Last Week around the Leagues
by Fran Stuchbury
May 9, 2023 - XFL (XFL)
This past week the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs won the Southern Professional Hockey League Presidents Cup for the first time in franchise history; D.C. Defenders quarterback Jordan Ta'amu was named XFL Offensive Player of the Year and Vegas Vipers linebacker Pita Taumoepenu was named XFL Defensive Player of the Year; and the Ottawa Redblacks Selected Fresno State offensive lineman Dontae Bull with the first overall pick in the 2023 CFL Draft. Highlights from this week come from the Southern Professional Hockey League, American Hockey League, North American Hockey League, Western Hockey League, Ontario Hockey League, XFL, Canadian Football League, United States Football League, Indoor Football League, National Lacrosse League, Major League Soccer, National Women's Soccer League, Canadian Premier League, United Soccer League Championship, United Soccer League One, and American Ultimate Disc League.
HOCKEY
Southern Professional Hockey League
The Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs (7-2) won the President's Cup for the first time in franchise history, defeating the Birmingham Bulls (5-5) 2-1 in a Game Four overtime victory at Berglund Center. Josh Nenadal scored Roanoke's first goal, while captain Mac Jansen netted the winner, giving him the first and last goals of the 2022-2023 season for the Dawgs and lifting Roanoke to its first-ever SPHL championship.
Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs talk about championship win, Parade, and Celebration
American Hockey League
Milwaukee Admirals Owner and CEO Harris Turer and Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile announced today that the two clubs have extended their affiliation agreement for two years, taking the long-standing partnership through the 2024-25 season. "We could not be happier to continue this successful relationship between our two organizations," said Turer. "David, [Nashville Assistant GM and Milwaukee GM] Scott Nichol and their staff are committed to developing players and continue our winning tradition. Since I bought the team in 2005, the road to Nashville has truly gone through Milwaukee and we are proud to have developed so many players who have gone on to great careers with the Predators."
Lawrence Pilut with the key to the Rochester Americans North Division Finals in overtime.
Milwaukee Admirals Spencer Stastney game winning goal.
Manitoba Moose captain Jimmy Oligny named AHL Man of the Year. Celebrating his work in the community.
North American Hockey League
Top Plays of the Week - April 24, - May 1, 2023
Western Hockey League
Arizona Coyotes prospect Dylan Guenther scored a hat-trick in Game 4 of the 2023 WHL Western Conference Championship.
Ontario Hockey League
The Ontario Hockey League today announced that Saginaw Spirit forward Michael Misa is the 2022-23 recipient of the Emms Family Award, presented annually to the OHL's Top First-Year Player as voted by the league's General Managers. Misa led the league's newcomers with 56 points, including 22 goals and 34 assists in 45 games.
United States Hockey League
The United States Hockey League (USHL) and the Chicago Steel announced that Macklin Celebrini has been named Player the Year for the 2022-23 season. Committed to Boston University, Celebrini led the USHL in scoring with 86 points with 46 goals and 40 assists. His 46 goals were also a league high, as were his eight game-winning goals and 21 power play goals. Including a five-goal game vs. USA Hockey NTDP on Feb. 18, Celebrini recorded four hat tricks during the course of the 2022-23 campaign.
FOOTBALL
D.C. Defenders quarterback Jordan Ta'amu has been named the 2023 XFL Offensive Player of the Year. Ta'amu helped lead the Defenders to a 9-1 regular season record and a berth in the XFL Championship Game. Ta'aumu finished the regular season 143-of-229 passing for 1,894 yards and 14 touchdowns with just three interceptions.
Vegas Vipers linebacker Pita Taumoepenu has been named the 2023 XFL Defensive Player of the Year. Taumoepenu led the XFL in forced fumbles with four. He was also No. 2 in the XFL in sacks, racking up 7.5, including three sacks in a game vs. the Orlando Guardians in a 35-32 Vegas victory. Taumoepenu was tied for No. 6 in the XFL in tackles for loss with eight, while also tallying 26 total tackles throughout the regular season.
