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How many 4 seeds have made CWS? Murray State baseball becomes latest

The Racers, who fell in Game 1 of the Durham Super Regional to Duke on Saturday, June 7, rallied to win Games 2 and 3 on June 8 and June 9 respectively, to advance to the College World Series, becoming the fourth No. 4 seed to ever punch a ticket to Omaha.

Murray State won the Oxford Regional over No. 10 Ole Miss before taking on Duke, which won the Athens Regional vs. No. 7 Georgia.

Murray State (44-15) won the Missouri Valley Conference tournament to reach the NCAA tournament and is entering the CWS with plenty of confidence. It now shifts its focus to No. 15 UCLA, which the Racers face in the opening round on Saturday, June 14.

Here’s a look at the other No. 4 seeds to reach the College World Series, and how they fared in the tournament:

No. 4 seeds to reach CWS

Murray State became the fourth No. 4 seed to ever reach the College World Series on June 9. No. 4 seeds were added to the NCAA tournament when the field expanded to 64 teams in 1999.

The Racers join Oral Roberts (2023), Stony Brook (2012) and Fresno State (2008) as No. 4 seeds to reach Omaha, Nebraska. Fresno State is the lone No. 4 seed to ever win the national championship.

Here’s a look at how each No. 4 seed fared at the CWS:

No. 4 seed records at CWS

Oral Roberts

Oral Roberts went 52-14 in 2023, winning the Summit League tournament to earn a spot in the NCAA tournament. It defeated Oklahoma State in the Stillwater Regional and Oregon in the Eugene Super Regional to reach the CWS.

The Golden Eagles won their opening game of the CWS against TCU, advancing to the winner’s bracket. However, Oral Roberts then dropped its next two games, falling to Florida and then TCU in a loser’s bracket grudge match.

Stony Brook

Stony Brook had quite the run in 2012, defeating Miami in the Coral Gables Regional before upsetting No. 7 LSU in the Baton Rouge Super Regional to reach the College World Series. Like Murray State, Stony Brook dropped Game 1 of the super regional series before winning back-to-back games to take the series.

The Seawolves ran out of gas in Omaha, however, falling to UCLA 9-1 in the first round before losing again to Florida State 12-2 in an elimination game.

Fresno State

Fresno State started the season ranked No. 21 in the preseason polls, but quickly didn’t live up to expectations before winning the WAC tournament to earn an NCAA tournament bid.

The Bulldogs faced adversity in the Long Beach Regional, reaching the winner’s bracket before losing to San Diego 15-1 in Game 1 of the regional final. Fresno State then won the if-necessary game of the regional 5-1 to advance.

Fresno State lost Game 1 of the Tempe Super Regional to Arizona State, before winning back-to-back games against the Sun Devils on the road to reach the CWS. It later took Fresno State three games to win the national championship series, as well, as the Bulldogs faced elimination four times in the NCAA tournament.

The Bulldogs beat Rice 17-5 and North Carolina 5-3 to reach the semifinals, where they lost to North Carolina 4-3 before winning 6-1 to make the national championship series. They then lost Game 1 of the series 7-6 before beating Georgia 19-10 and 6-1 in back-to-back games to win their first and only national title in program history.

Murray State enters the College World Series having played three games facing elimination, including back-to-back super regional games against Duke. The Racers will try to duplicate Fresno State’s historic 2008 run in their first CWS appearance this season.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
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NASCAR in-season challenge: What to know about series’ new tournament

Hamlin won the first of three key summer races with his victory in Michigan. It precedes a monumental milestone this weekend for NASCAR: the first international points-paying race since 1958. The Cup Series grid travels to the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez road course in Mexico City for the Viva Mexico 250 on June 15.

The Cup races in Michigan, Mexico City and Pocono Raceway are crucial to NASCAR’s inaugural in-season challenge.

There haven’t been many significant changes to the structure of the Cup Series calendar since the implementation of the playoffs starting in 2004. While NASCAR first introducted a postseason in 2004 with playoffs that have undergone a few changes over the past two decades, this marks the first in-season competition with a tournament held over five races culminating in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 27.

It’s rare to have a new in-season event in the Cup Series. There’s a lot to know about it and we’ve got you covered:

What is the NASCAR in-season challenge?

