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TORONTO — After a lengthy career, waiting out his eligibility period, then 12 years of sitting by the phone, Jeremy Roenick finally received his call for induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

And on Monday night, in a ceremony with the rest of his class, he formally entered into it.

Roenick, 54, an American who banked 1,216 points in 1,363 games with the Chicago Blackhawks, Phoenix Coyotes, Philadelphia Flyers, Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks, was among the headliners in a class that included Shea Weber, Pavel Datsyuk, Natalie Darwitz and Krissy Wendell in the player category. David Poile and Colin Campbell entered as builders.

Roenick, the colorful, Boston-born winger, added 122 points, including 53 goals, in 154 playoff contests. He also won silver at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, when Team USA fell to Canada.

“I love this game,” he said. “It’s been such a huge part of my life for most of my life.”

The No. 8 pick by Chicago in 1988, Roenick finished his career as a nine-time NHL All-Star.

“When you wait for a long time, you don’t know how [the call] is going to hit you,” Roenick said in September, addressing the Chicago media in a Hall of Fame availability with the Blackhawks. “And I thought, maybe before, that it wasn’t going to be as big a deal as it was. But it hit me like a train.”

Weber, the former defenseman whose career ended prematurely because of a long list of injuries, has been unable to play since helping drag the underdog Montreal Canadiens to the 2021 Stanley Cup Final.

“My love for the game remains strong,” he said during his speech. “Even if my body didn’t hold up as long as I had hoped.”

The 39-year-old registered 589 points in 1,038 games with the Canadiens and Nashville Predators. He added 42 points in 97 playoff contests.

“There’s so much to be grateful for when playing this game,” Weber said. “And it’s not just the big moments, grinding out a playoff win or taking home Olympic gold. It’s in the small, seemingly routine moments that matter the most.

“It’s those friendships built during countless plane and bus rides, team dinners, breaking things down in the trainer’s room. It’s when a veteran player takes you under his wing and shows you what it truly means to be a professional. I want to thank all those players for demonstrating the importance of hard work and dedication.”

Datsyuk, 46, put up 918 points in 953 games with the Detroit Red Wings. He chipped in 113 points across 157 playoff contests that included Stanley Cup victories in 2002 and 2008.

The Russian center with majestic skill was also a four-time Lady Byng Trophy winner as the NHL’s most gentlemanly player and captured the Selke Trophy as the league’s top defensive forward on three occasions.

Datsyuk, who along with Weber was enshrined in his first year of eligibility, played five seasons in the KHL after leaving Detroit in 2016. He represented his country at five straight Olympics, capturing gold in 2018 and bronze in 2002.

“Being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame is a tremendous honor,” Datsyuk said. “[An] honor I couldn’t even dream of.”

Wendell, 43, twice represented the United States at the Olympics, winning silver in 2002 and bronze in 2006. The forward from Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, grabbed six medals at the world championships and was the first American captain to capture tournament gold.

“The greatest thing about hockey was not winning championships or medals,” Wendell said. “But the people that I got to meet along the way.”

Darwitz, 41, suited up for the U.S. at the 2002, 2006 and 2010 Winter Games, winning two silver medals and a bronze. The forward out of St. Paul, Minnesota, also competed at the worlds eight times, securing three gold medals.

“I wasn’t your everyday little girl and somehow my mom was on to me,” Darwitz said. “On my fifth birthday, my blonde French braids strolled into the hockey rink.”

Campbell’s hockey life has included time as a player, coach and, for the past 25 years, a senior executive vice president with the NHL. He helped spearhead the league’s centralized video review hub that’s now the standard across much of the North American sporting world.

The 71-year-old also won the Stanley Cup in 1994 as an associate coach with the New York Rangers.

“I’ve spoken to general managers over the years, board of governors,” Campbell said. “This is a first, and as I look out and see this group, it’s certainly inspiring and scary.”

Poile, 74, started as an NHL executive with the Atlanta and Calgary Flames in the 1970s before becoming general manager of the Washington Capitals in 1982.

The Toronto native joined the expansion Predators in Nashville 1997 to become GM, a position he held until retiring in 2023. One of his biggest moves was trading Weber to Montreal for P.K. Subban in June 2016.

“I have poured my heart and soul into the game,” Poile said. “But hockey has given me and my family so much more.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Ohtani blasts two HRs to halt 10-game drought

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Ohtani blasts two HRs to halt 10-game drought

LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani hit two homers in an 11-5 win over the San Francisco Giants on Saturday night, emphatically ending the three-time MVP’s longest homer drought since joining the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Ohtani led off the bottom of the first with his 24th homer, hammering Landen Roupp‘s fourth pitch 419 feet deep into the right-field bleachers with an exit velocity of 110.3 mph.

The slugger had been in a 10-game homer drought since June 2, going 10-for-40 in that stretch with no RBIs, although he still had an eight-game hitting streak during his power outage.

Ohtani led off the sixth with his 25th homer, sending Tristan Beck‘s breaking ball outside the strike zone into the bleachers in right. He also moved one homer behind the Yankees’ Aaron Judge and Seattle’s Cal Raleigh for the overall major league lead.

