A 17-year-old boy was wounded in a shooting early Saturday in the Lawndale neighborhood.

The teen boy was sitting outside on the porch about 3:30 a.m. in the 4100 block of West 21st Place when someone inside a black-colored car fired shots, Chicago police said.

He was shot in the arm and was taken in good condition to Mount Sinai Hospital by a relative, police said.

The teen told officers the gunman was firing shots at a nearby group and was hit by a stray bullet, police said.

Area Four detectives are investigating.

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Yet again this year, the NHL draft — both the actual event and its extensive lead-up — is entirely virtual.

For forward Matthew Coronato, whose explosive season with the local Chicago Steel rocketed him up the draft rankings, and defenseman Sean Behrens, a Barrington native molded by two years with the U.S. national team, that means their ongoing meetings with NHL franchises are only through Zoom or phone calls.

“It’s definitely interesting and unique, but at the same time, it’s still really special,” Coronato said.

“I’ve still had a lot of really good conversations, getting to know the personnel of the teams and them asking me questions about my game and giving me pointers,” Behrens said. “I don’t think it has really affected me. It affects the teams a little more.”

Coronato and Behrens headline the list of players with Chicago connections hoping to hear their names announced at this year’s draft, which will be held July 23-24.

Seven players from the Steel — the Geneva-based junior hockey dynasty fresh off another USHL league championship last month — made the NHL Central Scouting Service’s final rankings.

Six players hailing from the Chicago area — but now playing across the continent — also made the final rankings.

Coronato on Blackhawks’ radar

A New York native, Coronato arrived in Chicago before this season brimming with confidence.

That translated into his performance, as his point production more than doubled from his first Steel season. He finished with 85 points (48 goals and 37 assists) in 51 games, ranking second on the team, and added a team-leading 13 points in eight playoff games.

“[I was] just continuing to work on my shot, work on the movement that our team liked to use in the offensive zone,” he said. “But a big part of my offensive production was a result of confidence.”

Coronato also improved defensively, staying goal-side of opposing forwards and using his stick to break up plays. But his biggest assets are his energy and motor; he’s constantly moving on the ice and therefore constantly noticeable.

His draft stock surged up from a projected third or fourth-round pick to a nearly certain first-round selection. He finished ninth among North American skaters in the final CSS rankings.

He’ll most likely go between 10th and 20th overall, which puts him on the Blackhawks’ radar for the 11th pick. He certainly wouldn’t mind being chosen by his adopted hometown team.

“I love Chicago,” he said. “I loved being here the last two years. The Blackhawks are a special team and organization, so that would definitely be a great spot to end up.”

This summer, he plans to work on his skating and strength — he measures at 5-10, 180 pounds right now, but hopes to get to between 185 and 187 pounds — in addition to going through the draft process before heading to Harvard next season.

Behrens benefitted from workload

The commute from Barrington to the United Center is long, but the Behrens family nonetheless made the trek often as Blackhawks season-ticket holders. That fandom jumpstarted their son’s own career.

“[The Hawks] were a big part of my passion for hockey,” Behrens said. “Winning the three [Stanley] Cups in six years was really cool for me to watch as a young kid growing up.”

Now the 24th-ranked North American skater, Behrens hasn’t met with the Hawks yet but could also be on their radar. He’s a projected second- or third-round pick and the Hawks hold two second-round selections.

Behrens is undersized at only 5-10, but his puck-moving skills make him one of the better offensive defensemen available in this year’s draft.

“I’m a two-way defenseman who loves to join the rush,” he said. “I’m a good skater with good [enough] hockey IQ to find passing lanes and open up my teammates. I’m a really good transition player.”

Many 2021 draft-eligible prospects, especially those in Canadian junior leagues, haven’t played a ton of games over the past two years due to the pandemic. That hasn’t been the case for Behrens, however.

He played 74 games in 2020-21, including 46 for the U.S. national U18 team (in which he tallied 35 points) and five more in the World Junior Championships, after appearing in 88 total games in 2019-20.

“I got better as the year went on,” he said. “I was developing my game on both ends of the ice, not only offensively — joining the rush at the right times, making smart reads there — but defensively being strong on guys, being strong on my skates, boxing guys out and closing on pucks quickly, which was a big thing I wanted to work on.”

He’s committed to Denver for next season.

Other Chicago-connected draft prospects

Defenseman Owen Power, a likely bet to go No. 1 overall to the Sabres, played this past season at Michigan but developed with the Steel in 2019-20.

Wing Mackie Samoskevich, a natural playmaker bound for Michigan next year, is — as the 26th-ranked North American skater — the second-highest ranked draft prospect from the 2021 Steel.

