASS. They are one of the six schools in the dance that have 30 or more wins on the year, and are the 2nd lowest ranked school in the tournament. Only team ranked lower is High Point at 12 in the West (they went 30-4 on the year).

Another team I’d consider a “Cinderella” team this year would be UCLA. Yes, it may seem a bit odd to have UCLA listed that way, considering that they are a big name basketball school. But as a seven seed this year, they come into the dance at 23-11. They lost to Purdue in the finals of the Big Ten tournament, and they have struggled during the year against ranked opponents as the year went along. I don’t know I just have this feeling that if they can find a groove they are going to be a tough team to play against.

Lets go dancing shall we!

Thank You Mike

In the fifty one year history of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they had quite a few good offensive players. Mike Allstott, Warrick Dunn, James Wilder, Kevin House, Brad Johnson, Tom Brady. We could go on and on. There’s one name, however, that will always and forever be at the top of that offensive player list. Mike Evans. Ever since he was taken with the 7th overall pick in the 2014 draft, Evans has been an impact player on this team. That is sadly no more.

Mike hasn’t retired. He just no longer plays here in Tampa Bay. He hit free agency and signed a deal with the San Francisco 49ers yesterday. The deal is for three years and $60.4 million, $16.3 million of which is guaranteed.

Why Evans decided to leave Tampa is up to interpretation. A small part of me wants to believe he wanted to stay here in Tampa. I don’t think money was an issue. I think the Bucs made him a solid offer that was close to, or grater than, what he ended up signing for with the 49ers. Don’t know exactly what was offered by the Bucs to Mike, so I don’t think it was the money that kept him away. There’s more to it and its been floating around as to why.

Tampa has changed offensive coordinators (again). Josh Gizzard is out and Zac Robinson is in calling the plays. Having changed coordinators that many times the last few years has got to be frustrating. Plus it might not have helped the fact that the team collapsed as badly as it did as last season went along. Mike wanted another shot at a title, and he must have felt that he wasn’t going to get that kind of shot in Tampa this season. San Francisco has gone on good playoff runs in five of the last seven seasons.

No matter what happens the rest of his career, Mike will go down as the best offensive player that has ever worn a Buccaneer uniform. Mike’s name is all over the Bucs offensive record books, including most yards in a season (1,524) touchdowns in a season (14), yards in a career (13,052), touchdowns in a career (108), catches (866). Oh, and Mike is one of just 10 players in league history with at least 13,000 receiving yards and 100 receiving touchdowns, along with Pro Football Hall of Famers Rice, Tim Brown, Cris Carter, Tony Gonzalez, Marvin Harrison Sr., Steve Largent, Randy Moss, Terrell Owens and Larry Fitzgerald. We could keep going.

It is the end of an era in Tampa Bay. Thanks for the memories Mike and good luck in San Francisco!

Winners & Losers Trade Deadline

When the trade deadline comes around, in any sport, it means one of two things. Either you’re trying to get better for your playoff push, or you’re shedding talent in a fire sale. What happened coming out of the NHL trade deadline is no different. There’s teams that came out of the deadline that got better, while there’s other teams look like they are taking steps backwards. Will the deals actually work out? Only time will really be able to tell. But for now, after taking some time to be able to digest some of the moves, here’s some of the biggest winners and losers out of the trade deadline.

Winner: Colorado Avalanche
Seems like the rich get richer in a sense. The best team in the entire league actually managed to get that much better. Colorado brought back Nazem Kadri and added in more depth down the middle with Nicolas Roy coming into the mix. One of the deepest teams in the game just got deeper. Colorado has the best odds for being the team to take it all this year, and what they did at the deadline helped them get that much better.

Winner: Minnesota Wild
Another team trying to make headlines at the deadline and even slightly before it is Minnesota. A lot of that, let’s be real, started in December, when the Wild added Quinn Hughes in a major deal with Vancouver. Then, as we got closer to the deadline, Vinnie Hinostroza got traded away to Florida. That’s OK, Minnesota added Jeff Petry in a deal, then brought in Nick Foligno. With the moves that the Wild have made, they are putting all their chips in for trying to chase down both Colorado and Dallas.

Winner: Anaheim Ducks 
As of this writing, the Ducks are sitting atop the Pacific Division, trying to hold off Vegas and Edmonton. The Ducks have a very good young team, that actually getting better. Sure, they moved Ryan Strome to Calgary for a pick. But the real bigtime move was sending two picks to Washington for John Carlson. That’s a huge move. Why? Because, even though the Ducks sit on top of the division, they have allowed more goals than they’ve scored (again as of this writing). So by bringing in a guy the talent of Carlson, it will in theory settle things down on that end of the ice and allow the young guys they have to fill the other net while keeping pucks out of theirs.

Losers: Toronto Maple Leafs
The team that was supposed to be good has taken steps backwards. Anybody knew it was going to be a step backward when Marner left for Vegas. It’s Toronto there’s always going to be high expectations, even with him leaving in the summer. But the Leafs have had a total fall off this year, falling to second to last place in the division (as of this writing). Because of that, it has lead to Toronto dumping off talent. Roy to Colorado for picks, Bobbly McMann to Seattle for picks, Scott Laughton to LA for a pick. Sure the Leafs are stocking draft capital but it’s really not helping their cause in the here and now.

