Zara Shaw has been named Liverpool F.C. Women’s Standard Chartered Player of the Month for April after her emotional return from injury.
The 18-year-old won the fan vote on Liverpool’s official website to claim the award for the first time.
Shaw made a huge impact after returning from a long injury layoff, scoring the winning goal against Charlton Athletic Women F.C. in extra-time of the Women’s FA Cup quarterfinal.
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It was her first senior appearance in more than 400 days after recovering from the second ACL injury of her young career.
The goal secured Liverpool’s place in the FA Cup semifinals and quickly became one of the club’s most emotional moments of the season.
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Speaking after receiving the award, Shaw admitted she did not expect it.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” she said. “I didn’t expect it, if I’m honest.”
“I’ve just enjoyed being back in with the girls and enjoying football again really.”
She also reflected on her dramatic return against Charlton.
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“It was really, really special. It’s a day I’ll definitely never forget.”
After an instant heavyweight classic earlier this month, Fabio Wardley will seek to avenge his defeat to Daniel Dubois and recapture the WBO world title. Eddie Hearn, who promoted Wardley earlier in his career, has shared his thoughts on the rematch.
Wardley scored two early knockdowns against Dubois in his first defence of the WBO crown after being elevated to world champion. Dubois recovered and took charge, dishing out plenty of punishment before the fight was stopped by referee Howard Foster in round 11.
Speaking with Boxing News, Matchroom promoter, Eddie Hearn, explained why he believes Wardley ‘has done the right thing’.
“I think that he has done the right thing. It is easy to criticise and I have been there before, ‘AJ’ is a classic example, specifically after the [Andy] Ruiz fight, it was very one-sided after he [Joshua] got dropped and everyone said ‘don’t take the rematch first, do this, do that’.
“You have, on your plate and in your hand, a shot to win the world heavyweight championship. After that fight, and specifically after the damage [he suffered], Fabio is an underdog in that fight, but he can win. He can win that fight and, if you have a chance of winning that fight, for me, I think that you have to take it.
“So, good luck to him and I wouldn’t rule him out either. Like I said, I think that Daniel, this time, is a big favourite in the fight, but I wouldn’t rule Fabio Wardley out in this fight.”
“He needs to make adjustments, Usyk said it today, where was the jab? But you’re talking about a guy with little experience over a period of time, so what he is doing is incredible, but he is always live and he is always dangerous.”
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It is believed that Dubois-Wardley 2 will take place before the end of the year, with the clash potentially landing in a stadium.
The financial demise of the city’s football team, who were relegated to the fourth tier in 2024, has helped rugby become the city’s main sporting attraction.
Stade Chaban-Delmas became UBB’s permanent home in 2011 and the club regularly play in front of near-capacity crowds – making them the best-supported club in Europe.
Consolidation in the top flight was followed by a first Champions Cup appearance in 2015-16, thanks to Pierre Bernard’s late drop-goal against Gloucester in a qualification play-off – a game Connor started.
Back-to-back Champions Cup appearances began to take a toll on Bordeaux’s league form as they struggled to compete on two fronts, finishing 11th, 10th and 10th.
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“During that period [2016-2019], we started taking steps backwards. The budget was getting bigger and we were signing bigger names, the culture was not gelling,” added Connor, who played regularly.
“We were going backwards and it was frustrating because I felt like I was in my prime and we were missing opportunities we could have taken.
“Near the end of my career [2020], I felt a bit outdated – like a dinosaur from that crossover Pro D2 team.
“Guys like Cameron Woki and Matthieu Jalibert were starting to come through, and while we used to drink in the dressing room after every game, they were like, ‘No, we need to recover and get ready for the week.’
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“Mentally, I knew I was done and it was time to hand over the baton to the new generation of Jalibert and those sort of guys. They took the club where it needed to go.”
NEW DELHI: Former India cricketer and renowned commentator Laxman Sivaramakrishnan has made another explosive revelation about his years in cricket broadcasting, alleging that he was forced to return to commentary duties immediately after his elder brother’s cremation.The former leg-spinner, who recently retired from the BCCI commentary panel citing “colour discrimination”, shared the emotional incident through a series of posts on social media on Thursday.“My elder brother passed away a few years earlier. We finished cremation in the evening, minutes after that, The Director Broadcasting of BCCI called me and said, ‘now that the cremation is over, can you take a flight the next morning to commentate on Ind v Aus Test in Mohali?’. I went,” Sivaramakrishnan wrote on X.The 60-year-old revealed that despite personal grief, he prioritised his professional commitments.“I sacrificed the mourning and went. My mother passed away when I was doing commentary in Pune. Having done all that, I was subject to whatever I went through,” he added.
