Saturday, January 29, 2005
LOTS O' STUFF
Man, that was a busy Saturday. At least it was for two of the sections below. I didn't see the Sonics play because I was busy watching some much-needed hockey live and in person with two teams that really do not like each other and that face each other again tonight. Seriously, they might be fighting from the opening faceoff.
For my random note today, I'm building off a Dane Cook joke. Does any game of Monopoly truly reach the end that is intended in the manual? Usually somehow one person ends up with most or all the higher-end stuff and eventually pulls out Boardwalk and Park Place and then you're pretty much screwed if you land on those two spaces. But do you ever really get bankrupt, or does the game go so long, but you're usually discouraged at a certain point and the game just dissolves?
**Late add ~2:25p -- The Stanford women's swim team beat 11th-ranked UCLA 176-124 in a dual meet yesterday. Bremerton 2002 grad and butterfly specialist Dana Kirk finished second twice to Kim Vandenburg in both the 100 and 200 fly with NCAA "B" qualifying times of 55.02 and 2:00.54. Stanford was to have another home meet today against USC.
On TV today -- North Carolina at Virginia (9a, ESPN), Portland at Gonzaga (8p, ESPN2)
MARINERS
Larry Stone gives some ink to the Mariners' hire of Mat Olkin as their number-crunching guy. Thankfully, Bill Bavasi and the front office realized that having such a person was needed in today's player personnel landscape. Does anyone want to take any wagers on which deal Mat Olkin helped quash? According to the article, Olkin's findings of a negative trend steered the Mariners away from a certain player.
Again, though a different sport, I link to you Kevin Pelton's articles on the Sonics using the approach of statistical evaluations.
SEAHAWKS
The Seahawks still have no president and no vice president of football operations.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
Marvin Williams and the Tar Heels play at Virginia bright and early this morning (9a, ESPN).
Huskies
The Huskies look to bounce back from their loss in Tucson. Nate Robinson in particular wants to bounce back from his 4-for-12 game against Arizona with five turnovers. Also, Brandon Roy's big individual goal is to be named to the Pac-10's All Conference Team. Of course, that's directly related to him jumping to the NBA.
The Huskies play at Arizona State tomorrow (12:45p, CBS). Here's to hoping your part of the country doesn't get stuck with Connecticut at Notre Dame.
Bulldogs
The Zags host the Portland Pilots tonight (8p, ESPN2).
Sonics
For my shorter-than-usual take on last night's game, scroll down a post or click here if this is the only post on the page.
Yes, the Sonics won despite getting next to nothing from their bench. Vladimir Radmanovic's three-pointer in the fourth quarter snapped a personal streak of 20 straight misses from the field stretched across all three games of the road trip. Antonio Daniels also went a sparkling 0-for-7 from the field. However, Rashard Lewis was able to have his way on the baseline most of the night to help negate the futility of the bench.
If there's one good thing from last night's game, it's that the main word that follows "ugly" is "win." The Sonics blew the 16-0 lead they piled up to start the game, then almost blew another 10-point lead to finish the game. Luckily Derek Fisher's three-point attempt to tie the game in the waning seconds didn't find the twine. After Rashard hit his jumper that accounted for the last Sonic points, and Ron Murray was defending Jason Richardson when he missed his jumper on the ensuing possession. Murray was lauded by Coach McMillan for his defensive intensity in the fourth quarter.
Man, how would you have liked to have been one of the Warriors' players or coaches and then falling behind 16-0 the day after having a big team air-out meeting? I'm almost glad for the Warriors' sake that they made a game out of this. That could have been even more crippling to a team that's horrible to begin with.
I could say more about this Ted Miller article, but I'll keep it simple to avoid much buzzkill. After this year, with all of the players that could leave the Sonics and given the dire straits the team is in...just enjoy this year, let's put it that way.
Upcoming...
Monday vs. San Antonio (7p, FSNNW)
Tuesday at Sacramento (7p, FSNNW)
Saturday vs. Charlotte (7p, FSNNW)
HOCKEY
Before this section starts, Chris Durand of the Thunderbirds got some press. He would be a top-15 prospect in the upcoming NHL entry draft if there was one.
