Stanley Cup Finals Preview

By : Mike Rifkin

The only thing between the Tampa Bay Lightning and making history are the Colorado Avalanche. The Lightning are looking to be the first team since the New York Islanders in the 1980s to win three consecutive Stanley Cups, while the Avalanche are looking for their first Stanley Cup since 2001. The Avs defeated the Predators, Blues and Oilers to get to the Cup final. While the Lightning defeated the Maple Leafs, Panthers and Rangers to get here. Both of these teams have major similarities. 

This series will feature a former first overall pick for both teams Nathan Mackinnon (2013) for the Avalanche and Steven Stamkos (2008) for the Lightning. Both teams have former second overall picks Gabriel Landeskog (2011) and Victor Hedman (2009). Other top picks on both rosters include Both teams have also made big additions that have helped their lineups Nazem Kadri, Devon Toews and Darcy Kuemper for the Avs and Ryan Mcdonagh, Nick Paul and Brandon Hagel for the Lightning. 

The Avalanche won both regular season meetings 4-3 in a shootout on October 23rd  and 3-2 on February 10th. Andrei Vasilevskiy was 0-1-1 with a 2.96 GAA and a .919 save percentage vs the Avalanche this season.For his career Vasilevskiy is 1-3-1 with a3.41 GAA and a .877 save percentage vs Colorado. Darcy Kuemper was 2-0-0 vs the Lightning this season with a 2.40 GAA and .929 save percentage. In seven career games vs Tampa Kuemper is 4-2-0 with a 2.33 GAA and .920 save percentage. Gabriel Landeskog had two goals and an assist against the Lightning this season and has seven goals and 18 points in 17 career games vs Tampa. Nathan Mackinnon only played in one of the two regular season matchups and had a goal and two assists. Mackinnon has 10 goals and 23 points in 15 games in his career against the Lightning. Brayden Point had two goals and an assist vs the Avalanche this season. For his career Point has four goals and 8 points vs Colorado. Like Mackinnon Nikita Kucherov only played in one meeting between the two teams and had a goal In his career vs the Avs Kucherov has five goals and 10 points. Tampa’s power play was 0-6 in the two games combined while Colorado was 1-9. 

Nazem Kadri and Andrew Cogliano who both got hurt during the Western Conference Finals could play at some point during this series. Brayden Point who got hurt in game seven of the first round will play at some point, might even be ready for game one. 

One guy for Colorado who will not come back is Samuel Girard who broke his sternum in the second round. That has put more pressure on Cale Makar and Devon Toews and they have thrived this playoffs. Makar has five goals and 22 points this playoffs Toews also has put up five goals and 13 points but both were sensational against Connor McDavid and the Oilers in the Conference Finals. It will be interesting to see if Point comes back for Tampa if Jared Bednar matches them up against Point or Kucherov and Stamkos because I would guess Jon Cooper would split those three up. For Tampa the key matchup will be Hedman vs Mackkinon’s line, with home ice Bednar might get away from that but watch for Jon Cooper to matchup Anthony Cirelli vs Mackinnon

Conn Smythe Watch: AVS: Makar or Mackinnon. Tampa: Kucherov, Vasilevskiy, Stamkos.

X Factor Colorado : Andre Burakovsky: One of the few Avs players who has been here before. Burakovsky helped the Washington Capitals win the Cup in 2018. 

Lightning : Ondrej Palat : Two times with under two minutes left to play in the Eastern Conference Finals Ondrej Palat scored the game winning goal. He doesn’t get the recognition as some of the Lightning stars but Palat has been a great playoff performer throughout his career. 

Prediction : Lightning in 6. Vasilevskiy Conn Smythe.

This Week In Wrestling 6/4/2022 – 6/10/22

By Jeff Knapp

WWE has announced that Cody Rhodes will be out 9 months due to his recovery from his pectoral injury and surgery. With the news coming into Hell In A Cell that Cody Rhodes will have surgery for a torn Pectoral muscle after his match with Seth Rollins, it seems like we may not see him again until the Royal Rumble. Some other names that have had the same injury have been out of action for about 5-6 months. With that said, he could stay off until the rumble and be a surprise entrant, or show up a few weeks before and be advertised for ratings as being the 1st entrant in the RR and then going on to win the entire thing.

AEW reveals a new championship, the AEW All Atlantic Championship. There will be a tournament where one wrestler from AEW and one from NJPW will face off to determine the champion at Forbidden Door PPV.

WWE’s Paige announced that July 7th will be her last day under contract to the WWE, and may possibly be back in the ring. Of course she will not be going with the name Paige going forward, but will use her name Saraya.

NXT – IN YOUR HOUSE

After a hard fought 6 man tag, LDF will now have to work for Tony DeAngelo and his crew. 

Toxic Attraction keeps improving as a tag team, and GiGi Dolan is mesmerizing. They fought off a great team of Katana Chance & Kayden Carter. These 2 ladies have amazing chemistry and the sky’s the limits with their athleticism. 

In what could be a NXT match of the candidate, Carmelo Hayes won back the North American Championship from Cameron Grimes with a lot of help from Trick Williams. I’m hoping this rivalry can take us through SummerSlam weekend. The only big issue I had was the fact that the ref caught Trick Williams multiple times interfering in the match and not calling for a DQ or for Williams to be ejected from ringside. Even if Hayes won without Williams, that would make him look stronger. By not taking control of the side action since Williams was caught multiple times, this makes the ref look incompetent. I’d rather have the same exact outcome, but the ref never saw Trick getting involved.

In Mandy’s 5th NXT Women’s title defense, she had her toughest title defense to date when she defeated Wendy Choo clean after tossing her off the top rope and stacking her up for the win. I’m really enjoying Mandy’s time in NXT and will be sad to see her eventually go back to Raw or Smackdown.  Although Roxanne Perez will possibly be the next contender if she can defeat Tiffany Straton on Wednesday, I believe the toughest task for her will be in the form of Nakita Lyons when she returns from injury. 

