Chicago Sports

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan Stadium’s lone tunnel — the site of altercations between players as they enter and exit the field — will be a little wider next season.

The school confirmed Monday that it will remove a portable section of seats from the front of the tunnel to give players, coaches and staff members more room to enter and exit the football field.

Previously, fans were close enough to touch coaches and players as one spectator did last season with Michigan State’s Mel Tucker well before the postgame altercation between Spartans and Wolverines players that led to suspensions and criminal charges.

A total of 45 portable seats will be lost and enough standing-room only tickets are expected to be added in the stadium to keep its capacity at 107,601.

“This decision was made after a thorough review for the health and wellness of everyone who uses the tunnel to get on and off the field,” Michigan spokesman Kurt Svoboda said.

The Big Ten fined Michigan State $100,000 for its role in the stadium tunnel altercations and reprimanded Michigan for failing to “provide adequate protection for personnel of both home and visiting teams when entering and leaving playing arenas,” per conference policy.

Penn State coach James Franklin said in October that there should be a policy in place to prevent teams from heading to the locker rooms at the same time and suggested the need for some sort of buffer to separate them.

Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh bristled, saying Franklin acted as a “ringleader” when a lot of heated words were exchanged and Wolverines players reportedly said Nittany Lions players threw peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at them.

For the final two games of the season, Michigan did keep players and coaches from Nebraska and Illinois separate from the Wolverines in the tunnel.

The University of Michigan Board of Regents approved the athletic department’s request last year to name the tunnel after former coach Lloyd Carr, who led the program to its last national championship in 1997.

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The Chicago Blackhawks are on a little bit of a hot streak which isn’t really all that good of news because they would be much better off trying to have the best pick they can get in the 2023 NHL Draft.

Everyone knows the potential that Connor Bedard has once he reaches the NHL. The Hawks don’t want to mess up the opportunity to get him or one of the other top players from the draft.

The Hawks finally did end their recent hot streak with a loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday night.

They lost a very close game by one goal to a team that believes they will be heading to the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs with a chance to make it far.

They have been scoring a lot more goals lately but they just didn’t come against the Kings and it cost them a victory. Again, that is probably a good thing in the long term.

The Chicago Blackhawks have a long second half ahead of them in 2023.

Bruce Boudreau Drama

The Chicago Blackhawks probably won’t finish with as many points in the standings as the Vancouver Canucks but they are a much better-run organization with a much brighter future. Now, these two teams are set to meet on Tuesday night.

This will be the first game that the Canucks play since letting go of their coach Bruce Boudreau. Of course, there is a lot of drama surrounding that firing as it was reported to be happening a week in advance and the Canucks just let him sit there and wonder what is happening next.

It was also reported a week in advance that Rick Tocchet would be Boudreau’s successor but again, Vancouver let multiple games pass before they finally did it. It was horrible to see them treat a legendary coach like that.

Well, now the Canucks are hoping that things finally get better for them with the Hawks coming to town. We will see how that goes for them.

Other NHL News:

Johnny Gaudreau made his long-awaited return to Alberta to take on the Calgary Flames for the first time since leaving them in free agency. It was an outstanding game but Gaudreau’s return was spoiled by Calgary as they won 4-3 in overtime.

Johnny Hockey did find a way to collect two assists but he missed on a penalty shot that he was awarded. The crowd booed him during warmups and every time he touched the puck during the game.

However, they did cheer him during the first TV timeout when the Flames played a welcome-back video on the jumbotron. It was definitely a really cool night for NHL fans.

Elsewhere around the league, teams are trying to separate themselves and determine whether or not they are buyers or sellers. The trade rumors are small right now but they will certainly start heating up soon. It will be fun to see how the Blackhawks fit into all of it as sellers.

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A few days after getting a win overseas in Paris, the Chicago Bulls returned to the States to begin a relatively un-daunting stretch.

It began with a home tilt against the Atlanta Hawks, which went back and forth at times. In the end, it was the Bulls who had the bigger fourth quarter when the game was tied heading into the final chapter.

