NHL

12:30 AM ET Associated Press RED DEER, Alberta — Boston University goalie Drew Commesso made 23 saves and the defending champion United States opened the world junior hockey championship with a 3-2 victory over Slovakia on Sunday night. Up 3-0 after two periods, the Americans held on after Martin Chromiak scored twice for Slovakia in

5:26 PM ET Associated Press The NHL will emerge from an extended holiday break with taxi squads and other roster revisions, a move made to guard against more disruptions to the season amid more players and coaches going into COVID-19 protocol Sunday. Each team will be allowed to have a taxi squad of up to

3:47 PM ET ESPN News Services The Buffalo Sabres placed coach Don Granato and two players in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol Sunday upon returning from the league’s holiday break. The team canceled its scheduled practice and announced that Granato and forwards Dylan Cozens and Mark Jankowski are asymptomatic. The Sabres have been off since practicing

6:59 PM ET The NHL announced that it will not resume its regular season until at least Tuesday. The NHL and NHLPA agreed to begin their holiday break last Wednesday due to the number of players and teams impacted by COVID-19. The original plan was to begin games again on Monday. That means the entire

6:04 PM ET Associated Press TORONTO — Toronto forward William Nylander entered the NHL’s COVID-19 protocols Friday, giving the Maple Leafs 13 players on the list. Maple Leafs captain John Tavares, defenseman Morgan Rielly and goaltender Jack Campbell also are in the protocols along with coach Sheldon Keefe, two assistants and four other members of

8:52 PM ET The International Ice Hockey Federation is canceling all of its January events because of the rise in COVID-19 cases and could announce the move as soon as Friday, sources told ESPN on Thursday night. The cancellations include the 2022 U18 Women’s World Championships in Sweden, making it the second straight year the

3:42 PM ET The retirement of Willie O’Ree’s No. 22 by the Boston Bruins will be a landmark moment, happening 64 years to the date that he became the first Black player in the NHL. A summit scheduled around the event is intended to honor the power of that moment while trying to make hockey’s

6:53 AM ET Associated Press The World Junior Championship is a holiday hockey tradition like no other. And it should look a little different this year. Due to COVID-19 concerns, the 2021 tournament was moved to Edmonton, Alberta, and played in “bubble” conditions with no fans allowed to watch the proceedings. This year, Edmonton and

9:00 AM ET It’s hard to think about leveling up at a time when hockey is sinking into an abyss of positive tests, postponed games and a best-on-best Olympic tournament that will exist only in our daydreams and video game simulations. So let’s remember the good times, shall we? Here are 10 players and teams

2:44 PM ET The NHL and NHL Players’ Association have come to an agreement to not participate in the 2022 Winter Olympic men’s hockey tournament in Beijing, multiple sources told ESPN. The NHL and NHLPA had negotiated Olympic participation in 2022 and 2026 into the newest collective bargaining agreement after NHL players did not participate

5:27 PM ET Associated Press CALGARY, Alberta — The Calgary Flames have pulled out of a deal with the city for a new arena because of increased costs. John Bean, president and chief executive officer of Calgary Sports and Entertainment, said Wednesday that there is no viable path forward to complete the 19,000-seat Event Centre.

1:22 PM ET Kelly CohenESPN The idea, back in 1995, was to have the world’s best hockey players on the ice for the Winter Olympics. Three years later, NHL players debuted in the Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, with all of the accompanying fanfare and excitement. It hasn’t gone as planned. NHL players were not

10:20 AM ET On Monday, the NHL announced that it was hitting pause on the 2021-22 season through the Christmas break. On Tuesday, the second piece of disappointing news emerged, as the NHL and NHLPA came to an agreement that NHL players would not be participating in the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing, after such

9:16 PM ET ESPN News Services The Tampa Bay Lightning were without coach Jon Cooper on Tuesday night in the only game left in the NHL this week after he was placed in COVID-19 protocol earlier in the day, according to the team. Assistant coach Derek Lalonde took his place running the bench in Las

10:18 AM ET ESPN staff The headlines on Monday night were stark, if unsurprising: The NHL was going to pause the 2021-22 season Wednesday, and resume after Christmas break, amid a spike in COVID-19 cases. This followed a flurry of team shutdowns that left a diminishing number of games on the schedule. In the aftermath,

7:00 AM ET Shane Wright remembers the first arm he was asked to autograph. “It was a forearm. I’ve signed a couple of them, actually,” he said. “Signing people’s skin has been a little weird for me.” Wright, 17, is a center for the Kingston Frontenacs of the Ontario Hockey League. He’s also the consensus

9:06 PM ET The NHL plans to pause its season on Wednesday, two days before its planned Christmas break, sources told ESPN on Monday evening. All NHL team facilities will be closed between Dec. 22 and 25 as the league tries to weather several COVID-19 outbreaks. Players are set to report back to team facilities

12:34 PM ET The NHL has shut down two more teams through the Christmas break as COVID-19 cases have continued rising around the league. On Monday, the Columbus Blue Jackets and Montreal Canadiens both had their team activities paused until after Dec. 26. They were the eighth and ninth teams that the NHL has closed