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Cale Makar can sense when the Colorado Avalanche are clicking offensively. Those moments when they’re swarming the attacking zone, zipping passes to one another and a goal feels inevitable.

But as a defenseman, Makar also understands what it’s like to endure that kind of pressure during an opponent’s offensive onslaught.

“When we get buzzing on our team and can get some good pressure, [defenders] just start getting tired and then you just start exposing different seams and stuff like that,” he said. “And when you’re put on the press and you’re in your own zone, it definitely isn’t fun. You’re kind of just trying to stay alive out there and live for another second.”

In a sense, that makes Makar the perfect cover athlete for NHL 24, the latest edition of EA Sports’ blockbuster hockey video game series that drops in early October. If there’s one overriding theme to NHL 24, it’s a test of stamina, particularly in those moments when one team is surging and another team is surviving.

“It’s a very true part of hockey,” Makar said.

The new Exhaust Engine in NHL 24 rewards extended attack zone time and is made up of two different systems.

The Sustained Pressure System is measured by a meter on the ice in the attacking zone. The more pressure created, the more “adrenaline effect” for the attacking team, which will see its passing speed and accuracy increase. Conversely, defensive skaters start getting heavy legs, and their stamina depletes faster as the offensive pressure increases. It’s called the Pinned Effect, and it challenges a defensive team to change tactics in order to defend its own goal and attempt to clear the zone.

Mike Inglehart, senior design director at EA Sports and one of the architects of NHL 24, said the Exhaust Engine brings more realism in the game.

“There’s always a loud cry for gameplay to be different, refreshed and new. But the game has a good foundation,” Inglehart said. “So what we tried to do was look for missing components of the hockey story we watch every night that aren’t embodied in our gameplay.”

The aspect they focused on for this edition: momentum. Those elongated shifts in which one team is on the attack and the other team is on its heels, desperately trying to clear the zone or get a stoppage.

“That expectation that you feel your team is on the brink of scoring. Or on the reverse side, your team is hemmed in and you’re on the edge of your seat hoping they can survive and not let that other team light the lamp,” Inglehart said. “We wanted to bring in a change to the ebb and flow of the game. Change how you think about the game, because now you have to build the pressure.”

Makar said he can sense when offensive zone pressure is boiling over in an NHL game.

“It might not be [defenders] getting more tired. If you’re buzzing out there, the energy just kind of comes up inside of us and we just start roaming around. That’s when we play our best hockey, when everybody is positioned all around the offensive zone,” he said. “It’ll be cool to see that in NHL 24 If it’s like more of a tactic now to stay in the O zone and pass it around rather than just driving the net at every chance.”

The Avalanche defenseman said these enhancements mimic what happens on the ice in the NHL.

“I’m sure it’ll make a lot of people mad if you’re in the zone for a minute or so and everybody’s starting to get tired and you can’t even do anything in the game,” Makar said. “But it’s similar to real life.”

Inglehart said the game makers were careful not to make NHL 24 just a “sustained pressure game” by ensuring the system didn’t create an insurmountable advantage.

“The boost is there and you can feel it, but it doesn’t tip the scales. It’s not something that can’t be defended,” he said.

There’s also a goalie fatigue system, designed to create more ways for the puck to go into the net. As the offensive pressure builds, the goalie gets worn down. They leave more parts of the net open, encouraging shots from more angles. But it also increases the chances for goalies to make spectacular, desperation saves.

“What makes the highlights at the end of the night are those improbable saves. When you have shooters looking up to the hockey heavens wondering how that [shot] didn’t go in,” Inglehart said. “Goalies will be broken down over time, but they’ll definitely have their heroic moments.”

Here’s a look at some of the other significant changes in this year’s game:


Physics-based contact

The game has overhauled its checking technology in order to make physical play more tactical.

“Poke-checking has long been the biggest defensive weapon, almost to a detriment, because people have often called it the ‘poke-checking game’ on defense,” Inglehart said.

Defenders can now quickly shove skaters to try and separate them from the puck, with a lower chance of earning a penalty for it than on a hit.

