Leicester Tigers head coach Geordan Murphy has been accused of two counts of verbally abusing match officials.

The incidents occurred as his side lost 32-31 to Bath on Saturday.

He faces one charge of verbally abusing a match official with an alternative charge of failing to respect the authority of a match official.

The Irishman faces another charge of failing to respect the authority of match officials in relation to separate comments he is said to have made.

Murphy will appear before a disciplinary panel in London on Wednesday, 29 May.

If found guilty, a low-end offence of verbal abuse has a starting point of a six-week ban, with a maximum suspension of one year for the most serious verbal abuse.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – International Speedway Corp. announced Wednesday that it has entered into a merger agreement with NASCAR Holdings Inc., where NASCAR will acquire ISC.

The transaction is valued at approximately $2.0 billion.

The consideration to be paid to ISC’s shareholders, other than certain controlling shareholders of ISC and certain related entities, will be $45.00 in cash for each share of ISC Class A Common Stock and ISC Class B Common Stock.

The merger agreement was unanimously recommended and approved by a special committee comprised solely of independent directors of the Board of Directors of ISC and was unanimously approved by the full board.

In addition, the participating shareholders have signed a letter agreement to cause their respective shares of ISC Class A Common Stock and ISC Class B Common Stock to be transferred to NASCAR prior to the effective time of the merger.

Under the terms of the merger agreement, ISC shareholders other than the participating shareholders will be entitled to receive $45.00 in cash, without interest, for each share of ISC Class A Common Stock and ISC Class B Common Stock held immediately prior to the effective time of the merger.

The transaction, which is expected to close before the end of the year, is conditioned on the approval of a majority of the aggregate voting power represented by the shares of ISC Class A Common Stock and ISC Class B Common Stock not owned by the controlling shareholders of ISC, voting together as a single class.

The transaction is also conditioned on other customary closing conditions.

“We are pleased with the progress that the negotiation and execution of the merger agreement between NASCAR and ISC represents,” said NASCAR officials in a prepared statement. “While important regulatory and shareholder approval processes remain, we look forward to the successful final resolution of this matter and continuing our work to grow this sport and deliver great racing experiences for our fans everywhere.

“With a strong vision for the future, the France family’s commitment to NASCAR and the larger motorsports industry has never been greater.”

In connection with the transaction negotiations, counsel for the plaintiff in The Firemen’s Retirement System of St. Louis v. James C. France, et al., Case No. 2018-CA-032105-CICI in the Seventh Judicial Circuit of Volusia County, Fla., the previously-disclosed class action lawsuit on behalf of ISC shareholders challenging the transaction met with representatives of the special committee and will not challenge the fairness of the transaction price.

Dean Bradley Osborne Partners LLC is serving as financial advisor to the ISC Special Committee, and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is acting as legal counsel to the ISC special committee.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC is serving as financial advisor to NASCAR, and Baker Botts L.L.P. is acting as legal counsel for NASCAR. BDT & Company is serving as financial advisor to the France family. Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr LLP is acting as legal counsel to ISC.

LEXINGTON, N.C. – Ross Chastain has added the upcoming NASCAR Xfinity Series event at Kansas Speedway in October to his schedule with Kaulig Racing and Nutrien Ag Solutions.

The count now totals five races for Chastain and the No. 10 team this season.

“I couldn’t be prouder and more honored with my partnership with Nutrien Ag Solutions,” Chastain said of the world’s largest provider of crop inputs, services and solutions. “The support Brent (Dewars), Matt (Kaulig) and the team have given me is incredible. I’m so grateful and humbled to have the opportunity to drive the Nutrien Ag Solutions colors for a fifth race and have the chance at getting them to victory lane.”

Chastain and the No. 10 team have led the field for a combined total of 30 laps between his two starts this year at Daytona Int’l Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.

The partnership has also claimed one stage win (Daytona) and four top-five stage finishes in their two starts together so far this season.

On May 10, Chastain claimed his first-career NASCAR Truck Series victory at Kansas. To date this season, he has participated in all 29 races in the three NASCAR national series, the only driver to do so.

