Category: Sports

Coyle scores shootout winner as Blue Jackets beat Penguins 4-3

 

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Elvis Merzlikins reacts after giving up a goal to the Colorado Avalanche in the first period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Charlie Coyle scored the deciding goal in the shootout and the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 on Saturday night.

Kent Johnson also scored in the shootout for the Blue Jackets, who won their fourth straight game. It was the third consecutive win under new coach Rick Bowness. Bowness is the third coach in team history to win his first three games with the team.

Kirill Marchenko scored to continue a four-game point. Danton Heinen scored his first goal with Columbus since he was traded from Pittsburgh last month, and Zach Aston-Reese, another former Penguin, also scored.

Zach Werenski continued his four-game point streak with an assist.

Elvis Merzlikins made 29 saves for the Blue Jackets, who matched their longest winning streak of the season.

Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist for the Penguins. He recorded his 511th multipoint game, tying Gordie Howe for fifth place in NHL history.

Connor Clifton and Rickard Rakell also scored for the Penguins.

Arturs Silovs stopped 22 shots for the Penguins, who have lost four of their last five.

Pittsburgh established a franchise record with a 19-game home-point streak against the Blue Jackets dating back to Dec. 21, 2015. It’s the longest home-point streak against a team in franchise history. Pittsburgh scored at least three goals in all but one of the 19 games.

All four games between Pittsburgh and Columbus this season were decided past regulation.

Crosby forced overtime with one minute left. He redirected Kris Letang’s point shot behind Merzlikins to even the score.

Up next

Blue Jackets: Host Ottawa on Tuesday.

Penguins: Open a four-game Western road trip Monday at Seattle.

 

Riverview High School head football coach Trevor George hired as the head coach for Blackhawk High School football

(File Photo of the Blackhawk Turf and Football Field)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Beaver Falls, PA) Riverview High School head football coach Trevor George was officially hired yesterday at the Blackhawk School District’s board meeting in Beaver Falls as their new head football coach for Blackhawk High School. George will try to improve on the record of 3-7 that the Cougars had after the 2025 high school football season ended. Riverview finished with a record of 4-6 in that same season and George was their head coach since the 2020 season. George is no stranger to coaching Beaver County football and coaching at Blackhawk, because he was a former assistant coach for the Cougars during the 2019 season and was a former offensive coordinator for Ambridge during the 2017 season. When George was an assistant coach for Blackhawk, the Cougars went 7-5 overall and 5-2 in Northwest Eight Conference play and made it the WPIAL semifinals before falling to the eventual state champ, Thomas Jefferson. George grew up in Hopewell but graduated from Carlynton High School.

Crosby helps Penguins power past Flyers 6-3

 

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Pittsburgh Penguins’ Sidney Crosby, left, celebrates his second goal of the first period with Rickard Rakell during an NHL hockey game against the Detroit Red Wings in Pittsburgh, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Sidney Crosby scored one of Pittsburgh’s three power-play goals and the Penguins beat the Philadelphia Flyers 6-3 on Thursday night.

Crosby also had an assist to become the eighth player in NHL history with at least 19 50-point seasons. Crosby, who reached 50 for the sixth consecutive season, has points in 29 of his last 34 games against the Flyers.

Justin Brazeau and Bryan Rust also scored power-play goals for Pittsburgh, which has nine with the man advantage in its last 12 games. Egor Chinakhov, Blake Lizotte and Connor Dewar scored for the Penguins, who snapped a three-game losing streak. Evgeni Malkin had two assists for Pittsburgh, which has won eight of its last 12 overall.

Stuart Skinner stopped 30 shots for his fourth win in five starts. He has allowed seven goals in his last five starts.

Rodrigo Abols, Nick Seeler and Matvei Michkov scored for the Flyers, who lost their fifth straight. Philadelphia has lost nine of 14 overall and allowed at least four goals in eight of its last nine losses.

