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New documentary on Christa McAuliffe explores the ‘power of ordinary people achieving extraordinary things’
The Los Angeles Galaxy will aim to complete one of the most remarkable transformations in Major League Soccer history on Saturday when they host the New York Red Bulls chasing a record-extending sixth MLS Cup crown. A year ago, the California franchise had hit rock bottom, plummeting to their worst ever regular season record to finish one place off the bottom of the Western Conference. The team that had once been a home to the likes of David Beckham, Steven Gerrard and Zlatan Ibrahimovic were engulfed in crisis, with fans boycotting fixtures after nearly a decade of failure on the field. Moreover, the Galaxy's status as one of MLS's glamour clubs had been diminished by the arrival of Lionel Messi at Inter Miami, as well as the emergence of city rivals Los Angeles FC, winners of the MLS Cup in 2022. The febrile atmosphere at the Galaxy prompted team ownership to shake up their front office, with Will Kuntz appointed general manager to replace long-time predecessor Chris Klein, who was fired in May 2023. The turnaround since those changes has been dramatic. After winning just eight fixtures in the 2023 season, the Galaxy under head coach Greg Vanney won a record-equalling 19 games this season to finish joint top of the table, second only to leaders LAFC on goal difference. The Galaxy kept up their winning ways in the postseason, swatting aside Colorado 9-1 on aggregate to wrap up their first round series, before thrashing Minnesota United 6-2 and then squeezing past Seattle 1-0 last weekend. Those results have left the club on the threshold of a first MLS Cup title since 2014 and a record sixth championship overall. Victory in Saturday's showpiece in Carson would be especially sweet for Vanney, who appeared in three MLS Cup finals with the Galaxy as a player in 1996, 1999 and 2001 -- and lost all three. Reflecting on his team's journey to this year's final, Vanney said this week his team had thrived under the pressure of being expected to challenge for silverware. "The expectation is to be in games like this, to win trophies and win championships," Vanney said. "This group has come out and attacked it from day one and hasn't been afraid of it or in awe of it -- and that's one of the beauties of this group. "I'm excited for this group and this opportunity and now the objective is to win it and put the stamp on it, rewriting a new group of players and new legacy for this organisation." Vanney's task has become more complicated by an injury to star midfielder Riqui Puig, who suffered torn knee ligaments in last week's Western Conference final win over Seattle and will miss Saturday's game. "He's the ultimate competitor," Vanney said. "He wants to win, compete, and take responsibility on the field. He drives the team in so many ways. "We're going to have to adapt, and we're going to have to adapt in a collective way." The Galaxy meanwhile will be wary of a New York Red Bulls line-up that have ripped up the form book en route to the final. After finishing seventh in the Eastern Conference -- 27 points behind leaders Inter Miami -- the Red Bulls stunned reigning champions Columbus in the first round of the playoffs before wins on the road over rivals New York City FC and Orlando to book their place in their first MLS Cup since 2008. New York's Scotland international midfielder Lewis Morgan says the team is unfazed by Saturday's assignment in Los Angeles. "For me, it doesn't really matter where it is: it's playoff football," Morgan said this week. "It's not the regular season. These games are more cagey. You go 1-0 up, we defend a little bit deeper and we're relying on guys at the back. There have been massive performances." rcw/bb
Blackhawks fire coach Luke Richardson in his 3rd season after league-worst start
Jimmy Carter had the longest post-presidency of anyone to hold the office, and one of the most active. Here is a look back at his life. 1924 — Jimmy Carter was born on Oct. 1 to Earl and Lillian Carter in the small town of Plains, Georgia. 1928 — Earl Carter bought a 350-acre farm 3 miles from Plains in the tiny community of Archery. The Carter family lived in a house on the farm without running water or electricity. 1941 — He graduated from Plains High School and enrolled at Georgia Southwestern College in Americus. 1942 — He transferred to Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. 1943 — Carter’s boyhood dream of being in the Navy becomes a reality as he is appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. 1946 — He received his naval commission and on July 7 married Rosalynn Smith of Plains. They moved to Norfolk, Virginia. 1946-1952 — Carter’s three sons are born, Jack in 1947, Chip in 1950 and Jeff in 1952. 