It is a single-elimination tournament across five races, beginning with the June 28 race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, that includes the top 32 drivers in the Cup Series championship standings following the June 1 race at Nashville Superspeedway.

Those 32 drivers will be up in a bracket and seeded by their best results from the Cup races at Michigan, Mexico City and Pocono. Tiebreakers are the next-best finish from those three seeding races. Drivers advance by finishing higher than their opponent in the bracket.

Each of the five races will cut the field in half, similar to March Madness in college basketball. There will be 32 drivers in contention in the first race, then 16 for the second, eight for the third, four for the fourth and two drivers facing off for the win in the fifth and final race.

NASCAR in-season challenge contestants

The 32-driver field is set. Here’s who will be contending in NASCAR’s first in-season challenge (car number in parentheses):

  • (24) William Byron, Chevrolet
  • (5) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet
  • (20) Christopher Bell, Toyota
  • (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota
  • (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet
  • (45) Tyler Reddick, Toyota
  • (12) Ryan Blaney, Ford
  • (22) Joey Logano, Ford
  • (1) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet
  • (23) Bubba Wallace, Toyota
  • (19) Chase Briscoe, Toyota
  • (48) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet
  • (2) Austin Cindric, Ford
  • (17) Chris Buescher, Ford
  • (8) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet
  • (60) Ryan Preece, Ford
  • (77) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet
  • (47) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet
  • (16) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet
  • (21) Josh Berry, Ford
  • (71) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet
  • (42) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota
  • (34) Todd Gilliland, Ford
  • (43) Erik Jones, Toyota
  • (38) Zane Smith, Ford
  • (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet
  • (54) Ty Gibbs, Toyota
  • (99) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet
  • (7) Justin Haley, Chevrolet
  • (10) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet
  • (4) Noah Gragson, Ford
  • (6) Brad Keselowski, Ford

NASCAR in-season challenge prize

The winner of the inaugural in-season challenge will take home $1 million.

NASCAR in-season challenge races, schedule

The five races of NASCAR in-season challenge are:

  • June 28: Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway
  • July 6: Grant Park 165 at the Chicago Street Course
  • July 13: Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway
  • July 20: Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Dover Motor Speedway
  • July 27: Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

How to watch the NASCAR in-season challenge

TNT will be broadcasting all five of the in-season challenge races with a secondary broadcast on truTV focused on the specific bracket matchups. Here’s how to watch all of them:

Stream NASCAR in-season challenge races on Sling

Quaker State 400

  • Date: June 28, 2025
  • Time: 7 p.m. ET
  • Location: Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia
  • TV: TNT, truTV
  • Stream:Sling TV, WatchTNT

Grant Park 165

  • Date: July 6, 2025
  • Time: 2 p.m. ET
  • Location: Chicago Street Course in Chicago
  • TV: TNT, truTV
  • Stream:Sling TV, WatchTNT

Toyota/Save Mart 350

  • Date: July 13, 2025
  • Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
  • Location: Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California
  • TV: TNT, truTV
  • Stream:Sling TV, WatchTNT

Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400

  • Date: July 20, 2025
  • Time: 2 p.m. ET
  • Location: Dover Motor Speedway in Dover, Delaware
  • TV: TNT, truTV
  • Stream:Sling TV, WatchTNT

Brickyard 400

  • Date: July 27, 2025
  • Time: 2 p.m. ET
  • Location: Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana
  • TV: TNT, truTV
  • Stream:Sling TV, WatchTNT
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Watch: A’s outfielder scales wall to rob a home run

It’s only June and we might have the catch of the year already after Athletics outfielder Denzel Clarke pulled off an incredible home run robbery.

The Athletics are in Anaheim playing the Los Angeles Angels, and in the bottom of the first inning of Monday’s contest, Nolan Schanuel took Grant Holman’s splitter deep to center field. It looked like it was going to go over the wall to give the Angels an early 1-0 lead.

Instead, Clarke scaled the wall, reached over and caught the ball in one of the best catches one could make. Clarke got so high he almost went over the wall, but he was hyped as he landed back in the field of play. Mostly everyone, especially Holman, in the stadium couldn’t believe what they saw.

It was an impressive catch for a ball that went 398 feet to center field.

