SPORTS BRIEFS: Potential Wilder Baseball Club players asked to call/text interest in 2020 season

NHL to abandon the rest of the regular season, go straight into playoffs

PORT ANGELES — Baseball players between the ages of 15-19 who are interested in playing for Wilder Baseball Club this summer are asked to text/call head coach Zac Moore at 360-461-2342 between the hours of 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. Thursday.

Moore said the club is making plans for a summer season and are actively scheduling for the month of July and August.

NHL makes move

The NHL will abandon the rest of the regular season and go straight into the playoffs with 24 teams instead of 16 if it is able to resume play.

The decision, announced Tuesday by Commissioner Gary Bettman, is not a guarantee that games are coming back. The NHL and the NHL Players’ Association must still figure out health and safety protocols and solve other issues, including where to play.

Voluntary workouts could begin in early June and formal camps aren’t expected to begin before July 1. Those camps are expected to last roughly three weeks as players return to the ice for the first time in months.

The top four teams in each conference ranked by points percentage — Boston, Tampa Bay, Washington and Philadelphia in the East and St. Louis, Colorado, Vegas and Dallas in the West — will play separate round-robin tournaments to determine seeding.

The remaining 16 teams will be seeded by conference, setting up best-of-five series in the East of No. 5 Pittsburgh vs. No. 12 Montreal, No. 6 Carolina vs. No. 11 New York Rangers, No. 7 New York Islanders vs. No. 10 Florida and No. 8 Toronto vs. No. 9 Columbus. In the West, it would be No. 5 Edmonton vs. No. 12 Chicago, No. 6 Nashville vs. No. 11 Arizona, No. 7 Vancouver vs. No. 10 Minnesota and No. 8 Calgary vs. No. 9 Winnipeg.

Games are expected to be played in two hub cities and Bettman said and 10 are in the running: Chicago, Columbus, Ohio, Dallas, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh and Minneapolis/St. Paul in the U.S. and Edmonton, Toronto and Vancouver in Canada.

Peninsula Daily News and The Associated Press

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