Once again, we return to another edition of “Friday 4,” where I discuss the four things I’ve been thinking about over the last week and the upcoming weekend in sports and the world.
ONE
One of the best things about hockey playoffs is when the series is over, both teams line up at center ice and shake each other’s hands. Hockey is an incredibly physical sport, and to see the calm after a playoff series, where both teams congratulate each other on a hard-fought series, is truly an awesome thing.
Wednesday night, after the Florida Panthers eliminated the Carolina Hurricanes, the two head coaches, Florida’s Paul Maurice and Carolina’s Rod Brind’Amour, after what looked like a brief verbal altercation postgame, didn’t go through the handshake line, and neither did their coaching staffs.
It was Maurice who got the question as to what happened and why, and we’ll show his answer before continuing on.
I hate it when the coach of a team I sports-hate says something so thoughtful. I had never once given who is out there shaking hands one second of thought, but then as soon as Maurice said what he said I founded myself nodding at my phone.
It should be about the players, and hopefully other teams will follow suit and just let the players have the moment.
TWO
Last Sunday Team USA did something that they hadn’t done since 1933, and won the IIHF Men’s World Championships, doing so in dramatic fashion beating Switzerland 1-0 on overtime.
With the win Team USA has won the Men’s World Championships, the Women’s World Championships, and the World Junior (U20) Championships this season. Add to that a third-place finish in the Men’s U18 Championships, losing 4-3 to Sweden in the semis before beating Slovakia 4-3 in overtime, and you’ve got a pretty good year.
Team USA can make it an even better year as the U.S. National Sled Team takes on China Friday afternoon in the semi-finals in the 2025 World Para Ice Hockey Championship in Buffalo, New York. I believe you can watch the game for free, starting a 5pm at https://usahockeytv.com/.
And if it turns out to not be free, drop a dime and watch it anyway. It’s amazing hockey from amazing athletes, and it’s Team USA.
What more can you ask?
THREE
Way back in 2015, before every post here had a photo/graphic in it, I wrote about the silliness of NHL teams not touching the conference championship trophies. Well, here we are again in 2025, and it’s still silliness.
The Florida Panthers did not touch the Prince of Wales Trophy when they were awarded it Wednesday, after not touching it last season before going on to win the Stanley Cup. The Edmonton Oilers also did not touch the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl last season, and lost.
If you need more proof that correlation does not equal causation, it’s literally right there. But that won’t stop teams from trying to alter their fortunes. And we need to look no further than the Oilers Thursday night, who as a team may touch their wives and girlfriends less often than they touched the Campbell Bowl.
We get it, those aren’t the final trophies you want to win this season. But you have to win them to play for The Stanley Cup. So enjoy the moment for the moment that it is.
FOUR
If you’re a racing fan, the Sunday before Memorial Day is the best day on the calendar as you can go from the F1’s Monaco Grand Prix to IndyCar’s Indianapolis 500-Mile Race to NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 and watch racing all day.
Now it’s well known that Monaco, while visually amazing, is usually a terrible F1 race. And 2025 was no different as there was just two on track passes on the narrow two-plus mile street course.
The Indy 500 was much better racing, even when you figure two big names were out in under 10 miles. Scott McLaughlin crashed on one of the parade laps, ending his day before it had even begun. Marco Andretti, grandson of Daytona 500 and Indo 500 winner Mario Andretti, crashed on lap 4, the first lap of the race run under the green flag.
The Coca-Cola 600 was your standard NASCAR race, and with their silly scoring system second-place finisher William Byron earned more points, 65, than winner Ross Chastain did (50).
But be that as it may, there was one great race over the week that fans hopefully got a look at as all six Oscar Mayer Wienermobiles took to the track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and it looked just as glorious as you would imagine it would.
Obviously the winner, “Slaw Dog”, had some ketchup on it.
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