Vancouver Canucks 2025 NHL Draft Target: Luca Romano
2025 Memorial Cup Round-Robin Preview: Medicine Hat Tigers Versus Rimouski Océanic
The Medicine Hat Tigers will kick off their 2025 Memorial Cup schedule on Friday when they battle the Rimouski Océanic. Medicine Hat returns to the Memorial Cup for the first time since 2007 and will be looking to bring a third championship home to Alberta. After showing how dangerous they can be throughout the WHL Playoffs, it is time for the Tigers to demonstrate to the rest of the CHL why they deserve to be crowned Memorial Cup Champions.
3:30
Now Playing
Paused
Ad Playing
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Stanley Cup Game 3 fines and fallout: Jake Walman docked the max, Panthers ready for Oilers response
FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Edmonton Oilers defenseman Jake Walman received $10,000 in fines from the NHL on Tuesday after squirting water toward the Florida Panthers bench and punching Matthew Tkachuk in the head during an emotional Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final. Walman's fines were $5,000 apiece for unsportsmanlike conduct and roughing. They were the only supplemental discipline to come from Monday's 6-1 Panthers win, which featured 140 penalty minutes — the fourth-highest total in Cup Final history. Advertisement The unsportsmanlike conduct happened late in the second period with Florida already ahead 4-1. Panthers forward A.J. Greer and Walman got mixed up along the boards, and Greer ripped off Walman's right glove, tossing it onto the Florida bench. Walman responded by squirting water at his opponent, prompting TNT analyst Brian Boucher to tell him to cut it out. Unreal trash talking sequence by AJ Greer and Jake Walman 🍿 — All Sports Culture (@ASCSportsMedia) June 10, 2025 'I obviously did that for a reason,' Walman said after the game. 'I won't go into the details. It's just gamesmanship, I guess. I've just got to realize there's cameras everywhere and they see that stuff.' The roughing incident occurred at 14:44 of the third period. Walman was assessed two minor penalties for roughing and a minor for unsportsmanlike conduct after engaging Tkachuk in front of the Oilers net, first spearing him and then delivering a couple of gloved punches to the head while teammate John Klingberg held Tkachuk. Jake Walman just gave a couple rights to Matthew Tkachuk 😳👊 — Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) June 10, 2025 The NHL doesn't look fondly on unnecessary incidents coming from the bench, which is why Walman was fined for squirting the water. The league has attempted to crack down on extracurriculars throughout these playoffs, handing out a series of fines during Round 1 for incidents that occurred in warmups. On April 25, Ottawa Senators forward Nick Cousins received a $5,000 fine while the Senators were docked an additional $25,000 after Cousins softly shot a puck at Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Anthony Stolarz before those teams played Game 3 of their series. And when the Montreal Canadiens' Arber Xhekaj and Washington Capitals' Dylan McIlrath came together to exchange words during warmups on April 27, both teams received a $25,000 fine. The players were each docked individually, as well, with Xhekaj paying $3,385.42 and McIlrath forking over $2,018.23. Advertisement Tempers flared throughout Game 3 of the Cup Final, with six members of the Oilers being sent to the dressing room before the final buzzer and three Panthers being shown the gate early as well. 'It's for the Stanley Cup, you know? So, f—, there's not an inch out there,' Walman said. 'Everybody's doing everything they can. That's a grown man's game out there. It's not for the faint of heart. Guys are putting everything on the line.' The NHL also looked at the Trent Frederic incident with Sam Bennett but determined the penalties assessed were appropriate. 'I just gave a shot. My stick broke, so I figured I was going to get a penalty anyway,' Frederic said. 'So just kinda kept going.' Everything stemmed from Trent Frederic breaking his stick with cross-checks on Sam Bennett 😳 — Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) June 10, 2025 After winning the first three games of the Stanley Cup Final last year, the Panthers chartered a plane and flew their families to Edmonton for Game 4 just in case there was a Stanley Cup celebration on the Rogers Place ice. They then got smoked 8-1 behind a four-point night from Connor McDavid in the first of three straight wins by Edmonton. So the Panthers aren't getting ahead of themselves after Monday's lopsided win. They know McDavid and the Oilers can respond. As Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said after getting clobbered last year in Game 4, 'It only counts as one win. It doesn't matter how much you lose (by).' Last year, McDavid said, 'It's not over 'til it's over' after three straight losses to open the series. Ominously perhaps for the Panthers, McDavid said after Monday's game that Edmonton's best is still coming. 