That’s Amaury News and Commentary: El Tiante visiting Oakland in 1974

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The author Amaury Pi Gonzalez (left) interviews Boston Red Sox pitcher Luis Tiant (right) in the Red Sox dugout at the Oakland Coliseum in 1974 (photo from Amaury Pi Gonzalez)

El Tiante visiting Oakland in 1974

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

Amaury Pi-González

Cuban-born Luis Tiant was one of history’s most unique and charismatic pitchers. He hypnotized hitters with his windup, spinning like a top on the mound, as hitters usually saw his number on his back before the ball came to the plate. He owned a vibrant personality and, for years, at Fenway Park, had his popular Cuban Food kiosk. He could be seen eating lunch with fans, signing autographs, and taking pictures, especially with Red Sox Nation fans.

El Tiante was born in Marianao, Habana, Cuba, on November 23, 1940, and died on October 8, 2024, in Wells, Maine. He was 83 years old. As a kid in Havana, I had memories, along with my father, of the pleasure of seeing him pitch in the old Cuban Winter League for the Leones del Habana.

Decades later, I met him as a pitcher in the major leagues with the Boston Red Sox. He also pitched for the Havana Sugar Kings of the old International League from 1959 to 1962. Mexico City Tigers, Cleveland Indians, Minnesota Twins, and his favorite organization, the Boston Red Sox.

His 19-year career began in 1964 and ended in 1982, with 229 games won and 172 lost, an earned run average of 3.30, 3,486 innings pitched, 2,416 strikeouts, and 49 shutouts.

Tiant led the American League in ERA in 1968 and 1972; historically, his 1.60 ERA in 1968 was the best in the American League in 50 years. In 1972, he won the American League Comeback Player of the Year. He was selected to the All-Star Game three times and won 20 or more games. He led the American League in shutouts in 1966, 1968, and 1974. Previously, early in his career, in 1967, he led the American League in strikeouts per nine innings pitched.

He had a great career worthy of the Hall of Fame, but he never received serious consideration. He was mentioned on ballots more than 30% of the time only once, in his first year of eligibility in 1988. He was inducted into the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum and Hall of Fame in 2002 and in 1997 into the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame, in 2009 the Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

Pitched in Venezuela from 1963-1982 for the Leones del Caracas teams that won two championships and a no-hitter in 1971. Luis Tiant should be in the Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, I have hope that he might still make it on the Veterans Committee.

Time will tell, but El Tiante was another gem produced by the country of Cuba a pioneer in the history of baseball in Latin America. During his 19-year career, Tiant pitched for six major league teams and cemented his place in New England baseball with his 1975 World Series performance for the Red Sox.

The day Tiant passed, former Red Sox outfielder Fred Lynn and others paid tribute to Tiant on social media. “Today is a very sad day, Lynn wrote on X along with a picture of himself and Tiant. “My friend and teammate, Luis Tiant, passed away.”

A Big game pitcher, a funny genuine guy who loved his family and baseball. Luis Tiant (like most Cuban players who left their country) did not sympathized with the Fidel Castro communist dictatorship, but his love for Cuba and the Cuban people never waned.

Luis Tiant told ESPN “Castro’s Cuba ‘took away the freedom, the happiness, the dreams”. In 2007 El Tiante visited Cuba, almost 50 years after he was unable to return home due to political reasons. During that trip he visited family and friends and took a lot of American goodies, food candy all the good stuff that brought happiness to his compatriots.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez podcasts That’s Amaury News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com every Tuesday

Sacramento A’s Relocation podcast with Daniel Dullum: Fisher gets help from his family; Everyone pitches in to make up the $1.5 Billion

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John Fisher (far right) and his family plan to come up with $1.5 billion for their share of the construction costs to pay for the Las Vegas A’s ball park at the old Tropicana location (photo from Rickey Blog and Thompson Family go fund me)

On the Sacramento A’s Relocation podcast with Daniel:

#1 The Sacramento A’s and owner John Fisher on Thursday have detailed how their going to finance the new Las Vegas ballpark as the deadline to come up with the A’s share of the construction costs come due on Dec 5th. Fisher with the help of his family plan to pay the $1.5 billion.

#2 A’s executive Sandy Dean said that construction details, a financing plan are going to be in place. There will be a Dec 5th meeting with the Las Vegas Stadium Authority and final approvals for the $1.5 billion, 30,000 seat that will have a 33,000 capacity should be approved.

