
A South Bay native helped defeat the South Bay's team in an NHL game Saturday night. Calgary Flames goalie Dustin Wolf, who was born in Gilroy, stopped six San Jose Sharks shots in the first 4 minutes to set the tone while his teammates peppered San Jose goaltender Yaroslav Askarov on the way to a 3-1 win over the last-place Sharks in front of a sellout crowd at SAP Center. > Watch NBC Bay Area News 📺 Streaming free 24/7 It was the Sharks' seventh straight loss. Askarov made 30 saves to keep the Sharks in the game, but San Jose was unable to net the equalizer against Wolf, who finished with 21 saves.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Drake Maye received a nice ovation from the Gillette Stadium crowd when he returned to Saturday’s game after it appeared the New England Patriots had lost their rookie quarterback to another head injury. By the fourth quarter, those fans who chose to stick around until the end of a 40-7 lopsided loss to the Los Angeles Chargers chose to voice their displeasure in a season in which very little has gone right for the former NFL powerhouse. Chants of “Fire Mayo!” reverberated throughout the stadium, which was a quarter full by game’s end. “You hear those things. At the same time, they paid to sit in the seats, and we’ve got to play better. If we play better, we don’t have to hear that stuff,” head coach Jerod Mayo said after the Patriots dropped their sixth straight game. Instead of building off last week’s strong effort at Buffalo, New England took another series of steps backward in the season’s penultimate game. With another game against the Bills on tap next weekend, questions concerning the future of Mayo and several assistant coaches – mostly notably offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt and defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington – figure to intensify. “I’m always under pressure and it’s been that way for a very long time, not just when I became the head coach of the Patriots. I’m okay. Look, I always do what’s best for the team,” Mayo said. “I have full confidence in the staff. I have full confidence in the players in (the locker room). I think again, it just comes down to being consistent across the board.” Remember, the Patriots parted ways with six-time Super Bowl winner Bill Belichick following last year’s dismal 4-13 record. The coaching change didn’t produce the desired upward swing, with New England staring at the possibility of producing fewer wins in Mayo’s first season. “I’m just tired of losing. I’m trying to be in the playoffs and have a winning season,” said second-year receiver DeMario Douglas, who connected with Maye for New England’s lone touchdown. The most important asset in the Patriots’ rebuilding efforts, Maye was questionable to return with a head injury after taking a blow to the helmet in the first quarter. The No. 3 overall pick from this spring’s NFL draft scrambled near the sideline on third down of the Patriots’ first possession when he was hit by Chargers cornerback Cam Hart. Maye stayed down on the turf for several seconds before eventually getting up and jogging off the field. He briefly sat on the bench before going to the medical tent for evaluation. He was replaced by backup Jacoby Brissett, but for only one series that ended with a three-and-out. After further evaluation in the locker room, Maye returned to the game for the Patriots’ third series at the 10:15 mark of the second quarter. The 22-year-old was knocked out of the Patriots’ Week 8 win over the New York Jets after he suffered a blow to the back of his head. “Just kind of got my bell rung on the first drive. I feel good, I still feel good, and then I was good to go,” Maye said afterward. To his teammates, it wasn't a shock to see Maye re-enter the game after taking a blow to the head. On his first play back under center, Maye took off for a 9-yard run and drew an unnecessary roughness penalty. “He didn’t have to come back, but he did. That gave everyone a lot of confidence,” Patriots wide receiver Kayshon Boutte said. Maye set a Patriots rookie franchise record for touchdown passes in consecutive games (eight) when he connected with Douglas on a play on which the Chargers called for defensive offsides. He also turned the ball over for the eighth straight game – a fumble on a pitch attempt to Douglas that Los Angeles turned into points to make it 17-0 in the second quarter. “I’ve got to give him a better ball to catch. That falls back on me,” Maye said. It appears the Patriots dodged a bullet with respect to Maye and his health. Now, the focus shifts back to Mayo and what his 2025 status. “I think the biggest thing was you don’t see those guys quitting. I think the score may not tell that today, but I feel like the guys are still wanting to win. We’re still leaving it out there every week, and I think that was kind of my message to the team,” Maye said. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nflNone
Add the Dodgers to the list of teams with confirmed in-person meetings with highly sought-after international free agent Roki Sasaki. The meeting is not a surprise – the Dodgers are considered the favorite to sign the 23-year-old Japanese right-hander. When Sasaki was officially posted by his Nippon Professional Baseball team, the Chiba Lotte Marines, on Dec. 11, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman called it a “major priority” for the Dodgers to sign him. The Dodgers are the sixth team known to have had meetings with Sasaki and his agent, Joel Wolfe. Texas Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young confirmed in mid-December that his team had met with Sasaki. There have also been reports of meetings between Sasaki and the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants. At the Winter Meetings earlier this month, Wolfe said he has been contacted by more than 20 teams interested in signing Sasaki. Sasaki is expected to shrink the number of teams he is considering and hold a second round of meetings with those teams in 2025. Sasaki’s posting window closes Jan. 24. He cannot sign before Jan. 15, when the 2025 international signing period begins. “The best I can say is he has paid attention to how the teams have done as far as overall success, both this year and in years past,” Wolfe said at the Winter Meetings. “He does watch a lot of Major League Baseball. He’s paid attention to what his (World Baseball Classic) teammates have done. He’s talked to a lot of players, foreign players that have been on his team with Chiba Lotte. He asked a lot of questions about weather, about comfortability, about pitching development and just watching what other Japanese players in the major leagues are doing and how they are doing.” Unlike Yoshinobu Yamamoto (also a Wolfe client) who signed a record 12-year, $325 million contract with the Dodgers last winter, Sasaki is not able to auction his talents to the highest bidder. Because he is younger than 25, he is considered the same as an international amateur and can only be signed for an amount in a team’s international bonus pool, which ranges from $5 million to $7 million. The same rule applied to Shohei Ohtani when he signed with the Angels in 2017. The 23-year-old Sasaki is considered one of the best pitchers in the world. He became the youngest pitcher to throw a perfect game in NPB in 2022 and tied Ohtani for the fastest pitch recorded in NPB history (102.5 mph). In four NPB seasons, he was 29-15 with a 2.10 ERA and 11.5 strikeouts per nine innings. Last season, he had some injury issues but went 10-5 with a 2.35 ERA in 18 starts. Jeff Fletcher contributed to this story.
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