AP-Sportlight-Week Ahead

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April 3

1930 — The Montreal Canadiens win the NHL Stanley Cup with a two-game sweep of the Boston Bruins.

1933 — Ken Doraty’s overtime goal gives the Toronto Maple Leafs and 1-0 victory over the Boston Bruins in semifinals of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The goal comes at 1 hour, 44 minutes, 46 seconds of the overtime beyond the one-hour regulation game.

1977 — Jean Ratelle of the Boston Bruins scores his 1,000th point with an assist in a 7-4 triumph over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

1982 — Buffalo’s Gil Perrault scores his 1,000th point with an assist in a 5-4 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.

1988 — Louisiana Tech wins the NCAA women’s basketball championship with a 56-54 come-from-behind victory over Auburn.

1988 — Amy Alcott shoots a 1-under 71 to win the Dinah Shore by two shots over Colleen Walker.

1989 — Michigan beats Seton Hall 80-79 in overtime to win the NCAA championship. Rumeal Robinson hits two free throws with three seconds left for the Wolverines. It’s the first time a first-year coach, Steve Fisher, wins the national title.

1994 — Charlotte Smith’s 3-pointer at the buzzer gives North Carolina a 60-59 victory over Louisiana Tech in the NCAA women’s championship game.

1994 — The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds 6-4 in the first Sunday night opener, sending baseball into a new era with three divisions and a new playoff format.

1995 — UCLA wins its first national basketball championship in 20 years and record 11th NCAA title, keeping Arkansas from repeating with an 89-78 victory.

2002 — Utah sets an NBA record by clinching its 17th straight winning season after defeating the Los Angeles Clippers 99-87.

2004 — St. Louis clinches its 25th consecutive NHL playoff berth, the longest in major league sports, with a 4-1 win over Nashville.

2006 — Joakim Noah dominates UCLA with 16 points, nine rebounds and a record seven blocks to key a 73-57 blowout for Florida’s first national title in men’s basketball.

2007 — After a nine-year title drought, Tennessee and coach Pat Summitt are NCAA champions. The Lady Vols capture an elusive seventh national title, beating Rutgers 59-46.

2010 — Bernard Hopkins wins a brutal unanimous decision over Roy Jones Jr. in their long-delayed rematch, emphatically avenging his loss in the famed champions’ first fight nearly 17 years earlier.

2012 — Brittney Griner scores 26 points and grabs 13 rebounds to help Baylor finish an undefeated season with an 80-61 win over Notre Dame in the women’s national championship game. Baylor becomes the first team in NCAA history to win 40 games.

2016 — Lydia Ko takes advantage of Ariya Jutanugarn’s late collapse to win the ANA Inspiration for her second straight major victory and second straight LPGA Tour victory. The 18-year-old New Zealander becomes the youngest two-time major winner.

2016 — Nico Rosberg becomes the eighth man in Formula One history to win five consecutive races with a victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

2017 — Justin Jackson delivers the go-ahead three-point play and North Carolina scores the last eight points for a 71-65 win over Gonzaga and an NCAA title that eluded the Tar Heels last year.


April 4

1937 — Byron Nelson shoots a 283 to win the Masters by two strokes over Ralph Guldahl.

1938 — Henry Picard beats Ralph Guldahl and Harry Cooper by two strokes to capture the Masters.

1983 — Lorenzo Charles scores on a dunk after Derek Whittenburg’s 35-foot desperation shot falls short to give North Carolina State a 54-52 triumph over Houston in the NCAA championship.

1986 — Edmonton’s Wayne Gretzky breaks his own NHL single-season points record with three assists to increase his total to 214. He scored 212 points in 1981-82.

1987 — New York’s Denis Potvin, the highest-scoring defenseman in NHL history, scores his 1,000th point.

1988 — Danny Manning scores 31 points and grabs 18 rebounds as Kansas wins its second NCAA championship with an 83-79 victory over Oklahoma.

1993 — Sheryl Swoopes shatters the women’s championship game record by scoring 47 points to lead Texas Tech to an 84-82 victory over Ohio State.