‘That’s why I retired’In another post, Sivaramakrishnan hinted that the same individual was one of the major reasons behind his decision to step away from commentary duties earlier this year, although he stopped short of naming the person publicly.Back in March, just days before IPL 2026, Sivaramakrishnan had announced his retirement from BCCI commentary, alleging discrimination based on skin colour and claiming he was sidelined in favour of newcomers.The former India spinner, who represented the country in nine Tests and 16 ODIs, had earlier opened up in interviews about battling depression, anxiety and severe emotional trauma during his commentary career.
‘I thought I was going to die’In a deeply personal interaction with the Indian Express earlier this year, Sivaramakrishnan spoke about experiencing a mental breakdown during the IPL in the UAE during the Covid-19 period.“I was down completely and I didn’t want to see myself in the mirror,” he had said. “Whenever I was awake, I thought I was going to die.”He described terrifying hallucinations, sleepless nights and emotional isolation, while also alleging years of racism and appearance-based discrimination within cricket circles.Sivaramakrishnan further claimed he was often denied high-profile on-air roles because he was considered “not presentable”.“I’ve never done a toss or a presentation,” he said earlier, adding that producers allegedly told him they had been instructed not to put him in those positions.The former spinner also recalled painful experiences from his early cricketing days and said such incidents severely damaged his self-esteem at a young age.
2 min read Last Updated : May 22 2026 | 12:33 PM IST
A large statue of soccer great Pele was unveiled Thursday in the Mexican city of Guadalajara to commemorate his achievements with the Brazilian national team.
Pele, who died at age 82 in 2022, won one of his three World Cup titles in Mexico at the 1970 edition of the tournament.
“This monumental figure of this great player, who played here and scored a great goal, is a great gift to the people of Jalisco and to all visitors,” Jalisco Gov. Pablo Lemus said. “Pele loved Guadalajara, and the Brazilian national team fell in love with it because the Mexican public gave them everything in 1970.”
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The 9.5-meter-tall (31-foot) statue is located in a public square called Plaza Brazil outside the Jalisco Stadium, which hosted matches in the 1970 and 1986 World Cups. For its 1970 title run, Brazil played its first-round, quarterfinal, and semifinal matches at the stadium before beating Italy in the final at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City.
“People who come to the Jalisco Stadium now will stop to take pictures. This statue will be a landmark, especially since it depicts a football star like Pele,” Lemus said. “It’s a great gift for the World Cup.”
In the 2026 World Cup, Guadalajara will host four first-round matches: South Korea vs. Czech Republic on June 12; Mexico vs. South Korea on June 18, Colombia vs. Congo on June 23, and Uruguay vs. Spain on June 26.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
On Sunday, Lottie Woad enjoyed what is becoming a regular tradition in her pro career.
With a final-round 69 at the Kroger Queen City Championship in Cincinnati, Woad, who is 22, won her second LPGA event (and third event in total) since turning pro in the middle of last year. Woad’s victory was the latest highlight in her rapid climb up the food chain in the women’s game. It was also a moment of affirmation for one of her more … eclectic competitive rituals: a bag of gummy bears that has served as her good-luck charm.
As the story goes, the tradition started with Woad’s caddie, David Taylor, a veteran LPGA looper who evidently shares her sweet tooth.
“So, back in the UK, we’ve got kind of little supermarket called Marks & Spencer, and they do this sweet called Percy Pigs, and it just so happened that Singapore had one of these little small supermarkets, and I came across it one night when we were out for dinner,” Taylor said. “So, I took them and I put them in the bag, and I said, ‘These are some birdie sweets.’”
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Caddies are famously adept at discovering motivational tools for their players, and in Taylor’s case, the key to Woad’s heart was simple.
“Now, every player is driven by different things, some are financially driven, Lotte is in fact driven by sweets,” he said. “So, I put them in the bag, and I said, ‘Every birdie you make, we get one each.’ So it’s not she’s going to hit some mad sugar rush or anything.”