Chicago won by a score of 111-100 after dominating the fourth quarter, where DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine combined to score 17 points in closing time.

Speaking of DeRozan, he was the man of the hour Monday night, as he had played in his 1,000th career game.

DeMar DeRozan played in his 1,000th game and the Chicago Bulls got a boost from their big three

DeRozan finished the game with a game-high 26 points on 11-for-21 shooting.

One other note… center Nikola Vucevic is playing maybe the best basketball of his Bulls career. He has now notched 11-straight double-doubles after putting up 14 points and 17 boards against the Hawks.

Also, impressively enough, Vucevic is averaging 4.0 assists in his last 10 games. He’s been on a tear lately, and the Bulls’ “big three” continue to play fairly good basketball since that embarrassment against Minnesota back in December.

Aside from DeRozan and Vucevic, this was a nice night from Patrick Williams, who totaled 18 points and 10 boards. LaVine finished with 20 points, six boards and a pair of steals.

The Bulls have now won three games in a row and they head to take on the Indiana Pacers, who happen to be reeling at the moment. If Chicago can beat Indiana, they’ll be one win away from breaking even at .500 and will continue to climb the playoff ladder out East.

The Bulls are in a spot where they can easily win the next three games and go to 25-24, putting them right inside the thick of the play-in tournament.

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There’s a certain amount of knowledge that comes out of playing 1,000 NBA regular-season games.

Lesson No. 1 that DeMar DeRozan lives by? Stay out of front office business.

The veteran made that very clear on Monday, as DeRozan reached that 1,000-game milestone in helping the Bulls beat the visiting Atlanta Hawks 111-100 at the United Center.

“That’s a lot of [bleepin’] games, isn’t it?” DeRozan joked of hitting that mark.

What he was very serious about, however, was letting his front office figure out what they want to do with a Bulls team that has now won 11 of its last 17 games, climbing to 22-24 on the season.

With the Feb. 9 trade deadline approaching, and teams in the Association already starting to make moves, there might be a lot to figure out.

“I’ve never done that,” DeRozan said, when asked if he would talk to executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas regarding which direction they could be heading. “Never in my career did that. I just control what I can control and that’s me going out there and competing and trying to win games. And I’m going to do that to the best of my ability.”

On a night where there wasn’t a lot of efficient offensive possessions, DeRozan did just that, leading the Bulls with 26 points, shooting 11-of-21 from the field.

Not that the victory came easy. With the 2022-23 Bulls it seldom does.

Whenever it felt like the Bulls had broken the Hawks (24-24) in the final quarter, there would be an Atlanta mini-spurt. Not enough to overcome the deficit, but definitely enough to keep the threat alive.

A John Collins alley-oop dunk with 6:37 left actually brought the Hawks to within three, but Zach LaVine had an immediate answer, hitting a three-pointer and then making two free throws. DeRozan then nailed a three to stretch it back out to 11, but here came the Hawks.

A Collins three-pointer and a Trae Young lay-up, and it was a game again.

Until it wasn’t.

The Bulls finally put the nail in the coffin in the final few minutes, with a LaVine jumper and then a Patrick Williams three-pointer that served as the dagger.

Just like that the Bulls had their third-straight win, and Williams had his first double-double of the season with 18 points and 10 rebounds.

“I think we’re getting [in a groove] as a team,” Williams said. “This time of the season, it’s that time to get into a groove and really solidify the identity you been building the first part of the season.”

As far as the direction of the team and the trade rumors that are expected to heat up, coach Billy Donovan had a very simple suggestion for any of his players that were curious of their standing. Just ask.

“If the players see or hear things about themselves, there’s an open door policy,” Donovan said. “Those guys can go up there and talk to [Karnisovas]. I know a lot of times the closer you get to that date Feb. 9, the more things get thrown out there, the more things happen and then you’re playing games, and you’ve just got to as best you can have players that are not going to get distracted by what may or may not happen.