Chastain is also scheduled to drive for Kaulig Racing at Chicagoland Speedway (June 29) and Texas Motor Speedway (Nov. 2), wearing the Nutrien Ag Solutions colors in both races.

One could say an oak tree planted in the early 1900s on Wayside Drive in Winston-Salem, N.C., served as the foundation of Richard Childress Racing.

It was where engines were pulled from car frames almost a decade before the powerhouse championship organization was officially formed in 1969.

Now in its 50th season, drivers, crew members and company personnel have contributed to 228 victories and 13 championships in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series, NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series and ARCA Menards Series.

It all began with one particular 1947 Plymouth that Richard Childress raced at Winston-Salem’s Bowman Gray Stadium.

Childress worked at Adams Hosiery Mill where he met a co-worker who told him the car had once been a taxi cab. Childress paid $20 for the car, welded in rollbars, bought an airplane seat belt at the local Army-Navy store and raced it at the quarter-mile track.

He and friend Jerry Cooper borrowed money to buy an additional 1954 Plymouth to race at short tracks in North Carolina and Virginia. Cooper stepped away, but Childress continued with one goal in mind.

“Becoming a Cup Series driver in NASCAR was always my dream,” Childress said. “When I was working at Bowman Gray selling concessions, that was what I wanted to do. In 1969, when I ran a Grand American race and drove around the Talladega track, that’s when I was sure I wanted to become a full-time racer.”

The aforementioned Grand American event served as Childress’ big break. On Sept. 14, 1969, a boycott was staged by premier series drivers at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. Childress was given a spot in the field with his Grand American car, a companion series to the Cup Series machines.

The $1,175 he earned for finishing 23rd paid for his first race shop, which was about the size of RCR’s present reception area.

Even though he didn’t win as a Cup Series driver, Childress recorded six top-five finishes and 76 top-10 results in 285 starts, with a fifth-place finish in the 1975 point standings.

“For the amount of funding we had when I was a driver, I think we did pretty well,” Childress said. “I would have maybe two or three paid crew members and I would pick up guys to help us in the pits. I’ve wondered sometimes how well we could have done had I really had the money to race with in those days.”

H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler, a former Firestone Tire Co. representative and longtime president of Charlotte Motor Speedway, respected Childress for his perseverance.

“There’s no question in my mind had he had some good equipment, he would have won some races,” Wheeler told SPEED SPORT in 2014. “That last $100,000 wasn’t there. He would always show up at the track with no money because he just didn’t have it, but he was a smart guy who managed the money he did have very well. I always thought he would make a great car owner.”

After starting 20 Cup Series races in 1981, Childress stepped away from the driver’s seat.

“In the late 1970s, I could see the future coming with (team owners) Warner Hodgdon, Rod Osterlund, M.C. Anderson and Harry Ranier putting a great deal of money into it. I was used to top-10 finishes, but all of the sudden I found myself running 12th or 15th and it just wasn’t fun for me anymore,” Childress explained. “I knew if I wanted to stay in the sport I had to find a driver to continue doing it. So I got out of the car and put (Dale) Earnhardt in it for 10 races.”

Childress knew he wasn’t completely ready to provide Earnhardt with the top-flight equipment needed to meet his potential.

“We weren’t ready to give Dale what he needed to win championships,” Childress said. “We sat in the parking lot of the old Sheraton hotel at Darlington and I said to him, ‘I don’t have what it takes to run a championship-caliber driver like you right now. Someday, I hope I will.’

“Ricky Rudd won two for us in 1983, so I knew then we were ready to give Dale what he needed (in 1984). When Dale was on the track, he was an intimidating driver,” Childress continued. “You may question the car, the tires or the engine but when it came to Dale Earnhardt, you never questioned the driver.”

KOSICE, Slovakia -- Pierre-Luc Dubois scored early to back the shutout goaltending of Matt Murray, sending Canada past the United States 3-0 on Tuesday at the world hockey championship. Both teams already were assured quarterfinal berths and were competing for seeding.

Canada won Group A and will next play Switzerland. The Americans, who had five won straight, will face the high-scoring, undefeated Russians on Thursday. Finland will face Sweden, and the Czech Republic plays Germany in the round of eight.