Woad is careful to point out that she’s not exactly housing gummy bears during the course of competition. The candies are a boost that helps to break up the monotony of life on the road.
“I don’t know, we’ve done it the last few events that we remembered,” Woad said with a grin. “Yeah, I think people think that we’re like stuffing our faces with sweets during the round, but like realistically we’re eating like four gummy bears.”
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But Woad’s moment in the sun at the Kroger Queen City Championship was dually rewarding, and not just for the sugar high of a pro victory. As Taylor explained in an interview with SiriusXM, he’d made his pro an unusual promise: The next time she won an event, she could choose the design for the next tattoo on her caddie’s body.
Woad’s victory in Cincy meant that she had earned that right, and as you might expect, there was only one option that made sense.
“Actually, about one hour ago, I got a text message from her, and she’s finally chosen what to get,” Taylor said with a laugh. “She’s chosen the piece, and it is, in fact, going to be a little gummy bear with a crown on it.”
A gummy bear with a crown — fitting for the first crowning of a new LPGA heavyweight player-caddie pairing … and one that just so happened to come in the Queen City.
Former India player Aakash Chopra has questioned Ruturaj Gaikwad for attributing the Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) early exit from IPL 2026 to a young and inexperienced team. He highlighted that the blame shouldn’t be put on kids and that the seniors need to own up.
CSK were eliminated from IPL 2026 after an 89-run loss against the Gujarat Titans (GT) in Ahmedabad on Thursday, May 21. The visitors were bowled out for 140 in pursuit of a 230-run target.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, ‘Aakash Chopra,’ the former India batter opined that Gaikwad should have spoken about the underperforming seniors instead of the youngsters while reflecting on CSK‘s exit in the post-match interview.
“He said that’s a very young team, that they cannot show that much faith in youngsters, and that they don’t have enough experience. I am wondering why those who have experience aren’t being spoken about. The talk should have been about Sanju Samson, Rutu, Shivam Dube, and Dewald Brevis. The talk shouldn’t be about Ayush Mhatre, Kartik Sharma, Prashant Veer, or Urvil Patel. What they did was excellent,” Chopra said.
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“The talk should actually be about the elders. Rutu, how was your season? Kids bring bravado and an attacking approach. They don’t bring consistency, and how will they bring consistency? They are kids. So whose responsibility was it? You said you would open and don’t want to let Mhatre open. You needed to score runs. I agree that anyone can have a bad season, but you need to own up. You can’t put it on kids that they didn’t do well,” he added.
Ruturaj Gaikwad aggregated 337 runs at an underwhelming strike rate of 123.44 in 14 innings in IPL 2026. Shivam Dube (270 runs at a strike rate of 158.82 in 12 innings) and Dewald Brevis (151 runs at a strike rate of 127.96 in eight innings) also weren’t at their best this season.
“The mistake was in the auction as well” – Aakash Chopra on CSK’s IPL 2026 exit
Dewald Brevis was one of the two overseas batters in CSK’s IPL 2026 squad (Image via X/@IPL)
In the same video, Aakash Chopra reckoned it wasn’t the youngsters’ mistake, highlighting that CSK had also erred in the IPL 2026 auction.
“In that interview, it seemed like it was the kids’ mistake. It wasn’t the kids’ mistake. The mistake was in the auction as well. You had two overseas batters, and they weren’t even like-for-like. You played with three overseas many times,” he said.
While acknowledging that Gaikwad might not have had enough time to reflect on the loss before the post-match interview, the cricketer-turned-commentator opined that his comment was odd.
“Plenty of problems that can be talked about later, but I found that one comment odd. Putting your responsibility on someone else is not the nicest way of doing things. You might not have got enough time to think about it post-match, you reacted suddenly, and you don’t mean it perfectly, but it still felt slightly odd as the kids have done decently. It wasn’t about them at all,” Chopra observed.
However, Aakash Chopra concurred with Ruturaj Gaikwad that the Chennai Super Kings were hit hard by injuries in IPL 2026. While terming CSK the ‘Chotil Super Kings’ because of the number of injuries they have endured, he pointed out that even Sanju Samson got injured while keeping in their last league game.