“I do think every team in some way or another is being impacted. And I do think there’s a human element to, ‘Hey, my name’s all over the internet about being traded. My name’s all over the internet about going here or going there, doing this, doing that.’ The one thing Arturas has done a good job of is, ‘Hey listen, I’ll tell you exactly what’s going on, exactly what conversations have been.’ I think that hopefully puts players at ease.”

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Flanked by fellow congressmen, state lawmakers and county board members, U.S. Rep. Sean Casten on Monday repeated calls for DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick to retract a statement about the state’s new gun ban or resign.

Earlier this month, Mendrick issued a statement that said he believed the state’s new ban on high-powered guns and high-capacity magazines was unconstitutional.

“Therefore, as the custodian of the jail and chief law enforcement official for DuPage County, that neither myself nor my office will be checking to ensure that lawful gun owners register their weapons with the state, nor will we be arresting or housing law-abiding individuals that have been arrested solely with noncompliance of this Act,” Mendrick’s statement reads.

Casten and other lawmakers Monday called Mendrick’s statements irresponsible and reckless.

“His actions are going to make future mass shootings more likely,” Casten said during a news conference.

Mendrick on Monday rebuked Casten’s claim.

“There is absolutely nothing that we are doing or not doing that would make a mass shooting more accessible in DuPage County,” Mendrick said in a written statement. “In fact, I have asked on multiple occasions to increase penalties on all existing gun crimes, but it does not appear that they want to have that conversation.

“They seem more concerned with lawful gun owners than people illegally possessing guns,” he said.

Mendrick, who had previously suggested he believed compliance checks would be tied to the law, also took note that lawmakers on Monday said they would not be asking officers to go door to door to ensure weapons were legally registered.

“That is a big win for our law-abiding citizens and for law enforcement,” his statement read.

In clarifying that house-to-house inspections were not expected, state Rep. Anne Stava-Murray, a Naperville Democrat, said the weapons ban would come into play if the person was involved with another crime. Using an example of a domestic violence call where guns are involved, Stava-Murray questioned if Mendrick would follow the new law.

“Is he going to enforce our automatic weapons ban if that’s an unregistered weapon?” Stava-Murray said. “He said no, he’s not going to. That seems very dangerous.”

In his statement Monday, Mendrick, a Republican, said it was “disheartening” to hear Stava-Murray suggest he would not enforce the law when he has said he would enforce the weapons ban when it involves other illegal activity.

“When elected officials are blatantly untruthful, maybe they are the ones who should consider resignation,” Mendrick said.

Criticism against Mendrick, however, has grown since Jan. 17, when Democratic members of the county board’s judicial and public safety committee rebuked Mendrick’s statement. Democratic state lawmakers quickly joined in the criticism, calling on Mendrick to retract his statement.

On Thursday, Casten and five other Democratic congressmen who represent DuPage County signed a letter asking Mendrick if there are any other laws he views as unconstitutional and if he has directed his staff not to enforce any other laws because of his beliefs.

“We seek clarity right now,” U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Schaumburg Democrat, said during Monday’s news conference. “We need to know exactly what we’re dealing with, and we all uniformly demand that he enforce the law as written.

“I just want to say with one voice, we cannot wait another day, we cannot wait another hour, we can’t wait another minute for the sheriff to do his duty, because lives depend on it,” he said.

Read more at dailyherald.com.

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It’s been an all-too familiar answer.

“He hasn’t done any running or jumping,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said, when asked about the latest injury status of one of his players.

And no, for the first time in almost a year, it wasn’t Lonzo Ball he was talking about.

It was in fact forward Javonte Green, who had a minor exploratory surgery done two weeks ago on his right knee, and was still on the road back. The length of that journey was still up in the air, especially with the latest update from Donovan.

“All of it I think has been to regain his strength and weight room stuff, whatever mobility things they have him doing,” Donovan said. “I’ll probably get a better idea of where he’s at physically once they say he can get on the court and start moving around a little bit, but he has not been able to do any of that.”

