Friday, December 31, 2004
GOODBYE 2004
...because "Sorry 2004" was just a horrible song.
You know, even when I miss just one day of these things, I feel like I lose a little sharpness.
Happy New Year's Eve to all of you.
MARINERS
Blaine Newnham's piece...he implies that the Mariners overpaid for Adrian Beltre, which flies in the face of the general consensus that they got a hell of a deal for him.
SEAHAWKS
The Seahawks have mangled Jim Mora Jr.'s defenses in San Francisco for the past five years. Unfortunately he isn't Atlanta's defensive coordinator this Sunday, but rather the head coach. Apparently even starting Matt Hasselbeck doesn't seem like as sure a thing as I thought it would be. He threw deep in practice yesterday though, so that's a plus. The Mike Holmgren ideal formula is also stated: complete 65% of passes, pass 60% of the time, give 22 carries to the run and five receptions to the running back. Also, did you know that Seneca Wallace makes the ideal scout team Michael Vick? That's in the latter link.
To say the Seahawks will have a few free agents after the end of the year would be a gross understatement. Ten starters on Sunday will be free agents after the season. What should the Seahawks do? I think the top priority is Shaun Alexander. The other two are Matt Hasselbeck and Walter Jones. I guess my gripe is...did Holmgren or Ferguson ever think about guarding against this possibility of having everyone and their mother eligible for free agency at the same time? Does this just happen or is it just bad planning?
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
In North Carolina's 107-64 stomping of Cleveland State, Marvin Williams had 14 points, 6 rebounds, an assist, and two steals in 22 minutes of play off the bench. Jeremy also reports that Marvin is a stud on ESPN College Hoops 2K5. North Carolina hosts the College of William and Mary on Sunday, and is off until the following Saturday when ACC conference play kicks off; they'll be hosting Maryland.
Huskies
The day has come. The Huskies start conference play tonight against the Cal Bears today at 1:30. Pieces on Will Conroy and Jamal Williams have been written to get thee warmed up for the game.
Bulldogs
Click here or scroll down two posts for Jeremy's piece on last night's game against Missouri. Gonzaga is off until they travel to Santa Clara to open conference play on Thursday. They're at Saint Mary's the following Saturday.
Sonics
For my painfully short piece on the game, scroll down three posts or click here.
The recaps for the radio-only game are here and here. One fact from the game that didn't get into the articles: the Sonics used as much zone defense in the first half as they had this whole season, according to Kevin Calabro on the radio.
Art Thiel has his article on this Euro-like team. No huge low-post threat, but it's true...this may screw the Sonics come April and the playoffs, but it's all they've got.
Also, say goodbye to Ron Murray's minutes. At least he's saying the right things.
Upcoming...
Tonight at Charlotte
Monday at Miami
Wednesday at Orlando
Thursday at Washington
HOCKEY
Since none of the WHL teams usually covered in this space played last night, and I didn't do a Thursday post, here's the games that would have been on the Thursday post.
Seattle beat Everett, 3-1. Twenty-four wins for the T-Birds equals their total for all of last year, and they got two more points of cushion on Everett in the standings. All the goals in this one came in the third period. Shaun Heshka got the Silvertips the 1-0 lead, but the T-Birds scored the final three goals to get the win. Seattle outshot Everett 11-3 in the third period and 32-15 in the game (not surprising to see Everett get outshot). Bryan Bridges stopped 14 for the win, and Mike Wall stopped 29 for Everett. Denis Tolpeko and Chris Durand were plus-2 for Seattle.
Prince George beat Portland, 6-3. The Cougars scored two first period goals and never trailed. Portland tie the game at 2-2 early in the second period on goals by Brian Woolger and Brandon Dubinsky. Dan Da Silva scored in the latter stages of the third period for Portland, but his goal only made it 5-3. The Cougars' 6th goal was an empty-netter. Cody McLeod of Portland tied Adam Deadmarsh for 15th all time in penalty minutes in Winter Hawks history. Portland outshot Prince George 34-32. Dustin Butler stopped 27 in his 18th straight start in the Portland net.
Upcoming...
Tonight: Seattle at Portland, Chicago at Manitoba, Tri-City at Puget Sound
Tomorrow: Spokane at Vancouver, Seattle at Everett, Portland at Tri-City, Tri-City at Puget Sound
Pool play is over at the World Junior Championships with the outcomes of these games...
Czech Republic beat United States, 3-1. Okay, I can see losing to the Czechs. Going into the tournament, that probably wouldn't have surprised me. I could have seen the United States coming out of pool play 2-2, losing to the Russians and Czechs. Of course, when they beat the Russians in the first game, that got the expectations up a little bit, and then the roof fell in with the loss to Belarus on Wednesday. Vladimir Koutsky stopped 38 for the Czechs, who got their first and last goals from Rostislav Olesz. Dan Fritsche scored the only USA goal, late in the second period, a goal that cut the deficit to 2-1. The USA outshot the Czechs 39-34. Al Monyota stopped 32 for the USA.
