For two days, D.C. United?s Perry Kitchen has thought hard about what went so terribly wrong for the U.S. under-23 national team at the Olympic qualifying tournament. It consumed him late into the night after the 3-3 draw with El Salvador on Monday in Nashville, a result that bounced the heavily favored Americans in the group stage.
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"I went to a fight, and a hockey game broke out" — some jackwagon
As a kid what first drew my attention to hockey was an all-out brawl between the Detroit Red Wings and the Boston Bruins that featured eight fights. There was a rookie forward on the Red Wings named Bob Probert who was taking on veteran Boston tough guy Brian Curran. The fight was something I had never seen before in sports.
As young spark plugs, we were taught about sportsmanship and playing "the right way." This was my first exposure to hockey, and I fell in love. What made the scene more awesome to me was that even though these two guys dropped their gloves and tried to kill each other, they were allowed to continue to play in the game!
My little Sparky assesment was: In hockey you can beat the crap out of someone if they are annoying you, and only get penalized five minutes. I was amazed.
In a kinder, softer, "everybody gets a trophy" world we now live in, some folks believe fighting in hockey should be banned. What kind of message is it sending to the kids? It's barbaric and brutal, and shows that the sport has failed to evolve. What if someone gets killed on the ice?
I'm not one of those guys. Since that day in front of my family's 20" 500 lb TV, I became a junkie, specifically a Red Wings junkie. I believe fighting does have a place in hockey and always will. While the number of fighting majors does seem to be on the decline, dropping the mitts is the equal opportunity on-ice policing that allows players the chance to regulate a cheap or dirty play.
Off the soap box I go, now for the action! Here are some of the best fights of the 2011-12 season.
?If you look at sports all around the world and you lot at sports owners trying to work out how to invest to make money, you will find that most of them like the idea of franchises,? Bevan said. ?If you take particularly American owners, without doubt, there have been a number of them looking at having more of a franchise situation and that would mean no promotion or relegation."
Bailey continued his red-hot production of late with a 2-goal, 5-point night as the Islanders beat the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second time this week 5-3. Kyle Okposo scored a pair of goals to set a career high with 20 and Al Montoya stopped 26 shots. Bailey now has 8 points his last two games and 12 points over his current 6-game points streak.
No. 2 Star: Mike Smith, Phoenix Coyotes
Smith became the first goalie to shutout the San Jose Sharks three times in a season with a 38-save performance in a 2-0 win. Radim Vrbata scored twice and Ray Whitney assisted on both to bring his career points total to 999. The shutout was Smith's sixth of the year and 17th in the career. With the win the Coyotes moved into seventh in the West.
No. 3 Star: Ryan Malone, Tampa Bay Lightning
Malone did all he could to help lead the Lightning to victory, but his hat trick wasn't enough as the New Jersey Devils took the two points with a 6-4 victory. It was the fourth career hat trick by Malone. A 4-goal second period powered the Devils to the win with five different players each chipping in two points.
Honorable mention: Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds scored twice and Danny Briere assisted on all four tallies as the Philadelphia Flyers routed the Toronto Maple Leafs 7-1. Jaromir Jagr had himself three helpers as the win moved Philadelphia to within two points of the Penguins for the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference ... Washington blew a 2-0 third period lead but managed a 3-2 shootout victory over the Boston Bruins. Dennis Wideman and Marcus Johansson scored in regulation for the Caps and Brooks Laich put home the shootout winner as Washington tied Buffalo for the No. 8 seed in the East. Matt Hendricks has 22 career goals, but it's in the shootout where he continually works his magic. Tonight, he made Tim Thomas look silly on this attempt:
Erik Christensen's goal with 31 seconds left forced overtime and then Mikko Koivu's winner 15 seconds into overtime gave the Minnesota Wild a 3-2 come-from-behind victory over the Florida Panthers. Niklas Backstrom made 25 saves in his first start in almost a month ... Evgeni Malkin scored his 47th goal of the season, which was also his 100th point ... Chicago almost blew a 3-1 lead, but salvaged the two points thanks to a Dave Bolland goal in the shootout during a 4-3 Blackhawks win over the St. Louis Blues.
Did you know? "Toronto fell to 4-8-2 since Randy Carlyle replaced Ron Wilson as coach March 2." (AP)
Dishonorable mention: Tomas Vokoun left the game late in the first period and did not return�for Washington ... Does Jason Chimera deserve supplemental discipline for his charge on Adam McQuaid? ... Jonas Gustavsson was supposed to start for Toronto tonight, but took a puck off the knee during warmups and left the game. Emergency recall Jussi Rynnas was summoned for duty and allowed all seven Philadelphia goals ... The Leafs have now lost 11 straight at home ... Dwayne Roloson allowed six goals, the fifth time this season he's let in more than five in a start ... Things got so bad at Air Canada Centre the fans started a "Let's Go Blue Jays" chant.
If the hockey gods are trying to help the Toronto Maple Leafs get the best possible odds in the NHL Draft Lottery, they're doing a good job.
Hours after news came out that the team may shut down goaltender James Reimer down for the rest of the season as he deals with concussion-like symptoms, Jonas Gustavsson, who was all set to start their game tonight against Philadelphia, was unprepared for a Clarke MacArthur shot and took one off the knee during warmups:
Gustavsson started the game in the trainer's room, but was back on the Leafs' bench at the start of the second period.
Emergency recall Jussi Rynnas was summoned for duty, making his NHL debut, and allowed was in net for all seven Philadelphia goals during a 7-1 loss.
Chris Johnston of the Canadiens Press reported that the Leafs signed an employee of Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment to a one-day contract in the event Rynnas got hurt and Gustavsson was unable to come in.
Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy
Brian Elliott's ninth shutout of the season on Tuesday night set a franchise record for longest shutout streak (183:33) and number of shutouts, passing Glenn Hall. His combined shutouts with Jaroslav Halak, 15, tied the NHL's post-expansion record held by the 1969-70 Chicago Blackhawks.