Breezango 2.0 aka Pretty Deadly the NXT Tag Team champions had a very short title reign by losing the tag titles to the Creed Brothers, who had the match of their lives. By winning they are still part of Diamond Mine. I’ll be honest and say that Pretty Deadly was impressive. I guess if they get rid of the half top shirts and tweak their character presentation, they might be a lot more palatable to the rest of the audience. 

In the main event Bron Breakker  retained his NXT Championship over the resident Jim Jones, Joe Gacy. I actually am entertained by Gacy and for the time being, believe he has a great NXT / WWE career ahead of him. I love how his character has evolved and want to see the product 2, 3 and 4 years from now. 

It was crazy seeing a man of Bron’s size doing a leap over the top like he did, and this kid is the future as long as the WWE universe doesn’t feel like he’s being pushed down their throats, like they felt about Roman Reigns.

Overall this was a really solid NXT ppv.

WWE – Hell In A Cell

Going into this weekend of WWE “Premium Live Events” I didn’t see a lot of promise. I’m not sure if it was the over saturation of those events or the lack of buildup to these events. Possibly both. 

The WWE started the night off with Bianca Belair taking on Asuka and Becky Lynch for the Raw Women’s Championship. One of my biggest gripes with women’s matches in the WWE are the amount of time they are given. This wasn’t rushed and gave the women plenty of time to get the audience invested, so that when Becky was on the verge of pinning Asuka, the crowd went nuts when Bianca tossed Becky out of the ring at the last second to pick up the victory and retain her title. This young lady has all the tools to be a hall of famer when she retires many years down the road.

The next match was2 on 1 handicap match between Bobby Lashley and Omos & MVP. MVP’s work previously with Bobby and now with Omos better not go unappreciated among the fans and management. Cedric got involved and helped out Lashley for being disrespected by MVP earlier. He later told Bobby he felt like a misfit toy that nobody wants to play with. If he is ever released, I’m sure there is a home for him at Impact or in ROH. In the end Booby submitted MVP with the Hurt Lock.

The 3rd match was here because Kevin Ownes believes that Ezekiel is actually Elias and is a liar. I’m a huge fan of Owens, but this was not for me. Maybe this will go somewhere, but we’ll see. Owens picks up the victory and still doesn’t get the answer he wants.

We now move on the the 6 person tag of Edge, Damian Priest & Rhea Ripley (Judgement Day) taking on  AJ Styles, Finn Balor & Liv Morgan. When you see Edge and AJ in the match, you know the match is going to be an amazing match and this was no different. 

I know most people wanted AJ, Finn and Liv to win, but I’m fine with them losing, because they are yet to hit their stride and things will be too sweet then. Will there be a 4th member to either of the factions. I’m waiting for the WWE to give AJ’s group a horrible name. With Styles and Finn there should be a nod to the Bullet Club, just not The Club 2.0

In the end, Edge picks up the pinfall for the Judgment Day’s win.

Madcap Moss vs Happy Corbin was next. I didn’t expect much, but with more time and a few tweeks, Moss can be a name guy in the WWE. He’s young, built and fast. I love the aggression of Moss at the end with him getting revenge in his win over Corbin. 

Next is the US Championship match between Theory and Mustafa Ali. Ali has my full backing. He’s great in the ring and as somebody who follows him on social media, he’s a better human being. As far as Theory goes, there is no denying his talent. He doesn’t have Cena’s size, but he’s starting to get that type of push and you know he’s got VKM behind him every step of the way.

In the end, Theory nails a chop block on an already injured knee, followed by A Town Down for the pinfall. 

Now onto the main event, Cody Rhodes vs Seth Rollins part 3 in Hell in a Cell. Rollins with the Dusty polka dots outfit to get un Cody’s skin. Speaking of Skin, Cody’s full upper right side torso is completely purple from having his peck torn off the bone and still competing. I can’t imagine the level of pain he was in during this match. I just hope that he doesn’t injure himself worse. 

After rewatching the match, I 100% believe Corey Graves made a Fruedian slip and said the name Tony Khan. 

I honestly wanted this match to be stopped because I felt for Cody like I did as was a kid again.

In the end Cody beats all the obstacles, connects with 2 consecutive Crossroads then gets the sledgehammer and nails Rollins with it and gets the 1-2-3. This match alone was worth watching this PPV / Premium Live Event.

WWE – RAW

Raw started off with a match between Dana Brooke and Becky Lynch, but when catering came out to the ring, it turned into a 24/7 match in which Dana won the title back. This led to Becky challenging for the championship in which she lost due to Asuka interfering. The only way to win this title, which is nothing without R-Truth, is to pin your opponent with a roll up from behind. I’ve never seen it change hands any other way. Can they think of another way?

Cody Rhodes comes out and talks about his injury and is interrupted by Seth Rollins who shakes his hand, but as Cody leaves, Rollins attacks him from behind with a sledgehammer to his torn pectoral muscle. Let’s hope Cody will be back by the Royal Rumble.

The Street Profits are now the #1 contenders to the WWE Tag Team Titles, when they beat the Usos via count out. When the titles are on the line, this should actually be a really entertaining match.

Dominik Mysterio lost to Veer Mahaan when Rey interfered. Veer should be part of Max Dupree’s modeling stable. With that being said, I absolutely could care less about Rey or Dominik Mysterio. I’m not talking about what he can or can’t do in the ring, but he’s as entertaining as watching paint dry and grass grow. If he wants to stand on his own, send him to NXT and do something with the younger Uso or some of the younger talent.

Cedric Alexander was squashed within seconds by Omos. On the bright side, his wife announced on Twitter that she was going to rock his world when he got home. This is sad since Cedric is an amazing talent and would benefit from NXT. 

Judgement Day come out and announce they have a new member joining the group. To the surprise of a few, it ends up being Finn Balor. As they talk about dominating and what could hurt them, Finn, Rhea and Damian all shock the entire crowd and even surprise me by turning on Edge. They beat him down, put him through a table and put him in a submission hold until they stand tall above him and leave him for dead. 

I’m now very interested in where this goes? Will Edge align with Styles? If so, will Edge turn on him in a long game plot to take him out once and for all? Will he go his own way and form a new faction to battle Judgment Day? If done correctly, this could be one of the best WWE storylines of 2022.

