O Canada: The Great White North returns to NHL playoffs
The hockey world has resumed revolving on its normal axis north of the border. A year after being shut out, Canada is making a return to the NHL playoffs in a big way.
O Canada, is the buzz ever back across the Great White North: From Calgary’s Red Mile bar district to Montreal’s rue Sainte-Catherine to Parliament Hill in Ottawa, the landscape for the playoffs includes the big-stage debuts of such young stars as Edmonton’s Connor McDavid and Toronto’s Auston Matthews.
“When players get traded here and they talk about how great the Bell Centre is, we always say, ‘Wait ‘til’ the playoffs,” in 13 years by opening American-born against Alex Ovechkin and the Presidents’ Trophywinning Montreal Washington Capitals. Canadiens captain Max In ending a 10-year playoff Pacioretty said. drought, the Oilers “There’s nothing like it. christen their new downtown It’s like the Super Bowl every arena against the day.” defending Western Conference
Multiply that by five because champion San Jose that’s how many of Sharks. the hockey-mad nation’s And let’s not forget seven franchises are in Johnny Gaudreau and the the playoffs, which open Flames making just their Wednesday . second playoff appearance
There’s an Original Six in eight years by opening showdown between Montreal against Anaheim. and the New York The bars will be packed, Rangers. the fans jacked and so will
Boston Bruins captain be Canada’s most prominent Zdeno Chara will face his TV hockey executive former team in Ottawa . Scott Moore.
The youth-laden Maple A year ago, the Rogers Leafs make just their second Sportsnet cable network playoff appearance president joked about stepping out on the ledge of his third-floor Toronto office after having no Canadian teams to showcase two years into a 12-year, $5.2 billion (Canadian) TV rights deal.
Last week, Moore was giddily trying to determine whether it was better to have two Canadian teams meet in the first round — because it guaranteed one advancing — before eventually concluding it didn’t matter.
“While I was on the ledge last year, perhaps I knew it was not worth jumping,” Moore said. “There’s lots of peaks and valleys in the world of sports, and it’s never as bad as you think and never as good as you think.”
Kofa 5, Tolleson 4
The Kings won a close matchup Tuesday against Tolleson. Nataly Prieto, Valeria Anguiano and Kelsey Ramirez won singles matches. Kelsey Ramirez/Maesy Ramirez and Prieto/Anguiano won doubles matches to seal the victory.
JUCO BASEBALL AWC swept at Scottsdale
The Matadors lost by scores of 8-4 and 7-1 on Tuesday at Scottsdale.
In game one, Manuel Perez hit a home run. Sean Roby and Francisco Chavez were both 1-for-3 with an RBI.
In game two, they totaled 10 hits but had nine men left on base. Daniel Lafarga and Spencer Packard were both 2-for-4.