Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • B7

AZCENTRAL.COM THURSDAY, MAY 19, 2022 7B Following loss at Las Vegas, the Phoenix Mercury (2-2) are hoping for a reset in 7 p.m. game against the Dallas Wings (2-2) at Footprint Center. The Mercury put together a solid half with a 12-point lead at one point in the half. Tina Charles led with 15 points at the end of the second quarter, while Shey Peddy added eight points the bench. But then the second half doomed the Mercury when Las Vegas outscored the Mercury 30-12 in the third quarter to lead 69-55.

Tensions late during a timeout in the half when a heated exchange between Mercury guards Diana Taurasi and Skylar Diggins-Smith led to both being separated on the bench. Head coach Vanessa Nygaard called the exchange and said it stemmed from everything surrounding the team, including playing without Brittney Griner as she remains detained in Russia. players, they play hard, they play with passion. This is their lives, this is the game that they love, and a lot going on. Our team has even more going on with the BG situa- tion too.

That something that goes away for Nygaard said after the game. The Mercury will have a chance to put the early frustrations behind in a potential bounce-back game against the Wings. The Wings will also be coming in from a similar loss after fall- ing behind late in the half to the Washington Mystics on Tuesday. Against Las Vegas, wing Diamond DeShields made her debut as a starter with 11 points and rebounds. DeShields took spot in the lineup as Peddy contributed 13 points the bench.

The Mercury won't be facing the full Dallas squad as Wings forward Satou Sabally will not play in the game. Sa- bally was activated by the Wings on Wednesday upon returning from an overseas commitment, but did not travel with the team to Phoenix. Sabally is an extra presence the Wings would like to have. Four of the Wings starters scored in double against the Mystics, but the bench provided just three points. Sabally averaged 11.9 points per game and 5.9 rebounds last season.

Aces guard Jackie Young drives past Mercury guard Diamond DeShields in the half on Tuesday in Las Vegas. BENJAMIN VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL Mercury return home after loss against Aces Jenna Ortiz Arizona Republic USA TODAY NETWORK have this opportunity to play for the Arizona Cardinals, who knows if that would have been the case in where you end up and the people that you meet. So yeah, I think fair to say Cooney, 25, played baseball, basket- ball and soccer in high school. It was his experience as a goalie in soccer that stoked the idea about possibly becoming a punter. Football, he said, was his favor- ite sport to watch and he found himself focusing on kickers and punters every time he saw a game in person or on TV.

During his downtime after receiving one of his chemotherapy treatments, he started watching YouTube videos of punters to learn more about the skill. He watched thousands of them and when he was able, he would grab a football and start punting in the backyard. It take long to realize he had a knack for it. father, Joseph, suggested the two attend a kicking camp nearby and punting success story took from there. was my time seeing if I really had any Cooney recalled.

really have any expectations going into it, but from there, I was like, there could be an opportunity to play at the highest level Punting was 'a way to stay busy' Cooney said he can on one the number of kicking camps and clinics he attended. Mostly, he was self- taught. He got better, he said, the more he worked out with other kickers and punt- ers. He would have tried out for the East Greenwich football team as a senior, but local rules allow students to partic- ipate in both soccer and football at the same time. Part of the reason he picked up punt- ing in the place was just to a dis- traction to get his mind of his cancer diagnosis, which required surgery and nine weeks of chemo.

was looking for something to keep me busy more than Cooney said. feeling good or feeling bad, there was a lot of time that I was away from school. I had a compro- mised immune system, so it was really just a way to stay busy that sparked that idea. became more of an interest to learn about it and watch more and it be- came kind of something to look forward to when the summer rolled But Cooney was intent on playing football, so he signed up for a postgradu- ate year at Bridgton Academy in Maine and got his shot as a punter there. He get a college scholarship any- where, but he managed to earn a walk-on opportunity at Syracuse, where his mom, Janice, went to school.

Cooney had met former Syracuse punter Riley Dixon, who now kicks for the Rams, at a punting camp and developed a relationship that helped him get his foot in the door at Syracuse. He served as the holder for placement kicks his three years there and then won the punting job and a scholarship as a senior. feel fortunate that I had a really good punter in front of me, Sterling Hofrich- Cooney said, referring to the Bucca- punter. learned so much from him after only playing one year of college football. Quite frankly, I ready for a few years to get out on the into that year, I had gained I gained ability, gained trust in a lot of people to go out and perform and even if it was just one year, I thought it was a great opportunity to go out and continue to play football for as long as I Cooney was a major success for the Orange, averaging a school-record 44.8 yards per kick.

He led all FBS punters in total punts (74) and yards (3,314) with 24 downed inside the 20 and only three touchbacks. Lots of NFL teams took notice, includ- ing the Cardinals. Special teams coordi- nator and assistant head coach Rodgers took time to get to know him and when he was released by the Saints, he was high on watch list. In Janu- ary, the team signed him to a futures con- tract. Nothing is guaranteed, of course.

Lee is still the No.1 punter. For Coo- ney to crack the 53-man roster or more likely, earn a spot on the practice squad, he must be able to impress at every op- portunity, including during next week in Tempe. just want to try and learn from as many people as I can in the building, whether a specialist or a coach or a Cooney said. just want to pick the brain of as many people as I can to understand how this league works and also to learn from people who have had success doing is the time you can learn the most in your Oh, and as for that rule back in East Greenwich prohibiting players from par- ticipating in both football and soccer dur- ing the same season? been revoked. They call it the Cooney Note The Cardinals have now signed seven of their eight rookie draft picks, coming to terms Wednesday with third-round pass rusher Myjai Sanders on a four-year contract.

