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Knights are Stanley Cup champions
The Vegas Golden Knights win their first Stanley Cup by demolishing the Florida Panthers, 9-3, in Game 5 at home.
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1. Knights are Stanley Cup champions
The Vegas Golden Knights win their first Stanley Cup by demolishing the Florida Panthers, 9-3, in Game 5 at home. The Sporting Tribune’s Steve Carp has more from the scene inside T-Mobile Arena.
Prophecy fulfilled.
Long before the Vegas Golden Knights were a team, had a nickname, a logo and an identity, Bill Foley was asked what his expectations were for his would-be NHL team that he hoped to own?
His answer was direct and succinct.
“Playoffs in three seasons, Cup in six,” he said, referring to the Stanley Cup.
Nostradamus has nothing on Foley. The man who brought major league professional sports to Southern Nevada in 2016 was spot on as his Golden Knights captured the franchise’s first Stanley Cup championship in their sixth season, culminating a remarkable run Tuesday with a convincing 9-3 win over the Eastern Conference champion Florida Panthers and taking the series in five games in front of 19,058, the largest home crowd in team history.
2. Top 5 titles won in Southern Nevada
The Vegas Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup but UNLV's national title will always be the biggest Las Vegas championship for The Sporting Tribune's W.G. Ramirez.
In the aftermath of the Vegas Golden Knights destroying the Florida Panthers 9-3 to win the Stanley Cup, I was still feeling a bit proud of the fact I've now covered two Las Vegas major professional championship teams in less than one year.
Roughly eight months after the Las Vegas Aces won the 2022 WNBA title, the Golden Knights are the freshly crowned champions of hockey, delivering the prized silver chalice in the franchise's sixth year of existence -- exactly how owner Bill Foley predicted.
As Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final approached on Tuesday, it got me thinking about the championships won by Southern Nevada teams, dynasties over the years at every level - from Little League to high school, to UNLV, to now pro sports - and what has the biggest been.
3. The Dodgers win 5-1 to open the series against White Sox
A wire-to-wire victory for the Dodgers was led by Tony Gonsolin, writes The Sporting Tribune’s Grant Mona.
A series that the Dodgers need to get back on track, and they get it done in the opener. From the get go, it was clear the Dodgers had intentions to change their fortunes around, with Will Smith and David Peralta both hitting 2 run home runs.
After taking a 5-0 lead, the Dodgers did not really get much going after that for the rest of the game, but that didn’t matter. Tony Gonsolin was excellent tonight (6 IP and 6 K’s), as he has been all year for a staff that absolutely needs him.
He lowered his ERA to 1.93 and is now 4-1, which puts him around the level he was last year, where he had his best year as a pro. It didn’t stop there for the staff however as they just passed the baton on to each other. Caleb Ferguson, Evan Phillips, Taylor Scott, and Brusdar Graterol only allowed 1 run combined for the rest of the game, and that was all she wrote.
4. Chargers CB J.C. Jackson nearing return from injury
Chargers CB J.C. Jackson says he expects to be ready for training camp, writes The Sporting Tribune’s Fernando Ramirez.
It has been seven months since Chargers cornerback J.C. Jackson left SoFi Stadium on a cart.
He had surgery on his right knee to repair a ruptured patellar tendon. He has slowly been returning to action.
The Chargers started mini-camp on Tuesday, but Jackson worked on the sideline while continuing to get back.
"I wouldn't put a percentage on it," Jackson said. "But I'm getting there. I'm almost to where I want to be."
Jackson has posted videos on his Instagram page during the offseason to show his progress.
First, it was a video of lifting to running on a zero gravity treadmill to now drills on the field.
"There wasn't no offseason for me. I've been grinding," Jackson said.
5. Crawford, Spence Jr. hold Los Angeles press conference before July 29 bout
Crawford and Spence kickoff back-to-back days of press conferences in Beverly Hills prior to their mega fight in Las Vegas, writes The Sporting Tribune’s Gabriel Ornelas.
Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr. will unify the welterweight belts on Saturday July 29, but not without some verbal sparring first.
The two fighters kicked off what is to be back-to-back days of press conferences, with the first being Tuesday in Los Angeles at The Beverly Hills Hotel.
The road to this bout has been nothing short of long and grueling for both camps. During the course of 2022, the fight was close to being finalized but negotiations constantly broke down and the fight couldn’t be finalized until this year.
“It doesn’t matter what took so long, all that matters is we here now,” Crawford said. “I’m excited, everybody else excited.”
6. Sparks finish mini-road trip against the Dallas Wings
The Sparks have a chance to go back above .500 with a win over the Wings, writes The Sporting Tribune’s Rey Moralde.
The Los Angeles Sparks stand with a .500 record at 4-4. They could easily be 6-2 but blown leads on the road have prevented them from that. Their last two games on the road have not been great as they lost a 21-point lead against Seattle and then their 11-point lead in the fourth quarter was erased by the Minnesota Lynx last Sunday.
But there's not much they can do about that now. They move on to the next game on the road. The Sparks head into Dallas, Texas for a date with the 5-4 Wings. An early afternoon game, in fact (Dallas time, that is; it would be a 10 AM game here in Los Angeles!).
When you think Dallas Wings, you think of all-world scorer Arike Ogunbowale. She's not shooting her best at three right now but she can easily explode for a game like she did against the Mercury last Friday. Arike put up 35 against them. So the Sparks will no doubt concentrate on limiting her. Ogunbowale is currently averaging 22.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, 4.6 assists, and 1.6 steals a game.
7. Odds and Ends presented by Circa Sports
Here are some odds at Circa Sports if you’re thinking about placing a wager today:
8. Ticket Time presented by TickPick
Here are the “get in” prices for tickets if you’re thinking about going to a game today.
6:40 p.m. – Guardians at Padres – $43
7:00 p.m. – White Sox at Dodgers – $19
7:30 p.m. – Dynamo at LAFC – $29
9. On the Air presented by The D Las Vegas
Here are the game times and television channels for professional teams in the region today.
10:00 a.m. – Sparks at Wings – NBA TV
5:00 p.m. – Angels at Rangers – Bally Sports West
6:40 p.m. – Guardians at Padres – Bally Sports San Diego
7:00 p.m. – White Sox at Dodgers – ESPN
7:30 p.m. – Dynamo at LAFC – Apple TV
10. The Arash Markazi Show presented by The Sporting Tribune
The Sporting Tribune’s Arash Markazi is joined by Brandon Deutsch and Ji Hae Wiley to talk about the Denver Nuggets closing out the Miami Heat to win the NBA championship in five games. They were 16-4 during the playoffs, one of the best postseason runs in league history and are favored by Las Vegas to win the championship again next season. Could this be the start of a dynasty in Denver?
Listen to The Arash Markazi Show presented by The Sporting Tribune on The Mightier 1090 ESPN Radio in Southern California, 98.5 The Bet in Las Vegas and the Hawaii Sports Radio Network 95.1 FM and 760 AM in Hawaii. You can also listen to the show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Play and Stitcher.
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That’s it for today. Talk to you tomorrow!