A Salute to Multiple Sports Champions Halfway Through 2025

Commentary

In hockey, the storied Stanley Cup playoffs featured a rarity: only the second rematch of the previous year’s finals in the past 40 years. Once again, the defending champion Florida Panthers defeated the Edmonton Oilers, preventing the Oilers from being the first Canadian franchise to hoist the Stanley Cup since the Montreal Canadiens did it in 1993. Like last year, the Panthers clinched the cup on home ice, this year in Game 6 after going the full seven games last year. 

Hockey fans were treated to several notable individual milestones. In Game 5, the Panthers’ 37-year-old forward Brad Marchand obtained in a late-season trade with the Boston Bruins, became the first player in 37 years to score six goals in a Stanley Cup Finals series. The next game, he was surpassed by teammate Sam Reinhart who totaled seven goals in the finals—a feat last done 40 years ago by Wayne Gretzky. Reinhart scored four goals in Game 6, becoming the first player to do that in a finals game since the legendary Rocket Richard in 1957. Playoff MVP Sam Bennett scored 15 goals, and the Panthers as a team tied a record by having six players score 20 or more points in this year’s playoffs. On the Oilers’ side, Leon Draisaitl became the first player ever to score four overtime sudden-death goals in a single playoff year. 

A personal observation: I couldn’t help but be impressed with the Panthers’ genuine humility when they were interviewed on ice after winning the cup. Player after player gave heartfelt thanks for families, teammates, trainers, and coaches. Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky (who kept the Oilers from blowing open a couple of games with his brilliant goaltending) gave the most sincere, joyful, and touching expressions of thanksgiving to God that I’ve ever heard from a professional athlete. 

Shifting to tennis, the French Open didn’t have many surprises. Both the men’s and women’s finals featured the top two seeds. The big surprise was that Frenchwoman Lois Boisson, ranked 361st in the world defeated both the third and sixth seeds to reach the semifinals, where she finally lost to Coco Gauff. Coco went on to defeat the number-one ranked player, Aryna Sabalenka, in the finals, using speed and consistency to outlast the more powerful Sabalenka in three sets.

On the men’s side, fans were treated to one of the greatest tennis matches of all time. Second seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, came from two sets and several match points down to win a five-set thriller. The match lasted five hours and 29 minutes—the second-longest Grand Slam final ever. Yet, after playing tennis at a grueling pace for all that time, Alcaraz finished with a stunning flurry of eye-popping shots. I can’t count how many times I asked myself in amazement and disbelief, “How did he ever make that shot?”

I said the same thing about his opponent, the top-seeded Italian star, Jannik Sinner. Sinner, at the age of 23, already has won three Grand Slam titles, while Alcaraz, who only recently celebrated his 22nd birthday, has won five Grand Slams. The rivalry between these two young superstars promises to be as long-lived as the matches between Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic during the 15 years (2006–2020) when that trio dominated the Grand Slams.

In basketball, the National Basketball Association Finals was a thrilling back-and-forth struggle that lasted the full seven games. Ultimately, the Oklahoma City Thunder, who had a dazzling .829 winning percentage in the regular season during which they set the all-time record for point differential over their opponents, prevailed over the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers, who finished fourth in their conference, made a memorable post-season run. It ended sadly when star player Tyrese Halliburton exited the game in the first quarter (after already scoring 9 points in 7 minutes) with an Achilles injury. The Pacers carried on valiantly, eventually losing Game 7 by 12 points, but fans will long wonder how things would have played out had Halliburton not gotten hurt. We’ll never know.

Congratulations to the Thunder, and to their star, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who joined some of the sport’s all-time greats by winning the MVP award for both the playoffs and the regular season. The matchup between two small-market teams from the heartland resulted in low TV ratings, but it was good for professional sports, proving that teams from the glamorous, wealthy metropolises don’t have a lock on championships. 

In NCAA softball, Texas Tech ended Oklahoma’s incredible four-year run as champions behind their million-dollar pitcher, NiJaree Canady (yes, money talks in college sports) in the College World Series semifinals. In the finals, Tech lost to the University of Texas, two games to one. Congrats to the Longhorns for their first-ever NCAA softball championship, and to the Red Raiders for making their first visit to the finals.

On the men’s side, Louisiana State University‘s baseball team won the Men’s College World Series for the second time in three years and eighth time overall. Runner-up Coastal Carolina entered the finals riding a 26-game winning streak, but fell to the Tigers in two straight games, 1–0 and 5–3. 

Individual hat tips to:

Jacob Misiorowski, Milwaukee Brewers rookie, who became the first pitcher since 1900 to start his major league career with 11 hitless innings. Misiorowski hit 102.1 mph on his fastball, threw sliders in the mid-90s, in becoming the first pitcher since at least 1900 to have more wins (2) than hits allowed (1) in his first two big-league starts.

Seattle Mariners’ Cal Raleigh, who broke Johnny Bench’s record for most home runs by a catcher before the All-Star break by belting his 29^th of the season on June 20. Raleigh hit his 31st on June 22, and with the All-Star game not happening until July 15, he has abundant opportunity to pad his record total.

The University of Arkansas’s Gage Wood. In a semifinal game, Wood pitched only the third no-hitter in the history of the college baseball World Series (the first in 65 years), striking out 19 batters. Asked what he did with the game ball, he replied that he gave it to his dad as a day-late Father’s Day gift. Awww … how can you not admire that?

Here’s hoping that the second half of 2025 has as many sports thrills as the first half did.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.