and Roberto Luongo retires. The Bolts Yesterday, the Syracuse Crunch announced that they have hired Halifax Mooseheads head coach Eric Veilleux to be the newest assistant coach behind Benoit Groulx. The Crunch have many connections to the QMJHL when it comes to players, coaches, and management and Veilleux is no exception. [Syracuse Crunch] “I am very pleased and grateful to have Éric join our coaching staff,” BriseBois said. “Éric has a wealth of coaching experience and is a proven winner. He is a great addition to our organization and our players in Syracuse will greatly benefit from getting to work with him. With Ben Groulx, Gilles Bouchard and Éric, we have three men with long track records as successful head coaches and the Crunch has a coaching staff we can be very proud of.” With AHL bench boss Groulx becoming more and more likely to find himself in the NHL in the near future, Veilleux is a strong candidate to replace him as the team’s head coach. Halifax made the QMJHL finals in Veilleux’s one and only season with the team and also lost in the Memorial Cup final, which they hosted. [Elite Prospects] A letter from Eric Veilleux. #GoMooseGo pic.twitter.com/8rZpvdfvaN— Halifax Mooseheads (@HFXMooseheads) June 26, 2019 From the site, Geo looks at the 1999 NHL Entry Draft and how the Tampa Bay Lightning did. There were a few missed calls. [Raw Charge] It’s certainly tempting to go “Hey, I should just take a Sedin.” But the reality of the situation at the time was that to draft one Sedin without the other would have meant they stayed in Sweden. The twins made it clear they would only play together, thus the Canucks’ maneuvering that saw them owning the first four picks of the draft at various points before settling in with the 2nd and 3rd overall picks. From The Athletic, Joe Smith writes about a very interesting prospect in the Bolts organization: Sammy Walker. ‘Singing’ Sammy Walker could be a steal for LightningForward prospect and Big Ten Freshman of the Year from Minnesota has impressed with his tenacity, character and active voice.@JoeSmithTB tells his story: https://t.co/5JmyfdIW0L pic.twitter.com/tiy7Skz5wi— The Athletic (@TheAthleticTB) June 26, 2019 And finally, what is happening to overtime in the ECHL? Orlando Solar Bears broadcaster Jesse Liebman explains. Solar Bears broadcaster Jesse Liebman breaks down the new ECHL overtime change for the upcoming season in the latest edition of the Broadcast Blog: https://t.co/pNYkYjbC6R— Orlando Solar Bears (@OrlandoHockey) June 26, 2019 The Game One of the greatest goaltenders in NHL history, and arguably the best one to never win a Stanley Cup, Roberto Luongo announced his retirement from hockey, broken by himself via a tweet from his @Strombone1 account. Classic. I’ve decided to take my talents to a South Beach retirement home ? pic.twitter.com/BTuZIo8XT8— Strombone (@strombone1) June 26, 2019 His retirement is very sweet, funny, and very Lu. He spoke about the difficulty in just getting ready for games in his final season, his time in Vancouver, and him building a life in Parkland, Florida where so much has happened. It’s a must-read. [NHL dot com] As May rolled around, I was looking at the calendar and I found myself dreading getting back into my routine. My offseason workouts always start in the third week of May and I wasn’t looking forward to getting back in the gym. There’s a lot of work and effort required and I found my body telling me that it didn’t want to go through it. As a result from the retirement, the Florida Panthers and Vancouver Canucks will incur a cap recapture penalty as a result of the illegal nature of the contract Luongo signed prior to the 2013 lockout and CBA. With Roberto Luongo announcing his retirement from the NHL today, the #Panthers and #Canucks will both incur a recapture penalty in the next 3 seasons:#Panthers: $1,094,128 per season#Canucks: $3,033,206 per seasonhttps://t.co/i1qFrgvKbv pic.twitter.com/eiHOl0a83v— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) June 26, 2019 The $1 million shouldn’t be an issue for the Panthers, it turns out they cared more about the salary they’d have to pay than the cap hit anyway, the real loser here is the Canucks who now have $3 million in dead money on their cap. My understanding is the #FlaPanthers actually encouraged Luongo to retire instead of LTIR. They not only save $3.6 million in real cash salary, but the $1.1 million cap recapture is negligible compared to wrangling with $5.7 million on LTIR.— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) June 26, 2019 In other retirement news that no one probably heard: Brooks Orpik (who has a few Stanley Cups) also retired. [Pensburgh] After 16 seasons and 1,035 career games, former Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik announced his retirement from the National Hockey League on Tuesday. Orpik’s decision to step away from the game was revealed by the Washington Capitals on the team’s website on Tuesday morning. Also yesterday we saw a trade. The Vegas Golden Knights dumped Erik Haula’s $2.75 million contract on the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for AHL prospect Nicolas Roy. It seems like a bad deal for the Knights, who lose a top-six forward for an AHL prospect, but Roy had a very strong season for the Calder Cup Champion Charlotte Checkers (the 5 C’s as it were). [Knights on Ice] Haula had an excellent 2017-18 season with the Golden Knights, logging career highs in goals (29), assists (26) and points (55) and playing a huge role on special teams. After Haula’s big breakout campaign, many were hoping to see him keep up the momentum in 2018-19. Unfortunately, his season was cut short after he suffered a season-ending injury against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Nov. 6. We still don’t know the details of his injury. Do note, though, that Haula was not far away from making a return to action in the postseason. TRADEHurricanes: Erik HaulaGolden Knights: Nicolas RoyHaula is a strong all-around player that should fit well in Carolina's middle six, and didn't cost a 1st and 3rd from a bottom-feeder to acquire. pic.twitter.com/M8Jm4ICFlR— dom luszczyszyn (@domluszczyszyn) June 27, 2019 Also in Hurricanes news, welcome their new ECHL affiliate, the Greenville Swamp Rabbits! Best logo in hockey, bar none. Welcome the family, @SwampRabbits!More » https://t.co/3b9uW0GNFr pic.twitter.com/9CmnJ4xRAw— Carolina Hurricanes (@NHLCanes) June 26, 2019 And finally, imagine being a multiple Olympian, multiple World Champion, all-time hockey pioneer and legend, work for an NHL team as the assistant director for player development, be in the Hockey Hall of Fame, AND have a doctorate? That’s Hayley Wickenheiser. Kids, be more like Wick. [Pension Plan Puppets] .@wick_22 told me she'll be at @MapleLeafs development camp later this week, but has to jam in as much medical school course work as she can so she can go to TO. She makes me feel quite lazy. #HHOF2019 #HHOF https://t.co/VKyBHiBvVv— Donna Spencer (@DLSpencer10) June 26, 2019

The Rays rally from an early hole, then give it all back. I don’t know about you, but I’ve had just about all the attendance, new ballpark, and split-city talk as I can take. Round about 8PM, I was ready for baseball. Sure, the Rays are skidding right now, going 2-6 on this road trip, but that’s no bulk guy taking the hill; it’s the Rays stopper, Charlie Morton, taking on Jake Odorizzi and the Minnesota Roccos. It’s gonna be okay. We didn’t even have to send out our two catcher lineup. Lookit this, it’s almost like a real ball club. Make sure you #VoteMeadows today! https://t.co/GzjpENAM2Q#RaysUpVote ?? https://t.co/xd21pMuMpf | https://t.co/hWovULdBMb pic.twitter.com/rIrTd6KYwx— #VoteMeadows (@RaysBaseball) June 26, 2019 First Inning Okay, sure, we go in order in the first, but Pham has a nice at bat before getting called out on strikes, and Choi hits it kinda hard to first. It’s a long game. And sure, Morton walks Arraez, the first guy he faced. But he comes back to strike out Polanco, and then he gets Nelly Cruz to tap weakly to third. So weakly, in fact, that it went for an infield hit. Really? Stop it. It’s gonna be okay, John. Don’t panic. Dammit, where’s my towel. Welp. Single to center by Rosario — seriously? What is it with that guy — and it’s 1-0 Twins. But we’re just a ground ball out of getting — dammit, broken bat single through the shift by Cron. 2-0. I think I need a drink. Okay, so Morton gets Astudillo to line the center, then gets ahead Castro 0-2. Gotta limit the dam — are you kidding me? Wild pitch to score Rosario? 3-0. Oh, but Charlie gets his second K of the inning on the next pitch. That will help his FIP. Second Inning Austin Franklin draws a walk to start the second. Baby steps. Say, that’s a good old timey baseball nickname. Austin “Baby Steps” Meadows. Anyway, Odorizzi is very concerned with Baby Steps running, so this strikeout of Garcia takes forever. Next is KK — who I stupidity started in Ottoneu to — hey! It’s high it’s deep it’s gone! 3-2. We’re back in this thing! .@KKiermaier39 deposits a 2-run homer to center! ?