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Saturday, November 20, 2004

BUSY-NESS 

Well, Jeremy took care of the ugly events at the Palace earlier in the night, lightening the load for me here on Saturday morning. The ugliest thing I'm talking about here is the Dallas Mavericks' alternate jerseys, designed by SeanJohn (P Diddy).
AP photo -- Tony Gutierrez
Yup, they're crap. Mark Cuban obviously must be chomping at the bit to get a marketable third jersey, after the failed hefty-bag black-sheen uniforms from early last year.

Anyway, it took me a long time to write this up, and I've got stuff from all the sports, with a good deal of space given to basketball and hockey. There's even Tomahawk game notes, which may or may not happen again, who knows. And as an added bonus, because I was so late getting this up, I worked in a couple of the Tribune links, since I was late enough to where they posted their stuff when I could get to it.

BASEBALL
They've got a name now. Jose Vidro and friends can now call themselves the Washington Nationals. I'd laugh if the logo just ended up being a play on the M that was on the Montreal caps. Just replace the thing with an N. As the Guinness guys in the commercial would say: Brilliant! The now-Nationals also worked a trade to get Jose Guillen in their strive to win 60 games or so next year. That's a totally off-the-wall prediction that I just pulled right out of thin air.

Lefty Randy Williams, a 29-year-old September call-up from last season who didn't have a chance in hell of staying on the Mariners' 40-man roster, was dealt to San Diego to keep the Seattle/San Diego pipeline up and running. The Mariners got 21-year-old minor league infield Billy Hogan in return. Michael Morse, Shin-Soo Choo, and Wladimir Balentien were added to the 40-man, which now sits at 39 players, with the Rule 5 Draft coming on December 13th.

FOOTBALL
Before I go Seahawk here, let me remind everyone that the Grey Cup is tomorrow, and the BC Lions have a chance to be on top of the Canadian football world after it all.

Is there more than just the opportunity to beat up on patsies over the next three games (Miami, Buffalo, Dallas)? Well, the Seahawks will have Bobby Engram and Grant Wistrom finally back on the field tomorrow. Here's to hoping this team just plays better than Miami tomorrow, and keeps taking care of business so that a healthy Engram and Wistrom can be reassimilated into the play on both sides of the ball. If the team coalesces better over the next few weeks and hits their stride when the schedule starts to get tougher, there just might still be a morsel of hope left for a home playoff game. But...

The charley horse from hell is certainly worse than I thought. Matt Hasselbeck is questionable to start tomorrow, and Trent Dilfer will most likely be at the helm for the Seahawks against Miami. Hasselbeck has a bruised right thigh, and tender ribs on his throwing side. Dilfer also said some glowing things pertaining to Hasselbeck's tolerance of pain in the last game against the Rams. Also, Chad Brown didn't practice all week with a sore left knee and will be a gametime decision. Ken Hamlin and Bobby Taylor will also play tomorrow after resting a sore toe and sore knee, respectively. Solomon Bates will also be seeing a good deal of playing time thanks to the injuries of Chad Brown, Anthony Simmons, and Tracy White.

BASKETBALL
Huskies
The Huskies opened the season with an 89-71 win against Seattle Pacific. This came despite the Huskies being shorthanded four players (Will Conroy, Bobby Jones, Tre Simmons, Jamaal Williams) serving a suspension for playing in an unsanctioned Sea-Tac league game last spring. Said Nate Robinson: "We're a good team without those guys. We're a great team with them." The Huskies were down 11-10 in the first half, but then it was unsurpisingly all Huskies. Brandon Roy scored 23, Nate Robinson had 22, and Mike Jensen had 14 and 13 boards.

The Marvin Williams Watch
In North Carolina's 77-66 upset loss to the Broncos of Santa Clara, Marvin Williams scored 7 points, grabbed 6 boards, and had an assist in 21 minutes of play.

Sonics
For my take on the game, scroll to the post below this one or click here.

They just keep winning. The Sonics missed nine of their first ten shots. A couple of Rashard Lewis threes put the momentum in the Seattle column toward the end of the third quarter and the 9-0 run in the fourth quarter put the game away. They've trailed in the third quarter in every game on this road trip. Antonio Daniels scored 14 of his 19 points in the second half.