Kyle Turris also scored in the first period for Canada, beating Cory Schneider. Turris assisted on Jared McCann's goal in the second period.

Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin scored for Russia, which closed out its dominant play in Group B with a 7-3 win over Sweden. Earlier Tuesday, Leon Draisaitl scored tiebreaking and go-ahead goals late in the third period to lift Germany to a 4-2 win over Finland in Group A.

The Czech Republic closed the preliminary round with a 5-4 win over Switzerland in Bratislava in Group B, getting one goal and two assists each from Jakub Voracek and Dominik Simon.

In matchups of teams that won't advance, Latvia beat Norway 4-1 in Group B and the host Slovaks outlasted Denmark 2-1 in a shootout decided by penalty shots.

BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins think they've found a way to stay sharp for the Stanley Cup Final while waiting a total of 10 days between games.

The Eastern Conference champions will hold a public intrasquad scrimmage on Thursday night, and coach Bruce Cassidy said he'll try to maintain a regular game-day schedule so that the players will get back in the routine before the opener of the championship series on Monday.

"We've got some ideas we bandied around. We came up with this one," Cassidy said on Tuesday, the Bruins' fifth day off since sweeping the Carolina Hurricanes in the East finals. "We've had good practices, but this will be a little bit different."

The Bruins needed seven games to dispatch the Toronto Maple Leafs in the opening round, then had one day off before starting the second round against Columbus. They finished off the Blue Jackets in six games, and had two days to rest before Game 1 against the Hurricanes.

But that series ended Thursday, and the Bruins didn't even find out their opponent for the final until Wednesday night, when the St. Louis Blues eliminated the San Jose Sharks in six games.

Cassidy said last week he would reach out to other teams to get pointers on how to handle long layoffs. Among them: the New England Patriots, who routinely have a first-round bye, in addition to a two-week break before the Super Bowl.

The Bruins coach said on Tuesday that he touched base with all of the teams in town, as well as some of the Boston players from the 2011 and 2013 teams that went to the Final and other NHL coaches who have had long breaks. But he declined to share their advice.

"We'll take what we thought was relevant to us and go from there," Cassidy said, acknowledging that a seven-game series is different from preparing for a Super Bowl. "In the first game, we want to be good. We want to be sharp. We want to be on time. We want to win. But we have a bit more luxury than say a one-and-done."

The scrimmage will be two 25-minute periods, with two officials on the ice. But some rules will be ignored in the interest of situational drills and keeping everyone healthy.

Cassidy said he may create a four-on-four situation as well as a six-on-five for a potential end-of-game, pulled-goalie scenario. The checking line will face off against the top line, and players might switch teams to get the matchups Cassidy wants to work on.

Individual players, including goalie Tuukka Rask, will decide how much they want to play.

The winning team will earn ... something.

"They will put something on the line," Cassidy said. "That's something I have to discuss with them. I think that's important. What it is it could be something very minimal, or whatever it is they want to decide."

Other than that, the coach said he will be happy if everyone comes out of the scrimmage healthy. He said it will be no different from practice, when players know not to check their teammates, but because of the increased stakes, he will talk to the team about it.

"This isn't a physicality contest out there. It's compete on pucks. It's play with some pace," he said. "I think we're smart enough. That will be the message I relay to some of the younger guys: We're doing this for a reason. But the reason is not to injure anybody."

Fans can attend Thursday's scrimmage for $20, and park for $10; popcorn will be free for children. Proceeds will go to the Boston Bruins Foundation.

For the first time since 1970, the St. Louis Blues are playing for the Stanley Cup. For the ... well, we've lost count really, the San Jose Sharks are going home before the final round.

Here's what happened in the NHL last night (check out replays of every playoff game on ESPN+) and what to watch for in the days ahead, in today's edition of ESPN Stanley Cup Playoffs Daily:

Jump ahead: Last night's game | Three stars
Play of the night | Social post of the day

About last night ...

Game 6: St. Louis Blues 5, San Jose Sharks 1 (Blues win series 4-2)

The most deflating sight of the Western Conference finals was warm-ups for the Sharks in Game 6. You want best-on-best in the playoffs. You don't want "best-on-what's-left-of-best."

