Pittsburgh is officially out of the running to be a hub city for the NHL's return-to-play plan, the Penguins announced Tuesday.
"We know Pittsburgh would have been a great host city because of our fans and the support we received from the local business community, unions, and our political leaders. We thank commissioner (Gary) Bettman and the NHL for considering us as one of the finalists, which is a reflection on how great of a city Pittsburgh truly is," said Penguins president and CEO David Morehouse.
Dallas is also no longer in the mix, TSN's Pierre LeBrun reports. Columbus and Minnesota have been ruled out as well.
Las Vegas, Vancouver, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Toronto, and Chicago are the six remaining options to host the NHL's 24-team playoff format.
The league is currently in Phase 2 of its return plan. It upped the limit for on- and off-ice voluntary workouts from six players to 12 starting Tuesday. Phase 3 features mandatory training camps for each club that qualified for the postseason, beginning July 10.
A decision on the two hub locations is expected by the end of the week.
Pittsburgh is officially out of the running to be a hub city for the NHL's return-to-play plan, the Penguins announced Tuesday.
"We know Pittsburgh would have been a great host city because of our fans and the support we received from the local business community, unions, and our political leaders. We thank commissioner (Gary) Bettman and the NHL for considering us as one of the finalists, which is a reflection on how great of a city Pittsburgh truly is," said Penguins president and CEO David Morehouse.
Dallas is also no longer in the mix, TSN's Pierre LeBrun reports. Columbus and Minnesota have been ruled out as well.
Las Vegas, Vancouver, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Toronto, and Chicago are the six remaining options to host the NHL's 24-team playoff format.
The league is currently in Phase 2 of its return plan. It upped the limit for on- and off-ice voluntary workouts from six players to 12 starting Tuesday. Phase 3 features mandatory training camps for each club that qualified for the postseason, beginning July 10.
A decision on the two hub locations is expected by the end of the week.
Coming off a career-defining role in 1999's "The Matrix" only added to the comedy of seeing Keanu Reeves' Falco transform from washed-up former college star to underdog professional quarterback.
89. Billy Chapel
"For Love of the Game" (1999)
Chapel (Kevin Costner), a former pitching star on his last legs with the Detroit Tigers, has just enough left to shoot for a perfect game in what could be his last start at historic Yankee Stadium. Though he's tough and surly throughout much of the film, Chapel's true colors are on display during his romantic journey with Jane Aubrey (Kelly Preston).
88. Tommy Conlon
"Warrior" (2011)
Tom Hardy portrays Conlon, a vicious former wrestler turned marine who winds up on a collision course with his estranged brother during a mixed martial arts tournament. Conlon is not only brutally dominant in the cage, but he also doesn't hold back when expressing his feelings toward his trainer and recovering alcoholic father, who is played by Nick Nolte. Conlon secretly has a big heart, though, especially when it comes to his military peers and the widow of his deceased best friend.
87. Paul Blake
"Necessary Roughness" (1991)
Aging quarterback Blake (Scott Bakula) rekindles his dreams of being a star in college by returning to lead a band of misfits at Texas State. The cigarette-smoking, country music-listening QB ends up being a mentor both on and off the field. He takes the biggest punch in a barroom brawl and finds a tutor for a teammate who's struggling with his schoolwork.
86. Babe Ruthless
"Whip It" (2009)
In this spoofy, coming-of-age film about banked track roller derby, small-town alternative girl Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page), aka Ruthless, finds direction in life and joins a community she's proud of rather than participate in beauty pageants to appease her overbearing mother. Page warms the heart as an underdog who overcomes countless obstacles to become a star.
85. Mike McDermott
"Rounders" (1998)
McDermott (Matt Damon) is a brilliant poker tactician and reader of emotions, whose arrogance about his craft winds up getting him in trouble at the card table. It's his relationship with childhood best friend and hustler, Worm (Edward Norton), that is the driving force behind his character growing from a frustratingly naive melonhead to likable protagonist who overcomes the odds.
84. Calvin Cambridge
"Like Mike" (2002)
Child labor laws be damned. When orphan Cambridge (Lil Bow Wow) is shocked by lightning, Michael Jordan's talent is transferred into his diminutive frame. He soon finds himself starring in the NBA, squaring off against the likes of Vince Carter and Jason Kidd all while navigating the search for a permanent parental figure.
83. Fulton Reed
"The Mighty Ducks" (1992), "D2: The Mighty Ducks" (1994) and "D3: The Mighty Ducks" (1996)
Reed (Elden Henson) is a street-wise punk with a terrifying slap shot that he can control only with infrequent regularity (think "Nuke" LaLoosh on skates). Reed gives the Mighty Ducks some much-needed sandpaper, playing off the other characters' "Little Rascals" vibes with a cool stoicism.
82. Larry Musgrove
"The Big Green" (1995)
Musgrove (Patrick Renna) is always quick with a quip while also being perpetually horrified by the prospect of actually having to perform his duties as a goalkeeper. His visions of opposing players as literal monsters are something any shot-stopper can sympathize with.
81. Denis Lemieux
"Slap Shot" (1977)
Lemieux (Yvon Barrette) may have been a minor character in "Slap Shot," but the French-Canadian goaltender for the Charlottetown Chiefs supplied a memorable compilation of the film's best quotes, with Barrette delivering the zingers perfectly.
"You do that, you go to the box, you know. Two minutes, by yourself, you know and you feel shame, you know. And then you get free," he hilariously said about getting a penalty.