#3 Construction for the project is scheduled to begin Spring 2025 and the targeted opening date is 2028. The State of Nevada will be funding some $380 million towards the new park that will be located at the old Tropicana site located at Las Vegas Blvd and is targeted to open in 2028.

#4 Alexander Marks Schools over Stadiums spokesman and Schools over Stadiums who are education group fighting to stop public state funding that is going to pay for the A’s Las Vegas ballpark has not given up the fight and are hoping to get an initiative on the 2026 ballot that would stop the state funding for the A’s Vegas ballpark. Schools over Stadiums said last week that “we will continue our fight, including taking it to the streets with a referendum petition to protect Nevada’s tax dollars.”

#5 With the Fisher family getting very close to the stadium construction costs they are also getting loans to cover the costs from Goldman Sachs and US Bank, if there were any doubts before about financing the stadium Dean said this is the evidence you need, this “concludes the Fisher family has more than sufficient resources to fund the equity investment that’s required to build the stadium.”

Daniel Dullum does the Sacramento A’s Relocation podcasts each Sunday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Kings Win Third In a Row Beating the Hawks 123-115

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Sacramento Kings guard De’Aaron Fox (5) battles for the basketball with the Atlanta Hawks center Clint Capela (15) State Farm Arena in Atlanta on Fri Oct 25, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

The Sacramento Kings (3-2) led throughout the first three quarters in their game with the Atlanta Hawks (2-4). They led by double digits through much of those three quarters. Atlanta’s Trae Young got a major slow start but caught fire in the second half and finished with 25 points.

Game recap: The Hawks tied up the game 109 apiece with six minutes left in the game but De’Aaron Fox more than matched Young shot for shot scoring 11 points. He finished the game with 31 points and DeMar DeRozan had 27 points. Domantas Sabonis had a double double with 14 rebounds and 15 points. Sacramento stubbornly hung on to win this hard fought game.

The Kings got a fast start in the opening quarter leading by as much as 14 points but the Hawks hung around as the quarter ran out. Atlanta cut the Kings lead in half after the first 12 minutes as Sacramento hung onto a 33-26 lead.

Shots from the field were fairly even with the Kings shooting around 45% while the Hawks shot at almost 42% in a close matchup. The Kings hit five three’s in the first quarter with only three turnovers. This was a great start for the team although they would be aiming to push their lead back out.

In the opening minutes of the second quarter, Sacramento did indeed push their lead back out taking a 45-28 lead at 9:15. Both De’Aaron Fox and bench player Keon Ellis had ten points apiece in the first quarter and would be looking for more as the first half of play went deeper.

Atlanta continued to challenge pushing back getting some solid play from their bench but unable to keep pace with the Kings. Again the Hawks erased the Kings double digit lead although Sacramento pushed it back out to double digits at the half 69-59. Sacramento had barely outscored the Hawks in the second quarter 36-33.

Sacramento led after three quarters 102-90 but the fourth quarter got very interesting. After trailing by as much as 18 points in this game, the Hawks made a huge push tying up this game at 5:51, 109 apiece. The Kings took a 118-112 lead with under three minutes left in the game and Sacramento would have to fight for this game.

Kevin Huerter had missed far too many buckets under the basket, too many easy layups. With under a minute left in the game, the Kings were hanging onto a 122-115 lead. The Hawks kept threatening answering the Kings basket for basket as this game went down to the wire. With 26 ticks left on the clock the Kings had a 123-115 lead which would be the final score.

Every Sacramento starter had double digits along with bench player Keon Ellis who finished with 12 points. The Kings had 11 three’s but the Hawks had a great second half hitting 19 shots from downtown.

Garrison Matthews hit 7 of 13 and Keaton Wallace was 50% from downtown going 4 of 8. They had a great second half of basketball but the Kings set the pace early in the game and hung on for the win.

Game notes: Friday evening, the Kings took on the Hawks at State Farm Arena. After a bit of a slow start on the season, the Kings won their last two games against the Trail Blazers last Monday 111-98 followed by a win over the Utah Jazz Tuesday 113-96 to even their season record at 2-2.

Friday night the Kings extended their game winning streak to three games. Although being favored in this contest, the Kings went into this game with determination and purpose, not taking any team lightly. The good news for Sacramento was that there were no injured players on their injury report.

