Connect with us

Published

on

FORT WORTH, Texas — TCU continued its charmed season Saturday night with another comeback win, this time rallying from an 18-point first-half deficit to beat No. 17 Kansas State 38-28 and stay undefeated.

Under first-year coach Sonny Dykes, the No. 8 Horned Frogs (7-0, 4-0 in Big 12), who finished 5-7 last season, joined 2016 Oklahoma as the only teams in Big 12 history to win four consecutive games against opponents ranked in the AP poll. The Frogs are among six undefeated teams in the country.

After rallying from 17 points down last week to beat No. 8 Oklahoma State in double overtime, TCU became the third team in the past 20 seasons to come back from multiple 17-point deficits against ranked teams in a season.

Dykes would prefer the Frogs not dig themselves into a hole, saying the team has played tight in the first half the past two weeks, something he said he needs to get fixed. But he said he has seen confidence take hold among his team in the locker room at halftime.

“We just settled in and started playing with more confidence,” Dykes said. “I think that knowing that they could do that, having done it last week, we walked in at halftime and there was no sense of panic. I think there was a little bit of frustration from everybody because we felt like we certainly hadn’t played a great half of football, but I didn’t sense any kind of panic.”

Despite losing starting quarterback Adrian Martinez, Kansas State scored touchdowns on four consecutive possessions in the first half behind Will Howard, who went 13-of-20 for 225 yards and two touchdowns. Howard was briefly knocked out of the game in the third quarter, and redshirt freshman Jake Rubley threw an interception on his only passing attempt.

After giving up 303 yards and 10.1 yards per play in the first half, the TCU defense surrendered just 87 yards and 3.8 yards per play in the second half, holding Kansas State scoreless as the Wildcats missed two field goals.

“We started to get some pressure, and as we got pressure we created some turnovers and the offense did a good job taking advantage of it,” Dykes said.

Max Duggan had another efficient performance, completing 17 of 26 passes for 280 yards and throwing touchdowns to three different receivers.

“What can you say about Max?” Dykes said. “I mean, it’s hard to put a value on how valuable he is to our team, just the toughness he brings and that never-say-die mentality and attitude just permeates the entire program. That unselfishness has kind of taken over our team.”

Kendre Miller, who ran for 153 yards and two touchdowns, said Dykes’ laid-back persona has helped the team deal with the deficits and the required second-half comebacks.

“He’s completely chill, calm,” Miller said. “I think it keeps everybody stable. If the head coach is going crazy, everybody kind of gets to panicking and stuff. He stays chill, everybody’s chill.”

Duggan said being undefeated hasn’t changed the Horned Frogs’ focus.

“No one talked about us before the season,” Duggan said. “We never listened to them. I think now when people start talking about you, you do the same thing. You don’t listen to them.”

Dykes said he has seen that approach take hold among the team.

“I’ve kind of been waiting to start hearing some talk about … conference standings or bowl games or rankings, and I just haven’t heard it ever with this group,” Dykes said. “I mean, never once. And that sounds absurd. I think the guys just have adopted that mentality of, ‘Hey, let’s just show up on Tuesday and have a good Tuesday practice.’ I think these guys kind of buy into the whole thing.”

Continue Reading

Sports

U.S. advances at hockey worlds; Canada now 6-0

Published

on

By

U.S. advances at hockey worlds; Canada now 6-0

PRAGUE — Dylan Cozens scored two goals and had an assist to rally Canada past Switzerland 3-2 for its sixth win in six games at the ice hockey world championship on Sunday.

Canada leads Group A with 17 points, two more than the Czech Republic in second with Switzerland another point back in third. The three teams had already clinched a spot in the playoff round.

Cozens has scored six goals at the tournament and is tied atop the scoring table with American Brady Tkachuk and Finland’s Oliver Kapanen.

Nick Paul also scored for Canada and goaltender Jordan Binnington made 20 saves including a penalty shot in the second period when the score was 2-2.

Cozens found the roof of the net on a power play 1:42 into the game to give Canada an early lead.

Switzerland answered with two goals.

Kevin Fiala wristed an equalizer past Binnington in the opening frame on a power play.

Romain Loeffel put the Swiss 2-1 up in the middle period with a slap shot from the blue line.

Cozens tied it again at 2-2 from the top of the left circle on a power play.

Paul scored the winner for Canada on a power play, completing a series of passes by scoring into an open goal midway through the second.

Canada will complete the preliminary round on Tuesday against the Czech Republic, when Switzerland will face Finland.

In Group B, Latvia prevailed over Slovakia 3-2 in a penalty shootout. The result sent the United States to the next round.

Tkachuk scored three power play goals and added an assist to help the United States rout Kazakhstan 10-1.

Its fourth victory lifted the Americans to second place in Group B with 13 points, one ahead of Germany and Slovakia with a game against Latvia, which has nine points, on Tuesday to play in the preliminary round.