In the main event, Rhea Ripley pinned Doudrop in a fatal four-way to become the #1 contender to Biance Belair’s Raw’s Women’s championship.

NXT

In what was the best thing going in the WWE universe, NXT has become the complete opposite. There are great people in NXT and I just wish those in charge could pick the 4-6 men and women to build around. 

They keep pushing Van Horrible down our throats and it’s terrible. 

The Nathan Frazer and Santos Escobar match was pretty good until the rest of the D’Angelo family interfered. This whole joining his family idea is terrible and I don’t see where this is going until they finally have a match between Tony and Santos in order for LDF to be free again. 

Congratulations to Roxanne Perez in winning the Inaugural NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament. I assumed they were going with Tiffany Straton just because.

The biggest surprise of the night was the return of Apollo Crews, who came back not only to deal with unfinished business, but he returned without his Nigerian accent. 

He reminded us just how good he is by teaming with Solo Sikoa to face Carmelo Hayes & Grayson Waller.

We found out that next week Joe Gacy’s minions, the Dyad will have their in ring debut. Blade & Enofe’ will challenge the Creed Brothers for the NXT tag team titles and finally Indi Hartwell, Cora Jade & Roxanne Perez will face Toxic Attraction.

AEW – DYNAMITE

I never get tired of saying that AEW started off the show like a ball of fire. Thank goodness I’m not tired of it because once again they did by having a battle royal with the winner set to face Jon Moxley in the Main Event. 

The participants include Darby Allin, Daniel Garcia, Eddie Kingston, Tony Nese, and Lance Archer. Ricky Starks, Rey Fenix, Swerve Strickland, Jake Hager,Keith Lee, John Silver, Konosuke Takeshita, Max Caster, Austin Gunn and Colten Gunn,Powerhouse Hobbs, Kyle O’Reilly, Bobby Fish, Dante Martin, Wheeler Yuta and finally Andrade El Idolo. 

In the end Kyle O’Reilly eliminated Wheeler Yuta to advance to the main event.

AEW will debut a new championship at Forbidden Door called the All Atlantic Championship where one member of AEW and NJPW will face off to become the inaugural champion. 

To start off the tournament, PAC defeated Buddy Matthews in the opening round.

There is an in ring segment between Trent Baretta and FTR. Trent is looking to compete against FTR for the ROH Tag Titles. As they are talking out comes NJPW superstar Will Ospreay. This leads to the rest of the United Empire coming out and taking out Trent and FTR. I’m guessing this will lead to a match at Forbidden Door, but personally, I’d rather see FTR defend their ROH titles against a top NJPW team.

Wardlow makes it known that until CM Punk returns from his injury that he will set his sights on the AEW TNT Championship, currently held by Scorpio Sky. As a fan of Scorpio Sky, there is no way Wardlow isn’t TNT champion before the end of the year.

We also find out that Christian put the current AEW Tag Team champions, The Jurassic Express in a match next week with the titles on the line in a ladder match against the Young Bucks and The Hardys. This will be an amazing match and will either open the show or will be the main event, but I have this odd feeling that there will be some rift between the J.E. and Christian somewhere soon down the road. 

AEW Women’s Champion, Thunder Rosa offers up an open challenge to anyone in the back. The challenge is answered by Marina Shafir, who ended up having a hard hitting but early on awkward match. At the end Thunder Rosa solved “The Problem” only to be attacked from behind until Toni Storm makes the save.

Kris Statlander vs. Red Velvet is announced for AEW Rampage. I’m really hoping to see Kris take this one, but with Jade Cardgill and Kiera Hogan possibly ringside, I’m not sure if this will happen.

In the Main Event Jon Moxley battled Kyle O’Reilly to advance in the AEW Interm World Title tournament. After both going back and forth, Mox finally took out Kyle with a Paradigm Shift.

At Forbidden Door, Moxley will now face the winner of the qualifying match that will happen at NJPW Dominion between Hiroshi Tanahashi and Hirooki Goto.

IMPACT

There are times I can really get on Impact for what they do wrong or what doesn’t make any sense but one thing they do I love is something that AEW does and that’s start each week off with a match. This week was no different as they give us Rosemary vs Tenille Dashwood.

Rosemary picked up the pinfall victory but was attacked from behind from Madison Rayne until Taya Valkyrie.

One thing they did after coming eye to eye was have a stare down, look at the crowd and then back at each other. Just handle your business, don’t ask us what to do in that moment.

The Good Brothers show up in Sandy Fork, Delaware on the Briscoe chicken farm. I was amused with the reference to uncle Allen on a tractor. For those who may not know, they were talking about AJ Styles during their match at Wrestlemania against the Undertaker. 

They went to the wrong damn farm #Demboys

Leading up to Joash Alexander vs Eric Young match at Slammiversary, VBD’s Joe Doring takes on Impact World Champion Josh Alexander. Josh was eventually disqualified when he used VBD’s flag on Doring.

The main event of the evening will see Eddie Edwards, Mike Bennett and Matt Taven vs Frankie Kazarian and the Motor City Machine Guns. 

This was a great match but eventually things broke down and Heath ran down to the ring to get some revenge for the brutal attack on Rhino from HNM. 

HNM eventually got the upper hand and took out Heath’s leg. He has kids and they don’t even care.

I can’t say it’s a better show than what I see on Monday, Wednesday or Fridays, but this might actually put NXT in last place between all 5 shows.

WWE – Smackdown

Taking a cue from Impact and AEW, Smackdown started the show off tonight with the 296th meeting between Drew McIntyre and Sheamus. Just like the others, these 2 men put on a physical and hard hitting match. Now, this was supposed to be a MITB qualifying match, and although Butch got involved and didn’t cause a DQ in favor of Drew somehow, both men got counted out after brawling on the outside. 

What will happen to that spot? Will Adam Pearce do right by Drew or put both men in the match? 