St. Louis Blues sniper Vladimir Tarasenko says the added time off due to the NHL's hiatus has allowed him to strengthen his surgically repaired shoulder.
"I was really close to coming back and playing when the season was delayed so I got some extra time to recover," Tarasenko said Monday, according to NHL.com's Adam Kimelman. "Not even recover, extra time practicing and making it more strong. Everything is good."
Tarasenko played only 10 games this season before undergoing a procedure Oct. 29 to repair a dislocated left shoulder. The Russian winger returned to practice Feb. 8 but was unable to get back into a game before the NHL suspended play March 12.
In detailing his recovery, Tarasenko said he needed to get comfortable skating again before gradually adding more difficult components to his game.
"You start slow, you start with the basics, some exercises where you can ... not learn to skate again, but remember the feeling, and I think it'll be pretty quick (to come back)," he said.
"I skated a few times (during the pause) so it wasn't that hard. It's like the usual start to skating, you work on the basics and you move to harder and harder levels."
Tarasenko, who led the Blues in goals in five straight campaigns entering 2019-20, felt rejuvenated from rejoining his teammates before the stoppage. With training camps set to begin July 10, the 28-year-old is excited to carry that momentum into the summer.
"The closer you get, the more positive emotions you have, the more happy you are for seeing the boys for the first time, skating with them," he said. "I was lucky to go on a couple road trips (before the season pause) and feel that atmosphere. I'm ready to come back and play some hockey."
The Blues, along with the Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, and Vegas Golden Knights, are slated to compete in a round-robin tournament to establish the top four Western Conference playoff seeds if play returns this summer.
The NHL is close to deciding which two cities will host the potential resumption of play this summer, and Vegas Golden Knights president of hockey operations George McPhee believes Las Vegas offers everything the NHL needs from a hub location.
“Vegas is a hospitality town," McPhee said Monday, according to Sportsnet's Mike Johnston. "It’s a service business down there and they’re used to big, big events and they can handle this one.”
The league is looking to spread the 24 returning teams out evenly between two locations in secure bubbles away from the public. While making the case for Vegas, McPhee says players would have access to everything they'll need at some of the largest hotels in North America.
“Any time a tourist goes to Vegas and you get into one of the hotels, you rarely leave because they have everything there,” McPhee said. “Your meals and all your entertainment, you can work out there, theaters, sportsbook, spas, you can get a haircut, whatever you need.
"... These hotels, some of them have as many as six, seven thousand rooms."
In terms of rink availability, McPhee said “there’s enough ice to go around," mentioning the two sheets of ice at the Golden Knights' practice facility, and two additional sheets at the Las Vegas Ice Center about a mile away.
The NHL's bubbles will be very tight once play resumes, and the league isn't overly concerned about a recent spike of COVID-19 cases in Nevada and considers Vegas a strong option, according to The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun.
The NHL cut the list of hub-city candidates from 10 to six on Saturday, with Columbus eliminated from consideration, and Minnesota reportedly also now out of the running. Las Vegas, Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, and Chicago reportedly remain in the mix.
John Tavares believes the NHL is doing the best it can to implement proper safety measures to ensure the season can resume and finish at some point this summer.
"I haven't seen any other industries institute, at least that I know in the sports world, the type of strict protocols that we have and are going to have in the NHL that has helped us and will help us be as safe as possible and give us a realistic opportunity to play," the Toronto Maple Leafs captain said Monday, according to NHL.com's Mike Zeisberger.
"We continue to listen to all the health experts and health organizations which are kind of guiding us. That's the biggest thing," Tavares continued. "There's obviously unique cases and certain circumstances for any specific individual but we're in a pretty good spot with the type of testing, safety protocols, and measures that have been put into place."
The league revealed Friday that out of over 200 players tested so far during Phase 2, 11 tested positive for COVID-19. While this phase is voluntary, any player who opts to participate must be tested regularly.
The Maple Leafs captain is a part of the league's Return to Play committee and has been a part of ongoing discussions about players' concerns with return-to-play plans since the season was paused on March 13.
He pointed to the sports leagues in Europe that have resumed as a positive sign: "We've seen overseas in some of the soccer leagues, especially in some of the countries that were hit pretty hard, how they've been able to adjust and adapt and adopt very similar protocols in the quest to play and complete their seasons. It leads me to be optimistic that we'll be able to complete our season."
The NHL will reportedly allow groups of up to 12 skaters train together as of Tuesday. Groups of up to six were previously allowed under the Phase 2 guidelines. Despite the uptick of positive cases announced Friday, the league isn't planning to delay its tentative date for full team training camps beginning July 10.
The NHL is expanding Phase 2 groups from six to 12 skaters for on-ice workouts beginning Tuesday, according to Sportsnet's Chris Johnston.
Voluntary on- and off-ice workouts, known as Phase 2 of the NHL's return-to-play plan, were permitted to begin on June 8. Phase 3 of the plan features mandatory training camps for all 24 teams that qualified for the expanded playoff field, beginning July 10.
The NHL reportedly doesn't plan to push back the start date for training camps despite a recent increase in positive COVID-19 tests around the league.
The Tampa Bay Lightning shut down team facilities on Friday after three players and additional staff tested positive. The league announced later Friday that it's had 11 positive tests out of 200 since Phase 2 began.
The NHL and players' association still need to finalize agreements on the return-to-play plan. The biggest hurdle remains finding two viable hub cities to host the teams in two groups of 12. The list of those possible cities has reportedly been cut to six.