Erik Karlsson and Tomas Hertl were left home. Joe Pavelski traveled with the Sharks but wasn't close to playing, according to Peter DeBoer. So this diminished team took the ice against a buzz saw, one that outscored the Sharks 12-2 in its final three wins of the series to eliminate them. The Blues controlled play, scored early on David Perron's goal at 1:32 of the first, and then scored four more times. The win sends the Blues to their first Stanley Cup Final since 1970.

Play "Gloria."

Three stars

1. Jordan Binnington, G, St. Louis Blues. The Blues rookie allowed one goal against the Sharks and made 25 saves, including a few in the third period before his team put the game away. Of note: His glove save on a clear Logan Couture shot, and his point-blank stop on Evander Kane, keeping him goalless since Game 3 of the second round. Ouch.

2. David Perron, LW, St. Louis Blues. Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo joked after the game about the quality of the franchise considering how many times Perron has chosen to return to it. But after making the Stanley Cup Final with the Golden Knights last season, Perron helped the Blues get there this year with a goal and an assist in Game 6.

3. Dylan Gambrell, C, San Jose Sharks. Not a bad time to score your first career goal in the NHL, eh? Gambrell fired one past Binnington in the second period to cut the lead to 2-1, but the Sharks couldn't get the equalizer.

Play of the night

Tarasenk��! @tara9191>#StanleyCup>pic.twitter.com/bmq03fRF6u - NHL GIFs (@NHLGIFs) May 22, 2019

'Twas a time when Vladimir Tarasenko was considered a postseason underachiever. So it should be noted here that he had a point in every game of the Western Conference finals, including goals in three of the last four games. That included this critical tally to make it 2-1.

Dud of the night

Everyone not named Dylan Gambrell on the Sharks.

The team truly faced an unenviable task without Hertl, Pavelski and Karlsson in the lineup. This is undeniable. But the Sharks went out so meekly on the offensive end in these last three games. From Evander Kane's inability to find the back of the net to the inconsistency of Joe Thornton's line (on the scoresheet and in its composition) to the hex placed on Logan Couture's line, which didn't tally a point after that hand-pass controversy in overtime of Game 3.

"They're a great team over there. They play hard. They play tight. They have a great goalie. It was just not a lot out there," said defenseman Brent Burns, who had two assists in the series. "We had to work for everything. When we were working it seemed like we couldn't get that break. But I thought we had a lot of really good chances tonight, too. Missed opportunities. That's all it takes this time of year. The difference between winning and not winning is so close."

On the schedule

Game 1, Stanley Cup Final: St. Louis Blues vs. Boston Bruins, Monday, 8 p.m. ET

The Enterprise Center played "Shipping Up To Boston" after the Blues' Game 6 win, because who doesn't like a cliché? Expect copious amounts of "David Backes vs. the Blues" and "Jordan Binnington vs. Tuukka Rask" takes.

Social post of the day

Brayden Schenn has then cranking Gloria again pic.twitter.com/VcAHgUw52q - Adam Kimelman (@NHLAdamK) May 22, 2019

The Jacks in Philadelphia, where the "Play Gloria" tradition began, has become the unofficial home of the St. Louis Blues, as NHL.com's Adam Kimelman discovered on Tuesday.

Quotable

"No. No, nope." -- Sharks star Joe Thornton, when asked about his future

ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Blues fans didn't start chanting "We want the Cup!" until there was a three-goal lead and just over four minutes left in Game 6 against the San Jose Sharks. Not a goal less. Not a moment sooner. They've known too much heartbreak to assume victory. They've experienced too much disillusionment to have that kind of faith.

But with that chant, they finally believed what they were seeing, which was a St. Louis Blues team advancing to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1970 after eliminating the Sharks.

"I'm feeling excitement. This is as close as we've come in the last 50 years," said Dave Lamore, a longtime Blues season-ticket holder wearing a Bernie Federko jersey in the arena concourse. "And it's possible. This is a hell of a good team. It's solid. Four lines. Great goaltending. Team defense. We could do this!"