Seattle beat Kamloops 4-2. Seattle coach Rob Sumner called his team's effort on Wednesday night, the Thunderbirds' third straight home loss, "awful." Last night, they played more physically and jumped out to a 2-0 lead on power-play goals by Clayton Barthel and Derek Couture in the first period. The Blazers got within one by the end of the first period on a 5-on-3 goal and eventually tied it in the second period on a shot just inside the blue line. Ladislav Scurko beat Kamloops goalie Devan Dubnyk five-hole on a two-on-one rush for the winner with 5:50 to go in the middle period. Tyler Metcalfe iced the game with an empty-netter in the third period. Seattle outshot Kamloops 31-24. Bryan Bridges stopped 22 in the Seattle net.
Portland beat Everett 4-2. Everett has fallen on hard times as the Portland Winter Hawks' first three-game winning streak of the year has put them in a tie with the Silvertips for second place in the WHL's US Division. The Winter Hawks killed off all four Everett power plays last night, and have killed off 27 straight power plays over the last five games. Portland chased Mike Wall after they scored twice (Garrett Festerling and Mike Funk) on their first eight shots. Everett cut the deficit in half when Curtis Billsten put in a rebound about six minutes into the second period, but Brandon Dubinsky of Portland raced in off the bench on a change to score 48 seconds later. Tyler Dietrich scored in his first game back from injury with a goal to get the Silvertips within one at 3-2 just past the halfway point in the third. Everett eventually pulled Leland Irving from the net in the final minutes, but Alex Leavitt took an untimely high-sticking penalty. Portland eventually finished it off with a Dan DaSilva empty-netter. Everett outshot Portland 25-24. Mike Wall stopped 6 and Leland Irving stopped 15 for Everett, and Blake Grenier stopped 23 for Portland.
Vancouver beat Tri-City 3-1. The Giants scored once in every period to beat the Americans. Vancouver got the first goal from Andrej Meszaros and never lost the lead. The other goals were from Mitch Bartley and Gilbert Brule, who scored the empty-netter shorthanded in a 6-on-4 Tri-City attack. Vancouver badly outshot Tri-City 28-16. Marek Schwarz stopped 15 for the Giants, and the continent's top-rated goalie going into the NHL entry draft (if there is one), Carey Price, stopped 26 for Tri-City.
Utah beat Manitoba 4-3 in a shootout. Manitoba scored in each of the first three periods, but blew a 2-1 lead and pulled Alex Auld out of the net for an extra attacker in the late minutes to get the tying goal (3-3) to net a point in the standings and force an eventual shootout, where the Grizzlies won on the their seventh shot. Jeff Heerema scored the first and last Moose goals, and Peter Sarno scored the other. The Moose outshot the Grizzlies 33-25. Alex Auld stopped 22 in net for Manitoba.
Puget Sound beat Spokane 3-2. These two teams do not like each other, a point which was punctuated when Maciej Michalik of the Tomahawks dropped the gloves with under five minutes left in the game with a Spokane opponent and also dropped the Flyer in four punches, sending him to the ice and making slow to get up. There was also a good deal of trash-talking after the finall buzzer. The Tomahawks killed off back-to-back minors in the third period with a 3-2 lead to stave off the Flyers. Whit Garey shot into an open net from low in the slot to open the scoring just past the five-minute mark, and Mike Truex put in a sharp-angle low shot from the corner that hit the inside of the far post for a 2-0 lead. Spokane scored just past four minutes into the second period, but took a penalty not long after, and the Tomahawks converted on an end-to-end passing play, the last pass of which went from the left point to Chase Ambuter low in the slot, where he punched it in for a 3-1 Puget Sound lead. Spokane got to within one in the third period with 10:53 left on a breakaway in which goalie Iggy Slepokourev may have been screened by his only defender that the Spokane skater had to beat. The Michalik got into that fight after a whistle that was originally for a Puget Sound penalty. The Tomahawk minor was short-lived, as the Flyers got whistled six seconds later. The Tomahawks withstood the Flyers' assault in the final minutes, and had the help of two key plays. A Spokane skater carrying the puck was moving across the blue line on a rush, but new acquisition Brett Dreher caught him with his head down and nailed him, breaking up the rush. One puck was deflected high up into the air and was grabbed by the hand of Jan Loboda, who was positioned in the slot. He was able to bat the puck away into a less dangerous area of his own zone. Iggy Slepokourev also withstood a flurry of activity in close until the buzzer sounded. The same two teams go at it tonight.
