Thursday’s “First Call” looks at a new side gig for Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman Cameron Heyward.
The Penguins’ victory in the 2009 Stanley Cup Final against Detroit sparks love. The Stanley Cup has some travel restrictions.
And some local basketball stars are back on a big stage once again.
Listen to Heyward
Steelers defensive lineman Cameron Heyward steps into the media realm.
Until a certain point.
Heyward is launching his own podcast through ESPN and the Peyton Manning-backed Omaha Productions platform.
Via an ESPN press release, “Each week, ‘The Cam Heyward Show’ gives fans a behind-the-scenes look into NFL life. Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle and five-time Pro Bowler Cam Heyward gives his unfiltered thoughts on the league and headlines across all sports, welcoming top guests including athletes, coaches and celebrities to talk sports, pop culture and more.
It is not yet known if Heyward will have a co-host or co-hosts. The premiere episode is supposed to be on July 11.
Heyward is a weekly guest on the “‘DVE Morning Show” on 102.5 WDVE. He has also won the Chief Award three times. It is awarded annually to the member of the Steelers organization who “best exemplifies the cooperative spirit with the media” of team founder Arthur J. Rooney Sr. It is awarded annually by the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Pro Football Writers Association.
Recently, Heyward also won the 2022 Good Guy Award, nominated by the Professional Football Writers of America. The Good Guy Award is given to an NFL player for his qualities and professional style in helping professional football writers do their job. The award has been presented annually by the PFWA since 2005.
Travel Restrictions
Whoever wins the Stanley Cup, it won’t go to Russia or Belarus this summer.
“As far as this summer, the Cup is not going to Russia or Belarus,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said at a press conference ahead of Game 1 of the 2018 Finals. Stanley Cup. “To that extent, we may need a Cup trip in the future. It may happen like we did with the pandemic, but it’s not happening this summer.”
This decision is not a surprise given the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.
Three Tampa Bay Lightning players are Russian — star forward Nikita Kucherov, 2021 Conn Smythe winner Andrei Vasilevskiy and defenseman Mikhail Sergachev.
As for the Colorado Avalanche, they have only one Russian player on the playoff roster, winger Valeri Nichushkin.
Daly, however, said there would be no restrictions on Russian or Belarusian players being selected in the next NHL Draft.
Was there a better one?
The Daily Faceoff’s Matt Larkin ranked every Stanley Cup final in the salary cap era. Before the one that started Wednesday night between the Avs and the Lightning, there have been 16 championship series from 2006 to 2021.
Larkin ranked the 2009 Finals between the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins as the second-best in the group.
It was the one that ended with the Penguins upsetting the Wings in Game 7, on the road in Detroit, after falling 3-2 in the series. And after the Wings beat the Penguins in the 2008 Finals (who finished 9th in the standings, by the way).
On this day in 2009…
Better. Day. Already. pic.twitter.com/bf9ViKF4Uq
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) June 12, 2022
In his article, Larkin concocted an extensive point-based system to rank each series. But his synopsis for the ’09 series was as follows:
“The Penguins Revenge series has been a real rollercoaster. They dropped Games 1 and 2 in Detroit. After winning back to back in Pittsburgh to even the series, Fleury was retired in Game 5 after conceding five goals. It was quite the redemption arc for ‘Flower’, who made an all-time save on Nick Lidstrom in the dying seconds of Game 7 to help Pittsburgh win the Cup – with Crosby hobbling on one leg after being knocked out of the game with a knee injury.
The only streak Larkin put ahead of Pens-Wings 2.0 was the Bruins’ seven-game loss to the Vancouver Canucks. It was Boston’s first Cup since 1972. Vancouver has yet to win one. Three of the seven games were one-goal contests. Two of them were 1-0 scores. One went to overtime.
The Penguins’ 2016 win over the San Jose Sharks ranked 12th. The team’s win over the Nashville Predators was eighth.
If it’s my vote, I put the Pens-Wings ’09 series #1 overall.
I would place the 2008 series second best when it comes to the Penguins Finals. Then the 2016 win over the Sharks in third, followed by the win over Nashville.
Back with Boeheim
Former Schenley high school greats DJ Kennedy and DeAndre Kane are both back with “Boeheim’s Army” team for this year’s “The Basketball Tournament” on ESPN.
The made-for-TV event features 64 teams in a single elimination bracket, battling it out for a “1+million dollar” prize.
The games begin on July 16.
Boeheim Army is the defending champion and is named after longtime Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim. Most of the players are former Orange players. Kane and Kennedy have no direct connection to Syracuse basketball, but were on the team when it won the 2021 event.
After leaving Schenley as the 2007 PIAA champion with Kane and former Pitt star DeJuan Blair, Kennedy went to St. Johns. He won the TBT four more times with Overseas Elite. He was the tournament MVP once.
Kane went to Marshall and Iowa State and won two Israeli League championships. He was also part of three of those TBT title teams with Kennedy in the Overseas Elite teams.
Some former Syracuse players who will be their teammates include Tyler Ennis, Rakeem Christmas, CJ Fair, Andrew White and Marek Dolezaj. Jeremy Pope and another former ‘Cuse player, Ryan Blackwell, will be the coaches.
Tim Benz is a staff writer for Tribune-Review. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via Twitter. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless otherwise specified.
Categories:
Penguins/NHL | Sports | Steelers/NFL | Breakfast With Benz | Tim Benz Columns