1993 — Mario Andretti, at 53, wins the Valvoline 200 in Phoenix to become the oldest driver to win an Indy car race and the first driver to win a race in four different decades.

1994 — Arkansas wins its first men’s national championship with a 76-72 victory over Duke, depriving the Blue Devils of a third title in four years.

2001 — Hideo Nomo becomes the fourth pitcher in major league history to throw a no-hitter in both leagues in Boston’s 3-0 victory over Baltimore. Nomo joins Cy Young, Jim Bunning and Nolan Ryan as the only pitchers to accomplish the feat.

2003 — Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs becomes the 18th player to hit 500 career homers, connecting for a solo shot in a 10-9 loss to Cincinnati.

2005 — North Carolina defeats Illinois to win the NCAA Division I men’s basketball championship. Sean May has 26 points and the Tar Heels don’t allow a basket over the final 2 1/2 minutes to defeat Illinois 75-70.

2010 — Yani Tseng shoots a 4-under 68 to win the Kraft Nabisco Championship for her second major title. Tseng, of Taiwan, finishes at 13-under 275 at Mission Hills to hold off Suzann Pettersen by one stroke.

2011 — Kemba Walker scores 16 points and Alex Oriakhi has 11 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks to lead UConn to a 53-41 win over Butler in the NCAA championship game. Coach Jim Calhoun wins his third national championship, something only four other coaches have done.

2015 — The U.S. successfully defends its women’s world hockey championship with a 7-5 win over Canada.

2016 — Clayton Kershaw is brilliant on opening day, holding San Diego to one hit in his seven innings and lading the Los Angeles Dodgers to a record-setting 15-0 victory against the Padres. It’s the most lopsided opening day shutout in major league history.

2016 — Kris Jenkins hits a 3-pointer at the buzzer to lift Villanova to the national title with a 77-74 victory over North Carolina — one of the wildest finishes in the history of the NCAA Tournament. Jenkins’ shot comes moments after Marcus Paige hit a double-clutch 3 from beyond the arc to tie the game at 74 with 4.7 seconds left.


April 5

1915 — Jess Willard beats Jack Johnson in the 26th round to win the world heavyweight boxing title in Havana, Cuba.

1927 — Johnny Weissmuller breaks his own 200-meter freestyle record by seven seconds in 2:08. He also lowers his own record in the 100-yard freestyle to 51 seconds, a record that stood for 17 years.

1959 — Art Wall birdies five of the last six holes to cap a final-round 66 and edge Fred Hawkins by one stroke to win the Masters.

1967 — Wilt Chamberlain sets an NBA record with 41 rebounds to lead the Philadelphia 76ers to a 115-104 victory over the Boston Celtics and a 3-0 lead in the Eastern Division playoffs.

1970 — New York beat Detroit 9-5 to take fourth place and the final playoff berth in the NHL’s East Division. The Rangers, with 246 goals, become the first team in NHL history to advance to the playoffs on the basis of goals scored when they finish in a tie with Montreal at 92 points and 38 wins. The Canadiens, who lose to Chicago 10-2 in a night game, finishes with 244 goals.

1972 — For the first time in history, major league baseball fails to open because of a general player strike, which started April 1 and would be settled April 13.

1984 — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar hits a sky hook with 8:53 left to play in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 129-115 victory over the Utah Jazz to become the NBA’s top career scorer. Wilt Chamberlain, with 31,419 points, held the record since his retirement in 1973.

1993 — Donald Williams scores 25 points to lead North Carolina to a 77-71 win over Michigan in the NCAA championship.

1997 — Bruce Baumgartner wins a record eighth World Cup wrestling gold medal, beating David Musolbes 2-1 in overtime at 275 1/2 pounds as the United States routs Russia 25-7.

2004 — Led by 24 points from Emeka Okafor and 21 from Ben Gordon, the Connecticut Huskies outclass Georgia Tech 82-73 to win the men’s national championship.

2008 — The Boston Celtics sets an NBA record for biggest single-season turnaround with a 101-78 win over the Charlotte Bobcats. The Celtics improve to 61-15, 37 more wins than last season.

2009 — Brittany Lincicome sinks a 6-foot eagle putt on No. 18 to win the Kraft Nabisco Championship, capturing her first victory in a major.