But the hitting isn’t going anywhere: NHL 24 has a new checking system where one pulls the right joystick back on the controller to load up the weight of a player and then pushes up to deliver a hit that saps the stamina of its target. There are also hip checks along the boards, hits that send opponents onto the benches and hits that shatter the rink glass.

“If we’re gonna have things like body checking in the game, the question is what utility that that brings the player,” Inglehart said. “When we looked at 23, you could hit players, but there was no real impact on the game. It didn’t have a relationship to the stamina. If you’ve ever taken a big hit in real life, it affects a lot of things and you’re usually picking yourself up off the ice and are typically out of the play.”

Stamina being a theme for this edition of NHL, the checking system “created a direct relationship between hitting and stamina,” Inglehart said.


Passing accuracy

NHL 24 has a new vision passing system that incorporates the distance between two players into the accuracy and speed of the pass. There’s also now one-touch passing so teams can better break out of their own zone.


Goalie Instinct System

For those users that like to control the goalie, we have good news: Your actions will no longer leave a gaping net open, into which your opponent pumps pucks. There’s a new tethered control system that allows the goalie to slide back and forth and then auto-return back to the center of the crease.

“I think seasoned players who play goalie understand how everything works. But if you’re just coming in and want to play that position in the game, there was a lot of responsibility for bringing the goalie back into a center position in the net,” Inglehart said. “You don’t want to put so much responsibility on the player that they can’t have fun.”

There’s also a new optional “game within the game” called the Instinct System. Goalies can now “guess” where the next shot will target. A successful guess increases the chances for a save; an unsuccessful guess increases the probability for a goal.

“If you’re very tired with our fatigue system, maybe you’re just rolling with the instinct at that point, because you’re already gassed,” Inglehart said.


Crowd noise

In its never-ending quest for realism, EA Sports has added a critical new aspect to its crowd noise library: Fans will now scream “shoooooot!” during the game, such as near the end of a power play.

“We made good strides with the crowds last year, but we were missing some of the nuanced moments,” Inglehart said. “With the shoot thing … look, you don’t wanna pressure the team into shooting because it’s not always the best time to shoot. But you go to any game, it’s authentically hockey.”

There’s also now a surge in crowd noise during odd-man rushes and more attention paid to what the crowd does during stoppages late in games — Inglehart calls them “hype up moments” where the crowd tries to energize the team.


Dynamic digital boards

The NHL debuted digitally enhanced dasher boards last season, essentially overwriting the advertising displayed inside the arena with digital ads for the viewers watching on TV. But that technology offers other opportunities beyond an animated SUV driving around the corner boards during play: They could allow for everything from real-time stats to tailored goal-celebrations during the game as well.

Inglehart’s team first saw the digital board technology before NHL 23 was released. In incorporating them into the latest edition, the producers saw them as a way to present information to the user without having to break the flow of action.

“So if a hit is thrown, just showing you the hit totals quickly,” he said. “It wasn’t distracting.”

They’re also going to use the boards for goal celebrations in NHL 24, partly inspired by the way the NHL used those boards during the 2023 All-Star Game.

Sometimes, things that happen in video games can lead to real-life innovations — witness the camera use in NFL games that gives a Madden-like view of the offense breaking its huddle. Could NHL 24 inspire the way the NHL uses its digital boards?

“In a game, we’re able to bring things to life a little bit quicker because it’s a virtual world and you’re not dealing with real life complexities,” Inglehart said. “But our hope is that maybe they see stuff in our product that does inspire the real game.”

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Ohtani’s walk-off pushes Dodgers to historic 8-0

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Ohtani's walk-off pushes Dodgers to historic 8-0

LOS ANGELES — Aside from his ability to pitch and hit and stretch the boundaries of imagination, Shohei Ohtani has displayed another singular trait in his time in the major leagues: an ability to meet the moment. Or, perhaps, for the moment to meet him.

