(NASHVILLE, Tenn.) — Nashville Predators goalie Pekka Rinne has announced his retirement from the NHL after 15 seasons with the team.
“For more than 15 years, I’ve been on an incredible, life-changing journey with the Nashville Predators that has taken me to more places than I could have ever imagined and given me more than I could ever hope to give back,” Rinne said in a statement.
The Finish-born goalie ended his career with 683 games, 369 wins, 2.43 goals-against average, and 60 shut-outs, all Nashville records. He finished his career with a 369-213-75 record.
In NHL history, he is ranked 19 for both wins and shut-outs.
In Finish history, he leads all NHL goaltenders with wins and shut-outs.
“For years, Pekka has been the face of our franchise on and off the ice,” Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile said in a statement. “The role he played in making the Predators organization into something so much more than just a hockey team cannot be understated, and what he means to our team and community makes him one of the most special players and people you’ll ever meet. It’s cliché of what you would want from your best players, but Pekka gave us a chance to win in every single game he played and led our team during the most competitive era of our franchise.”
Rinne was drafted 258 overall in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft and made his league debut with a win against Chicago in December 2005. He became the starting goalie in the 2008-2009 season and finished fourth in the Calder Cup, the NHL’s rookie of the year award.
Rinne led the NHL in shutouts, second in wins and third in games played for the next 13 years
During the 2010-2011 season, Nashville won its first-ever NHL playoff series with Rinne backstopping them past Anaheim.
The next season, Rinne led the league with 43 wins, the first of three 40 win season’s in his career.
In 2017, he led the Predators to the Stanley Cup Final against Pittsburgh, losing 4-2. Rinne topped his single postseason Nashville records with 14 wins, two shutouts, and a 1.96 goals-against average.
The following year, Rinne won his first Vezina Award, given to the top goaltender in the league, after leading the league with eight shutouts and a .927 save percentage. He was a finalist for the award three other times.
This past season, he went 10-12-1 in 24 appearances and posted a shutout in the final game of his career. In June, he won the Bill Masterson Memorial Trophy, given to the “player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community.”
(LAS VEGAS) — The USA Men’s Olympic basketball team lost to Australia 91-83 in Las Vegas Monday night.
It was the second straight loss for the team after losing to Nigeria 90-87 on Saturday. Entering into Saturday’s game, Team USA was 54-2 since 1992 when professionals started playing.
Team USA has lost four of its past five games dating back to the 2019 World Cup, according to ESPN.
Portland Trailblazers guard Damien Lillard led Team USA with 22 points, with 18 coming on three-pointers. San Antonio Spurs guard Patty Mills paced Australia with 22 points.
Winning a fourth straight gold medal is going to be a challenge, according to Lillard.
“These other teams and these other countries just continue to improve, said Lillard, “These players, they get better, they get more confident and they also want to beat us badly. It’s definitely noticeable when you’re on the court.”
The Americans led 46-37 going into halftime and gave up just 13 points in the second quarter. The second half was another story with Australia scoring 54 points, including 32 in the third quarter.
“In the first half, we defended the way we wanted to defend, the way we did not defend against Nigeria. We were more physical. We sustained the defense longer. We rebounded better. We moved the ball better at the offensive end and had more pace,” said Team USA head coach Greg Popovich. “In the second half, we tired out and when that happens we got hit mentally a little bit too, and we didn’t sustain the boards the same way. The defense wasn’t the same. Our pace wasn’t the same.”
The team opened training camp on July 6 in Las Vegas following shortened offseason, a 72 game NBA season, plus playoffs series for several players.
“We got to get some guys that have to get their legs and rhythm back, but in general we need more conditioning, which is totally understandable,” said Popovich, also the San Antonio Spurs head coach. “We’re just sticking with the process to try to get better with every game, and we did that tonight. So, I was pleased with what we saw.”
With the NBA Finals underway between Phoenix and Milwaukee, Suns guard Devin Booker and Bucks guard Jrue Holiday and forward Kris Middleton have not joined the team.
The Americans face Argentina Tuesday afternoon.
Team USA begins its quest for a fourth straight gold medal on July 25 against France.
(DENVER) — New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso has once again been crowned the winner of the Home Run Derby.