Samuel Ersson allowed three goals on 14 shots. He was replaced by Aleksei Kolosov, who made 13 saves. Kolosov was recalled from the American Hockey League because of an injury to Dan Vladar.

Pittsburgh has points in 12 of its last 14 games against the Flyers. The Penguins also have points in 11 straight home games against Philadelphia dating to March 6, 2021.

Brazeau and Rust scored power-play goals for Pittsburgh in the first period. Crosby scored Pittsburgh’s third power-play goal at 3:10 of the third period to give Pittsburgh a 5-1 lead.

Chinakhov chased Ersson when he scored on a pass from Malkin at 1:16 of the second period. Chinakhov has three goals in eight games with Pittsburgh after recording six points in 29 games with Columbus.

Up next

Flyers: Host the New York Rangers on Saturday.

Penguins: Host Columbus on Saturday.

 

Pitt quarterback Mason Heintschel will return for sophomore season

(Credit for Photo and Caption for Photo: ATLANTA, GA – NOVEMBER 22: Pittsburgh quarterback Mason Heintschel (6) throws a pass during the college football game between the Pittsburgh Panthers and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on November 22nd, 2025 at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta, GA. (Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) SOURCE: Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) Pitt quarterback Mason Heintschel announced on social media yesterday that he will return to Pitt for his sophomore season of college football. During the 2025 season, Heintschel passed for 2,354 yards and sixteen touchdowns with eight interceptions in ten games. Heintschel became a freshman phenomenon ever since head coach Pat Narduzzi benched junior quarterback Eli Holstein on October 4th, 2025 in their game that afternoon against Boston College and Heintschel led Pitt to a 48-7 victory. Holstein also announced recently that he will be transferring to the University of Virginia, one of Pitt’s rivals in the Atlantic Coast Conference. However, Pitt will not be playing Virginia in the 2026 college football season.

Prosecutors: Former NCAA players and fixers charged over rigged basketball games

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – NCAA logo displayed on the fence before an NCAA softball game between Jacksonville and FGCU, March 24, 2024, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough, File)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Philadelphia, PA) Federal prosecutors are giving charges to twenty-six people, which included former college basketball players who allegedly as recently as last season tried to fix games, in what they call a scheme to rig NCAA and Chinese Basketball Association games. Fifteen people played basketball for Divison I NCAA schools as recently as the 2024-2025 season that were part of the defendants named in the indictment from today and five others were described as fixers by authorities. The charges were filed in federal court in Philadelphia and they include bribery, conspiracy and wire fraud. Authorities state that the fixers used “bribe payments” that were usually ranging from $10,000 to $30,000 per game to recruit the college basketball players. The indictment follows investigations from the NCAA that led to at least ten players receiving bans for the rest of their lives. Robert Morris University, which is located in Moon Township, was one of the seventeen schools that was named in the indictment. Markeese Hastings, a former men’s basketball player from Robert Morris University, was one of the people charged in relation to this scheme.

WPIAL announces 2026 Hall of Fame class

(File Photo of the WPIAL Logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) The WPIAL announced their Hall of Fame class of 2026 yesterday at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, which includes sixteen inductees. The list includes two former Beaver County football players and a Beaver County team. They are the 2004 Hopewell girls volleyball team, Derek Moye, a wide receiver who played for both Rochester and the Pittsburgh Steelers and Jordan Whitehead, a safety who played for Central Valley, the New York Jets and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who was the team Whitehead won a Super Bowl with in 2021 after the 2020 NFL playoffs ended. Headlining this list is Kurt Angle, who won an Olympic gold medal in freestyle wrestling in 1996 and competed on a wrestling team in high school at Mt. Lebanon. According to the WPIAL, here is the full list of the sixteen members of their 2026 Hall of Fame Class.