For this, Ken Hitchcock will be given the Jack Adams Award ? with due respect to the jobs accomplished by Paul MacLean and the Ottawa Senators, Kevin Dineen and the Florida Panthers and Barry Trotz and the Nashville Predators.
For this, Halak and Elliott will win the Jennings Trophy as the best goaltending tandem in the NHL ? they have a combined 1.78 GAA right now, having allowed 139 goals. The Blues would need a total collapse not to set an NHL record for the best defensive team since expansion.
But neither Halak nor Elliott will win the Vezina. Not enough games played individually, and they'll siphon each other's votes. But if the NHL's postseason awards voters wanted another way to honor this remarkable, historic season by the St. Louis Blues defense, a suggestion:
Alex Pietrangelo for the Norris Trophy.
It helps that he's a damn good player, too.
Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Dispatch notes that Pietrangelo and Kevin Shattenkirk have combined to give the team one of only three 40-point defensive duos in the NHL this season. Said Shea Weber to Rutherford:
"Coming into the league, you don't know what to expect from them and now that we play against them six times a year, you get to know them a little bit. They see the ice very well, and ... they're able to create a lot of offense if they're getting over 40 points."
Shattenkirk and Pietrangelo each finished with 43 points last season, but 26 of Shattenkirk's points came with Colorado before St. Louis acquired him in February 2011. With each reaching the 40-point plateau this season, they became the first Blues' defensive pair since Chris Pronger and Al MacInnis in 2001-02 to accomplish it. That season, Pronger had 47 points and MacInnis 46.
One of the major differences between the two: Defensive assignments. Pietrangelo plays 3:09 TOI per game shorthanded, which puts him in the Top 20 for NHL defensemen; thing is, only two players above him on that list have more than 30 points as well (Filip Kuba and Kimmo Timonen).
Craig Custance (behind the ESPN paywall) looked at the Blues' awards options, and heard Hitchcock's case for Pietrangelo and the Norris:
"The thing that's relevant for him, if you're describing a defenseman, you're talking about a guy who collects points, plays against the other team's best players and kill penalties. That's what he does. He QBs the No. 1 unit on the power play, plays against the other teams' best players. He kills a minute-plus of every penalty kill. What more can you ask for? He does that. He's not protected. Nobody protects him. That's what he does. If you're looking for a legitimate defenseman, then to me, that's what this guy is. He's the word 'defenseman.' He's not an 'offenseman.' He's a complete player."
Not an "offenseman" ? gee, wonder which player Hitchcock is comparing him to this season?
Erik Karlsson, whose 76 points and occasional defensive lapses have made him a contentious favorite for defenseman of the year, was put right into the conversation with Pietrangelo this week by Blues broadcaster Darren Pang on Twitter. Fleshing out his comments to the Ottawa Sun, Pang said:
"When GMs talk about Karlsson vs. Pietrangelo, the No. 1 (question) is: Who is better with the puck? Well, it's Karlsson, no question.
"The No. 2 question is: Who is better 5-on-5, defending going up against the other team's best players and playing on the power play? The answer is Pietrangelo. There is no denying the hand-eye co-ordination and the instincts of Karlsson. They're phenomenal and fun to watch.
"In a playoff series, Pietrangelo is going to play 25 minutes, he's going to play on the (penalty-killing units), the power play and against the other teams best players. So, there's quite a difference in the two players and what they bring to the table. They're both having phenomenal years."
True, but Karlsson's had more hype. So has Shea Weber, seen as the Norris winner in waiting. So has Zdeno Chara, who has inherited Nicklas Lidstrom's role as the annual nominee for the award no matter how he plays in comparison to previous seasons.
In the last USA Today power rankings, Pietrangelo was fifth in the voting behind Karlsson, Weber, Chara and Lidstrom. But now the St. Louis media has the hype machine cranking for him, and the Blues' success will certainly garner him even more attention.
Can Alex Pietrangelo make the Norris Trophy top three; and if so, can he win?
With the Golden State Warriors fully embracing the tanking (er...youth) movement for the remainder of this season, fans and management can now focus on finding which pieces should keep (or increase) their role for next year's playoff run.
No matter the team's offseason moves (which will be very limited considering they're already nearing next year's salary cap), the Warriors look poised for a postseason trip next season as long as certain key players can avoid the training rooms.
The front office was strengthened over the offseason, and the roster has slowly but surely seen its share of upgrades throughout the roster. The team split their potent, but diminutive backcourt at the trade deadline and found the signature center they've been seeking for years.
Coach Mark Jackson's "no excuses" club will truly be without an excuse.
The playoff promises of owner Joe Lacob will be realized, albeit a year late.
The following five items are all aspects of the perfect postseason storm already brewing in Oakland.
Louie Giglio is a pastor and founder of the Passion Movement, a Christian organization geared toward young adults and college students. The movement has been around since the mid-1990s touring the world and spreading their message.
On Friday night, the Passion Movement made an appearance at Rogers Arena in Vancouver. Giglio, while holding Daniel Sedin's actual helmet, asked for those in attendance to pray for the health of the Canucks forward, who's sidelined with concussion-like symptoms.
As if the millions of Canucks fans in Vancouver and around the world weren't already praying for Sedin's quick return to health after Duncan Keith's elbow to the head on Wednesday night, what's a few thousand more? And what better way to get your fans in the city you're touring even more behind you than holding a mass prayer for the quick recovery of one of their hockey stars?
Despite the fact one their top players was injured by a reckless elbow, the Canucks are tight-lipped about their feelings about the five game suspension for Keith. There's still no timetable on Sedin's return to the Canucks' lineup as they begin a five-game homestand tonight.
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United States vs. El Salvador
CONCACAF Olympic qualifying (under-23 teams)
Where: LP Field in Nashville.
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The Texas Longhorns are one of the teams that are beginning to wrap up spring practice and get ready to play the spring game that takes place on April 1.
There have been a lot of interesting things that have taken place throughout spring practice, but nothing is better than putting the pads on again and really getting after it.
This will be a chance for players to really impress the coaches and to move up that depth chart for the upcoming season.
With the spring game just days away from taking place, here are 10 things you should expect.