What Donovan could say about Green on Monday was that even when he does return, the chances of him going back to the starting lineup was unlikely for the time being.

It was back in early December, following an embarrassing showing in Phoenix, that Green took over Patrick Williams’ starting spot, with Williams moved to the second unit. That look was more of a glance, however, as Green started in Golden State the next game, and had the knee issues in the wake of that loss.

He was in and out of games after that, but never as a starter because of the knee and the minutes restrictions put in place.

That ship may now have sailed.

“It’s hard to say what it would have been like going forward once he gets healthy and begins playing because you have to see where he’s at,” Donovan said of Green. “I just felt the way we were playing at that point in the season, we needed to look at something a little different.

“Patrick’s done a great job, and I don’t think it’s necessarily even making that change. It wasn’t necessarily about Patrick. It was about how do we kind of pair these groupings of five together where maybe we can get off to a better start?”

Home alone

Goran Dragic missed the game against the Hawks, and did not travel with the team to Indiana afterward, dealing with a non-Covid illness.

The hope for the reserve guard was that he starts to feel better in the next few days, and can join the team at some point on the three-city road trip.

“With the trip we had overseas, and the coming back, the amount of people he’s around, just trying to keep him separate from the team so it doesn’t spread would be important,” Donovan said.

Dragic was averaging 7.2 points and 2.8 assists per game off the bench.

Loaded up

While Donovan said that the medical staff was still monitoring Zach LaVine and his left knee when it comes to back-to-backs, the two-time All-Star sounded like the load management schedule he was under to start the season was long gone.

“I’m more than fine,” LaVine said of his health. “I’ve played every game since the beginning of the season, so I’ve played just as many games pretty much as anyone on the team.”

The last back-to-back that LaVine sat was way back in November, when he sat the first game of the two. He hasn’t missed a game since.

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Eloy Jimenez has always shivered from the thought of being a designated hitter, so word from manager Pedro Grifol that the 6-4, 240-pounder will work in right field during spring training with the idea of playing there in 2023 made the White Sox slugger’s new year.

“I’m really preparing myself for playing outfield more than DH,” Jimenez said Monday on a conference call.

With former Gold Glove winner Andrew Benintendi signed to the richest contract in franchise history to play left field, it makes perfect baseball sense to slot the defensively challenged Jimenez at DH, where he produced a .274/.343/.500 hitting line with 11 home runs in 50 games last season.

Jimenez also stayed healthy at DH, avoiding the perils of outfield walls, side walls, nets, wet grass and the occasional minor crash with a center fielder. And that’s big for a team that needs a bat that won a Silver Slugger Award in 2020 but has appeared in 122, 55, 55 and 84 games during his career.

That doesn’t mean he has to like taking four at-bats a night without picking up his glove.

“I don’t think I’m going to accept it,” Jimenez said.

But with Sox’ prized Cuban prospect Oscar Colas, a left-handed hitter, being touted as the top choice for regular right field duty, the Sox would have a swifter, more athletic and stronger-armed option than Jimenez to cover the corner that demands a stronger arm.

But the Sox want to keep Jimenez, who would be a 40-homer candidate if he played 140 games, mentally engaged and upbeat about coming to the park every day.

“I’ve told him to continue to work in the outfield, to work some in right field as well,” Grifol said.

It was in spring training two years ago when Jimenez jumped at the left field wall for an uncatchable ball and tore a pectoral muscle, and Jimenez has seemed the wiser for it, if not better. He was minus-2 in defensive runs saved in 231 innings in left field last season compared to minus-10 in 967 innings in 2019. So while he’s preparing himself for more outfield assignments than DH work, it doesn’t mean it will pan out that way.

In addition to Benintendi, Luis Robert, Colas, Jimenez and converted first baseman Gavin Sheets, the Sox also signed veterans Jake Marisnick, Billy Hamilton and Victor Reyes to minor league contracts with invitations to spring training added to the outfield mix for bench depth. Adam Engel wasn’t tendered a contract and signed with the Padres.