Athletes
  • Kurt Angle, Mt. Lebanon wrestling
  • Tricia Fabian Alderson, Chartiers-Houston softball
  • Bridget Guy Williams, Hempfield Area track
  • Maddie Holmberg Nickal, Hempfield Area track
  • Phil Mary, Chartiers-Houston wrestling
  • Derek Moye, Rochester football
  • Jordan Whitehead, Central Valley football
Coaches
  • Tim McConnell, Chartiers Valley/Bishop Canevin basketball
  • Joe Salvino, Monessen/Belle Vernon basketball
Teams
  • 1981 Mt. Lebanon boys soccer
  • 2004 Hopewell girls volleyball
Heritage
  • Jim Conklin, Waynesburg wrestling
Contributor
  • Anne Madarasz
Courage
  • Ethan Keener, South Fayette basketball/baseball
  • Warren Timko, Upper St. Clair football
Official
  • Charles Evans Hunnell, football/lacrosse

Steelers wide receiver and former Minnesota Vikings star receiver Adam Thielen retires from the NFL

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE = Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen warms up before an NFL football game against the Philadelphia Eagles, Oct. 19, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt, File)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Adam Thielen recently announced on social media that he is retiring from the NFL. The thirty-five-year-old Thielen had indicated that this season would be his final season when he was waived by the Minnesota Vikings on December 1st, 2025 and he formally announced his retirement on Instagram yesterday. Thielen finished his NFL career with the Steelers and had 11 receptions for 117 yards in five games in three starts this season for the Steelers. Thielen was undrafted in 2013 after playing college football at Minnesota State University and in twelve seasons, he had 704 career catches for 8,497 yards and 64 touchdowns. Thielen was a star player on the Minnesota Vikings, where he played from 2013-2022, and in 2025 before the Steelers claimed him off of waivers on December 2nd, 2025, and his 542 receptions with the Vikings are 4th in Vikings history behind Pro-Football Hall of Fame wide receivers Cris Carter and Randy Moss, as well as a current Vikings star wide receiver Justin Jefferson. Thielen also played for the Carolina Panthers from 2023-2024 and he holds the NFL record for most consecutive 100-yard receiving games with eight. 

Penguins place defenseman Erik Karlsson on injured reserve

(Credit for Photo: Courtesy of © Gerry Angus/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) The Pittsburgh Penguins announced on Tuesday that defenseman Erik Karlsson was placed on injured reserve because of a lower-body injury and he will be reevaluated in two weeks. Karlsson has four goals and twenty-nine assists in forty-four games this season for the Penguins, which is thirty-three points, and he will compete for Team Sweden in Italy this year for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026. 

Ambridge rehires Ellwood City High School head football coach Dan Bradley as their head high school football coach

(File Photo of Moe Rubenstein Stadium in Ambridge in 2019)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Ambridge, PA) Almost a month after Ambridge High School offered the head football coach position to Ellwood City High School head football coach Dan Bradley, the Ambridge School board made the decision official yesterday in a 9-0 unanimous vote to rehire the former coach of the Bridgers’ program. Bradley has a career record of 104-53 and this comes after Ambridge high school football head coach Sherman McBride resigned at the end of the 2025 season.  

PIAA Board of Directors Approve Fall Sports Championship Sites for Next Four Fall Sports Seasons

PIAA logo

(File Photo of the PIAA Logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Mechanicsburg, PA) According to a release in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania yesterday from The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, Inc., they announced seven championship sites selected for the PIAA Fall Championships and the approved sites are as follows:

Championships, (Approved Sites are in Parentheses)

Golf (Penn State Golf Courses, State College, PA)
Tennis – Team (Hershey Racquet Club, Hershey, PA)
Tennis – Singles & Doubles (Hershey Racquet Club, Hershey, PA)
Cross Country (Big Spring School District, Newville, PA)
Field Hockey (Cumberland Valley School District, Mechanicsburg, PA)
Volleyball (Saint Francis University, Loretto, PA)
Soccer (Highmark Stadium, Pittsburgh, PA)
Football (Cumberland Valley School District, Mechanicsburg, PA)

All of these sites were selected and approved for the next four years (the sports seasons of 2026-2027, 2027-2028, 2028-2029 and 2029-2030).