The biggest offseason story in the NFL, perhaps the biggest in many years, is the heavy punishments leveled at the New Orleans Saints for their maintaining a bounty system in which defensive players were rewarded for knocking opposing players out of the game. One question that I have been asked by friends, colleagues, radio hosts and the little man with the cigar who lives in my head is: “Has such a thing ever taken place in baseball?”
The answer is yes, but for one exception–it has not happened systematically because it’s counterproductive for the same reason that the Saints' system would have been counterproductive had the rest of the league suspected it: once the other side knows it’s open warfare on them, there is nothing to prevent them from doing their best to injure you. Mutual Assured Destruction may work as a nuclear deterrent strategy, but in sports all it means is that both sides are going to end up with a lot of expensive contracts in the hospital.
Unlike in football, where players collide in groups at high speed, thus getting the protection of crowds, baseball features isolated moments of confrontation between hitter and pitcher. Both are alone. Both carry deadly weapons. It doesn’t pay for either to incite violence.
That’s not to say that intentional or suspected intentional beanings have not long been part of the game, or that a manager has never told a pitcher to hit a player. There have been spikes–high takeout slides intended to, if not injure, at least inflict pain, going back to the Deadball Era. As a manager, Rogers Hornsby had one standing rule: on an 0-2 pitch, the batter got knocked down every time—but that’s not the same as saying that the batter was supposed to get hit. In fact, the intention was the opposite—to shake the batter up so he would back off the plate and be vulnerable to taking strike three on the outside corner.
When Ray Chapman died as the result of being hit in the head by a Carl Mays pitch, Mays was suspected of having thrown the pitch intentionally. This was more because Mays had the kind of personality that inspired that kind of thinking than any particular situation at work in the game. Nor did Mays’ manager, Miller Huggins, order the hit.
One of the most famous cases of an intentional beaning came in 1940. There was bad feeling between the Cardinals and the Dodgers, despite which the two clubs concluded a mid-season trade that sent future Hall of Fame outfielder Joe Medwick to Brooklyn. Six days after the trade, on June 18, the two teams met at Ebbets Field. It happened that Medwick and Dodgers’ manager Leo Durocher were staying at the same hotel as St. Louis’ starting pitcher for that day, Bob Bowman. The three happened to share an elevator. Durocher and Medwick taunted Bowman, who responded by screaming, “I’ll take care of you! I’ll take care of both of you!”
Medwick batted in the bottom of the first. There was no subtlety about what happened next: Bowman’s first pitch hit him in the head. Medwick collapsed. The Dodgers dugout emptied onto the field, all the players heading for Bowman. Some carried bats. Durocher lead the way, shouting, “You said you’d get him!” Team owner Larry MacPhail, seeing new best player unconscious in the dirt, raced onto the field and challenged the whole Cardinal team to fight him. A melee, to put it lightly, ensued. It took a police escort to get Bowman out of Ebbets Field.
MacPhail subsequently demanded that National League president Ford Frick ban Bowman for life. He also took the case to Brooklyn District Attorney Bill O’Dwyer, the man who had brought down organized crime’s “Murder, Inc.” Now MacPhail wanted the D.A. to go after “Beanball, Inc.” Nothing came of any of it.
In Game 2 of the 1972 American League Championship Series between the Tigers and the A’s, Detroit pitcher Lerrin LaGrow hit speedy Oakland shortstop Bert Campaneris in the legs, possibly because his manager, Billy Martin, wanted to prevent him from running the bases. Campaneris helicoptered his bat at the mound, resulting in his banishment from the remainder of the series as well as the first seven games of the following season.
We could point to more recent incidents, like the various Roger Clemens-Mike Piazza encounters that supposedly reflected malice aforethought by Clemens, but even these do not equate to what the Saints had–a systematic, orchestrated campaign. No, there has been only one true example of that. It came in 1947-1950, when Jackie Robinson broke the color line. Phillies manager Ben Chapman, perhaps along with other racist managers, did their best to intimidate and even injure the newcomers by ordering their pitchers to throw at them.
Such a campaign might have worked for the Saints, but we can all rejoice in the fact that it didn’t work in baseball.
The Boston College Eagles had to be more than a little unsatisfied with their performance last year.
BC had won two of the last previous national titles, and, while it wasn't the No. 1 seed in that tournament, it was certainly looked upon as a favorite to at least return to the Frozen Four. Instead, it crashed out of the first round 8-4 at the hands of Colorado College, which was bounced itself the following night by eventual runners-up Michigan.Particularly galling was the fact that BC conceded eight goals in that game, given that it had rampaged through its previous eight games, scoring 32 goals and conceding just 17.
And the scary thing for BC, which this year earned the top seed in the NCAA tournament with a 29-10-1 record, that's not even a particularly good run to the NCAA tournament, let alone performance in it.
What you have to understand about the Eagles is that their raison d'�tre from the time the calendar flips over to February is winning, and winning by embarrassing margins. Last weekend, they collected their third straight Hockey East title, and fifth in the last six years. And where last year's eight-game streak into the national dance looks impressive, it's dwarfed by this season's run of 15.
Yes, 15. Really.
During that scorched-earth run, which admittedly was a little soft down the stretch, it has pumped its terrified opponents for 61 goals. Worse still, it has allowed just 19. The last time it gave up more than two goals in a game was against UNH on Jan. 27, when this absurd streak began. In that one, it gave up three.
How does one contain a team with depth so chasmal, or score against a defense so miserly?
As you might imagine, a team this good is stocked from top to bottom with NHL draft picks ? a full nine in all ? led most notably, of course, by former Rangers first-rounder Chris Kreider. Based on talent alone, there is really no reason for Kreider, a junior, to still be playing in the NCAA at this point, and it's pretty easy to guess that he's getting on a plane to the AHL the second BC's season is over, which shouldn't be any time soon.
Kreider led the Eagles with 41 points, 20 of which were goals, followed closely by undersized Calgary fourth-rounder and Hockey East tournament MVP Johnny Gaudreau, who was runner-up for the league's rookie of the year award thanks to a fallow middle of the season that gave way to a sensational finish. At 23 games, he had a mere 7-8-15 line. Now, at 40, he's looking at 19-20-39. Much of that, you'll notice, came as BC kicked sand in the face of their 98-pound-weakling opponents.
