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MVAC will lose three schools
The Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference is facing an uncertain future after several Portage County schools in the league are in the process of announcing their departure for a new league.
Garrettsville Garfield, Ravenna Southeast and Waterloo are planning on joining the Greater Portage Conference along with Crestwood, Rootstown, Ravenna, Akron Springfield and Mogadore to start play in 2027-28.
Waterloo, Mogadore, Rootstown and Southeast have all had their school boards sign off on the move with four schools left to approve.
With the exit of the Portage County schools, the MVAC Gray Division will have two openings, while the Scarlett Division will have one.
Crestview is the lone Columbiana County school in the MVAC.
The Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference also has one opening after Leetonia has announced it will leave at the end of this school year.
Minerva sweeps United
KENSINGTON -- The Minerva boys bowling team improved to 12-1 on the season by downing United, 2327-1771, Tuesday at Forest Lanes.
Lane Hawk had games of 214 and 224 for a 436 series to lead the Lions. Owen Frazier had a 261 game and 405 series, Austin Ailing a 228 game and 386 series, Kendrick Keister games of 180-194 for a 374 series and Parker Eckstein games of 186 and 181 for a 367 series.
The Minerva girls also won, 1736-1538, to up its record to 10-3.
Rylan Klitz topped the Lions with games of 215 and 178 for a 393 series. Bailey Wood had games of 179 and 170 for a 349 series. Arianna Loy added a 165 game.
Lightning outlast Penguins
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Nikita Kucherov scored the deciding goal in the shootout and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 on Tuesday night for their 11th straight win.
J.J. Moser scored in regulation and Andrei Vasilevskiy had 26 saves for the Lightning, who have not lost since a 2-1 defeat at home against Los Angeles on Dec. 18. Three of their wins during the streak have come after regulation.
The Lightning moved into first place in the Atlantic Division, one point ahead of the Detroit Red Wings, who lost 3-0 at Boston. The 11-game win streak matched the longest in franchise history, accomplished previously from Jan. 29 to Feb. 17, 2020.
Evgeni Malkin scored for the Penguins and Arturs Silovs had 30 saves. Pittsburgh lost its third straight (0-2-1) since a six-game win streak.
Gage Goncalves scored for Tampa Bay in the second round of the tiebreaker, and Egor Chinakov tied it for Pittsburgh on their attempt in the third round. Kucherov then won it for the Lightning.
Moser gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead with 5:47 remaining in the third period. Yanni Gourde brought the puck up the right side and put a shot at Silovs that the goalie caught against his pad. However, the puck rolled out and lay in front and Moser skated up and knocked it in.
Malkin tied it with 2:16 left as he fired it past Vasilevskiy from the inside edge of the right circle for his 10th of the season.
The game was scoreless through the first two periods. The Lightning outshot the Penguins 10-8 in the first period that saw the Penguins have two power plays. Each team had nine shots on goal in the second with the Lightning getting two power plays and the Penguins one.
The Penguins host Philadelphia on Thursday night in the second of a three-game homestand.