The Sonics won for their second time against the Raptors, the first team which they've beaten twice this year. The Raptors have lost five straight, and rumors of a Vince Carter trade are still swirling. The Sonics had a little trouble finishing the Raptors off, due to Danny Fortson missing a free throw and Daniels and Nick Collison missing four straight free throws collectively. The climbed to within five with 47.3 seconds remaining before the Sonics hit their next six free throws to ice the win.

Corey Brock points out that the Sonics went with a big lineup of Daniels/Allen/Fortson/Collison/Radmanovic and managed to pull away. Sans Allen, that group of players combined for 39 points and 21 boards. Collison also played the entire fourth quarter and got five rebounds in his 14 minutes of play. The Sonics nailed six of their three-balls in the third quarter. Brock also elaborates on something I mentioned the other night, a hypothetical morphed point guard which I named Lukonio Ridniels. One big key to the platoon, they know their roles (and shut their mouths...not complain, that is).

Sadly, the revolution will not be televised tomorrow, one of the few Sonic games this year that won't be on the tube. It's radio only this time from Boston.

Upcoming for the Sonics...
Sunday at Boston
Wednesday at Minnesota
Thursday at Memphis

HOCKEY
Seattle beat Spokane, 6-4. Three goals by the T-Birds within a three-minute span in the third period sealed the deal in this one. Spokane had the early 1-0 lead, but that lasted all of 40 seconds. Mitch Fadden tied the game, and Tyler Metcalfe put Seattle in the lead on the power play with three seconds remaining in the period. The two teams traded goals until the score was tied at 3-3 (Ryan Gibbons had the Seattle goal). But in a span of 2:38 in the latter half of the third period, the Thunderbirds opened up a 6-3 lead thanks to goals by Aaron Gagnon, Ladislav Scurko, and Ryan Gibbons (second of the night). Aaron Grabner scored the fourth Spokane goal with 2:58 left in the game, but it was obviously too little, too late. Bryan Bridges stopped 22 of 26 for Seattle.

Everett shut out Portland, 3-0. Mike Wall turned away all 30 shots by the Winter Hawks for his fourth shutout of the season. Portland was shut out for the third time this season. Goals for the 'Tips were scored by Kyle Annesley, Ivan Baranka, and Brady Calla. The Winter Hawks were shut out for their second straight game, with the last one being a scoreless tie last Saturday. They have gone 126:50 without scoring. The third period featured three fights within a 30-second span, as the Winter Hawks let the frustration boil over a bit.

Vancouver beat Prince George, 4-3. Mercifully, the Vancouver Giants ended their five-game losing streak against the Cougars thanks to two goals each by Tim Kraus (deflections of two point shots by the Giants' blueliners) and Gilbert Brule. Mitch Bartley and Ty Morris also had two assists each. Marek Schwarz stopped 16 of 19, and the Giants outshot Prince George 26-19. Tyrel Lucas of the Cougars opened the scoring in the first period, but Brule scored on a power play with four minutes remaining in the first period. He scored again 2:37 later.

Saint John's beat Manitoba, 5-3. The Moose lost their first game at the MTS Centre, allowing three goals en route to the loss. The Moose tied the game at 1-1 in the first period on a goal by Jason King, but that was as close as they got. Worse yet, he tie game only lasted 35 seconds. They went to the dressing room down 3-1 after 20 minutes. The remaining goals on the night were scored by Jason King (two on the night for him) and Lee Goren. Wade Flaherty stopped 20 of 25 for the Moose, but Mikael Tellqvist stopped 33 of 36 for the Baby Leaf win.

Puget Sound beat River City, 6-2. Nineteen wins. Two losses. This team is amazing. Luke Winkelman had two goals, and Iggy Slepokourev stopped 31 of 33 in this fight-filled affair. The Jaguars actually led the Tomahawks 1-0 early in the first period, but that turned around thanks to three goals in the second period. Puget Sound outshot the Jaguars 43-33. The Tomahawks broke in a couple of new players. There were tons of fights in the second period, and new Tomahawk Maciej Michalik had his presence felt, pummeling the Jaguar he scrapped with and getting ejected. This won't happen every game, but I was able to take some game notes, and here they are.

