Bruins goalie Rask opts out
Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask has opted out of the team’s playoff run to be with his family.
The defending Eastern Conference champions announced the decision Saturday morning, less than two hours before Game 3 of their playoff series against the Carolina Hurricanes.
“I want to be with my teammates competing, but at this moment there are things more important than hockey in my life, and that is being with my family,” Rask said in the statement. “I want to thank the Bruins and my teammates for their support and wish them success.”
A Vezina Trophy finalist who won the NHL’s top goaltender award in 2014, Rask is the highest-profile player to opt out of the return to play from the coronavirus pandemic shutdown. After leading Boston to the Stanley Cup Final last season, he led the NHL with a 2.12 goals-against average and was second in save percentage and shutouts.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Nine Oklahoma football players tested positive for COVID-19 after returning from a break in preseason camp.
Coach Lincoln Riley made the announcement during a Zoom call Saturday.
Riley announced on Aug. 8 that the Sooners were temporarily pausing preseason practices because of schedule changes. He gave players the option of returning home, though most stayed on campus.
After the initial testing in preparation for the July 1 start of workouts, the program had just one positive result until this week. There were two rounds of tests last week, with one positive in 205 tests.
TENNIS
Belinda Bencic became the latest top tennis player to pull out of the U.S. Open, meaning three of the four female semifinalists in 2019 will not be at the Grand Slam tournament this year.
Bencic wrote on social media that she “made the difficult decision to skip New York and will return to the tour starting in Rome next month.”
The Italian Open, a clay-court tuneup for the French Open, begins Sept. 14, the day after the U.S. Open ends in New York.
Bencic, a 23-year-old from Switzerland, currently is ranked No. 8, so as of now, five of WTA’s the top eight players have announced they won’t play at Flushing Meadows amid the coronavirus pandemic. That includes No. 1 Ash Barty, No. 5 Elina Svitolina, No. 6 Bianca Andreescu – the reigning champion – and No. 7 Kiki Bertens.