News Roundup 4/25/24
Hey everyone, we’re back after an unscheduled break. If you missed what I said on social media or don’t follow me, I had two seizures last Wednesday night and required spending less time looking at screens for a few days after that. So, that’s why there was no News Roundup last week. Anyway, we’re back this week with a bit of a different format, mostly out of necessity as I was out of the loop for a few days, so I couldn’t compile a bunch of links. “Articles to Read” will hopefully return next week. Anyway, on with this week’s News Roundup:
American Hockey Playoffs Begin
That’s right, it’s here. The Stanley Cup, Calder Cup, and Kelly Cup Playoffs. In the NHL, the first round is well underway, with most series’ having played two games, and one having already played three games. In the West, Stanley Cup defending champions Vegas are up 2-0 over Dallas. Winnipeg and Colorado are tied at 1 game each, both games being rather high-scoring (WPG winning game one by a score of 6-7 and COL winning game two by a score of 5-2). Vancouver and Nashville are also tied at one and the tides have turned in Nashville’s favor with Vancouver’s Thatcher Demko getting injured. The final series in the West is Oilers and Kings, which is tied at one. Over in the East, Florida is up 2-0 over in-state rival Lightning, having won both games by a score of 3-2. Boston leads Toronto 2-1, the Rangers lead Washington 2-0, and the Hurricanes also lead the Islanders two games to none.
In the AHL, the Calder Cup Playoffs have begun as well. Their playoff system is a bit of a mess. The first round and divisional semifinals overlap. So, two rounds of playoffs partially happen at once, but only for the Central and North divisions. Like I said, it’s a bit of a mess. Anyway, Lehigh Valley is up 1-0 over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, and the Charlotte and Hartford series has yet to begin. In the North, Belleville has a 1-0 lead over Toronto, and in the Central, Texas has a 1-0 lead over Manitoba. Then, in the Pacific, three series’ are underway, with Calgary taking game one over Tucson, Ontario leading Bakersfield, 1-0, and last but not least: Abbotsford with a 1-0 lead over Colorado.
Finally, in the ECHL, the playoffs are well underway, with one series already having wrapped up. But we will get to that. In the Central Division, Toledo, led by league MVP Brandon Hawkins, leads Kalamazoo 3-0, and Wheeling, with goaltender of the year Taylor Gauthier, leads Indy, 3-1. Meanwhile, in the Mountain Division, to no surprise, regular season champions Kansas City swept Tulsa, while last season’s regular season champions, Idaho, are up 2-0 over Allen. Moving over to the North, Adirondack is tied with Maine at one game each, while Norfolk is impressing in their long-awaited Kelly Cup Playoffs debut by leading Trois-Rivières, 3-1. In the last division, the South, Greenville, led by coach of the year Andrew Lord, is tied with Orlando at one game each, while Jacksonville leads back-to-back Kelly Cup defending champions, Florida, 2-1.
World-Wide Hockey Update
Champions are being crowned everywhere across Europe. In the Alps Hockey League, Rittner Buam SkyAlps have won their second championship, sweeping S.G. Cortina Hafro. In the EIHL, the Sheffield Steelers win the Grand Slam, having won the Challenge Cup, the regular season title, and the playoff title. In the playoff final, which was one game, they defeated the Belfast Giants, 3-1. Over in the KHL, Metallurgswept Lokomotiv, winning the Gagarin Cup for the third time in their history. In Liiga, it’s Tappara and Pelicans facing off in the final, with the Pelicans taking game one in the fourth longest game in finals history, going into three overtimes for a length of 84:40. Then, in Denmark, SønderjyskE defeated Esbjerg in six games, coming back in game six down three goals, winning the final game by a score of 4-3. Finally, in Sweden, the finals are underway, with Skellefteå and Rögle tied at one game each.
That’s not the only hockey going on around the world, though. IIHF tournament season is also underway, and there’s been a lot of them. We’ll only discuss men’s here, women’s tournaments will be discussed in the next section. In Division 2 – Group A, the preliminary round ends today, and Croatia (with four games played) leads with 12 points, Serbia, with three games played, is second with 9, United Arab Emirates, also with three games played, has 6, Israel with all four played finished with 2, Australia with only three games played has one, and Iceland is at the bottom after three games with 0. Division 2 – Group B is also playing and earlier in their tournament than Group A. Currently, Belgium sits at the top, with New Zealand at second, but tied in points (6), Georgia also tied in points, but sitting at third, and then Turkey, Chinese Taipei, and Bulgaria rounding out the bottom. The U18 World Championship has begun today (as of publishing), and in Group A are the USA, Slovakia, Finland, Latvia, and Norway. Group B has Canada, Czechia, Kazakhstan, Switzerland, and Sweden. In the U18 Division 1 – Group A World Championship, Germany went undefeated to earn a promotion to the U18 World Championship next season, defeating Denmark 6-4 in the gold medal game. Ukraine got the silver and Austria won the bronze. Down in Division 1 – Group B, it’s Slovenia who will be promoted to Division 1 – Group B, crushing France 11-2 in the championship game, while Lithuania who just got promoted to this group, placed second and Italy will be demoted to Division 2 – Group A. Speaking of Division 2 – Group A, Poland won the right to be promoted to Division 1 – Group B, while Great Britain won silver and the Netherlands got bronze, and Serbia was demoted.
Women’s Hockey Update
We’ll start with IIHF tournaments since I never got to report who won the Women’s World Championships. Canada defeated the USA, 6-5 in overtime, Danielle Serdachny scoring the winner. Finland, meanwhile got the bronze medal, and Denmark and China were demoted to Division 1 – Group A. The Division 1 – Group A tournament is ongoing and will end this Saturday, and currently each team has played three games with France at the top of the standings, Norway second, Hungary third, Austria fourth, Netherlands fifth, and Korea sitting at the bottom.
The PWHL is back after its World Championship break and in that time Toronto clinched a playoff spot after defeating Montreal 3-2 on Saturday. In their game before that, on Thursday, they lost to Boston, 2-1. Speaking of Boston, they have gotten at least a point in each of their three games since coming back from the break. After that Toronto game, they defeated New York 2-1 and lost in a shootout to Ottawa, 3-2. Minnesota has struggled in their return, losing their first game back to Montreal, 4-3, and then getting shutout by Ottawa, 4-0, on Saturday. Meanwhile, New York has been eliminated from the playoffs after losing both of their games since the break ended. As mentioned earlier, they lost to Boston on Saturday, and on Wednesday they lost to Montreal, 5-2.
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