Canada beat Finland, 8-1. If Canada can beat Finland like this, they should have the tournament sewn up in their favor barring anything shocking. Jeff Carter got the hat trick, and Corey Perry got two goals. Andrew Ladd of Calgary and Shawn Belle of Tri-City were the WHLers scoring goals. Canada outshot Finland 51-20. Canada chased the opposing starting goalie for the third game in a row. Jeff Glass of Calgary stopped 19 for Canada.
Russia beat Switzerland, 6-1. Marco Kaser scored on the power play to put the Swiss on the board early in the second period. The problem for the Swiss was that Kaser's goal was the only one they scored. That cut their deficit to 2-1. Then the Russians scored the final four goals. Washington Capital draftee Alexander Ovechkin scored twice for the Russians. Russia outshot the Swiss 38-17. Michael Tobler stopped 32 for the Swiss, and Anton Khubodin stopped 16 for the Russians.
Sweden shutout Slovakia, 3-0. Johannes Salmonsson scored the firts and last goals for the Swedes, and David Raitio Berguv stopped all 32 shots. Jaroslav Halak stopped 27 of 30 in the Slovak net.
So the pools shake out as...
POOL A
Russia 3-1-0
Czech Republic 3-1-0
United States 2-2-0
Switzerland 1-3-0
Belarus 1-3-0
POOL B
Canada 4-0-0
Sweden 2-2-0
Finland 2-2-0
Slovakia 2-2-0
Germany 0-4-0
I heard the tiebreaker was goal differential, though I'm not sure how they applied it, and the official site is down. Here's the standings at TSN, with the goals for and against.
Upcoming...
Tomorrow: Germany vs. Switzerland (relegation game), Finland vs. Czech Republic (quarterfinal), United States vs. Sweden (quarterfinal)
Sunday: Slovakia vs. Belarus (relegation game), Canada vs. CZE/FIN (semifinal), Russia vs. SWE/USA (semifinal)
---
Drive safely if you're going out tonight. We like our readers, and we like all our readers to stay alive and stuff so they can continue reading and/or discovering Sports and B's.
You know, even when I miss just one day of these things, I feel like I lose a little sharpness.
Happy New Year's Eve to all of you.
MARINERS
Blaine Newnham's piece...he implies that the Mariners overpaid for Adrian Beltre, which flies in the face of the general consensus that they got a hell of a deal for him.
SEAHAWKS
The Seahawks have mangled Jim Mora Jr.'s defenses in San Francisco for the past five years. Unfortunately he isn't Atlanta's defensive coordinator this Sunday, but rather the head coach. Apparently even starting Matt Hasselbeck doesn't seem like as sure a thing as I thought it would be. He threw deep in practice yesterday though, so that's a plus. The Mike Holmgren ideal formula is also stated: complete 65% of passes, pass 60% of the time, give 22 carries to the run and five receptions to the running back. Also, did you know that Seneca Wallace makes the ideal scout team Michael Vick? That's in the latter link.
To say the Seahawks will have a few free agents after the end of the year would be a gross understatement. Ten starters on Sunday will be free agents after the season. What should the Seahawks do? I think the top priority is Shaun Alexander. The other two are Matt Hasselbeck and Walter Jones. I guess my gripe is...did Holmgren or Ferguson ever think about guarding against this possibility of having everyone and their mother eligible for free agency at the same time? Does this just happen or is it just bad planning?
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
In North Carolina's 107-64 stomping of Cleveland State, Marvin Williams had 14 points, 6 rebounds, an assist, and two steals in 22 minutes of play off the bench. Jeremy also reports that Marvin is a stud on ESPN College Hoops 2K5. North Carolina hosts the College of William and Mary on Sunday, and is off until the following Saturday when ACC conference play kicks off; they'll be hosting Maryland.
Huskies
The day has come. The Huskies start conference play tonight against the Cal Bears today at 1:30. Pieces on Will Conroy and Jamal Williams have been written to get thee warmed up for the game.
Bulldogs
Click here or scroll down two posts for Jeremy's piece on last night's game against Missouri. Gonzaga is off until they travel to Santa Clara to open conference play on Thursday. They're at Saint Mary's the following Saturday.
Sonics
For my painfully short piece on the game, scroll down three posts or click here.
The recaps for the radio-only game are here and here. One fact from the game that didn't get into the articles: the Sonics used as much zone defense in the first half as they had this whole season, according to Kevin Calabro on the radio.