Senior Barry Almeida, though, might be the team's most dynamic player, with a team-leading 22 goals and a sensational two-way game. Juniors Pat Mullane and Steven Whitney, both undrafted, help Calgary selection Bill Arnold help fill out the deep forward corps.
But all that having been said, the Eagles' real strength is on defense, where massive junior and Carolina draft pick Brian Dumoulin was steady as the Rock of Gibraltar for an Eagles defense that ranked fifth in the nation at 2.17 goals against per night.
Dumoulin, for my money, was Hockey East's best player this season, expertly improving his defensive game even as his point production dropped off a bit from his sophomore campaign to a mere 6-20-26 in 40 games. NCAA hockey doesn't give us enough details about the games to come up with CORSI relative stats or anything like that (most don't even keep track of who blocks shots), but Dumoulin finished the year a plus-23 playing a ton of minutes against every other teams' top line, which tells you at least a little about his defensive wherewithal.
He's complemented by former Bruins second-rounder Tommy Cross, Caps fourth-round pick Patrick Wey, and San Jose's 2010 fifth-rounder Isaac MacLeod, as well as undrafted but very good Patch Alber and Edwin Shea. They all do good enough work that goaltender Parker Milner faces just 26.6 shots per game, and even then, most aren't of particularly good quality.
All this talent is, of course, marshaled by the legendary and endlessly likable Jerry York, the winningest active coach in NCAA hockey. Earlier this year, he won his 900th game ?�he's now at 909 ? and is a good half-season away from passing retired Michigan State coach Ron Mason for the all-time record. In doing all this winning, you won't be shocked to learn that York has been phenomenally successful in the NCAA tournament, winning four national titles. Three of them have been with BC (2001, 2008, 2010). If the Eagles somehow don't advance to the Frozen Four, it will be just the sixth time since 1998 that they failed to do so. Just think about that.
There's very little reason to doubt the Eagles can win this tournament. Their seniors this year ? and there are only four of them who get regular time ? have lost a total of two postseason games in their careers.
The other 18 went a lot better, just as you'd expect them to. This is BC we're talking about here.
No. 1 Boston College Eagles
Key stat: Junior netminder Parker Milner's stats during BC's 15-game winning streak are quite impressive: a 1.25 GAA and a .954 save percentage.
Top player: Junior forward Chris Kreider is easily the team's most talented player, and if you're a fan of guys who can skate, Kreider can do that better than anyone in the country. It's transfixing.
NHL draft picks: 9 (Calgary's Johnny Gaudreau and Bill Arnold, New York Rangers' Chris Kreider, Colorado's Paul Carey, Carolina's Brian Dumoulin, Chicago's Kevin Hayes, Boston's Tommy Cross, San Jose's Isaac MacLeod, Washington's Patrick Wey)
Quick fact: It's hard to question the way BC finished the season, but it also did so against some pretty bad teams. Just four of its final 15 games, were against teams that finished in the top half of Hockey East.
No. 2 Michigan Wolverines
Key stat: The Wolverines score very much by committee, with no player having more than 16 goals, but the team still finished 10th in the nation with 130 goals in 40 games.
Top player: Senior goaltender Shawn Hunwick, a Hobey Baker finalist with a 1.98 GAA and .933 save percentage.
NHL draft picks: 11 (New Jersey's David Wohlberg and Jon Merrill, Montreal's Mac Bennett and Greg Pateryn, Dallas' Alex Guptill, San Jose's Lee Moffie, Phoenix's Chris Brown, Colorado's Luke Moffatt, Columbus' Kevin Lynch, Florida's Zach Hyman, and Winnipeg's Brennan Serville)
Quick fact: Michigan won 24 games this season, but never more than four in a row.
No. 3 Union Dutchmen
Key stat: Union has lost just two games since the beginning of the new year, going 15-2-2 down the stretch after a so-so start.
Top player: Sophomore goalie Troy Grosenik is the team's first-ever Hobey candidate, and put together a stat line of 1.65 GAA/.936 save percentage.
NHL draft picks: None.
Quick fact: Nate Leaman, the coach who led Union to its first NCAA appearance ever last season, is now coaching at Providence. First-year coach Rick Bennett, ironically a Providence alum who had worked under Leaman for the Dutchmen, led his team to a 24-7-7 season.
Key stat: North Dakota didn't start the season so hot but has rampaged to seven straight wins. And after falling behind in the WCHA semifinal 3-0 against archrival Minnesota, they scored the next 10 goals in their games, winning that one 6-3 and whitewashing Denver 4-0 in the final.
Top player: Sophomore forward Brock Nelson, who scored 27 goals this year after netting just eight as a freshman.
NHL draft picks: 15 (Florida's Corban Knight and Rocco Grimaldi, New York Montreal's Danny Kristo and Mark MacMillan, Chicago's Nick Mattson and Joe Gleason, Islanders' Brock Nelson, Philadelphia's Michael Parks, Ottawa's Ben Blood, Edmonton's Dillon Simpson, Los Angeles's Derek Forbort, Toronto's Andrew MacWilliam, Tampa Bay's Brendan O'Donnell, New Jersey's Derek Rodwell, and Buffalo's Brad Eidsness)
Quick fact: The Sioux were as deep in the WCHA as 10th in December, having lost six of its first eight league games, but rallied nonetheless to finish fourth, then won their third straight league tournament title.
No. 5 Miami RedHawks
Key stat: Like BC and NoDak, this is another team that got hot late in the season, winning nine of its last 10 games. That loss, though, was a 6-2 thrashing at the hands of eventual CCHA champs Western Michigan. It was the first time they conceded more than one goal in a game since Feb. 4.
Top player: Goaltender Connor Knapp (this is becoming a common theme), who led the nation in GAA at 1.64 and was second in save percentage at .937, was somehow not a Hobey Baker finalist.