The returning Lacey Evans had her 1st match back in over a year and took out Xia Li with her “Woman’s Right” for the victory and will now be in the Women’s MITB match. I love the change in character and I’m genuinely interested in where her character goes. They have an opportunity with her background to do some great things.

In his 5th televised IC championship match, Ricochet lost his IC Title to Gunther. The champion put up one hell of a fight, but Gunther surprised Ricochet with a shotgun drop kick of his own and then was nailed with a powerbomb for the 1-2-3. Congratulations to Gunther. I’m hoping that Ricochet gets his rematch soon than later, because this match up shouldn’t be a one and done.

In the main event we saw Riddle face Sami Zayn with a lot on the line. If Sami won, then Riddle was barred from Smackdown (and presumably going to Raw) but if Riddle won, then he gets a title shot next week against Roman Reigns on Smackdown.

In a gem of an ending, Riddle was in the corner and as  Sami was charging for a Helluva Kick, Riddle hit Orton’s RKO out of…nowhere and picked up the win and title opportunity against Roman next week. 

AEW – RAMPAGE

This week AEW starts off with a match pinning Jake Hagger vs Eddie Kingston. It’s hard to find many wrestlers in all of wrestling who have the crowd support and love that Eddie Kingston gets. After a long physical match Eddie pick up the pinfall after connecting with 2 spinning back fists.

Jay Lethal and Satnam Singh are in tag action against 2 “enhancement wrestlers” who are no match for the monstrous Satnam Singh. He is more or less AEW’s version of Omos but seems a bit more athletic. The was Singh’s in ring debut and with Lethal by his side, things looked pretty good. This was a great idea to put him with a vet like Lethal, just like when the WWE put Omos with Styles.

After checking in on Hookhausen, wo are treated to a match that I didn’t see much coming out of. We got Kris Statlander vs Red Velvet. I thought that Kris’s power was going to be too much for Red Velvet to overcome and although Velvet eventually lost, she showed the world just how much she has gotten better since her arrival in AEW. She used her speed to overcome some strength differences between her and Kris and nailed a well placed double knee against the ropes that should have ended Kris, but the resilience is strong and Kris finally picked up the win.

The main event had the best tag team in all of wrestling FTR partnered with Trent Baretta to face NJPW’s United Empire which consisted of Will Ospreay, and the tag team of Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis). This was my 1st time seeing Aussie Open wrestle and I was really impressed. Hard hitting and fast were these two, but when you’re in the ring with FTR, you have your work cut out for you. 

In the end with most of everyone outside, Trent connects with his Strong Zero on Kyle Fletcher for the pinfall victory.

Where Do The Oilers Go From Here?

By : Mike Rifkin

The Edmonton Oilers were swept in the Western Conference Finals by the Colorado Avalanche, losing 6-5 in overtime in game four. For the Oilers it was their first Western Conference Finals since 2006, where they defeated the Anaheim Ducks in five games before losing to the Carolina Hurricanes in seven games in the Stanley Cup Finals. 

The Oilers led by Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl both were in the top five in scoring during the regular season, including McDavid winning his second consecutive Art Ross Trophy and fourth overall. McDavid and Draisaitl combined for 55 points in 32 games played. What makes it even more impressive was Draisaitl was playing with a high ankle sprain according to General Manager Ken Holland, the injury occurred during the first round against the Kings. 

Ken Holland also said on head coach Jay Woodcroft “I think he did a fabulous job, the team responded to him and I told him we would meet early next week and have a discussion. I am interested in bringing him back, I think he did a great job and was a big part of what the team accomplished.” Woodcroft went 26-9-3 after being promoted from Bakersfield after Dave Tippett was fired. I don’t know why Woodcroft wouldn’t want to come back, but if he doesn’t there are a lot of big name coaches the Oilers could look at on the open market. But I would expect Woodcroft back

Another return in question for the Oilers is Evander Kane. Kane who was released by the Sharks, was picked up by the Oilers for one million dollars. Kane once he arrived in Edmonton was a points machine picking up 39 points (22 goals) in 43 games during the regular season and 17 points (13 goals) in 15 playoff games. Kane has always been a goal scorer but his numbers definitely increased by playing with McDavid. Holland said of Kane “I don’t expect him to play on a two million dollar cap hit next season.” Kane plays with an edge and it cost him in the Western Conference Finals. During the first period of game three Kane hit Avalanche Center Nazem Kadri from behind and got a 5 minute major penalty and was then suspended for game four. Something to watch with Kane whether it is the Oilers or another team I would give him a lesser term deal, probably nothing over three years. 

The other position the Oilers NEED to upgrade is their goaltending. They cannot go into another season with Mike Smith and Mikko Koskinen as their goalies. Smith is signed for next year at 2.2 million dollars at 40 years old and Koskinen is a free agent. Smith during the playoffs had a 3.37 Goals Against Average and .913 save percentage. Against Colorado during the Western Conference Finals Smith posted a 5.53 GAA and a .872 save percentage. Whether it’s a trade or free agency the Oilers need to address the goalie position.

MOVE OVER PGA CAUSE LVI MOVING IN

By Mark Halpern

       Over the last six months, we have been hearing about a Saudi-based professional golf tour, which has finally come to fruition. The LVI Golf Tour will get its official TEE OFF in London on June 9th, right before the U.S. Open. The commissioner of the PGA has been very open and critical of a new tour and, after much debate, has said, “If you want to play on that tour, you can not play in the PGA tour.” We can only guess whether this statement will hold for a year from now. When I first heard about another Golf tour being formed, I didn’t have feelings against it or for it, funny enough. When it was announced on ESPN that the LVI tour was going ahead, I thought of a quote from Happy Gilmore “Gold Jacket, Green Jacket, who cares.” We don’t know the color of the Jacket that is like the Masters (It’s Green), but time will tell.

    The league was formed with two tremendous PGA tour players backing it. Greg Norman and Phil Mickelson have been all for another league/tour globally. Mickelson has taken much flack because of his views towards another league and has lost sponsorships. He has been uninvited to play in any PGA courses or tournaments since he has been publicly favored in the other league. Mickelson is one of the greatest golfers ever to play the sport. He has won countless tournaments and has been active in charities and other humanitarian efforts in the golf world and the medical field. Mickelson was not doing any harm by speaking for the idea of another league, but, to some people, actions speak more than words.