Dodgers fans brought him home with a standing ovation as Ohtani produced his third multihomer game of the season and the 22nd of his career.

Ohtani reached base four times and scored three runs in his first four at-bats, drawing two walks to go with his two homers.

Ohtani hadn’t played in 10 straight games without hitting a homer since 2023 in the final 10 games of his six-year tenure with the Los Angeles Angels.

Ohtani had slowed down a bit over the past two weeks after he was named the NL Player of the Month for May with a formidable performance, racking up 15 homers and 28 RBIs.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Dobbins’ second win over Yanks caps ‘fun’ week

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Dobbins' second win over Yanks caps 'fun' week

BOSTON — Hunter Dobbins had quite the week.

First, he said last weekend that he would rather retire than pitch for the Yankees because his father was drafted by New York twice before being traded.

Then, he went out and beat the Yankees.

A few days after his comments about never wanting to pitch for New York, he had to defend his dad’s story about being drafted by the Yankees in response to a New York Post article that cited multiple official databases and the Yankees’ own records that couldn’t confirm Lance Dobbins ever played with the organization.

On Saturday night, Dobbins (4-1) followed up by going six shutout innings in Boston’s 4-3 victory over New York, his second win over the Yankees in less than a week.

“It’s a lot of fun,” he said. “I’m more worried about just the win column, whether it’s against them or anybody. My job is to try and help this team win as many ballgames as we can, and pitch in meaningful playoff baseball games. That’s what I’m more focused on.”

But he realizes what it means to the fan base in this longtime rivalry, with the Red Sox fans heard chanting about the Yankees outside the park before he spoke in an interview room.

“Yeah, I love being able to perform and get those wins for the fans here,” he said. “They deserve it. It’s a great city, passionate fan base, so being able to get those wins — especially twice in one week — means a lot and looking forward to trying to build on that going forward.”

In his victory over New York last Sunday, Dobbins held the Yankees to three runs over five innings, two on a first-inning homer by Aaron Judge.

On Saturday night, Judge went 0-for-3 against him, striking out twice on curveballs.

“It was just kind of scouting,” Dobbins said of his game plan against New York’s slugger after Garrett Crochet struck him out three times in the series opener Friday.

“Crochet has an electric fastball. I can throw it hard, but the shape isn’t quite as elite,” he said. “So we knew we had better weapons to go at him with, so I felt like we did a good job of kind of keeping a balanced attack throughout the order.”

Dobbins struck out five and gave up only two singles Saturday.

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Rockies have worst 70-game mark since 1899

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Rockies have worst 70-game mark since 1899

ATLANTA — Kyle Farmer just shrugged when asked about being part of a Colorado Rockies team that has the fewest wins through 70 games since the 1899 Cleveland Spiders.

“We don’t care,” Farmer said after Saturday’s 4-1 loss to the Atlanta Braves left Colorado with a 13-57 record.

The Rockies have the fourth-fewest wins by any team through their first 70 decisions in a season in MLB history, and the fewest since the 1899 Spiders won 12 of their first 70 decisions. Colorado (.186 win percentage) is currently on pace to go 30-132 this season.

“I mean, there’s nothing we can do about it,” Farmer said. “It is what it is. We’ve just got to show up tomorrow and play. There’s nothing you can really say about it except that if it happens, it happens.”

The Rockies made more inglorious history by setting a franchise nine-inning record with 19 strikeouts. That’s a lot of futility for one team to absorb in one day.

The 19 strikeouts by Braves pitchers also set an Atlanta record for a nine-inning game. Spencer Strider recorded 13 strikeouts in six innings, followed by relievers Rafael Montero and Dylan Lee, who combined for six more whiffs.

The only bright spot for the Rockies was the encouraging start by rookie right-hander Chase Dollander, a native of Evans, Georgia, who allowed four runs, three earned, in six innings.

The Rockies have 10 fewer wins than the Chicago White Sox, who have the second-worst record in the majors at 23-48.

Dollander said “just having a neutral mindset” is the key to remaining positive through a season already filled with low points for the team.

“Don’t ride the roller coaster,” Dollander said. “You know, there’s going to be lots of ups and downs in this game. This game is really hard. So it’s just, you know, staying neutral and we just keep going.”

Dollander was the No. 9 overall pick in the 2023 summer draft. Among other top young players on the team are catcher Hunter Goodman, who might return to Atlanta for the All-Star Game on July 15, and outfielders Jordan Beck and Brenton Doyle.

“You know we’re going to have our time,” Dollander said. “I mean, it’s just one of those things that you kind of learn as you go. I’ve been very fortunate to be here for a little bit now, and I can help us going forward.”

The 34-year-old Farmer said one of his jobs is to help the younger players endure the losses.

“For sure, keeping guys accountable and teaching them the right way to do stuff,” said Farmer, the first baseman whose double off Strider was one of only four hits for the Rockies.

“Keeping their heads up and they’ve got to show up each day and play, no matter our record. It’s your job and you worked your whole life to get here. Enjoy it. This is a great opportunity for a young guy to show what they can do.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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