Feb. 27
1918 — The first neutral site game in NHL history is held in Quebec City. Frank Nighbor scores twice in the first period to lead the Ottawa Senators to a 3-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens.
1955 — Boston beats Milwaukee 62-57 at Providence, R.I. in a game which set records for fewest points scored by one team, and by both teams, since the introduction of the 24-second clock.
1959 — The Boston Celtics beat the Minneapolis Lakers 173-139 as seven NBA records fall. The Celtics set records for most points (179), most points in a half (90), most points in a quarter (52) and most field goals (72). Boston’s Tom Heinsohn leads all scorers with 43 points and Bob Cousy adds 31 while setting an NBA record with 28 assists.
1966 — Richard Petty wins the rain-shortened Daytona 500 by more than a lap at a speed of 160.927 mph. Petty holds the lead for the last 212 miles of the scheduled 500-mile event, which is called five miles from the finish. Cale Yarborough finishes second.
1977 — Stan Mikita of the Chicago Black Hawks scores his 500th goal in a 4-3 loss to the Vancouver Canucks.
1982 — Florida apprentice Mary Russ becomes the first female jockey to win a Grade I stakes in North America when she captures the Widener Handicap aboard Lord Darnley at Hialeah (Fla.) Park.
1992 — Prairie View sets an NCAA Division I record for most defeats in a season with a 112-79 loss to Mississippi Valley State in the first round of the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament. Prairie View’s 0-28 mark breaks the record of 27 losses shared by four teams.
1994 — Sweden wins its first hockey gold medal, defeating Canada 3-2 in the first shootout for a championship at the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. Canada is 1:49 away from its first championship in 42 years when Magnus Svensson’s power-play goal ties it at 2. Paul Kariya’s shot is stopped by Sweden’s Tommy Salo after Peter Forsberg puts Sweden ahead on his team’s seventh shot.
1998 — Indiana’s 124-59 victory over Portland marks the first time in the NBA’s 51-year history that one team scores more than twice as many points as the other.
2005 — David Toms delivers the most dominant performance in the seven-year history of the Match Play Championship, winning eight out of nine holes to put away Chris DiMarco with the largest margin of victory in the 36-hole final. The score 6 and 5, could have been much worse as Toms was 9 up at one point.
2006 — Effa Manley is the first woman elected to the baseball Hall of Fame. The former Newark Eagles co-owner is among 17 people from the Negro Leagues and pre-Negro Leagues chosen by a special committee.
2010 — Steven Holcomb drives USA-1 to the Olympic gold medal in four-man bobsledding, ending a 62-year drought for the Americans in the event. Holcomb’s four-run time was 3:24.46, with Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler and Curt Tomasevicz pushing for him.
2015 — Travis Kvapil’s NASCAR Sprint Cup car is stolen early in the day from a hotel parking lot, forcing him to withdraw from a race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The team didn’t have a backup car in Atlanta, so it’s forced to drop out when the stolen machine couldn’t be located in time for NASCAR’s mandatory inspection.
Feb. 28
1922 — In the first formal college conference basketball tournament, North Carolina beats Mercer 40-26 to win the Southern Intercollegiate Conference championship.
1940 — College basketball is televised for the first time. Station W2XBS broadcasts a doubleheader at New York’s Madison Square Garden: Pittsburgh vs. Fordham, New York University vs. Georgetown.
1957 — Johnny Longden becomes the first jockey to reach 5,000 victories. Longden, who started his career in 1927, coaxes Bente to a head victory over Flying Finish II in the fourth race at Santa Anita.
1960 — The U.S. hockey team scores six goals in the third period to beat Czechoslovakia 9-4 and win the gold medal in the Winter Olympics at Squaw Valley, Calif.
1967 — Wilt Chamberlain misses his first field goal in four games to end his NBA record shooting streak of 35 consecutive field goals, during Philadelphia’s 127-107 victory over Cincinnati at Syracuse.
1971 — Jack Nicklaus wins the PGA Championship by beating Billy Casper by three strokes.