The 26-year-old defended his title in Denver’s Coors Field Monday night, beating Baltimore Orioles first baseman Trey Mancini in the final round of the derby to win the competition for the second year in a row.
In three rounds, Alonso knocked 74 pitches out of the park, topping Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez, Washington Nationals left fielder Juan Soto and Mancini along the way.
After the Home Run Derby, Alonso told reporters he’s a power hitter and that he considers himself “the best power hitter on the planet.”
“Being able to showcase that, and really put on a fun display for fans, I just think it’s truly a dream come true for me because when I was younger, my parents actually let me stay up past my bedtime to watch this,” he said. “That was one of the few nights of the year where I actually got to stay up past my bedtime and just watch absolutely incredible feats that you don’t see in a regular baseball game.”
“To be able to participate — it’s a dream come true. To be able to do it back-to-back — this is really special for me. And really cool,” Alonso added.
(DENVER) — Los Angeles Angels super star Shohei Ohtani will be the starting pitcher and bat lead-off as the designated hitter for the American League All-Star team Tuesday night, AL manager Kevin Cash announced Monday.
“This is what the fans want to see,” said the Tampa Bay Rays manager. “It’s personally what I want to see. And to have the opportunity to do something that’s a generational talent is pretty special. I begged Major League Baseball to tweak the rule for [the] game, because if they didn’t, I know I’d screw it up the rest of the way, pulling pinch-hitters and DHs.”
Ohtani was voted in as the designated hitter by the fans and was voted as one of five pitchers by the players.
As a pitcher, he has 3.49 ERA with 87 strikeouts and 35 walks in 67 innings. At the plate, Ohtani is hitting .279 with 33 home runs, a record for a Japanese-born player and 70 Rbis.
I was actually not expecting to be chosen as a pitcher at all,” Ohtani said through interpreter Ippei Mizuhara. “But to be named the starter, I was really not expecting that at all. But it’s a huge honor and I’m going to try my best.”
Ohtani is participating in Monday nights home-run derby.
Washington starting pitcher Maz Scherzer gets the start for the National League.
According to ESPN, Johnson a given rapid-test following the final round of the John Deere Classic on Sunday, before a chartered flight with other players, caddies, and managers to Royal St. George’s in Sandwich, England. Everyone was tested before the flight.
Johnson’s test came back positive, and he withdrew from the tournament before the flight.
If Johnson had been on the flight, close contact rules in the United Kingdom would have mandated any players on the flight to be subject to removal from the tournament, according to ESPN.
There were 16 players from the John Deere Classic on the charter flight, according to ESPN.
(MILWAUKEE, Wis.) — The Milwaukee Bucks bested the Phoenix Suns, beating them 120-100 in Game 3 of the NBA Finals. Superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo led Milwaukee’s comeback with 40 plus points in back-to-back finals games, joining other legends like Michael Jordan to do so.
Watch the full report from ABC’s Good Morning America below:
(NEW YORK) — Since the start of the Olympic Games in 1896, athletes have used the international stage to shine a light on social justice issues.
One of the most iconic protests came from Tommie Smith and John Carlos, the gold and bronze medalists in the 200-meter dash in 1968, who each put on a glove and raised a fist in protest of the treatment of Black people in the United States.
Since then, according to sports historians like Jules Boykoff and Louis Moore, the International Olympic Committee has cracked down on protests.
The rule, Article 50, has been reaffirmed by the IOC ahead of the Tokyo Games and states that “no kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.”
In June, a group of high-profile U.S. athletes, including Carlos, sent a letter to the IOC and the International Paralympic Committee asking to eliminate that part of the article, which since been updated to allow for athletes to express their views in specific places and mediums, like when talking to the media, at team meetings or on the field of play prior to competition.
This amendment goes on to say that protests can’t be targeted “directly or indirectly, against people, countries, organizations and/or their dignity,” and “not disruptive.” Their examples of disruptive protests include expressions during another athlete’s or team’s national anthem or introduction.
The IOC said the rule is intended to preserve the neutrality of sports and the neutrality of the Olympics.
“Focus at the Olympic Games must remain on athletes’ performances, sport and the international unity and harmony that the Olympic Movement seeks to advance,” the IOC’s Athlete’s Commission states on the Article 50 guidelines. “It is a fundamental principle that sport is neutral and must be separate from political, religious or any other type of interference.”