NHL draft picks: 9 (Dallas' Reilly Smith and Curtis McKenzie, Columbus' Trent Vogelhuber and Will Weber, Tampa Bay's Jimmy Mullin, New Jersey's Blake Coleman, Ottawa's Chris Wideman, Toronto's Tyler Biggs, and Buffalo's Connor Knapp)
Quick fact: John Buccigross's kid goes to Miami so if you watch Friday's contest, it's going to sound like Jack Edwards calling a Bruins game. Fair warning.
No. 6 Ferris State Bulldogs
Key stat: Ferris is one of only three teams in the tournament to crash out of their conference quarterfinals, this after winning the CCHA regular-season title with a league record of 16-7-5.
Top player: Senior netminder Taylor Nelson backstops a 10th-in-the-nation team defense with his 2.18 goals-against average and .920 save percentage.
NHL draft picks: None.
Quick fact: This is only Ferris' second-ever trip to the NCAA tournament. The other was in 2003, when they upset North Dakota in the opening round.
No. 7 Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs
Key stat: Duluth, the reigning national champions, lost just seven players from last season's team, and just five were regular players. One was Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Justin Faulk, who went pro after his freshman year.
Top player: Undrafted senior center Jack Connolly led the team in scoring with 19 goals and 58 points in 39 games despite having lost his two regular linemates last summer. Connolly has 195 points in his 164-game career, which is a lot. He was very much the reason UMD had the nation's best offense.
NHL draft picks: 6 (Washington's Caleb Herbert, Montreal's Scott Kishel, Florida's Joe Basaraba, St. Louis' Max Tardy, Chicago's Dan DeLisle)
Quick fact: It's reasonable to assume that since ESPN spent all of the last tournament focused on the fact that everyone on Duluth dyed their hair platinum blond, you can go ahead and expect a lot of coverage of them all having mohawks this season.
No. 8 Minnesota Golden Gophers
Key stat: If there's one time the Gophers are ever vulnerable, it's the second period. Almost half the 88 goals they gave up all season were scored in the middle frame, compared with just 21 allowed in the first and 23 in the third.
Top player: Sophomore Nick Bjugstad is really, really good. He had 24 goals and 40 points in 37 games.
NHL draft picks: 17 (Florida's Nick Bjugstad and Kyle Rau, Columbus' Jake Hansen and Seth Ambroz, Washington's Travis Boyd and Nick Larson, Colorado's Nate Condon and Kent Patterson, Minnesota's Eric Haula, Nashville's Zach Budish, Carolina's Mark Alt, Vancouver's Taylor Matson, New Jersey's Seth Helgeson, Detroit's Ben Marshall, Chicago's Justin Holl, Dallas' Nico Sacchetti, and Buffalo's Christian Isackson)
Quick fact: Three of Minnesota's top four scorers (Bjugstad, Haula, and defenseman Nate Schmidt) were sophomores. The other, Rau, was a freshman. They combined for 162 points.
No. 9 Boston University Terriers
Key stat: BU has five players who have recorded more than 100 shots on goal this season. No one else has more than 78.
Top player: Sophomore and Predators draftee Garrett Noonan was tied for second on the Terriers in goals, which isn't easy to do for a defenseman. But his 16-goal campaign was also good for a tie for first in the nation from the blue line. And just so you don't think it's all O and no D with this kid, he's also BU's best defenseman in his own zone.
NHL draft picks: 9 (Dallas' Alex Chiasson, San Jose's Matt Nieto, Chicago's Adam Clendening, Florida's Wade Megan, Nashville's Garrett Noonan, Tampa Bay's Justin Courtnall, Winnipeg's Yasin Ciss�, Colorado's Kieran Millan, and Toronto's Grant Rollheiser)
Quick fact: BU lost three players midseason (the Islanders' Corey Trivino, Detroit's Max Nicastro and Minnesota's Charlie Coyle) for various reasons, but the team has actually improved without them.
No. 10 Maine Black Bears
Key stat: Maine's top line of Spencer Abbott, Joey Diamond, and Brian Flynn combined for 63 of Maine's 131 goals. They were also a combined plus-47, where the rest of the team was a combined minus-14.
Top player: Abbott was the nation's leading scorer with 20-41-61 in just 38 games, but suffered a concussion in the Hockey East semifinals against BU, and his status for the tournament is unclear.
NHL draft picks: 4 (Anaheim's Ryan Hegarty and Nick Pryor, Winnipeg's Will O'Neill, and Columbus' Martin Oullette)
Quick fact: Goalie Dan Sullivan carried the water for Maine, playing 85.9 percent of his team's minutes over the season. He's also college hockey's answer to Chris Osgood: a 2.54 GAA and .910 save percentage were good enough to win him 22 games behind the juggernaut Maine offense.
No. 11 Denver Pioneers
Key stat: Denver really likes giving its fans some value for their money. Before it got steamrolled in the WCHA title game, its last three games had gone to at least one overtime. In all, 11 of its games needed extra time to determine.
Top player: Sophomore Jason Zucker, a Minnesota draft pick, scored a team-leading 22 goals for the Pios in just 37 games this year, but, like Abbott, is questionable for its NCAA games after leaving last Saturday's WCHA title game and not returning. However, because his team was already getting killed by NoDak and the game was a lost cause, that may have just been precautionary.
NHL draft picks: NHL draft picks: 10 (Florida's Drew Shore, John Lee and Sam Brittain, Minnesota's Jason Zucker, Los Angeles' Nick Shore, Pittsburgh's Beau Bennett, New York Islanders' Scott Mayfield, Chicago's Paul Phillips, Phoenix's Jason Larraza, and Montreal's Josiah Didier)
Quick fact: Injuries are a common theme for Denver, with six players listed as "day-to-day" as of the end of last weekend's WCHA Final Five, and remaining that way in this tournament.
No. 12 UMass Lowell River Hawks
Key stat: Lowell won just five games last year, and the 18-game improvement under new boss Norm Bazin is the biggest improvement by first-year coach in NCAA history.