   Since the idea of another tour has been tossed around and with players like Norman and Mickelson recruiting, there have been a lot of players wanting to move from PGA to LVI. The list of players is now up to 46, with some substantial noticeable names already committing to leave the PGA tour to Join the LVI tour. I will not name everyone but give you a sample of who has committed to playing in the newly formed LVI tour. The players joining are Dustin Johnson, Chase Kopeka, Kevin Na, Martin Kaymer, Sergio Garcia, Louis Oosthuizen, Andy Ogletree, Phil Mickelson, and Bryson DeChambeau are just some of the notable names. Rory Mcllory has said to be interested but has not committed to moving leagues yet. 

    Each day, we learn about other PGA golfers who are committing to playing on this new tour. Seasoned PGA tour member Tiger Woods has not spoken on the fact if he has been invited and would he even consider leaving. Considering where he ranks in the PGA all-time records, I don’t see him jumping ship. With the first event from LVI to debut today, tee times pairings will be released first in the morning and begin around 10 am. We will all get a first-hand look at what this relativity new Business Venture was to create an opportunity for other players on that side of the world. 

    This creation of a new Tour has a lot of new incomers moving on, but as I always say, a fresh start can get you into the right frame of mind, claim a spot, and get started with a fresh start, and that is how the old man sees it 

Something Bruin In Boston

By : Mike Rifkin

On Monday night the Boston Bruins announced they had fired head coach Bruce Cassidy. Cassidy had a record of 245-108-46 and led the Bruins to the playoffs every year in his six seasons, including going to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2019. This year the Bruins fell to the Carolina Hurricanes in seven game in the first round. The Bruins have made the playoffs every year since 2016

Now there are a lot of interesting candidates out on the market right now. Barry Trotz, Peter Deboer, John Tortorella and Paul Maurice are good coaches but so is Cassidy. Under Cassidy the Bruins averaged 3.14 goals per game and allowed 2.53 goals per game. This season the Bruins averaged 3.09 goals per game and allowed 2.66. Under Cassidy the Bruins power play connected at near 24 percent, this year it was down to 21.2 percent. The Bruins penalty kill was 82.8 percent under Cassidy and 81.3 percent this year.  

After last season second line Center David Krejci left the team to go play in his home country of the Czech Republic. Replacing Krejci was hard because he was so important to the Bruins at even strength, power play and penalty kill. In 962 games for the Bruins Krejci had 730 points. Second line center was a hole in the Bruins lineup the bulk of the season. They needed to spread out their scoring that Cassidy had to break up the “Perfection Line” of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak. Those three guys combined for 97 goals and 222 points. Goalie Tuukka Rask attempted to comeback from hip surgery and appeared in four games before getting injured again and eventually announced his retirement. Rookie Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark who they signed from the Buffalo Sabres both first time starters had a goals against average under 3 and save percentage of .914 and .917 respectively. Swayman went 3-2 with a 2.63 goals against average and .911 save percentage against the Hurricanes. 

Bergeron broke the record by winning his fifth Selke Trophy. At 36 years old Bergeron is an unrestricted free agent has not decided what his future holds. I don’t know if Cassidys firing sways him one way or the other. Marchand is signed through 2025-26 season but will miss the start of next season due to surgery on both hips. Pastrnak has one more year on his contract at 6.6 Million dollars. With Marchand, and defensemen Charlie Mcavoy and Matt Grzelyck who both underwent shoulder surgery missing the start of next season it will be interesting what the Bruins do with Pastrnak.

They have three options when it comes to Pastrnak. Option one is extending one of the premier goal scorers in the NHL. Option two would be explore a trade for him right now and they could get a haul. Option three and is they hold onto him until the trade deadline next year and see where they are before making a determination. If I was Don Sweeny I would extend Pastrnak. But I also wouldn’t have fired Cassidy with what he dealt with injury wise this year. Even if rebuilding you center the rebuild around Pastrnak and Mcavoy. Either way there might be some changes Bruin in Boston.

Split Decision

By : Mike Rifkin

In what was one of the biggest series of the first half of the Major League Baseball season the Mets and Dodgers series lived up to they hype this weekend. The two best teams in the National League split a great four game series in Los Angeles. 

On Thursday Tony Gonsolin threw six shutout innings, lowering his ERA to 1.59 and the Dodgers got RBI base hits from Mookie Betts and Justin Turner in the 2-0 LA win. It was the first time the Mets were shutout this season and offensively they only had three hits. Taijuan Walker suffered his first loss of the season after giving up two runs in 5.2 innings pitched. 

Friday night the Dodgers got two run home runs from Cody Bellinger and Zach McKinstry off of Chris Bassitt in their 6-1 victory. Tyler Anderson threw six shutout innings to improve his record to 7-0. Bassit gave up four runs (three earned) in six innings striking out eight in the loss. 

Saturday the Mets got off to a good start with a Francisco Lindor home run in the first inning. The Dodgers responded with four in the second including three on a Mookie Betts double. But as the Mets have done all year they responded right away Marte and Lindor drove in runs before Pete Alonso hit his first of two home runs in the game. Eduardo Escobar added a home run in the Mets 9-4 win. Dodgers ace Walker Buehler got knocked around for five runs in 2.1 innings pitched. With two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning Mets starter David Peterson was facing Mookie Betts with a runner on second base and two outs, and after a foul ball Mets manager Buck Showalter pulled Peterson in favor of rookie Colin Holderman who wound up striking Betts out and was credited with the win. 

Sunday was another back and forth affair and is one of the best games of the first half of the season. The Dodgers got a Trea Turner two run home run in the first inning for the quick lead. The Mets got three runs in the eight inning to take a 4-2 lead. The Dodgers got a home run from Will Smith and a RBI single form Eddy Alvarez off of Seth Lugo to tie the game at four. In the tenth inning JD Davis hit an RBI Double to give the Mets the lead. In the bottom of the Tenth Adonis Medina a pitcher the Mets acquired from the Pirates in April was given the difficult task of going up against the top of the Dodgers lineup. He got Mookie Betts to fly out, Freddie Freeman to ground out, Trea Turner reached on catcher’s interference and he struck out Will Smith to secure the split. 