The New York Knicks blasted the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday night, 109-93, to take a 2-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference Finals. This is no great surprise. The Knicks are a better team than the Cavs in every area. The Cavaliers let Game 1 slip through their fingers by squandering a 22-point lead with seven minutes to play. The odds of them picking themselves off the mat after that kind of emotional gut punch and rallying back to win Game 2 were very low.
So the Knicks won the game, and they are probably going to win the series to advance to their first NBA Finals since 1999 in search of their first championship since 1973. It’s good stuff. This is a very good team when clicking, and to say the Knicks have been clicking would be an understatement.
Thursday’s win was their ninth straight in these playoffs. That does not happen often. After going down 2-1 to the Hawks in a first-round series that appeared to have all the markings of what would have been a disastrous upset, the Knicks closed out Atlanta with three straight wins, swept the Sixers, and have now gone up 2-0 on the Cavs.
Over that stretch, they have outscored their opponents by 212 points. That is the most lopsided point differential over any nine-game stretch for any team in NBA history. Not just for the playoffs. For any nine-game stretch. That is legitimately crazy.
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To the nines
Best point differential for a team over any nine-game stretch (regular season or playoffs) in NBA history
Look at those numbers. These are blowouts. Against playoff competition. It’s arguably the best nine-game stretch in NBA history.
And yet, the question has to be asked: How much of this do we attribute to the relative weakness of the Eastern Conference?
I understand I’m not going to be a popular man among the New York faithful for even asking this question, and I want to be clear I do not know the answer. I’m just wondering. That’s all. We all know the East has been weaker than the West, by an appreciable margin, for decades. I’m not going to go down the rabbit hole, it just is what it is. LeBron James does not go to eight straight Finals in the West. That’s all there is to it.
That said, having a couple viable championship contenders, or even just one of them, can create the illusion of conference balance. And maybe the Knicks are that team. They certainly have the look of a team that could win the whole thing. They’ve had a lot of talent for years. But now that talent feels, I don’t know, somehow sturdier. Built to withstand the postseason rigors. A team that erases huge leads rather than coughing them up.
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Jalen Brunson is a total beast. Karl-Anthony Towns is doing everything. Mikal Bridges has gone from a guy who was hardly playable early in the Atlanta series to averaging 18.7 points on 68/50/100 shooting splits. Josh Hart defines a winning player; the Cavs dared him to beat them on Thursday, and he obliged with 26 points and five 3s. OG Anunoby is healthy and basically a perfect playoff player.
They’re deep. They defend. They shoot. They dominate fourth quarters. Over these past nine games they are shooting 53.6% as a team with a 61.7 effective field-goal percentage. That first number is the best over a nine-game stretch since the 1987 Lakers. The second number is the best ever. You have to seriously squint to find anything that even closely resembles a true weakness on this team.
And yet, they’re doing it in the East. The Hawks are not any sort of honest gauge for a contender. The Sixers were a play-in team. The Cavs needed seven games to get past the Raptors, and are only here because they played an offensively challenged Pistons team that counts Tobias Harris as its second-biggest weapon and should’ve lost in the first round to the Magic. Perhaps Boston would have given the Knicks a genuine fight in the second round, but they couldn’t hold a 3-1 lead against the play-in Sixers.
I know how it works, that you can only play who’s in front of you and all that, but I’m looking at a team like Minnesota that is going to be totally forgotten about because they had to play the Nuggets and Spurs in these playoffs. This simply isn’t equitable. I have long believed conferences should be a thing of the past as we move to a 1-16 postseason bracket. It would open up all kinds of fresh matchups. It would get rid of the imbalance.
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That’s not going to happen. I get it. And so we are left with trying to evaluate the legitimacy of these Eastern Conference teams through a relative lens. Take last year’s Pacers. They turned out to be an awesome team. They probably would’ve beaten the Thunder had Tyrese Haliburton not blown his Achilles. But that’s not really the point. Once you get to the Finals, anyone can win one series. It’s the path there that I’m wondering about.
Right now I’m watching the Spurs and Thunder beat the hell out of each other over in the West, and I don’t think there’s a reasonable NBA fan anywhere outside of New York right now that wouldn’t agree that whoever makes it out of that series is going to have a lot more wear and tear on their bodies than the Knicks will have after the way these last nine games have gone. The Knicks are on easy street right now.