Johnny Gaudreau had a goal and four assists to become the United States record scorer with 43 points, one more than Patrick Kane.

Matt Boldy scored twice and had four assists, Brock Nelson and Luke Kunin both had a goal and an assist, and Gavin Brindley and Kevin Hayes also scored.

Alex Nedeljkovic made 13 saves.

In a four-goal opening period, Tkatchuk tipped in a shot by Zach Werenski on a power play to increase the U.S. lead to 2-0, and buried a rebound to make it 4-0 on a power play.

He completed his hat trick to increase the advantage to 8-0 with a one-timed shot from the right circle on another power play in the final period.

Alikhan Omirbekov scored the consolation goal for Kazakhstan when his team was 9-0 down.

In Group A, Austria beat Norway 4-1 and is tied for fourth place with Finland.

The top four from each group advance to the playoff round.

Continue Reading

Sports

Source: Boeser (blood clots) not expected in G7

Published

on

By

Source: Boeser (blood clots) not expected in G7

Vancouver Canucks right wing Brock Boeser is not expected to play in Game 7 of their second-round series against the Edmonton Oilers on Monday because of a blood-clotting issue, a source told ESPN, confirming a report.

There’s no timeline for his return to action. The Canucks had no comment on Boeser’s status.

Boeser didn’t skate in practice Sunday. Coach Rick Tocchet would only say at a media availability that “he needed the maintenance day.”

Boeser, 27, leads the Canucks in goals (7) and is tied for the lead in points (12) during the postseason. He established career highs in goals (40), points (73) and games played (81) during the regular season.

The Canucks winger has had some MVP moments during their playoff run. His hat trick in Game 4 against the Nashville Predators led them to a comeback win. Boeser’s three points in the first period of Game 3 led Vancouver to a win over Edmonton.

It’s the second significant injury for Vancouver in the playoffs after a regular season of relatively good health for the team’s core players. Starting goaltender Thatcher Demko, a finalist for the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s best netminder, hasn’t played since Game 1 of the first round because of a knee injury. Edmonton won Game 6 at home Saturday night to force Monday’s Game 7, the only seventh game of the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The winner faces the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference finals.

The Boeser injury news was first reported by Vancouver-based hockey journalist Irfaan Gaffar.

Continue Reading

Sports

Canes re-sign Brind’Amour off latest playoff run

Published

on

By

Canes re-sign Brind'Amour off latest playoff run

RALEIGH, N.C. — The Carolina Hurricanes re-signed coach Rod Brind’Amour and his staff to multiyear contracts, keeping one of the best in the NHL behind the bench around for the long term.

The team announced the re-signings Sunday for Brind’Amour, assistants Jeff Daniels and Tim Gleason, goaltending coach Paul Schonfelder and video coach Chris Huffine.

“Rod has been instrumental to the success we’ve had over the last six seasons,” team president and general manager Don Waddell said. “Ever since he joined the organization 24 years ago, Rod has embodied what it means to be a Hurricane. We hope to keep him a Hurricane for life.”

Brind’Amour was in the final year of a deal reached in 2021, when he was the winner of the Jack Adams Award as the league’s top coach. His status had become a talking point around the NHL as jobs changed hands, though Brind’Amour — as well as Waddell — had expressed confidence that a deal would get done.

“I never had a doubt in my mind he [would] come back,” Carolina center Sebastian Aho said earlier in the day when asked about the reports of a deal. “Not surprised, I would say.”

Brind’Amour took over in 2018 to lead a franchise that had missed the playoffs for nine straight years. The Hurricanes have gone to the playoffs six times in as many seasons under the captain of Carolina’s 2006 Stanley Cup winner. Carolina has also won at least one series in each of the past six postseasons, marking the first time a team has accomplished that since the Detroit Red Wings did it from 1995 to 2000. The Canes also reached the Eastern Conference finals twice in the past six seasons.

Carolina finished three points behind the New York Rangers for the Metropolitan Division title and Presidents’ Trophy (presented to the league’s top regular-season team), another season in which it ranked among the NHL’s top teams with an aggressive forechecking style.

The Hurricanes beat the New York Islanders in five games in Round 1 then lost to the Rangers in a six-game second-round series after falling in a 3-0 hole.

Brind’Amour, 53, arrived in Raleigh in a January 2000 trade from the Philadelphia Flyers and played there until his retirement in 2010. He then spent seven seasons as an assistant coach before taking over as a first-time head coach.

Multiple players were asked earlier Sunday about Brind’Amour’s status during end-of-season interviews. None expressed concern that he wouldn’t return or that it had been any type of distraction.

“He’s one of the main pieces that turned this organization around from where it was when I first got here,” defenseman Jaccob Slavin said. “So I think anyone would want him to stay as well. I know he wants to be here. I’m confident it’ll get done.”

Continue Reading

Trending