Saturday night the Kings continue their road trip taking on the Toronto Raptors. Tipoff for this game is scheduled for 4:30pm PT. Scottie Banks is the threat for Toronto averaging 19 points per game. Sacramento will be hungry for their fourth straight win.

ACC Weekly: Can Pitt or SMU Define Themselves?

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By Morris Phillips

Pat Narduzzi’s Pitt Panthers haven’t really beaten anyone of substance. Rhett Lashlee’s SMU Mustangs have impressive results, but admittedly, they can’t say they’ve played clean football.

Who are these two ACC teams currently at the top of the heap of the expanded conference with their biggest challenges still ahead of them?

Honestly, they don’t know themselves. But the process of gaining their unique identities starts on Saturday night in Dallas when they meet with a share of first-place in November on the line.

“Pretty much what we saw: we played pretty good football minus six turnovers and a goal line stand, which makes it really bad football,” Lashlee admitted in recounting the Mustangs’ thrilling escape act at Duke, a 28-27 win in overtime in their previous game.

SMU built a 21-7 third quarter lead only to see the host Blue Devils tie it and force overtime with touchdowns on their last third quarter possession and the first fourth quarter possession. Throughout SMU and quarterback Kevin Jennings suffered self-inflicted wounds with three interceptions and three fumbles while not forcing any Duke turnovers. The 6-0 disparity in miscues was unusual, even more so when SMU held on in overtime. It marked the first time since Marshall’s 2011 win over Memphis that a team had overcome that severe of a turnover deficit.

“We’ve never had a game like that, I’ve never had a game like that. It’s kind of like a twilight zone scenario.”

Narduzzi’s Panthers weren’t considered to be an ACC title contender by the media, not even close. Picked 13th (while 1-7 Florida State was picked 1st), they’ve beaten North Carolina, Syracuse, and Cal, none of whom created much buzz in the poll either. The veteran coach, who’s known for his gruff manner and pushing his players’ buttons, likely spiced up pre-season practices with references to his team’s lacking reputation. Narrow, non-conference wins over Cincinnati and West Virginia didn’t get people talking either. Destroying Syracuse 41-13 last Thursday did, but the highlights were littered with the Orange making damaging mistakes.

Now Pitt’s 7-0 for the first time since 1982, and SMU is much more talented than anyone they’ve played to date. A big road win would bring validation, but it may take some tweaking of Pitt’s mentality. Narduzzi admitted as much.

“I want our guys to play angry. I want them to play with an attitude and a chip on  their shoulder all the time,” Narduzzi said. “We’ll find different ways to piss them off, get them angry, and feel disrespected.”

Neither team can write their ticket to the ACC Championship game with a win Saturday as Clemson and Miami are also undefeated in conference play. For SMU, whose only loss is to BYU, the path would get clearer as they finish against Boston College, Virginia and Cal, all of whom they will be favored against. Pitt’s backloaded schedule still has them hosting Virginia and Clemson, with visits to Louisville and Boston College.

One thing’s certain: the SMU-Pitt loser faces the uphill climb everyone expected them to face before the season started.

“Our motto for the year is ‘prove it,'” Narduzzi said. “Just find a way to get it done, and improve who you are week in and week out. Because nobody cares what happened in the first seven games of the season.”

Eli Holstein, Pitt’s prolific passer who transferred from Alabama, has thrown for 1,805 yards and 17 touchdowns. He didn’t finish the Syracuse game after suffering an undisclosed injury, but he’s been cleared medically and is expected to start against SMU. Kevin Jennings, the Mustangs’ signal caller was questionable as well, but he’s expected to start and contend with a Pitt defense that’s been excellent, and opportunistic.

SMU might have the best playmaker in running back Brashard Smith, who hits the hole with force while being a factor in the pass game. Smith has 10 touchdowns, and has steadily been trusted to handle the football more and more. Last week against Duke he had a season-high 26 carries for 117 yards and three receptions for another 22 yards.

HOKIES SEEK FOURTH STRAIGHT WIN AT SYRACUSE:

Bhayshul Tuten is performing like the barometer for Virginia Tech as one of the ACC’s best backs who has been even better in the Hokies’ current, three-game win streak. Tuten rushed for 80 yards on 17 carries last week as the Hokies drubbed Georgia Tech at home, 21-6.

Prior to that Tuten hit his career-best with 266 yards rushing in a win over Boston College. It was the fifth time the senior has eclipsed 100 yards on the ground, including all four of his home games.