Top player: Goaltender Doug Carr faltered a bit down the stretch but was the centerpiece for Lowell's success, routinely making difficult saves look easy with top-notch positioning. He was the runner-up for Hockey East Player of the Year behind Maine's Spencer Abbott.
NHL draft picks: 1 (Pittsburgh's Scott Wilson)
Quick fact: Speaking of injury trouble, junior center Riley Wetmore, the team's second leading scorer behind the rookie Wilson, is dealing with one. But though it was termed a lower-body injury by Bazin, Wetmore was seen at the team's Selection Sunday viewing party with a cast on his right hand. Bazin has said Wetmore is expected to play. (Also, I went to Lowell and Lowell rules because Lowell is the best team ever so go Lowell I don't care how unprofessional this is.)
No. 13 Cornell Big Red
Key stat: If you want to beat the Big Red, there's a pretty easy way to do it: Get them to commit penalties. Out of the nation's 58 teams, the Big Red's PK ranked 48th at 78.9 percent. That's not gonna help.
Top player: Junior forward Greg Miller led the team in points and plus-minus, and even though 30 points in 33 games isn't a lot, it was enough thanks to the entire team's commitment to defense.
NHL draft picks: 6 (Columbus' Sean Collins, Los Angeles' Joel Lowry, Boston's Brian Ferlin, Pittsburgh's Nick D'Agostino, Tampa Bay's Kirill Gotovets, and Chicago's Braden Birch)
Quick fact: Talk about a close call. Cornell lost its ECAC semifinal last Friday to Harvard, 6-1, and needed to win and get a couple bounces across the country to get into the NCAA tournament. Goalie Andy Iles, who played every minute for Cornell this season, silenced the nation's leading goalscorer, Austin Smith (36 goals), in a 3-0 shutout.
No. 14 Western Michigan Broncos
Key stat: For a team that scored just 113 goals this season, the Broncos sure piled on the offense in the last couple weeks. Three goals at Ferris State, four and then five against Lake Superior in the CCHA quarterfinals, six against stingy Miami in the semis, and three against Michigan for the title. That's 21 goals in their last five.
Top player: Chase Balisy, a sophomore forward, led the team in offense with 37 points in 40 games. And his goal against Michigan stood up as the game-winner as WMU won its first CCHA championship since 1986.
NHL draft picks: 3 (Nashville's Chase Balisy, Tampa Bay's Luke Witkowski, and Washington's Garrett Haar)
Quick fact: If you ever found yourself wondering what former St. Louis Blues coach Andy Murray was up to, the answer was "Taking a CCHA title with a team that won 21 games this year."
Key stat: The Spartans' offense is the worst among teams in the tournament, finishing the year 24th in the country at 2.89 goals for per game. Its defense is 20th.
Top player: Junior D Torey Krug was just outstanding from the blue line this year. A team-leading 12 goals, a team-leading 21 assists, and a team-leading plus-18. Only one other player on the team had a broke plus-9.
NHL draft picks: 3 (Anaheim's Brett Perlini, Winnipeg's Daultan Leveille, and St. Louis' Trevor Nill)
Quick fact: With a record of just 19-15-4, and the stats highlighted above, I really have no idea how this team made the tournament except that the CCHA is just super-deep and their strength of schedule must have been phenomenal. Because they sure weren't.
No. 16 Air Force Falcons
Key stat: Air Force won both the Atlantic Hockey regular-season and postseason titles, but also had the 49th-ranked strength-of-schedule. Every team behind it was also in the AHA.
Top player: Senior defenseman Tim Kirby was Atlantic Hockey's best defenseman and league MVP, and therefore not surprisingly its obligatory Hobey nominee.
NHL draft picks: None.
Quick fact: Yeah, BC will probably kill these guys. Probably. Air Force had to fly to Massachusetts to play BC about 45 minutes from its home rink. But last year, the 1-versus-16 game was Air Force versus Yale, and the Bulldogs needed overtime to get past the Falcons. So it's possible. But it's sure as hell not probable.
Schedule (all times Eastern)*
Friday
3 p.m. - Michigan State vs. Union, Bridgeport, Conn. (ESPNU)
5:30 p.m. - Denver vs. Ferris State, Green Bay, Wisc. (Syndication, ESPN3)
6 p.m. - UMass Lowell vs. Miami, Bridgeport (ESPNU)
9 p.m. - Cornell vs. Michigan, Green Bay (ESPNU)
Saturday
1:30 p.m. - Western Michigan vs. North Dakota, St. Paul, Minn. (Syndication, ESPN3)
4 p.m. - Air Force vs. Boston College, Worcester, Mass. (ESPNU)
5 p.m. - Boston University vs. Minnesota, St. Paul (Syndication, ESPN3)
6:30 p.m. - East Regional final, Bridgeport (ESPNU)
7:30 p.m. - Maine vs. Minnesota-Duluth, Worcester (Syndication, ESPN3)
9:30 p.m. - Midwest Regional final, Green Bay (ESPNU)
Sunday
4:30 p.m. - West Regional final, St. Paul (ESPNU)
8 p.m. - Northeast Regional final, Worcester (ESPNU)
*Yes, all those things that say ESPN3 means they are available for viewing online only. Yes, it's stupid as hell and shameful on the part of the "Worldwide Leader in Sports." But it's also hockey on ESPN we're talking about.
Follow Ryan Lambert on Twitter while he's in Bridgeport watching the tournament, for reasons he doesn't fully understand. Go Lowell.
More hockey news from Yahoo! Sports:
Jeremy Lin is a Harvard graduate, so he must have known that the New York Knicks were better than their last six games under Mike D'Antoni (six consecutive losses).
He also must have realized that his Knicks weren't as good as their 5-0 stretch under Mike Woodson would imply.
So Jeremy Lin, you might not need to read on.
But for all the New York Knicks fans out there, you might want to look to last year's Miami Heat as a road map for what may come for the Knicks.
"It's only one game," Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade said after the Heat lost its home opener last year. "Sorry if everyone thought we were going to go 82-0. It just ain't happening."
No one actually thought his Heat would win 82 games, but ESPN thought the Heat might win 72. ESPN.com unveiled a "Heat Index" that featured the Chase for 72 as one of its features.