Perhaps that’s a credit to how good they are. I’ll say again, they look awesome. I just don’t know how much to trust the competition. I assume they’ll make it to the Finals, and that’s when we’ll find out for real.
Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson (18) celebrates with teammate Jordan Addison (3) after a touchdown against the Tennessee Titans during the first half at Nissan Stadium on Nov. 17, 2024, in Nashville. Jefferson sparked Minnesota’s offense with the scoring play as the Vikings built momentum on the road during an interconference matchup against the Titans. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images.
FOX Sports decided to rank all NFL teams’ “supporting casts” this week — and your Minnesota Vikings have the NFL’s 11th-worst. Most fans perceive the team’s playmakers as one of the team’s strengths, but not everyone agrees.
Minnesota has star power at wide receiver, but national perception still lags behind the roster’s actual upside.
Lists of playmaker rankings really don’t mean anything, but they do provide a thermometer of public opinion. The public says the Vikings are mid.
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National Skepticism Follows the Vikings’ Skill Players
Minnesota Vikings wide receivers Jordan Addison and Justin Jefferson celebrate a touchdown against the Chicago Bears during second-quarter action on Nov. 24, 2024, at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois. The pair formed one of the NFL’s most explosive receiving duos in 2024 as Minnesota continued leaning heavily on Kevin O’Connell’s aggressive passing attack. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Bartel-Imagn Images
MIN’s Ranking from FOX Sports
Ranking just ahead of the New Orleans Saints’ supporting cast, Ralph Vacchiano explained Minnesota at No. 22: “They certainly have given whomever is their quarterback some good receivers to work with. Justin Jefferson is as good as any in football when everything is working right with the offense, and Jordan Addison is a strong No. 2. The Vikings also went out and added the underrated Jauan Jennings to give the QB another option. And TE T.J. Hockenson is a big weapon in the passing game, too — at least when he’s healthy.”
“Beyond that, though, they really have to lean into the mind of head coach Kevin O’Connell because there are some issues. The offensive line was not good nor healthy last season.”
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Because of Jefferson and Addison on the roster, most Vikings fans expected Minnesota to check in within this ranking’s Top 15. No cigar.
“And they lean way too much on 32-year-old, oft-injured RB Aaron Jones. That lack of a dependable running game is big. It’s why defenses could tee off on Vikings QBs, who were sacked 60 times last season — tied for second-most in the league,” Vacchiano concluded.
Lower Than the … Giants, Steelers, and Patriots?
Vacchiano strangely ranked the Vikings’ playmakers beneath the New York (Giants), Pittsburgh, and New England groups. The Giants have Malik Nabers (injured) and Cam Skattebo (injured). The Steelers showcase DK Metcalf and Jaylen Warren. The Patriots? Treveyon Henderson and Kayshon Boutte. What are we doing? What’s going on?
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On the Patriots’ weaponry, Vacchiano noted, “The Pats currently have a bunch of role players in the passing game. Romeo Doubs is a solid No. 2. Kayshon Boutte is a deep threat. And Mack Hollins is a big target, but needs a reduced role at age 32. New England’s strength is in the potent 1-2 RB punch of TreVeyon Henderson and Rhamondre Stevenson.”
“But the real key for this team will be the offensive line. It improved from 2024 yet still gave up a ridiculous 47 sacks in the regular season and a record 21 in four playoff games. There’s a good argument about whether those crazy numbers were more the fault of Drake Maye or his line. But it doesn’t matter. The young QB won’t survive another year like that, especially against a much tougher schedule.”
Doubs, Henderson, and Boutte should not take the cake over Jefferson, Addison, Jennings, Aaron Jones, and Jordan Mason. It doesn’t make sense.
How Much Worse without Jennings?
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The Vikings recently signed Jennings from free agency; in theory, had they not, the ranking on Vacchiano’s list might’ve been even more egregious, possibly three to five spots lower.
San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings enters the field before kickoff against the Tennessee Titans on Dec. 14, 2025, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. Jennings continued carving out a larger offensive role in San Francisco after becoming known leaguewide for his physical blocking style and dependable production in key situations. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images
Still, Jennings is poised to make a significant impact in Minnesota. He’ll seamlessly integrate into three-receiver sets alongside Jefferson and Addison, presenting a formidable challenge for defenses on passing downs. With multiple threats, a favorable matchup would often emerge, and Jennings would be well-positioned to exploit it.
