By JOSH HELLER
Staff Writer
1. Sanchez Lands on Disabled List
After some huge expectations for 2017, Yankees star rookie Gary Sanchez has hit the disabled list, just five games into the season.
Sanchez left Saturday’s game against the Orioles with a right bicep strain. This came when Sanchez fouled off a pitch in the fifth inning. He grimaced in pain, which brought the trainers onto the field, and Sanchez exited. He was quickly replaced by Austin Romine.
With his spot on the 10-day DL, Sanchez will miss a minimum of nine games. Manager Joe Girardi said the team will be very cautious with the 24-year-old, since his right arm is his throwing arm.
Sanchez was best known for his bat last season (20 home runs and a .299 average in 53 games), but he was also known for his cannon of an arm, throwing out 13 of 19 base-stealers in 2016. Sanchez was off to a bit of a slow start this season, going just three for 20.
In Sanchez’s absence, Romine will take over the bulk of the starting duties, while catching prospect Kyle Higashioka was called up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, and will fill the backup catcher role.
2. Westbrook Clinches Triple-Double Average
After a near triple-double against the Suns on Friday, Russell Westbrook has become just the second player ever to average a triple-double over the course of a season.
In Friday’s game, Westbrook put up 23 points, 12 rebounds, and eight assists. He needed just six assists in that game to gather 820 on the season, so he eclipsed that mark and secured the record.
Westbrook joins Oscar Robertson back in 1961-62, when Robertson averaged 30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds, and 11.4 assists per-game. Westbrook, meanwhile, is averaging almost 32 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists per-game.
After the Thunder’s 21-point loss to the Suns, Westbrook worked on his shooting at the Suns’ facility for about an hour, after shooting just six-for-25 in the game.
Westbrook’s triple-doubles not only showed off just how good he is, but how necessary he is to the Thunder. Oklahoma City’s winning percentage in games where Westbrook had a triple-double was .780, while their percentage without was just .342.
Westbrook helped to lead a Thunder team widely viewed as mediocre to a playoff spot, and a confirmed first-round matchup with fellow MVP candidate James Harden and the Rockets.
It’s going to be a race to finish for the MVP honor, and both Harden and Westbrook have put together amazing campaigns. Needless to say, it’s going to be a fun playoff matchup between the two.
3. Falcons Extend Trufant
The Super Bowl runners-up made sure the strong point of their defense stayed strong, extending cornerback Desmond Trufant for five years.
Trufant, a star on defense for the Falcons last year, signed a $69 million extension that keeps the star in Atlanta. Trufant was set to hit the free agent
market in 2018.
Although he missed the team’s run to the Super Bowl, Trufant played in nine regular season games last season, forcing two fumbles and intercepting one pass. He was a Pro Bowler just two seasons ago.
Trufant, 26, was the 22nd overall pick back in 2013, and is now paid as one of the league’s top cornerbacks, with the likes of Josh Norman, Patrick Peterson, and Joe Haden.
The Falcons extended Trufant’s fellow cornerback Robert Alford to a four-year extension back in December, so the team has locked up their pass defense for years to come.
The Falcons look like a favorite to repeat in the N.F.C. South, after going 11-5 last season, and winning the wide-open division by two games.
The Buccaneers finished second last season, and made notable offseason-addition Desean Jackson. The Saints and Panthers, meanwhile, had disappointing 2016 seasons, but it would not shock many to see them contend for the division once again.
4. U.S. Women Win World Championship
Less than one month after declaring their boycott from playing, the United States women’s hockey team defeated Canada in overtime to take home the I.I.H.F. World Championship.
The U.S. came into this tournament as the four-time defending champion. They curb-stomped Germany 11-0 in the semi-finals to advance to the championship.
In the final, the U.S. and Canada were tied for most of the first period and all of the second, until Kacey Bellamy scored 42 seconds into the third to give the Americans a 2-1 lead. Brianne Jenner of Canada scored at the midway point to tie the game.
Halfway through overtime, Kendall Coyne made a brilliant pass to American star Hilary Knight, and she scored to win the game, and the title. It was the Americans’ seventh title in the last eight years.
This was not only a huge win on the ice for the U.S., but especially off it. The Americans proved to be the best women’s hockey team in the world, and they almost didn’t get paid.
It was also a bit of justice for the Americans. In the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, U.S.A. blew a 2-0 late-third period lead over Canada. With time ticking down, Canada pulled their goalie, and the U.S. shot it towards the empty net, but hit the post.
The Canadians then scored with less than a minute remaining to send the game to overtime, where the Canadian women won their fourth straight Olympic gold medal.
With that memory still pretty fresh in their minds, the American women not only won the world championships, but they won the respect of many hockey fans around the globe, and showed the world that they fought for what was right.
5. Bickell Retires from NHL
After a tough season in Carolina, three-time Stanley Cup champion and former Blackhawk Bryan Bickell announced his retirement.
Bickell was traded to Carolina along with promising youngster Teuvo Teravainen back in June, as a part of a salary-dump for Chicago.
In November, Bickell was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. This kept him out for almost all of the season. Bickell played a conditioning stint in the AHL before being called back up to the big leagues. He played in two games, and announced that he would retire at the end of the season.
Bickell has been receiving monthly treatments since his diagnosis. He scored once for Carolina before the M.S. was announced. Bickell practiced with the team in January, and gathered one goal and three assists in the AHL in February.
Bickell will be known as the big grinder on those Stanley Cup-winning Blackhawks teams, and the player who kicked off the famous “17 Seconds” stretch in Game 6 of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final, where the Blackhawks tied the game (Bickell) and took the lead (Dave Bolland) over the Boston Bruins with nearly a minute to go.
Bickell is not the only NHLer to be diagnosed with M.S. in recent years. Former Wild goalie Josh Harding was diagnosed prior to 2013, and played in a few games that season before having to retire due to the disease.
Bickell, 31, steps away from the game with almost 70 goals and about 70 assists in nearly 400 games played.
