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A shortage of hotel rooms in the Lexington area this weekend means visiting baseball teams in the NCAA Tournament’s Lexington Regional to stay in dormitories on the Kentucky campus. Kentucky is the No. 12 seed for the 64-team tournament and earned the right to host Ball State, Indiana and West Virginia for double-elimination play Friday through Monday. Several previously scheduled events in the Lexington area created a room shortage. Ball State, Indiana and West Virginia spokesmen said their teams and staff would stay in the dorms rather than in hotels 60 miles away in Louisville.

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DENVER (AP) — They were No. 8 seeds. They barely got into the playoffs after up-and-down regular seasons. They had to face the No. 1 overall seeds in Round 1 of the postseason. They had to win Game 7s in Boston just to keep their seasons alive. They are Eastern Conference champions. They are…

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The tradition of hockey’s playoff beard goes back to at least the mid-1980s, with the Detroit Red Wings getting widely credited with beginning the facial hair phenomenon. The playoff beard rub might have started last month by accident. Go back to April 26, when the Florida Panthers staved off elimination by beating the Boston Bruins in overtime of Game 5 of their first-round series. Overjoyed in the moment, Panthers teammates Marc Staal and Aaron Ekblad gave each other a big hug on the bench. As they embraced, they realized their beards were rubbing up against the other. It's become a celebratory routine for Staal and Ekblad since.