5:06 PM ET Associated Press ST. PAUL, Minn. — A play-by-play announcer who was pulled from the TV broadcast of the Minnesota boys’ state hockey tournament after he encouraged one team’s fans to “get out the lynching ropes” is apologizing. Fox Sports North announcer Doug McLeod made the comment on KSTC-TV during a quarterfinal game
NHL
12:34 PM ET Greg WyshynskiESPN The NHL’s general managers met in Boca Raton, Fla., this week, and if nothing else it reminded us that the league’s in a pretty good place these days. Scoring is up. Fighting and suspensions are down. When the only big rule adjustment is getting players to leave the ice when
4:18 PM ET Greg WyshynskiESPN The NHL’s general managers met in Boca Raton, Florida, this week, and if nothing else it reminded us that the league’s in a pretty good place these days. Scoring is up. Fighting and suspensions are down. When the only big rule adjustment is getting players to leave the ice when
10:55 AM ET Something very rare happened in the NHL on Thursday night. Not only did the Tampa Bay Lightning lose, they were shut out by the Minnesota Wild on home ice. The 3-0 defeat marked the Lightning’s 13th regulation loss this season, and just the second time all season they had been held scoreless.
7:00 AM ET Greg WyshynskiESPN The climactic scene in Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler” sees a past-his-prime grappler ascend to the top turnbuckle of the ring and fly, headfirst, down onto the mat below. He does this despite dire health warnings that another match could cause irreversible damage to his body, perhaps even resulting in a
8:00 AM ET Emily KaplanESPN Player X is in the NHL. After home games, he has a routine. Typically, he’ll meet a few teammates at a local restaurant for a late dinner. He likes to order steak after games — medium rare, with a side salad and mashed potatoes. Then he’ll go home. Player X
11:28 AM ET Detroit Red Wings defenseman Mike Green will miss the rest of the season because of a lingering virus that has sapped his energy, the team said Thursday. Green, 33, missed the beginning of the season because of the virus, which was attacking his liver. After the latest flare-up, he saw a specialist
1:12 PM ET Welcome to a weekly feature where we have some fun with underlying numbers. We highlight a couple of trends, then dig beneath the surface to get a better sense of what these trends ultimately mean, what’s causing them and how likely it is that they’ll continue. Think of these as bite-sized deep
7:00 AM ET Greg WyshynskiESPN At this point of the 2018-19 regular season, some teams are eyeing the playoffs. Others, not so much. But there’s hope for the future for all of them. For this week’s edition of the Power Rankings, we identify that reason for optimism. How we rank: The ESPN hockey editorial staff
8:11 PM ET Head-to-head leagues are headed to the postseason, but in fantasy hockey’s roto competition, there’s still some time before the final trophies are handed out. Just a handful of special-teams points, hits or blocked shots might mean the difference between a podium finish, or wrapping up the season as a fantasy afterthought. For