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When it came to what the Dallas Stars did in Game 6, captain Jamie Benn said it was likely his team’s best performance of the Western Conference finals.

It was also the one that saw the Stars get eliminated in Game 6 of a Western Conference finals for the second year in a row.

Despite having three times the shots and owning the puck 75% of the time, the Stars fell short in a 2-1 loss Sunday to the Edmonton Oilers, who reached the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2006.

“You could probably argue that was our best game of the series,” Benn said. “It just didn’t go our way.”

Entering Game 6, the goal for the Stars was to echo the comeback they mounted in the first round of the playoffs; after falling to a two-game deficit against the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights, Dallas ended up winning that series in seven games.

This time, the Stars had a 2-1 series lead before the Oilers scored a combined eight goals in their Games 4 and 5 wins, giving them a chance to clinch the series in six games. Otherwise, a Stars’ victory would have forced a Game 7 in Dallas which would have given Stars’ coach Peter DeBoer a chance to go undefeated in eight Game 7s in his career.

Instead? The Stars’ flight back to Dallas will be to start an offseason that will be powered by the reality they’re still in a championship window.

“We went through a gauntlet and beat some really good teams and knew we had something special,” Stars forward Tyler Seguin said. “We lost to a team that we thought we could beat and sometimes, that’s playoffs. Sometimes, it’s that one bounce, that one goal, that one save. That’s why we all love it. That’s why it’s the hardest damn trophy in the world to win.”

Edmonton had a 2-0 lead by the end of the first after Connor McDavid deked his way to the net before firing a point-blank shot to beat Jake Oettinger before Zach Hyman scored a power-play goal with a little more than three minutes remaining in the frame.

Not only did the Oilers have a two-goal lead after the first period, but they did it by only mustering three shots while the Stars had 12.

The Stars would finish with 35 shots while the Oilers had 10. Natural Stat Trick’s metrics reveal that the Stars had a shot-share of 73.75 percent in 5-on-5 play while also having 10 high-danger scoring chances, something they hadn’t done since Game 3.

And they had three power-play chances compared to the Oilers, who just had one opportunity on the extra-skater advantage.

Yet it was the Oilers who came away with the win and a trip to the Stanley Cup final.

Even with their latest defeat, the fact the Stars lost in the conference final for a second straight season has strengthened the belief that they’re in a championship window. It’s a group that’s reached three Western Conference finals in the last five years for an organization that’s built its roster through the draft.

Benn was one of 10 players who were drafted by the Stars that played in Game 6. It’s a group that features younger talents such as Jason Robertson, Roope Hintz, Wyatt Johnston, Thomas Harley, Oettinger and Mavrik Bourque, who made his playoff debut Sunday.

The 34-year-old Benn is one of 13 Stars players who are under contract for next season. Harley is among those who will remain under team control as he is a restricted free agent. Others such as trade deadline acquisition Chris Tanev, second-round series hero Matt Duchene and veteran forward Joe Pavelski are unrestricted free agents.

“I believe that yeah,” Benn said about the Stars’ future. “But I’m not really thinking about it right now. This a tough time.”

Seguin, who is also under contract for three more seasons, shared his reasons for optimism.

He cited how recent Stanley Cup champions have had to go through some painful defeats before reaching their goal. Seguin specifically mentioned how it took the Golden Knights and Tampa Bay Lightning time to breakthrough.

Another team he mentioned was the one the Oilers will face in the Stanley Cup final in the Florida Panthers. They lost in the first round in 2019 and again in 2020 before reaching the second round in 2021 where they lost only to now be in a consecutive Stanley Cup final for the first time in team history.

“Unfortunately, you got to lose a lot to win in this league,” said Seguin, who won a Stanley Cup with the Boston Bruins back in 2011. “I don’t know why it’s like that. Learn some lessons, keep this taste, and get ready for next year.”

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Wisconsin fires offensive coordinator after 2 years

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Wisconsin fires offensive coordinator after 2 years

Wisconsin fired offensive coordinator Phil Longo on Sunday, a day after the Badgers’ 16-13 home loss to No. 1 Oregon.

In a statement, Badgers coach Luke Fickell thanked Longo for his two seasons with the program, while adding, “We are not where we need to be and believe this decision is in the best interest of the team.”

Wisconsin ranks 97th nationally in scoring and 102nd in passing while operating an Air Raid-style offense that Longo brought with him from North Carolina and other stops.

The Badgers, who lost starting quarterback Tyler Van Dyke to a season-ending injury Sept. 14, had only three points and 88 yards in the second half against Oregon, which rallied from a 13-6 deficit entering the fourth quarter.