But Moore, a historian from Grand Valley State University, said that for marginalized groups, it’s impossible to separate the Olympics from politics.
“The Olympics in itself is political,” Moore said. “The United States has participated in the Jim Crow society. It’s these athletes that are going to the Olympics with USA across their chest, and they’re coming back as second-class citizens. Let’s say they don’t speak up — but they’re still going with an intent of proving something.”
Athletes who protest may face consequences or disciplinary actions, although the IOC did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment on what specific punishments may look like.
Protests of the past
One of the earliest protests occurred in 1906, when Peter O’Connor, an Irish track athlete, traveled to Greece with his Irish flag in hand. However, a technicality in the rules meant that since Ireland didn’t have an Olympic Council, Irish athletes would be competing for the English.
When he placed second in the long jump, England’s Union Jack was set to wave over O’Connor on the podium. But instead, O’Connor scaled a flag pole and replaced the Union Jack with Ireland’s “Erin go Bragh” flag. Down below, his fellow Irish athletes protected him from security.
In 1968, Smith and Carlos were suspended and expelled from the games for their protest. The two also didn’t wear shoes on the podium, and instead wore black socks to represent poverty in the Black community.
Smith, Carlos and Peter Norman, the Australian second-place winner of the 200-meter race who supported their movement, all wore the badges of the Olympic Project for Human Rights. The group, established by sociologist Harry Edwards, was created to spotlight inequality and injustice.
Smith and Carlos were blacklisted, and the backlash took a toll on their personal and professional relationships, according to Boykoff, the historian.
“They paid a real price for their athlete activism,” Boykoff added. “Both found it difficult to find work when they came back to the United States.”
Another track athlete, Wyomia Tyus, also was a part of the activist organization and protested at the Mexico City Games. Instead of wearing her proper team uniform, she sported black shorts in the Olympic 100-meter final. It was her way of silently protesting racial injustice in the U.S.
Also at the 1986 Games, Věra Čáslavská, a Czechoslovakian gymnast, turned her head away from the Soviet flag during the medal ceremony in protest of the Soviet Union’s invasion of Czechoslovakia shortly before the Games. Čáslavská fled the country as an outspoken critic of the Soviet regime.
In 2012, Damien Hooper, an Indigenous boxer from Australia, wore a T-shirt with the Aboriginal flag into the ring for a match at the London Games.
The IOC slammed the Australian Olympic Committee for his actions since the rules prohibit the use of flags that are not official country flags — and he later apologized.
In 2016, Ethiopian runner Feyisa Lilesa crossed his arms above his head as he crossed the finish line — a gesture used by the Oromo people, who are have suffered mass killings at the hands of Ethiopian police, according to Human Rights Watch.
As the Olympics — scheduled from July 23 to Aug. 8 — near, many have their eye on what protests will look like following a recent racial reckoning in the U.S.
In a movement widely credited to beginning anew with former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, athletes across several U.S. professional sports leagues have protested against social injustices and systemic racism.
Kaepernick and players from the WNBA, NBA, MLB and NHL have protested by taking a knee during the national anthem, staging team-wide strikes and wearing protest garb, including T-shirts emblazoned with “SAY HER NAME,” referring to Breonna Taylor.
Protests anticipated in Tokyo
Gwen Berry, a track and field athlete who turned away from the American flag at the U.S. Olympic Trials as the national anthem was played, already has received backlash for her silent protest on the podium.
“I never said that I hated the country,” Berry told Black News Channel in an interview. “All I said was, I respect my people enough to not stand or acknowledge something that disrespects them.”
Berry considers herself an “activist athlete” and has made several peaceful demonstrations against systemic racism at competitions.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki spoke on President Joe Biden’s behalf, in support of her actions:
“I know [Biden] is incredibly proud to be an American and has great respect for the anthem and all that it represents,” Psaki said. “He would also say that part of that pride in our country means recognizing there are moments where we, as a country, haven’t lived up to our highest ideals, and means respecting the right of people granted in the Constitution to peacefully protest.”
Several Republicans, including Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, have spoken out against Berry and other athletes who may protest at the Olympics.
