Western Courier | February 10th, 2020

Sports: Softball gets off to rocky start.

WesternCourier.com

Opinions: It's time to get back to the true meaning of Valentine's Day.

Monday, February 10, 2020 - Vol. 120 Issue 53

@WesternCourier

Police arrest four for involvement in West Adams “brawl”

By Devon Greene editor-in-chief

Ryan Nowak

MACOMB POLICE DEPARTMENT

The Macomb Police Department arrested four men for their involvement in the massive brawl that took place on West Adams Street on Sunday, Feb. 2.

The fight went viral on social media after a YouTube video posted by Derek MccLeary garnered over 45,000 views. Members of the community had put some pressure on the Macomb Police Department after they allegedly sent people home after they arrived on the scene.

There were also rumblings that the brawl was potentially a hate crime and attempted murder. Macomb Police Chief Curt Barker put those rumors to bed during a press conference on Friday.

“This was just a normal college party where a fight broke out,” Barker said.

Barker announced the arrests during a press conference Friday, Tevin Currie, 22; Joshua Wells, 25; Ryan Nowak, 21; and Dennis Williams II, 22; all of Kewanee.

None of the four individuals involved were Western Illinois University students.

Currie was charged with aggravated assault and reckless driving. His bond was set at $25,000. Wells was charged with mob action and battery.

His bond is set at $15,000.

Nowak was charged with obstructing justice and Williams was charged with mob action. Bond has not been set for either one.

Dennis Williams

MACOMB POLICE DEPARTMENT

Arrests Tevin Currie

MACOMB POLICE DEPARTMENT

Sports on Page 6: Swimming sets sights on Summit League Championships.

page 2

Joshua Wells

MACOMB POLICE DEPARTMENT

Opinions on Page 4: Addressing the lack of diversity during award season.

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Monday, February 10, 2020

NEWS

WesternCourier.com

Arrests from front page

Western Illinois Interim President Martin Abraham sent an email out on Friday discussing the safety on campus and showing his appreciation to the police force.

“I would like to thank those individuals who came forward to provide information regarding, as well as our area law enforcement agencies for their work investigating, the Feb. 2 off-campus incident,” Abraham said.

“Their diligence led to the arrests of four non-students on a variety of charges, including aggravated assault and reckless driving.”

Former WIU president named president at Central State University

By Devin Brooks (NEWS3) — Former Western Illinois University President Jack Thomas was named president at Central State University on Friday.

Central State is a public, historically black university located in Wilberforce, Ohio, about 20 miles east of Dayton. The university has about 2,000 students.

This comes after Thomas left WIU last June on paid administrative leave. The agreement said Thomas will spend one year on paid leave and one year on sabbatical. During those two years, WIU agreed to pay Thomas’ full salary of $270,528 per year.

Thomas and his administration came under fire the past two years after WIU faculty members voted “no confi-

dence” in his administrative leadership team in March 2018. Months later, dozens of faculty members were laid off in June 2018, then hundreds more in March 2019.

Thomas faced more pressure in his last few months at WIU after community members posted signs of “Fire Jack” throughout the area and called for the reinstatement of Executive Officer of the WIU Foundation Brad Bainter.

Thomas spent eight years as the president of WIU. He will become the ninth president of Central State University later this year.

According to Tri States Public Radio, a university spokesperson told TSPR that Western’s legal counsel is reviewing the terms of the deal to determine the school’s future obligations to Thomas now that he has accepted another job.

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Monday, February 10, 2020

@WesternCourier On Jan. 31 at 12:58 p.m. the WIU Office of Public Safety received a report of the theft of $60 from an office on the Quad Cities Campus. The incident is under investigation.

On Jan. 31 at 1:33 p.m. Brandon Nevils, 18, of 1014 Thompson Hall was arrested in Thompson for domestic battery and resisting a police officer. He was lodged in the McDonough County Jail at 2:28 p.m. pending bond.

On Jan. 31 at 4:47 p.m. Gloria Dia, 25, of 609 Corbin Hall was arrested in Corbin on a warrant for failure to appear. She was lodged in the McDonough County Jail at 5:16 p.m. pending bond.

On Jan. 31 at 8:57 p.m. a student was judicially referred on Sherman Avenue for driving across the lawn of land owned by WIU at the corner of Adams Street and Sherman Avenue. Damage was estimated at $100.