Losers: Buffalo Sabres
Yes it seems strange putting Buffalo in this position, considering where they are in the standings. At the time of this writing, they are on a six game winning streak and have a chance at ending the long playoff drought. So why are they here? Because the management wasn’t able to do anything to improve the team. It’s not to say that they didn’t try. They looked at Colton Parayko and Luke Scheen, nothing happened out of either one. Buffalo had a real shot at trying to make improvements, but it never came to pass. This could turn out have been a massive missed opportunity.

Losers: Washington Capitals
This is a team that’s knocking on the door of a playoff spot. They sit six points back as of now and looked like they could be making moves. But then they make the deals they made. John Carlson traded to the Ducks, Nic Dowd sent to Vegas. Sure they got draft picks back in return, but if they wanted to have even a remote chance of making it to the post season, that may have gone right out the window. The team isn’t getting any younger and by the looks of it, management maybe closing the window on a title faster than expected.

As Good As Gold

Forty Six years is a long time to wait. The last time that the United States won an Olympic gold was the Miracle On Ice squad in 1980. Since then, there have been a couple of close calls. 2002 in Salt Lake City, 2010 in Vancouver. That’s as close as America has gotten to gold in Men’s hockey. Until now! Thanks to the heroics of Jack Hughes, the US has won its 3rd ever Gold Medal in Men’s Hockey!

There’s a lot to unpack from this game, from both sides. From the American side, there was a lot of emotion pouring out from this one. For one, the US has always been kind of seen as the little brother compared to Canada when it comes to hockey. Always seem like the potential is there, but the results against their neighbors to the north have never panned out. This game just felt different as it wore on. It felt like the US had something else to prove. Sure, there was times during the game where Canada dominated the play. The Americans had the answer, thanks to the brilliant play between the pipes of Conor Hellebuyck. He had to stand on his head multiple times, including a massive save on Conor McDavid, who had a breakaway that was stoned.

Then there’s the hero of the day in Jack Hughes. He took a stick up in the face late in the game, that cost him a couple teeth. Didn’t matter to Jack, who came back and scored the OT winner. All of this went down with two big points of emotion flowing out. First was the date of the game, February 22nd. The reason that date is so important, at least in hockey circles, is that on that date in 1980, the miracle happened. The US knocked off the mighty Soviet Union in the Lake Placid Olympics, which is widely considered one of the biggest upsets in the history of the game of hockey.

The other point of emotion for this contest was that the Americans were playing for Johnny. Johnny Gaudreau was a big star in the NHL, playing for the Calgary Flames and Columbus Blue Jackets. Two years ago, during the prime of his career, he was killed by a drunk driver. Many believed that had he still be alive, he would have been a big star for this Olympic squad. When the game ended, a lot of the US players skated around the rink with Johnny’s jersey, symbolizing that he was there with them. It really was something to tug at the heart strings.

There’s also going to be quite a few questions from the other side of this coin as well. And they are kind of connected to each other. The injury to Sidney Crosby was a factor for Canada. It’s no secret Sid is the best player in the world, although both Conor McDavid and Nathan MacKinninon are catching him quickly for that title. So having that kind of impact player be absent is for sure a factor. And that ties into the other factor, which was line juggling. Coach Jon Cooper was and is known for doing that here in Tampa when the Lightning offense is sputtering. He did that with his Canadian squad, trying to find the right mix to jumpstart his team. Didn’t quite work.

Of course, this begs the question, is this a full blown rivalry? There’s no doubt in anybody’s mind now. With the great battle they had during last years four nations tournament and now this, there’s never a doubt. This was also a way of the US for kind of getting back at Canada. They have met twice before in gold medal games. 2002 in Salt Lake, and 2010 in Vancouver. 2002 was Canada’s year, breaking a fifty year medal drought. 2010 was Canada winning on their home ice in Vancouver. Now it was the US’s chance at redemption, which they got in the most dramatic way possible. There’s always talk about it during the NHL regular season which country puts out the best players. This tournament shows that the balance of power on the international scale is starting to even out.

Between the Men’s and Women’s tournaments at these Olympic Winter Games, we hockey fans have gotten royally spoiled by the high level of play. Both USA vs Canada games with gold on the line, both going to overtime, could not have been scripted any better!

Rivalry Renewed For Gold

Here we go again. Thursday Afternoon, with the biggest prize in international hockey on the line between the two biggest powers in the women's ice hockey game. It's USA and Canada once again for Gold.

It's no surprise that the two biggest power in international hockey are the United State and Canada. They have been the biggest powers in hockey for as long as anybody can remember. It was shown to the whole wide world once women's hockey became an Olympic sport in 1998. And these two nations have won every gold medal at the Olympics since 98. There was one year when it wasn't USA-Canada for gold and that was in 2006, when Sweden upset the US in the semifinals.

