logo
Springfield Thunderbirds secure spot in 2025 Calder Cup playoffs

Springfield Thunderbirds secure spot in 2025 Calder Cup playoffs

Yahoo07-04-2025

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – The Springfield Thunderbirds are punching their ticket to the 2025 Calder Cup Playoffs!
Vietnam Veterans Day observed at Springfield City Hall
They clinched a playoff berth Sunday after the Hartford Wolf Pack lost to the Hershey Bears.Playoffs begin on April 21, two days after the regular season wraps up. Meanwhile, the T-Birds are still pushing to improve their position in the Atlantic Division.
They're currently in fifth place, the top two seeds will receive a bye to the Atlantic Division semifinals. This is the third time in the last four seasons the Thunderbirds have made the Calder Cup Playoffs.
WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on WWLP.com.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Westfield Starfires join students for STEM showcase
Westfield Starfires join students for STEM showcase

Yahoo

time6 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Westfield Starfires join students for STEM showcase

WESTFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – Students at a local middle school mixed education and fun, with a special appearance from the Westfield Starfires. Westfield middle schoolers got to enjoy a baseball game in the sun, but also got to learn the science behind the sport. It was a busy day for Westfield Middle School on Wednesday, as they partnered with Westfield Technical Academy and the Westfield Starfires baseball team for a STEM career showcase. Project Lifesaver launches in Chicopee to help locate wandering individuals The middle school students got the chance to interact with the technical school and see if it's a high school they would want to attend. From aviation and construction, to auto-tech, manufacturing, and electric wiring, the options for industries offered varied. 'A lot of great things to offer here at Westfield,' said Westfield Technical Academy Assistant Principal Kevin Daley. 'For them to see a non-traditional high school in the tech atmosphere, it's great for everybody.' STEM education actually has a lot to do with the sport of baseball. 'Velocity, speed, pitching, fielding, all of the things that go into math and science happen out here,' said Westfield Middle School Assistant Principal Karri Kells. The Westfield Starfires went head-to-head with the Worcester Bravehearts here at the stadium with an audience of over 1,500 people. The Starfires are trying to make a comeback from last season, and getting to speak with students, take photos, and sign autographs made it all the more special. 'It's a great opportunity for these students to see where these players are from, what universities they attend around the country,' Starfires team owner Chris Thompson said. 'And there's just a lot of energy at the ballpark, it's amazing.' Even though the team came up short in the double header, they can redeem themselves on Thursday against the Vermont Lake Monsters. WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

No, the Maple Leafs should not (and cannot) run it back: Mirtle mailbag
No, the Maple Leafs should not (and cannot) run it back: Mirtle mailbag

