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I wish to cancel my subscription. I have been a hockey fan since I watched my first game in 1986 and I'm sad to leave. But America is not "systemically" or "systematically"(sic) racist. I will not pay to be lectured to about how my country is rotten to the core. I've read with pride how much NHL teams and individual players do to promote equality and diversity in hockey through the "hockey is for everyone" programs and their work in the local communities, for example the Capitals' tireless work with the Fort Dupont program. The NHL has highlighted the cases...

Matt Dumba kneeled during the U.S. national anthem Saturday after vowing that the NHL and the Hockey Diversity Alliance will stand up for justice and against racism. The Minnesota Wild defenseman spoke at center ice at Rogers Place before the Edmonton Oilers faced the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 1 of their best-of-5 series in the 2020 Stanley Cup Qualifiers.

I turned on the Rangers Hurricanes hockey game at 12:00 today expecting to turn it off when the pre-game anthems were played and there were some sort of shenanigans & disrespect shown by players or announcers. Lo and behold to my surprise there was no tomfoolery at all. At least I can now watch hockey which is the sport I like most. Thank you NHL.

BOSTON (CBS) — Brad Marchand’s Wednesday morning in Toronto began with a bang, as the Bruins’ star winger fired off an emotional tweet directed at a Boston Globe reporter. “Are you [expletive] serious Porter?” Marchand tweeted at Boston Globe reporter Matt Porter. “This here is why you are part of the problem.” The tweet came in response to Porter sharing a screen shot of Tuukka Rask being interviewed on NBC Sports while wearing a Boston Police hat. That tweet was attached to another tweet, which shared the statement from Bruins players expressing their plan to lock arms during the national...

Welcome to the Stanley Cup Qualifiers Thread. The 24 teams who will be competing for the Stanley Cup are in their respective hub cities (Toronto for the 12 Eastern Conference teams, Edmonton for the 12 Western Conference teams). Exhibition games started Tuesday and the Stanley Cup Qualifiers begin Saturday.

**SNIP** NHL players from the 24 playoff teams woke up to their new reality Monday in the hub cities of Toronto and Edmonton, Alberta. Quarantined bubble life began with the league reporting zero positive coronavirus test results last week, and this existence away from the public is scheduled to last until the Stanley Cup is awarded in the fall. “We asked our group right from the start just to keep open minds because everything’s going to change, everything’s fluctuating constantly, daily, minutely,” Minnesota coach Dean Evason said. “It’s different. You’ve got a walkway with fences. People can’t see in. You...

Hockey commentator Jeremy Roenick is firing back at NBC Sports, accusing his former employer of discriminating against him for being straight. Roenick was fired by NBC Sports back in February after he made sexually suggestive remarks about colleagues Kathryn Tappen and Patrick Sharp on a podcast. Now Roenick has filed a lawsuit against the network in New York Supreme Court, claiming wrongful termination and discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation, according to our sister site Variety. Roenick’s lawsuit states that figure skating commentator Johnny Weir made “colorful commentary” about skaters’ body parts for NBC Sports during the 2018 Winter...

Round-robin, best-of-5 series begin Aug. 1 in Toronto, EdmontonHere is the day-by-day and series-by-series schedule for the 2020 Stanley Cup Qualifiers. All Eastern Conference games will be played at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto; Western Conference games will be held at Rogers Place in Edmonton. The top four teams in each conference, based on points percentage, will play a three-game round-robin, and the No. 5-12 seeds will play in eight best-of-5 series. The winners of those series will advance to the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the four teams from the round-robin.

Guidelines set for COVID-19 testing with training camps to begin July 13 Phase 3 is scheduled to begin at team facilities July 13. Teams will then travel to two centralized hub cities on July 26 for Phase 4, which is resumption of play, with the Stanley Cup Qualifiers starting Aug. 1. Play will resume with the qualifiers, which will include 16 teams playing eight best-of-5 series and a round-robin among the top four teams in points percentage in each conference to determine seeding for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Here are key questions and answers about the protocols for Phases 3...

The NHL and NHL Players’ Association agreed Sunday on protocols to resume the season, a major step toward the return of hockey this summer. Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly told The Associated Press there was an agreement on protocols for training camps and games and the sides are still negotiating an extension of the collective bargaining agreement, which is crucial to the process. A person with knowledge of the situation said the return-to-play protocols would only go into effect if each side votes to approve the full package of the CBA extension and return-to-play agreement. The person spoke on condition of...