This year has a different vibe going into the gold medal game. Canada went 3-0-0-1 in the tournament. The only loss was a 5-0 shutout loss to the Americans in the preliminary round. More on that in a second.  Canada scored 14 goals in the tourney, giving up just 6. It was a 4-0 over Switzerland, a 5-1 win over Czechia, a 5-0 win over Finland and that 5-0 loss to the US. Once the medal round started it was a 5-1 win over Germany and a 2-1 win over Switzerland.

As for the Americans, they rolled through this tournament with a perfect record, going 4-0 and outscoring opponents 20-1. The only goal the US gave up was one late in the 2nd period in their opener against Czechia. They won that game 5-1. America followed it up with a 5-0 win over Finland, another 5-0 win over Switzerland, a 5-0 win over Canada. Then in the medal round it was a 6-0 win over Italy and a 5-0 win over Sweden. 

Now to the game itself. The US has beaten Canada twice for gold, in 1998 and then again in 2018. This game is going to be another tight checking affair. The last three meetings for gold, they have been the same 3-2 score, so expect nothing different here. What might make a big difference in this game is Canada's best player, Marie-Philip Poulin, is back in there. She scored both goals for the Canadians to get them into the gold medal game. On the other side of the ice, Caroline Harvey has been powering the ship for the Americans. USA has a very balanced attack and they been getting scoring from every line in this tournament, which is going to make things a lot tougher for the Canadians to handle.

Whatever the final result turns out to be Thursday afternoon, its going to be one hell of a hockey game.

2026 NFL Honors

It was one of the biggest nights on the NFL calendar. NFL Honors! Right before the Super Bowl, the NFL honored the best of the best from the 2025 regular season. It was a collection of the best football players in the world and handing out the hardware of the guys who were head a shoulders above the rest during the regular season this year. So with that being said, here’s the full list of who won what at NFL Honors!

Art Rooney Award (outstanding sportsmanship on the playing field): Budda Baker Safety, Arizona Cardinals

Walter Payton Man of the Year: Bobby Wagner, Linebacker Washington Commanders

Jim Brown Award (NFL leading Rusher): James Cook, Buffalo Bills

Decon Jones Award (NFL Sack Leader): Myles Garrett, Cleveland Browns

Comeback Player of the Year: Christian McCaffery, Running Back San Francisco 49ers

Coach of the Year: Mike Vrabel, New England Patriots
Nothing against any of the other coaches who were nominated for this award, but lets be realistic here. This was really a one man race as the season went along. What Vrabel was able to do with this Patriots team. He had some level of success in Tennessee, but when he took the job in New England, he had a large task ahead of him. New England was a four win team last season. This year it was a 14-3 record and winning the AFC East. A ten win turnaround and a division title. There’s no way this wasn’t going to go to Vrabel.

Defensive Rookie of the Year: Carson Schwesinger, Linebacker Cleveland Browns
Taking a chance on him in the 2nd round seemed to pay off in a big way for the Browns. When the injury bug started to take hold in Cleveland, Schwesinger stepped in and made an impact right away, almost running away with DROY this year. 2.5 sacks and 141 total tackles in 16 games this season. Eye popping numbers for an impact player in his first year. Offensive Rookie of the Year: Tetaiora McMillian, Wide Receiver Carolina Panthers When Carolina had their resurgence late in the year to make the playoffs, something nobody really expected them to do, this guy was a major reason for it. Finishing the year with 70 catches (7 of which went for touchdowns) and 1,014 receiving yards are good numbers. Really good actually, especially for a rookie. He made an impact right away for a young Carolina team that has something they could really work with in the passing game.

Defensive Player of the Year: Miles Garrett, Defensive End Cleveland Browns
There’s dominating seasons. Then there’s what Miles Garrett did for Cleveland this season. Garrett set the NFL single-season record for sacks with 23 this year. And it wasn’t just that. It was 60 total tackles and being such a threat and dominating force on the Browns line that he was a major disruption point for opposing offenses. Opposing teams could have had a game plan in place, and it all went right out the window when having to deal with Garrett this season. He was that dominating and then some this year.

Offensive Player of the Year: Jaxon Smith-Nijgba, Wide Receiver Seattle Seahawks
For the first time since 2005 (Shaun Alexander), a Seattle player won offensive player of the year. It was a close race between Smith-Nijgba and Christian McCaffery of the 49ers. But finishing the year as the NFL top receiver (1,793 yards on 119 catches) pushed him over the edge to win this award. Catches put him 4th in the league this year, but leading the entire league in receiving yards, and getting it done with Sam Darnold at QB is a major statement. Nothing against Sam Darnold who is a fine QB. But Smith-Nijgba was that dominating a force in the Seattle pass attack. No matter what defense was thrown at him, he was able to gain the yards to help that Seattle offense to keep moving forward and walk away with a 14-3 record and an NFC West title.

MVP: Matthew Stafford, Quarterback Los Angeles Rams
In one of the closest MVP races in recent memory, Stafford just barely beat out Drake Maye of the Patriots for the honors. Not to take away anything Maye did in New England, he had an outstanding year and has nothing to be ashamed of. Stafford had just put up slightly better numbers that lead him to walking away with the award. But if we are being honest here, the award could have gone to either guy and there would have been no complaints from anybody.

So what do you think? Did the right guys walk away with the right awards at NFL Honors?

