This Week in Sports :: May 26-30, 2008

May 29, 2008

A promising young player for the Vancouver Canucks dies and some referees blow an important call in the NBA playoffs. See what else happened!

Canuck Rookie Dies

Tragedy hit the NHL on Thursday, as Luc Bourdon of the Vancouver Canucks died as a result of a motorcycle crash. The 21-year-old second year defenseman was riding his motorcycle in his hometown of Shippagan, New Brunswick (Canada) when he collided head on with a tractor-trailer early in the afternoon. Bourdon was the Canucks' first round pick in 2005. In the past two seasons, Bourdon has bounced back and forth from the Canucks to the Manitoba Moose - a minor league team . In 27 games with Vancouver last season, Bourdon scored two goals. He was viewed as a player that had a lot of potential.

NBA Referees Mess Up

On Tuesday, the refs working Game 5 of the Spurs and Lakers series missed a call at end of regulation that potentially cost the Spurs the game. Down by 2 points, The Spurs' Brent Barry was obviously fouled with seconds to go in the game. The foul would have put Barry (who is an excellent free throw shooter) on the line with a chance to tie the game. If the Spurs won that game, the series would have been tied at 2-2. But that loss put the Spurs in a 3-1 hole to the Lakers. With all the controversy surrounding the no-call, the NBA head offices admitted that the refs made a mistake. But that meant little to San Antonio who were eliminated on Thursday night after the Lakers topped them 100-92.

Crosby Keeps Penguins in Series

Don't hand the Detroit Red Wings the Stanley Cup trophy just yet. Despite losing the first two games, the Pittsburgh Penguins came back strong to defeat Detroit 3-2 on Wednesday. Sidney Crosby scored two goals in the game. The goals couldn't have come at a better time as Pittsburgh has not scored a goal in the entire series so far! The Penguins improved to 9-0 at home during the playoffs. The Penguins hope that trend continues as the Penguins look to even the score for Game 4 on Saturday night.

Notes Around the Sports World

The Chicago Bulls hired Doug Collins as head coach on Thursday. Collins, coached the Bulls in the late '80s and had been working recently as a TV broadcaster.

Fifth seeded Serena Williams was upset in the third round of the French Open after losing to the 27th-seed Katarina Srebotnik. This marks Williams' earliest exit in nine appearances at the Open.

Former MLB pitcher, Geremi Gonzales was killed by lightning in his native Venezuela on Sunday. The 33-year-old Gonzales, pitched for five teams in his nine year MLB career including: Tampa Bay Rays, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets, Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers. The Toronto Blue Jays released him in their training camp last year.

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