1981 — Houston’s Calvin Murphy makes the last of his 78 consecutive free throws in a game against San Diego, setting what was then an NBA record.
1986 — Baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth conditionally suspends Dave Parker of the Cincinnati Reds, Keith Hernandez of the New York Mets, Joaquin Andujar of the Oakland Athletics, Lonnie Smith of the Kansas City Royals, Enos Cabell of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Jeff Leonard of the San Francisco Giants and Dale Berra of the New York Yankees for one year for drug abuse. After conditions are met the suspensions are reduced.
1987 — Los Angeles Lakers broadcaster Chick Hearn calls his 2,000th consecutive game for the club, a streak spanning 22 years.
1999 — Venus and Serena Williams become the first sisters to win WTA Tour events on the same day. Venus wins the IGA SuperThrift Tennis Classic in Oklahoma City after Serena takes her first title on the WTA Tour at the Gaz de France Open.
2003 — In Val Di Fiemme, Italy, Johnny Spillane wins the Nordic combined sprint to become the first American to win a gold medal at the Nordic world championships.
2010 — Ai Miyazato wins the HSBC Champions to become the first LPGA Tour player in 44 years to sweep the first two events of a season. Miyazato, who the LPGA Thailand last week, closes with 3-under 69 for a two-stroke victory over Cristie Kerr.
2010 — Sidney Crosby scores the winning goal in overtime to give Canada a 3-2 victory over the U.S. in the final event of the Vancouver Olympics. Canada earns its 14th gold medal, the most by any country at any Winter Olympics. The American silver is the 37th medal won by the U.S. at these games, the most by any country at any Winter Olympics. The U.S. wins the medals race for the first time since 1932.
March 1
1934 — Primo Carnera retains his world heavyweight title with a unanimous 15-round decision over Tommy Laughren in Miami.
1948 — Top-ranked NYU, the nation’s only unbeaten basketball team, is upset by Notre Dame 64-59 at Madison Square Garden. The Fighting Irish hold Dolph Schayes to nine points and Kevin O’Shea scores 18 for Notre Dame.
1955 — Allen Fieldhouse, home of the Kansas Jayhawks, hosts its first basketball game. The Jayhawks beat rival Kansas State 77-66.
1973 — Robyn Smith becomes the first woman jockey to win a stakes race when she rides North Sea to victory in the Paumonok Handicap at Aqueduct Race Track in New York.
1969 — Tuesdee Testa becomes the first female jockey to win a race at a major American Thoroughbred track when she rides Buz On to victory in the third race with at Santa Anita.
1983 — Tamara McKinney becomes the first American female skier to win the overall World Cup championship.
1986 — Billy Cunningham, Tom Heinsohn and Red Holzman are elevated to the Basketball Hall of Fame.
1988 — Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers becomes the NHL’s all-time assist leader, breaking the longtime mark of Gordie Howe. In his ninth season, Gretzky picked up assist No. 1,050 in a game against the Los Angeles Kings. Gretzky takes 681 games to surpass the record that took Howe 1,767 games to set.
1994 — NBA referee Steve Javie ejects Portland radio analyst Mike Rice in the third quarter of the Pacers’ 106-94 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.
1996 — Atlanta’s Lenny Wilkens becomes the first NBA coach to reach 1,000 career victories as the Hawks beat Cleveland 74-68.
1997 — Canada’s Elvis Stojko nails the first quad-triple combination jump in figure skating history to win the Champions Series final.
2000 — With 26-year-old rookie Dean Barker at Black Magic’s helm, New Zealand sails into America’s Cup history, becoming the first country other than the United States to defend the oldest trophy in sports.
2001 — Jackie Stiles of Southwest Missouri State becomes the NCAA career scoring leader in women’s basketball, running her career total to 3,133 points with 30 in Southwest Missouri State’s 94-59 victory over Creighton.
2003 — Roy Jones Jr. beats John Ruiz, becoming the second light heavyweight champion to win a piece of the heavyweight title. Jones wins a unanimous 12-round decision to take the WBA heavyweight crown.