Monday was just Clarke’s 16th game in the big leagues after he was called up in May. Taken in the fourth round of the 2021 MLB Draft out of Cal State Northridge, Clarke entered the night with a .224 batting average with one home run and three RBI, but he already has an all-time highlight play in his career.

It may just be something Clarke does as this isn’t the first time he’s robbed a homer. On May 30 against the Toronto Blue Jays, Clarke robbed Alejandro Kirk from a home run as he scaled the wall to catch the ball back in his home country.

The catch against the Angels come three days after he had another incredible snag against the Baltimore Orioles, as he turned on the jets and hauled in the ball before hitting the wall to steal a hit away from Jorge Mateo.

The biggest stories, every morning. Stay up-to-date on all the key sports developments by subscribing to USA TODAY Sports’ newsletter.

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We have to act now to keep AI from becoming a far-left Trojan Horse

The hottest topic nowadays revolves around Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its potential to rapidly and imminently transform the world we live in — economically, socially, politically and even defensively. Regardless of whether you believe that the technology will be able to develop superintelligence and lead a metamorphosis of everything, the possibility that may come to fruition is a catalyst for more far-leftist control.  

The likeliest starting point will be more calls for Universal Basic Income (UBI), a program by which the government guarantees every American some form of ongoing payment (such as a monthly stipend). Despite direct and indirect pilots of UBI being a failure, a potential ‘crisis’ will render that fact moot.  

Using the prospect of AI software and hardware (aka robots) taking large swaths of American jobs, politicians won’t focus on retraining, they will go for the easy popular fix of promising something for ‘free.’ And something politicians can offer at someone else’s expense while creating more dependence on the government is a far-leftist dream. 

Unfortunately, that dream is an economic nightmare for the rest of us. The government doesn’t produce anything productive, and any money that it has is either taken from us via taxes or ‘printed’ which devalues our purchasing power.  

With an existing massive debt and deficit problem that has created a weak fiscal foundation, the government is in no position to create new entitlement programs. Further, taking money from workers, laundering it through the government and redistributing it to those who are not working is not a productive use of capital. It’s also not good for morale or giving people a sense of purpose in their lives. 

With that, there will likely be a communist-leaning conversation about any AI that takes jobs and who should have ownership over that AI. If AI drives — or is even perceived to possibly create in the future — a deeper rift between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots,’ there’s no doubt that government ownership or societal sharing of the AI will be seized upon by those who look for any reason to push socialistic or communistic ideals.  

Then, there is the potential for tyranny. If you thought the COVID-19 lockdowns were bad, wait until attack drones and robots create societal chaos. It’s not hard to imagine a scenario where people are told to lock down or give up their freedoms until protocols are sorted out.  

This is why we should be imagining and planning for those scenarios today, and not let reactive crises lead to an erosion of our freedoms.  

AI expert warns artificial general intelligence could be more dangerous than a nuclear weapon

Likewise, protecting our individual rights in the digital sphere, particularly as AI companies lobby to help shape regulation, is critical. 

And a final piece of the puzzle is embedded in the AI itself. A Substack, called ‘Contemplations on the Tree of Woe,’ raised a related concern, noting that just as the left captured the culture via the mainstream media and Hollywood, a similar thing is happening with AI. The piece notes, ‘The code is not neutral … every major LLM is aligned with leftist priors. OpenAI’s GPT, Anthropic’s Claude, Google’s Gemini, every single one leans Left. Even the much-ballyhooed Grok is at best Centrist. (And, unfortunately, the ‘center’ of the political compass these days isn’t exactly Philadelphia 1776.)’  

The piece goes on to say that if a left-leaning worldview is embedded in the coding and the output, and if something isn’t done to counter that, leftist ideals will be at the foundational core of everything, from education to culture to science (or repression of science). 

If you thought the COVID-19 lockdowns were bad, wait until attack drones and robots create societal chaos. It’s not hard to imagine a scenario where people are told to lock down or give up their freedoms until protocols are sorted out.  

We need balance. A foundational infrastructure that is too far left or too far right can each cause myriad problems that compound and become too entrenched to resolve.   

Americans tend to be very reactive instead of proactive in addressing issues. But with AI, we cannot wait. If we let AI become a catalyst to move us permanently to the far left, or if the underpinnings of the AI do that inherently and foundationally, we will give up our checks, balances and freedoms for the future. 