1962-66 — Carter is elected to the Georgia State Senate and serves two terms. 1953 — Carter’s father died and he cut his naval career short to save the family farm. Due to a limited income, Jimmy, Rosalynn and their three sons moved into Public Housing Apartment 9A in Plains. 1966 — He ran for governor, but lost. 1967 — Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter’s fourth child, Amy, is born. 1971 — He ran for governor again and won the election, becoming Georgia’s 76th governor on Jan. 12. 1974 — Carter announced his candidacy for president. 1976 — Carter was elected 39th president on Nov. 2, narrowly defeating incumbent Gerald Ford. 1978 — U.S. and the Peoples’ Republic of China establish full diplomatic relations. President Carter negotiates and mediates an accord between Egypt and Israel at Camp David. 1979 — The Department of Education is formed. Iranian radicals overrun the U.S. Embassy and seize American hostages. The Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty is signed. 1980 — On March 21, Carter announces that the U.S. will boycott the Olympic Games scheduled in Moscow. A rescue attempt to get American hostages out of Iran is unsuccessful. Carter was defeated in his bid for a second term as president by Ronald Reagan in November. 1981 — President Carter continues to negotiate the release of the American hostages in Iran. Minutes before his term as president is over, the hostages are released. 1982 — Carter became a distinguished professor at Emory University in Atlanta, and founded The Carter Center. The nonpartisan and nonprofit center addresses national and international issues of public policy. 1984 — Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter volunteer one week a year for Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit organization that helps needy people in the United States and in other countries renovate and build homes, until 2020. He also taught Sunday school in the Maranatha Baptist Church of Plains from the mid-’80s until 2020. 2002 — Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. 2015 — Carter announced in August he had been diagnosed with melanoma that spread to his brain. 2016 — He said in March that he no longer needed cancer treatment. 2024 — Carter dies at 100 years old. Sources: Cartercenter.org, Plains Historical Preservation Trust, The Associated Press; The Brookings Institution; U.S. Navy; WhiteHouse.gov, GallupNEW YORK (AP) — Greg Gumbel, a longtime CBS sportscaster, has died from cancer, according to a statement from family released by CBS on Friday. He was 78. “He leaves behind a legacy of love, inspiration and dedication to over 50 extraordinary years in the sports broadcast industry; and his iconic voice will never be forgotten,” his wife Marcy Gumbel and daughter Michelle Gumbel said in a statement. In March, Gumbel missed his first NCAA Tournament since 1997 due to what he said at the time were family health issues. Gumbel was the studio host for CBS since returning to the network from NBC in 1998. Gumbel signed an extension with CBS last year that allowed him to continue hosting college basketball while stepping back from NFL announcing duties. In 2001, he announced Super Bowl XXXV for CBS, becoming the first Black announcer in the U.S. to call play-by-play of a major sports championship. David Berson, president and CEO of CBS Sports, described Greg Gumbel as breaking barriers and setting standards for others during his years as a voice for fans in sports, including in the NFL and March Madness. “A tremendous broadcaster and gifted storyteller, Greg led one of the most remarkable and groundbreaking sports broadcasting careers of all time,” said Berson. Gumbel had two stints at CBS, leaving the network for NBC when it lost football in 1994 and returning when it regained the contract in 1998. He hosted CBS’ coverage of the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympics and called Major League Baseball games during its four-year run broadcasting the national pastime. But it was football and basketball where he was best known and made his biggest impact. Gumbel hosted CBS’ NFL studio show, “The NFL Today” from 1990 to 1993 and again in 2004. He also called NFL games as the network’s lead play-by-play announcer from 1998 to 2003, including Super Bowl XXXV and XXXVIII. He returned to the NFL booth in 2005, leaving that role after the 2022 season.NEW YORK (AP) — Greg Gumbel, a longtime CBS sportscaster, has died from cancer, according to a statement from family released by CBS on Friday. He was 78. “He leaves behind a legacy of love, inspiration and dedication to over 50 extraordinary years in the sports broadcast industry; and his iconic voice will never be forgotten,” his wife Marcy Gumbel and daughter Michelle Gumbel said in a statement. In March, Gumbel missed his first NCAA Tournament since 1997 due to what he said at the