Sincere Sports

  Kampf celebrates after his deflected goal (Steve Babineau, Getty Images)     Despite brutal officiating and an ill-timed groin injury to starting goalie Petr Mrazek, the Leafs stunned the NHL's hottest team in a dominant offensive performance.     Here are my 5 takeaways as the Leafs' early offensive burst kept them ahead in a nasty game. 

  Max Verstappen celebrated the season's first win (Formula1.com)     Oh boy, this year of F1 looks like tons of fun.      Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc engaged in a thrilling bout of wheel-to-wheel racing, but the reigning world champion came out on top with a brilliant usage of drag reduction system (DRS). The Saudi Arabian race weekend marked Sergio Perez's first ever pole position in F1, an odd amount of retirements and Lewis Hamilton's first Q1 exit on pure pace since 2009.      The race at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit means that the power rankings boys are back!     Our award-winning (not really, but we'll get there) panel of judges have their grades for all 20 drivers. Like last week, I will be averaging the scores from this weekend and taking a deep dive at the drivers with the top 10 scores.      At the end of the article, the season-long leaderboard has seen some major changes as we get more and more dat...

  Mitch Marner (Dan Hamilton, USA Today)     The trade deadline has come and gone. The fabric of the NHL hasn't changed too much and we are approaching the part of the season where the power rankings start to become more solid. There should theoretically be less movement in the rankings from now on.     Nevertheless, drastic improvements from teams like Boston and Minnesota, both through trades and improved play, have burst the top tier of the league. Other squads like Tampa Bay and St. Louis are stumbling down the stretch.     In this article, rather than reflecting on how each team is performing, I'm going to give each team a grade for how well they performed at the trade deadline. It's important to note that the trade deadline grade doesn't correlate to the team's ranking in the article in the slightest.     With that out of the way, let's get started.

  Mrazek shuts down Florida’s efforts (Andrew Lahodynskyj, Getty Images)     As we all expected, the Leafs followed up a loss against the brutal Montreal Canadiens with a dominant win against the powerhouse Florida Panthers.    Here are my 5 takeaways from a great bounce-back victory at Scotiabank Arena.

  John Tavares fights in front of the net (David Kirouac, Getty Images)     Despite outshooting the Montreal Canadiens 51-18 at the Bell Centre, a stunning performance from Jake Allen kept the Leafs from securing what should have been an easy two points.     Here are my 5 takeaways from yet another frustratingly stale match against the Habs.

   Mark Giordano evades Jack Hughes (Claus Andersen, Getty Images)     The Leafs rode an impressive penalty kill to victory against a young New Jersey Devils squad.      Here are my 5 takeaways after the Leafs prevailed on Next Generation Night.

  Leclerc and Sainz celebrate the victory (Formula1.com)     Formula 1 has recommenced in a way that we have never seen before. The Bahrain Grand Prix marked Ferrari's first 1-2 finish in over 12 years, since the days of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa. It also represented an absolute nightmare for Red Bull Powertrains in their first race since the departure of Honda as an engine manufacturer.     In this new series on Sincere Sports, I'll be taking a look at every driver over the entire weekend and together with a group of judges, I will be ranking every driver's performance.       The panel of judges includes: -Erik Lagerweij (myself) -Jordan Lagerweij -Jared Vegter -Josh Vegter    These guys are all certified legends for their contributions.     It's key to note that these power rankings focus solely on the driver's individual performance and how much they managed to extract from their car. The power rankings will...

  Ondrej Kase (The Athletic)     Just days before the NHL trade deadline, the Leafs showed their weaknesses with a tough loss at the hands of the Nashville Predators.      Here are my 5 takeaways as the Leafs' depth and defense cost them in a hostile Bridgestone Arena. 

  Saint Peter's celebrate the upset (Zach Bolinger, The Associated Press)     The Madness has begun. An insane Saint Peter's victory over Kentucky busted millions of brackets. After just 1 day, over 20 million brackets lost their chance at perfection, with Kentucky's loss and Richmond's victory over Iowa the prime candidates.     Just 192 perfect brackets remain in the world, per the official NCAA site, so if you're one of them, well done. Though I whiffed on Kentucky, Connecticut and San Francisco, I had a pretty fruitful day at the office. I went 13-3 and I nailed the Richmond-Iowa upset. My full bracket is down below and I have some tough calls for tomorrow.      The games that have me worried are Ohio State over Loyola Chicago, USC over Miami, Notre Dame to win against Alabama, Virginia Tech to take down Texas and my craziest call of the first round, UAB to beat Houston.     Now that we know what games I have my eye on for Day 2, let...

  George Russell pits in his Mercedes (F1.com)     F1 is back, baby. Saturday's qualifying session will be must-watch television as we look for answers on a pecking order that is still very uncertain. Naturally, it's time to make some blind predictions and hope for the best! As I always do.      For any new fans, this is the year to get into the sport, as this will be an entirely new season with changes like we've never seen before. For long-time fans, this will still be a very strange experience for those who acknowledge tradition above all else.      So, in this article, I'll be taking my best shot at predicting where each of the 20 drivers will end up in the standings. From 20-1, here is my best shot at picking where I believe each driver will end up.

  The St. Pats celebrate a win (Richard Lautens, Getty Images)     Backed by the strong play of Erik Kallgren, the Leafs shook off one of the league's best teams in the Carolina Hurricanes.      Here are my 5 takeaways from a St. Patrick's Day victory.