2006 — The Los Angeles Clippers hold New Orleans to one field goal over the final 20 minutes and an NBA record-low 16 points in the second half of an 89-67 victory.
2014 — Jaromir Jagr becomes the seventh player to score 700 NHL goals during New Jersey Devils’ 6-1 victory over the New York Islanders.
2014 — Wichita State (31-0) rolls to a 68-45 victory over Missouri State to complete a perfect regular season. The Shockers are the first team since Saint Joseph’s in 2004 to enter its league tournament unbeaten.
2015 — Kiley McKinnon and Mac Bohonnon give the United States its first World Cup title double in aerials skiing. McKinnon becomes the first U.S. woman to win the World Cup since Nikki Stone in 1998, while Bohonnon was the first American men’s winner since Jeret “Speedy” Peterson in 2005.
March 2
1918 — Joe Malone is held scoreless in the Montreal Canadiens’ 5-3 season-ending loss to the Toronto Arenas, but finishes the first NHL season with a league-high 44 goals in 22 games. The 44 goals remains an NHL record that stands until 1944-45 when Maurice Richard scores 50 goals in 50 games.
1921 — Kentucky beats Georgia 20-19 in the Southern Intercollegiate men’s basketball championship game in Atlanta. The 14-team conference does not keep formal regular-season standings. It’s college basketball’s first tournament.
1929 — The Chicago Black Hawks end their NHL record eight-game scoreless streak. Chicago scores twice to beat the Montreal Maroons 2-1.
1940 — Seabiscuit, ridden by Red Pollard, wins the Santa Anita Handicap in his final race. Beaten by a nose in both the 1937 and 1938 Santa Anita handicaps, Seabiscuit beats Kayak II by 1 1-2 lengths to retire as the leading money-winning horse in the world.
1951 — In the first NBA All-Star Game, Ed Macauley of the Celtics scores 20 points to lead the East to a 111-94 victory at Boston Garden.
1951 — St. John’s Bob Zawoluk scores 65 points to lead the Redmen to a 105-61 rout of St. Peters. It’s the first time in its 43-year history that St. John’s scores more than 100 points in a game.
1962 — Wilt Chamberlain scores an NBA-record 100 points to lead the Philadelphia Warriors to a 169-147 triumph over the New York Knicks in Hershy, Pa. He scores 59 second-half points and 28 points from the foul line for records.
1966 — Chicago’s Bobby Hull becomes the first NHL player to have two 50-goal seasons when he scores a third-period goal in the Black Hawks’ 5-4 victory over the Detroit Red Wings.
1969 — Boston’s Phil Esposito becomes the first NHL player with 100 points in a season, scoring a goal in the Bruins’ 4-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
1991 — Chris Corchiani of North Carolina State becomes first player in NCAA history with 1,000 assists in a career. Corchiani, who has 12 assists in the game, gets the milestone with 1:16 left in the first half on a pass to Rodney Monroe. N.C. state loses to Wake Forest 89-84.
1991 — Del Ballard Jr. throws the most famous gutter ball in PBA Tour history in the finals of the Fair Lanes Open. Ballard, needing seven pins on his last roll to beat Pete Weber, gets none as his ball falls into the gutter. Weber wins 213-207.
2011 — Pittsburgh overcomes a slow start to clinch at least a share of the Big East regular-season championship with a 66-50 win over South Florida. Pitt coach Jamie Dixon sets an NCAA Division I record for most victories in the first eight seasons of a career with 214 — one more than Everett Case had at North Carolina State and Roy Williams had at Kansas in their first eight years.
2012 — Major League Baseball expands its playoff format to 10 teams, adding a second wild card in each league. The decision establishes a one-game, wild-card round in each league between teams with the best records that are not division winners.
2018 — Kristina Vogel of Germany wins a record-tying 11th women’s world cycling title when she takes the individual sprint at the track world championships in the Netherlands. Vogel ties Anna Meares’ record for most women’s world titles.
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