Art Thiel has his article on this Euro-like team. No huge low-post threat, but it's true...this may screw the Sonics come April and the playoffs, but it's all they've got.
Also, say goodbye to Ron Murray's minutes. At least he's saying the right things.
Upcoming...
Tonight at Charlotte
Monday at Miami
Wednesday at Orlando
Thursday at Washington
HOCKEY
Since none of the WHL teams usually covered in this space played last night, and I didn't do a Thursday post, here's the games that would have been on the Thursday post.
Seattle beat Everett, 3-1. Twenty-four wins for the T-Birds equals their total for all of last year, and they got two more points of cushion on Everett in the standings. All the goals in this one came in the third period. Shaun Heshka got the Silvertips the 1-0 lead, but the T-Birds scored the final three goals to get the win. Seattle outshot Everett 11-3 in the third period and 32-15 in the game (not surprising to see Everett get outshot). Bryan Bridges stopped 14 for the win, and Mike Wall stopped 29 for Everett. Denis Tolpeko and Chris Durand were plus-2 for Seattle.
Prince George beat Portland, 6-3. The Cougars scored two first period goals and never trailed. Portland tie the game at 2-2 early in the second period on goals by Brian Woolger and Brandon Dubinsky. Dan Da Silva scored in the latter stages of the third period for Portland, but his goal only made it 5-3. The Cougars' 6th goal was an empty-netter. Cody McLeod of Portland tied Adam Deadmarsh for 15th all time in penalty minutes in Winter Hawks history. Portland outshot Prince George 34-32. Dustin Butler stopped 27 in his 18th straight start in the Portland net.
Upcoming...
Tonight: Seattle at Portland, Chicago at Manitoba, Tri-City at Puget Sound
Tomorrow: Spokane at Vancouver, Seattle at Everett, Portland at Tri-City, Tri-City at Puget Sound
Pool play is over at the World Junior Championships with the outcomes of these games...
Czech Republic beat United States, 3-1. Okay, I can see losing to the Czechs. Going into the tournament, that probably wouldn't have surprised me. I could have seen the United States coming out of pool play 2-2, losing to the Russians and Czechs. Of course, when they beat the Russians in the first game, that got the expectations up a little bit, and then the roof fell in with the loss to Belarus on Wednesday. Vladimir Koutsky stopped 38 for the Czechs, who got their first and last goals from Rostislav Olesz. Dan Fritsche scored the only USA goal, late in the second period, a goal that cut the deficit to 2-1. The USA outshot the Czechs 39-34. Al Monyota stopped 32 for the USA.
Canada beat Finland, 8-1. If Canada can beat Finland like this, they should have the tournament sewn up in their favor barring anything shocking. Jeff Carter got the hat trick, and Corey Perry got two goals. Andrew Ladd of Calgary and Shawn Belle of Tri-City were the WHLers scoring goals. Canada outshot Finland 51-20. Canada chased the opposing starting goalie for the third game in a row. Jeff Glass of Calgary stopped 19 for Canada.
Russia beat Switzerland, 6-1. Marco Kaser scored on the power play to put the Swiss on the board early in the second period. The problem for the Swiss was that Kaser's goal was the only one they scored. That cut their deficit to 2-1. Then the Russians scored the final four goals. Washington Capital draftee Alexander Ovechkin scored twice for the Russians. Russia outshot the Swiss 38-17. Michael Tobler stopped 32 for the Swiss, and Anton Khubodin stopped 16 for the Russians.
Sweden shutout Slovakia, 3-0. Johannes Salmonsson scored the firts and last goals for the Swedes, and David Raitio Berguv stopped all 32 shots. Jaroslav Halak stopped 27 of 30 in the Slovak net.
So the pools shake out as...
POOL A
Russia 3-1-0
Czech Republic 3-1-0
United States 2-2-0
Switzerland 1-3-0
Belarus 1-3-0
POOL B
Canada 4-0-0
Sweden 2-2-0
Finland 2-2-0
Slovakia 2-2-0
Germany 0-4-0
I heard the tiebreaker was goal differential, though I'm not sure how they applied it, and the official site is down. Here's the standings at TSN, with the goals for and against.
Upcoming...
Tomorrow: Germany vs. Switzerland (relegation game), Finland vs. Czech Republic (quarterfinal), United States vs. Sweden (quarterfinal)
Sunday: Slovakia vs. Belarus (relegation game), Canada vs. CZE/FIN (semifinal), Russia vs. SWE/USA (semifinal)
---
Drive safely if you're going out tonight. We like our readers, and we like all our readers to stay alive and stuff so they can continue reading and/or discovering Sports and B's.
/ Click for main page