The XFL has announced its 2023 All-XFL Team. The XFL North Division Champion D.C. Defenders led the League in All-XFL Team honorees with seven, while all eight teams had at least one player honored.
The XFL is the league of opportunity and that opportunity is the chance to play in the NFL. In the first 5 days that followed the 2023 NFL Draft there were 38 XFL players invited to NFL training camps.
Canadian Football League
The Ottawa REDBLACKS have selected Fresno State offensive lineman Dontae Bull with the first overall pick in the 2023 CFL Draft. "This is an exciting moment for Dontae and the Ottawa REDBLACKS," said General Manager Shawn Burke. "He is coming off a strong collegiate career playing NCAA Division 1 football and will fit well with our group. We're happy he chose to make the move to Ottawa and the organization is thrilled to have him."
Behind The R: 2023 CFL Draft Night
United States Football League
Indoor Football League
Week VII Plays of the Week!
LACROSSE
National Lacrosse League
The Buffalo Bandits, Toronto Rock, Calgary Roughnecks, and Colorado Mammoth advanced this weekend to the best-of-three National Lacrosse League Conference Finals, which begin play Thursday, May 11. Game 1 of the West Conference Finals between the Calgary Roughnecks and the defending NLL Champion, Colorado Mammoth, is this Thursday, May 11 in Denver, CO. Game 1 of the East Conference Finals between the Buffalo Bandits and the Toronto Rock and will be hosted by Buffalo on Friday, May 12
The National Lacrosse League the world's largest and most successful professional lacrosse league, announced that this past weekend's action, highlighted by Georgia and Vancouver both setting season highs at just more than 9,400 each, pushed overall league attendance to 1,039,418, just the third time in NLL history to eclipse the one million-fan mark in the regular season and the first time since the 2008 season. With the NLL Playoffs now ahead, the current cumulative attendance trails only the 1,138,225 in 2007 and 1,083,345 in 2008. Attendance is up 25% versus last year, which was the first full season after the NLL ended the 2019-2020 early and sat out the 2020-2021 season due to the pandemic.
Eli McLaughlin scores game-winning goal for Colorado Mammoth.
The Top 10 Plays of April 2023.
Premier Lacrosse League
ESPN announced the television and streaming schedule for the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) powered by Ticketmaster's 2023 season, featuring coverage of all 48 games across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN+. The 2023 PLL season schedule will include 16 games on ESPN linear platforms - ABC (8), ESPN (2), and ESPN2 (6), with all 48 games to be streamed live on ESPN+. The eight windows on ABC represent a five-game increase on the broadcast network from the 2022 season, while the 16 overall linear windows are a four-game increase.
SOCCER
Major League Soccer
Josef Martínez is now the fastest player in Major League Soccer history to 100 regular-season goals, reaching that mark with a brace in Inter Miami CF's 2-1 win Saturday night over none other than Atlanta United.
National Women's Soccer League
Rookie forward Alyssa Thompson opened the scoring for Angel City FC with a remarkable goal from a seemingly impossible angle. Thompson was the first pick in the 2022 NWSL Draft.
Canadian Premier League
April 2023 Saves of the Month
United Soccer League Championship
Three Points for the Three Sparks! Birmingham Legion FC's Enzo Martinez is USL Championship Player of the Week
Absolutely astonishing from Meza! Noe Meza - USL League One Player of the Week
BASEBALL
Top fan voted minor league baseball Plays of the month for April.
OTHER SPORTS
American Ultimate Disc League
May 3, 2023
The TOP 10 plays from the opening weekend of the 2023 AUDL season!
Did we miss anything newsworthy or downright fun? Have a nomination for next week's column? Contact us today and let us know.
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XFL Stories from May 9, 2023
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- 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.