He’ll also likely see a substantial increase in targets within O’Connell’s offense compared to his time in San Francisco. Jennings already embodies the gritty, ‘dirty-work’ mentality Minnesota values, particularly as an elite blocker — a crucial asset for this offense. His role would be genuine, not merely ornamental.
Furthermore, should Jefferson or Addison miss any time, Jennings would immediately elevate to WR1-WR2 status.
The RB Effect?
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The culprit behind the FOX Sports clunker regarding Minnesota must be the running backs. Jones is old, and Mason has never experienced an extended run as an RB1. For example, while the Vikings have Jones, Mason, and rookie Demond Claiborne, a team like the Denver Broncos has these options at RB:
JK Dobbins
RJ Harvey
Jonah Coleman
It’s also worth noting that Minnesota has not run the football particularly well under O’Connell.
Minnesota Vikings running back Aaron Jones reacts after a game on Dec. 7, 2025, at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Jones remained a central piece of Minnesota’s offense during the 2025 campaign, providing veteran stability in the backfield while contributing as both a runner and pass-catching option for the Vikings. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-Imagn Images
If you’re looking for an explanation for why the Vikings’ supporting cast must be so putrid compared to fans’ expectations, it must be the running backs. It’s the only thing that makes sense. It’s impossible to look at a WR room with Jefferson and Addison, and say, “Yeah, Romeo Doubs and Kayhson Boutte are better than that.”
Dustin Baker is a novelist and political scientist. His second novel, The Invaders , is out now. So is … More about Dustin Baker
In the beautiful Basque city of Bilbao, in the north of Spain and which is hosting European rugby finals for the second time, Ulster got their first taste of the San Mames Stadium in the captain’s run on Thursday.
It is a huge occasion, but the session was full of smiles and laughter, rather than any visible nerves.
Ulster may be missing key players, such as Henderson and the injured trio of Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale and Rob Herring, and only 23 players will take to the pitch on Friday.
But there was unity as the wider group took part in the captain’s run, with players playing football as well as warming up with a rugby ball.
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There were no signs of lingering disappointment from Friday’s late defeat by Glasgow Warriors, which ultimately led to them missing out on the top eight in the URC.
“It’s a week that’s not difficult to get up for,” said hooker Tom Stewart.
“We’ve all said it, being in a cup final doesn’t come around too often. It has been a special time for the boys.
“It has been special to get behind Nick and watch how he has taken the team, and watch boys grow into the opportunity that is in front of them.”
RALEIGH, N.C. — What we learned about the Montreal Canadiens in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final is they’re a quick study.
It’s not like the Canadiens had all the time in the world to prepare for this series against the Carolina Hurricanes. They barely had 72 hours after winning Game 7 in Buffalo, and at least six of those were spent travelling, while another 21, give or take, were spent sleeping.
Captain Nick Suzuki said the Canadiens had a long meeting Wednesday, one more Thursday morning, and one last one before Thursday’s game to absorb all the intelligence their coaching staff had gathered.
To see him and his teammates apply everything they learned to near perfection in a 6-2 win to open this series was yet another example of how they’ve defied their age.
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“It shows the maturity of our team,” said elder statesman Phillip Danault, who’s played the second-most playoff games of anyone on the Canadiens.
He’s 33, but most of his teammates are between 20 and 26, with the last 14 games of these playoffs the most formative ones of their blossoming careers.
The lessons they learned over those two weeks came at a breakneck pace. And while they were guaranteed to have value in the long run, you couldn’t help but wonder if they could be applied as quickly as the Canadiens would need them to be.
If they couldn’t pull from that new knowledge base immediately after playing two seven-game series against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Buffalo Sabres, they’d have had little chance of handing the Hurricanes their first loss of these playoffs.
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Not even Martin St. Louis was sure the Canadiens could do it immediately.
The coach said earlier on Thursday he “thought” they understood just how hard they needed to defend to win games at this time of year.
