Seattle Seahawks linebacker Derick Hall made his mark on NFL history when he came up with a tone-setting strip sack in the Super Bowl against the New England Patriots this February.

There’s a low percent chance that any football player will get a moment like that in his career. But Hall had to beat much greater odds. Hall had a 1% chance of survival when he was born four months premature at just 23 weeks gestation, born without a heartbeat and suffering from a brain bleed.

“I wasn’t born… breathing,” he told Fox News Digital. “I was born dead.

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Derick Hall of the Seattle Seahawks strip sacks Drake Maye of the New England Patriots during the third quarter of the NFL Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Feb. 8, 2026. (Brooke Sutton/Getty Images)

For his mother, Stacy Gooden-Crandle, those first days of her son’s life were filled with uncertainty and fear.

“Emotional, a lot of uncertainty, scared,” she said of her emotions in the days that followed her son’s premature birth. “But… those weren’t the feelings that I was feeling during Derrick’s birth. I just trusted that God would work everything out.”

That belief became the center of how the family made sense of everything that followed.

“It is probably the most important thing that we share,” Gooden-Crandle said of their religion.

“We are people of faith and have been for most of my lifetime. I joined church when I was 16 years old, and I’ve just grown up as a woman of faith. I’ve raised my children in the church and instilled faith in them and just allowed them to flourish in their faith in their walk with Christ.”

For Hall, growing up inside that environment gave meaning to struggles he didn’t yet understand.

“It was huge. It was amazing because I never really understood why me or why my family had to go through what I was going through,” Hall said said.

Derick Hall of the Seattle Seahawks watches from the sideline during the national anthem before an NFL game against the Atlanta Falcons at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga., on Dec. 7, 2025. (Perry Knotts/Getty Images)

“My pastor always told me, you weren’t dying for this, you are blessed to be in this position and God has something greater for you, and I think that helped me be at ease with the situation and the things that me and my family were enduring during the time.

“I always speak to my faith because obviously I’m a miracle child, and I don’t say I’m doing good, I say I’m blessed, I can’t complain, I’m above ground and I’m blessed… You can’t tell me that a child with a one percent chance to live and not supposed to be walking, not supposed to be talking, not even supposed to be alive, ends up being a Super Bowl champion one day without the Lord being in their lives.”

Even after surviving infancy, the challenges didn’t disappear, and his childhood looked very different from other kids.

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“My hardest time period was from about the age of four or five to about the age of 12 or 13,” Hall said. “I could go out and play, but it was only for about five minutes at a time and I would have to go sit down for an hour just to allow my body and my lungs to catch back up, and to this day my lungs are still underdeveloped, they always will be, they’ll always be three years behind.”

Those limits extended into nearly every part of his life, including the seasons when other kids were outside playing freely.

But through it all, Hall discovered football, and his condition wasn’t going to keep him from the game that would define his life.

Derick Hall of the Seattle Seahawks holds the Vince Lombardi trophy on stage with his teammates after winning Super Bowl LX against the New England Patriots at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Feb. 8, 2026. (Brooke Sutton/Getty Images)

“I started playing football at the age of four because I was trying to develop my body and get to the point where I was able to do things, and I fell in love with it because it was the first thing that I was able to do to make me feel like a normal kid,” he said.

For his mom, that moment came with a difficult decision about her son’s wellbeing.

“It was difficult to make the decision to allow him to play, so I allowed him to play flag football in the beginning, but making that jump to allow him to play tackle football when we were still seeing a neurologist every six months for a brain bleed, it was a difficult decision,” she said.

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“I made sure all the coaches had asthma pumps and rescue inhalers, and I gave one to the coaches, the trainers, I kept one, to make sure if somebody needed to get to him they had what he needed… And as he progressed, I was getting more and more comfortable.”

The faith in letting him play football paid off when Hall received his first college scholarship offer when he was just in the eighth grade, his mom said.

Hall went on to be a standout linebacker at Gulfport High School in Mississippi, rising from a touted four-star prospect to a dominant All-SEC edge rusher at Auburn University.

