August 13, 2020 3:40 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The Pittsburgh Penguins’ qualifying round loss to the Montreal Canadiens cost assistant coaches Sergei Gonchar, Jacques Martin and Mark Recchi their jobs. The club opted not to renew the contracts for all three coaches after the fifth-seeded Penguins fell to the 12th-seeded Canadiens in four games. Head coach Mike Sullivan’s job is safe, but he will have to move forward with a new staff after Pittsburgh lost in its opening-round postseason series for the second time in as many years.
August 13, 2020 3:47 am
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) – The Masters will be on mute this year. The club has decided there will be no spectators at Augusta National when the rescheduled tournament is played in November.
That means all three majors in this year of COVID-19 will not have fans. Golf is coming off its first major without fans last week at the PGA Championship. The U.S. Open, moved from June to Sept. 17-20 because of the pandemic, previously announced it won’t have spectators at Winged Foot. The British Open announced in April it would be canceled this year.
August 12, 2020 2:10 pm
(AP) – The Big 12 Conference is moving ahead with plans to play college football and other fall sports. They will join the Atlantic Coast and Southeastern conferences in taking the field amid the coronavirus pandemic. The move came one day after the Big Ten and Pac-12 announced they would not play this fall. In the Big 12, fall sports will begin after Sept. 1 with the football schedule beginning league play Sept. 26. Schools also can play one non-conference opponent.
August 12, 2020 3:53 am
UNDATED (AP) – A crumbling college football season took a massive hit Tuesday when the Big Ten and Pac-12, two historic and powerful conferences, succumbed to the pandemic and canceled their fall football seasons. Five months almost to the day after the first spikes in coronavirus cases in the U.S. led to the cancellation of the NCAA basketball tournaments, the still raging pandemic is tearing down another American sports institution: fall Saturdays filled with college football. Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott called the decision “extremely difficult and painful.” Despite pleas from players, coaches and President Donald Trump in recent days to play on, 40% of major college football teams have now decided to punt on a fall season, a decision that will cost schools tens of millions of dollars and upends traditions dating back a century. Both conferences cited the risk of trying to keep players from contracting and spreading the coronavirus when the programs are not operating in a bubble like the NBA and NHL are doing. They also cited the broader state of the pandemic in the United States, which has had more than 5 million cases of COVID-19.
All fall sports in the Big Ten have been called off and a spring season will be explored.
August 12, 2020 3:55 am
TORONTO (AP) – Brayden Point scored 10:27 into the fifth overtime, and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2 on Tuesday in the fourth-longest game in Stanley Cup playoff history. Point scored from just above the left circle, beating Joonas Korpisalo after the goaltender made an NHL-record 85 saves. Point also scored way back in the first period of Game 1 of the best-of-seven series. The teams are meeting in the first round for the second straight year, with the Lightning looking to rebound from being swept 16 months ago by the underdog Blue Jackets, who became the first No. 8 seed to oust the winner of the Presidents’ Trophy in four games. Game 2 is Thursday.
August 12, 2020 3:51 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford says he still believes the championship window is open for his club but changes need to be made following a quick playoff exit. The Penguins were stunned in four games by the underdog Montreal Canadiens in the qualifying round of the NHL playoffs. It marked the second straight early exit by Pittsburgh, which was swept by the New York Islanders in the first round in 2019. Rutherford said the team will need to get younger in the offseason. Goaltender Matt Murray and defenseman Justin Schultz will both likely leave in free agency.
August 12, 2020 3:50 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – An unexpected break didn’t stop the steady stream of pitchers to the injured list for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The team has placed opening day starter Joe Musgrove on the 10-day IL with what manager Derek Shelton called a right triceps issue. The Pirates scratched Musgrove before a start against Detroit with what Shelton called an ankle injury. Musgrove is 0-3 with a 6.75 ERA. He is the sixth Pittsburgh pitcher to be placed on the injured list this season. The list includes starter Mitch Keller and relievers Nick Burdi, Clay Holmes, Michael Feliz and Kyle Crick.
August 11, 2020 3:52 am
President Donald Trump has joined Nebraska Republican Sen. Ben Sasse and a number of coaches in the push to save the college football season from a pandemic-forced shutdown. A growing number of athletes have spoken out in support of saving the season. Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh says the Wolverines have shown players can be safe after they return to school. Sasse wrote a letter to Big Ten school presidents and chancellors saying that players will likely be safer with football than without, because of the “structure and discipline of football programs.”
August 11, 2020 3:51 am
UNDATED (AP) – Will there be any college football this season? The Mountain West has become the second FBS conference to postpone its football season, punting on the fall with an eye toward playing in the spring. A person involved in the decision told The Associated Press the Mountain West would not play any sports in the fall. The 12-team Mountain West joins the Mid-American Conference as leagues from the highest tier of NCAA Division I football to bail on the fall season and hope to make a go of it in the spring. The Mountain West features Boise State, Air Force and San Diego State, each of which were ranked at some point last year.
August 11, 2020 3:53 am
ST. LOUIS (AP) – The St. Louis Cardinals continue to have their schedule altered after eight players tested positive for the coronavirus. Major League Baseball has announced that the Cardinals’ scheduled Thursday doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers has been postponed. MLB and the Cards believe it is prudent to continue additional testing while players and staff are quarantined before the team returns to play. MLB has seen 29 games postponed by the coronavirus, 15 involving the Cardinals.
