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Youth soccer in Colorado is continuing to rise in the ranks nationally.
MLS NEXT announced eight expansion clubs Wednesday morning for its national youth leagues for the 2024-25 season from the U13 level all the way up to U19.
Among those are the U13 and U14 squads for the Colorado Rapids Youth Soccer Club, based in Aurora.

A spring tradition unlike any other: the Broncos’ unending search for a franchise quarterback. They are at 13 and counting since Peyton Manning retired following Super Bowl 50. Will this time draft be different? A look at the unlucky 13, which largely explains why the Broncos have missed the playoffs for eight straight years and suffered seven consecutive losing seasons:

The Broncos have made perhaps one of their easiest decisions of the offseason.
Denver exercised the fifth-year option on All-Pro cornerback Pat Surtain II’s rookie contract on Tuesday, keeping him under contract through 2025.
Surtain, the ninth overall pick in 2021, will earn $6.6 million ($3.5 million guaranteed) in 2024, according to Over The Cap. But his salary of $19.8 million in 2025 will be fully guaranteed.

WINNIPEG — The New Jersey Devils returned to the Stanley Cup Playoffs a year ago after a five-year absence, but Miles Wood’s personal experience was not the best.
He was a healthy scratch for four of the seven games in the first round against the New York Rangers, in part because of a couple of penalties he took that contributed to the Devils starting in an 0-2 hole. His first postseason game with the Colorado Avalanche went a little better.

There’s so much uncertainty about what the Broncos will do in the first round of the NFL Draft that someone could develop a migraine thinking about the various scenarios.
From the Broncos potentially adding to their offensive line to addressing the need for an explosive running back, here are five storylines to watch out for during the draft, which starts on Thursday night.

Brendan Rodgers has said in his quiet voice more than once, “We’re going to get out of this.”
Tuesday night, the Rockies’ soft-spoken second baseman swung a big stick, blasting a fifth-inning grand slam to power the Rockies to a 7-4 victory over San Diego at chilly Coors Field.
Rodgers’ first career grand slam was undoubtedly fueled by frustration — his and his teammates’.

Instant reaction from the Avalanche’s 5-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets in Game 2 of their first-round Stanley Cup Playoffs series.

WINNIPEG — The margins are never thinner, and the swings are never greater than in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Colorado Avalanche was centimeters from a potentially back-breaking goal and about 27 minutes from a 2-0 series deficit Tuesday night at Canada Life Centre. A few minutes later, the Avs had control of the game and a period later had stolen home-ice advantage from the Winnipeg Jets in this opening-round series.

By ED WHITE (Associated Press)
DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department announced a $138.7 million settlement Tuesday with more than 100 people who accused the FBI of grossly mishandling allegations of sexual assault against Larry Nassar in 2015 and 2016, a critical time gap that allowed the sports doctor to continue to prey on victims before his arrest.
When combined with other settlements, $1 billion now has been set aside by various organizations to compensate hundreds of women who said Nassar assaulted them under the guise of treatment for sports injuries.