On Feb. 1 at 8:02 p.m. a student came to Mowbray Hall to report she was battered at an off-campus party Jan. 31 and was now being harassed by the student who battered her. The incident is under investigation.

On Feb. 2 at 4:24 a.m. two students in Thompson Hall were judicially referred for consumption/possession of alcohol in their room.

On Feb. 2 at 4:15 p.m. a student in Thompson Hall reported being battered by several people earlier in the day near Corbin Hall. The incident is under investigation.

On Feb. 6 at 2:05 p.m. a local restaurant employee reported the theft of food from a delivery driver in Sallee Hall. The incident is under investigation.

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4

OPINIONS

Monday, February 10, 2020

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BRANDON TROST/PRODUCTION MANAGER

BRANDON TROST/PRODUCTION MANAGER

Valentine’s Day. The designated day each year where we are instructed by society to show our significant others how much we care about them through mushy cards, expensive gifts and grand romantic gestures.

For those with healthy, fulfilling relationships, the holiday can be a joyful celebration of the love between two people. For many others, including single individuals and those in toxic relationships, the holiday can serve as a painful reminder of the absence of true love in their lives.

For these people, the holiday can bring with it a variety of mental health challenges, whether it be episodes of depression from feelings of loneliness, or episodes of anxiety from trying to live up to unrealistic expectations. But what if it didn’t have to be this way? What would it look like if we put aside all of the gimmicks and placed our focus back on the main pillar of the holiday: love?

For single individuals, this would include shifting our focus away from the romantic relationships that we don’t have, and instead focusing on the other loving relationships we do have in our lives. Showing our friends, family and colleagues how much we appreciate them and care for them can have a powerful impact on our outlook. It reminds us that we love and are loved by a variety of people in this world, and that our worth is not deemed by our relationship status. It also brings those same feelings of

worth to those that we show it towards, further working to reduce the feelings of loneliness often associated with the holiday.

For those who may be in a relationship, it would include dropping the Hollywood romance expectations and actually focusing on loving the other person.

I’m not saying that buying a gift or planning a romantic evening are bad things. However, when these actions themselves become all-consuming or are done simply out of expectation, it can be problematic. Remembering that real love is simple and unconditional could help to reduce anxiety around this holiday.

The final fundamental shift that would take place is an increased focus on loving oneself. Even though loving and appreciating oneself is a key aspect to loving and appreciating others, we hardly ever think about ourselves during this holiday. Taking time to remind ourselves of our positive attributes and engaging in self-care activities (treating ourselves with a favorite activity or gift) can really have a positive outcome on our self-worth. And having a strong sense of selfworth can have a great benefit to our mental health.

So, as the Valentine’s Day festivities come about this week, I encourage you to keep the focus on love. Remembering that love can stem from a variety of relationships, and that to ultimately be happy, we must be able to love and value ourselves.

During this year’s British Academy of Film and Television Arts, or BAFTAs, Joaquin Phoenix won the award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Todd Philips’ adaption of the movie Joker, which was honestly one of my favorite movies from last year.

But instead of giving the standard ‘Thank You’ speech, Phoenix did something wise and blatantly obvious by calling out the BAFTAs for its lack of diversity and systemic racism.

In all four acting categories that year, no people of color were nominated at all; yes, only white people were. This conversation about a lack of diversity and no inclusion has constantly been brought up in award shows, such as the Oscars. In both 2015 and 2016, no people of color were nominated, prompting outrage and backlash created the term, #OscarsSoWhite. But even when people of color are nominated and even win an award such as an Oscar or BAFTA, it just feels like an award by the critics to justify a lack of diversity the next year by pointing out what they did before, and that’s just not right.

Again, in 2020 the Oscars nominated only one black person and that was Cynthia Ervio for her portrayal as slave abolitionist Harriet Tubman, aside from that the others nominees are white.

The Academy of Motion Pictures & Arts snubbed the likes of Lupita Nyong’o for her eerie portrayal in “Us,” even though she was

nominated for a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild. As well as, Jennifer Lopez for her portrayal in Hustlers, even though she was also nominated for a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild.

It seems like the Oscars really pick and choose, and that’s just not right.

Now the BAFTAs have no people of color nominated this year, when you mention the performances of people like Nyong’o, Lopez, Erivo and more is just unacceptable.