time were family health issues. Gumbel was the studio host for CBS since returning to the network from NBC in 1998. Gumbel signed an extension with CBS last year that allowed him to continue hosting college basketball while stepping back from NFL announcing duties. In 2001, he announced Super Bowl XXXV for CBS, becoming the first Black announcer in the U.S. to call play-by-play of a major sports championship. David Berson, president and CEO of CBS Sports, described Greg Gumbel as breaking barriers and setting standards for others during his years as a voice for fans in sports, including in the NFL and March Madness. “A tremendous broadcaster and gifted storyteller, Greg led one of the most remarkable and groundbreaking sports broadcasting careers of all time,” said Berson. Gumbel had two stints at CBS, leaving the network for NBC when it lost football in 1994 and returning when it regained the contract in 1998. He hosted CBS’ coverage of the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympics and called Major League Baseball games during its four-year run broadcasting the national pastime. But it was football and basketball where he was best known and made his biggest impact. Gumbel hosted CBS’ NFL studio show, “The NFL Today” from 1990 to 1993 and again in 2004. He also called NFL games as the network’s lead play-by-play announcer from 1998 to 2003, including Super Bowl XXXV and XXXVIII. He returned to the NFL booth in 2005, leaving that role after the 2022 season.
WASHINGTON — A ninth U.S. telecoms firm has been confirmed to have been hacked as part of a sprawling Chinese espionage campaign that gave officials in Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans, a top White House official said Friday. Biden administration officials said this month that at least eight telecommunications companies, as well as dozens of nations, had been affected by the Chinese hacking blitz known as Salt Typhoon. But deputy national security adviser Anne Neuberger told reporters Friday that a ninth victim had been identified after the administration released guidance to companies about how to hunt for Chinese culprits in their networks. The update from Neuberger is the latest development in a massive hacking operation that has alarmed national security officials, exposed cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the private sector and laid bare China’s hacking sophistication. Hackers Attacked Telecommunication Networks The hackers compromised the networks of telecommunications companies to obtain customer call records and gain access to the private communications of what officials have said is a a limited number of individuals. Though the FBI has not publicly identified any of the victims, officials believe senior U.S. government officials and prominent political figures are among those whose whose communications were accessed. Neuberger said Friday that officials did not yet have a precise sense how many Americans overall were affected by Salt Typhoon, in part because the Chinese were careful about their techniques, but that a “large number” were in the Washington-Virginia area. Officials believe the goal of the hackers was to identify who owned the phones and, if they were “government targets of interest,” spy on their texts and phone calls, she said. The FBI said most of the people targeted by the hackers are “primarily involved in government or political activity.” Neuberger said the episode highlighted the need for required cybersecurity practices in the telecommunications industry, something the Federal Communications Commission is to take up at a meeting next month. In addition, she said, the government was planning additional actions in coming weeks in response to the hacking campaign, though she did not say what they were. “We know that voluntary cyber security practices are inadequate to protect against China, Russia and Iran hacking of our critical infrastructure,” she said. The Chinese government has denied responsibility for the hacking.Sportscaster Greg Gumbel dies from cancer at age 78
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info Ever since he beat Mark Warburton's newly-promoted Rangers 5-1 in 2016, Brendan Rodgers has relished almost every minute of his personal Old Firm story. Over his two spells in charge of Celtic the Irishman has overseen 15 wins and just a solitary defeat in 19 games against their rivals. It's little wonder then that he insists he will never get fed up with a fixture that ultimately defines the stature and success of any Celtic or Rangers manager. As Rodgers prepares for his 20th Old Firm showdown in Sunday's Premier Sports Cup final, he admits he just can't get enough of the experience. He said: "It's more excitement that I feel going into these games. I know what it means to people and we have a number of these games throughout the season. You