Suddenly, Virginia Tech is 5-3 and 3-1 in the ACC, giving them hope that a miraculous finish to the season could propel them into the ACC Championship game. But first, they must deal with a difficult environment at Syracuse’s JMA Dome and their quarterback Kyle McCord, who’s been better more often than not, although he did struggle in the Orange’s 41-13 loss at Pitt.

Meanwhile, Tuten suffered an injury against Tech last week, and he’s looking for clearance to play on Saturday. Coach Brent Pry was non-committal but was hopeful that he’ll have his offensive leader on Saturday.

“He’s tough. If he has an opportunity to play he will,” Pry said of Tuten.

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Celbrini back skating with Sharks; Barkov thrilled to be back in Finland for Global Series; plus more news

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St Louis Blues left wing Jake Neighbours (left) is in pursuit of the San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini (71) during the first period at SAP Center on Oct 10, 2024. Celebrini has returned to practice skates and is preparing to get back into game action after suffering a lower body injury. (AP News photo)

On the NHL podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 Len, the San Jose Sharks Macklin Celebrini is back on the ice skating with the Sharks and will be back for game action depending on his progress but from what the Sharks are saying he has made progress.

#2 Aleksander Barkov made a homecoming to his native Finland for the 2024 NHL Global Series Finland presented by Fastenal on Friday. Barkov looked at Tappara’s U12 team with young kids playing hockey saying “I was one of those kids maybe 20 years ago” Barkov is in Finland with the Florida Panthers to take on the Dallas Stars. Barkov said he was looing forward to playing in these games since March.

#3 The Winnipeg Jets Kyle Connor scored his 500th career point and is on a hot streak that he started this season. Connor had a goal and two assists against the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night in the Jets 6-2 win at Little Caesar’s Arena in Detroit.

#4 Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen is out on a week to week basis after injuring his foot. Anderson was a scratch for Monday night against the Vancouver Canucks. So far this season Andersen is 3-1-0-0 with 1.48 goals against average.

#5 The Edmonton Oilers Connor McDavid will be out from two to three weeks due to a ankle injury. McDavid played on Monday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets on the opening face off and 37 seconds into the opening period McDavid was tripped up by Blue Jackets defenseman Zack Werenski trying to enter the offensive zone and fell into the right boards.

Len Shapiro does the NHL podcasts Fridays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Three wins in a Row For Sharks defeat Chicago 3-2 at SAP; Smith scores twice for San Jose

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Trick or Treat, San Jose got a treat on Halloween night at the Tank

Sharks roster celebrating a win over the Blackhawks on Oct 31, 2024 at SAP Center in San Jose (Photo by San Jose Sharks Media Relations)

By Fernando Abarca

SAN JOSE, CA –– To keep the momentum going, the San Jose Sharks (3-7-2) added another win in the regular season against a Chicago Blackhawk (3-7-1) team with a similar record. Thursday night, Connor Bedard did not do his magic, and once again, San Jose is proving to the Bay Area to be something exceptional winning their third straight game edging the Blackhawks 3-2 .

The Sharks opened up the first period with Will Smith netting the first of the night and adding the first points in his NHL career at the 6:52 mark in the first period.

Soon after, as it happened in the last game vs. Los Angeles, the Sharks could not keep up the lead, and Chicago opened the away scoresheet as Ryan Donato found a way to score with a deflected puck and tied it up for the visitors.

Then, the former Toronto Maple Leaf Tyler Bertuzzi put the second for the Blackhawks at 09:41 in the first period.

The Hawks will not see another number up in the scoresheet for the rest of the night.

In the second period, Alex Wennberg tied it for the Sharks just a couple of minutes into the night’s remaining 40 minutes of hockey.

During the second period, there was a noticeable change in the offense, showing more attack and more logic in trying to score goals. The game could have ended 4-2, but during a Sharks powerplay, the puck hit the post and did not completely enter the crease.

After these actions, Will Smith was not satisfied with one goal, and scored the second, giving the Sharks their third win in a row. “It feels really good,” Smith said. “I mean, I’ve been waiting for it, so it is good to see it go in.”

Head coach Ryan Warsofsky said that Smith needs to do some things better without the puck but all in the same the two goals scored by Smith is much appreciated, “We’ve watched him his whole life. He can do that. We saw him have growth through his games,” Warsofsky said. “There are some things he needs to do better tonight without the puck, but for him to get rewarded with the two goals, big goals, highlight-reel goals, really the way they’ve scored, it’s nice to see because he’s worked hard to this point.”