The other CSS-ranked players from the 2021 Steel are Harvard-bound forward Jack Bar (41st), UMass-committed defenseman Ryan Ufko (43rd), Arizona State-bound forward Josh Doan (87th), Boston University-committed forward Jack Harvey (91st) and Boston College-committed defenseman Lukas Gustafsson (186th).

Meanwhile, Highland Park native Simon Motew played in the OHL last year, then tore up a lower-tier junior league with the local Chicago Cougars this year due to the OHL’s shutdown. He’s the 129th-ranked North American skater.

Wilmette native Cameron Rowe went 9-2-1 with a .933 save percentage as a freshman at Wisconsin and is the 13th-ranked North American goaltender.

Minooka native Josh Lopina (139th), a UMass forward, and Chicago natives Quinn Hutson (177th), a Boston University-bound forward, and Colby Saganiuk (193rd), an OHL-bound forward, are the other CSS-ranked locals.

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Arrieta allowed six runs in two innings in Friday’s 8-5 loss. The Cubs’ right-hander has an 8.28 ERA in his last six starts.

SAN FRANCISCO – The Cubs would have been in bad shape if it wasn’t for the job Jake Arrieta did in April. But since the first month of the season, things have not gone well for the veteran right-hander.

Coming off his last start where he didn’t make it through four innings, the Giants didn’t make it any easier on Arrieta in Friday’s 8-5 loss.

“I haven’t been great the last couple times out,” Arrieta said. We’ll get past that. Totally expect to to be a lot better and get back on track.”

Things came apart for Arrieta quickly with the Giants jumping all over him in the second with four consecutive base hits to start the inning, including a double and a three-run homer off the bat of Steven Duggar to give San Francisco a 3-2 lead.

The problems continued for Arrieta as the inning continued and after a single and a walk, he surrendered his second three-run homer of the inning to Alex Dickerson to make it a 6-2 game.

“I think he’s just fighting himself a little bit mechanically,” manager David Ross said. “From the side view, just flat. Two-seamers in [with] a lot of run middle of the plate. The cutter looked like it was backing up on him today. Couldn’t quite get it in there against lefties. They did some real damage on that pitch.”

There was plenty of loud contact against Arrieta with six hits in the inning over 100 mph and after closing the inning with the Giants sending 10 batters to the plate, he didn’t return in the third.

After the game, Arrieta said part of the reason for his performance was that he got sick before Friday’s game and dealt with the effects of that throughout the game.

“Before the game, I was pretty sick and apparently what I had for lunch today made me pretty sick,” Arrieta said. “Threw up before the game and then a few times after I came out of the game. I was really weak. Tried to try to go out there and do what I could, wasn’t able to, unfortunately. Put us in a big hole.

“I thought I was capable of going out there and doing a little bit more. I didn’t really have my legs underneath me. Just not a great day.”

The Cubs are going to have to figure out what to do with their veteran right-hander. Arrieta has an 8.28 ERA over his last six starts.

The Cubs’ offense did do some damage with both Kris Bryant and Joc Pederson hitting a pair of two-run shots in the first and fourth inning. It was Pederson’s second homer of the series.

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Michael Ryva, 30, had fallen approximately 80 feet from a ledge, officials said. 

MARION, N.C. (AP) — A hiker from Illinois is dead after a fall at Linville Gorge in the western North Carolina mountains, according to local officials.

News outlets report that Burke County Emergency Management officials received a call midday Thursday for an injured hiker off Rock Jock Trail in the gorge.

More than three hours later, rescuers found Michael Ryva dead. The 30-year-old from Forest Park, Illinois, had fallen approximately 80 feet from a ledge, officials said.

Crews were still working to extricate him at 9 p.m. Thursday, Michael Willis of the county fire marshal and emergency management offices said.

It’s the second fatal fall of the season in the wilderness area about 65 miles northeast of Asheville. A hiker died after a long fall in the area of Babel Tower on April 17.

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The 27-year-old was on the sidewalk about 9:20 p.m. in the 5600 block of South Marshfield Avenue when someone fired shots at him from a white sedan, Chicago police said.  

A man was fatally shot Friday in West Englewood on the South Side, police said.

The 27-year-old was on the sidewalk about 9:20 p.m. in the 5600 block of South Marshfield Avenue when someone fired shots at him from a white sedan, Chicago police said.

The man was struck in the head and taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. His identity has not been released.

Area One detectives are investigating.

A woman who lives on the block said she was working on fixing a light in her home when she heard “at least 20” loud pops. She thought they were fireworks.

Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

“When I found out that it was actually gunshots, I got goosebumps,” she said.

The woman, who declined to give her name, said she usually goes on a walk around the block at this time, because its generally quiet.

“But, I’m starting to get scared,” she said.

The block has seen at least one other fatal shooting incident recently.

In February 2020, 15-year-old Marlin Gaines was killed in the 5600 block of South Marshfield Avenue when three males jumped out of a white SUV and shot him, authorities said.

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After strong May, center fielder Ian Happ feels good things are around the corner.

SAN FRANCISCO – There isn’t one path for development in the big leagues and while there are players around the game who have thrived since they were first called up to the big leagues, that is rarely the case for most players. It’s a grind to get to the big leagues, but staying there and thriving is another story.

Center fielder Ian Happ has seen all sides of the development during the early portion of his Major League career. After breaking onto the scene in 2017 with 24 homers as a rookie, things took a turn.

After not making the roster out of camp in 2019, the Cubs’ center fielder’s strong end of 2019 carried over into last season when he was the team’s best offensive player.

Happ has had a slow start to the 2021 season, but after returning from the injured list on May 15, he finished the month slashing .292/.387/.585 with four doubles, five homers and a 164 wRC+.

“It’s part of the game,” Happ told the Sun-Times. “That’s why we love playing and competing. Being a lefty at Wrigley in April is tough, but hit .290ish last month with a .900 OPS, I had a great May.

“You can only claw back so much after what happened in April and so you have to be able to put that behind you and continue moving on. I know that there’s four months left in the season and you continue to do things the right way, like in May, at the end of the year the results will be there.”

Happ knows firsthand that the adjustment the league makes to young players comes quickly and continues as players evolve. Whether it’s mechanics, timing, different pitches or even pitch shapes, the constant back-and-forth between a team’s scouting report and how to battle against that doesn’t stop.

“There’s always things that you work on throughout the season for mechanics and timing,” Happ said. “Timing is everything in this game, so we’re always trying to maintain that. And I’m making sure my timing is where I want it.

“I think it’s more as preparation and getting in the box and just really focusing on what’s happening on the field, the opposing pitcher, that’s always the focus. That’s always trying to work on mechanics early and eliminate as much of that going.

Happ’s quest for growth as a player after experiencing the highs and lows of the game isn’t an uncommon story. In fact, several Cubs players who have been called up recently have also encountered.

While players like third baseman Patrick Wisdom and outfielder Rafael Ortega aren’t young players, after different stops on their baseball journey, trying to be a new version of themselves with the Cubs is still the goal.

“I learned so much about myself one early on and just fine trying to find a routine,” manager David Ross said. “I think that that’s always changing and evolving. You’re always learning more. … I don’t think that ever changes. Guys are constantly learning. The game is changing, the game’s evolving, you have to do that as well.

“I think you get to a point where you’re established and you understand your routine and your role. And I think that’s where a lot of guys that have come up, those guys that have been up in the big leagues understand. They just need to come up, compete and play their game and they’re very comfortable in that.”

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He was in a backyard about 7:25 p.m. in the 5200 block of West Le Moyne Street when someone approached and opened fire, striking him in the head, Chicago police said.

A man was killed in a shooting Friday in Austin on the West Side, police said.

He was in a backyard about 7:25 p.m. in the 5200 block of West Le Moyne Street when someone approached and opened fire, striking him in the head, Chicago police said.

The 23-year-old was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said. His identity has not been released.

Area Five detectives are investigating.

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Bettors haven’t been able to get in on any action involving Illinois college teams since wagering became legal last year, but they might be able to soon — despite the objections of athletic leaders.

Illinois sports bettors were boxed out from betting on the Illini and Ramblers in March Madness, but there’s a good chance they’ll be able to get some legal action on the Wildcats, Huskies and other in-state teams when the college football season kicks off this summer.

State lawmakers advanced a bill earlier this week that would do away with parts of a controversial provision of Illinois’ sports wagering law that prohibits sportsbooks from laying odds on games involving Illinois college teams.

Critics say the in-state ban is preventing a fast-growing industry from reaching its full potential, especially while such bets are there for the taking just across the border in Indiana, not to mention on illegal offshore betting websites.

But leaders of some college programs say it’s the only thing protecting student-athletes from further barrages of online harassment and undue pressure — potentially coming from the student wagering in the dorm room across the hall.

That’s why lawmakers settled on a “middle ground” with the new gaming bill that would require in-state college bets to be placed in person at a casino, racetrack or off-track betting parlor, according to state Rep. Mike Zalewski, the Riverside Democrat who has played point on sports wagering legislation.

