The Wrath of the Sun, the UND Sens, and more

Senators fans, welcome back. We hope you had a modest and productive weekend. We know we sure did! At the NHL level, the young Senators have kept the team watchable. Meanwhile we await the next AHL action in Belleville after a disappointing opening series against Laval. We’ve got plenty of good content coming your way again this week so let’s get things rolling:

• The big news in the NHL this weekend came out of Lake Tahoe where hockey fans enjoyed some picturesque scenery to go along with the action on the ice until everyone remembered that the sun is, in fact, hot and the playing surface bore the wrath of the nearest star. The game resumed after an eight-hour delay thanks to the mercy of those surprisingly cool desert nights.
• Four of Ottawa’s top prospects had plenty to celebrate on Saturday night as the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks won the 2021 Penrose cup as regular season champions of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. Spoiler alert: Shaan will have plenty to write about the NoDak Sens in this week’s prospect update.
• Speaking of NCAA Senators, Jonny Tychonick took some unfair heat from the North Dakota faithful in his return to the arena where he spent the past two seasons of his young career. Scotty Wazz did a much needed write-up on the unnecessary flack directed at Tycho from his old fans.
• Over at the league’s official website, former NHLer Tony McKegney penned an inspiring article about his experiences as one of the few Black players of his era and the significance of being the first Black NHLer to score 40 goals in a season (only Jarome Iginla has done it since). The whole article resonated with me and I found this quote really captured the overall sentiment:/

I was trying to convey something that I think is still true today: Sports can be the common denominator that brings people together. When you and your teammates compete together, practice together, eat together, and grow up together, you start to see people for who they are. You learn that what matters most is their work ethic, their commitment, their passion, their personality, maybe their sense of humor — certainly not the way they look. Of course, sports will never make us color blind, and colorblindness is not the goal. The goal is to make stereotypes disappear by making people from all backgrounds feel welcome, celebrated, and empowered on an equal playing field. When sports are at their best, that’s what they can do.

• Our sibling site out of Buffalo dropped some more sombre content on us as Sabres defender Rasmus Ristolainen chronicled his experiences recovering from COVID-19 after the exposure that occurred during an earlier game against the New Jersey Devils. Various members of the Sabres and their head coach reported varying degrees of severity of their symptoms with Ristolainen feeling the worst of the effects. If nothing else, let this serve as a reminder of how gravely this disease can affect young, healthy adults as much as anyone else.
• And finally, congratulations to the greatest netminder in Senators franchise history on notching his first victory as a Washington Capital in his 650th NHL game!/

Congrats on career game No. 650 and your first win as a Capital, @CraigAnderson41. 👏#ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/DSsknduVEo

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) February 21, 2021