Optimism has a challenging relationship with St. Louis Blues fans. Take Eland Siddle, 34, born into Blues fandom and a die-hard for the past 20 years. He's been a believer before, and like many, he was burned for it. In 2014, he and his newlywed wife, Stephanie, postponed their honeymoon because they thought the Blues would go on a prolonged playoff run after a 111-point season.

They lost in the first round to the Blackhawks.

Should have just gone to the beach, in hindsight.

This year was different for Siddle and many Blues fans because optimism was annihilated not in the playoffs, but by New Year's Day. An active offseason seemingly positioned the Blues as a contender in the Western Conference. But things went horribly, horribly wrong: By the morning of Jan. 1, they were tied with the Ottawa Senators for fewest points in the NHL, with 34.

"Previously, you had high hopes each year. This year, by January, you didn't have hope at all," Siddle said.

Yet the relationship between the Blues fans and optimism is also a complicated one. Take, again, Eland Siddle. The Blues were in the basement. He was in Las Vegas. At 100-to-1 odds, and for no clear reason, he bet $25 on them to win the Stanley Cup. What looked like a donation to a sportsbook now looks like a shrewd investment -- not that Siddle was about to count his winnings yet.

"Let's just get tonight and I can believe," he said before Game 6. "After years and years of losing and losing, it's weird. It's surreal that this might actually happen."

It's happening, St. Louis.

Play "Gloria."

Every championship team seems to have its quirky bits of voodoo and backstory. The Blues' adoption of the late Laura Branigan's 1980s pop anthem "Gloria" as their victory song is a prominent one for them. As the story goes, a few players were watching an NFC playoff game in a bar in Philadelphia that kept on playing "Gloria" during commercial breaks in the game. The earworm festered in their minds, and "Gloria" was introduced as the team's jam of triumph.

But it's just one of the delightfully weird and undeniably heartfelt narratives orbiting this Blues team that just makes it feel different from previous editions. Stories like:

• Laila Anderson, the young girl with a rare disease called HLH, which only 15 other children in the world have been diagnosed with. For four months, she could only travel from her home to St. Louis Children's Hospital for treatment. Before Game 3 of the Western Conference finals, her mother surprised her with tickets to see her favorite team. She's been a fixture since.

• Charles Glenn, the team's vibrant anthem singer, who was stepping away from his job after 20 years due to challenges presented by multiple sclerosis. He made the decision to step away when the Blues were in last place. Now, the longer they play, the more Glenn sings.

• Jordan Binnington, the 25-year-old rookie goalie, who was called up midseason and given the chance he'd been waiting for while getting buried on the franchise's depth chart. He won 24 out of 32 appearances with a 1.89 goals-against average, the best in the NHL and worthy of a Rookie of the Year finalist nomination. Oh, and he's one of the most low-key swaggering athletes in the city, what with his "Do I look nervous?" retort in the first round.

• Patrick Maroon, the St. Louis native who took less money as a free agent to come home and live closer to his son. The same son that was weeping openly when Maroon scored the series-clinching goal in overtime of Game 7 against the Dallas Stars. In the dressing room, they hugged and both wept. "I taught him a few things," his son, Anthony, said. "I'm so proud of him.

• The fact that this team was in the literal basement just over five months ago and is now playing for the Stanley Cup, only the fourth team in the expansion era to have reached the Cup Final after ranking among the bottom three in the standings at any point after their 20th game. Which is a long-winded way of saying that what the Blues have done here is indeed rare.

Forward Oskar Sundqvist had dinner with defenseman Colton Parayko on Monday, eating turkey burgers and reminiscing about something that used to cause them indigestion: the horrible first few months of the season, which cost coach Mike Yeo his job and reportedly had GM Doug Armstrong contemplating an "everything must go" solution for a last-place team. "We were talking about how crazy it is, to go from where we were then to where we are now," Sundqvist said, "and how great everyone in this room came together and started working for each other."

That's the recurring theme in the Blues' room: togetherness. The chemistry that grew among them on and off the ice this season was the actual remedy for their early-season failings.