The resilience the Mets have shown to start this season cannot be understated. They could have folded after Lugo blew the save in the ninth inning but they just keep grinding and find ways to compete. And they competed with one of the best teams in baseball. 

In the series the Dodgers outscored the Mets 16-15. Pete Alonso hit .278 with three home runs and seven RBI.Mookie Betts hit.278 and drove in four runs for the Dodgers in the series. These two teams will play again at Citi Field August 30th – September 1st.

TWIW – This Week In Wrestling – 5/30/22 – 6/3/22

By Jeff Knapp

This biggest news story coming out of the world of wrestling must be the Sasha Banks and Naomi situation with the WWE. There are 3 sides to every story, side A, Side B and then the actual truth. As of this writing I haven’t seen any post from either Naomi or Sasha stating their sides of the story. We’ve seen releases from the WWE stating in a nutshell that both wrestlers were unhappy with the direction of their tag team story line and decided to leave the WWE Women’s tag belts with Johnny Laurinaitis and left the arena. I’m stating that from Side A and will wait on Side B’s end of the story. I refuse to pass judgment until the facts are in. 

Speaking of walking away, there are also rumors about MJF not being happy with AEW. This amazing performer lives his gimmick, so nobody really knows what’s happening, but if it has to do with money, all I can say is pay the man. There are only a handful of wrestlers that have my complete attention whenever they have a mic in their hand, and MJF is one of them. He has earned and deserves ever dollar he makes and wants.

Congratulation to Jeff Jarrett on his new role at Sr VP of WWE Live Events

Congratulations to NJPW wrestler, Okada, whose wife is expecting their 1st child. I wish them all the best and a happy and healthy baby.

According to reports, W. Morrissey is finished with Impact Wrestling after the 6/2 episode. Will he decide to resign, try his luck back with the WWE, sign with AEW / ROH or maybe Bill Corgan can actually sign him to the NWA? Hopefully we will find out sooner than later. This is the stuff that just drives me nuts with Impact. They get a name and they stay no longer than a year (Good Brothers and Moose are the exception)

After AEW’s Double or Nothing, one time Diamond Mine manager Stokely Hathaway and The Fallen Goddess, Athena (fka Ember Moon) are now All Elite. 

Andrade’s new business partner is former ROH World Champion, RUSH

Congratulations to CM Punk in becoming the new AEW World Champion over the weekend.

It looks as if Ace Austin of Impact Wrestling is the newest member of The Bullet Club. 

AEW – Double or Nothing PPV

This was an exciting wrestling show from start to finish. My only complaint is that it did go a bit long for my liking. It’s hard to stay up that late when you have to get up early the next morning for work, but other than that, top notch show.

Wardlow is now technically All Elite after defeating MFJ pretty easily and is no longer under contract to MJF.

Adam Cole & Britt Baker both won the Owen Hart Foundation men’s and women’s tournament by defeating Samoa Joe and Ruby Soho

Julia Hart joins the House of Black. She gets involved in the 6-man tag by spitting black mist in the eyes of PAC, allowing Malakai to get the 1-2-3.

In a 6-person mixed tag match Scorpio Sky, Ethan Page & Paige Van Zant defeated Sammy Guevara, Frankie Kazarian & Tay Conti. With this victory, neither Sammy or Kazarian can ever challenge Scorpio Sky for the TNT Championship ever again.

AEW Women’s Champion Thunder Rosa had her hardest fought victory on Sunday by defeating Serena Deeb. I’m a huge Thunder Rosa fan, so I’m pulling for her to keep the title for a long time.

In a wild match that was all over the arena, The Jericho Appreciation Society defeated Eddie Kingston, Santana, Ortiz & Blackpool Combat Club in the Anarchy In The Arena match when Jericho & Hager choked out Danielson to the point of ref stoppage when Brian passed out.

Finally in the main event, in a very emotional match, CM Punk defeated Adam Page to become the NEW AEW World Champion. I’m so excited for the next chapter for AEW with Punk as champion. 

All I can say is that next Sunday is the WWE Hell in a Cell PPV / Premium Live Event, and good luck with trying to out do what I just watched.

WWE – RAW

After getting attacked by Theory, Mustafa Ali gets the DQ win over Ciampa and becomes the #1 contender to the US Championship. Theory starts the match and quickly defeats the already hurt Ali. After the match, Pearce comes out and announces the Mr. McMahon has decided to make a rematch between the 2 men at Hell in a Cell this Sunday. 

Riddle & Shinsuke Nakamura became the new #1 contenders to the Tag Team Titles when they picked up a DQ victory over the current champions, The Uso, when Jimmy nailed Riddle with his scooter and got caught.

Yet another DQ finish.

Tozawa pins his ex-wife Tamina to become the new 24/7 champion. Horrible title, but the comedy of it can be entertaining at times, especially with R-Truth is involved.

After Liv Morgan gets an upset pinfall victory over Rhea Ripley, we find out that at Hell in a Cell, The Judgment Day will take on AJ Styles, Finn Bálor & Liv Morgan.

NXT

The NXT Tag Team Champions, Pretty Deadly continue to keep winning and retain their titles by defeating the Creed Brothers. Although they dress alike, just like tag teams should, I just can’t take them seriously. 

Speaking of the Creeds, if they don’t win the tag titles at IYH, they are out of Diamond Mine

Speaking of Champions, North American Champion Cameron Grimes narrowly defeated newcomer to NXT, Nathan Frazer.

During a sit-down meeting on Escobar’s yacht, there was a match made for “In Your House” LDF vs The Goombas (or whatever the faction is called) and with the winning team taking over and absorbing the other faction into their own. 

With Nakita Lyons out of action, we are still lucky enough to witness Electra Lopez

AEW – DYNAMITE

The action started off hot this week….again, with a 6 man tag between the NEW AEW World Champion, CM Punk and FTR vs The Ass Boys and Max Caster. 