Margot Robbie was nominated twice for Best Supporting Actress in Bombshell and Once Upon a Time In Hollywood. Robbie is a very talented actress, but being nominated twice for the same category when you can’t even nominate a single person of color is just outrageous.

It even baffled me to discover that, to this day, Denzel Washington has never been nominated for a BAFTA award, which honestly just sounds preposterous. Award shows like the the NAACP Image Awards and BET Awards were created because of a lack of inclusion like this, but in all honesty, awards like an Oscar and BAFTA are still regarded as the grand prize.

Phoenix is a great actor and as I’m writing this, the Oscars haven’t taken place yet, but if he wins Best Actor, which he likely will, I’m curious as to what he’ll say. It’s frustrating and just irritating that more inclusion and diversity has to be talked about at these award shows in 2020.

Kesha’s legal battle with Dr. Luke continues

Written by: Rachel Greene

CONT. E.2

E2 EDGE

Monday, February 10, 2020

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Judge rules against Kesha in defamation case A once wild and crazy pop star has made her way back into the headlines as her legal battle with Dr. Luke winds down. Ke$ha was recently ac cused of defaming Dr. Luke in court and therefore her sexual assault case against him has been lost.

Ke$ha came into the public eye around 2009, with her very first solo hit on her debut single “Tik Tok.” While she did not make a name for herself until this song, her journey as an artist began much earlier. In 2005, 18-year-old Kesha Sebert signed with Lukasz Gottwald, better known as Dr. Luke.

Gottwald had a great track record and convinced her to move to Los Angeles and sign a deal with him for her first six albums.

Just as her career and partnership with Gottwald seemed to be taking off, things suddenly changed for the worse. Kesha and Gottwald were attending a party together where he al-

legedly gave her the date-rape drug GHB, Gammahydroxybutyrate, and then proceeded to rape her while she was un conscious. Waking up disoriented, Kesha told her mother about the incident, but decided not to go to the hospital or the authorities in order to protect herself and her music from becoming a scandal.

Between this occurrence in 2005 and 2009, Kesha did not release any music as she struggled to work around the legal implications that signing with Gottwald entailed. Other la bels wanted to help her, but she continued to go back to Gottwald out of fear and obli gation. Finally in 2009, Kesha, now known as Ke$ha, released her debut single, which spent nine weeks at number one on the charts. Her debut album, “Animal,” also came out at number one on the charts.

From 2010 to 2014, Ke$ha ran into an assortment of legal is sues with other labels who

helped her but were never paid, issues with Dr. Luke and struggles with creative freedom. Right before filing her lawsuit, Ke$ha officially dropped the dollar sign from her name and became Kesha.

The lawsuit claims sexual as sault and battery, but also touched on the mental strain and abuse that Dr. Luke placed on the young star. However, Dr. Luke filed a countersuit that very same day, and then a defamation lawsuit against Kesha’s mom just two weeks later. Two months later, Kesha’s mom countersued Dr. Luke due to the emotional toll he took on her daughter, citing him as a cause of her PTSD. While things seemed to set tle down from 2014-2020, Kesha did release “Praying,” a song that seemed directed at Dr. Luke, and released another album. The lawsuits were a mess and it seemed as if nothing was going to hap pen. That was true, until Feb. 6, 2020. Just last week, it was ruled that Kesha had in fact defamed Dr. Luke by alleged ing to others that he raped pop star Katy Perry. Now, due to one text message, Kesha owes Dr. Luke $373,000 unless she is able to appeal.

Kesha singing Praying, a song inspired by her legal battles.

Kesha sobs in the courtroom as she battles Dr. Luke for her creative freedom.

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E3 EDGE

Monday, February 10, 2020

WesternCourier.com

How do you want your leading women?

Nowadays, if a story doesn’t start with the phrase, “I was scrolling through [social media outlet of your choice] when I saw...” then is the story even worth sharing? I guess that’s a rhetorical question, but for this story that’s where it started.

I was scrolling through Twitter this past weekend when I came across something that piqued my interest. As I was scrolling, I started to see a bunch of tweets saying that Jim Carrey was a creep to Margot Robbie, snd of course I had to investigate this and decide for myself if

the claims were true.

Both Carrey and Robbie were guests on the Graham Norton Show when the incident occured.

