Sports category, Page 1368
Minor league report: Juuso Riikola, Penguins edge IslandersVideo
Defenseman Juuso Riikola recorded a career-best four assists for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a 6-5 home win against the Bridgeport Islanders at Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre on Saturday. Forwards Drew O’Connor, Valtteri Puustinen and defenseman Mitch Reinke each had a goal and an assist for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (33-29-4-4) while goaltender...
Pirates farm report for April 16, 2022: Rehabbing Anthony Alford doubles in Bradenton win
INDIANAPOLIS (Triple-A, 6-3) lost by a field goal to St. Paul (Twins), 16-13. Four Indianapolis pitchers gave up at least three runs. RHP Jerad Eickhoff (8.53) started and surrendered five runs on five hits and three walks in 2.2 innings. LHP Cam Alldred (0-1, 5.06) took the loss, allowing three...
Riverhounds go bust in Las Vegas
The Pittsburgh Riverhounds took their first loss of the season Saturday night, losing 1-0 to Las Vegas Lights FC. It was the first meeting between the Riverhounds (4-1-1) and Lights (4-3), who began play in the USL Championship as an expansion team in 2018. Las Vegas scored the game’s lone...
Backup catcher Andrew Knapp delivers as Pirates beat Nationals
When the Pittsburgh Pirates were searching for a backup catcher before the season opener, they didn’t hesitate when Andrew Knapp became available because of his reputation behind the plate. With starter Roberto Perez out with a quad contusion after taking a foul tip off his left leg Friday night, Knapp...
Willie Green, upstart Pelicans get top-seeded Suns in 1st round
PHOENIX — Willie Green’s time as an assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns taught him quick improvement can happen with the right mix of talent, desire and steady leadership. Turns out that blueprint can travel. Green, the first-year New Orleans Pelicans coach who was Phoenix’s top assistant last season, leads...
Josh VanMeter ready, willing in case Pirates need to break glass on emergency catcher
When Roberto Perez took a foul tip off his left quad, the Pittsburgh Pirates turned to backup catcher Andrew Knapp but knew that they had to have someone else ready, in case of an emergency. That’s how Josh VanMeter learned he was the backup to the backup catcher, when Pirates...
Steelers’ John Mitchell honored as Alabama’s 1st Black player
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Pittsburgh Steelers assistant head coach John Mitchell and Wilbur Jackson already had their place in Alabama football history. Now, the Crimson Tide’s first Black players also share a prominent spot outside Bryant-Denny stadium. The university unveiled a plaque honoring Jackson and Mitchell on Saturday in a ceremony...
Harold Varner III shoots 63 to take RBC Heritage lead
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — Harold Varner III shot 8-under 63 to take a one-shot lead in the RBC Heritage on Saturday in pursuit of his first PGA Tour victory. Varner had eight birdies in a bogey-free round to match Cameron Young’s opening score as the lowest at Harbour Town...
Zippy Chippy, horse racing’s lovable loser, dies at 31
Zippy Chippy, horse racing’s lovable loser for never winning in 100 races, has died at the age of 31. The bay gelding was living at the Bobby Frankel Division of Old Friends Thoroughbred Farm at Cabin Creek near Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York since 2010. The farm said...
NASCAR chases holiday TV audience with Easter dirt race
BRISTOL, Tenn. — Kevin Harvick was on his annual family beach vacation when he was forced to cut it short early by three days to return to work for the first time in his career on Easter Sunday. NASCAR since its 1949 inaugural season deliberately used Easter as an off...
Minus goaltender Tristan Jarry, Penguins stymied by Bruins
The Pittsburgh Penguins will have a difficult time winning the Stanley Cup without the services of All-Star goaltender Tristan Jarry. On Saturday, they had plenty of trouble just trying to generate offense. A stout defensive effort by the Boston Bruins stymied the Penguins’ attack and led to a 2-1 victory...
Former Steelers assistant Kirby Wilson putting the ‘Pittsburgh’ in Pittsburgh Maulers
Kirby Wilson grew up in Los Angeles and went to college at Illinois. Over a coaching career that’s spanned 37 years, he’s lived on the West Coast, in New England, the upper Midwest, the Southeast. But in no one place during his adult life did he work longer than he...
Selecting linebackers in 1st round no sure thing for NFL teams seeking next Micah Parsons
As the Pittsburgh Steelers can attest, selecting an inside linebacker in the first round of the NFL Draft is a risky proposition. For every standout player such as Devin White, there is at least one — if not more — Devin Bush who still is trying to reach his potential....