Punk & FTR get the pinfall victory and after the match Punk talks about the AEW & NJPW Forbidden Door PPV that’s coming up on June 26th. He wants to know who he’s going to wrestle. Out comes the Ace, Hiroshi Tanahashi. Outside of Okada, this was the only other person from NJPW I wanted to see him face. 

After the break we get one of the greatest promos in a long time from MJF, who says this is Max Friedman talking, not MJF. In a nutshell, he is over performing and underpaid and underappreciated. Talks about how Khan needs to pay all the ex-WWE guys he’s bringing in. He is eventually censored, and his mic is cut off. 

He mentions that he’s a generational talent and I 100% believe that. Under no circumstance can Tony Khan let this man leave for the WWE in 2024 or even in 2034. I’m already cringing on how Vince would handcuff his mic work.

After that we follow things up with Johnny Elite issue an open challenge to anybody. This brings out the finally returning Miro “The Redeemer” who submits Johnny Elite.

We will get an Anarchy in the Arena rematch at Blood and Guts, but 1st there will be a hair vs hair match between Jericho and Ortiz

Dante Martin will face Scorpio Sky for the TNT Title this Friday on Rampage. Dante is an amazing talent, but that title looks great on Scorpio Sky

This week we also saw Toni Storm & Ruby Soho defeat Dr. Britt Baker & Jamie Hayter, who attacked Storm and Ruby after the match

Wardlow got served papers for a lawsuit

And in the main event, Jon Moxley defeated Daniel Garcia

IMPACT

June 19th is the next Impact PPV, Slammiversary and one of the biggest matches of the evening will be the Ultimate X match. This week we saw Kenny King defeat Blake Christian to secure his spot in the match

Rich Swann is back in championship gold, minus the stolen belt as the new Digital Media Champion and his 1st match as champion was against Matthew Rehwoldt. Some wrestlers are known as game changers, but Rehwoldt is known as a channel changer. This was the quietest I heard the crowd the entire night.

It’s revealed that The Good Brothers will challenge the Briscoe Brothers at Slammiversary for the Impact World Tag Team titles.

The main event of the evening saw Moose and Steve Maclin defeat W. Morrissey and PCO in what will be Morrissey’s last match in Impact. After the match Sami Callihan appeared and took out Moose. At Slammiversary, Moose will take on the Sami in his in ring return.

WWE – SMACKDOWN

Although the trio of Sheamus, Ridge Holland and Butch make a great team, the name the “Brawling Brutes” ranked up there with the worst names those in WWE “creative” can come up with. I don’t mind the idea of Butch being this loose cannon, almost like Yosemity Sam rootin’ tootin’ fighter.

Next week will be the first client of Maximum Male Clients with Max Dupree. I’ve always enjoyed Eli Drake / LA Knight / Max Dupree in the ring and if his in ring career isn’t going anywhere on the main roster, then please continue to give him the mic. He’s one of those who can hold my attention, and that’s what we need.

 Raquel Rodriguez, Shayna Baszler, Aliyah, Shotzi, Natalya, and Xia Li all fought to determine the new #1 contender to Ronda Rousey’s Smackdown Women’s championship. It now appears that Natalya will face Ronda at Hell in a Cell. All roads lead to Raquel being champion sooner than later, but in the meantime, we will see a very sound match between the queen of harts and the baddest woman on the planet. 

After a brief Corbin vs Moss match in which Corbin won via a DQ, but will get his hands on him one more time at HIAC in a No Holds Barred Match.

It’s also announced that next week that IC champion Ricochet will face Gunther. This will be interesting to see what the future plans for Gunther are. I’m sure that he will get the title next week or at the next “premium event” that face off against. It boggles my mind that the WWE has an amazing talent like Ricochet and they can’t get anything long term for him. 

Riddle and Nakamura get a tag team title shot only to have Nakamura get injured by the Usos. Riddle with a great comeback, but only to get distracted by Sami Zayn who had Roman’s music play. I love the fact they are putting obstacle after obstacle in front of Riddle. Will he and Shinsuke finally get the titles at HIAC, at a later date or will Riddle find a partner to reach the tag team mountain top, or will he have to wait for Randy to return? I’m leaning towards a returning Randy Orton. Possibly wait until Summer Slam.

AEW – RAMPAGE

AEW starts out once again with a ball of fire when we see the Young Bucks vs the Lucha Brothers. This was non-stop excitement, and as true heels, the bucks removed the mask from Penta, which in Lucha Libra is the ultimate act of disrespect.

Athena (FKA Ember Moon) has her 1st AEW match against Kiera Hogan. I’ll be honest, I was distracted by Kiera’s ring attire, which parts of it left little to the imagination, which I’m not complaining about. Since she left Impact, I want to see her get better week after week. 

The main event saw Scorpio Sky narrowly defeat the amazing high flying Dante Martin, who usually lands a day after he jumps. When it comes to the high flying, risk taking wrestlers he has to be at the top of most people’s list.

Although this show was solid from start to finish, it didn’t end without some heartbreaking news. AEW World Champion CM Punk came out and announced that he was injured and had to step away for a bit. I’m a huge Punk fan and after waiting 7 years for him to not only come back, but win a major championship, to then have this happen was a real blow to all his fans.

Next week on Dynamite there will be a battle royal where the winner will face Jon Moxley at the Forbidden Door PPV to crown an Interim AEW World Champion. 

The next question is, with Punk out, will there be somebody in AEW who will face Hiroshi Tanahashi?

Heavyweight Battle

By : Mike Rifkin

On Thursday night the two best teams in the National League will begin a four game series as the New York Mets will travel to Los Angeles to play the Dodgers. In 2021 The Dodgers took six of the seven meetings. 