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS
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Watch: Line brawl, ejections dominate third period of Game 3

The standard rule of NHL playoff hockey is that if the score gets out of hand, the feistiness gets out of hand.

The Edmonton Oilers were highly undisciplined as they fell 6-1 to the Florida Panthers in Game 3. Then the third period predictably turned into a series of scrums and misconducts.

It started at 10:29 with the Oilers trailing 5-1. Edmonton’s Trent Frederic tried to punch Florida’s Sam Bennett and missed. He then cross-checked Bennett several times, breaking his stick on his final effort. That led all of the skaters on the ice to square off. The scrum turned into a prolonged fight between Edmonton defenseman Darnell Nurse and Florida forward Jonah Gadjovich.

Five players were thrown out of the game. Frederic received 14 minutes in the scrum, Bennett 12 minutes, Nurse 17 minutes and Gadjovich 15 minutes. Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm also received a 10-minute misconduct.

‘I don’t think we would have acted or played like that had it been a one-goal or two-goal game,’ Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. ‘Boys being boys, I guess trying to make investments for the next game.’

The Oilers’ misconducts continued with Evander Kane leaving the game after slashing Carter Verhaeghe, and Kasperi Kapanen was ejected for cross-checking Eetu Luostarinen.

All told, there were 122 penalty minutes handed out in the third period, 75 of them to the Oilers.

‘The game obviously got out of hand at the end there,’ Kane told reporters after the game. ‘That stuff’s going to happen. You look at some of the calls and whatnot, some of them are frustrating. They seem to get away with it more than we do.’

The Panthers received 11 power plays in the game and scored three power-play goals after entering the game with a 3.6% success rate in home playoff games.

‘We talk about being composed,’ Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk told TNT. ‘You’ve got to take a punch in the face, you’ve got to take a slash in the face, a cross-check, a slash in the leg. Whatever the case is, you’ve got to do it. There’s a bigger picture with the win for us.’

Will there be suspensions?

Probably not. There could be fines. Expect at least one fine as Oilers defenseman Jake Walman was caught on camera spraying his water bottle toward the Panthers bench.

Kris Knoblauch on Game 3 officiating

The Oilers coach answered carefully when asked about the officiating during the game, noting the Edmonton penalty for too many men on the ice.

‘It was too many men. They caught us there,’ he said. ‘I just wished they had called it (against the Panthers) in Game 2 in overtime.’

Notes

Even though Knoblauch pulled Stuart Skinner, he said he doesn’t have to make a decision on who to play in Game 4. ‘Stu, I don’t think had much chance on many of those goals,’ he said. … Before Bennett was ejected, he had a massive shift where he delivered two big hits and then scored on a 2-on-0 breakaway. … The Game 3 win gave Panthers coach Paul Maurice 1,000 combined regular-season and playoff victories.

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Watch: Athletics outfielder makes unbelievable home run robbery

It’s only June and we might have the catch of the year already after Athletics outfielder Denzel Clarke pulled off an incredible home run robbery.

The Athletics are in Anaheim playing the Los Angeles Angels, and in the bottom of the first inning of Monday’s contest, Nolan Schanuel took Grant Holman’s splitter deep to center field. It looked like it was going to go over the wall to give the Angels an early 1-0 lead.

Instead, Clarke scaled the wall, reached over and caught the ball in one of the best catches one could make. Clarke got so high he almost went over the wall, but he was hyped as he landed back in the field of play. Mostly everyone, especially Holman, in the stadium couldn’t believe what they saw.

It was an impressive catch for a ball that went 398 feet to center field.

Monday was just Clarke’s 16th game in the big leagues after he was called up in May. Taken in the fourth round of the 2021 MLB Draft out of Cal State Northridge, Clarke entered the night with a .224 batting average with one home run and three RBI, but he already has an all-time highlight play in his career.

It may just be something Clarke does as this isn’t the first time he’s robbed a homer. On May 30 against the Toronto Blue Jays, Clarke robbed Alejandro Kirk from a home run as he scaled the wall to catch the ball back in his home country.

The catch against the Angels come three days after he had another incredible snag against the Baltimore Orioles, as he turned on the jets and hauled in the ball before hitting the wall to steal a hit away from Jorge Mateo.