Perhaps motivated by his desire to play the field, be in better shape after his 2022 season was harpooned by a hamstring tear suffered running to first base in Minnesota in April, be ready to play outfield for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Class in March, or as part of a collective effort by a team that disappointed in a big way in 2022, Jimenez strongly hinted he’ll arrive at camp in better shape than last spring.

“I’m going to give you a surprise,” he said. “I’m not going to answer right now. You’re going to see me in spring training.

“It’s going to be a surprise.”

Truth be told, it would be something of a surprise if Jimenez actually gets substantial playing time in right field. The Sox pushed the envelope and suffered defensively playing Sheets and Andrew Vaughn out of position in the outfield in 2022 and wisely have Vaughn penciled in where he belongs at first base in 2023.

But Jimenez is bent on showing he’s not as big a liability with a glove in his hand as most believe he is.

“Last year when I was DH’ing more than [playing] outfield, it was because I got surgery [for the hamstring tear],” he said.

“If I’m working hard, I’m going to get better, and I want to play in the outfield.”

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Blackhawks defenseman Ian Mitchell is trying to impress the coaching staff and show he deserves to be in the lineup. At the same time, he’s not playing every night and must fend off thoughts that one mistake could send him to the press box for the next game.

Predictably, Mitchell is just attempting to stay focused on his game.

“I’m just trying to keep my head down, and when I do get an opportunity to play, try to make the most of it,” Mitchell said. “Obviously, it’s difficult to kind of come back in and out with your consistency and your rhythm of play, but that’s the nature of trying to break into the NHL. You’re not going to get in right away, so I have to do the best that I can with what I’m given.”

On Sunday, Mitchell was given an opportunity and connected for his first goal of the season in what ended up a 2-1 loss to the Kings. The third-period score is what coach Luke Richardson wants to see from Mitchell: a strong and accurate right-handed shot that exhibited his offensive ability.

“Yeah, just [Richardson] wants me to continue to do the things that I can offensively,” Mitchell said. “I think that’s a big strength of my game is moving the puck and the offensive blue line making plays, and then defensively winning my battles and moving pucks effectively on the breakouts, that’s where I can really be effective. So those are things that I have to excel at to make it for sure.”

During the off-day Monday, defenseman Isaak Phillips – scratched Sunday to make room for Mitchell – was assigned to Rockford while the Hawks recalled fellow blueliner Filip Roos from the IceHogs. Whether or not that means more consistent playing time for Mitchell remains to be seen, but his route to a steady role hasn’t been smooth.

Once considered a top defensive prospect coming out of the University of Denver, Mitchell appeared in 39 games during the abbreviated 2021 season. Instead of gaining more NHL experience, Mitchell skated just eight times for the Hawks during the 2021-22 campaign, and spent most of that season with Rockford.

Now 24, Mitchell is trying to establish himself. Sunday was only his 13th NHL game of the season.

“I think every player’s path is different and for defensemen sometimes takes a bit of a longer time, so I’ve just tried to continue to improve my game and that’s pretty much all I can do,” Mitchell said. “It’s not going to be an easy path to making the NHL, so I just have to continue to work and get to a point where I’m an NHL regular.”

Richardson said he and the coaching staff try to be open with players about what they’re doing with the lineup and why. By doing that, Richardson hopes that keeps players like Mitchell prepared and prevents them from thinking too much about the decisions. One example was Saturday in St. Louis, when Richardson played Phillips because he was a better matchup against a “heavier” Blues team.

Still, Richardson knows it’s not easy to go in and out of the lineup.

“It was nice to see him get rewarded at the end of the game,” Richardson said. “Hopefully that can build his confidence and continue.”

NOTES: The Hawks placed forward Tyler Johnson (left ankle) on injured reserve and recalled forward Luke Philp from Rockford. Johnson didn’t return after Sunday’s first period, and was spotted in a walking boot following the game.

– Late Sunday, Richardson said goalie Jaxson Stauber would be going on the upcoming road trip. Alex Stalock remains in concussion protocol.

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