never get tired of them or bored of them. They are incredible games to be involved in. It's such an iconic fixture throughout the world. "So to have the possibility to have maybe four, five, six of them in the season is absolutely amazing. They are all challenges but this is what we're built for. The tougher the challenge then that is what we relish. (Image: Russell Cheyne/Reuters) "I'd say it's not any other game. It's an iconic game, an amazing game for everyone to be involved in. But then there comes a point when you have to really focus in on the process because that's ultimately what allows you to win such a great game. "So that's more what the slant is on. The game is special. The game is an incredible game to be involved in – the atmosphere, the tension. People want tickets from everywhere to go to the game so that's not lost on me. "But from a coaching and managerial perspective it's then what allows you to perform and what allows us to stay calm, to look at our tactical idea within the game and how we then pitch that to the players so they can go and play. In the...Please enable JavaScript to read this content. Raila Odinga, whose bid to become Kenya’s president failed five times, may soon have a better alternative and finally bestride the whole of Africa. If he’s lucky this time around and everything goes according to plan, he will this coming February walk in the light of the grandiose halls of the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa as the new chairman of the continent. Such a win, which is at this point a possibility, not a certainty, would be Raila’s redeeming victory and could serve as the capstone to his long career. Raila’s leadership will also be a win for Kenya and for President William Ruto, whose government has rallied behind his candidacy in the stiff contest over the continent’s top seat. President William Ruto has officially endorsed Raila ‘as the most suitable person’ to become African Union’s chairman. He said he is ‘confident that he (Raila) will give his utmost and do all it takes to make Africa proud and powerful’. He called him the ‘most capable steward’. Ruto lauded Raila as a ‘visionary Pan-African, a bold and wise leader, a professional and technocrat, as well as a towering statesman and veteran mobiliser for positive change’. He said his government ‘unreservedly’ lines up behind Raila, whom he said ‘posses the requisite credentials’ and was committed to supporting his candidacy, vision and his leadership ‘wholeheartedly’. Raila’s good chance Other government officials were also effusive in their praise for Raila’s capacity to shepherd the continent. Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi who doubles up as the Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Cabinet Secretary, described Raila a ‘peacemaker’ and ‘one of our most celebrated sons’. Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Singoei said there was no better name (in Kenya) to present to Africa than Raila. Despite the prevailing national self-flagellation and the unstinting critique by some online users about Raila’s AU candidacy, the team running the campaign for the opposition leader, who is also the East African region’s candidate, is optimistic. At least 20 countries are already considered as ‘very likely’ to vote for him and efforts to win over another 20 are in high gear, said Ambassador Elkanah Odembo, who co-chairs the campaign secretariat with Singoei. “Our goal is to secure the two-thirds majority (required to win the seat) in the first round of the voting,” he told The Standard . A candidate has to get 34 votes to win. Odembo said he couldn’t name the countries that are sympathetic to Raila because the February vote would be cast in a secret ballot by the continent’s heads of state. Stay informed. Subscribe to our newsletter But, there’s are early good signs, although it’s too early to draw conclusions and many things can change in the last minute. President William Ruto said the island nation of Mauritius, which initially fielded its own candidate, had ‘confirmed’ its support for Kenya’s candidate, Raila. Port Louis has since written to the AU’s Office of Legal Council in Addis to say that it no longer supports its candidate, but there was no confirmed information whether it had in fact withdrawn its candidate, Odembo said. Mauritius’s support came after President Ruto held a telephone conversation with the newly elected Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam. What happens in coming weeks, however, will be crucial. Fawzia Yusuf Adam, former Foreign Affairs minister of Somalia, who quit the race for AU Commission chair and declared her support for Raila Odinga, pledged to use her networks to ensure the former Prime Minister wins the contest on first round of voting. [File, Standard] Public debate On Friday, December 13, Raila is expected