'The experience of taking a beating and then being able to come back and play your best game lets you know it's there,' said coach Paul Maurice, who felt last year's Game 5 loss was actually Florida's best five-on-five game in the playoffs. 'It's what we expect from Edmonton. The emotions are different in the Final. … The game in Edmonton last year got away from us. Advertisement 'There were only one or two guys in the room who had won a Stanley Cup. For everybody else that walked into that room, it was their first chance to win a Stanley Cup. In that game, I gave an awesome speech. The opposite speech that they needed. I gave the exact opposite of what they needed, but I learned that, too. We were wired going out, and I think (Stuart) Skinner made two or three really good saves early in that game. One was a cross-body save, and then it got away from us. It gets to 4-1, 5-1. It's the same as Edmonton. I don't believe any of the bulls— that they unraveled. The game got to a point it probably wasn't getting better. Let's move on to the next one. That's all that was.' As Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse said Tuesday, 'That's the beauty of the playoffs. We're down one no matter what the score was last night. And Game 4 is a big one. Every one presents a new challenge and new test in the reset.' It hadn't been a great start to the series for Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad, but he was solid in Game 3 with a power-play goal and a big hit on McDavid. Ekblad STEPPED UP on McDavid 👀 — B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) June 10, 2025 Maurice had a political way of describing how good Ekblad was in Game 3 compared to Games 1 and 2. 'I thought he was all energy in the first two games,' Maurice said. 'He was covering a lot of ice, and (Monday), I thought he was perfectly focused in the game. So he was still doing it but defined in the areas he was pinching. I thought he played a really smart, veteran game.' Eetu Luostarinen continues to develop into one of the Panthers' best two-way forwards. In fact, as good as Gustav Forsling is on the back end, Luostarinen brings that acumen to the forward position. Just look at his steal and then pass that led to Bennett's breakaway goal in the second period. SAM BENNETT BURIES ON THE BREAKAWAY 🚨 CATS ARE COOKIN' IN FLORIDA 😼 — SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 10, 2025 'I got on the elevator with him up there, and I looked up, he's a big man now,' Maurice said. 'And that's what I noticed: 'S—, Loosty, you're taller than I thought you were.' But the 'Forsling up front' (comparison), that's really good, really good, because what you haven't seen in the playoffs as much, but Gustav Forsling had some great offensive numbers this year and never got a snap on the power play. Advertisement 'We felt that (Anton) Lundell and Luostarinen, that there was more offense there, but truly respected the fact that they never cheat for it. Brad (Marchand's) kind of training was with Patrice Bergeron, a player that never cheated the game. That's the way he knows how to play the game, so he fits perfectly with those two guys. They're going to do the right thing as hard as they can. They're very clean players. But there is offense there, and Brad's been able to bring that out of those two. It's there for them, but just sometimes you need the right kind of veteran piece to bring it out.' (Top photo of Jake Walman, Matthew Tkachuk and John Klingberg: Peter Joneleit / Getty Images)
New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
NCAA basketball to allow challenges, among other rule changes, to ‘enhance the flow of the game'
Major rule changes are on the way for both men's and women's basketball in the upcoming season, with coaches now able to challenge calls after the NCAA rules panel approved new rules ahead of next season. In men's basketball, coaches will now be able to challenge some calls, including reviewing 'out-of-bounds calls, basket interference/goaltending and whether a secondary defender was in the restricted-area arc.' Teams will need to use a timeout to challenge. If successful, they'll be allowed one additional review for the rest of the game, including overtime. Advertisement The NCAA said the changes in men's basketball aim to 'enhance the flow of the game.' Women's basketball coaches will also be issued a challenge, though their rules are different. Coaches will be able to challenge 'ruled out-of-bounds violations; ruled backcourt violations; whether a change in team possession occurred before the ruling of a foul where free throws would be involved; whether a foul was assessed to the correct player.' In the women's