Burns, five others, join Hall of Fame
Hockey: A few months ago, Line Burns was driving to see a friend and stopped in Gilmanton, New Hampshire, where she used to live with her husband.
She was gassing up her car and getting something to eat when her phone rang. On the other end were Pat Quinn and John Davidson from the Hockey Hall of Fame telling her Pat Burns would be enshrined four years after his death.
“It was meant to be,” she said. “He was probably laughing up there.”
Line (pronounced Lynn) recalled recently how she and her husband used to laugh so much at home. She couldn’t help but laugh that night when a video montage of Burns’ best and angriest coaching moments were shown on the video screens at Air Canada Centre.
Burns was inducted Monday into the Hockey Hall of Fame along with Dominik Hasek, Peter Forsberg, Mike Modano, Rob Blake and referee Bill McCreary.
• Lightning top Rangers: Ryan Callahan scored two goals in his first game against his former New York Rangers teammates, and the surging Tampa Bay Lightning rode another big offensive outburst to a 5-1 road victory.
Callahan netted the second of Tampa Bay’s two first-period goals and closed the scoring.
Grizzlies rout Rockets
NBA: Mike Conley scored 19 points and the Memphis Grizzlies easily defeated the Houston Rockets 119-93 in Memphis, Tennessee in a matchup of the teams with the NBA’s best records.
Whatever showdown was expected from the two 9-1 teams and among the best defensive squads in the league never materialized as Memphis took a 16-point lead in the first quarter and extended it in each of the remaining periods, until it reached 36 points in the fourth.
• Kings protesting shot: The Sacramento Kings are protesting last week’s loss at Memphis, saying the Grizzlies’ winning shot shouldn’t have counted. The NBA said Monday it will rule on the protest by Dec. 2.
Miami upsets Florida
College basketball: Angel Rodriguez scored 24 points, none bigger than those that came on a falling-down, hand-in-the-face 3-pointer with 16 seconds remaining, and Miami overcame a 15-point deficit to upset No. 8 Florida 69-67 in men’s action in Gainesville, Florida. The Hurricanes scored 48 points in the second half.
• UConn’s streak snapped: Amber Orrange made a go-ahead jumper with 1:38 left in overtime and the tying 3-pointer with 1.4 seconds remaining in regulation, sending No. 6 Stanford to an 88-86 women’s victory in Stanford, California, against No. 1 Connecticut to snap the Huskies’ 47-game winning streak.
The Cardinal ended another long Huskies run nearly four years after snapping the program’s NCAA-record 90-game unbeaten run.
Griz coach retiring
College football: Montana coach Mick Delaney is retiring at the end of the season. Delaney told his assistants and players about his decision on Sunday as they began preparations for this weekend’s Montana-Montana State game.