It is worth highlighting the brilliant performance of the goaltender, Mackenzie Blackwood, who, with 29 saves, proved to be a strong wall for the Sharks facing a visiting team that had many clear chances.

Now, the Sharks are on a mission to make it four in a row this Saturday at SAP Center against the Vancouver Canucks a 7:00pm PT face off.

Cal Bears podcast with Morris Phillips: Cal ends four game loss streak with a vengeance beating Oregon State 44-7

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Cal Bears wide receiver Nyziah Hunter (13) rushes on Oregon State Beavers defensive lineman Jacob Shuster (62) in second half action at Cal Memorial Stadium in Berkeley on Wed Oct 30, 2024 (AP News photo)

On the Cal Bears podcast with Morris:

#1 Cal Bears quarterback Fernando Mendoza had himself quite an afternoon last Sat Oct 26th at Memorial Stadium against the visiting Oregon State Beavers with a career high of 364 yards and two touchdowns in defeating the Beavers 44-7.

#2 Morris this was important morale victory for the Bears who had been on a four game losing streak and wanted to break out and get one back in the win column.

#3 Cal was so far ahead that they even had a 31-0 halftime lead and everything on both sides of the ball were working for Cal.

#4 This was under different circumstances to have a meeting between these two teams as they were both in the Pac 12 that since broke up over the off season with Cal being an ACC team and Oregon State 1 FBS. Taking that in consideration was there any advantage for Cal knowing this Beavers team from playing against every year going into last week’s game?

#5 Cal now head to play Wake Forest Demon Deacons next Friday Nov 1 at 5:00pm PT. Wake Forest has won three of their last four games. Wake Forest just edged the Stanford Cardinal last Saturday at Stanford Stadium 27-24. Cal is coming off a big offensive game and Wake Forest is coming off some big wins how do you see this match up this Saturday?

Morris Phillips does the Cal Bears podcasts Thursdays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Utah Hockey Club Douses Flames 5-1

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Utah Hockey Club center Nick Schmaltz (8) controls the puck against the Calgary Flames center Justin Kirkland (58) in the first period at Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wed Oct 30, 2024 (AP News photo)

Utah HC Bounces Back Big From Monday Loss With Commanding Win Over Calgary

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–In the aftermath of Utah Hockey Club’s third period collapse and overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks on Monday, the team dealt a 2025 third-round draft pick to the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday to acquire veteran defenseman Olli Määttä. The Finnish 30-year-old brings much-needed depth to a defense reeling from long-term injuries to John Marino and Sean Durzi.

Määttä joined the lineup on Wednesday night as Utah HC played host to the Calgary Flames. Määttä is reunited with former teammate Ian Cole, both of whom won back-to-back Stanley Cup championships with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016 and 2017. He entered tonight’s game with 177 points (40g, 137a) in 691 career NHL contests with PIT, CHI, LAK and DET.

Alex Kerfoot gave Utah an early lead at 4:41 of the first period with his first goal of the season, assisted by Michael Kesselring and Mikhail Sergachev. With 61 seconds remaining in the opening frame, Martin Pospisil and Mikhail Sergachev both went to the box for roughing penalties. Utah controlled the puck for much of the final minute, but seemed as if they would run out the clock in their own defensive zone.

As the final seconds counted down on the scoreboard, Utah rushed up the ice and Barrett Hayton found the back of the net with slightly less than two seconds remaining, his fifth of the season, assisted by Nick Schmaltz and Ian Cole. This was the latest goal Utah has scored in any period so far this season.

Calgary cut their deficit in half at 3:53 of the second period on a goal by Anthony Mantha, assisted by Justin Kirkland and MacKenzie Weegar. Utah answered just 17 seconds later when rookie Maveric Lamoureux scored his first NHL goal from near the blue line in his fourth game since being called up from Tucson, assisted by Kevin Stenlund and Jack McBain.

Late in the period, Utah went on the power play as Calgary’s Anthony Mantha went to the box for roughing. He was joined forty seconds later in the sin bin by Blake Coleman who committed a boarding penalty against Clayton Keller, giving Utah a 5-on-3 advantage.

With five seconds remaining on the first penalty, defenseman Mikhail Sergachev netted his second goal of the season, assisted by Dylan Guenther and Nick Schmaltz, giving the home team a 4-1 lead heading into the locker room.

