TALKING POINTS
Editor’s Note
Due to an earlier deadline of 8 p.m. throughout the pandemic, some games might not make it into the print edition of your Valley Press. Please find the following full story on our website at www.avpress. com: NBA — Rockets at Clippers; NHL — Avalanche at Ducks, Kings at Sharks.
Dodgers put Bellinger on injured list with calf problem
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers have placed former NL MVP Cody Bellinger on the injured list with a bruised left calf.
The World Series champions made the move Friday before Bellinger and his teammates received their championship rings ahead of the Dodgers’ home opener against Washington.
Bellinger was accidentally spiked by Athletics reliever Reymin Guduan on Monday while beating out an infield single in the ninth inning of the Dodgers’ 10-3 win in Oakland.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said they had not seen “significant” improvement in Bellinger’s leg since the injury, but the outfielder was already jogging and moving. He missed the final two games of Los Angeles’ series in Oakland.
“All the tests say it’ll be a short-term missing of time rather than a long-term, which is great news all around,” Roberts said.
Bellinger batted .211 with two RBIs in the first four games of the season. He is eligible to return April 16 when the Dodgers open a series in San Diego.
Mookie Betts also wasn’t in the starting lineup for the Dodgers’ home opener against Washington due to back stiffness, but Roberts thought the former AL MVP could be available to pinch-hit. Betts was scratched from Wednesday’s game in Oakland.
Versatile veteran Chris Taylor took Bellinger’s typical starting spot in center field for the Dodgers’ home opener. Zach McKinstry started for Betts in right field.
Virus-battered Canucks aim to complete condensed season
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The Vancouver Canucks are recovering from the NHL’s worst
COVID-19 outbreak and believe they can complete the pandemic-condensed season.
An outbreak has ripped through the team over the past week and a half with 25 people — 21 players and four members of the coaching staff — testing positive, and one additional player being deemed a close contact.
General manager Jim Benning said Friday many of the players are feeling better.
“I think our players, for the most part, our players are on the other side of it,” he said. “We still have family members that are getting sick and I think the players worry about that.”
There has been a “whole range” of COVID-19 symptoms, said team physician Dr. Jim Bovard, but no one has needed to be hospitalized.
The Canucks confirmed on Wednesday that a variant is involved in the outbreak. Full genome sequencing is being conducted by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control to determine which specific variant.
The team previously said an ongoing investigation by Vancouver Coastal Health and contract tracing ound that the outbreak was sparked by a single unidentified individual picking up the infection in a “community setting.”
Pau Gasol debuts in Barcelona return in 1st game in 2 years
BARCELONA, Spain — Pau Gasol played his first game in two years on Friday after returning to Barcelona, the team where he started his career two decades ago.
The former two-time NBA champion with the L.A. Lakers had not played since 2019, when he made his last appearance for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Hobbled since then with a nagging foot injury, the 40-year-old center decided to come back home in hopes of reviving his career in a second stint with Barcelona.
Gasol started the Euroleague home game against Bayern Munich. He scored nine points on four-for-nine shooting and grabbed four rebounds in 13 minutes.
Bayern won 82-72. Due to health restrictions in the pandemic, there were no fans in the stadium in Barcelona.
Maine hockey coach Red Gendron dies unexpectedly at 63
ORONO, Maine — University of Maine hockey coach Red Gendron died unexpectedly Friday, the school announced. He was 63.
The Boston native, who took over coaching the Black Bears in 2013, died after suffering a medical emergency, university officials said.
“Words cannot express our deep sadness from the tragic, sudden loss of Red Gendron,” athletic director Ken Ralph said. “Our community and the entire UMaine athletics family mourn the loss of Coach Gendron.”
Maine’s best season under Gendron ended early when the coronavirus pandemic struck in March 2020. The team had an 18-11-5 record before the Hockey East playoffs were canceled. He was a finalist that year for the Spencer Penrose Award, given to the nation’s top coach.
Gendron held many coach positions over his career and was an assistant with the New Jersey Devils in 1994-95 when they won the Stanley Cup. He also served as coach of the Indiana Ice and Albany River Rats.
Katie Ledecky wins 200 free with world’s fastest time
MISSION VIEJO — Katie Ledecky won the 200-meter freestyle at the TYR Pro Swim Series meet with the world’s fastest time this year.
Ledecky touched first in 1 minute, 54.40 seconds in the outdoor pool Friday. She was well ahead of three-time Olympian Allison Schmitt, who was second in 1:58.04. Ledecky’s time tied Schmitt’s U.S. Open record set in 2012.
Ledecky’s best time in the event is 1:53.73 set at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, where she won gold.
US women face Sweden as they prepare for Olympics
The U.S. national team continues its preparations for the Tokyo Olympics by playing the team that knocked the Americans out of the Brazil Games.
The United States plays Sweden on Saturday in Stockholm. The Swedes shocked the Americans in the quarterfinals of the 2016 Olympics, advancing on penalties after a 1-1 draw. Sweden went on to play in the final in Rio de Janeiro but fell to Germany.
A lot has changed since that game. Coach Peter Gerhardsson has replaced Pia Sundhage, who led Sweden in 2016. U.S. coach Jill Ellis stepped away from the team following its victory at the 2019 World Cup, making way for Vlatko Andonovski.
The memory of that loss to Sweden still stings a bit for the American players. It was the earliest exit ever for the United States in the Olympics. Both teams are again Olympics-bound.
“Obviously, there’s always going to be that bitterness behind us of the finish in 2016, that being the worst finish that we’ve ever had in an Olympics,” Alex Morgan said. “There’s really no way to say otherwise. So, of course, when you think of it that way, we want to come back and be really dominant in the way that we play (in the Tokyo Games). This is that first stepping stone to that.”
The United States is the top-ranked team in the world. In Tokyo, the Americans will be vying to become the first women’s team to follow up a World Cup victory with an Olympic gold medal.
The U.S team is 5-0-0 so far this year, including a threegame sweep in the SheBelieves Cup tournament. Overall, the United States has a 37-game unbeaten streak, including 16 straight wins.
Following the game against No. 5 Sweden, the United States travels to Le Havre for a match against No. 3 France on Tuesday.
Ex-NFL player’s brain to be probed for traumarelated harm
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The brain of Phillip Adams — the former NFL player who killed a South Carolina physician, three family members and a repairman before fatally shooting himself — will be tested for a degenerative disease that has affected a number of pro athletes and has been shown to cause violent mood swings and other cognitive disorders, according to the local coroner.
York County Coroner Sabrina Gast said in a statement issued on Friday that she had gotten approval from Adams’ family for the procedure to be included as part of his autopsy, which will be performed at the Medical University of South Carolina. The hospital will be working with Boston University, whose chronic traumatic encephalopathy center conducts research on the long-term effects of repetitive brain trauma in athletes and military personnel, according to its website.
According to police, Adams went to the home of Robert and Barbara Lesslie on Wednesday and shot and killed them, two of their grandchildren, 9-year-old Adah Lesslie and 5-year-old Noah Lesslie, and James Lewis, a 38-yearold air conditioning technician from Gaston who was doing work there. He also shot Lewis’ colleague, 38-year-old Robert Shook, of Cherryville, North Carolina, who was flown to a Charlotte hospital, where he was in critical condition “fighting hard for his life,” said a cousin, Heather Smith Thompson.