Title To Seattle

What we saw in Santa Clara yesterday was a big deal. To say that the performance put on by the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX was outstanding would be a major understatement. Moreover, the play of the Seattle defense is what really stands out here. In a battle of 14-3 teams for the greatest prize in all of professional football, it was the Defense, and running game as well, that lead the Seahawks to their second title, a 29-13 win over the New England Patriots to claim the second title in franchise history.

It was a great way for Seattle to cap off the best season in team history. Winning fourteen games during the regular season was the most that Seattle had in their 50-year history. This coming after narrowly missing the playoffs the two seasons prior. This also turned into the deepest playoff run Seattle had since their other title win in 2013.

As for the game itself, let’s be realistic here. There were two major reasons why Seattle was able to walk away with the Lombardi trophy in their hands. One was the outstanding running performance of MVP Kenneth Walker III. The other was that smothering defense. From that side of the football, what Seattle’s Defense did was one of the more dominating performances that has been seen on this stage. They picked off Patriots Quarterback Drake Maye twice, caused him to fumble once and managed to sack him six times. Those six sacks are the 2nd most in a single game, behind seven (which has been done four times).

Drake Maye, for as good a year as he had, had no time whatsoever to try and even remotely make plays. Sure, he threw for 295 yards and two touchdowns. But the six sacks where a killer as were being forced to throw the ball 45 times. The run game was nonexistent on the day, which forced Maye to have to make plays with his arm more than he wanted to or was able to get done effectively.

That ties into the other key for Seattle, the running game. Walker rushed the ball 27 times for 135 yards. Sure he wasn’t able to get into the endzone, which is the only knock that was on him for the day. But because of his outstanding play, he was able to open up a little more of an effective pass game for Sam Darnold. Sure Darnold wasn’t perfect either, but because of the play of Walker, he didn’t have to try and be as on point as Maye did. It was an all around dominating performance.

Congratulations to the Seattle Seahawks on their Super Bowl victory!

Super Bowl LX Preview

The time has finally arrived. Two teams are left standing. One will come away with the Vince Lombardi Trophy as king of the pro football world. Super Bowl 60 is finally here! And its a rematch of Super Bowl 49, as the New England Patriots will take on the Seattle Seahawks,

Seattle is appearing in their 4th Super Bowl. They played in XL (Lost to Steelers), XLVIII (Beat the Broncos), and XLIX (Lost to New England). Seattle finished with a 14-3 record, winning the NFC West. They beat 49ers in the divisional round and then the Rams in the NFC title game.

New England is appearing in their 12th Super Bowl. They played in XX (lost to Bears), XXXI (lost to Packers), XXXVI (beat Rams), XXXVIII (beat Panthers), XXXIX (beat Eagles), XLII (lost to Giants), XLVI (lost to Giants), XLIX (beat Seahawks), LI (beat falcons), LII (lost to Eagles), and LIII (beat Rams). This season, New England went 14-3, which was good enough to win the AFC East. It took them a little longer to get here, beating the Chargers in the wild card round, then the Texans in the divisional round, and finally the Broncos in the AFC title game.

New England has had one of the greatest turn arounds in sports history. A year ago they were 4-13 and one of the worst teams in the NFL. This year, they had a high powered offense and the 2nd best team in the AFC behind only the team they beat in the title game in Denver. A major reason for this turnaround was the outstanding play of quarterback Drake Maye, who played so well during the season he finished second in MVP voting. And it's not just that high powered offense in New England that's been running the show. The defense has been just as equal to the task. They were 8th in yards and 4th in points this season, an impressive turnaround from being 22nd in the league a season ago.

Seattle had come close to making the playoffs in back to back season prior to this year, but were able to make it this year on the strength of a good balance on both sides of the ball. Sam Darnold came in and had another outstanding year, following up on what he did in Minnesota last year. He had good weapons to work with coming in from outcasts from other teams in Lockett, Metcaf and Kupp. The biggest one was Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who was the NFL leading receiver in the league this year. On the other side of the ball, Seattle has the highest scoring defense in the entire league. Seattle hasn't seen this much a dominating a defense since the Legion of Boom.

This is going to be a hard fought battle for the biggest prize in the game. For as good as the New England offense has been, and as well balanced as they are, good defense will always beat good offense. Seattle has a good defense. Oh and Seattle offense is pretty good too. They might be one of the few teams in the sport who could match up with this New England team punch for punch as the game goes along.

Pick: Seattle 30, New England 20

Kane Stands Alone

There's a new king on the thrown. It takes a lot to say that in the sport of hockey. The players that make up the National Hockey League come from all corners of the world. The two countries that dominate the sport come from Canada and the United States. Among those American scorers, for the longest time, one name had stood on top of the list, that being Mike Modano. That changed over the weekend, as Modano was passed by Patrick Kane. With an assist on a goal over the weekend, Kane picked up career point 1,375, which passed Modano for most amongst US born players.