The biggest stories, every morning. Stay up-to-date on all the key sports developments by subscribing to USA TODAY Sports’ newsletter.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
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‘Ridiculous issue’: NHL commissioner rips analyst’s question about taxes

Much has been made recently about the lack of state taxes in certain NHL cities and whether that gives those teams an advantage in attracting players.

Florida, which has no state taxes, has had a team in the Stanley Cup Final the past six years: the Tampa Bay Lightning from 2020-22 and the Florida Panthers from 2023-25.

Mikko Rantanen agreed to a trade to the Dallas Stars and signed an eight-year extension. Texas also has no state taxes.

TNT analyst Paul Bissonnette asked Gary Bettman whether the league would take action to balance things out and the commissioner called it a ‘ridiculous issue.’

‘When the Florida teams weren’t good, which was for about 17 years, nobody said anything about it,’ he said. ‘For those of you who played, were you sitting there with a tax table? No.’

Bettman then cited things that would attract a player, such as a good city, first-class arena and training facility, and a front office, coaches and teammates that could give someone a chance at a championship.

‘By the way,’ Bettman added, ”state taxes high in Los Angeles, high in New York. What are we going to do? Subsidize those teams?’

Bissonnette asked if the NHL could take taxes away from Ontario to help the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Bettman quipped: ‘I was watching you during the prior rounds. Your attire was a little suspect in terms of your journalistic objectivity.’

Bissonnette wore Maple Leafs gear occasionally on set during the second round.

The biggest stories, every morning. Stay up-to-date on all the key sports developments by subscribing to USA TODAY Sports’ newsletter.

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New WWE World Heavyweight Champion crowned during Raw

‘The Ring General’ is back to being world champion.

Gunther won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship on the June 9 episode of Raw, defeating Jey Uso in a rematch of their WrestleMania 41 bout. It was an exciting matchup as Uso defended the title two days after his match at Money in the Bank, and he was still feeling the effects of that match with an ailing midsection.

The challenger made it a point to target Uso’s hurt area, and after getting the champion to the ground, Gunther put Uso in the sleeper hold. Uso was knocked out and the referee ordered the bell to be rung, giving Gunther the title.

It’s ironic Gunther used the sleeper hold to beat Uso as it’s the move Uso used to beat him on Night 1 of WrestleMania 41. After losing the title on April 19, Gunther now has the championship back less than two months later with his second reign as world champion.

Gunther initially won the title at SummerSlam 2024 and he held it for 258 days before losing it to Uso. The title was introduced in May 2023, and Gunther is the first star to hold the title twice.

With the loss, Uso’s reign ends at 51 days.

The biggest stories, every morning. Stay up-to-date on all the key sports developments by subscribing to USA TODAY Sports’ newsletter.

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WWE King and Queen of the Ring 2025 bracket, schedule and results

The stage has been set to be the king and queen of WWE.

With Money in the Bank in the rearview mirror, WWE turns its attention to Night of Champions, where the famed King and Queen of the Ring will be crowned. The King of the Ring dates back to 1985 and has taken place periodically since then, but WWE has brought it back on an annual basis, along with the new Queen of the Ring.

Each title is competed for in a tournament with the finals taking place at Night of Champions. While the winners become royalty and get a dazzling crown for their victory, there’s even more incentive to win the tournament now, as the king and queen each get a championship opportunity at SummerSlam.

The tournament kicks off on the June 9 episode of Raw and will run up to the final on June 28.

Here’s the full bracket and schedule of the King and Queen of the Ring tournaments:

King of the Ring 2025 bracket

First round

  • Sami Zayn defeats Dominik Mysterio, Bron Breakker and Penta
  • Randy Orton vs. LA Knight vs. Aleister Black vs. Carmelo Hayes (SmackDown, TBD)
  • Sheamus vs. Rusev vs. Bronson Reed vs. TBD (Raw, June 16)
  • Cody Rhodes vs. Damian Priest vs. Andrade vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (SmackDown, TBD)

Semifinals

  • Sami Zayn vs. Randy Orton/LA Knight/Aleister Black/Carmelo Hayes winner (TBD)
  • Sheamus/Rusev/Bronson Reed/TBD winner vs. Cody Rhodes/Damian Priest/Andrade/Shinsuke Nakamura (TBD)