New York Times

time19 hours ago

  • New York Times

No, the Maple Leafs should not (and cannot) run it back: Mirtle mailbag

A couple weeks ago, we put out the call for mailbag questions from Maple Leafs fans after another disappointing playoff exit for Toronto. Subscribers didn't disappoint in contributing nearly 350 for us to filter through, something I plan on doing between now and free agency. We'll start with these two, which hit on a theme I've heard a lot since the Leafs were eliminated on May 18. Advertisement From Curtis P.: 'The core of the Leafs hasn't gotten it done yet, but every season is a new opportunity — just like rolling dice, past outcomes don't dictate future results. This team is different; they've grown, adapted, and learned. The right move isn't to dismantle everything, but to plug that second-line centre hole and tweak the depth. If the price is right, why not run it back with a team that's already shown it can compete at the highest level? The Atlantic Division is the toughest in the league, and if we can get through that, the sky's the limit. A few adjustments could be the key to finally breaking through.' From Danny A.: 'Are we holding the Leafs to different standards than other teams? Why isn't 'perennially in the mix in a league where anyone in the playoffs had as good a chance as any other' at least considered a mild success? Mitch Marner seems as good as gone, but it feels to me like re-signing him and keeping the core as a bridge to the rising cap (which was the original plan that a frozen cap killed) would be as good a plan as any.' Even though I've been around this team and fan base for a long, long time, I've been surprised how many of you want the status quo. Even after all of the losing. Even after the way they were eliminated in the second round this time around. If what happened this year — an ugly Game 7 loss in the second round against a terrific opponent — was happening for the first, or second, or even third or fourth time, then you could rationally argue to run things back. Leafs management did just that for years, after some really tough outcomes in the playoffs in the six seasons between 2019 and 2024. (I'm counting 2017 and 2018 as a young team going through growing pains and losing to more experienced opponents.) But as we sit here, three weeks out from free agency in 2025, we know that's not what has happened. The loss to the Panthers wasn't the second or third time something like this has occurred. It's not a new phenomenon for a talented Leafs core to no-show in two of the biggest games of the year. It has happened again and again and again in remarkably similar fashion. Advertisement The Leafs' core isn't young anymore. They aren't learning lessons. William Nylander is 29. Mitch Marner turned 28 during the playoffs, and Auston Matthews will join him there in September. Key veterans like Morgan Rielly and John Tavares are on the back nine of their careers at 31 and 34. Can we chalk up the implosions in Games 5 and 7 to bad luck that can be overcome with another roll of the dice? Are we sure these aren't loaded dice, set to land on snake eyes more often than not? Is next season a new opportunity if you attempt the same thing again, for an eighth consecutive season, with those five players making up the majority of your star power and cap space? And how can you be sure that's the right course of action when it hasn't been so many times before? We aren't holding the Leafs to a different standard than other teams. What they've done in running it back for so many years is unlike anything an unsuccessful franchise in pro sports has done. It's hard to find a good comparison for an organization keeping that much of its core together for that long with this little to show for it. (The closest comp would likely be the 2018 Washington Capitals who won the Stanley Cup after years of failed attempts, but even then, it was really only Alex Ovechkin, Nick Backstrom and defenceman John Carlson who were together for seven-plus seasons before winning, which would be akin to keeping Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Morgan Rielly — not all five members of the Leafs' core. The Mike Greens, Alexander Semins and Brooks Laichs weren't kept in Washington through that many years of postseason disappointment.) Most management groups in this situation would have pulled the plug on this configuration and tried to adapt three or four years ago. Certainly by 2023, when they still had an out to make major moves. Advertisement As for if being 'perennially in the mix' is considered a mild success, sure, we can call it that. These Leafs are a mild success! Nine consecutive years in the playoffs in the Matthews era, something no other NHL team has done. Tenth in playoff games played — and 11th in wins — since drafting him first overall. Two trips out of the first round and none past the second. But no one is arguing that the Leafs have been an unmitigated disaster the way they were previously. They're arguing that mild success isn't good enough, not when the goal is to win the Stanley Cup. They're arguing about what the best path forward is to be more than a mild success. How do they win it all? What do they need to get over the top, before the inevitable rebuild comes 'round again? Maybe you believe that's possible with this group. But what we're seeing in these big games is repeated evidence that something is wrong, and that gets reinforced when I talk to people behind the scenes. At this point, they very much agree they need a rethink. The GM isn't coming out after the postseason and saying his team needs to change 'some DNA' for show. This core has been kept together so long that it's become stale and dysfunctional, on and off the ice. They've been kept together so long that they don't even believe in themselves anymore. Think about it: If Marner truly believed they were right there, just about to break through, and there was a good chance of winning the Stanley Cup in his hometown with the Leafs, why wouldn't he have been willing to negotiate throughout the year for an eight-year deal worth massive money? Why did he seem so withdrawn and noncommittal? To me this goes beyond negotiating strategies and a players' camp trying to push for the maximum dollar figure on July 1. It's about something being fundamentally off, for Marner and for this organization. The strange thing is the player seemed to recognize it before management did, which puts the Leafs in a real bind. It appears almost certain at this point that they'll lose one of the best players in the NHL for very little in return, which is why some fans are getting cold feet about breaking up the core. Even if you believe this group needs change, these are hardly ideal circumstances under which to do it. Advertisement However, the next steps in Toronto shouldn't be the mass destruction of the roster. For one, that's not even going to be possible, not with free agency coming fast and so much of this group under contract, with no-movement and no-trade clauses. What GM Brad Treliving and his staff need to do instead is to try to identify how they can change the cast around the core members who stay in such a way that it resets the environment and allows them to be better in critical situations. Watch those playoff failures and analyze the team's shortcomings — not just with the core, but at every position, up and down the lineup. There are a lot of different ways the Leafs need to be better, but realistically, only some of them can be addressed this offseason. Assuming Marner is leaving, the change has to be focused on building a more well-rounded and less top-heavy roster, one that gets contributions down the lineup the way Florida has this postseason. One that can control play better and produce more offence when games get tight in the playoffs. That is going to be challenging with the Leafs' lack of trade assets, a weak free agent class, and the number of quality players Toronto needs to add, but challenging does not equal impossible. The best front offices in the league have made transformations like this in recent years — swapping out core players, making bold trades and underrated signings — and been better for it on the other side. The Panthers, for example, had terrific regular season success — winning the Presidents' Trophy in 2022 — but were swept in the second round and decided they needed to make major changes. Four of the eight biggest-minute players on that roster were gone the next offseason. They've continued to adapt and evolve over the last few years, adding key core pieces through trades and free agency, including Seth Jones, Brad Marchand, Matthew Tkachuk and Niko Mikkola. That's not to say the Leafs haven't changed. The blue line, especially, has undergone a dramatic makeover in a similar time frame, with defensive defenders Chris Tanev and Jake McCabe replacing T.J. Brodie and Jake Muzzin. But you'd be hard-pressed to call Toronto's moves a successful re-envisioning, given how similar (and how small) they look when up against a championship-level opponent in a playoff series. It's time to try something new, to cut deeper and ask the tough questions about why things haven't worked. Advertisement In an ideal world, the Leafs would have properly identified the need for this level of change before Marner was set to walk for nothing. We're going to be litigating the fallout of that for years to come, but that doesn't change the fact that trying the same thing again next season should have been out of the question either way. The only positive out of Marner's decision is it finally removes the 'run it back' option from the equation. It gives the Leafs a chance to reimagine what that $11 million in cap space can do for them in the playoffs if deployed differently, in support of the players who remain. And to acknowledge that mild success isn't good enough after nearly a decade of trying. (Top photo of Brad Treliving: Steve Russell / Toronto Star via Getty Images)

