NHL shelves games amid outbreak
The NHL postponed three Senators games on Monday amid a COVID-19 outbreak on the team, the first time any North American major professional sports league has been hit by rescheduling this fall because of the coronavirus.
Games scheduled for Tuesday at New Jersey, at home Thursday against Nashville and at home Saturday against the Rangers were postponed. Ten Senators players are currently in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol.
While Ottawa played shorthanded Sunday in a 4-0 loss to Calgary, the depth of the outbreak led to the decision to postpone games, which the league said was made in light of evidence of continued spread in recent days. The Senators are shut down through at least Saturday, with their training facilities closed to players until then as a precaution.
“The Senators organization has, and will continue to follow, all recommended guidelines aimed at protecting the health and safety of its players, staff and community at large as set by the NHL, local, provincial and national agencies,” the league said in a statement.
Neither the NFL nor the NBA has had to postpone a game so far this fall. Major League Baseball had nine virus-related postponements among 2,430 scheduled games, down from 45 in last year’s shortened 900-game schedule.
The NHL postponed 51 games for virus reasons during its last regular season.
College basketball: After an impressive win, Indiana has vaulted to its best ranking ever: No. 4 in The Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll. South Carolina remained the top team in the poll, receiving 25 first-place votes from a national media panel. The Gamecocks had an impressive nine-point win at No. 5 North Carolina State to tip off the season. The Gamecocks were followed by UConn, which garnered the other five No. 1 votes, and Maryland.
MLB: Jonathan India of the Reds won NL Rookie of the Year honors on Monday night, eight months after earning the team’s second base job during spring training and never letting it go during a stellar first season. He finished with a .269 average, 34 doubles, 21 homers, 69 RBIs and 12 stolen bases. He also showed good discipline in the batter’s box, coaxing 71 walks to finish with a .376 on-base percentage, and scored 98 runs . ... Rays’ Randy Arozarena won AL Rookie of the Year honors with a superb follow-up to his 2020 postseason heroics. Arozarena didn’t play enough during the 2020 regular season to lose his rookie status so he was eligible for the award this year. He followed up his postseason breakout with an excellent season in 2021, finishing with a .274 average, 32 doubles, 20 homers and 69 RBIs while adding excellent defense, helping the Rays return to the postseason.
NFL: Chase Young will not play the rest of this season after injuring his right leg and is scheduled to undergo surgery. Washington coach Ron Rivera confirmed the prognosis for Young on Monday in the wake of the reigning Defensive Rookie of the Year going down during the first half of an upset of the defending Super Bowl champion Buccaneers . ... Steelers on Monday placed safety Minkah Fitzpatrick on the NFL’s reserve/ COVID-19 list, where he joins quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.