By: Marvin A. Azrak
HENRIK LUNQVIST HANGS UP THE PADS:
Longtime New York Rangers goaltender(And Fan-favorite) Henrik Lunqvist announced his retirement on Friday after 15 years in the league due to a reoccurring heart condition that kept him out of hockey this past season, and then resurfaced as he was getting back into shape. Henrik “AKA the king” finished with a career regular season record of 459-310-96, good for fifth on the all-time wins list, all coming with the Broadway Blueshirts.
Hank led his team to the playoffs in 12 separate seasons since his rookie year in 2006, and went 31-37 with an astounding.921 save % in those contests. In series game sevens, Henrik went 6-2 never allowing more than two goals, and always giving his team a chance to advance. His most notable performance in the do or die game, was in 2014, when Lunqvist stopped 35 of 36 shots he faced, including 14 in the final two minutes, ensuring the Rangers completed a 3-1 series comeback with a 2-1 win at PPG arena.
He appeared in one Stanley Cup final, in 2014, when he put New York on his back, shutting out the Montreal Canadians 1-0 in game six at a delirious Madison Square Garden, who savored their first Stanley Cup appearance since their last title in 1994. But unfortunately for Henrik, the Rangers fell in five games to the Los Angeles Kings.
Although he finished his career without capturing a Stanley cup, “King Henrik” was a staple for the Rangers in goal for 15 years, making five all-star games, and was nominated for the Vezina Trophy(Awarded to goalie of the year) five times, at long last capturing it in 2012.
He did claim glory on the international stage though, propelling his home country of Sweden to a Gold Medal in the 2017 World Championships.
The Rangers have announced they will retire his iconic #30 in a game this upcoming season yet to be determined. Fans have speculated it may be on March 2nd, Henrik birthday against the St Louis Blues, or March 4th against Lunqvist’s old foe in the New Jersey Devils.
BIG TENNIS THREE CUT TO BIG ONE:
One of Tennis fans worst fears have now entered reality, as two of the “Big three” who have engineered the “Golden era” of tennis since 2004, in Rafael Nadal, and Rodger Federer have both announced in recent weeks their 2021 seasons will be cut short due to injury. For the 40-year-old Rodger, this was less surprising considering his knee issue has forced him to miss several grand slam tournaments in recent years, making his schedule extremely limited to a couple ATP1000 tournaments, and the grand slams. The last time Federer took part in all four grand slams in a calendar year was in 2019, and he hasn’t won one since capturing #20 at the 2018 Australian open. Out of the possible 23 grand slam tournaments since 2016, Fed has missed eight of them(Equal to two years worth of grand slam opportunities ) due to the lingering knee injury. This also forced him to miss this past years Olympics, and now back to back US Opens championship tournaments over the last two years.
As for Nadal however, this was more astonishing considering how efficient the 35 year-old has been over the years, that had allowed him to grab 20 grand slams himself, equaling his rivals record. Since 2016, Nadal has been on a tear winning six slams(Four French open, two US Opens ), has been runner-up twice, and a semifinalist four times in that span, only missing the 2020 US Open completely due to COVID regulations. But 2021 saw the physique of the Spaniard suddenly start to diminish, as after he was stunned in this years French Open(A slam has won 13 times in his career, won each season from 2017-2020, and has a career record of 100-3) semifinals by fellow tennis living legend Novak Djokovic in four exhilarating sets, it was announced that Nadal would be missing Wimbledon(Which Djokovic won), and the Olympics with a knee injury.
At the time, Rafael said he was taking precautions, so he could finish the year strong at the upcoming US Open, but a setback in an injury that he has minimized since 2005, forced him to throw that option out the window. “ It is not a new injury, it is an injury that I have had since 2005 and it has not prevented me from developing my sports career during all these years. Rafa said in a statement. “ It’s true that things things have not been going as they should lately, as we would all like, and it is time to make decisions, seek a slightly different type of treatment, to find a solution to this problem or at least improve it in order to continue to have options for the next few years.
I am with the maximum enthusiasm and predisposition to do whatever it takes to recover the best possible form. to keep competing for the things that really motivate me and the things that the team done all these years. I am convinced that with the recovery of the foot and obviously a daily commitment, this can be achieved.”
This leaves Novak Djokovic, who’s seeking to become the first man in the open era to win all four grand slams(Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, US Open) in the same year, and with 20 grand slams himself, is seeking to break the three way tie atop the all-time list that he shares with Rodger and Rafa. But the reality is, the 33- year old has been the lone wolf as of late, and due to the age difference, it will likely be that way for at least a couple of years regardless. The “big three” will very soon become the “Big two” when Federer retires, with Nadal and Djokovic battling it out for grand slam supremacy before likely become the “Big one” as it will be at this years potentially historic US Open.
LAUREN CUPP TAKES HOME THE CUP:
Top-ranked Women’s golfer Lauren Cupp set the record during the 2021 Thirsty Owl New York Speedgolf US Open Championship at Teugega Country Club in Rome, N.Y this past August. A player’s Speedgolf score is the sum of their total shots and how many minutes it takes them to play 18 holes, and it took Lauren 122:48 in the tournament’s first round, which shattered the previous mark of 126:41 by New Zealand’s Liz McKinnon at the 2018 British Speedgolf Open. Cupp submitted a 1-under par 72 outing and completed the course in just 50 minutes and 48 seconds. She repeated the feat on day two, in 53:08 for a 125:08 total when you combined her shots and minutes it took her to complete the 18 holes. Her two-day score of 247:56 would have put Cupp in third place in the tournament’s Men’s division, let alone fiesta amongst the Women.
Per Hamilton.edu
SPORTS BETTING BETTER THAN EVER BEFORE:
Sports betting will reach new heights this NFL season.
“This season, the NFL for the first time is allowing sports-gambling companies to advertise during games. Up to six ad slots a game will be open to seven league-approved betting companies” according to the Wall Street Journal.
How long was this in the works? Well the pandemic slowed the project down a bit, but lately we have all seen point spreads streaming across the bottom of our TV screens, and those odds and the Over/Unders no longer need to be whispered vaguely under your breath or in a text message with sports gambling being legalized by the US government last year. This will create intrigue towards sports betting with causal fans (Even BKN-betting ones) now being able to see what the general public thinks of a specific live game in real time, expectations for a certain athlete , or even how many points a team is expected to score in a quarter after what took place in the previous one.