game, teams will not need to have a timeout to challenge. Instead, a lost challenge will result in a technical foul for 'an excessive timeout.' Officiating across NCAA sports has come under major scrutiny in the last few years, with coaches, players and administrators clamoring for change. The men's rules include that officials' points of emphasis this year will include addressing delay-of-game tactics. They also want to 'limit time spent at the monitor, improve game administration and reduce physicality.' Another rule change in the men's game: Officials will now have the option to issue a Flagrant 1 foul when a player is fouled with contact to the groin. Previously, any contact to the groin area considered not incidental was automatically issued a Flagrant 2 foul, as happened during the second round of the NCAA Tournament in the BYU-Wisconsin game, when BYU's Dawson Baker was whistled for a Flagrant 2 and ejected late in the second half. During the regular season last year, Big 12 Player of the Year JT Toppin was also the victim of a Flagrant 2 foul call in Texas Tech's game at Houston. Toppin was ejected as a result of the call; coach Grant McCasland's reaction got him ejected, too. The rules panel also discussed a move to quarters in the men's game, but did not make any changes. Currently, the men's college game is the only level of basketball that plays halves instead of quarters. The women's college game switched to quarters years ago, while both the NBA and international FIBA rules also require quarters. High school games are also played with quarters. Advertisement In its release Tuesday, the NCAA said the rules committee has had conversations that included 'positive momentum for moving to quarters,' but acknowledged there are 'hurdles' when it comes to media timeouts and having enough time allotted for commercials. The NCAA is recommending that conferences put together a committee to provide feedback on the potential move to quarters and share that feedback by next year.
New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
Why Canadiens rookie Lane Hutson's Calder Trophy win is just the beginning
Lane Hutson winning the Calder Trophy as the NHL's rookie of the year is easy to justify by looking at numbers on a screen. But his true value to the Montreal Canadiens can be found elsewhere: in the desire behind those numbers and his motivation for producing them. It has nothing to do with the Calder Trophy. It has to do with another trophy. Advertisement When Hutson was asked Tuesday what he's most proud of accomplishing in his rookie NHL season, the historic nature of his statistics did not come up. 'I think as a group, we fought to the end,' Hutson said, 'we fought to Game 82 and got into a playoff spot.' It was appropriate that Hutson, on June 10, was speaking to the media from a hockey rink, with a row of sticks to his right and a nondescript cinder block wall typical of a dressing room as a Zoom background. He was in Boston for the Bauer Combine, trying out new sticks and gear for next season. It was appropriate because Hutson spent just about every day this season in a hockey rink. On the days the Canadiens were off, he would go to the team's suburban training facility and get a skate in, work on a few things on his own and go home. Largely, he explained during the season, it was because he had nothing better to do. 'I don't really have hobbies,' he said. But that's not the whole story. The truth is, Hutson has a constant desire to improve, and he loves playing hockey, as evidenced by his first answer when asked how it felt to win the Calder. 'I'm just fortunate that I get to play for the Montreal Canadiens and do what I love every day and just taking it day by day,' he said. Hutson overwhelmingly won the Calder vote with 165 of the 191 first-place votes and finished second on the remaining 26 ballots. Of the 13 rookies to collect at least a fifth-place vote in balloting, Hutson, Logan Stankoven, Jackson Blake and Mackie Samoskevich were the only ones to play in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Among that group, Hutson easily had the biggest impact on his team qualifying for the postseason. It was a brief exposure to playoff hockey, but it will stick with Hutson this offseason, leading into training camp in the fall. After the Canadiens were eliminated in five games by the Washington Capitals, Hutson reflected on how much he had grown from beginning to end. Advertisement 'I felt like a completely different player from the first (game) to the fifth one,' Hutson said on May 2. 