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9 months ago

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  • ESPN News Services

Feb 15, 2025, 04:48 PM ET

MONTREAL — Mikael Granlund scored the overtime winner, and Finland beat Sweden 4-3 Saturday in an instant classic, back-and-forth game between the bitter rivals at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Granlund scored 1:49 into 3-on-3 OT, sending fans in Finland’s blue and white at Bell Centre to the exits cheering and chanting, “Suomi!”

“It’s always great to beat Sweden,” Granlund said in his postgame media availability.

Anton Lundell and Mikko Rantanen also scored for Finland, and Kevin Lankinen made 21 saves in his debut at the NHL-run international tournament, including a pad stop on Mika Zibanejad seconds into overtime. Coach Antti Pennanen switched from Juuse Saros to Lankinen after his team lost 6-1 to the United States on Thursday night.

“I don’t think we needed to do much, we knew that there was a lot of good things we did in the game against USA,” Finland captain Aleksander Barkov said in his postgame interview on SportsNet. “Obviously, the result, 6-1, was not great, it did not look good. But I thought we did a lot of good things. And same thing today.”

Knocking off Sweden puts the Finns right back in it with one game for them left in round-robin play. The top two teams among the U.S., Canada, Sweden and Finland meet in the championship game next week in Boston.

Despite goals from Zibanejad and Rasmus Dahlin, the Swedes are in trouble and now might need some help to make the final. Filip Gustavsson was pulled after allowing two goals on four shots in the first period, and Linus Ullmark allowed two on 17 the rest of the way.

Finland also has a potential injury situation to monitor after Barkov came up limping from blocking a shot late in the second. The reigning Stanley Cup champion from the Florida Panthers continued playing through it.

“We got a little better, and played for a full 60-something minutes,” Barkov said. “We knew, playing against Sweden, even if it’s 4 a.m., it doesn’t matter. Everyone is going to be fired up. We came out hard, and we played really well.”

The U.S. faces Canada on Saturday night in the most anticipated game in Montreal, but Sweden and Finland put on quite the show in the matinee. Facing off 19 years after Sweden defeated Finland in the 2006 Olympic gold medal game in Turin, this time the Finns were on the winning end of an entertaining game featuring a blend of speed, skill and physicality — and some pushing and shoving after the whistles, which was expected of players from countries that do not like each other.

The tournament shifts to Boston, where Finland faces Canada on Monday afternoon at 1 p.m. ET and Sweden plays the United States at 8 p.m.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Sources: ASU’s top WR Tyson expected back

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5 hours ago

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November 22, 2025

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Sources: ASU's top WR Tyson expected back
Nov 22, 2025, 02:48 PM ET

Jordyn Tyson, Arizona State‘s leading receiver, is expected to return from a hamstring injury and play Saturday when the Sun Devils visit the Colorado Buffaloes, sources tell ESPN’s Pete Thamel.

Tyson is expected to participate in pregame warmups, and barring any setbacks, he’ll be cleared to play against his former team.

Tyson suffered the injury Oct. 18 in Arizona State’s upset win over then-undefeated Texas Tech. He finished that game with 10 catches for 105 yards and a touchdown but has not played since.

Despite missing the past three games, Tyson leads the Sun Devils in catches (57) and yards receiving (628), and he is the team leader with eight touchdowns.

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UAB: Player arrested after stabbing 2 teammates

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5 hours ago

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November 22, 2025

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UAB: Player arrested after stabbing 2 teammates

  • Jake TrotterNov 22, 2025, 02:36 PM ET

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      Jake Trotter is a senior writer at ESPN. Trotter covers college football. He also writes about other college sports, including men’s and women’s basketball. Trotter resides in the Cleveland area with his wife and three kids and is a fan of his hometown Oklahoma City Thunder. He covered the Cleveland Browns and NFL for ESPN for five years, moving back to college football in 2024. Previously, Trotter worked for the Middletown (Ohio) Journal, Austin American-Statesman and Oklahoman newspapers before joining ESPN in 2011. He’s a 2004 graduate of Washington and Lee University. You can reach out to Trotter at jake.trotter@espn.com and follow him on X at @Jake_Trotter.

A UAB football player stabbed two of his teammates Saturday morning at the football facility ahead of the Blazers’ home game against USF, a university spokesperson told ESPN.

The suspect has been arrested, and both injured players are in stable condition after being taken to UAB hospital. The school has not released the names of any of the players involved.

UAB’s game against USF began as scheduled at 3 p.m. ET.

A UAB official said an investigation is ongoing.

“UAB’s top priority remains the safety and well-being of all of our students,” the school said in a statement.

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Sources: Ohio St. to be without WRs Tate, Smith

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10 hours ago

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November 22, 2025

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Sources: Ohio St. to be without WRs Tate, Smith

  • ESPN News Services

Nov 22, 2025, 09:32 AM ET

Ohio State wide receivers Carnell Tate and Jeremiah Smith are not expected to play against Rutgers on Saturday due to lower-body injuries, sources told ESPN’s Pete Thamel.

Tate will miss his third straight game. Smith played in last week’s win over UCLA but missed the second half after being seen limping before halftime. Both are considered day-to-day, sources said, ahead of a potential return next week against rival Michigan.

On Tuesday, coach Ryan Day would not rule out either wide receiver but also did not want to go into specifics on their availability.

“Our policy is we don’t discuss specifics on injuries, and once you start going down a little bit here, a little bit there, you can create a problem,” Day said. “So for a number of reasons, we don’t discuss those things.”

Smith leads the Big Ten and ranks third in the nation with 10 touchdown catches while ranking third in the conference in receiving yards per game (90.2) and second in catches per game (6.9). Tate is fifth in the Big Ten with 88.9 receiving yards per game.

Brandon Inniss started in place of Tate against UCLA and led No. 1 Ohio State with six catches for 30 yards during a 48-10 win.

The 5-5 Scarlet Knights are looking to beat Ohio State for the first time in their 11th try since joining the Big Ten in 2014.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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