Panthers take 2-1 lead into game 4 against the Oilers
Panthers take 2-1 lead into game 4 against the Oilers

Fox Sports

time21 hours ago

  • Fox Sports

Panthers take 2-1 lead into game 4 against the Oilers

Associated Press Edmonton Oilers (48-29-5, in the Pacific Division) vs. Florida Panthers (47-31-4, in the Atlantic Division) Sunrise, Florida; Thursday, 8 p.m. EDT BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Panthers -150, Oilers +125; over/under is 6.5 STANLEY CUP FINAL: Panthers lead series 2-1 BOTTOM LINE: The Florida Panthers host the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup Final with a 2-1 lead in the series. The teams meet Monday for the sixth time this season. The Panthers won the last matchup 6-1. Florida has gone 32-15-2 at home and 47-31-4 overall. The Panthers have a +23 scoring differential, with 246 total goals scored and 223 conceded. Edmonton has a 48-29-5 record overall and a 29-20-2 record in road games. The Oilers have a 30-9-4 record in games they serve fewer penalty minutes than their opponents. TOP PERFORMERS: Aleksander Barkov Jr. has 20 goals and 51 assists for the Panthers. Sam Bennett has eight goals and three assists over the last 10 games. Evan Bouchard has 14 goals and 53 assists for the Oilers. Leon Draisaitl has five goals and nine assists over the last 10 games. LAST 10 GAMES: Panthers: 7-2-1, averaging 4.1 goals, 7.1 assists, 6.1 penalties and 19.2 penalty minutes while giving up two goals per game. Oilers: 7-2-1, averaging 3.5 goals, 6.4 assists, 5.5 penalties and 15.6 penalty minutes while giving up 2.4 goals per game. INJURIES: Panthers: None listed. Oilers: None listed. ___ The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar. recommended

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store