Hockey

Denis Leary, a huge Boston Bruins fan who has described hockey as “the most beautiful thing on earth”, included his favorite player in 3 episodes of his TV series Rescue Me, playing a fire chief. His favorite player also happens to be one of the best NHL players of all time, fittingly sitting at 7th in career goals scored, with his famous #7 retired by the Bruins. Name him.

Phil Esposito

Basketball

PRE-QUESTION NOTE: Today is a Theme Day. Theme days can be overt, or they can be subtle and connected, in such a way that figuring out the theme may help you answer the questions. Good luck.

The Phoenix Suns missed out on drafting Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then Lew Alcindor), the Chicago Bulls missed out on drafting Magic Johnson, and the Portland Trail Blazers missed out on drafting Hakeem Olajuwon all due to the results of what same specific event, which was common practice in the NBA at the time?

Coin flip

Basketball

When Steve Fisher took over as interim head coach of the Michigan Wolverines prior to the 1989 NCAA tournament, he defied expectations by leading his team to a national championship. Michigan's opponent in the title game had a three-point lead with under a minute left in overtime when the Wolverines went on a closing spree to secure the title, and it would be too harsh to call the loss a choke. Who coached the losing team in that game?

P.J. Carlesimo