"I've never been part of a team like this. It sort of reminds me of my rookie year. The team was really tight, just like this. But there's something special about this team, and I think it carries over to the ice," said defenseman Joel Edmundson, who entered the league in 2015. "When you're tight with each other off the ice, when you have a good time off the ice, you're going to play for each other on the ice. That's what it takes to win in this league."

But perhaps more than anything, this team is defined by a connection to the past during its pursuit of the Cup.

Like Brett Hull. Like Chris Pronger. Like Kelly Chase. Like Bob Plager. Like all the former Blues who are still around the team and were in the building during Game 6 and were seen embracing and weeping after the 2019 edition captured the West.

"I saw Chaser in the hallway crying after the game. You know, it's almost making us cry too. It's unbelievable to see these guys happy. It gives us goosebumps," said forward Vladimir Tarasenko. "When you see those guys crying, it means a lot for us too. They're probably more excited than us. It gives us really huge support, too."

Bob Plager wants his parade.

He said as much last August, when the Blues unveiled their new third jerseys. He handed one to O'Reilly, who had yet to play a game for St. Louis after being acquired from Buffalo. Plager recalled whispering to him: "You know, I need my parade."

He said O'Reilly responded, "Well, we're going to get you one."

Plager isn't a household name in the NHL, but he's as synonymous with the St. Louis Blues as The Note. A defensive defenseman, he's a St. Louis lifer: an original Blues player in 1967, he played with them through 1977 and then joined their front office. He appeared on three straight Blues teams that made the Stanley Cup Final from 1968 through 1970, when NHL expansion divvied up teams in an Original Six group of death and an expansion conference from which the Blues emerged three times. The Blues are the only team in NHL history to appear in multiple Stanley Cup Finals and not win a single game.

Off the ice, Plager has been a ubiquitous presence in the community for decades. And this season, his gloves were a presence in the Blues' dressing room.

A pair of his hockey gloves from the 1960s were used as the "player of the game" trinket in the Blues' postgame celebrations this season. "It's just a tribute to guys who built this thing to get us where we are," Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo said. "I think we all know what Bobby stands for in this organization and this city, so it's fun for us to get him to be part of our group in some way. Nobody loves this organization more than Bobby, especially with the effort and time he gives. And he loves wins more than anyone else."

He was there when the Blues won their first game of the season, walking over and placing a game puck in a cabinet that houses each one from their victories this season. "I told them I want to put the [final] one on up there too. The first puck and the last puck," Plager said after Game 6, his eyes still watery from the emotional win.

Pietrangelo said that his teammates are playing not only for themselves, but for the Blues who came before them. "Those guys have built the foundation of this organization, and they represent the Blue Note pretty well. We try and carry that on," he said.

The Blues are a family. That's been the selling point for the franchise for decades, as former players remain a part of the franchise and the city. After Game 6, Pietrangelo goofed on David Perron having multiple stints with the Blues, but there's a reason he keeps coming back. It's the same reason Bob Plager has stuck around. It's about the community.

"You look at the fans when we scored that [empty net] goal, and it's like I said before: This city, and what's gone on here ... you see the baseball players here at the game with their Blues sweaters on. We went to the Finals three times. We didn't see any Cardinals at our games," said Plager.

But this season's different.

Ryan O'Reilly hears "Gloria" playing in his head.

It's something he admitted before Game 6. That sometimes, after a win on the road, he'll climb on board the Blues' team charter and have their victory song pumping through his mind. "It's our anthem here," he said. "It's so cool how it's brought the team and the fans that much closer."

He's sensed that connection growing for the past few months. The car flag population has grown. So have the number of cars blaring "Gloria" at traffic stops. O'Reilly said that when he's shopping at Whole Foods, fans are coming up to him to offer him fist bumps of encouragement. "It's so cool that people are a part of this. That's what this is all about. It's not just the guys in here. It's a city that's together. We're all trying to win."

The city's been on this journey, too. Edmundson recalled the awkwardness of conversations with friends back in January. "The first half of the year, the conversations were like, 'We still believe in you. Rough year, but you'll get 'em next year,'" he said. "Now the conversations are like, 'Let's go get the Cup. Play 'Gloria.' It's definitely changed, and for the better."

So it's never "Don't screw this up?"