"You're really something, Margot Robbie," Carrey says, "It's incredible you got as far as you have with your obvious physical disadvantages. That's pure talent there. That's a talent override there."

I will admit, I laughed at this statement and I hate to say it, but Carrey has a point.

Not to discredit Robbie for her work, but let's take a step back. Would she have gotten

the chance to act in all of her roles if she was, lets say, double her body weight?

If you answered yes, then let me ask you another question: would she have gotten a role as a beautiful, strong, leading woman? Most likely no, she would’ve been type casted into two roles that the movie industry seems to only give to plus size actresses. Those two types being either a funny dweeb, or the supportive unattractive friend that the lead character always takes for granted. The character Hilda Spellman comes to mind for both of these categories.

I’ve been watching the Netflix original series, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Sabrina’s Auntie Hilda Spellman is a walking example of both of the types I mentioned above. She's a frumpy doof,

but lovable nonetheless. She is the character in the series that holds everything together, has everyone’s back and is always supportive of her ungrateful sister Zelda.

As I was watching an episode, I got increasingly upset at the clothes they chose to put Auntie Hilda in while her counterpart Auntie Zelda wore the most stylish modern outfits. Hilda wore shapeless silhouettes that made her look frumpy. While Zelda wore on-trend animal print bow-collared blouses with form fitting skirts. Even their makeup was drastically different; Hilda with outdated blue eyeshadow and Zelda with the red lip/winged eyeliner combo.

Examples like this make it seem that Hollywood and society in general view plus size women as unfashionable

and undeserving of being a strong leading role, which simply is not the case.

Going back to the Graham Norton Show and Carrey’s infamous comment to Robbie, the comment came off as very condescending, but there was some truth behind it. The comment, I hope, has shed some light on the fact that Robbie most likely got her big break because she had the “right look.” I love to say it, but how many more tall, white, blonde, skinny women do we really need in Hollywood or fashion magazines for that matter?

Carrey clearly didn’t go about this in the right way, but the idea was there. Hopefully this moment in television history can open up the conversation on the portrayal or lack thereof, women in Hollywood.

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In her interview with Carrey, Robbie was accused of only being famous because of the way she looks.

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While Zelda is able to wear trendy clothes, Aunt Hilda must wear frumpy, ugly outfits due to the type of actress she is seen as.

E4 EDGE

Monday, February 10, 2020

WesternCourier.com

The release of Locke and Key There is a new Netflix show available to watch and viewers are raving about it.

“Locke and Key” is based on a series of novels by the same name.

While others have tried and failed to create a series, see the 2011 pilot episode on Fox, this attempt is unique in the fact that Joe Hill, the author of the book series was involved in this production. While he tries to hide it, Hill is actually named Joseph Hillstrom King and is the son of famed author Stephen King.

The pilot episode begins with a man receiving a phone call that someone has died. He goes into his home and, in a very strange manner, proceeds to die as well.

While the initial focus is on this man, it quickly shifts and it becomes evident that he is not our protagonist in this narrative.

The Locke family, however, will be. Following the murder of their school counselor father, the family needs a fresh start. Consisting of three children and a newlyminted widow, the family picks up and leaves their life in Seattle and moves to Massachusetts, where the Locke family mansion is. “Key House,” as it is more affectionately called, is a mansion that has mystery written all over it. The children are in awe of the place, but they also cannot help but wonder why their father would never bring them there. In my personal opinion, that should have been an indicator to stay far, far away, but I did not write the script.

In typical fashion, there is something off about this mansion; the children, mostly Bode, begin to hear whispers throughout the

The first season contains 10 episodes that are available now to stream on Netflix.

house. While that is not normal, what is even worse is that the whispers lead them to hidden keys. Are these normal keys? Of course not.

The keys each hold a special power that allows the holder to do a very strange thing. While one key can allow you to travel anywhere you have already been, a fairly innocent thing, another lets you open up someone else’s brain and step inside.

The series debuted on Thursday, Feb. 7 and there are already questions about a second season posted all over the Internet. Fans quickly binged the 10 available episodes in just a few days, or maybe even hours. It is clear that once you start watching, you will not be able to stop.

Whether you have read the novels or not, this series is a unique find and I would highly recommend taking a look. It is different than many of the titles that Netflix creates and it will keep you invested long enough for a Netflix binge. I am looking forward to watching the remainder of this season and hopefully hearing about the next one soon.