to take part in a public debate that the AU is hosting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The remaining candidates for the chairperson position, Djibouti’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mahamoud Ali Youssouf and Madagascar’s Richard Randriamandrato, were invited to the debate, which will be moderated by African journalists and broadcast live on public TV stations in all the 54 member states of the African Union. The debate will be translated into six languages spoken in the continent. The Kenyan campaign team “is upbeat, but it’s leaving nothing to chance,” said Odembo, admitting that one of the challenges facing Raila is reaching voters, who are in this case the heads of state. “It is all very labor intensive and requires a lot of travels,” he said. Raila has recently visited six countries in West Africa to seek their support. The foreign trip was a part of a grueling schedule he has been keeping since he officially announced his desire to vie for the AU’s chairmanship earlier this year. According to Odembo, Raila spends between two to six hours at his AU campaign office getting updates, making calls to various influencers around the continent and conferring with members of his 16-member advisory council. In a departure from Kenya’s 2017 AU campaign that was faulted for its poor strategy and little knowledge of the continent’s complexities, Raila’s team is tapping into the expertise of local and foreign experts, including Mahboub Maalim, former executive secretary of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), former AU chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Kenya’s former Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs and former candidate for the AU chairperson, Amina Mohamed, Somalia’s former Foreign Minister Fauzia Yusuf Haji Aden, a one time Raila’s rival for the AU position, and Frederic Ngoga, AU’s senior adviser on international partnerships. “We take this assignment very seriously and have entrusted it to our most capable steward,” Ruto said during the unveiling of Raila Odinga’s candidacy at State House on August 27. Ruto said Raila embodied ‘extensive experience and deep understanding of both African affairs and global dynamics, which are crucial for leading the African Union further into the centre of the global affairs and closer to the hearts of the African people’. “Our East African region, which is home to more than 500 million people rightly considers this moment to be its turn to offer leadership on the basis of the principle of inter-regional rotation,” said President Ruto. Raila’s campaign secretariat is made up of officials drawn from the office of the president, foreign affairs ministry and his own advisers. Ruto said this ‘pan-African moment’ must define the member states’ collective capacity to solve Africa’s various crises and turn its potential into ‘engines of sustainable growth and inclusive prosperity for present and future generations’. Ruto has a personal reason to root for Raila. A Raila chairmanship will be a windfall for him, as it will take the opposition supremo out of contention for the 2027 elections, which Ruto is certain to vie for. Raila could also bequeath his supporters to Ruto, although the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) has recently said it would field its own candidates in all elective positions. Any new AU chairman will have the daunting task of tackling Africa’s multifarious ills: Poverty, debilitating debt, insecurity, poor education and lack of access to electricity and proper health, among others. According to World Bank figures, the number of people living in extreme poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa has increased by almost 200 million, rising from 282 million in 1990 to 464 million in 2024, with Burundi and Malawi, for instance, suffering extreme poverty levels that are above 60 per cent. The bank says 40 per cent or more of the population is deprived of access to electricity and sanitation. For its part, the African Development Bank said in its 2024 report that around 85 per cent of the continent’s 1.4 billion people either live in or share land borders with a conflict-affected country, and key drivers of fragility—abject poverty, youth unemployment, and adverse climate change effects are increasing across the continent. To fix Africa’s problems, the continental body came up with Agenda 2063, whose aim is to transform Africa into a global powerhouse through inclusive social and sustainable economic development, continental integration, democratic governance and peace and security, among other issues. Ruto has a personal reason to root for Raila. A Raila chairmanship will be a windfall for him, as it will take the opposition supremo out of contention for the 2027 elections, which Ruto is certain to vie for. New dynamics in Africa