A couple of days back you may have heard the interview NPR did with Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, Loyola-Chicago's 98-year-old team chaplain, about the team's incredible Cinderella run thus far in the men's NCAA basketball tournament.
Sister Schmidt not only prays for Loyola before every game, she also scouts the other team pre-game, and it was a fun little interview, and afterwards I made a stupid pun about the team's next opponent, Nevada, having a chance to beat Loyola that was slim...to none.
Well, my dumb play on words notwithstanding, Sister Schmidt certainly got the last laugh, with Loyola's underdog campaign still very much active after they built the Wolfpack 69-68 last night, and the number 11 seed is now into the elite eight.
The whole bracket at this point is a repudiation of everything every hoops expert said would happen. Other upset winners include number 9 Kansas State knocking off 5th seeded Kentucky 61-58.
to the NHL and teams that are playoff bound have two goals in mind heading into the post-season, and one is more important than the other. The first is to jockey for the best position, perhaps grab one of the top three spots in the division instead of the wild card, and secure home ice advantage if possible. The other, more critical goal, is to have as many of your best players as healthy as possible.
So while the Toronto Maple Leafs are happy with their 5-2 win over the Nashville Predators last night, they're even happier that the game saw the return of their best player, star forward Auston Matthews, who had missed the last ten games with a shoulder injury but scored a goal in his return.
James van Riemsdyk and Mitch Marner each had a goal and an assist and the Leafs are gathering momentum at the right time, now winners of five of their last six, and five points behind the Boston Bruins for second place in the Atlantic division. The Leafs wouldn't mind passing Boston, which would give them home ice advantage should those two squads finish at two and three in the division and face each other in round one, but it's having players like Matthews ready to skate onto the ice that matters far more than whether he's wearing the home or away jersey for game one.
The Bruins, meanwhile, have a date against the Dallas Stars in Texas tonight and have seven very significant players still trying to get back to full health, even as they chase the Tampa Bay Lightning for first place in the division and eastern conference. That pursuit became more difficult with Tampa coming out a goal ahead in a pond hockey kind of run and gun game with the NY Islanders that ended with Tampa on top 7-6. Not a game either coach would point to as a case study for how to play defense. The Lightning had a 7-3 lead in this one before the Islanders scored three straight goals to give the home crowd hope with about 4 minutes left in the third period, but they couldn't score the equalizer and the Lightning escaped with the victory and two more points that puts them 6 ahead of Boston for first place. The Bruins do have two more contests scheduled against the Lightning in the regular season and a game in hand, but again, getting their bevy of injured players healthy before the playoffs is more important than snagging that first place slot.
The Philadelphia Flyers are closer to securing one of two wild card slots in the east after a 4-3 win over the NY Rangers in Philly last night. Travis Konecny scored twice, and Claude Giroux assisted on three of the Flyers four goals in the win, which puts them a point behind Columbus for third place in the division, and it looks like the Flyers will get into the playoffs as at least a wild card even if they don't pass the Blue Jackets, who dealt a blow to the hopes of the Florida Panthers in shutting them out 4-0 last night. The Panthers are trying to catch the New Jersey Devils for the second and final wild card berth and could have snuck by the Devils with a win last night. With the loss, they remain one point back.
The biggest news in the NFL off-season wheelings and dealings was a shocker yesterday as the NY Giants traded a player who's been one of the best pass-rushing defensive ends in the game, Jason Pierre-Paul, to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for a third and fourth round pick in next year's draft.
What's most puzzling is that the Giants had recently signed JPP to a four year, $62 Million deal, so it looked like he was in their long term plans. But at 29 years old and his sack numbers declining over the last couple of seasons, the Giants perhaps wanted to get some of that contract off the books. Pierre-Paul is also coming off back surgery that limited some of his effectiveness, not to mention the off the field incident in which he lit some fireworks and lost part of his hand in the process, but the Bucs are hoping JPP can upgrade their own pass rushing and run stopping defensive game, and he is still one of the more feared defensive ends in the NFL.
