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In an Edmonton Oilers news and rumors update, Zach Hyman returns for the Edmonton Oilers, while Viktor Arvidsson remains out. Meanwhile, the 4 Nations teams were announced and while a few names made it, several Oilers didn’t make the final cut. Who did make the team? And, for those who didn’t, will it light a fire under them to start upping their production and contributing more to prove a point they were overlooked? Hyman Returns vs. Blue Jackets on Thursday Zach Hyman is confirmed to return to the Edmonton Oilers lineup after missing five games due to injury. TSN’s Ryan Rishaug posted on Thursday morning , “Hyman back and on top line with 97 and 93.” Hyman said he was excited to get back into the lineup and is confident in his ability to start putting goals on the board, which is something the Oilers desperately need. Hyman was asked if he’s hoping to still make Team Canada if there’s an injury. He responded that he hopes everyone stays healthy and that Canada does great. He doesn’t want to get on the team that way. Rishaug observed notable line combinations at practice, with Leon Draisaitl skating alongside Vasily Podkolzin and Kasperi Kapanen, while Jeff Skinner was paired with Mattias Janmark and Adam Henrique. Derek Ryan joined Corey Perry and Connor Brown. Each line features a mix of speed and skill, but the standout takeaway is players are positioned in roles that better align with their strengths and expected contributions. Calvin Pickard gets the start for the Oilers in goal. Question Marks Surrounding Viktor Arvidsson’s Injury The Daily Hive asked head coach Kris Knoblauch for a status update and the bench boss didn’t have one. “It’s obviously gone on longer than we anticipated,” Knoblauch said. “We thought it would be just a couple of days off, but it hasn’t healed as expected.” As of now, there is no timeline for his return. This is clearly not a good thing for the Oilers, who were expecting that Arvidsson might not miss any games at all. That he’s now missed several games, isn’t skating, and there is no indication about when he might return, there has to be growing concern that the Oilers signed a player who isn’t going to be nearly as productive as they might have hoped. Interestingly, Arvidsson was still selected for his 4 Nations team. McDavid Excited About the 4 Nations Tournament “Nowhere else I’d rather be than in Montreal and Boston on those two weeks,” said Connor McDavid when asked about his being named to Team Canada. His selection was not a surprise, but the fact that no other Oilers were picked to be on the team might have come as a bit of a shock. Evan Bouchard, Hyman, and Stuart Skinner were also believed to have a good shot of making the team before the season started. None of them were selected, and likely because they have all struggled to start the 2024-25 campaign. Skinner might have been among the more interesting omissions, if only because he wasn’t even listed on insider’s alternates team. Canada’s goaltending isn’t exactly elite, and the fact Skinner took the Oiler to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final and has been one of the better Canadian netminders over the past couple of seasons, he still didn’t get much consideration among analysts. The hope for Oilers fans is that being snubbed will light a fire under all three players. Mattias Ekholm was selected for Team Sweden. This article first appeared on The Hockey Writers and was syndicated with permission.Actress Jennifer Love Hewitt, 45, Remains Positive About Aging
Central Vic abattoir stops small kills leaving farmers without processorMass protests in Georgia fueled by the governing party’s decision to suspend negotiations on joining the European Union entered a second week on Thursday, with police cracking down on the protesters with increasing force in an attempt to curb the demonstrations. On Wednesday, an opposition leader was dragged into a police car and arrested, his party said. Several other activists have been arrested and scores of demonstrators and some journalists have been brutally beaten. Georgian journalist Guram Rogava was doing a live broadcast from a protest when a riot policeman rushed up to him and hit him in the head on Friday. Rogava suffered fractured facial bones in the assault. After being discharged from the hospital Monday with an immobilized neck and a bandaged head, he said he was lucky to be able to move his hands and talk. “It was clear that they were deliberately attacking media representatives,” he told The Associated Press. "The government is in such a state that, for some reason, its survival instinct dictates the need to intimidate the media.” The ruling Georgian Dream retained control of parliament in the disputed Oct. 26 election, a vote widely seen as a referendum on Georgia’s EU aspirations. The opposition and the pro-Western president, Salome Zourabichvili, have accused the governing party of rigging the vote with neighboring Russia’s help and have boycotted parliament sessions. Opposition protests gained new momentum after the Georgian Dream’s decision last Thursday to put the EU accession talks on hold. Riot police have used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the rallies and beat scores of protesters, who threw fireworks at police officers and built barricades on the Georgian capital’s central boulevard. On Wednesday, the Coalition for Change opposition party said that police raided its offices and detained its leader, Nika Gvaramia. It shared a video showing several officers dragging Gvaramia into a car. Activists have also been arrested in police raids on offices of several opposition parties and non-government organizations, and one of them, Aleko Elisashvili, was in hospital for injuries he suffered during the detention. More than 300 protesters have been detained and over 100 people have been treated for injuries. One of the protesters, 22-year-old Aleksi Tirqia was placed in an induced coma after he was allegedly hit with a tear gas capsule. The crackdown has drawn a strong condemnation from the United States and EU officials. Speaking Thursday at a ministerial conference of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken denounced what he described as a brutal “repression of those calling for their country to stay on the path to closer