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Bode discovers and tests out the first of many magical keys.

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OPINIONS 5

Monday, February 10, 2020

@WesternCourier

The controversy over the Bill C-16

Bill C-16 is a bill that was introduced in Canadian Parliament in May of 2016 and was passed in June of 2017. When introduced into Parliament, it had many supporters but also many outspoken critics, such as Jordan B. Peterson.

The law protects gender identity and gender expression under the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Canadian Criminal Code dealing with hate propaganda. Looking at the bill broadly, it is a comendable act

of protecting individuals from discrimination in the work place and at the federal level in Canada. But what is it sacrificing in the long term?

Peterson was one of the first critics who saw that the bill that was supposed to be more inclusive and accepting towards certain individuals, would lead to tyranny later on if it was not stopped. He made several YouTube videos that argued that the bill had certain provisions that would compel people to speak

in a certain way, such as using a person’s preferred pronouns.

If a person did not address a person properly using their proper pronouns, it would be considered hate speech, which he found greatly disturbing. It was punishable by law if people didn’t use a person’s correct pronouns.

At this moment in time, addressing people by their preferred pronouns does not seem like a large concern. But he thought of the future, and what it could bring to individuals that did not want to follow the new law in place. He argued that there is a difference between the government saying that you can’t say certain words versus the government saying you have to say

certain words, and the latter is controlling speech. If the government can dictate what you have to say, what else would the government later dictate?

He addressed the Canadian Parliament with his concerns, but they were dismissed. C-16 was passed into law in 2017 and Dr. Peterson continued making videos about how the law was wrong and was a symptom of a wider social and political problem that wanted to control how people spoke. If you can control how people think, they can make people do almost anything.

Justin Trudeau’s government introduced the bill in order to seem more progressive.

But there is a line that can be

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crossed that will infringe upon people’s rights in the name of social justice. Social justice can only go so far without dissolving into tyranny. Not all people are going to think alike or do what is supposedly more forgiving for people who are minorities or the less fortunate, and that is okay. There cannot be equality in all things and to try to push towards a more equal based society, as the law is promoting, will only end up hurting people in the long run.

Freedom of speech is vital, and those who trample on your right to freedom of speech in the name of social justice or political correctness will only end taking away what is dearest to you.

Contact Allison Young

AN-Young@wiu.edu

6

Monday, February 10, 2020

SPORTS

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Track and field closes Swimming prepares for Summit in on indoor season League Championships

By Sebastian Gamboa courier staff

COLUMBIA, Mo. — On Friday, the super speedy Leathernecks sped into Columbia for their second to last meet of the indoor season at the University of Missouri. It turned out to be a successful outing for the Fighting Leathernecks, as they finished with 21 top half competitors and three total first place finishes.

The strong first place finishes came from junior Hailey Tranchitella in the 600 meter, and sophomores Tia Dorshorst and Sierra Long in pole vault and the 400 meter, respectively. This is a strong improvement from the last meet at

Mizzou which only yielded 16 top half finishes and two individual wins.

As a whole, the Fighting Leathernecks track and field team is looking to further their improvement this upcoming Valentine's Day weekend in Allendale, Mich. at the Grand Valley State University “Big Meet.” That is the final meet of the indoor season before The Summit League Championships followed only by the NCAA Championships.

Heading into the weekend, the Leathernecks will be gearing up to make even further improvements to achieve more success and greaten their prospects for both Summit League and NCAA Championships.

Hailey Tranchitella particpates in an indoor event.

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IOWA CITY, Iowa — The Western Illinois University swim and dive team concluded its dual meet against Big Ten opponent Iowa Hawkeyes.

The Hawkeyes were not overpowered by Western and took the contest easily, 130-67 on the women's side and 122-44 on the men’s.

The Leathernecks are using this meet against tough competition to prepare themselves for The Summit League Championships later in February. The team has an overall record of 1-6 for both the men and women, so they enter the championship as a team not worth fretting about.

Most people believe it will

be a meet decided by Denver University, who has been nationally ranked at different points over the year.

The performance in Iowa was one to inspire hope into the championship weekend.

Sophomore Adam Peterson took second in the 100 meter freestyle with a time of 47.49s.