The team that looked unbeatable on paper then stumbled out of the gates to a 9-8 record.
Yahoo Contributor Mark Hawkins had this to say at that juncture:
"So far this season, it appears that James and Wade are simply taking turns attacking the defense while the other one stands on the perimeter and watches. This approach has been good enough for them to amass a 7-1 record against teams below .500, but it has led them to an abysmal 2-7 record against teams above .500."
This is eerily similar to the point I made in an earlier article about this year's Knicks: They win against losing teams, and lose against winning teams.
In the midst of a six-game losing streak under D'Antoni, some called for the removal of Lin from the starting lineup.
Up to that point, Jeremy Lin, Amar'e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony had played seven games to a 2-5 record. I called for at least 10 more games for the trio to work together.
While Mike D'Antoni did not survive the skid with his job intact, Jeremy Lin did. Now, Lin, Stoudemire and Anthony have logged 17 games together, matching the 17 that last year's Heat played to a 9-8 record.
After starting off 2-5, the Knicks improved to a record of 8-9.
Their record against sub-.500 teams during that span: 4-3
Their record against winning teams during that span: 4-6
It is important to note that since Woodson took over and the Knicks have suddenly found defense and rebounding to be important, they have gone 3-0 against winning teams.
Is an 8-9 record anything to be proud of?
No.
But last year's Heat, after struggling through the first 17 games, finally began to gel and won 21 of their next 22 games, with their only loss being to the eventual champion Dallas Mavericks.
Knicks fans have reason for hope.
Yet this year's Knicks only have 17 games remaining to secure a playoff spot. They also face 10 teams with winning records.
If they can improve to 10-7 during this set of 17 games (reasonable expectation: 6-1 versus sub-.500 teams, 4-6 versus teams with winning records), the New York Knicks playoff position could drastically improve.
They sit only three games behind the Division Leader Philadelphia 76ers,and catching them would give the Knicks home field advantage in the first round.
The 76ers have gone 7-10 over their last 17 games.
10 games ago, the New York Knicks looked dead and all but buried. Today, they have a legitimate shot to have home field advantage.
What a difference a handful of games can make - a handful like the 17 games the Knicks have remaining.
The NCAA has dropped the hammer in recent years on the University of North Dakota's storied nickname, the Fighting Sioux, mandating that the school's athletic teams no longer use the name or mascot when competing in NCAA-sanctioned events.
Like, for example, the 2012 NCAA hockey championship tournament, for which both North Dakota's men's and women's qualified.
Here's the tricky part: The state of North Dakota requires, by law, that the team be known as the Fighting Sioux. Challenges to that law could eventually be heard by the state Supreme Court, but for now it's mandated, too.
So the team is still the Fighting Sioux, and the university president told the Grand Forks Herald that "we will still be competing officially as the Fighting Sioux" when the men's team takes the ice in the NCAA hockey tournament.
You just won't see or hear anything about the nickname on the road to the Frozen Four, from the jerseys to the game programs.
From Tom Miller of InForum.com:
The University of North Dakota will wear new hockey jerseys Saturday against Western Michigan in a first-round NCAA West Regional game at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. But fans likely will have to wait until the pre-game skate to see what they look like.
The jerseys have no reference to the school's Fighting Sioux nickname due to the NCAA sanctions. Under NCAA sanctions, UND is not allowed to use the Fighting Sioux name or logo in any NCAA-sanctioned tournament.
The lab rat for these sanctions was the North Dakota women's hockey team, which was eliminated from the NCAA women's hockey tournament by Minnesota earlier this month. They skated in uniforms seen above (via the Star Tribune), sans any Fighting Sioux references.
According to the Jamestown Sun, there was no UND photo in the official program because the team couldn't organize to take a new one, minus the Sioux imagery.
The ban extends to coaches, team personnel and the school band; UND President Robert Kelley has told fans they can still rock Fighting Sioux jerseys at games without fear of being gagged and stripped naked before getting ejected for their cultural insensitivity (we may be paraphrasing here).
The NCAA, he told the Grand Forks Herald, has "been fairly silent on the presentation of our fans."
So the Fighting Sioux ? er, North Dakota will wear white jerseys that state the college's name during their NCAA tournament games.
Until they return home, where they can be the Fighting Sioux again.
This would be so less complicated had the college simply worn the HOLLYWOOD sign on their hockey sweaters ?
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Austin Rivers is leaving the comforts of Duke and is headed to the NBA, making the next couple of years the most difficult of his basketball life.
The news came early on Friday morning by way of CBS Sports' Jeff Goodman. From there, the Twitter world was on fire with opinions on the young guard and how he would fare in the NBA.
For the most part, the thoughts were that Rivers had gone and made the worst possible decision of his life, and that he needed at least another year to mature into an NBA prospect.
I agree with the latter but the former is absurd.
If we are looking for one opinion that was on point when it comes to Austin Rivers, it came from Jay Williams, who gave a measured and correct assessment on the fallout.
People, stop hating on Austin Rivers. He will be a top 20 pick & gets paid millions to do an NBA internship. You would do the same....
— Jay Williams (@RealJayWilliams) March 23, 2012
All wrapped in one tweet, Williams hits on what awaits Rivers and the allure that not many would ever dream of passing up.
We can't fault Rivers who is, as of right now, expected to be a lottery or near-lottery pick at the NBA draft. He will be guaranteed a contract and will live out his dream of playing in the NBA.
The worry of a sophomore injury is gone and all that is left is the certainty of playing at the next level. It would be near impossible for any competitor to pass that chance up.
That brings me to what lies ahead, because the cheers of Duke fans will vanish, left by the pressure to live up to the expectations that comes with a high-draft pick.
Rivers will not enter the draft as a player that will make a starting lineup and start racking up 20-point games.
He can drive as well as any prospect, but his shot is far too inconsistent to expect anything more than flashes of brilliance out of the gate.
Another year in college would have served him well, possibly making him a top-5 pick in the next year's draft.
Instead, he is going to go through an internship to borrow Williams' term. With that comes the hardships of such an endeavor.
