Pistons Sidelined – Tuesday Sports Wrap

High School

The Houghton High School swim team competes at Ishpeming this afternoon.

College Hockey

The Michigan Tech hockey team skates at Ferris State University tonight. It’s the first of two make-up games for a series that was missed earlier this season when the Huskies recorded some positive COVID-19 tests. The second make-up contest will take place a week from tonight in Big Rapids.

Northern Michigan University has announced some hockey schedule changes. This weekend’s series against Lake Superior State will be pushed back from Friday and Saturday, to Saturday and Sunday. The series against Alabama-Huntsville that was postponed last month will be made up Tuesday and Wednesday, February 16th and 17th, in Marquette. The series against Bowling Green that had been scheduled for the following Friday and Saturday has been pushed back to that Saturday and Sunday, February 20th and 21st, in Marquette.

College Basketball

Michigan Tech’s Ellie Mackay has been named the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball North Division Player of the Week. Mackay totaled 66 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists, as the Huskies defeated Northern Michigan University, and took two from Ferris State last week.

College Softball

The Finlandia University softball team has added a new player. Ashley Roberts is entering her senior year at Bishop Moore Catholic High School in Orlando. 

NHL

The Detroit Red Wings visit the Tampa Bay Lightning tomorrow. Coverage begins at 5:15 on 99.3 The Lift.

NBA

Last night’s game between the Detroit Pistons and the Denver Nuggets was called off just before tipoff, after someone in the Pistons organization received an inconclusive COVID-19 test result. It’s not known if that person was a player, but contact tracing left several players unavailable, leaving Detroit short of the required eight players needed to take the court.

The Pistons are scheduled to visit the Utah Jazz tonight. If a re-test comes back negative, coverage will start at 9:35 on 99.3 The Lift. If it’s positive, the team could be forced to quarantine for a week.

MLB

The Detroit Tigers continue to add veteran depth to their pitching corps. The team signed Derek Holland to a minor league deal yesterday. Holland is 34. His best season came in 2011, when he went 16-5 as a starter for the Texas Rangers. Last year, he made 12 appearances for the Pittsburgh Pirates, including five starts, and had an ERA of 6.86.

Major League Baseball players have rejected a proposal from the owners to shorten the upcoming regular season, and expand the playoffs. The offer would have delayed the start to the season by a month, and cut the number of regular-season games by eight. Day-night doubleheaders would have continued, to help compress the schedule. Health officials had encouraged the delay, in hopes of getting farther past COVID-19 restrictions. Players were concerned that the deal did not offer any salary guarantees in the event that games needed to be canceled. Both sides now say that the season remains on track to begin as scheduled.

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