  Erik Kallgren shuts down Joel Kiviranta (Kevin Sousa, Getty Images)     No Auston Matthews, no problem. 25-year old rookie goaltender Erik Kallgren shut down the high-flying Dallas Stars, as the Leafs put in their best performance in weeks.     Here are my 5 takeaways from an unforgettable night for the Swedish netminder.

   Thomas Muller (Alexander Hassenstein, Getty Images)      The round of 16 continues, as UCL football returns after a brief pause. We really only have one tie that is truly out of reach (Manchester City v Sporting). Every other match is tightly contested and we are in for a thrilling sequel to the games in February.      In this article, I'll be reflecting on trends we learned from the first legs and how the squads could adapt to get an advantage. Obviously, I'll also be outlining my score prediction for each match and which players will hold the key to breaking open their impact.     With that being said, let's start off with one of the closest matches of the first group of matches in the round of 16: Bayern Munich v Red Bull Salzburg. 

  Joe Pavelski (Glenn James, Getty Images)     Hockey fans, rejoice. T he trade deadline is almost here. We're about to see a lot of news soon (or none, if you believe the rumours...) and this should energize what has been a slow March. However, if you peek below the surface, you'll be able to see that the fabric of the NHL is changing. Top-tier contenders like the Colorado Avalanche, the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Toronto Maple Leafs are struggling. Meanwhile, some sleeper teams like the Calgary Flames and the Pittsburgh Penguins are threatening the best squads in the NHL.     Thus, it's the perfect time for another edition of the acclaimed NHL Power Rankings from Sincere Sports. This week is pretty wild. We have a new first place-team, a new last-place team and a major shake-up in the 10-20 range.      Now that the intro is out of the way, let's dive into the top team in the league.

  Auston Matthews shakes Mark Pysyk's hand (Dave Sandford, Getty Images)     The Leafs continued their dreadful recent slump with a 5-2 loss to their nemesis, the Buffalo Sabres, in a clash at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton.     Here are my 5 takeaways as the Leafs flop at another outdoor game, marking their fourth loss of their last six games.

Jarrett Allen (Grant Halverson, Getty Images)     Like with every topic, the basketball media doesn't always know what they are talking about. There are some people that make outrageous comments on players that are highly overrated, which I understand. The thing that I can't stand is seeing two dozen LaMelo Ball highlights in a night, even though I watched the Hornets game and Ball's impact was overshadowed by players like Terry Rozier and Gordon Hayward.           These players rarely get media attention and are not rated highly by the general public. In other words, they are underrated.      There are dozens upon dozens of underrated players in the NBA, but in this article, I'll be listing the MOST underrated player for all 30 NBA teams. I'll explain why I think they deserve more credit as well as what factors are preventing them from being known as real impact players.     This article will be focused more on underappre...

  Petr Mrazek; what on earth are you doing? (Sportsnet)     Despite the loss, a hero was born tonight in Erik Kallgren. Brutal officiating and a seemingly insurmountable 4-1 deficit ruined the young goaltender's debut, but the Swedish rookie proved that he can take the reins on a temporary basis.     Here are my 5 takeaways from an exciting game against the league's hottest team. Still feels weird to say.

  Auston Matthews skates past an adoring crowd (Julian Avram, Getty Images)     As Sportsnet's Luke Fox so eloquently put it, the Toronto Maple Leafs have 99 problems and Auston Matthews might just outscore each one. It was a famous game in the history of Auston Matthews' young career that sealed his status as the favourite for both the Hart Trophy and the Rocket Richard Trophy.      Here are my 5 takeaways as the Leafs' top line goes absolutely ballistic once again.

  The Leafs' top line celebrates with Brodie-Holl (Kirk Irwin, Getty Images)     The Leafs' top line bailed them out again in a rollercoaster victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets. The concerning trends of the past few games continued, as the Leafs blew a comfortable 3-0 lead after a dominant first period.     Here are my 5 takeaways from a mixed performance against Patrik Laine and company. 

  Mitch Marner battles in the crease (Mark Blinch, Getty Images)     Yet again, the Leafs possessed the second best goaltender and it cost them. A dispiriting loss to the Vancouver Canucks was the result of poor crease play.     Here are my 5 takeaways as the Leafs' goaltending situation hits DEFCON 10.

  Matthews battles in front of the net (Richard Lautens, Getty Images)     A poor effort by the Leafs spoiled the first Toronto game with 100% capacity in almost 2 years. The Leafs' goaltending struggles once again reared their ugly heads in a loss that proved there are still many problems in the crease.     Here are my 5 takeaways from an ugly loss against one of the league's worst teams.

  Ferrari, McLaren and Williams liveries (F1.com)     The release of Alfa Romeo's new C42 has culminated the countdown of all 10 teams releasing their livery designs for the upcoming 2022 Formula 1 season.      I am no fashion expert by any means, but I certainly have some opinions on each of the cars. Some teams absolutely knocked out of the park and a couple others definitely dropped the ball.      A quick disclaimer before we get started: this is solely a ranking of the liveries themselves. The designs of the cars mechanically will have no input on this list. I'm only focusing on how the colours and designs mesh, rather than looking at how the car looks as a whole.      With that out of the way, let's begin.

  The first line celebrates (Rob Carr, Getty Images)     The Leafs showed resolve in a tight 5-3 win over the Washington Capitals on Monday night. They were fueled by an excellent performance by their captain, John Tavares, in the third period.     Here are my 5 takeaways from the late recovery at Capital One Arena.