1st period
~13:00 Puget Sound goalie Iggy Slepokourev stands tall on ~3 scoring chances
***11:00 Michael Roughton of River City scores (RC 1-0)
***9:47 Ryan Osterheldt scores for Puget Sound to tie the game (assist Mike Truex, 1-1)
9:29 River City brings some offensive pressure, and Puget Sound goes on the penalty kill thanks to a cross-check
8:37 Iggy puts a pad save on a shot from the left side
7:39 the puck looked like it went through for Puget Sound, and there was some raising of arms, and some cheering, but there was no shorthanded goal (disallowed?) on the play, and instead there was a penalty on the Tomahawks' Corey Coxon, the Jaguars got 10 seconds on the 2-man advantage
5:39 the Tomahawks kill off the two-man advantage, as well as the minor penalty
4:34 Iggy makes a glove save
***2:02 the Tomahawks score as Carl Horten goes top shelf from the right side (from Truex) on a rush
1:38 Iggy makes a nice stop with his left pad
0:40.7 Puget Sound has traffic on the Jags' doorstep but can't find the back of the net
0:20 Jeff Alexander of the Tomahawks is stopped on a breakaway

After 20 minutes, Puget Sound 2, River City 1...PS had some trouble moving the puck out of their own end, but the penalties against them didn't help either. The first two minutes of the period were spent entirely in the Jags' zone, as were most of the first five minutes of the period, which were marked with a couple of bone-jarring hits delivered by the Tomahawks.

2nd period
***17:18 Corey Coxon scores for the Tomahawks, now leading 3-1 (assists Eric Casebeer, Jeff Alexander)
***16:32 Luke Winkelman scores off the rebound for Puget Sound (assists Kyle Stoumbaugh and Coxon)
15:58 fight, Nick Clay of River City against Steve Shapley (Shapley wins the fight)
14:03 Puget Sound's Whit Garey upends Ian McDougall
13:57 five-minute high-stick on Jackson Wiegers of the Tomahawks (I didn't know that five-minute high-stick penalties even existed, I thought it was just two minutes and four if you drew blood)
10:44 Puget Sound's Mike Truex off the post on a wide-open shot from the right circle
9:14 another Puget Sound penalty
8:55 Iggy stops with the glove and chest as first penalty ends
8:22 Iggy with a glove save
8:16 Iggy puts the pad on a shot from the right side
7:26 another scrum for Wiegers (another four minutes, high-sticking)
6:57 Iggy lays down for a save
***5:41 shorthanded, Truex goes low and scores, and the Jags pull their goalie
5:36 Maciej Michalik of Puget Sound makes his mark in his first game, pulverizing Reed Fuller and earning himself an ejection
5:31 another fight as Carey Enoch of the Tomahawks got a ton of headshots in on Reed Fuller (offsetting penalties...a bunch of penalties going on)
***5:01 Mitch Radakovich finally scores for the Jags on the power play
4:40 the Tomahawks land a centering pass on the tape, but the shot is wide
3:08 Iggy smothers the puck
3:06 yet another fight, Keith Riley of the Jags went to the dressing room...on-ice minor to Russell Anderson of River City...first Tomahawk power play
1:32 nearly another fight...Jags' penalty (2:00)
0:23.3 penalty on Shapley

After 40 minutes, Tomahawks 5, Jaguars 2. The Tomahawks spent forever and a day on the penalty kill, but most of that time was spent in the River City end of the ice.

3rd period
17:10 a Puget Sound centering pass doesn't get redirected into the net
15:56 Iggy smothers
15:05 Puget Sound centering pass ... unsuccessful shot
14:22 another Tomahawk scoring chance
13:58 Puget Sound on a breakaway had a high shot glove saved
13:37 Nic Ballinger went to the dressing room with a bloodied hand
12:39 Iggy pad save
11:45 shot off Iggy's face mask, I think
***9:33 Tomahawk goal (6-2)...traffic in front of the net...Winkelman scores his second of the night (assisted by Horten and Truex)
7:03 interference minor on Horten
6:14 Iggy gloves a slapshot
3:27 Stoumbaugh gets in a scrum after the whistle...4-minute penalty, he went to the dressing room...someone else served two minutes
2:42 Wiegers threw a nice hit along the boards
1:26 Iggy gloves a slapshot from outside the blue line

Here's tonight in hockeyland. After tonight, there aren't any games until Wednesday...
Tonight: Tri-City at Everett, Portland at Seattle, Kamloops at Vancouver, River City at Puget Sound
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Well, that was a long one. Have a great Saturday and a great weekend, though I'll be hitting you with another post tomorrow morning.

[Edit ~10:23a -- Added Grey Cup note.]

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