But even after coming all that way from his premature birth, he still had a moment where he feared for his life in college.

“I had a scare in college where I went to practice that morning and I wasn’t feeling that well, and the next day I got up to go use the restroom and I couldn’t take like two steps without gasping for air,” Hall said. “We got to the hospital and the doctor said, we’re glad you brought him because if you would have waited another hour he probably would have been in very bad shape.”

It was a turning point in how he approached his own limits. But he didn’t shy away from his passion as a football player, and remained committed to his faith.

Hall finished his career at Auburn with 147 tackles, 19.5 sacks and 29.5 tackles for loss in 40 games. A highly touted recruit, Hall developed into a dominant SEC starter, earning first-team All-SEC honors in 2022 as a team captain, known for his elite power, speed, and high motor.

It earned him a chance to take his extraordinary story to the NFL as he went on to be the 37th pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.

But the 2025 didn’t unfold the way Derrick Hall expected, at least in terms of his individual stats at first. For much of the year, the numbers didn’t match the effort. He was getting pressure, getting hits, doing the work that doesn’t always show up in headlines, but the sacks weren’t coming.

“I was steady getting hits… I’m getting pressures,” Hall said. “But I can’t get the sack… I’m like, Lord, whatever you got planned, let it reveal itself.”

Statistically, that frustration was real. Hall finished the regular season with just two sacks across 14 games, contributing more as a rotational edge presence than a headline pass rusher. But within Seattle’s defense — a unit built on balance, depth and consistent pressure — his role still mattered. The Seahawks leaned on a collective pass rush rather than one dominant star, finishing the season as one of the league’s more effective defensive fronts.

And then, almost all at once, everything changed.

On the biggest stage in football, in Super Bowl LX against the Patriots, Hall delivered the kind of performance that reshapes a career. He recorded two sacks and a forced fumble, including a strip sack that helped break the game open and set the tone for Seattle’s 29–13 win. That single play — driving through the offensive line, knocking the ball loose, and creating a turnover — became one of the defining moments of the game.

For Hall, it didn’t feel like a coincidence. It felt like timing.

“I got to that Super Bowl and I got both sacks, and I’m like, man, ain’t no time like God’s time,” he said. “That’s true, man.”

In a season where he had spent months waiting for production to match effort, the breakthrough came when it mattered most.

“Mentally it was tough this year,” he said. “But like I said, it’s a blessing.”

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After the game, the numbers told one story: two sacks, a forced fumble, a championship. But for Hall, the meaning ran deeper, tied back to something far bigger than a stat sheet.

“You can’t tell me that a child with a one percent chance to live… ends up being a Super Bowl champion one day without the Lord being in their lives,” he said. “That’s a miracle in itself.”

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Sea King’s path to the Hawkesbury Gold Cup emerged unexpectedly, with trainer Matthew Dunn regarding it as an essential phase in the gelding’s tendon injury recovery.

Having secured the 2024 Bendigo Cup, the gelding faltered after a midfield placing on debut for Dunn in that season’s Christmas Cup (2400m) at Randwick, resulting in 15 months off the track.

His third race back arrives this Saturday, a week behind schedule following a scratch at Brisbane last weekend amid heavy ground.

The Hawkesbury Gold Cup at 1600m is not Sea King’s favoured trip length, but Dunn seeks a strong run to target longer events subsequently.

“He’s still very competitive on the track and keen to do his work,” Dunn said.

“The horse is still there, it’s just a matter of being nice and patient. I’m lucky I’ve got a great bunch of owners that are happy to roll with me.

“Ideally, we wouldn’t be going all the way to Sydney for a race that is short of his right trip, but you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.

“There isn’t going to be much on for him here (in Queensland). We’ve had a lot of wet weather and we’re trying to find the right track surface to build his foundation and get him back to where he needs to be.”

Barrier one falls to Sam Clipperton aboard Sea King, after which Dunn eyes a Queensland trip for the Chairman’s Handicap (2000m) on May 16 at Doomben, or even a seven-day pivot to the Gosford Gold Cup (2100m).

