The Daily Hilario: FA Youth Cup final, first leg

FA YOUTH CUP, FIRST LEG:

The U18s travel to Manchester today to take on northern powers Manchester City U18 in the first leg of the FA Youth Cup.  It's the third straight season that Chelsea and City have contested this final, which is Chelsea's sixth in a row (winning four of the previous five) and eighth in ten seasons.

Dominate.

Additionally, there's an #FAYouthCup Final preview up if it takes your fancy. Lengthy but hopefully useful. https://t.co/wt0rrLsWhG

— Chelsea Youth (@chelseayouth) April 17, 2017

PLAYOFF HOCKEY IS BAD FOR YOUR HEART:

A wild and crazy night in the NHL playoffs on Monday, with all four games decided in sudden death overtime after all four games featured at least two- if not three-goal leads at one point.

That included the Blackhawks game, wherein Chicago finally scored a goal after 7 periods of being shut out, then scored another, then gave up a goal on a weird bounce, then gave up a goal that was illegal, then gave up a goal in overtime, and thus trail 3-0 in the series.  Tragic, really.

Here's the controversial goal that was allowed to stand, plus a bit of explanation and bad analysis.

pic.twitter.com/J7UGb1R3ZE

— ⓂarcusD (@_MarcusD2_) April 18, 2017

Perhaps even more shocking was that none of the TV guys (CSN, NBCSN) actually looked up the rule at any point, which made all the "analysts" sound like idiots.  As per the rules, it doesn't matter if the goalie's outside the crease (blue paint).  The Nashville player chopped the goalie's stick, hit him in the head, and spun him to the right as the shot came in from the left.  If that's not goaltender interference, then why even have rules.

There’s the ruling on goaltender contact outside of the paint. Still seems like the right call to me pic.twitter.com/djiT6GFDhd

— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) April 18, 2017

And that's before we get to the refs completely swallowing their whistles in the third, letting every holding, tripping, etc go.  Sure, it's playoff hockey, but you still have to draw the line somewhere and not just at high sticks.

FOOTBALL (all times BST):
17.30:  Ligue 1, 15th vs. 2nd:  Metz vs. PSG
19.45:  Champions League, q/final, 2nd leg:  Real Madrid vs. Bayern Munich (2-1 agg.)
19.45:  Champions League, q/final, 2nd leg:  Leicester City vs. Atlético Madrid (0-1 agg.)
19.45:  FA Youth Cup, final, 1st leg:  Manchester City U18 vs. CHELSEA U18