Wisconsin ranked 101st nationally in scoring in Longo’s 23 games as coordinator and failed to eclipse 13 points on its current three-game losing streak. Quarterback Braedyn Locke had only 96 passing yards against the Ducks.

Fickell did not immediately announce an interim coordinator for Wisconsin’s final regular-season games against Nebraska and Minnesota.

Fickell had long targeted Longo for a coordinator role, going back to his time as Cincinnati’s coach. Longo, 56, oversaw productive offenses at Ole Miss, North Carolina, Sam Houston State and other spots but never consistently got traction at a Wisconsin program that had operated dramatically differently on offense before his arrival.

“This team still has a lot in front of us and I am committed to doing everything we can to close out this season with success,” Fickell said in his statement.

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4-star QB Jones, former FSU commit, picks Florida

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4-star QB Jones, former FSU commit, picks Florida

Four-star quarterback Tramell Jones Jr. has committed to Florida, he told ESPN on Sunday, joining the Gators’ 2025 class four days after pulling his pledge from Florida State.

Jones, a four-year starter at Florida’s Mandarin High School, is ESPN’s No. 9 dual-threat passer in the Class of 2025. After multiple trips to Florida throughout his recruitment, Jones returned to campus Saturday, taking an official visit with the Gators during the program’s 27-16 win over LSU. A day later, Jones stands as the lone quarterback pledge in a 2025 Florida class that includes five pledges from the ESPN 300.

“I pretty much saw everything I needed to see when I visited last spring — I just love everything around the campus,” Jones told ESPN. “And then hanging out with the guys yesterday, seeing the camaraderie with each other, that really just sealed it for me.”

Jones was the longest-tenured member of Mike Norvell’s 2025 class at Florida State before his decommitment from the Seminoles on Thursday morning.

Jones’ exit came days after Norvell announced the firings of three assistant coaches on Nov. 10, including offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Alex Atkins. Jones was the first Florida State commit to pull his pledge in the wake of the staff shakeup but marked the Seminoles sixth decommitment since the start of the regular season, joining five ESPN 300 recruits who have left Norvell’s recruiting class across the program’s 1-9 start.

Jones’ commitment follows a key late-season victory for Billy Napier on Saturday and marks the Gators’ first recruiting win since athletic director Scott Strickland announced on Nov. 7 that Florida would stick with the third-year coach beyond the 2024 season.

Uncertainty over Napier’s future had weighed down Florida’s recruiting efforts in the 2025 class as the Gators began November with the No. 39 class in ESPN’s latest team rankings for the cycle. But Jones’ pledge comes as a boost for Florida one day after the Gators hosted a handful of high-profile flip targets, including five-star offensive tackle Solomon Thomas (Florida State pledge) and four-star wide receiver Jaime Ffrench (Texas pledge).

When Jones signs with Florida, he’ll arrive on campus flanked by fellow in-state offensive talents in four-star wide receivers Vernell Brown III (No. 44 in the ESPN 300) and Naeshaun Montgomery (No. 115), as well as four-star running back Waltez Clark (No. 223). Florida is also set to sign a pair of in-state defenders from the 2025 ESPN 300 between four-star defensive end Jalen Wiggins (No. 68) and four-star cornerback Ben Hanks Jr. (No. 121).

With Jones’ commitment, Florida has another jolt to its momentum on the recruiting trail as the Gators seek to chart a strong finish in the 2025 cycle next month. More imminently, Florida will host No. 11 Ole Miss on Saturday.

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Ted Williams’ 1946 MVP award sells for over $500K

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Ted Williams' 1946 MVP award sells for over 0K

A rare souvenir postcard picturing Hank Aaron as a rookie with the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro Leagues sold for nearly $200,000 at a baseball memorabilia auction that also included Ted Williams’ 1946 AL MVP award, which went for $528,750.

The Aaron postcard from the scrapbook of scout Ed Scott, who discovered Aaron, went for $199,750 following a bidding war that soared past the pre-sale estimate of $5,000-$10,000, Hunt Auctions said.

The auction included 280 items from Williams’ personal collection that had been held by his daughter, Claudia, who died last year. Among the other items were a silver bat awarded for his 1958 batting title, which sold for more than $270,000, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom presented to him by fellow naval aviator George H.W. Bush, which went for $141,000.

The sale also included items from the collection of Rutherford Hayes Jones, the business manager of the Washington Giants, one of the earliest Black baseball teams. The trove was discovered in 2001 in a suitcase, where it had been unseen for 40 years.

A first batch of items from Claudia Williams’ collection went up for auction in 2012 at Fenway Park and garnered more than $5 million.

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