Final

  • TBD vs. TBD (Night of Champions, June 28)

Queen of the Ring 2025 bracket

First round

  • Roxanne Perez defeats Kairi Sane, Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley
  • Jade Cargill vs. Michin vs. Piper Niven vs. Nia Jax (SmackDown, TBD)
  • Asuka vs. Stephanie Vaquer vs. Raquel Rodriguez vs. Ivy Nile (Raw, June 16)
  • Charlotte Flair vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Chelsea Green vs. Candice LeRae (SmackDown, TBD)

Semifinals

  • Roxanne Perez vs. Jade Cargill/Michin/Piper Niven/Nia Jax winner (TBD)
  • Asuka/Stephanie Vaquer/Raquel Rodriguez/Ivy Nile winner vs. Charlotte Flair/Alexa Bliss/Chelsea Green/Candice LeRae winner (TBD)

Final

  • TBD vs. TBD (Night of Champions, June 28)

When is King and Queen of the Ring 2025 final?

The finals of the King and Queen of the Ring tournaments will take place at Night of Champions on June 28 at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The event will begin at 1 p.m. ET.

The biggest stories, every morning. Stay up-to-date on all the key sports developments by subscribing to USA TODAY Sports’ newsletter.

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Capitals star, Olympic hero retires after 16 NHL seasons

Washington Capitals forward T.J. Oshie, 38, is retiring after a 16-year NHL career in which he won a Stanley Cup and became a U.S. Olympic hero.

He had missed this past season with a back injury.

He made the tear-filled announcement at the outdoor Washington Harbour venue where he and teammates jumped into the fountains as they celebrated winning the 2018 Stanley Cup.

‘To my family, friends, coaches, trainers, teammates, fans and to the game of hockey, I promise you this, from the moment my skates touched the ice, I gave you everything I had,’ Oshie said. ‘With that … I’d like to officially announce my retirement.’

Oshie, then with the St. Louis Blues, became a household name at the 2014 Sochi Olympics when he scored on four of six attempts in the shootout as the USA beat Russia 3-2 in the preliminary round.

His prowess in shootouts – he was 7-for-10 entering the Olympics – was a frequent topic of conversation when general manager David Poile and his selection committee chose the U.S. Olympic team roster. ‘You know at some point we are going to end up in a shootout, and we are going to want T.J. Oshie,’ Poile had said.

International rules allow teams to use a player over and over in shootouts once the initial three players go. Oshie, at one point, had to score or Russia would have won. He did and then eventually got the game-deciding goal.

The performance gave him the nickname ‘T.J. Sochi.’

Oshie was traded to the Capitals in July 2015 and quickly became a fan favorite and eventual alternate captain. He scored 26 goals and 33 goals his first two seasons in Washington, respectively.

He was due to become a free agent for the first time in his career but stayed with the Capitals after signing an eight-year contract.

‘I wanted to stay here for a lot of reasons but mostly because of my teammates,’ he said during the June 9 ceremony.

In 2018, his third season with the team, Oshie and the Capitals won the franchise’s lone Stanley Cup title. He had 21 points in 24 playoff games, a league-best six power play goals and two game-winning goals. He scored twice in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals to keep the Capitals’ hopes alive.

After the Capitals beat the Vegas Golden Knights for the championship, he shared the moment on the ice with his father, Tim, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s six years earlier.

“My dad. Oh boy. He doesn’t remember a lot of stuff these days,” he told NBCSN. “But he remembers enough. I tell you what – he’s here tonight. I don’t know where he’s at. But this one will stick with him forever. You can guarantee that.”

Tim Oshie died in May 2021, and T.J. Oshie scored a hat trick in his first game back. It was one of seven hat tricks in his career.

‘Man, what an amazing ride we had,’ Oshie said. ‘From Presidents’ trophies to heartbreaking losses to the Stanley Cup, we’d been through it all. I’ve been lucky in my life to be part of some amazing locker rooms, but the bond we have here in DC is special.’

Oshie finished his career with 302 goals, 393 assists and 695 points in 1,010 career games.

He also had 49 shootout goals (tied for third overall) and 21 game-deciding shootout goals (third overall).

(This story was updated with new information.)

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