And so on Wednesday night, with his Los Angeles Dodgers looking to stay unbeaten, the score tied in the bottom of the ninth, and more than 50,000 fans standing and clenching the Ohtani bobbleheads they lined up hours in advance for, Ohtani approached the batter’s box — and his teammates expected greatness.

“He’s going to end this right here,” Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said he thought to himself.

“We knew,” starting pitcher Blake Snell said. “It’s just what he does.”

Validation came instantly. Ohtani stayed back on a first-pitch changeup from Raisel Iglesias near the outside corner and shot it toward straightaway center field, 399 feet away, for a walk-off home run, sending the Dodgers to a 6-5, come-from-behind victory over the reeling Atlanta Braves.

“I don’t think anybody didn’t expect him to hit a walk-off home run there,” Dodgers utility man Tommy Edman said. “It’s just a question of where he’d hit it.”

The Dodgers are now 8-0, topping the 1933 New York Yankees of Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth for the longest winning streak to begin a season for a reigning champion. The Braves, meanwhile, are 0-7, the type of record no team has ever recovered from to make the playoffs. And Ohtani, with three home runs and a 1.126 OPS this season, just keeps meeting moments.

“He’s pretty good, huh?” Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernandez said. “It’s Shohei. He’s going to do that. He’s going to do things better than that.”

On Aug. 23 last year, Ohtani reached the 40/40 club with a walk-off grand slam. Five days later, the Dodgers staged a second giveaway of his bobblehead — one that saw his now-famous dog, Decoy, handle the ceremonial first pitch — and Ohtani led off with a home run. On Sept. 19, Ohtani clinched his first postseason berth and ascended into the unprecedented 50/50 club with one of the greatest single-game performances in baseball history — six hits, three homers, two steals and 10 RBIs. Barely two weeks later, he homered in his first playoff game.

When Ohtani came up on Wednesday, he had what he described as a simple approach.

“I was looking for a really good pitch to hit,” Ohtani said through an interpreter. “If I didn’t get a good pitch to hit, I was willing to walk.”

Of course, though, he got a good pitch.

And, of course, he sent it out.

“You just feel that he’s going to do something special,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “And I just like the way he’s not pressing. He’s in the strike zone, and when he does that, there’s just no one better.”

The Dodgers began their much-anticipated season with a couple of breezy wins over the Chicago Cubs from Japan, even though Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman did not play in them. They returned home, brought iconic rapper Ice Cube out to present the World Series trophy on one afternoon, received their rings on another and swept a three-game series against the Detroit Tigers. Then came the Braves, and the Dodgers swept them, too — even though Freeman, nursing an ankle injury caused from slipping in the shower, didn’t participate.

The Dodgers already have two walk-offs and six comeback wins this season.

Wednesday’s effort left Roberts “a little dumbfounded.”

A nightmarish start defensively, highlighted by two errant throws from Muncy, spoiled Snell’s start and put them behind 5-0 after the first inning and a half. But the Dodgers kept inching closer. They trailed by just two in the eighth and put runners on second and third with two out. Muncy came to bat with his batting average at just .083. He had used the ballyhooed “Torpedo” bat for his first three plate appearances, didn’t like how it altered his swing plane, grabbed his usual bat for a showdown against Iglesias and laced a game-tying double into the right-center-field gap.

An inning later, Ohtani ended it.

“Overall, not just tonight, there is a really good vibe within the team,” Ohtani said after recording his fourth career walk-off hit. “I just think that’s allowing us to come back in these games to win.”

The Dodgers’ 8-0 start has allowed them to stay just ahead of the 7-0 San Diego Padres and the 5-1 San Francisco Giants in the National League West. Tack on the Arizona Diamondbacks (4-2) and the Colorado Rockies (1-4), and this marks the first time in the divisional era that an entire division has combined for at least 25 wins and no more than seven losses, according to ESPN Research. The Dodgers’ and Padres’ starts mark just the fifth season in major league history with multiple teams starting 7-0 or better, and the first time since 2003.

The Dodgers famously overcame a 2-1 series deficit to vanquish the Padres in the NL Division Series last year, then rode that fight to their first full-season championship since 1988.