The Mets are coming into LA hot, after sweeping a six game homestand against the Phillies and the Nationals. There aren’t many players on a better streak then Francisco Lindor. The reigning National League Player Of the Week has driven in a run in 10 consecutive game, making him only the second Met ever to do the feat along with Hall Of Famer Mike Piazza. Mets first baseman Pete Alonso is hitting .288 with four home runs and nine RBIs in his career against the Dodgers. . The Mets aren’t too reliant on the home run, they are more aggressive on the bases, stuff we have seen from the Dodgers in years past. 

The Dodgers are coming off getting swept by the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Dodgers have been the best team in the National League over the years. Prior to last season they had won the NL West eight consecutive seasons. This offseason the Dodgers made a massive splash by signing First baseman Freddie Freeman from the Braves. Freeman is hitting .295 with four home runs and 30 RBIs. In his career against the Mets Freeman has a .305 batting average with 28 home runs and 115 RBIs. Shortstop Trea Turner who was traded from the Nationals at the trade deadline last season along with Max Scherzer who is now a Met has hit in 24 straight games. Turner is hitting .297 with 12 home runs and 36 RBI and 32 stolen bases against the Mets. For the season is hitting .297 with five home runs and 41 RBIs. Then there is Mookie Betts who has been red hot recently. Betts for the season is hitting .306 with 16 home runs and 35 RBIs. 

These two teams are in the top 15 in major league baseball in Batting Average and ERA. This series should still be solid even though three of the best pitchers in baseball will miss it. Jacob DeGrom and Max Scherzer for the Mets and Clayton Kershaw for the Dodgers. 

Pitching Matchups

Thursday : Taijuan Walker (3-0 2.83 ERA) vs Tony Gonsolin ( 5-0 1.80 ERA)

Friday : Chris Bassitt ( 4-2 3.66 ERA) vs Tyler Anderson (6-0 2.90 ERA)

Saturday : David Peterson (2-0 3.03 ERA) vs Walker Buehler (6-1 3.22 ERA)

Sunday : Trevor Williams (1-3 3.58 ERA) vs Julio Urias (3-5 2.89 ERA)

Rangers Vs Lightning : Eastern Conference Finals Preview

By: Mike Rifkin

On Wednesday night the New York Rangers will host the two time defending Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning in Game One of the Eastern Conference Finals. It will be the second time these two teams have played in the Eastern Conference Finals, the first being in 2015 which saw the Lightning win in seven games. Now the roles are reversed as the Rangers are the young, upstart team and the Lightning are looking to win their third consecutive Cup. 

During the regular season these two teams met three times and the Rangers won all three. The first meeting was on New Year’s Eve and saw the Rangers win 4-3 in a shootout with two goals from former Lightning player Barclay Goodrow. The second meeting was January second and Mika Zibanejad had a hat trick to lead the Rangers in a 4-0 win and Igor Shesterkin made 38 saves for the shutout. The third and final meeting was on March nineteenth and with 16 seconds left in the third period Zibanejad scored on a pass from Artemi Panarin on the power play to give the Rangers a 2-1 victory. Shesterkin made 28 saves on 29 shots. 

In the three games against the Lightning Shesterkin went 3-0 with a 1.30 Goals Against Average and .958 save percentage and Zibanejad had four goals to lead the Rangers. For the Lightning Andrei Vasilevskiy was 0-2 with a 3.03 GAA and a .875 save percentage in the three meetings. But Vasilevskiy has been incredible lately going 5-0 with a 0.80 Goals Against Average, .978 save percentage and one shutout in his last five games after a rocky start to his playoffs. Igor Shesterkin also struggled early in the playoffs but is 7-3 with a 2.09 Goals Against Average and .939 save percentage his last 10 starts. 

This series might come down to which team’s trade deadline acquisitions will be better. For the Lightning Nick Paul who was acquired from the Ottawa Senators has six points in 11 games including two goals in game seven vs the Maple Leafs. Paul has stepped up in a big way defensively as well. Brandon Hagel who was acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks has a goal and three assists in 11 games brings speed, and an aggressive forecheck to the bottom six of the Lightning. For the Rangers Andrew Copp who was acquired from the Winnipeg Jets is third on the team in scoring with 12 points in 14 games has also helped on Penalty Kill and is out there in defensive situations. Frank Vatrano who was acquired from the Florida Panthers has three goals in fourteen games, but he can shoot the puck with the best of them, if he gets hot it could help the Rangers offensively. 

The ultimate X factor for game one could be how the Lightning look. They haven’t played in nine days since sweeping the President’s Trophy winning and in state rival Florida Panthers. The Rangers are coming off another game seven win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday. If Tampa isn’t sharp early the Rangers need to take advantage.

WHY PLAYERS YOUNG AND OLD CAN TAKE A LESSON FROM BRANDON NIMMO

By Mark Halpern

Baseball is kind of like a game of chess. First, you move your pawns to set up your front and out-think your opponent to win the game. In Baseball, it is crucial to have this plan of attack, but, in today’s game, lately, more players than not try to think they are more significant than the game and try to be the all mighty piece the “Queen” (the most valueable piece in the game) and try and control the game themselves.

   A friend of mine sent me a video of Anthony Siegler of the Hudson Valley Renegades; he hit a long fly ball to left field and he thought it was out of the park and started his home run trot. When he realized the ball had hit the wall and bounced off it, he turned on the jets only to be thrown out at second and ended the game. I know where he ranks in the Yankee organization, but this Primadonna attitude of thinking, I’m a big man, look what I did, and now he made the Renegades coaching staff look dumb.

    Brandon Nimmo is the starting centerfielder for the New York Mets, and he has the biggest smile, whether he is in the field or at the plate. Whether it is a hit, a double, a triple, or even better, a home run or just a plain-out, Brandon Nimmo is running full speed. He has cemented himself into the Mets lineup not just by being a good ballplayer but, his intensity on the field and at the plate is the best in MLB.

     If coaches would teach Nimmo’s mentality (I am not saying other players don’t do the same), I think they will be more prepared for the major leagues. Yes, we see Major Leaguers when they hit a no doubter and throw the bat, and trot around the bases. However, these no doubters are 450ft or longer. Today’s minor leaguers need to be taught the Nimmo effect; I believe that runs will increase and more games will be won. That is how the old man sees it.