The provision limits wagers to the outcomes of games, not individual performances, and it would sunset after two years.

“I think it’s a great compromise,” the Riverside Democrat said in a phone interview the day after the bill passed the Illinois House 96-11 during a marathon session early Tuesday. ”If student-athletes are being harassed, we’ll revisit it. If we’re not making enough revenue, we can revisit it.”

AP Photos

The state Senate would still have to approve the measure before it’s sent to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk.

University of Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman urged lawmakers to keep the ban in place during an April 28 hearing, saying its removal threatens the “physical and mental health and wellbeing of our student-athletes,” especially given the social media vitriol many athletes already face on a daily basis.

“The commentary is vile, it’s abusive, it’s threatening and in some cases it directly references gambling losses,” Whitman said. “By allowing people in our state to bet on our own student-athletes, we’re only opening the door and inviting people to have those intense, threatening, abusive interactions.”

Whitman, who played tight end at Illinois in the late 1990s, said the fact that residents have to travel to Indiana or Iowa to wager on in-state teams is still “a pretty strong disincentive for people to bet on our team.”

AP Photos

Zalewski said the rule “simply makes no sense when Indiana and Iowa have fully operational sports betting,” but added that he followed Whitman’s logic in requiring bettors to travel to a brick-and-mortar sportsbook if they want a piece of the Illinois college action.

“It takes an extra effort. I think we’ve met him half way,” said Zalewski, who initially pushed to lift the ban completely.

Through a spokesman, Whitman declined to comment on the watered-down bill that passed the Illinois House.

Either way, it’ll hardly be a boon to a gambling market that has already drawn almost $1 billion in bets on college teams from outside the state since sports wagering went live in Illinois just before the pandemic hit. About 97% of those dollars were wagered on cellphones and other mobile devices.

Because the vast majority of bets are placed online, critics say the state is leaving millions of dollars in potential tax revenue on the table by prohibiting mobile wagers on Illinois college teams — but “any loosening of the ban on in-state collegiate betting will ultimately be beneficial for the industry,” according to Joe Boozell, an analyst for the betting website PlayIllinois.com.

“Any change that only affects retail betting will by nature be limited in its impact. Ideally, though, this move will represent an incremental step toward lifting the ban entirely, including online,” Boozell said.

The in-state college betting provision is part of a gaming bill that would also allow for a sportsbook at Wintrust Arena in the South Loop. Other larger sports venues such as Wrigley Field and the United Center are eligible to open books, but have not yet applied to do so with state gambling regulators.

The state Senate could take up the bill later this month, when legislators are expected back in Springfield.

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‘Seeing them graduate to shootings is unfortunate,’ Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th) said of the younger rival.

The shooting of a 14-year-old girl in the Back of the Yards is believed to be linked to an ongoing conflict between a long-entrenched gang and one that is relatively new to the area, according to Chicago police sources.

The girl, who remains in critical condition, was with her boyfriend in the 1700 block of West 48th Street when members of the Party People walked up Wednesday evening and asked what gang she belonged to, according to Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th), who said he got those details from police.

The seventh-grader said she was not in a gang but a relative belonged to the rival Almighty Saints, Lopez said. One of the gang members fired twice, hitting her in the head.

“It was 100% gang-related,” the alderman said.

A classmate of the girl said the Party People had been moving into the area recently, with members in high school and middle school in the Southwest Side neighborhood.

The classmate said she has seen them on the block where the girl was shot, talking to young people about the new gang.

“She was friends with everyone and tried to be if she could, even people who were affiliated with the old and the new gang,” the classmate. “I think it’s related to that.”

Lopez said the Saints have decades-long roots in Back of the Yards and are believed to be responsible for much of the violence, including the 2018 shooting of an agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who was doing surveillance of a house near 43rd and Wood streets.

Saints member Ernesto Godinez is serving a 200-month federal prison sentence for the shooting.

Lopez said the Party People are relatively new to the area, with a stronghold at 47th and Damen, a half-mile from where the 14-year-old was shot. A video posted on YouTube about a year ago showed Party People members taunting the Saints.

The members are young and have been involved in vandalism, the alderman said. “They’ve been a nuisance more than anything,” he said. “Seeing them graduate to shootings is unfortunate.”

While the Back of the Yards neighborhood has seen a sharp drop in homicides from last year, residents said there have been more shootings recently. Lopez said officers are keeping a close eye on the neighborhood to prevent retaliatory violence.

Police have released few details of Wednesday evening’s shooting, including a description of the gang members and the SUV they fled in. It may have been a Chevy Tahoe, a police spokesperson said.

The girl was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the head, police said. She underwent surgery that night.

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