Utah also had a 4-1 lead entering the third period on Monday night, only to squander it in the final five minutes of the game, so nothing would be taken for granted. Dylan Guenther gave the Flames a chance to get back into the game, committing a holding penalty against Andrei Kuzmenko which Utah was able to kill. At 4:53 of the third, Calgary’s Nazem Kadri gave Utah another power play opportunity, going to the box for cross-checking against Juuso Valimaki.

That was all captain Clayton Keller needed to increase Utah’s lead to 5-1 on his sixth goal of the season, assisted by Dylan Guenther and Mikhail Sergachev. This time the defense held on to deny Calgary a comeback, with goaltender Connor Ingram stopping 30 of 31 shots for the win.

Following the game, Utah HC head coach André Tourigny commented on the team’s response to Monday’s game. “Really (satisfying). I was confident that would happen. There’s a lot of factors that can happen in the game. (If) they get a great scoring chance and score right away at the beginning or whatever, it can shake you a little bit. But I was confident we’d play solid.”

Tourigny had praise for 20-year-old defenseman Maveric Lamoureux who scored his first career NHL goal and point. “Great for Mav; I’m really happy for him. That was great–but the timing of it, it could have been anybody. I was really happy (with the timing). But I’m really happy for Mav. That was great. But the timing of it; (Calgary) got close at 2-1 and we scored on the next shift. That was solid…All of the shift was solid. I liked the reaction after (we gave up) that goal. You needed a solid shift and we had one.”

Lamoureux weighed in on his first goal after the game. “It was amazing. It just felt like it was going in slowly. Then I saw the light go on. I was really happy when I saw it go in.” When asked how many texts he received after his first goal, he responded, “No idea. It’s probably going to be blowing up like it was when I got called up to play my first game. So it’s probably going to take me a few days to answer everyone.”

Newly acquired defenseman Olli Määttä spoke in the locker room about the last 24 hours since being traded from Detroit. “I don’t think you ever get used to it. It was quite the night and quite the morning. But I think the moment I came in here, guys welcomed me really good. I can see this organization is a great one. There’s a great thing going on here, a great group of guys we got. It just feels right.” With regard to his expectations going into Wednesday night’s game, and his first impressions of Salt Lake City and the Delta Center, Määttä commented, “I didn’t know what to expect, to be honest. I just wanted to go out there and play. It wasn’t really a routine game day. But it was fun. … I played here in (the Frozen Fury exhibition) with the Kings against Vegas. But I liked it. The rink’s awesome. The city’s awesome. When you land, you see the mountains and everything. It looks so cool.”

Speaking of the win, captain Clayton Keller said, “It feels good. Obviously, we had a good first two periods. We wanted to learn from our last couple games and our mistakes. I thought we did a good job.” What changed over the last few games? “I thought we were simple. We kept the pucks going North. Before, we kind of backed off and gave (opponents) some space. Tonight, I thought we did a good job staying above (Calgary), not giving them much space and letting them get in the game. I’m proud of the way we responded. … This is the best league in the world. It’s hard to do it consistently and every single night. That’s something that we’re striving for. Even nights when you don’t have your best (night), there’s still ways you can find a way to win or get a point or two.”

Calgary Flames captain Mikael Backlund commented afterward about playing in his 1000th career game, all in a Flames jersey. “That was great. It was an awesome feeling skating out and doing a solo lap. It’s been a long time since I did that last, that was a special feeling for sure. It sucks that it didn’t carry over into the game.”

According to NHL Stats, Backlund is the second player to skate in 1,000 NHL contests with the Flames, Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Jarome Iginla having been the first. Jarome’s son, Tij Iginla, was selected sixth overall by Utah in the 2024 NHL Draft and is currently playing for the Kelowna Rockets in the WHL.

Utah now hits the road for a 4-game swing beginning on Saturday in Las Vegas and continuing to Winnipeg, St. Louis, and Nashville before returning home on November 13 to face the Carolina Hurricanes.

World Series podcast with Stephen Ruderman: Dodgers win World Series in five games defeating Yankees in Bronx

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Mookie Betts (50) and Freddie Freeman (5) both exclaim “You the Man!” as they celebrate scoring against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx during game 5 of the 2024 World Series on Wed Oct 30, 2024 (AP News photo)

World Series podcast with Stephen Ruderman:

#1 Earlier in game 5 the Yankees built up a 5-1 lead that went into the third inning that saw a home run by Aaron Judge and a homer by Jazz Chisholm in the first inning. Alex Verdugo got an RBI single in the second and Giancarlo Stanton with a home run in the third inning.

