Weekday Morning Sports – Thursday 4/6/17

sportsreport

95.7 & 1400 WSJM Sports     @wsjmsports     wsjmsports.com     Thursday, April 06, 2017

MLB – Major League Baseball
Yesterday
Detroit Tigers at Chicago White Sox, PPD
Chicago Cubs at St. Louis Cardinals, PPD

Tigers at White Sox, PPD – Rain postpones Tigers at White Sox game to May
Rain has forced the postponement of Wednesday’s game between the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers. The game will be made up on Friday, May 26 as part of a doubleheader. Rain had also postponed Monday’s season-opener for the two teams. A day later, Justin Verlander struck out 10 to match the most by a Detroit pitcher on opening day since Mickey Lolich in 1970, and the Tigers backed him with three home runs in a 6-3 victory.

Cubs at Cardinals, PPD – Bad weather forecast prompts postponement of Cubs-Cards game
The finale of the three-game, season-opening series between the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs has been postponed. The Cardinals said Wednesday afternoon’s game was pushed back a day with severe weather forecast expected into the evening. The two teams will make up the game this afternoon.

Today
Chicago Cubs (Lackey 0-0) at St. Louis (Lynn 0-0), 1:45 p.m.
Detroit (Boyd 0-0) at Chicago White Sox (Shields 0-0), 2:10 p.m.  WSJM Sports/Cosy-FM 1:45

NHL – National Hockey League
Tonight
Chicago Blackhawks at Anaheim Ducks, 10:00 p.m.

NHL/KHL – Russian Federation wants players back in KHL for Olympics
The Russian Hockey Federation wants as many players as possible back in the Kontinental Hockey League next season in preparation for the Olympics without the NHL. Board chairman Arkady Rotenberg said in a statement Wednesday that the federation will try to keep KHL players from leaving for North America and bring NHL free agents back this summer. He said some Russian players want to go to the Olympics even with an NHL contract. He says that decision is worthy of respect. Washington Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin reiterated Tuesday he plans to represent Russia in the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea despite the NHL announcing it would not participate. Rotenberg said the federation will help players with legal issues so they can play.

NHL – Caps clinch home ice advantage
The Washington Capitals have clinched the NHL’s Presidents’ Trophy for the second straight year by blanking the New York Rangers, 2-0. Braden Holtby picked up his league-leading ninth shutout by turning back 24 shots. Justin Williams and Evgeny Kuznetsov each had a goal and an assist against the Rangers, who rested six regulars as they prepare to take on Montreal in the 1st round.

NBA – National Basketball Association
Last Night
Toronto Raptors 105, Detroit Pistons 102

Raptors 105, Pistons 102 – Kyle Lowry returns, Raptors beat Pistons 105-102
Kyle Lowry had 27 points and 10 assists in his return from a wrist injury and the Toronto Raptors rallied to beat the Detroit Pistons 105-102 on Wednesday night. Back in the lineup after missing 18 games, Lowry helped the Raptors overcame a 20-point first-half deficit. Toronto moved a half-game ahead of the Washington Wizards for third place in the East. Jonas Valanciunas had 11 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter for Detroit, Ish Smith and Tobias Harris had 16 points each, and Cory Joseph added 15. The Pistons dropped to 11th in the conference, three games behind Miami, Chicago and Indiana with four games to play.

Tonight
Chicago Bulls at Philadelphia 76ers, 7:00 p.m.
Milwaukee Bucks at Indiana Pacers, 7:00 p.m.

NCAAHKY – Men’s College Hockey – 2017 Frozen Four
Tonight
United Center, Chicago, IL
(3) Harvard vs. (2) Minnesota-Duluth, 6:00 p.m.               95.7 & 1400 WSJM Sports 5:30
(4) Notre Dame vs. (1) Denver, 9:30 p.m.                           95.7 & 1400 WSJM Sports 9:00

Golf – Masters – No. 1 Johnson injures back, Masters officials deal with bad weather
Wednesday was supposed to be the final practice round at the Masters, but the biggest news coming out of Augusta had to do with the world’s No. 1 golfer. Dustin Johnson was trying to stay immobile Wednesday after taking a serious fall down a staircase at the home he is renting during the Masters. His agent said Johnson landed very hard on his lower back and was treating it with ice and medication. Johnson is scheduled to tee off with the last group on Thursday. One betting house immediately dropped the odds of Johnson winning from 11-2 to a share of the top billing at 7-1 with Jordan Spieth (speeth) and Rory McIlroy. The final Masters practice was suspended early in the afternoon with severe storms bearing down on Augusta National. The weather washed out the popular par 3 contest, two days after the course was forced to close because of heavy rains. Fans were ordered to leave the course as a line of dangerous storms and the threat of tornados swept across the Deep South. The forecast is more promising through the rest of the week, though high winds Thursday and Friday could make the playing conditions challenging.

NFL – Defense rests in Aaron Hernandez’s double-murder trial
The defense has rested its case in the double-murder trial of former NFL star Aaron Hernandez.  Lawyers for Hernandez called their final witnesses without having the ex-New England Patriot testify in his own defense. The former tight end is charged in the fatal shootings of two men after a brief encounter in a Boston nightclub in July 2012. Hernandez already is serving a life sentence in the 2013 killing of semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd.

Olympics – Three more Olympic medals stripped in IOC doping retests
Two wrestlers and a weightlifter have been stripped of Olympic medals for doping at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Games. The International Olympic Committee took away medals won by Uzbek wrestler Artur Taymazov, Ukrainian wrestler Vasyl Fedoryshyn and Russian weightlifter Svetlana Tzarukaeva. Taymazov won gold and Fedoryshyn claimed silver in 2008. Tzarukaeva captured silver in 2012. The IOC reanalyzed more than 1,000 samples from Beijing and London with improved techniques that can detect the use of steroids going back weeks and months, rather than days.

NCAA – Baylor scandal inspires raft of Texas campus assault bills
Texas lawmakers are pushing for tougher sexual assault reporting requirements on college campuses in response to the ongoing investigations into Baylor University’s handling of sexual assault allegations involving its football program. The Legislature convenes every other year and is in session for the first time since the Baylor scandal blew up and led to the firing last year of its successful football coach, Art Briles, and the resignation of its president, Ken Starr.  The nation’s largest Baptist university is facing federal lawsuits from more than a dozen women who contend that school officials ignored or suppressed their sexual assault claims and fostered a culture of rape within the football program. Lawmakers have reacted by proposing a bill that would require school employees and student leaders to immediately relay reports of assaults to the school’s investigations office or face possible criminal charges or expulsion. Other legislation would bar schools from using student conduct code violations to intimidate victims.

MJCAA – Junior College Softball
Today
Lake Michigan College at Kellogg Community College, 3:00 p.m.            (Doubleheader)

AHL – American Hockey League
Last Night
Grand Rapids Griffins 2, Manitoba Moose 1 – OT

ECHL – East Coast Hockey League
Last Night
Toledo Walleye 6, Fort Wayne Komets 1