Raila’s candidacy is facing its biggest threat from the Djiboutian candidate who has the backing of Muslim and Arab countries in the continent. He is likely to benefit from the new dynamics in Africa, where pan-Africanism is increasing and attempts to shed the legacies of the past, which has so far toppled several governments in West Africa, a stark contrast to a time when Europeans, especially the UK and France, deeply influenced internal and external affairs of African states. “In the honorable Raila, we have a compact and complete leadership package that is founded on teamwork, boldness in decision making, pan-Africanism and responsiveness to the collective and unique aspirations of each member state of the African Union,” Mudavadi told AU’s permanent representatives and international partners at a luncheon held in Addis Ababa. Raila’s vision for Africa In a speech during the launch of his manifesto in Addis Ababa, the seat of the AU, Raila talked of unity, open skies, reliable infrastructure, agricultural transformation, empowering youth and women, and making free trade in the continent a reality. He also promised to implement decisions made by African leaders during their summits, which is currently a bureaucratic talking shop where resolutions are hardly acted upon. “I can tell you without fear of contradiction that 93 per cent of these resolutions, which are passed here are never implemented,” Raila told diplomats and other dignitaries, vowing that he would make sure that they are ‘properly implemented’. Raila said he would push for the removal of aerial barriers in Africa, where each country has its own air control and travel through the continent is more expensive than it’s in Europe. “In Africa, you have to wait days to be given a clearance,” he said, recounting two instances when he was held up in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, for hours to get a clearance from several countries before he could fly to his destinations. “These are self-imposed restrictions on our continent,” he said, adding that removing the intra-Africa air restrictions is a ‘lower hanging fruit’ that could be harvested ‘without a problem’. He said these barriers in Africa ‘make us look stupid’. “Europe has become a village. Why can’t we do that in Africa?” he posed, pledging to introduce an Africa-wide visa, like the Schengen visa in Europe. He termed Africa’s youth the ‘biggest asset’ in the continent, where about 70 per cent of its population is below the age of 25. “This can be an asset or can be a challenge,” he sai, adding, “Because if the youth are not empowered, they can become a drag on the economy. They become drug addicts.” Raila said he would put the youth at the center of his policies and make them the force driving change and innovation. “It’s a big shame that we’re losing young, energetic people because of poverty in our continent,” said Raila,79. The solution lies in creating proper economic opportunities inside the continent, so that the youth could stay in their countries, he said. “I envision a continent whose progress is driven by its own people,” Raila said, urging Africans to ‘imagine Africa as a continent bursting with potential and brimming with possibilities’. The chairperson is the AU’s CEO, who’s also the body’s legal representative and the Commission’s chief accounting officer, is elected by the Assembly for a four-year term, renewable once. He has the power to appoint and manage the Commission’s staff and acts as the depository for all AU and OAU treaties and legal instruments. “Africa’s unity is sacred to me. We must return unity to the top of our priorities, as Tanzania’s Julius Mwalimu Nyerere, and Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah did,” Raila said. “Without unity in a fast-consolidating and changing world, Africa will continue to be marginalised, exploited and irrelevant,” he continued. He said Africa is ‘the richest continent on Earth in terms of strategic materials, but the paradox is that the richest in terms of resources is the poorest in terms of living conditions of its people’. “This is what we need to change so that the African people can be rich people,” he said. An economically transformed continent should be ‘thriving on the richness of its resources’ to become a powerhouse of global trade, he said. Raila said he is an Afro-optimist and believes that Africa can’t be developed by foreigners, who usually come to invest to make money. The energy and brains of African people can only develop Africa, he said. “Africa has the knowledge and ability to turn all this wealth into prosperity and to leverage its people and make them rich and powerful and claim the 21st century as the Africa century,” he said. If elected for the position of the chairmanship of the African Union Commission, Raila said, he’s committed to turning this vision into a reality.