For a kid from Buffalo, that’s a long way and long time coming. For a kid taken by the Blackhawks with the first overall pick in 2007, that’s a heady accomplishment. Kane career spanned 19 years and counting, the first 16 in Chicago, followed by a cup of coffee stop in New York. The last three years and counting have been in Detroit, where he’s still producing. While not as prolific as it was in Chicago, Kane is still finding a way to put his name on the scoresheet. And now he stands alone atop the USA scoring list.

That in and of itself is a huge achievement, when you consider some of the great players this league has seen coming from America. Modano, Doug Weight, Jeremy Roenick, Joe Mullen, Pat LaFontaine, Phil Housley, Keith Tkachuk, Joe Pavelski, the list goes on and on. Now Kane stands on top of all of it. He’s one of the best pure playmakers of his generation, and he’s got the numbers to back it up. Three Cups, a playoff MVP award, a league MVP, more than 500 goals and 1,000 points. The list goes on and on. There’s no doubt in anybody’s mind he’s a lock for enshrinement in the hall of fame when all is said and done, and his number to hang in the rafters at the United Center.

Congratulations Patrick Kane on becoming the greatest American born scorer in NHL history!

Baseball Hall Makes Call

It's the sound that any professional athlete wants to hear. You are a Hall of Famer. Getting enshrined in Cooperstown is the biggest complement a player can get. On Tuesday, the Baseball Writers Association of America made there selections for who should get in. This year, it was just two players: Andruw Jones and Carlos Beltran!

To get into the Hall, you need 75% votes on the ballot to get in. Jones got 78.4% votes (his 9th year on the ballot) and Beltran got 84.2% (his 4th year on the ballot). There are also two others who are joining Jones and Beltran in the Hall this year. Jeff Kent was selected by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee, and Joe Buck was selected as the winner of the Ford C Frick award (Hall of Fame selection for Broadcasters).

Everybody that was elected to the hall deserves their induction. Let’s start with Jeff Kent. Sure, there have been those moments he’s had off the field. He’s had his problems in the locker room and with the media, that have been well documented. But his inclusion in the Hall is for what he did on the field. His career totaled 16 years, playing for the Blue Jays (1992), Mets (1992-1996), Indians (1996), Giants (1997-2002), Astros (2003-2004) and Dodgers (2005-2008). He’s a career .2909 hitter, 2ith 2,461 hits, 377 home ruins and 1,518 RBI’s. Kent won NL MVP in 2000, was a five time all star and a four time silver slugger winner. He is baseball’s all time home run leader for second baseman and is the only second baseman to have 100 or more RBI’s in six straight seasons, which he did from 1997 to 2002. Kent had a decent glove, but it was his bat that got him into Cooperstown.

As for the two center fielders that got selected, both are well deserving of their induction. First there’s Andruw Jones. Jones spent 17 season in the Majors, playing for the Braves (1996-2007), Dodgers (2008), Rangers (2009), White Sox (2010) and Yankees (2011-2012). Jones was a lifetime .254 lifetime hitter, picking up 1,933 hits, 434 home runs and 1,289 RBI’s. He won ten gold gloves, and was a five time all star. His 10 gold gloves were won in ten straight years from 1998 to 2007. That ranks tied for third for most gold gloves won by an outfielder. He could do a little bit of everything. He had good power and great speed, both running bases and in the outfield. The only knock on him during his career was he was a weak hitter for average. The rest of his career more than made up for it.

Carlos Beltran made a name for himself during one great playoff run and kept that going the rest of his career. His career spanned 20 season playing for the Royals (1998-2004), Astros (2004), Mets (2005-2011), Giants (2011), Cardinals (2012-2013), Yankees (2014-2016), Rangers (2016) and Astros (2017). Beltran was a lifetime .279 hitter, collecting 2,725 hits, 435 home runs and 1,587 RBI’s. He won AL Rookie of the year in 1999, was a nine time all star, a three time gold glove winner, two time silver slugger and won a world series in 2017. Carlos could do it all. He could hit for average, had plenty of power, was a great runner and an outstanding fielder. There really wasn’t anything in this game that Beltran couldn’t do.

Congratulations to everybody on their enshrinement in the Baseball Hall of Fame class of 2026!

Divisional Round Weekend Preview

Divisional weekend in the NFL has arrived. We are now down to eight teams left, all chasing the biggest prize in pro football. We got a couple of teams seeking their first world title, while a couple of others are seeking their first tiles in a long time. So let's not waste anymore time. Here's how we see the Divisional Round going down.

Buffalo Bills vs Denver Broncos 4:35PM CBS
Its a battle of two teams with a storied past in this league. Buffalo has an edge of sorts going into the playoffs, because they have a chance now to take advantage of not having their arch nemesis in the way in Kansas City. But this has a different feel to it for Buffalo as they aren't hosting a playoff game this year, which seems to be a different look for them. They got a little lucky in getting by Jacksonville last week, but they are facing the best team in the AFC this year. The only question mark for me with this is can the Broncos handle the pressure?

Pick: Broncos 30, Bills 24

San Francisco 49ers vs Seattle Seahawks 8:15PM Fox
A tough battle of division foes from the NFC West. Seattle is the best team in the NFC for a reason this year. What's making this pick easy for me is how banged up the Niners are. If San Francisco was a healthier team, this would be a much harder game to pick and a much different story.