Edmundson laughs. "No ... no. I don't want to hear that," he said. "But there's a buzz around this city."

That buzz? It's saying that this time, it's different.

"I'm kind of an optimist anyway. Maybe I'm a little bit too high on this one. But there's something magical here. There really is," said Lamore, the Bernie Federko fan.

What comes into focus the more time one spends around this team and in this community is that there are generations of Blues fans who weren't sure if they'd see this opportunity come around, which is a reality that might not be perceived by those outside of that community.

Think of the most infamous championship droughts in the NHL.

The New York Rangers, going 54 years without a Cup. The Washington Capitals, who went from 1974 until last season without one, shattering their fans' championship dreams in increasingly gruesome ways. The Sharks, who are basically "Capitals West" when it comes to dashed expectations. Teams like the Philadelphia Flyers (1975) and the Toronto Maple Leafs (1967), whose detractors bring up their postseason ineptitude with the frequency that many of us discuss the weather.

But the St. Louis Blues? They're the NHL's wallpaper, always there and rarely commented on.

Perhaps that's because they've only missed the playoffs nine times since coming into the league in 1967. Yet they've been searching for the Cup as long as the Leafs have, without any of their Original Six laurels on which to rest, and they're rarely listed among the NHL's prominent championship famines.

"I've noticed that, too," said Edmundson. "Hopefully this year we can change that. And then never talk about it anymore."

Since 1967, the Blues have searched for this moment, when the drought ends and the Stanley Cup celebration begins. For this moment when the team and its alumni and its fans aren't just four wins away from it, but this moment when there's a belief they could earn those four wins, without burdens of pessimism and history clouding it.

"Maybe I will get my parade," said Plager.

LONDON -- Maurizio Sarri has said he would rather quit Chelsea if the club base their decision on his future solely on the result of the Europa League final.

Chelsea take on Arsenal in Baku next Wednesday already assured of a place in next season's Champions League thanks to a third place finish in the Premier League, but Sarri's future at the club remains the subject of intense speculation.

- When is the Europa League final?
- Who qualifies for Europe from the Premier League?

Sources have told ESPN FC that Chelsea are not looking to sack Sarri even if he fails to secure a first major trophy of his coaching career,, and the Italian believes he should be judged on his first season as a whole.

Asked how he would feel if Chelsea decided to dismiss him for losing the Europa League final, Sarri replied: "If the situation is like this I want to go immediately.

"You cannot [do] 10 months of work, and then I have to play everything in 90 minutes? It's not right. It's not the right way. You're either happy about my work or you're not happy."

Sarri said he spoke to Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich after the club's friendly against New England Revolution last week, but "only for one minute" and solely regarding Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who ruptured his Achilles' tendon during the second half of the match.

Chelsea have set no firm timeframe for Loftus-Cheek's return, but Sarri said that the 23-year-old could return to training in four to six months.

"The injury is very similar to Callum's injury -- not the same, but really very similar," he said. "So the time for the recovery is almost the same."

Sarri batted away questions about reported interest from Juventus in appointing him as their new coach this summer, and would not be drawn on when -- or if -- he will sit down with the Chelsea hierarchy to discuss his future at the club.

"About the meeting, I don't know the date," he said. "If there will be a meeting, even.

"The situation is clear: I have a contract. In my opinion, it would be better to speak about the season, but the situation is clear."

Sarri said his focus remains solely on the Europa League final, and he conceded that Arsenal's need to triumph in order to qualify for next season's Champions League could make them more dangerous opponents.

"In this moment, we risk to have less motivation than the opponents, but probably they have more pressure on them than we do," Sarri said. "So there is a positive side and a negative side in both.

"But we didn't want to play this final for a Champions League place. As I said two months ago, we wanted the Champions League through the Premier League. Then we wanted to win a trophy. So the final is very important for us. We aren't playing for Champions League, but we feel we deserve to win a trophy."

Chelsea may be without Loftus-Cheek in Baku, but Sarri has received a timely boost with N'Golo Kante's return to training this week as the France international steps up his recovery from a hamstring injury.

"He had a part of the training yesterday with the group, so we are optimistic," Sarri said of Kante. "I think he will be able to play the final."