Hockey people talk about the resiliency of the Golden Knights and Washington Capitals, finalists in a fierce battle for the Stanley Cup. They have nothing on Philipos Melaku-Bello, and it’s not even close.
Ron Kantowski
Sports columnist
Email: rkantowski@reviewjournal.com
Phone: (702) 383-0352
Ron Kantowski is a sports columnist and covers auto racing for the Review-Journal. He has won multiple writing awards and in 2016 was named Nevada Sportswriter of the Year. Prior to beginning a long career in Las Vegas sports journalism, Kantowski attended Western New Mexico University in Silver City, N.M., where he played for the baseball team. He is a native of Whiting, Ind.
If you were sitting among the hockey press corps following Washington’s 3-2 victory over the Golden Knights in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final, you may have noticed similarities between the coaches.
It was the one and only Vegas Grand Prix, and if the 2007 Championship Auto Racing Teams race contested on downtown Las Vegas streets was easily forgotten, one no longer can say the same about the guy who won it.
If Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final was largely a case of Washington giveth and Vegas taketh away, Game 2 was a matter of the Capitals not giving anything more away.
He once went an all-time NHL record of 332 minutes, 1 second without allowing a goal. So if there’s anybody qualified to talk about how red-hot playoff goalies can go tepid, it’s Brian Boucher.
Like leading scorer William Karlsson, Vegas Golden Knights’ good-luck charm Stanley the ceramic rooster has become a successful reclamation project in the team’s quest for the Stanley Cup.
At age 36, Knights defenseman Deryk Engelland is finally realizing a childhood dream of skating in the Stanley Cup Final.
NBC’s Doc Emrick is looking forward to experiencing the roar at T-Mobile Arena as the upstart Golden Knights host the Washington Captials in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.
He was a season-ticket holder for the original Washington Capitals, but Las Vegas resident Arnold Schneider was sporting a Golden Knights cap and golf shirt Friday morning at City National Arena.
Henderson car owner Sam Schmidt and his No. 1 driver, James Hinchcliffe of Canada, again became a major story of Indianapolis 500 qualifications weekend. For the second time, it wasn’t in the way either had hoped.
By now, you’ve probably seen the asterisk or the parentheses, which is how one TV graphic listed the 1967-68 St. Louis Blues in context with the Golden Knights and making it to the Stanley Cup Final as an expansion team.
If it turns out to be Washington against the Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Final, former Las Vegas Thunder general manager Bob Strumm will be pulling for Vegas and thinking of longtime pal Bryan Murray, the former Capitals coach.
Before he served as captain for the inaugural Las Vegas Thunder, Jim Kyte spent seven years manning the blue line for the first iteration of the Winnipeg Jets and played in the first Winnipeg whiteout.
For the second straight year, 19-year-old Riley Herbst has been named to the NASCAR Next list identifying young drivers thought to be on the fast track to stock car racing stardom.
It has been a quarter-century since a Canadian-based franchise has hoisted the Stanley Cup, which has become something of an issue north of the border.