Pick: Seahawks 27, 49ers 14

Houston Texans vs New England Patriots 3:05 PM ABC/ESPN
The New England Patriots seemed to have found their footing again as one of the best teams in the AFC. This is not to take anything away from what the Houston Texans have done during the course of the season, but lets be real here. Houston got very lucky they beat Pittsburgh last week. They keep making those same kind of mistakes again this week, the season ends.

Pick: Patriots 34, Texans 21

Los Angeles Rams vs Chicago Bears 6:40 PM NBC
This could be another close battle for the Bears this weekend with the Rams coming into town. And it's going to be a cold one in Chicago, which is going to play a factor into this one. But Matthew Stafford can handle it, having played in it for years in that division when he was in Detroit. Chicago had better find their run game again this week or this could be a long weekend.

Pick: Rams 27, Bears 10

Major Milestone In Tampa Bay

Coaching in sports. You have to be good at what you do to be able to coach in the National Hockey League. In fact, there have been 401 people that have coached at least one game at that level. Thirty two of those people have done that more than 1,000 times. Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper is one of those guys. He hit that mark before the end of 2025. Now he has reached another milestone.

Monday night, in a win over the Philadelphia Flyers, Cooper won his 600th game as an NHL head coach. Cooper got 600 wins in his 1,005th game, 2nd fastest in NHL history. Only one man, the great Scotty Bowman, got to that milestone faster. Bowman did it in 1,002 games. With that 600th win, Cooper becomes the 25 coach in history to reach that mark and is the 5th active coach to hit that number. Todd McLellan, Lindy Ruff, Paul Maurice and Joel Quenneville are the others.

Cooper’s record and numbers speak for themselves. 1.005 games coached, 600 wins (and counting for both), career .640 win percentage during the regular season. Two Stanley Cups, four total finals appearances 88 wins in 155 playoff games behind the bench. Since Cooper took over behind the bench late in the 2021-13 season, Tampa has never had fewer than 40 wins in a season (they had 36 wins in 2021 but that was the COVID shortened season). Also in that time, the Lightning have only missed the playoffs once. Those are all eye popping numbers. It speaks to how great of a coach Jon Cooper is. He knows how to get the best out of the players that he has. He knows when to push the right buttons and he can get the best out of what he is given.

Cooper had the best response when asked about hitting that milestone. “You get 600 wins ... it probably means you've had a lot of really good players. Ultimately, I've had a bunch of really good players, and they've made me look good."

Congratulations to Jon Cooper on hitting the major milestone!

Wild Card Weekend Predictions.

The opening weekend has arrived. We started this journey back in September with 32 teams all making the chase for a Lombardi Trophy. Now we are down to fourteen teams. Those teams start a month long chance for the biggest prize in all of professional football. So lets not waste any more time. Here's how we see wild card weekend going down in the NFL.

Los Angeles Rams vs Carolina Panthers (Saturday 4:30PM)
The road team, on paper, might be the better team in this matchup. Sure Carolina gets home field here because of winning the division. But they played in a bad division this year, which is evident by their under .500 record. I'm not saying that there isn't any talent on this Carolina team, because there is. The difference is, the talent level is much higher on the Rams. They are a more balanced and deadly team, at least on paper. We all know that might not always translate to the field. It also isn't helping that the Panthers limped into their division title and playoff spot.

Pick: Rams 35, Panthers 21

Green Bay Packers vs Chicago Bears (Saturday 8:30PM)
This is going to be a more intriguing matchup coming in. IT's the first time in five years the Bears have even made the post season, and they haven't won a playoff game since 2010. So there's added pressure enough in this one. It's even tougher that they hosting divisional rival in Green Bay. Both teams are stumbling into the playoffs, with each team coming in on small losing streaks. It just has that feeling coming into this one like playoff experience wins out here. Chicago doesn't have that, where Green Bay does. There's no doubt it going to be a tight game, but experience wins out here.

Pick: Packers 27, Bears 24

Buffalo Bills vs Jacksonville Jaguars (Sunday 1PM)
Jacksonville is coming into this as one of the hottest teams in football. And Buffalo had finally started to find their game at the end of the season. Sure, they aren't as hot as Jacksonville, but they started to get rolling at the right time. After hitting a bit of a bump in the road in the middle of the year, Buffalo won five of its final six to close the year out. This may end up being a battle of the ground game by the time all is said and done come Sunday afternoon. That being said, as good as the Jags are, experience get an edge here.

Pick: Buffalo 30, Jacksonville 20

San Francisco 49ers vs Philadelphia Eagles (Sunday 4:30PM)
Philadelphia has to come into this one as a more of a favorite, just given their past playoff record. After all, they are the defending world champions and have been in the big game twice in the last three seasons. But this year feels a little different going into it. The last couple of times the Eagles made the playoffs with under twelve wins, they got beaten in the opening round. It maybe a different result this year, but given the trend I'm not so sure. And the team they playing in the 49ers finished 12-5. IN most divisions that'd be a great finish. But given how tight the NFC West was this year, it only got them 3rd place. Doesn't really matter this time of the year. Given the things that have happen to the Niners this year, they just feel like a more resilient team going in.

