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NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - A Cuban national soccer player who disappeared from his team while in Nashville, Tennessee, for an Olympic qualifying tournament has defected and is seeking asylum in the United States, his attorney said on Tuesday. Yosmel de Armas was in Nashville for the soccer tournament in late March when he disappeared. He played in a March 24 game, but was absent from the team's next game on March 26. When asked about the absent player at the time, the coach said De Armas was sick and had stayed in the team hotel when the rest of the team went to play that game. ...
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| The question of the day may be just what happened to make so much go so wrong so quickly. The shocked United States soccer team was eliminated from Olympic consideration when they were played to a draw by an invigorated El Salvador side in Nashville, Tennessee March 26. |
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| Fresh off a stunning victory, the Canadian men's under-23 team continues its pursuit of an Olympic berth for this summer's London Games, taking on winless Cuba on Monday night (6:30 p.m. ET) in Nashville, Tenn. |
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| In his latest blog post for Goal.com, the Vancouver Whitecaps center back talks about his time with team owner Steve Nash. |
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| America and Cuba kick off CONCACAF Olympic qualifying in Nashville. The U.S. is the heavy favorite, but the only previous meetings of the U-23s ended in a draw. |
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| The Philadelphia Union forward will lead the USA in Nashville. |
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| Sports Club Stats, that addictive playoff probability tracking site, lists the percentage chances of making the Stanley Cup Playoffs for 29 teams.
But when you get all the way down to the Columbus Blue Jackets, there is no percentage. Not even the 0.0-percent of the Edmonton Oilers. It just says: "NO."
But there's a good reason for that pessimism: The Blue Jackets have 51 points in 69 games; hence, they have 13 games remaining; hence, the highest total of points they can collect for the rest of the season is 26, should they go … sorry, when they go 13-0, giving them a total of 77 points.
The Colorado Avalanche, meanwhile, have 76 points entering their nationally televised home game against the Anaheim Ducks on Monday night. With a victory, they'll either move into the No. 7 seed if the Phoenix Coyotes lose to Nashville or the No. 8 seed if the Coyotes win.
In either case, 78 points from the Avalanche means the Blue Jackets are the first team eliminated from the playoff race this season. You know, officially; pretty sure the Jackets stopped thinking about the playoffs right around Halloween.
UPDATE: Or they're already eliminated. This is why I don't dabble in math. From MD in the comments: "Columbus can only get to 77 points (32 ROWs). Colorado, Calgary, and LA all have 76 points. Seven other teams have 78-plus points. LA and Calgary play on March 28 which means one of them will become the 8th team to reach 78 points. (Col and Cal also meet a few times, but LA/Cal is first.) Columbus is eliminated right now because either the Kings or Calgary are guaranteed to have 78 points by the end of play on March 28th."
s/t Chaos of 99.
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| No. 1 Star: Mike Smith, Phoenix Coyotes
Smith's career year continued as his 42-save night helped the Coyotes to a 3-0 win over the San Jose Sharks. The shutout was Smith's fifth of the season and 16th of his career, while the win was his 30th. Rookie defenseman Michael Stone scored his first NHL goal and added an assist as the Coyotes stayed two points ahead of the Colorado Avalanche for seventh in the Western Conference.
No. 2 Star: Andrei Kostitsyn, Nashville Predators
Having cornered the market on Kostitsyns, the Predators were aided by their presence in the lineup as Andrei and his brother Sergei hooked up on a pair of power play goals as Nashville beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-2. Sergei set up both of Andrei's goals as AK-46 upped his production to three goals and six points in five games since being traded the Predators. David Legwand assisted on all three goals and Pekka Rinne made 35 saves.
No. 3 Stars: Kari Lehtonen, Dallas Stars / Jonas Gustavsson, Toronto Maple Leafs / Ilya Bryzgalov, Philadelphia Flyers
In captain Brenden Morrow's return from an 18-game absence due to injury, his goal would be more than enough as the Stars would drop the Anaheim Ducks 2-0. Lehtonen made 21 saves for his third shutout of the year and 20th of his career.
Gustavsson (27 saves) and Bryzgalov (29 saves) combined for the double shutout as Philadelphia needed just this sick Claude Giroux goal in the shootout to win 1-0:
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| The United States will play its group-round matches for the Olympic men's soccer qualifying tournament in Nashville, Tenn. CONCACAF released the tournament schedule Thursday. Winners of the two semifinals, which will be played in Kansas City, Kan., get the North and Central American and Caribbean berths in the London Games. |
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| CSKA Moscow central
defender Sergei Ignashevich and midfielder Keisuke Honda will be
out of action for up to 10 days because of injuries, the Russian
Premier League club said on Wednesday.
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