The No. 1 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft will be determined by the Second Phase of the NHL Draft Lottery after the results of the First Phase on Friday. The team will be one of the eight that are eliminated from the Stanley Cup Qualifiers and will be determined by a second drawing to be held before the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Each of the eliminated teams will have a 12.5 percent chance of winning the No. 1 pick. The Los Angeles Kings moved up to the No. 2 pick, and the Ottawa Senators will have the...

Training camps for the 24 NHL teams resuming play will open July 10, the League and NHL Players' Association announced Thursday. "Now everybody can plan what they have to do," Dallas Stars general manager Jim Nill told the Dallas Morning News. "Now the wheels are in motion." Phase 3 of the NHL Return to Play Plan will occur provided that medical and safety conditions allow, and the parties have reached an agreement on resuming play. The length of training camp and the start date for resumption of play (Phase 4) will be determined. "Obviously that's good news for us, having...

“Any quick history lesson about how owners in sports have acted over time, how they’ve interacted with communities and governments and public coffers and everything else will tell you that greed dictates basically whatever they try to do,” Bryant Gumbel bluntly says of the motivation behind leagues like the NFL, NBA, MLB and the NHL to get their players back in action from the coronavirus lockdown of the past two months. “I think they view athletes as commodities to get them to an end,” the host of HBO’s Real Sports added. Never one to play it safe over the 25-seasons...

The NHL announced its Return to Play Plan on Tuesday with the Stanley Cup Playoffs that will include 24 teams. The tournament will begin with a 16-team, eight-series Qualifying Round and a Seeding Round Robin among the top four teams in each conference to determine seeds for the First Round. The NHL paused the regular season March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus and it will not be completed. The 12 qualifying teams from the Eastern and Western conferences were determined by points percentage as of that date. Seven teams did not qualify. "I want to make clear that...

The only hockey players most Americans can name from the top of their heads are Gretzky, Howe, Messier, and Lemieux. I would rate hockey at the lowest of the 4 big sports. Why doesn't it get much attention?

A while ago — the exact year escapes me — I determined that someway, somewhere, in some manner or some fashion, most of us in America had somehow lost our minds. The nation is on tilt of late because we must stay home for a long, long time because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, also known to Alabamians and Georgians as the Don’t Even Think of Messing With the SEC Football Schedule pandemic. Anyway, apparently everyone — and when I say “everyone,” I mean anyone within shouting distance of Skip Bayless or Stephen. A Smith — wants sports back ASAP.*...

Two of the greatest goal-scorers in NHL history will square off in the digital sphere this Wednesday when Wayne Gretzky battles Alex Ovechkin in a best-of-three competition on EA Sports’ NHL 20 game on XBox. “The Great One vs. The Great Eight Showcase” is a fundraiser, with proceeds going to the Edmonton Food Bank and Monumental Sports and Entertainment Foundation’s ‘Feeding the Frontlines’ fund, which provides meals to heroes in the medical community. “This has been an unbelievably exciting opportunity for us to work on,” said MSE’s senior vice president of strategic initiatives, Zach Leonsis. “Not only are the proceeds...

Colby Cave, a forward with the Edmonton Oilers, died Saturday, four days after he had surgery to remove a colloid cyst that was causing pressure on his brain. He was 25. "It is with great sadness to share the news that our Colby Cave passed away early this morning," his wife, Emily, said in a message. "Both our families are in shock, but know our Colby was loved dearly by us, his family and friends, the entire hockey community and many more. We thank everyone for their prayers during this difficult time." Cave was hospitalized after sustaining a brain bleed...

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said Tuesday that the League is exploring every reasonable option for resuming the 2019-20 season and ensuring that it is ready to fully spring into action as soon as the "green light" is given by authorities and medical professionals. "From an NHL standpoint, and I'm sure this is what the other leagues are doing, we're viewing all of our options," Commissioner Bettman said on "Lunch Talk Live" on NBCSN. "We want to be ready to go as soon as we get a green light, and the green light may not be crystal clear because there may...

MONTREAL — Canadian hockey equipment manufacturer Bauer is offering to modify its production line to make protective visors for doctors, nurses and first responders. The protective equipment to help deal with the COVID-19 pandemic would be produced at the company’s innovation centre in Blainville, Que., as well as its facility in Liverpool, NY. Bauer’s vice-president of product innovation, Dan Bourgeois, said he’s received interest about the proposal from Montreal police, firefighters and hospitals. "We say we’re a protective company … Then why aren’t we starting to (make) protection for our doctors, nurses, hospitals, and their needs?" Bourgeois said, adding the...