He is the only Leatherneck to win a Summit League Swimmer of the Week award this season and is looking to add some hardware soon.

Sophomore Ty l e r Cunningham placed third in the 200 meter freestyle and also added a podium finish with his performance in the 50 meter butterfly. The sophomore swimmer has been a great asset to the team since he first arrived and has a chance to continue performing in

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Adam Peterson races in a freestyle event.

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bigger moments.

On the women’s side, the most impressive name was senior Miranda Mathus. She doubled up on second place finishes in the 50-fly and 50-breast. Not to be outdone, fellow senior Casey Roberts notched a second place finish in the 50-free and then decided to do it again in the 100 meter freestyle.

This was the last meet before The Summit League Championships. This concludes the regular season for first year head coach Scott Johannsen.

The former Leatherneck swimmer decided to come back and grow the program. In his first year, it is difficult to measure his progress, but this next meet will prove a great challenge.

The Championships are in Sioux Falls, S.D. at the Midco Aquatic Center.

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Sports 7

Defending champs showing signs of inconsistency

Alex Steen skates down ice.

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Jordan Binnington reaches out to make the save.

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Since the All-Star break, the St. Louis Blues are 2-4-1. It is their worst stretch of games since 2018 when they were in last place before flipping the switch in 2019 and winning the whole thing. If they want any chance at winning another Cup, they need to get back to what made them successful: hard nosed forechecking, keeping their gaps on defense and getting a timely save from Jordan Binnington or Jake Allen when needed. In seven straight starts, Binnington has given up three or more goals. His angles seem to be way off and he is giving up way too many goals from shots that shouldn't have a chance at going in.

Binnington, of course, to this point has had an excellent career and this is the first real struggle he has had for this long a period. Every goalie goes through it no matter how great they are and if the Blues want to accom-

plish anything this season, they will need Binnington to bounce back and prove he is an elite goalie.

Injuries have played a part as well. Oskar Sundqvist has missed some time here recently and he is a valuable piece to the Blues forward group. He is really Craig Berube’s swiss army knife.

He can play up and down the lineup, contribute 15 goals and 35 points while being one of the better defensive forwards on this team. Also, for the record, it was impressive how well the Blues offense was doing while missing Vladimir Tarasenko.

However, sooner or later when you are missing an elite goal scorer, it is going to hurt and this appears to be the time. The report is on Feb. 15 the Blues and Tarasenko will meet to discuss a timeline on when the Russian star will be back on the ice.

At the beginning of the sea-

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Robert Thomas bursts into speed.

son after the trade to bring in Justin Faulk, outside of maybe a tweak, everyone thought the Blues would be done with trades. They don’t necessarily need a trade right now, but a little shakeup could be beneficial. Now for a little math and numbers talk.

Currently with Tarasenko on injured reserve, the Blues technically have about six million to work with to make a deal. However, if Tarasenko comes back to the team and his $7.5 million cap hit in the regular season, they have to be cap compliant. No big moves for a forward could be made. If he doesn’t come back until the playoffs start, his salary won’t go against the cap because there is no salary cap in the playoffs.

The Blackhawks made a similar maneuver in 2015 and were able to add a few pieces that were key to their Cup run and kept Patrick Kane on IR until the playoffs.

If the Blues were going to make a move, it would be for a forward on the left side.

Currently in that group is Jaden Schwartz, no problem with him on the first line obviously, Zach Sanford and Sammy Blais in the middle

Vladimir Tarasenko awaits the puck drop.

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Jaden Schwartz celebrates after he scores.

six and then Alex Steen. No issues with Steen on the third line but that middle six group could use an upgrade. After starting off the season strong, Blais hasn’t been the same since coming back from injury. If he can find his game a third line of Blais, Tyler Bozak and Robert Thomas would be better than most third lines.

Zach Sanford recently went on a six game point streak but he could be the odd man out. The names available for the Blues include Chris Kreider, a speedy forward for the Rangers who averages about 25 goals a year.

He would be the biggest add the Blues could make and according to some league insiders like Elliot Friedman of Sportsnet the Blues are heavily interested. Kreider is a free agent after this year and it would be unlikely the Blues could resign him, so the price has to be right. The Rangers are looking for a first round pick and high tier prospect. Another name that has popped up is Ottawa forward Anthony Duclair. After bouncing around the league, the 24 year old has found a home in Ottawa. He has 21 goals in 54 games and

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could add a speed boost to the left side. The last name has only recently popped up and that would be Ilya Kovalchuk. After being left for dead in Los Angeles and his career thought to be over, he has reemerged in Montreal. Twelve points in 15 games including six goals and adding a borderline Hall of Famer who still has an incredible shot would not be a bad thing.