That fight hasn’t let up.

“It feels like this clubhouse is carrying a little bit of the attitude we had last year that we’re never out of a game and we’re resilient, and we’ve been carrying it into this season,” Muncy said. “It’s been fun to watch. The guys don’t give up. Bad things have happened, and no one’s really been down or out on themselves. Everyone’s just, ‘All right, here we go, next inning, let’s get after it.’ The whole team, top to bottom, has been doing that. It’s been making it really, really fun to play.”

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‘Reason he’s here’: Crochet delivers for Red Sox

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'Reason he's here': Crochet delivers for Red Sox

BALTIMORE — Garrett Crochet gave the Boston Red Sox an immediate return on their investment.

In his first start since agreeing to a $170 million, six-year contract, the left-hander pitched a career-best eight innings as the Red Sox shut out the Baltimore Orioles 3-0 on Wednesday night. Crochet also threw 102 pitches, one shy of his career high.

“My first start in college I went eight, and I haven’t sniffed it since,” Crochet said.

Crochet (1-0) gave up four hits and a walk while striking out eight in his first victory since the offseason trade that sent him from the Chicago White Sox to Boston.

“That’s the reason he’s here,” manager Alex Cora said after the game. “That’s the reason we committed to him.”

Crochet went 6-12 with a 3.58 ERA last season, a bright spot on a Chicago team that lost 121 games. He threw 146 innings, which was double his previous career total since his debut in 2020.

Then Crochet was dealt to the Red Sox, and they made their long-term commitment to the 25-year-old earlier this week.

“Going back to when the trade went through, we knew Boston was a place where we would love to be long term,” Crochet said. “Credit to the front office for staying diligent, and my agency as well.”

Now the question is less about where he’ll pitch and more about how well. He’s off to a nice start in that regard.

“I can’t think of the last time I played baseball for pride. In college, you’re playing to get drafted, and once you’re in the big leagues, you’re playing to stay in the big leagues,” Crochet said. “So to have this security and feel like I’m playing to truly just win ballgames, it takes a lot of the riff-raff out of it.”

The news all around was good for Boston on Wednesday.

It reached a $60 million, eight-year deal with young infielder Kristian Campbell, and he went out and doubled twice against the Orioles.

And Rafael Devers ended a 21-at-bat hitless streak to start the season with an RBI double in the fifth inning. He finished with two hits and no strikeouts.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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Death of Gardner’s son pinned to carbon monoxide

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Death of Gardner's son pinned to carbon monoxide

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Carbon monoxide poisoning was the cause of death of the teenage son of former New York Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner, authorities in Costa Rica said Wednesday night.

Randall Zúñiga, director of the Judicial Investigation Agency, said 14-year-old Miller Gardner was tested for carboxyhemoglobin, a compound generated when carbon monoxide binds to hemoglobin in the blood.

When carboxyhemoglobin saturation exceeds 50%, it is considered lethal. In Gardner’s case, the test showed a saturation of 64%.

“It’s important to note that adjacent to this room is a dedicated machine room, where it’s believed there may be some type of contamination toward these rooms,” Zúñiga said.

The head of the Costa Rican judicial police added that, during the autopsy, a “layer” was detected on the boy’s organs, which forms when there is a high presence of the poisonous gas.

Gardner died March 21 while staying with his family at a hotel on the Manuel Antonio beach in Costa Rica’s Central Pacific.

Asphyxiation was initially thought to have caused his death. After an autopsy was performed by the Forensic Pathology Section, that theory was ruled out.

Another line of investigation centered around whether the family had suffered food poisoning. Family members had reported feeling ill after dining at a nearby restaurant on the night of March 20 and received treatment from the hotel doctor.

Brett Gardner, 41, was drafted by the Yankees in 2005 and spent his entire major league career with the organization. The speedy outfielder batted .256 with 139 homers, 578 RBIs, 274 steals and 73 triples in 14 seasons from 2008 to 2021.

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