Last Week Around the Leagues
by Fran Stuchbury
June 18, 2019 - Major League Rugby (MLR)
Last week the Canadian Football League kicked off its 107th season, the Indoor Football League's Arizona Rattlers finished the regular season 14-0 and the Seattle Seawolves won back-to-back Major League Rugby championships in the league's second season. Highlights from this week are from the Canadian Football League, National Women's Soccer League, International League, Women's National Basketball Association, Premier Lacrosse League and Major League Rugby.
FOOTBALL
Hamilton Tiger-Cats Frankie Williams scored on a 68-yard punt return against the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
BC Lions' Brandon Rutley contributed a 108 yard kickoff return for a touchdown against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
XFL
The Los Angeles XFL team named Norm Chow offensive coordinator.
The Houston XFL team named Ted Cottrell defensive coordinator.
Arena Football League
The Baltimore Brigade (5-3) defeated the Columbus Destroyers (1-7), 44-39, at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Brigade wide receiver Joe Hills made Arena Football League history by catching a touchdown reception in his 100th consecutive game. Hills finished with six receptions for 54 yards and two touchdowns.
Indoor Football League
The Indoor Football League (IFL) is pleased to announce the Hall of Fame Class of 2019. After a thorough voting process, which included input from IFL teams, coaches, fans, and current Hall of Fame members, the Indoor Football League honors and recognizes the achievements of Bryan Pray,Myniya Smith and Javicz Jones.
The six-time World Champion Arizona Rattlers (14-0) completed their first undefeated regular season in franchise history, defeating the San Diego Strike Force (1-13) in front of 14,036 fans at Talking Stick Resort Arena.
SOCCER
National Women's Soccer League
Utah Royals FC forward Amy Rodriguez with a long range goal in their 1-0 victory over Sky Blue FC.
BASEBALL
International League
Rehabbing New York Yankees Giancarlo Stanton hits a mammoth homer for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre against the Durham Bulls
Canadian American League
Frank Duncan was the story on an overcast at Yogi Berra Stadium. The Sussex County Miners right-hander threw the second no-hitter in Miners franchise history with an 89-pitch gem against the New Jersey Jackals en route to a 3-0 Miners win. Duncan (2-2) only walked one batter and retired the last 24 Jackals he faced on the evening.
BASKETBALL
NBA G League
Former NBA G League head coach Nick Nurse who won G League Championships with the Iowa Energy in 2011 and the Rio Grande Valley Vipers in 2013. Won a NBA championship as head coach of the Toronto Raptors. They defeated the two-time defending champions the Golden State Warriors in six games.
Women's National Basketball Association
The New Orleans Pelicans have hired Swin Cash as Vice President of Basketball Operations/Team Development. During her 15-year WNBA career, Cash appeared in 479 regular season games with the Detroit Shock, Seattle Storm, Chicago Sky, Atlanta Dream and New York Liberty, finishing with career averages of 10.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists.
Five-time WNBA All-Star and 2014 WNBA Champion Brittney Griner recorded a dunk in the Mercury's game against the Los Angeles Sparks. It was the 11th dunk of Griner's career, as she now accounts for 11 of the WNBA's 14 all-time regular-season dunks. As part of the BG Dunks promotion for the 2019 season, one lucky fan will now win $7,000 following Griner's dunk.
HOCKEY
American Hockey League
The American Hockey League announced that $6 million was raised over the course of the 2018-19 season by the AHL and its 31 member clubs for donation to various charitable causes and relief funds across North America.
The Bakersfield Condors announced that the Edmonton Oilers have agreed to terms with head coach Jay Woodcroft on a three-year contract extension through the 2021-22 season.
National Women's Hockey League
Pete Perram, a respected coach with more than two decades of experience in women's hockey at the international, club, collegiate and local level, has been named the new head coach of the Buffalo Beauts of the National Women's Hockey League.
LACROSSE
Premier Lacrosse League
The Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) announced an agreement with Sportsnet, Canada's #1 sports media brand, to become the exclusive distribution partner for league games in Canada for the 2019 PLL season. As part of the agreement, Sportsnet will air 16 PLL games in Canada for the remainder of the league season that are being produced and broadcast through either NBC and NBCSN in the United States.
The Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) and NBC Sports announced that Sunday's game (2-4 pm ET) between Chaos LC and Atlas LC from Red Bull Arena averaged a Total Audience Delivery of 412,000 viewers across NBC, NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app, making it the most-watched outdoor pro lacrosse game in history and the most-watched pro lacrosse game in 14 years (2005, NLL indoor championship, Toronto-Arizona, 689,000 viewers on NBC).
A great save by Atlas goalie Jack Concannon:
OTHER SPORTS
Major League Rugby
The second-ever Major League Rugby (MLR) Championship Final was played in San Diego and in front of a packed Torero Stadium, the defending champion Seattle Seawolves beat the top-seeded San Diego Legion 26 to 23 with a last-minute try to become back-to-back champions and retain the 2019 MLR Championship Shield.
Did we miss anything newsworthy or downright fun? Have a nomination for next week's column? Contact us today and let us know.
Major League Rugby Stories from June 18, 2019
- Glendale Raptors Announce Borlase as New Head Coach for 2020 Season - Colorado Raptors
- Last Week Around the Leagues - OSC Original by Fran Stuchbury
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s), and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
