The Golden Knights are back in the Stanley Cup Final for the third time, just two wins away from their second championship in four years. Vegas fans lined up Monday to watch their team practice. The Knights face the Hurricanes on Tuesday in Las Vegas. Hockey historian Eric Zweig says Vegas is among the top expansion franchises in NHL history. The Golden Knights have a locker room full of veterans who have lifted the Stanley Cup, but they also have some notable players seeking their first title, including Mitch Marner, Rasmus Andersson and Tomas Hertl.
The NCAA Division I Cabinet put off a vote on the age-based eligibility model it is considering and instead made minor adjustments to the proposal. The Cabinet removed language about starting an athlete’s eligibility clock after their high school graduation. The proposal now says the clock will start upon initial full-time enrollment in college or at the beginning of the academic year following their 19th birthday, whichever occurs first. The adjustment would apply to all sports and comes after recommendations from stakeholders in men’s ice hockey, men’s basketball and the service academies.
Tomas Hertl took a backhand pass from Colton Sisson and beat Frederik Anderson from the slot with 3:24 left, lifting the Vegas Golden Knights past the Carolina Hurricanes 5-4 in Tuesday night’s opener of the Stanley Cup Final. It marked Vegas’ seventh straight win of the playoffs. Game 2 of the series is Thursday in Raleigh. Shea Theodore, Ivan Barbashev, William Karlsson and Brett Howden also scored for Vegas. Nikolaj Ehlers scored twice for Carolina, while Jordan Staal and Shayne Gostisbehere also scored for the Hurricanes.
Claude Lemieux, the feisty four-time Stanley Cup champion for Avalanche, Devils and Habs, dies at 60
Four-time Stanley Cup champion Claude Lemieux has died after taking his own life, according to authorities. He was 60. The Palm Beach County Sherriff’s Office said deputies responded just after 3 a.m. to a suicide call at a furniture store showroom in Lake Park, Florida. The sheriff’s office said the victim was believed to be Lemieux. The NHL Alumni Association announced Lemieux’s death in a post on social media. Lemieux was the Montreal Canadiens' torch bearer prior to Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final on Monday night. He won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP with New Jersey in 1995.
A 911 call obtained by The Associated Press reveals NASCAR driver Kyle Busch experienced shortness of breath, felt overheated, and was coughing up blood the day before he died at the age of 41. Busch was hospitalized with a “severe illness” three days before he was to compete in the Coca-Cola 600. He became unresponsive while testing in a Chevrolet racing simulator in Concord on Wednesday. An emergency call from the General Motors training facility described his symptoms. Busch was found on the bathroom floor, awake, and emergency responders were directed to the scene.