ties with Europe.” Lazare Maghlakelidze, a 20-year-old student who joined the protests, said policemen who detained him at the protest early on Monday threatened to rape him and then hit him over the head several times. “They started beating me up immediately as soon as they made sure that there were no cameras around,” Maghlakelidze said. Despite a head injury and a broken nose, he says he's even more determined to keep protesting. Georgian Special Investigation Service, a government agency that investigates alleged abuse of power, said it was investigating violence against protesters and interference with the journalists’ professional work. It said that more than 300 people, including journalists and protesters, have reported violations of their rights during the protests. Tamar Oniani, a human rights lawyer, said such investigations in the past never gave visible result and no officer has faced charges of at least suspension from duty. He argued that police brutality appeared to have the authorities' blessing. “It was systemic, widespread violence against demonstrators, just because of the fact that they were at the demonstration and they were protesting,” Oniani said. Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze of the Georgian Dream party said the raids of the opposition groups' offices targeted those who encouraged violence during protests in an attempt to topple his government. “I wouldn’t call this repression; it is more of a preventive measure than repression,” Kobakhidze said. President Zourabichvili refused to recognize the official election results and contested them before the Constitutional Court, which rejected her appeal earlier this week. Zourabichvili, who plays a largely ceremonial role, has urged the country’s Western partners to respond to police brutality against protesters and raids of opposition groups by putting “strong pressure on a ruling party that is driving the country over the cliff!” “Do not be late!” she wrote on the social platform X. The EU granted Georgia candidate status in December 2023 on condition that the country meets the bloc’s recommendations, but put its accession on hold and cut financial support in June after the passage of a “foreign influence” law that was widely seen as a blow to democratic freedoms. The law requires organizations that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as “pursuing the interest of a foreign power,” similar to a Russian law used to discredit organizations critical of the government.State and local leaders break ground on Carter County Higher Education Center
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MIAMI (AP) — Jimmy Butler will not play in the final two games of Miami's ongoing road trip while recovering from illness, the team said Friday. That means Butler will not play Saturday at Atlanta or Sunday at Houston. The earliest he could play again is Wednesday at home against New Orleans. Butler hasn't played since the first quarter of Miami's Dec. 20 game against Oklahoma City, when he twisted an ankle, left the game and then was ruled out because of illness. Miami has played three games since without Butler, two because of the illness and then Thursday's win in Orlando with him back in Miami conditioning for a return. He is not with the team on the road trip. The Heat said Thursday that they are not going to trade Butler, that announcement coming after ESPN, citing sources, said the six-time All-Star would prefer to be moved before the trade deadline on Feb. 6. Butler has not publicly expressed any desire to be traded. He is averaging 18.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.9 assists this season. AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA
LINCOLN, Neb. — University of Nebraska nose tackle Nash Hutmacher earned honorable mention all-Big Ten Conference recognition from both the conference’s coaches and media for a second-straight season, announced Tuesday by the conference office. Hutmacher, a Chamberlain High School product and Oacoma native, started all 12 games for the Cornhuskers, collecting 24 tackles, including four tackles for loss with two sacks, and one forced fumble. With the 6-foot-4, 310-pound Hutmacher anchoring the middle of the defensive line, Nebraska ranked top-20 nationally in total defense (315.4 yards allowed per game), rushing defense (105.8 yards allowed) and scoring defense (19.8 points allowed) this season. ADVERTISEMENT For his college career, Hutmacher finished with 79 total tackles, 12.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks in 48 games played, which included 26 starts. This season also marked the second year Hutmacher donned jersey No. 0, as one of 10 Huskers to earn a single-digit number in a team vote selecting him as one of Nebraska's “toughest” players. The Huskers, with a 6-6 record, are set to play in a bowl game for the first time since 2016. The bowl game and opponent will be announced Sunday, Dec. 8. BROOKINGS, S.D. — Alexandria native Emma Riggs earned Eastern College Athletic Conference rider of the week honors in reining for the South Dakota State University equestrian team on Nov. 4. A freshman, Riggs went 2-0 in head-to-head competition against the University of California, Davis and the University of Minnesota Crookston during that week. With a score of 72 against UC Davis, Riggs was also recognized as the most outstanding performer in helping SDSU to victory. Against Crookston, Riggs scored a 71. Of note, Riggs and fellow SDSU freshman Anna Minich swept the Nov. 4 ECAC rider of the week awards for the Western disciplines, as Minich was recognized in horsemanship. SIOUX CITY, Iowa — Parkston product Tulsa Janish finished his senior season competing for the Briar Cliff University football program with another strong showing in the defensive secondary. ADVERTISEMENT This season, Janish led the Chargers with two interceptions, four pass breakups and one blocked kick to go with 20 total tackles. Though Janish was an all-Great Plains Athletic Conference second-team selection last season, he was not picked in 2024, as the Chargers went 2-9. Janish’s career marks stand at 113 total tackles, six tackles for loss, one sack, four interceptions and 25 passes defended. He also competes on the BCU men’s track and field team as a sprinter.
The US reboot of Laid is a vivacious farce with a few new kinks