It would be very beneficial for the Blues to win the NHL’s Central Division. Playing a weaker team from the Pacific or the Predators or maybe even the Blackhawks would be so much more advantageous to a team trying to go on a repeat run. If they should let Dallas or Colorado take the division the Blues would be stuck playing one of those teams in the first round and then playing the other in the second round if they are able to win. That would be brutal and hinder any chance this team has of winning a Cup. There is still plenty of time for the Blues to turn it around and gain that title, but they need to start racking up wins again soon.

Tyler Bozak skates during warm-ups.

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Softball struggles in opening weekend tournament

By David Koier courier staff ROSEMONT, Ill. — The Western Illinois softball team traveled to Rosemont this weekend for their first tournament of the season. The team competed against teams from all over the Midwest including the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix, the IUPUI Jaguars, Evansville Purple Aces, Miami (OH) RedHawks and the Butler Bulldogs.

Play began Friday against Green Bay. The game was scoreless until the top of the third when freshman Kellie Marcheschi crushed a deep fly ball into left field for her second career hit and first career home run as a Leatherneck.

That home run was the spark the Leathernecks needed as Tori Boysen singled and was brought home on a double to left-center by Meghan Henson. Ashley Minyard immediately followed Henson’s double with a single up the left side for an RBI single and a 3-0 Western lead.

Green Bay answered in the bottom of the sixth inning on a two-run homer to center by Morgan Bihun to draw within a run. The comeback could not be completed, though, as Western would tack on two more runs late in the game to secure a 5-2 victory. Abby Carlin went the distance in the circle, striking out four

batters without allowing a walk.

Later on in the day, the Leathernecks faced off against IUPUI. The Leathernecks were able to strike first again off of a Hollatz sac fly that scored Ealy from third after her triple early on. Minyard doubled the lead with a double down the left field line.

Kyra Kroll hit a triple of her own to lead off the top of the fourth and was driven in with a sacrifice fly by Boyson.

The Jaguars brought in two runs in the bottom of the fourth to cut the deficit to 3-2, but the Leathernecks responded with three runs in the top half of the fifth highlighted by an RBI single up the middle from Danielle Olson for a 6-2 lead.

IUPUI unleashed six runs in the bottom of the sixth starting with an RBI double to left-center by Delaney Thompson. IUPUI held on in the top of the seventh to pull off the comeback victory.

Savannah Rodriguez recorded a career-high eight strikeouts over 3.1 innings of work in her first start of the season. Maddy Anderson made her collegiate debut on the mound in a relief effort in the bottom of the fourth.

Anderson allowed four runs on five hits before handing off to Marcheschi. Marcheschi surrendered three runs on three hits with one strikeout earning the loss.

The rest of the weekend

Halle Hollatz stays focused in the infield.

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did not get any better for the Purple and Gold after Friday’s nail biter. Anderson took the mound against the Purple Aces Saturday morning, pitching three innings giving up four runs on five hits, earning the loss as the Leathernecks fell 4-1.

Carlin took the mound once again Saturday afternoon in what was an afternoon thriller. The game remained scoreless until the top of the fifth when Miami’s Maclai Branson hit an RBI double to give the RedHawks a 1-0 lead, a lead they would hold all the way until the bottom of the seventh.

Rodriguez pinch hit for senior Jasmine Lara in the bottom of the seventh and drove in a run on a single to left to tie the game late. The game would remain tied all the way to the 10th when the RedHawks were able to drive a run in late and hold on to the 2-1 lead for the win.

Carlin went the distance once more, pitching 10 full innings surrendering two runs (one earned) on nine hits.

The weekend tournament ended on a sour note as the Leathernecks dropped their final game 8-0 to the Butler Bulldogs. Western travels to the Getterman Classic next weekend in Waco, Texas, with their first game on Friday against Prairie View A&M. The first pitch is scheduled for 10 a.m.

Twitter: @DavidKoier

Abby Carlin takes the pither's mound.

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