Quinn Hughes is on pace to go where only Paul Reinhart has gone before with the Vancouver Canucks . Reinhart is the lone defenceman to lead the Canucks in scoring in a season, thanks to his 57 points, including 17 goals, in 1989-90. This current version of the Canucks plays their 35th game of the campaign Saturday afternoon against the Seattle Kraken, and Hughes leads the team in points with 42, including eight goals. Centre Elias Pettersson (10-18-28) and wingers Conor Garland (8-19-27) and Jake DeBrusk (15-10-25) are next in line in the points column for the Rogers Arena crew. Hughes didn’t practice with the club on Friday due to an undisclosed injury. Pettersson was also missing. Coach Rick Tocchet is listing both as doubtful to face Seattle , although they are slated to be re-evaluated by team medical personnel. A defenceman topping an NHL team in scoring in a season is rare, but not unheard of. Roman Josi had led the Nashville Predators in points for four straight years before finishing second to winger Filip Forsberg last season. Keith Yandle and then Oliver Ekman-Larsson went back-to-back consecutively atop the Arizona Coyotes’ scoring chart from 2012-16. Ray Bourque, who is the all-time leader in scoring amongst defencemen in NHL history and sat No. 12 overall heading into the action around the circuit on Friday, led the Boston Bruins in scoring five times during his 21-year run with the club. Fellow Bruins great Bobby Orr led the entire league in scoring twice during his career, marking the only time a blueliner won the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s top scorer. Hughes, 25, is on pace currently for 19 goals and 101 points this season. A defenceman has tallied 100 points or more in a season just 15 times in NHL history . Orr did it six times, and Paul Coffey accomplished it five. The last rearguard to get to the 100-point mark was Erik Karlsson (25-76-101) in 2022-23 with San Jose Sharks. Hughes played the full 82-game schedule last season for Vancouver and put up 17 goals and 92 points, which left him second in team scoring behind centre J.T. Miller (37-66-103). It was the third-straight season that Hughes had established a Canuck record for points in a season by a defenceman , following up his efforts in 2021-22 (8-60-68) and in 2022-23 (7-69-76). Prior to Hughes’ arrival, the Canucks’ record for points in a season by a defenceman belonged to Doug Lidster’s 1986-87 campaign (12-51-63). Reinhart’s 1989-90 is seventh best on that Vancouver list. Adrian Aucoin set the Vancouver single-season goals standard for defenceman (23) in 1998-99 . Hughes’ career-best output last season slid him into a five-way tie for fourth spot overall in the team record book, including Reinhart’s aforementioned season. Vancouver finished last in the Smythe Division that campaign, at 25-41-14. Centre Trevor Linden, who was 19 and in his second year with the team, was second in Canucks scoring (21-30-51). That wound up being Reinhart’s final campaign in the NHL. He retired the following September at the age of 30, due to back issues. Hughes had been a game-time decision for Monday’s win over the San Jose Sharks. He did wind up playing. Saturday is slated to be the 400th game of Hughes’ career. He is second in all-time scoring (51-324-375) amongst Vancouver’s rearguards, trailing only Alexander Edler (99-310-409). Edler played 925 games in Vancouver colours. Hughes was Vancouver’s first pick, No. 7 overall, in the 2018 NHL Draft . He was second in scoring amongst that draft class as of Friday morning, trailing only Ottawa Senators winger Brady Tkachuk (174-204-382), who went No. 4 overall. Hughes was second in the league in defencemen scoring to start Friday, trailing Colorado Avalanche defenceman Cale Makar (11-34-45). Columbus Blue Jackets defenceman Zach Werenski (11-24-35) was third. Werenski was leading the NHL in ice time (26:30 minutes per game) for defencemen. Hughes (25:08) was sixth. He finished 11th last season (24:41). Vancouver did announce on Dec. 3 that Filip Hronek , who is Vancouver’s No. 2 defenceman, would be out eight weeks “after having a lower-body procedure.” Hughes has played 26 minutes or more in five of Vancouver’s last eight games, including 29:50 in the 4-3 overtime loss to the St. Louis Blues on Dec. 10. sewen@postmedia.com
Sportscaster Greg Gumbel dies from cancer at age 78