#RaysUp 2#MNTwins 3Catch @RaysBaseball on FOX Sports Sun l FOX Sports Go. pic.twitter.com/6slKhSNdY4— FOX Sports Florida (@FOXSportsFL) June 27, 2019 No more offense this inning, but now we just need Charlie gets a quick shutdown inning. Nice job. Third Inning The Rays make outs in the third. One of them by Zunino is deep left center, but too high. Tricia interviews Mike Brosseau’s dad. It’s a great dad interview. With one out, Cruz and Rosario get singles, but Rosario pulls up lame rounding the bag and is tagged out And now I feel bad for saying mean things about him. Charlie gets out of the inning. Fourth Inning Leading off the fourth, Choi is held to a long single off the wall, thanks to a quick recovery by the Minnesota outfield and too much watching by Ji-Man. Meadows then sneaks one through the shift, but Astidillo in right throws behind Baby Steps and he’s TOOTBLAN’d. Garcia Ks, failing to score Choi from third. But KK — who I brilliantly sta— crap he strikes out too. Chicken, bone, yada yada. Charlie pitches around a review-assisted infield single by Jake Cave in the bottom of the inning. Time to get the offense cranked up! Fifth Inning Or maybe next inning. The Rays go in order. Leading off for the Twin, Arraez collects the third Twin infield single of the night. The Rays put down the chance with a pop out and a strike em out/throw em out. Come on, guys. It’s starting to get late. Sixth Inning So I know I said I wanted to talk about baseball instead of what we’ve been talking about. But this whole stadium/Montreal situation is just karma coming back to bite St. Pete for trying to steal somebody else’s team all those years ago. Anyway back to baseball. There it is! Tommy Pham with a one out oppo drive over the balcony in right. .@TphamLV ties it with his 1??2??th home run of the season. #RaysUp 3#MNTwins 3Catch @RaysBaseball on FOX Sports Sun l FOX Sports Go. pic.twitter.com/UEvKC7oOfW— FOX Sports Florida (@FOXSportsFL) June 27, 2019 I wasn’t worried. 3-3, tie game. Also: Is anybody else over this W.B. Mason commercial? We get it; it’s go time. So go. The Twins make some wonderfully boring outs in the bottom of the frame. Seventh Inning Kevin Kiermaier — who I now have no idea what to expect from — gives one a ride to deep right center against new pitcher Trevor May. Dang it. But Willy Adames follows it up by showing everybody what a properly struck baseball looks like. .@willya02 uncorks go-ahead solo homer! #RaysUp 4#MNTwins 3Catch @RaysBaseball on FOX Sports Sun l FOX Sports Go. pic.twitter.com/hGmjtZnJRX— FOX Sports Florida (@FOXSportsFL) June 27, 2019 4-3 Rays! I love baseball! With two out, Zunino and Lowe are hit back to back. But since they were both clearly unintentional, the baseball gods let May off the hook as Pham flies out. Castro squirts one by Lowe, and Choi botches a double play ball to start the bottom of the inning. WTF baseball gods? I thought we had an understanding. Morton strikes out Schoop to end his night. 6.1 innings, 8 hits, a walk and 7 strikeouts. Poche enters, falls behind, they gives up a single to left to Arraez to load the bases. He then gets Polanco to pop to second. That ends his night. Pagan on to try and finish off this threat. I am not feeling it. We have obviously done something to anger the baseball gods. He gets ahead 0-2, throws a nice slider down — and Cruz hits it over KK’s head for a double. Bases clear, 6-4 Twins. In hate baseball. Eighth Inning Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What do people gain from all the toil at which they toil under the sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises and the sun goes down, and hurries to the place where it rises. The wind blows to the south, and goes around to the north; round and round goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns. All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they continue to flow. All things are wearisome; more than one can express; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, or the ear filled with hearing. What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new”? It has already been, in the ages before us. The people of long ago are not remembered, nor will there be any remembrance of people yet to come by those who come after them. ~ Ecclesiastes 1:2-11 With one out, Meadows singles to right after a ten pitch at bat. He does not score. My Sling TV freezes. Cron reaching on a Lowerror. He is stranded. Ninth Inning Rays go in order. Remember it’s just a game.

This whole situation is horrible. Even more horrible than the Rays' play this week.