'Having that confidence and kind of knowing what I can and can't do, just like the regular season early on. It was a cool adjustment to have, kind of knowing I can have an impact and help. But I think I have a lot left to learn in that department for sure.' In other words, the series provided Hutson with information, and one of his superpowers is his ability to take information and use it to find solutions to barriers that might hold him back. He's done that as a smaller defenceman his entire hockey-playing life — finding ways to defend bigger, stronger players on the ice, finding ways to exploit holes and lapses in coverage from opposing teams, finding ways to use his brain as a weapon. He entered his rookie season with two NHL games' worth of information to work off of, and when he referred to the adjustments he had to make early in the regular season, it is notable. The version of Hutson that played in the playoffs was completely different from the version of Hutson that began the regular season. The early version saw every touch as an opportunity to attack, to make something happen and get the puck in the net. He didn't understand the flow of the NHL game or how attacking at this level can sometimes be more valuable and dangerous than being able to turn on a dime on your skates' edges. 'I think I started to understand the timing of things, how quickly things can happen and how each game will never be the same, what to prepare for, all that stuff,' he said Tuesday. 'Once you do it enough, you kind of get a feel for what's coming. But you've also got to be prepared for anything that can happen in a game.' Hutson's rookie season produced historic numbers, yes, but more importantly, it provided information. Hutson will use that to get better this summer; no one should doubt that. But the rest of the NHL will also use that to better defend him, to make it more difficult for him to find those holes and lapses in coverage. It is a chess game every gifted young player has to go through in the NHL, and considering how important Hutson was this season to the Canadiens' success, it will be a focal point for his opponents all season, just as it was for Capitals coach Spencer Carbery in the playoffs. Advertisement In the 552 five-on-five minutes the Canadiens played this season with Hutson and Nick Suzuki on the ice, the Canadiens outscored their opponents 40-19 and controlled 57.7 percent of the shot attempts, according to Natural Stat Trick. With them off the ice, the Canadiens were outscored 93-54 and controlled 44.45 percent of the shot attempts. But it should also be noted that Hutson and Suzuki started 75.62 percent of their shifts together in the offensive zone, and despite that, gave up (slightly) more high-danger chances than they earned, and their expected goal percentage (52.51 percent) was much lower than their goals for percentage (67.8 percent). So, there's room for improvement. And what drives Hutson to go to the rink on off days is that desire to improve and to win. 'I think just the feeling of winning hockey games and playing at the highest level and doing it in repeatable ways and doing it the right way, it kind of just drives me to want to help win and want to be a part of a winning culture,' Hutson said. 'That in itself is enough to kind of fuel what I need to do and what I feel all our guys try to do.' A common refrain this season from Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis was that he would let 'Lane be Lane.' It's not that St. Louis never worked with Hutson on areas for improvement — quite the opposite. But St. Louis felt more than comfortable letting Hutson learn a lot of how the NHL works on his own, through trial and error. One of St. Louis' core beliefs is that a player's capacity for improvement is a skill unto itself, largely because he considered that to be his greatest skill as a Hall of Fame player himself. It seems clear Hutson has a similar capacity for improvement, and while winning the Calder Trophy sets a high bar for his second NHL season, nothing Hutson has shown in his career to date would suggest he will fail to hit that bar or exceed it. 'I just want to keep learning and absorbing as much as I can and take what I learned from my first year and take it into next year,' he said. Hutson is the first Canadiens player to win the Calder since Ken Dryden in 1972. To put that in context, Hutson's father, Rob, was born a few weeks before Dryden won the award. Le dernier joueur du Tricolore à avoir gagné le Calder, Ken Dryden, passe le flambeau à Lane The last Habs player to win the Calder, Ken Dryden, passes the torch to Lane #GoHabsGo — Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) June 10, 2025 Next season, the Canadiens will have another strong Calder candidate in the lineup in Ivan Demidov, and Hutson is the president of the Ivan Demidov fan club. 'I think he's going to be a star,' Hutson said at the end of the season. 'Just the way he handles the puck in important situations and how calm and confident he is, you can't teach it. I think that has the makings of a star player. That's the hope. It'll be fun to see.' Things are decidedly moving in the right direction in Montreal.