A return to top condition could open doors to the Brisbane Cup (3200m) in the longer view.

“He will probably come home after Saturday. If not, he could stay down for the Gosford Cup. We’ll see how he goes Saturday, how he comes through it, and work it out,” Dunn said.

“But probably the Chairman’s will be his next run over 2000 metres. There’s also the Hollindale Stakes, but it’s a weight-for-age race and his rating isn’t that high anymore.”

On Saturday’s exclusive program with four stakes features, the $250,000 Hawkesbury Gold Cup (1600m) fills to capacity 16, spearheaded by Vivy Air from the Coolmore Classic placings and dependable Victorian Taken for Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr.

Punters can check betting sites for the keenest racing odds on the Hawkesbury Gold Cup.

What channel is Wild vs. Stars on today? Time, TV schedule, live stream to watch Game 6 of NHL Playoffs series originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Despite heading into Game 4 down 2-1 in the series, the Minnesota Wild are one game away from advancing to their first Western Conference Semifinals since 2015.

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The Wild were able to walk away from Tuesday’s Game 5 with a 4-2 win against the Dallas Stars in the Lone Star State. Now, they’re heading back to St. Paul in a potential series-clinching game to face the Presidents’ Trophy winners in the Colorado Avalanche.

Minnesota has thoroughly controlled the pace of this series when there are five men on the ice for each team. While playing 5-on-5, Minnesota has outscored Dallas 11-3, including two goals during Game 4. In fact, the Stars haven’t scored a 5-on-5 goal in the past two games (217:53).

The Wild have won both games when Mats Zuccarello has been able to suit up. He missed Games 2-4 with an upper-body injury, and immediately showed his presence was much needed when he scored Game 5’s first goal. Dallas’ Jason Robertson has also been a scoring menace throughout the series. The six-year veteran has scored in every game against the Wild in the first round; he has actually scored in every game against Minnesota this season, excluding their first meeting (eight of nine games).

While the Wild are just one game away from winning their first playoff series in 11 years, the next task is the NHL’s most daunting. The winner of this series will take on the Avalanche, who are a perennial Stanley Cup threat.

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Here’s what you need to know about Thursday’s matchup between Minnesota and Dallas, including broadcast information and start time.

What channel is Wild vs. Stars on today?

Game 6 in the Wild vs. Stars series will air on TNT and truTV. Fans can stream the game live on DIRECTV, which offers a free trial to new users.

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Wild vs. Stars start time

• Date: Thursday, April 30

Game 6 of the NHL Playoffs series between Minnesota and Dallas is set to begin at 7:30 p.m. ET from Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul, Minn.

Despite staring at a 2-1 series deficit, the Wild have won two straight heading into Thursday and currently hold a 3-2 series lead. With a win at home tonight, they will advance to take on the Presidents’ Trophy winner Colorado Avalanche.

Team1 vs. Team2 series schedule

Minnesota leads 3-2

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LOS ANGELES — For nearly seven minutes, Houston Rockets coach Ime Udoka lit up his team after a late-game collapse in Game 3 against the Los Angeles Lakers. It was for good reason. The Rockets, up six with less than 40 seconds left, had the game in the bag. What transpired from that point on was a combination of late-game heroics by the Lakers and an equally gut-wrenching collapse from the Rockets that put them in a 3-0 series hole.

The general message from Udoka’s afterward? His team needed to grow up.

“Horrendous mistakes,” Udoka said after Game 3. “I don’t know if you want to say youth or scared of the moment or whatever the case.”

Fast forward to Wednesday night at Crypto.com Arena, and it appears that Udoka’s message resonated. The momentum in this series has suddenly flipped back in Houston’s favor after defeating the Lakers 99-93 in Game 5 to cut the series deficit to 3-2. The pressure is right back on the Lakers, less than a week after Houston’s season was on life support.