#2 The Dodgers would chip way at that four run Yankee lead in the Mookie Betts in the top of the fifth inning beat out an infield single that scored Enrique Hernandez and Freddie Freeman’s two run single scored Tommy Edman making 5-3. Then Teoscar Hernandez would hit an two RBI double that would tie up the game at 5-5.

#3 Stanton would fly to center that would score Juan Soto that gave the Yankees a 6-5 lead in the bottom of the sixth. So the Bronx Bombers were not giving up just yet.

#4 The Dodgers would score twice to take the lead back in the top of the eighth when Gavin Lux with RBI hit score Edman and Betts would sac fly to scoring Edman to center put LA in drivers seat 7-6.

#5 The Dodgers would put this one away retiring the Yankees in the bottom of the ninth inning and taking the World Series Trophy back to Los Angeles with them The Dodgers would jump on the Yankees taking the first three games going up 3-0 but the Yankees pounded the Dodgers 11-3 in game 4 but the Dodgers who were behind 5-1 would come back in the fashion that they’ve played in post season with a one run 7-6 win to become the 2024 World Series Champions.

Stephen Ruderman did MLB podcasts throughout the 2024 season for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Barracuda dominate Firebirds in 5-1 win, extend winning streak to five

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San Jose Barracuda forward Andrew Poturalski, who was the number one star of the game, battles with Coachella Valley Firebirds defenseman Gustav Oloffson during the Barracuda’s 5-1 win over the Firebirds at Tech CU Arena on Wednesday OCT 30, 2024.

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Barracuda are scorching hot.

Team Teal had five different goal scorers in a 5-1 route of the Coachella Valley Firebirds on Wednesday evening at Tech CU Arena.

San Jose has won a season best five games in a row and just their second game against their Pacific Division rival. Coachella Valley has lost their third game in five games.

San Jose (6-1) drew first blood with an even strength goal in the first period. Brandon Coe intercepted a pass in the neutral zone and skated into Coachella Valley zone. Coe threaded a pass to an unmarked Luke Grainger who made one move to get Firebirds goalie Ales Stezka to go down before roofing a backhander top-shelf for his first goal of the season at the 7:34 mark.

The Barracuda doubled its lead 58 seconds later. Luca Cagnoni kept the puck inside the Firebirds zone. The rookie defenseman found Andrew Poturalksi along the slot and Poturalski’s shot deflected off of the leg of Colin Graf and into the back of the net for Graf’s third goal of the season at the 8:32 mark.

Coachella Valley (2-3) had 12 shots on net in the opening frame but weren’t able to solve the mystery known as Barracuda goalie Yaroslav Askarov who made some key stops to keep the Firebirds off of the scoreboard.

The Firebirds cut the lead in half midway through the second period. Jager Firkus found Ben Meyers down low behind the net. Meyers made a move to get past Shakir Mukhamadullin before skating out from behind the net and lifting a backhander past Askarov for his second goal of the season at the 10:30 mark.

San Jose regained their two-goal lead with a short-handed goal. Justin Bailey won a battle along the boards and sent a pass up the ice that sprung Colin White on a breakaway. White beat Stezka with a back hand shot for his third goal of the season at the 13:02 mark.

The Barracuda earned its biggest lead of the contest early in the third period. Donovan Houle, who had a great night throwing his body around against the Firebirds, threw a shot on net that was initially saved by Stezka. Lucas Vanroyboys crashed the net and on is second attempt cleaned up the rebound for his second goal of the season at the 3:52 mark.

Poturalski completed the scoring with an empty net from deep inside his own zone for his third goal of the season at the 16:50 mark as Coachella Valley pulled their goalie with over four minutes remaining in the final frame.

Askarov (5-0) remained undefeated as he stopped 36 of the 37 shots to earn his fifth win of the season. Stekaz (1-3) made 33 save on 37 shots in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose finished 0-for-2 on the power play. Coachella Valley was 0-for-1.

San Jose is 2-10-2-3 in the all-time series with Coachella Valley.

The Three Stars of the Game were: 1) Poturalski 2) Askarov 3) Grainger.

UP NEXT: San Jose heads to the Midwest this weekend to take on the Iowa Wild in a two-games series. The first game is Saturday 11/2 at 4:00pm at Wells Fargo Arena.