“We don’t need any more activist athletes,” Crenshaw said on “Fox and Friends.” “She should be removed from the team. The entire point of the Olympic team is to represent the United States of America.”
Moore said that Black athletes have long been criticized and suppressed when it came to expressing their beliefs, and that he believes efforts to silence Berry just show how powerful her message is.
“She is officially the voice of this moment,” Moore said. “That’s the most powerful part about that is that a Black woman is holding court — she has the world’s attention.”
However, historians and sports analysts say that sports can be a tool for dialogue, and that athletes have been great forces in calling attention to issues of injustice and inequality.
“A lot of sports fans consider themselves apolitical and so they have to confront certain elements of society that they might not otherwise confront through sports,” Boykoff said. “Sports can be an important entry point for people to have conversations about politics that they’d otherwise never have.”
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Sunday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
Philadelphia 5, Boston 4
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Toronto 3, Tampa Bay 1
Chi White Sox 7, Baltimore 5
Oakland 4, Texas 1
Houston 8, NY Yankees 7
Minnesota 12, Detroit 9
LA Angels 7, Seattle 1
Kansas City at Cleveland (Postponed)
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Miami 7, Atlanta 4
Pittsburgh 6, NY Mets 5
Cincinnati 3, Milwaukee 1
San Francisco 3, Washington 1
Colorado 3, San Diego 1
LA Dodgers 7, Arizona 4
St. Louis at Chi Cubs (Postponed)
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS
Milwaukee 120, Phoenix 100
WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Las Vegas 95, Dallas 79
Connecticut 71, New York 54
Indiana 79, Atlanta 68
Seattle 82, Phoenix 75
Minnesota 86, Los Angeles 61
(DENVER) — A tip from a housekeeper led police to uncover a large arsenal of weapons at a hotel in downtown Denver about a block from Coors Field, where Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game is set to be played on Tuesday.
Three men and a woman were arrested and 16 long guns, body armor and hundreds of rounds of ammunition were seized from two rooms at the Maven Hotel in downtown Denver.
The discovery initially prompted police to suspect they had thwarted a possible mass shooting plot in the works. But on Sunday morning, FBI officials in Denver said a preliminary investigation has not turned up any evidence that the episode is tied to terrorism.
“We have no reason to believe this incident was connected to terrorism or a threat directed at the All-Star Game,” the FBI Denver field office said in a statement. “We are not aware of any threat to the All-Star Game events, venues, players, or the community at this time.”
The FBI said it is working closely with the Denver Police Department, the lead investigative agency of the incident, to get to the bottom of why the cache of weapons ended up at the hotel.
A preliminary assessment indicated the stash of guns appears to be connected to a possible illegal transaction involving drugs and guns, according to an internal law enforcement memo obtained by ABC News.
The four people arrested were identified by authorities as Richard Platt, 42, Gabriel Rodriguez, 48, Ricardo Rodriguez, 44, and Kanoelehua Serikawa, 43. The suspects, who are expected to appear in court on Sunday, were being held on suspicion of weapons charges and possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, according to Denver police.
Gabriel and Ricardo Rodriguez were being held without bond. It is unknown at this time whether the suspects have lawyers.
SWAT teams and numerous other police officers converged on the Maven Hotel around 7:30 p.m. local time on Friday after a maid at the hotel saw a rifle in one of the rooms being cleaned and reported it.
Denver police said they spent several hours Friday searching rooms on the fourth and eighth floors of the Wazee Street hotel, where the weapons and ammunition were found. Illegal drugs were also found in the rooms, police said.
“The investigation and arrests were the result of a tip from the public, serving as an excellent example of the critical role the community plays in public safety,” Denver police said in a statement, adding that the agency encourages residents and visitors “to always be aware of their surroundings and to report suspicious or illegal activity to police immediately.”
The Sage Hospitality Group, which operates the hotel, praised the police and its own staff for the quick response.
“We are incredibly proud that our team swiftly alerted the authorities in this instance,” the Sage Hospitality Group said in a statement. “We are thankful to DPD for their quick action to safely resolve this situation and will continue to work closely with them to support their investigation.”
The incident came as thousands of baseball fans poured into Denver for festivities surrounding the All-Star Game, including the annual home run derby scheduled for Monday night.
