The St Louis Blues' Chris Mason has been in impressive form in goal of late.
The St Louis Blues' Chris Mason has been in impressive form in goal of late.

Mason's big push to the play-offs



The in-form St Louis Blues goaltender Chris Mason has started the last 27 games and has no intention of taking a rest any time soon as the club fight to hold on to a Stanley Cup play-off spot. Mason was named the NHL's "First Star" for last week after posting a 4-0-0 record that lifted the Blues (37-30-9) into the eighth and final Western Conference play-off spot with six games left in their regular-season schedule.

"I'm getting good rest on the off days," Mason said. "So I'm definitely saving my energy for the games. At this point in the season, you just find the energy. When you go out on the ice and you're playing these games that mean so much, you just find the energy. "All of the other players are expected to do it, so I don't see why the goalies can't, too." St Louis pushed one point ahead of the Anaheim Ducks after their perfect week, with the Edmonton Oilers a further point adrift.

The Blues trail seventh-placed Nashville Predators by one point in what promises to be a tight finish to the campaign. Mason, 32, has been a huge part of the surge, registering a 20-7-5 record in his last 32 games, with four shut-outs. The Canadian, traded by Nashville before the season, is aching for a chance to prove himself in the play-offs. "I think the games we are playing right now is a great preparation for it," he said. "We have definitely been in play-off mode for quite a while.

"Most of our games are one-goal games and they are coming down to the third period where you need that urgency in your play. You need those plays and saves at the end of the game." Mason said the team is driven to succeed. "I think we are a bunch of underdogs in that room, and we are fighting to prove ourselves," he said. "We are fighting for recognition, and basically to get in the play-offs. That's our goal, and we are hungry and we want this so bad."

* Reuters

THE SPECS

Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine 

Power: 420kW

Torque: 780Nm

Transmission: 8-speed automatic

Price: From Dh1,350,000

On sale: Available for preorder now

The specs

AT4 Ultimate, as tested

Engine: 6.2-litre V8

Power: 420hp

Torque: 623Nm

Transmission: 10-speed automatic

Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)

On sale: Now

The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple. 
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico

- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000

- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950

SPECS

Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
Power: 630hp
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: 8-speed Tiptronic automatic
Price: From Dh599,000
On sale: Now

NO OTHER LAND

Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal

Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham

Rating: 3.5/5

Petrarch: Everywhere a Wanderer
Christopher Celenza,
Reaktion Books

Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
 
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Test

Director: S Sashikanth

Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan

Star rating: 2/5

2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups

Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.

Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.

Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.

Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).

Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.

Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.

Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.

Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.

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