Pick: 49ers 24, Eagles 17

Los Angeles Chargers vs New England Patriots (Sunday 8PM)
For the first time since 2019, the New England Patriots rule atop the AFC East. New England finished with 14 wins and a three game winning streak to close out the year. Nothing against the Chargers, who had a fine season, but this one feels like it going to be a romp. And probably the only romp of the weekend.

Pick: Patriots 27, Chargers 10

Houston Texans vs Pittsburgh Steelers (Monday 8:15PM)
This is going to be the tightest, most evenly contested game of the entire weekend. Yes a post season experience edge has to go to the Steelers. There's no doubt in anybody's mind that the Houston Texans come into the weekend as the hottest team in all of football. This comes down to who can get the ball last, and who makes the fewest mistakes.

Pick: Texans 17, Steelers 14

New Shutout King On Long Island

Now that's the way to come back from an injury. Ilya Sorokin has been out of action since December 19th with a lower body injury. His first game back was last night against the New Jersey Devils and it was a historic one. It was a 45 save shutout in a 9-0 win over the Devils. The shutout was Sorokin’s 26th in his career, all with the Islanders. Not that big a deal for most goalies. But in this instance, it is. All 26 of those shutouts have come with the Islanders, breaking the franchise record of 25. Chico Resch had the record, but that is no more.

There’s quite a bit to unpack here with all of this. First off, there’s the record itself. In the 53 year history of the Islanders franchise, thirty one goalies have recorded at least one shutout. The franchise as a whole has shut out their opponents 1398 times. Out of those 31 goalies, only three have recorded 20 or more shutouts, Billy Smith (22), Chico Resch (25) and Ilya Sorkin (26). When you think about some of the guys that have played in an Islanders sweater, that’s an eye popping number. And when you think about some of the guys that have defended the goal for the Islanders, that’s even more amazing a number.

As for the man who now has the record in Sorokin, he will go down as easily a top three goalie in the history of this franchise. He’s already 3rd in wins with 138 (and counting) as of this writing. He trails only Resch and Billy Smith for the record. Smith’s going to be hard to catch at 307 wins. Resch, who had 157, he should be able to pass if he could stay healthy. His goals against is 2.57 good for 9th in team history, the save percentage is at .916 which is good for 5th.

There’s some in the fanbase who love Sorokin, me included, while there are others who think he’s overpriced and not as good. Sure, he’s had moments when he hasn’t looked like that great a netminder. Every goalie during their career is going to have those stretches. There’s also times where he looks like he’s worth every single penny this team is paying him and then some. Sorokin has had stretches where he has carried this hockey club.

I don’t think he’s ever going to pass, or be mistaken for, Billy Smith. He can come close if he can help lead the Islanders to the promise land and win a Cup. Yes, there’s more to it than just one guy in the nets. But anybody who’s followed the game knows that great goaltending can carry a franchise. And Sorokin does have that ability, should he be able to stay healthy. And we saw that in his first game back against the Devils to break the record.

The sky is the limit for Sorokin. And I can’t wait to see where it takes him. Congratulations to Ilya Sorokin, the new Islanders shutout king!

Going For Gold

Olympic Gold. One of the great things that any athlete strives for. Hockey players are no different. The only other prize in the sport that players strive for, aside from the Stanley Cup of course, is gold at the Olympics. The 2026 games in Milano will feature NHL talent for the first time since Sochi in 2014.

Every NHL team is sending players to the Olympics. Here's the full list of every player from every team that's going to the games, and the country they will represent.

Anaheim Ducks: Leo Carlsson (Sweden), Lukas Dostal and Radko Gudas (Czech Republic), and Mikael Granlund (Finland)

Boston Bruins: Henri Jokiharju (Finland), Elias Lindholm (Sweden), Charlie McAvoy and Jeremy Swayman (USA), and David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha (Chez Republic)

Buffalo Sabres: Rasmus Dahlin (Sweden), Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (Finland), and Tage Thompson (USA)

Calgary Flames: Rasmus Andersson (Sweden) and Martin Pospisil (Slovakia)

Carolina Hurricanes: Sebastian Aho (Finland), Frederik Andersen and Nikolaj Ehlers (Denmark) and Jaccob Slavin (USA)

Chicago Blackhawks: Teuvo Teravainen (Finland)

Colorado Avalanche: Joel Kiviranta and Artturi Lehkonen (Finland) Gabriel Landeskog (Sweden) Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Devon Toews (Canada) Martin Necas (Czech Republic) Brock Nelson (USA) 

Columbus Blue Jackets: Elvis Merzlikins (Latvia) and Zach Werenski (USA)

Dallas Stars: Thomas Harley (Canada) Miro Heiskanen, Esa Lindell, Roope Hintz and Mikko Rantanen (Finland), and Jake Oettinger (USA)

Detroit Red Wings: Dylan Larkin (USA), Lucas Raymond (Sweden) and Moritz Seider (Germany)

Edmonton Oilers: Leon Draisaitl (Germany) and Connor McDavid (Canada)

