Steelers fans will be interested in Friday’s “First Call” as we have updates on two AFC North rivals.
The Cleveland Browns are getting healthy in the secondary, and the Baltimore Ravens’ deep group of running backs may be adding another familiar name.
Meanwhile, we celebrate the present and the past of Marc-Andre Fleury. And more bad news on the Robert Morris hockey front.
Gurley goin’ to the Ravens?
The Baltimore Ravens welcomed free-agent running back Todd Gurley for a visit Thursday.
Former Pro Bowl RB Todd Gurley is visiting the #Ravens today, source said. The former #Rams and #Falcons weapon also recently visited the #Lions. Now it’s Baltimore, which could build on an already stacked backfield.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) June 10, 2021
But NFL reporter Josina Anderson says the former All-Pro left without a contract. That’s not to say a deal can’t happen. It’s just that Gurley may be angling for the best contract he can get.
And RavensWire points out, the franchise has only $11 million in cap space. And they have three decent running backs already in Gus Edwards, J.K. Dobbins and Justice Hill.
Gurley had 678 yards rushing and nine touchdowns last year. He already visited the Detroit Lions and may be a better fit there.
Browns beefing up
In 2020, the Cleveland Browns were dealt a bad hand when it came to their secondary. They had numerous injuries of a serious nature before the season even started.
Cornerback Greedy Williams was a second-round draft pick in 2019. He played 12 games as a rookie but suffered a nerve injury in his shoulder and didn’t play in 2020. As for safety Grant Delpit, he tore an Achilles tendon during a training camp practice before his rookie season of 2020.
Now both are rounding into form as 2021 approaches. According to BrownsWire, “Both were back on the practice field on Wednesday in the OTA session open to the media. According to head coach Kevin Stefanski, they’re progressing just fine and should be ready to roll when the regular season starts.”
Those two players were teammates at LSU in college.
Oh, what a ‘Knight’
The Vegas Golden Knights have advanced to the NHL’s semifinals for the third time in their four-year existence.
The Knights eliminated the Colorado Avalanche, 6-3, in a very entertaining Game 6 of their West Division second-round series.
And former Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was part of the highlights.
Fleury said ♂️♂️♂️ #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/5lhihXEBti
— NHL GIFs (@NHLGIFs) June 11, 2021
Fleury stopped 30 of 33 shots en route to the victory. Vegas gets Montreal in the next round. The survivor of that series will face either the Tampa Bay Lightning or the New York Islanders in the Stanley Cup Final.
Fine Flower
Speaking of “The Flower,” Saturday marks the 12th anniversary of Fleury’s finest moment in the NHL.
On June 12, 2009, he made an unforgettable save to seal a 2-1 victory in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final as the Penguins beat the Detroit Red Wings to claim the franchise’s third championship.
The SAVEThe CELEBRATIONThe STANLEY CUP
After falling just short in 2008, the @penguins brought the Cup home in 2009. pic.twitter.com/GZUgd9ZNUR
— NHL on NBC Sports (@NHLonNBCSports) April 13, 2020
After getting pulled during a Game 5 debacle that the Wings won 5-0, Fleury and the Penguins won the next two games 2-1 with Fleury stopping 48-of-50 shots.
He’d play eight more years with the franchise before leaving for Vegas, picking up two more Stanley Cup rings along the way while sharing the net with Matt Murray.
Over before it started
It sounds like negotiations between Robert Morris University and hockey rink magnate Murry Gunty are dead.
As if they ever had much life.
The hope was some sort of deal could be reached over the potential of selling the RMU Island Sports Center as a path toward resurrecting the recently disbanded RMU men’s and women’s hockey programs.
Gunty, whose Black Bear Sports group owns 27 rinks nationwide, including Printscape Arena at Southpointe, tweeted Thursday that RMU’s administration had no interest in speaking with him beyond preliminary exchanges regarding a non-disclosure agreement last week.
Just got word. @rmu won’t engage in any discussions with me regarding saving the @RMUMHockey and @RMUWHockey. Truly stunning. @penguins
— murry gunty (@MurryGunty) June 10, 2021
When reached for a response to that tweet, the university replied, “Robert Morris University has no plans at this time to sell the RMU Island Sports Center, which provides practice and competition facilities for several RMU Division I and club sports. The sale of the ISC would not provide sufficient funds to allow RMU to sustain Division I ice hockey. The ISC remains open to the public and the home to numerous youth hockey teams throughout the region.”
To be clear, we really have no idea how serious Gunty was about buying the building, beyond his online statements of interest. And we don’t know for sure if he could meet the necessary asking price.
But, to Gunty’s point, he claims he was never even given any financial information from the university either.
In terms of RMU’s response, no one suggested the sale of the Island Sports Center would independently fund the continuation of the men’s and women’s hockey programs. The suggestion was that the sale would alleviate the immediate burden of renovation costs and/or front cash if the school decided to partner with the Penguins on the development ideas they have for their facility expansion plans in Cranberry.
Or, at the very least, a sale of the building to Gunty — with a discounted rate for ice time — could buy time for another year of fundraising and game-planning en route to endowing the program.
Something you can’t necessarily do in the span of two weeks. Which is how long the RMU hockey programs have had to digest the news of their elimination.
So far.