“I think we’ve learned that, yes, we’re gonna lose momentum, but we can’t get hurt so much, we can’t break,” St. Louis added. “We’re gonna bend, but we can’t break. I think we’ve done a good job of that. I think we’ve learned how important (it is) that we’ve gotta keep playing. Whether we’re up a goal, two goals, you’ve gotta keep playing, and it’s a hard thing to do when you’re playing against really good teams, in the sense that they bring their game, too. And sometimes the situation can overwhelm you, and you’ve just got to grab a hold of it and have poise and be confident that you can flip it again and go get that momentum…”
St. Louis must have known for sure after this game at the Lenovo Center.
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It started on the wrong foot, with Mike Matheson buckling under the Hurricanes’ pressure and firing a puck up the wall of his own zone that Andrei Svechnikov picked off and fed to Seth Jarvis for the goal that made it 1-0 for the home team 33 seconds in.
It was one of the last times the Canadiens used the wall of their own zone in a period that ended with them up 4-1.
Part of the scouting work the coaches had done on Carolina, which started 12 days ago — after the Hurricanes had swept the Philadelphia Flyers — had focused on that, and it was unquestionably one of the few points of emphasis St. Louis and his staff drove home to the Canadiens before they exited their zone in control of the puck 92.9 per cent of the time through that opening period.
“You’ve gotta be careful trying to give so much information to players at a time,” St. Louis said. “You’ve gotta pick a couple things and trying to address that, and that’s what we did.”
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When the Hurricanes pushed back in Period 2, the Canadiens bent without breaking, still managing to exit cleanly 56 per cent of the time while continuing to generate enough rush chances to extend their lead.
Cole Caufield, who scored 27 seconds after Jarvis to tie the game in the first, hit the post on one of those early second-period rushes before Eric Robinson countered to cut Montreal’s lead to 4-2.
But even if the Canadiens mismanaged the puck in the neutral zone through the rest of the second period, they managed the chaos the Hurricanes brought in their own zone.
“I thought we defended really well,” said St. Louis.
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“We weathered the storm,” said Danault.
The Canadiens then throttled down in the third period, with Juraj Slafkovsky bookending perfectly-calculated plays from his team through the final 13 minutes with goals that put the game out of reach. They held the shoot-from-everywhere Hurricanes to one shot on net.
“They made some nice plays, give them credit. They finished,” said coach Rod Brind’Amour. “But I didn’t think we were very sharp, to put it bluntly. Our top guys had a tough night, and that’s not going to work this time of year… I think we just toss this game, to be honest. I hate that at this time of year that’s what we’ve gotta do, but there wasn’t much to grab onto there. I think if you get behind early like that, it’s tough, but we clearly were not ready for that pace. I’m not going to give the (12-day) layoff as an excuse, but we weren’t ready to play playoff hockey and that caught us.”
It took the Canadiens having the right type of engagement off the hop, and they had it for more than one reason.
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Of course, one is that they were only three days removed from beating Buffalo and still in possession of that playoff edge.
But the other was from the lesson they learned in losing Game 1 to Buffalo. The one that wasn’t handed to them by St. Louis and the other Canadiens coaches, like the scouting report on Carolina was.
“It’s probably something I didn’t see,” he said. “The group felt after Game 1 in Buffalo that, emotionally, we weren’t where we needed to be if you compare it to the Tampa series. It’s not something that I personally felt because I’m not in the dressing room for that long. I come in, speak to the team, but I’m not in there. My guess is they handled that because that’s their own perception. They’re in the locker room, they know what they see and feel. My guess is they handled that on their own. As a coach, you don’t have to control everything. You have to lean on your group, your leaders and stuff, and they must have done that.”
Because that’s what a young team that’s come of age does.
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These Canadiens, who keep accelerating their own development, took yet another step Thursday. Led by their top line, which had been outscored 10-3 at five-on-five through the first two rounds before combining for two goals at even-strength and one at five-on-six, they studied hard and aced the first test of the third round.
In the process, the Canadiens saddled the Hurricanes with the first adversity they’ve faced in months.
“It was great by everyone,” said Suzuki.
Now class is back in session until Saturday night.
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“I think there’s a lot of learning and chatting with each other to figure out what the best plan of action is for Game 2,” said Jake Evans.
If they apply what they learned and discussed, they’ll give themselves a great chance to return to the Bell Centre with a lead in this series.
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