Florida Panthers: Uvis Balinskis (Latvia), Gustav Forsling (Sweden), Seth Jones and Matthew Tkachuk (USA), Anton Lundell, Niko Mikkola and Eetu Luostarinen (Finland), and Brad Marchand and Sam Reinhart (Canada)

Los Angeles Kings: Joel Armia (Finland), Kevin Fiala (Switzerland), Adrian Kempe (Sweden), and Drew Doughty and Darcy Kuemper (Canada)

Minnesota Wild: Jonas Brodin, Joel Eriksson Ek, Filip Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt (Sweden), Matt Boldy, Brock Faber and Quinn Hughes (USA), and Nico Sturm (Germany)

Montreal Canadiens: Oliver Kapanen (Finland), Juraj Slafkovsky (Slovakia), Nick Suzuki (Canada), Alexandre Texier (France)

Nashville Predators: Filip Forsberg (Sweden), Roman Josi (Switzerland), Juuse Saros and Erik Haula (Finland)

New Jersey Devils: Jesper Bratt and Jacob Markstrom (Sweden), Jack Hughes (USA), Simon Nemec (Slovakia), Ondrej Palat (Czek Republic), Timo Meier, Nico Hischier, and Jonas Siegenthaler (Switzerland)

New York Islanders: Bo Horvat (Canada)

New York Rangers: J.T. Miller and Vincent Trocheck (USA), and Mika Zibanejad (Sweden)

Ottawa Senators: Lars Eller (Denmark), Nikolas Matinpalo (Finland), Jake Sanderson and Brady Tkachuk (USA), and Tim Stutzle (Germany)

Philadelphia Flyers: Rodrigo Abols (Latvia), Rasmus Ristolainen (Finland), and Travis Sanheim (Canada)

Pittsburgh Penguins: Sidney Crosby (Canada), Erik Karlsson and Rickard Rakell (Sweden), and Arturs Silovs (Latvia)

San Jose Sharks: Macklin Celebrini (Canada) and Alexander Wennberg (Sweden)

Seattle Kraken: Philipp Grubauer (Germany), Kaapo Kakko and Eeli Tolvanen (Finland)

St Louis Blues: Philip Broberg (Sweden), Jordan Binnington and Colton Parayko (Canada)

Tampa Bay Lightning: Oliver Bjorkstrand (Denmark), Erik Cernak (Slovakia), Zemgus Girgensons (Latvia), Jake Guentzel (USA), Anthony Cirelli, Brandon Hagel and Brayden Point (Canada), and Victor Hedman and Pontus Holmberg (Sweden)

Toronto Maple Leafs: Oliver Ekman-Larsson and William Nylander (Sweden) and Auston Matthews (USA)

Utah Mammoth: Clayton Keller (USA), and Olli Maatta (Finland)

Vancouver Canucks: Teddy Blueger (Latvia), Kevin Lankinen (Finland), Elias Pettersson (Sweden), and Lukas Reichel (Germany)

Vegas Golden Knights: Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin (USA), Jonas Rondbjerg (Denmark), Mitch Marner, Mark Stone and Shea Theodore (Canada)

Washington Capitals: Martin Fehervary (Slovakia), and Logan Thompson and Tom Wilson (Canada)

Winnipeg Jets: Kyle Connor and Connor Hellebuyck (USA), Josh Morrissey (Canada), and Nino Niederreiter (Switzerland)

NFL Clinching Scenarios Week Eighteen

The last week of the NFL Season has arrived. We still have some seeding and division titles on the line heading into the final two days. So here's what has to be done to clinch everything on the final weekend of the season.

AFC:
Clinched: Denver Broncos (AFC West), New England Patriots (AFC East), Jacksonville Jaguars (Playoff spot), Buffalo Bills (Playoff spot), Houston Texans (Playoff spot), Los Angeles Chargers (playoff spot)

Denver Broncos ( vs LA Chargers)
-Denver can lock up top seed and home field throughout with a win OR losses by New England and Jacksonville. vs

New England Patriots (vs Miami Dolphins)
-New England can lock up the top seed and home field throughout with a win AND a Denver Loss

Jacksonville Jaguars (vs Tennessee Titans)
-Jacksonville can clinch the AFC South with a win OR a Houston Loss
-Jacksonville can grab the top seed and home field throughout with a win AND losses by Denver and New England

Houston Texans (vs Indianapolis Colts)
-Houston can clinch the AFC South with a win AND a loss by Jacksonville

Pittsburgh Steelers vs Baltimore Ravens (Sunday Night Football)
-Winner of this game wins the AFC North

NFC:
Clinched: Seattle Seahawks (playoff spot), San Francisco 49ers (playoff spot), Chicago Bears (NFC North), Los Angeles Rams (playoff berth), Philadelphia Eagles (NFC East), Green Bay Packers (playoff berth)

San Francisco 49ers (vs Seattle)
-San Francisco can win the NFC West, top seed, and home field throughout with a win

Seattle Seahawks (@ San Francisco)
-Seattle can win the NFC West, top seed, and home field throughout with a win or tie

Carolina Panthers (@ Tampa Bay)
-Carolina can win the NFC South with a win OR an Atlanta win

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (vs Carolina)
-Tampa Bay can win the NFC South with a win AND an Atlanta loss