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Remembering Mike Bossy as the 2nd-purest goal scorer ever
Mike Bossy was like a metronome. Nonstop. Inexorable. He scored, then scored again. The New York Islanders right wing netted 573 times in 752 regular-season games, 85 times in 129 playoff games, 13 times in 15 international games. That’s 671 goals of some gravitas, and a ton looked the same:...
Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry sidelined indefinitely
Penguins starting goaltender Tristan Jarry will be sidelined indefinitely due to an undisclosed injury. His status was announced by head coach Mike Sullivan on Saturday to media in Boston. Sullivan did not offer a specific timeframe for Jarry’s recovery other than to label it as “week to week.” The Penguins...
GCC grad Neal McDermott regains control of career with move to outfield at Seton Hill
Unable to sleep and full of self-doubt, Neal McDermott sat up in bed and cried. A couple of years before the fifth-year Seton Hill baseball player made SportsCenter’s No. 1 play with a highlight-reel catch as a reinvented center fielder, he was a pitcher. A pitcher at wit’s end, watching...
Pirates farm report for April 15, 2022: Liover Peguero hits 2nd homer for Curve
INDIANAPOLIS (Triple-A, 6-2) lost 6-4 to St. Paul (Twins). RHP Cody Bolton (0-1, 4.50) started and went 2.1 innings, allowing three runs on three hits and two walks with four strikeouts. RF Jared Oliva (.267) went 3 for 4 with a pair of doubles. LF Canaan Smith-Njigba (.222) went 1...
With Pirates catcher Roberto Perez day to day, backup Andrew Knapp gets ‘ready to go’
Mitch Keller was on the mound when a Nelson Cruz foul tip hit Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Roberto Perez flush in the left leg, so the right-hander got a good view and was “definitely concerned.” “I saw it foul tip right down,” Keller said of Perez, who was set up on...
Minor league report: Valtteri Puustinen leads Penguins to overtime winVideo
An overtime goal by forward Valtteri Puustinen gave the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins a 3-2 home win against the rival Hershey Bears at Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre on Friday. Forward Alex Nylander and defenseman Juuso Riikola each recorded two assists for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (32-29-4-4) while goaltender Tommy Nappier made 28 saves on...
NHLPA investigation: Donald Fehr not at fault in Blackhawks situationVideo
An independent investigation commissioned by the NHL Players’ Association found that executive director Don Fehr and others were not responsible for wrongdoing when they failed to act on a report that a Chicago Blackhawks player was sexually assaulted by a staff member in 2010. A law firm hired to look...
College notebook: Point Park names Scarborough women’s hoops coach
Dave Scarborough is coming home to coach the Point Park women’s basketball team. A Fox Chapel and Cal (Pa.) graduate, Scarborough was announced Friday as the Pioneers’ next coach. He has been an NCAA Division I women’s assistant for the past nine years — and 13 of the last 14...
Nationals beat Mitch Keller in shift to pound Pirates, as C Roberto Perez leaves with injury
Whether it was the lack of command on his off-speed pitches or just plain bad luck, Mitch Keller got the shaft against the shift. The Washington Nationals repeatedly hit through defensive shifts against Keller on their way to pounding the Pittsburgh Pirates, 7-2, on Friday night before 13,076 at PNC...
FedEx Cup champ Cantlay takes RBC Heritage lead into weekendVideo
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — FedEx Cup champion Patrick Cantlay birdied the final four holes Friday for a 4-under-par 67 and take a two-stroke lead over Robert Streb halfway through the RBC Heritage. After dropping back with bogeys on the 11th and 14th holes, Cantlay turned it around on the...
Penguins notes: 1st game vs. Bruins since Brad Marchand attack of Tristan Jarry
A strict adherent to the athlete doctrine of focusing on his own game and not on the opponents’ strengths or other outside factors, Casey DeSmith insists he’s not fazed by facing the Boston Bruins and their aggressive net-front presence. DeSmith did, though, offer one caveat. “I guess I have to...
Too dusty: NASCAR working on visibility at dirty BristolVideo
BRISTOL, Tenn. — Kyle Busch took a long pause to carefully choose how to describe visibility Friday in the first practice on the dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway. “So far better, I guess?” Busch said. “But second half of that practice, you couldn’t see. You put one car in front...