The NBA is never an easy prospect, but Rivers just made it a whole lot more difficult on himself.
On Tuesday, the 60-year old James was sentenced in a Manitoba provincial court to two years in prison after pleading guilty to sexually abusing two players he coached ? former NHLer Theo Fleury and his cousin, Todd Holt. The sentence is concurrent.
"There is no sentence this court can impose which the victims and indeed the public will find satisfactory,"�Judge Catherine Carlson told the court before she delivered her sentence.
Afterwards, Holt expressed his disappointment in a statement:
This sentence today is nothing short of a national travesty because we know that childhood sexual abuse has reached epidemic proportions in our country. Graham James once again perpetrated his crime and spread his sickness right through the courts of Canada. He conned the judge with his "poor me" and "I regret" statements. His lawyer defended the indefensible, and he's been rewarded for doing so and Graham James is laughing all the way back to the life he's always led knowing that justice for him is but a blip on the radar.
You can read the full joint-statement from Holt and Fleury here.
James was also ordered to not have any contact with the two victims, supply a DNA sample for the national offender registry and is banned for life from working in a position dealing with children.
This is the third sentence of sexual abuse for James. The Crown (government prosecutor) was looking for a six-year term, while James' defense argued for a conditional sentence of 18 months.
In 1997, the disgraced former junior hockey coach pleaded guilty to assaulting two former players, including former NHLer Sheldon Kennedy and was sentenced to three and a half years in prison before being paroled in 2001. After given a lifetime ban from the Canadian Hockey Association, James exiled to Mexico where it wasn't long before he was back in the news.
When Fleury released his autobiography, "Playing With Fire" in the fall of 2009, the former NHLer alleged he was also a target of sexual abuse from James when he was a minor player with the Moose Jaw Warriors in the 1980s. The allegations in the book once again put James' past in the spotlight. In January of 2010, Fleury filed a criminal complaint against James and through a CBC and Globe and Mail joint-report, James was found living in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Fleury attended the news conference with Holt and was not present at James' sentencing�telling the AP recently, "The case was closed for me a long time ago. I have moved on with my life. I'm not interested in going backwards. Why would I have to? Why would I need to?"
Continuing to move forward, but hearing the voices of the many outraged after the sentence was announced, Fleury urged his followers on Twitter to do one thing:
"If you are outraged by this verdict and I see you are. Never let this conversation die. Keep elevating till change is made."
Check out Buzzing the Net's Neate Sager's take on the sentence.
Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy
NHL realignment was the talk of the town for the first three months of the season before the idea died on the operating table when the NHLPA quashed the radical reformatting in early January.
It was the right call.�The proposal was flawed, especially in regards to how it impacted the playoff race and teams' chances of making the postseason. Now, thanks to Sports Club Stats, we can actually what that impact would have been.
The website is the go-to source for your team's mathematical odds of making the playoffs under the current Conference format, but they're also tracking the playoff race based on the shelved realignment.
If you're a fan of the Washington Capitals, Winnipeg Jets or Dallas Stars, you should be giddy this proposal�didn't make it past the NHLPA. Let's take a look at who sits where after Wednesday night's action, according to the four-conference system:
***
Conference A
95 Vancouver
85 Colorado
84 Los Angeles
84 Phoenix
82 San Jose
82 Calgary
75 Anaheim
66 Edmonton
Conference A is a dogfight, with only the Vancouver Canucks certain they'll be playing into April and five other teams clawing it out for three spots. That's one more spot than the same teams are currently fighting for in the current situation, but there's also one team missing from this dogfight: the Dallas Stars. They're in Conference B.
Conference B
100 St. Louis
93 Detroit
92 Nashville
92 Chicago
85 Dallas
76 Winnipeg
70 Minnesota
53 Columbus
And, unfortunately for Dallas, Conference B is a little top-heavy, with the Central Division's four standout groups hogging all four playoff spots. While Dallas has a 73.4% likelihood of making the playoffs and a 36% chance to win the division under the current alignment, they're all but mathematically eliminated in the four-conference system. According to Sportsclubstats, by these standings, the Stars have a 7.5% chance of making the playoffs.
Meanwhile, the Winnipeg Jets, who are only 4 points back of the playoffs and still have an outside (9.5% chance) of making the dance this year are a loss away from being mathematically eliminated already. They're done.
Conference C
87 Boston
85 Florida
84 Ottawa
80 Buffalo
72 Toronto
71 Tampa Bay
69 Montreal
Turning our attention to Conference C, Buffalo benefits from a relatively weak group. In the real world, they're sitting in a tie for 8th place with the Washington Capitals, who have a game in hand. According to Sportsclubstats, Washington has a 72.9% chance of grabbing the final spot, while Buffalo only has a 24.0% chance.
But, under this alignment, Buffalo is all but guaranteed a spot, with a 92.2% chance of making it.
Conference D
99 NY Rangers
96 Pittsburgh
92 Philadelphia
89 New Jersey
80 Washington
75 Carolina
71 NY Islanders
The Capitals, meanwhile, are finished. With the entire Atlantic Division now sitting above them, they have a less than 1% chance of getting above 5th.
***
Obviously, the standings would also look a little different because of the differing schedule, but it's still interesting to note the changes. If you're a fan of exciting stretch drives, it's clear that the current format would be far more compelling. Only Conference A will be staging a race to the wire; every other Conference has already separated the wheat from the chaff.
And it's probably a foregone conclusion that the 8 teams in Conference A would be quick to point this out. All 5 of its bubble teams would be sitting in a playoff spot in Conference C, which is less competitive and less crowded, with only 7 teams. There will always be teams that make the playoffs based on a weak group, but the opportunity to make the playoffs is so much easier in Conference C it hardly seems fair.
s/t to SOTSO Hockey for the tip.
?If you look at sports all around the world and you lot at sports owners trying to work out how to invest to make money, you will find that most of them like the idea of franchises,? Bevan said. ?If you take particularly American owners, without doubt, there have been a number of them looking at having more of a franchise situation and that would mean no promotion or relegation."
