From top highlights to culture and politics, “Out of Bounds” covers all the highs and lows from the past two weeks, plus a look at what’s ahead to catch you up on news from the sports world.

Hockey 

The Tampa Bay Lightning are your 2020 Stanley Cup Champions! After a Game 6 victory over the Dallas Stars, the 2019-2020 NHL season is officially over.

What am I going to do without hockey? Who knows. Training camps are tentatively scheduled for early Nov. and the 2020-21 season is scheduled to begin Dec. 1. The NWHL’s 2021-22 season is expected to start Jan. 1, with the Isobel Cup Playoffs and Finals concluding in May. Schedules are subject to change, however, so be sure to check out future editions of Out of Bounds to stay in the loop. 

Christ Stewart of the Philadelphia Flyers has announced his retirement. After 668 career games, Stewart will be staying on with the Flyers organization as a Player Development Coach, along with his continued work with the Hockey Diversity Alliance.

Calling all TSN BarDown fans: there’s a new podcast just for you. TSN is releasing the BarDown podcast, which can be found where you regularly find your podcasts. 

The NWHL has partnered with the Black Girls Hockey club, who has released their “Get Uncomfortable” pledge, which seeks to disrupt racism and make hockey a more inclusive environment. 

The Boston Pride have secured their place in Boston sports history by hanging their 2016 and 2020 Isobel Cup Champions banners in the Boston Logan International Airport alongside other Boston sports teams like the Boston Bruins and Boston Celtics.

The IIHF announced that the U18 Women’s and U20 Men’s World Championships have been cancelled due to Covid-19 concerns and the 2021 World Junior Hockey Championships will be played in a bubble in Edmonton. 

The NCAA has announced that the DI hockey season is delayed. NCAA hockey is an important part of player development in the United States, which lacks the same junior and minor leagues that Canada utilizes. There isn’t a wealth of details regarding what college hockey will look like at the moment, but I’ll make sure to keep you updated. 

 Tennis 

Mayar Sherif has become the first Egyptian to qualify for the main draw of the French Open, and the first Egyptian to qualify for the 2021 Olympic Games. 

The ITF has announced that the Fed Cup is changing its name to the Billie Jean King cup in order to honor King’s legacy. It’s also the first major global team competition named after a woman. 

Some tournaments have returned, while others (like Wimbledon) have been cancelled for this year. You can find a schedule for matches here.

Soccer

Madison Hammond of the OL Reign became the first Native American player to play in the NWSL. Hammond subbed in for Kristen McNabb for the final 14 minutes of their game against the Utah Royals, just after a few weeks of officially signing with the team. Hammond may be the first, but she definitely won’t be the last!

The Swedish National Women’s team has collectively chosen to keep taking a knee, despite facing criticism for their actions. Despite the outcry by some fans, the team has made it clear that they will keep showing support for the Black Lives Matter movement in this way. 

Basketball 

The NBA playoffs are underway, with the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat facing off against each other. You can check out the schedule below. 

The WNBA has reached the Finals of the playoffs! The Las Vegas Aces and the Seattle Storm will be meeting on the courts. You can check out the schedule below. 

Tyler Herro has become the fourth player in NBA history to record 30+ points in a playoff game at 20 years or younger. Can’t wait to see what Herro does next!

The NCAA DI Council has announced that the Men’s and Women’s basketball seasons will begin Nov. 25 for the 2020-21 season. Details regarding the season are few and far between right now, but it appears that the regular season will start without scrimmages and exhibition games.

Football 

We’ve got some herstory happening this edition! For the first time in NFL history, a female coach on both sides and a female official have taken part in a regular-season game. A big thank you to Jennifer King of the Washington NFL team, Callie Brownson of the Cleveland Browns, and Sarah Thomas for reminding us all that #footballisfemale. 

After much deliberation, the Pac-12 has decided to play a seven-game season that will begin on Nov. 6. The road ahead for college football for the Pac-12 is still rocky as California has strict restrictions on college sports due to Covid-19. 

The NFL fined three coaches — Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll, Broncos head coach Vic Fangio, and San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan — $100,000 each, and their teams $250,000 for flouting the league’s rules regarding wearing face masks on the sidelines. I bet every coach in the NFL will be wearing a face mask next game after those fines. 

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have announced their inaugural recipients of the Girls in Football Scholarship, which is the first time in NFL history a woman has received financial support from an NFL team to play football. Congratulations are in order to Jade Rayburn, Janae Scott, Tatiana Makar, and Lorraine Angelakos!

Figure Skating

International figure skating is back, everyone! You can check out the upcoming schedule here.  

Motorsports

Michael Jordan (six-time NBA Champion, owner of the Charlotte Hornets) and Denny Hamlin (three-time Daytona 500 winner) have come together to create a new NASCAR team. The team’s driver will be Bubba Wallace, who is currently NASCAR top tier’s only Black driver. 

For the first time ever, an all-female team competed in the LMP2 class at the 24-hour Le Mans Endurance Racing event. Placing 13th overall, Beitske Visser, Tatiana Calderon, and Sophia Florsch paved the way for women in motorsports. 

Baseball

The MLB and MLBPA  have committed $10 million to the Players Alliance to boost representation of Black Americans in professional baseball. The money will be used to fund annual grants to increase visibility from youth organizations all the way to the front office. 

The MLB has announced that postseason games will be played in a two-bubble format after a long string of positive Covid-19 cases throughout the regular season. They probably should have started the regular season in a bubble situation, but that’s none of my business.