2010 — Duke wins its fourth national men’s basketball championship holding off Butler 61-59 and surviving Gordon Hayward’s last second desperation shot that clangs off the rim.

2011 — Danielle Adams scores 22 of her 30 points in a dominating second half to help Texas A&M win its first NCAA women’s basketball championship with a thrilling 76-70 victory over Notre Dame.

2016 — UConn wins an unprecedented fourth straight women’s national championship, capping another perfect season by routing Syracuse 82-51. Geno Auriemma passes UCLA’s John Wooden with his 11th national title and a sixth undefeated season.

2017 — Golden State holds off Phoenix 120-111 for their season-high 13th straight win, clinching the best record in the NBA for the third straight season. The Warriors are the first team have the NBA’s best record for three consecutive seasons since the Boston Celtics did it in 1983-84, ’84-‘85 and ‘85-’86. The Warriors also are the first team to win at least 65 games in three straight seasons.


April 6

1896 — The first modern Olympic Games begin in Athens, Greece. James B. Connelly wins the first event — the hop, step and jump.

1936 — Horton Smith edges Harry Cooper by one stroke to win the Masters.

1941 — Craig Wood beats Byron Nelson by three strokes to win the Masters.

1947 — Jimmy Demaret wins the Masters for the second time with two-stroke victory over Byron Nelson and Frank Stranahan.

1952 — Sam Snead wins his second Masters, beating Jack Burke Jr. by four shots.

1973 — Ron Blomberg of the New York Yankees becomes the first major league designated hitter, in an opening-day game against Boston.

1987 — Sugar Ray Leonard returns to the ring after a three-year layoff to upset Marvelous Marvin Hagler in a 12-round split decision for the middleweight title, becoming boxing’s 10th triple champion.

1992 — Duke becomes the first team in 19 years to repeat as NCAA champion with a 71-51 victory over Michigan’s Fab Five freshmen, the youngest team to vie for the title.

2004 — Connecticut’s championship sweep is complete. Led by Diana Taurasi, UConn beats Tennessee 70-61. The victory by the women — their third straight and fourth in five years, makes Connecticut the first Division I basketball school to sweep both men’s and women’s titles.

2008 — Lorena Ochoa continues her dominance of women’s golf with a five-shot victory in the Kraft Nabisco Championship.

2008 — Teenager Graham Rahal, making first IRL IndyCar Series start in the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, holds off veteran Helio Castroneves to become the youngest winner in major open-wheel history. At 19 years, 93 days, Rahal breaks the age record set two years ago in Sonoma, Calif., by Marco Andretti, who was 19 years, 167 days old.

2008 — Keith Tkachuk becomes the 41st player in NHL history to score 500 goals, and adds an assist to help the St. Louis Blues beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-1 in the season finale.

2009 — Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson and North Carolina win a national championship, ending Michigan State’s inspirational run with a 89-72 rout.

2010 — New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur gets his 600th career win with his second straight shutout in a 3-0 win over Atlanta.

2010 — Maya Moore scores 23 points to help Connecticut rally from a horrible first half to beat Stanford 53-47 for its second straight undefeated championship season and its seventh national title. UConn (39-0) won its 78th straight, extending its women’s NCAA record for consecutive victories, although this one is the closest. All of the Huskies’ previous wins in the streak were by double digits.

2015 — Duke’s talented group of freshman — Tyus Jones, Grayson Allen and Jahlil Okafor — turn a one-time nine-point deficit into an eight-point lead with 1:22 left to grit out a 68-63 victory over Wisconsin for the program’s fifth national title. Allen, the most unheralded of coach Mike Krzyzewski’s first-year players, steps up and scores 16 points to keep Duke in it when Wisconsin looked like it was about to run away.

2017 — Charley Hoffman finishes with the largest first-round lead at Augusta National in 62 years. Hoffman shoots a 7-under 65 in windy conditions to have a four-shot edge over William McGirt heading into second round. That’s the largest since the 1955 Masters, when Jack Burke Jr. opened with 67 and was four shots ahead of Julius Boros and Mike Souchak.


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