Your midday sports snack.

Toast points

• Jozy Altidore’s claim of guiltlessness in a brawl at halftime of an MLS playoff game went unheeded by a disciplinary panel today. The panel dismissed Altidore’s appeal of the red card he received for violent conduct on Nov. 5, when the Toronto FC striker and New York Red Bulls captain Sacha Kljestan squared off in the tunnel at BMO Field. Altidore and Sebastian Giovinco, who picked up yellow cards in consecutive matches against New York, will both miss the first leg of Toronto’s conference semifinal series against Columbus next Tuesday.

• Two of the final three berths in next summer’s World Cup are now spoken for. Ireland fizzled out of consideration in the second leg of their European playoff yesterday, as Christian Eriksen’s hat trick sent Denmark to the tournament by a score of 5-1 (in the match and on aggregate). And earlier today, Australia’s Mile Jedinak slotted three goals of his own in a qualification-sealing 3-1 win over Honduras.

The last ticket to Russia will be allotted in Peru tonight, either to the home side or to New Zealand. After a 0-0 draw in Wellington last Saturday, Peru needs to win to reach its first World Cup since 1982. New Zealand would qualify with a win or a draw.

• Donovan Bailey will be added to Canada’s Walk of Fame at a gala in Toronto tonight. The man who stormed to Olympic 100-metre sprint gold in record time at Atlanta 1996 is one of six inductees, a group that also includes actress Anna Paquin and environmentalist David Suzuki. Civil-rights activist Viola Desmond, businessman Ted Rogers and country-folk singer Stompin’ Tom Connors are being honoured posthumously.

• The Cy Young Award winners will be revealed this evening as part of MLB’s awards week. The American League award looks to come down to a choice between Cleveland’s Cory Kluber and Boston’s Chris Sale, while the NL choice is between the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw and Washington’s Max Scherzer. Yesterday, Minnesota’s Paul Molitor and Arizona’s Torey Lovullo were named managers of the year. On Monday, the Yankees’ Aaron Judge and the Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger easily won the rookies of the year contests.

• Michael Bisping, who has said he plans to retire in 2018, is going to maximize the time he has left. Despite fighting Georges St-Pierre at UFC 217 11 days ago, Bisping is getting right back in the octagon on Nov. 25 to fight Kelvin Gastelum in UFC Fight Night in Shanghai. Bisping said yesterday he has no injuries from the St-Pierre bout and doesn’t have to go through training again in order to step in for Anderson Silva, who lost his spot last week because of a potential doping violation.

• Now that its stock has fallen by almost 13 per cent in the last two weeks, Papa John’s apologized last night for blaming listless pizza sales on NFL players who have knelt during the national anthem to protest police brutality. CEO John Schnatter had said on a Nov. 1 earnings call that the league “should have nipped (the protests) in the bud a year and a half ago.”

• He carries the weight of a nation, Bills Nation, which desperately desires to regain a foothold at the top of the AFC, where it once reigned for many years. He measures 6-foot-2 with 32-inch arms and 9 7/8-inch hands. Scouts says he’s good in the pocket and can anticipate receivers coming open. He’s travelled a long road from his home in Florida, through Tennessee and Pittsburgh to arrive in Buffalo to slake the thirst of a parched nation.

He’s Nathan Peterman, and he’ll start at quarterback for the Bills on Sunday.

Nutritional information

Further to Monday’s data dive on Michael Grabner and empty-net goals, here’s a quick look at how empty-net goals have grown, particularly in the last four seasons. Using team scoring data from NHL.com, the chart below shows the rate of 5-on-6 goals scored per game in the last 10 seasons, including the current season.

There is an obvious split that happens during the 2014-15 season, which is around the time teams started pulling their goalies earlier based on the analytics theory that it was better to give yourself a greater amount of time to score with an extra attacker than to continue pulling goalies in the final minute. The unintended consequence appears to be that the teams attempting to withstand the onslaught of an extra attacker are also getting more opportunities to score on empty nets.

To reframe the chart above, in the 2013-14 season, a 5-on-6 goal was scored every 6.21 games. The next season, a 5-on-6 goal was scored every 4.92 games. That rate fell again to 3.83 the next season, returned to 4.62 last season and has picked up again this season. A 5-on-6 goal is being scored every 3.7 games through last night.

Photos of the day

Next stop: Russia.

At nationalpost.com

• The contrasting efforts of WADA and the IOC to hold Russia to account for the country’s brazen efforts to sidestep anti-doping regulations have been thrust back into focus this week, as WADA prepares to announce that Russia is still noncompliant with its standards. The IOC, to this point, has remained staunchly committed to inaction, prompting Scott Stinson to wonder if that will change before the Pyeongchang Games.

• Barrelling down a World Cup-calibre ski hill can be very dangerous, a reality underscored by the tragic death of French downhiller David Poisson in a training accident in Alberta on Monday. All a downhiller can do is prepare “impeccably,” former Canadian Olympic star Steve Podborski tells Dan Barnes, and trust that their skill and nerve will keep them safe.

TV tonight

All times Eastern

3 p.m. Tennis: World Tour Finals, round robin TSN5
7 p.m. NCAA Football: Western Michigan at Northern Illinois TSN1,3,4
7:30 p.m. NHL: Calgary at Detroit Sportsnet, TVAS
8 p.m. NBA: Toronto at New Orleans SN One
10 p.m. NHL: Boston at Anaheim SN 360
10 p.m. NBA: Orlando at Portland NBATV
10:30 p.m. NBA: Philadelphia at LA Lakers SN One

Early Thursday

3 a.m. Golf: European Tour, DP World Tour Championship Golf Channel
9 a.m. Tennis: World Tour Finals, round robin TSN5
11:30 a.m. NCAA Basketball | Puerto Rico Tipoff: Illinois State vs. South Carolina TSN2
Noon Curling: The National, round robin Sportsnet

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