That leaves third-round edge rusher Cameron Thomas as the only un- signed player from this rookie draft class. Cardinals Continued from Page 1B Sometimes, your top players at their peak and you still win. Exhibit Colorado defenseman and Norris Trophy Cale Makar. Sometimes, your top players are your top players and you win handily. Exhibits and Tampa Bay forward Nikita Kucherov along with goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy.

With a little help from his friends, Makar and the Avalanche lead St. Louis 1-0 in their second-round series. With a combined the the two-time de- fending Stanley Cup champion Light- ning took a 1-0 advantage in their series with Florida. important for everyone to step up at this time of the said Ava- lanche forward Darren Helm, whose team hosts the Blues in Game 2 on Thursday night (9:30 p.m. EDT, TNT).

any game anybody can be the he- In Game 1 for the Avalanche, Josh Manson answered the call with his career goal arriving in overtime during a 3-2 win. For the Lightning, hard to pick one. Corey Perry and Kucherov each had a goal and an assist, while Vasilevskiy looked very much like the Conn Smythe Award winner he was last year, stopping 33 of 34 shots as the Panthers beat Flori- da, 4-1. force you to do the little things right the whole Panthers interim coach Andrew Brunette said. patient enough, smart enough, that they wait you out a little bit.

A couple poor decisions, not even catastrophic decisions, but just little decisions that they make you not that Makar played poorly in Game 1. He just that by his el- evated standards three goals and sev- en assists in a sweep of Nashville make a pointless night feel almost like an night. get spoiled with Cale a little Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. expect him to be exceptional, a huge make all these dynamic plays every He always need to make dy- namic plays with Nathan MacKinnon, captain Gabriel Landeskog and the rest of the speedy ensemble behind him. The Blues plan to counter that speed with a bump here or there.

got to have contact on them. If you going to skate right through Blues coach Craig Berube said. the way they play. They rest, they just go. not running around and running out of position, just contact when there.

Bumping guys that gives guys a little bit more time to get a puck, or make a play. got to be contact all the A friendly reminder that resonates from Denver all the way to Sunrise, Flor- ida: Expect a brick wall in goal. that time of year when goaltenders step it up another level. Vasilevskiy once again confounded the Panthers. Just like he did in Game 6 a season ago, when he made 29 saves in posting a shutout as the Lightning elim- inated the Panthers.

Support cast gives Avalanche a boost Pat Graham ASSOCIATED PRESS Avalanche defenseman Josh Manson is congratulated by teammates after an overtime goal against the Blues on Tuesday. JACK RALEIGH, N.C. Ian Cole beat Igor Shesterkin at 3:12 of overtime to help the Carolina Hurricanes beat the New York Rangers 2-1 Wednesday night and take Game 1 of their second-round play- series. The second career goal capped a late comeback by the Hurricanes after they trailed most of the night. Sebastian Aho pushed one past Shesterkin in the minutes of the third period to send the game into OT.

Then came rebound shot, which clipped the stick of Rangers de- fenseman Ryan Lindgren to change di- rection on the way toward the net be- fore slipping past Shesterkin to end this one. Carolina also got a key from Antti Raanta, who had 27 saves and helped the Hurricanes hang around as the Rangers controlled play through the two periods. The Hurricanes won home-ice by claiming the Metropolitan Division ti- tle, secured with a win against the Rangers in Madison Square Garden in the week of the regular season. They nearly handed it over to the Rang- ers on the opening night, but now will look for a sixth straight home win this postseason when they host Game 2 on Friday night. Filip Chytil scored a goal for the Rangers, while Shesterkin ished with 24 saves.

Both teams advanced through gruel- ing seven-game series, with Carolina getting past Bos- ton on Saturday followed by New York rallying past Pittsburgh in overtime a day later. The Hurricanes never trailed in their series nor in their four home wins. The Rangers had to rally from a 3-1 series with three straight wins, which included Shesterkin for the Vezina Trophy for top goalie and Hart Trophy for league MVP bouncing back from surrendering 10 goals in Games 3 and 4. Yet when this one started, it was the Hurricanes who looked a step slow while the Rangers moved the puck ef- fectively and gave up few quality chances. And the Rangers were also opportu- nistic at the perfect moment to seize early momentum.

As defenseman Tony DeAngelo tried to send the puck back to teammate Jac- cob Slavin for a reset, Rangers forward Alexis stole the pass to lead a 3-on-2 rush. passed to Chytil, who one-timed the puck from the right side past the extended stick of Slavin and Raanta at 7:07 of the That score held up for the Rangers nearly the rest of the night until the Hurricanes showed an urgent third-period edge to build some mo- mentum. They even twice got pucks past Shesterkin only to ping the cross- bar, on a breakaway by Nino Nie- derreiter and later from Aho. But Aho responded less than 30 sec- onds later to the net, taking a feed from rookie Seth Jarvis and then going to his backhand side. Shesterkin made the initial stop, but Aho knocked the rebound across for the tying score with 2:23 left in the third.

NHL PLAYOFFS OT goal lifts Carolina in Game 1 ASSOCIATED PRESS The Ian Cole celebrates his OT goal in Game 1 of a second- round playoff series in Raleigh, N.C., on Wednesday. KARL.