Udoka was right, too. The Rockets, on paper, are not that young anymore. Houston’s young core experienced the highs and lows of an intense seven-game playoff series last year in an eventual loss to the Golden State Warriors. If this young core didn’t respond without Kevin Durant in the lineup, their season would be over. Durant missed Game 1 with a knee injury. He then injured his ankle in Game 2 and hasn’t played since.

No team in NBA history has come back to win from a 3-0 deficit. The Rockets are the 16th team in NBA history to force Game 6 after trailing a series 3-0. The last team to force a Game 7 after falling into that hole was the Boston Celtics in the 2023 Eastern Conference finals against the Miami Heat. There’s still work to be done on Houston’s part to reach a win-or-go-home scenario in the first round for the second consecutive season. 

But for the first time since it was announced Durant would return for Game 2, the Rockets have hope.

“We have a resilient group that plays hard and is very competitive on every night,” Udoka said after the win. “Rarely do we get blown out, we fight back. We might’ve lost some leads, but that’s kind of our DNA. That part I wasn’t worried about. We had a hard-fought series last year, down 3-1, it got to Game 7. We are going to battle.”

Can the Rockets make history?

When Durant was ruled out for Game 4 last weekend, Houston’s hopes of a comeback seemed dashed. Durant missed four games total during the regular season — with only one of those games being due to injury — but has now missed four of the five games of this series due to knee and ankle injuries.

It’s unclear when Durant will return this series — if he does at all. 

Durant, 37, played his most regular-season minutes in 13 years but had to sit on the sidelines to watch his team fall behind in the dreaded 3-0 hole. With the win in Game 5, Houston improved to 6-2 without Durant in the lineup, with the losses coming in Games 1 and 3. Wednesday night’s outcome was the gutsiest. Lakers star LeBron James had won 16 consecutive close-out games at home and Austin Reaves was back in the Lakers’ lineup after missing the last nine games with an oblique injury. 

The Rockets’ offensive deficiencies are well-documented. The biggest reason Houston lost the first two games of the series in Los Angeles was a simple one: shot-making. The Rockets had the advantage in almost every other statistical category, but it didn’t matter because shots weren’t falling.

Houston shot 12 of 30 (40%) from the 3-point line in Game 4 and 14 of 40 (35%) on Wednesday. The Rockets took 27 more field goal attempts than the Lakers in the opening game of the series and 17 more in the second game. But the difference was the quality of those shot attempts. It’s why the Lakers won both of those games.

But after leading by as many as 11 points in the first half on Wednesday, the way the Lakers won is the way they lost. The Lakers couldn’t buy a bucket. Los Angeles finished 32 of 76 (42.1%) from the floor.

Despite the Lakers’ poor shooting, they made one last run in the fourth quarter by cutting what was once a 13-point deficit down to three, 88-85, with 2:59 to play. That’s when one of the lone Rockets players who didn’t play much in last year’s playoffs, Reed Sheppard, made two critical plays to ultimately force a Game 6. 

Sheppard knocked down a mid-range jumper with 2:37 left and then stole the ball from James and threw down a dunk on the other end to extend the lead back to seven. Just as the Los Angeles crowd started to get back into the game, Sheppard brought that energy to a halt. 

Sheppard, the No. 3 pick in the 2024 draft, wasn’t even born when James made his NBA debut in the fall of 2003. He played 10 minutes in that playoff series against the Warriors and is now coming up clutch just over a year later. 

Sheppard, like his team during the last week, is growing up. 

“He can get to his spots as long as he sets up and creates a little separation,” Udoka said of Sheppard. “Love the fact that he got the ball and handled the pressure. Obviously, he made a big shot.”

Sheppard said the Rockets were going to make sure they wouldn’t lose another late lead.

“When they made their run at the end and cut it to a one-possession game, we definitely remembered what happened in Game 3 and we didn’t want to let that happen again,” Sheppard said. “So just being able to stick together, make the right play and getting the right offensive sets and getting good shots, that’s what we were able to do.”

Call it conventional or unconventional, Udoka’s message resonated. And after looking dead in the water, the Rockets have life.