Upcoming...
Tonight: Everett at Seattle, Tri-City at Portland, Kelowna at Vancouver, Manitoba at Utah, Spokane at Puget Sound
Tomorrow: Everett at Tri-City
Monday: Grand Rapids at Manitoba
Tuesday: Grand Rapids at Manitoba, Queen City at Puget Sound
Wednesday: Spokane at Seattle, Vancouver at Red Deer, Queen City at Puget Sound
---
Whew. Have a great Sunday, everyone.
For my random note today, I'm building off a Dane Cook joke. Does any game of Monopoly truly reach the end that is intended in the manual? Usually somehow one person ends up with most or all the higher-end stuff and eventually pulls out Boardwalk and Park Place and then you're pretty much screwed if you land on those two spaces. But do you ever really get bankrupt, or does the game go so long, but you're usually discouraged at a certain point and the game just dissolves?
**Late add ~2:25p -- The Stanford women's swim team beat 11th-ranked UCLA 176-124 in a dual meet yesterday. Bremerton 2002 grad and butterfly specialist Dana Kirk finished second twice to Kim Vandenburg in both the 100 and 200 fly with NCAA "B" qualifying times of 55.02 and 2:00.54. Stanford was to have another home meet today against USC.
On TV today -- North Carolina at Virginia (9a, ESPN), Portland at Gonzaga (8p, ESPN2)
MARINERS
Larry Stone gives some ink to the Mariners' hire of Mat Olkin as their number-crunching guy. Thankfully, Bill Bavasi and the front office realized that having such a person was needed in today's player personnel landscape. Does anyone want to take any wagers on which deal Mat Olkin helped quash? According to the article, Olkin's findings of a negative trend steered the Mariners away from a certain player.
Again, though a different sport, I link to you Kevin Pelton's articles on the Sonics using the approach of statistical evaluations.
SEAHAWKS
The Seahawks still have no president and no vice president of football operations.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
Marvin Williams and the Tar Heels play at Virginia bright and early this morning (9a, ESPN).
Huskies
The Huskies look to bounce back from their loss in Tucson. Nate Robinson in particular wants to bounce back from his 4-for-12 game against Arizona with five turnovers. Also, Brandon Roy's big individual goal is to be named to the Pac-10's All Conference Team. Of course, that's directly related to him jumping to the NBA.
The Huskies play at Arizona State tomorrow (12:45p, CBS). Here's to hoping your part of the country doesn't get stuck with Connecticut at Notre Dame.
Bulldogs
The Zags host the Portland Pilots tonight (8p, ESPN2).
Sonics
For my shorter-than-usual take on last night's game, scroll down a post or click here if this is the only post on the page.
Yes, the Sonics won despite getting next to nothing from their bench. Vladimir Radmanovic's three-pointer in the fourth quarter snapped a personal streak of 20 straight misses from the field stretched across all three games of the road trip. Antonio Daniels also went a sparkling 0-for-7 from the field. However, Rashard Lewis was able to have his way on the baseline most of the night to help negate the futility of the bench.
If there's one good thing from last night's game, it's that the main word that follows "ugly" is "win." The Sonics blew the 16-0 lead they piled up to start the game, then almost blew another 10-point lead to finish the game. Luckily Derek Fisher's three-point attempt to tie the game in the waning seconds didn't find the twine. After Rashard hit his jumper that accounted for the last Sonic points, and Ron Murray was defending Jason Richardson when he missed his jumper on the ensuing possession. Murray was lauded by Coach McMillan for his defensive intensity in the fourth quarter.
Man, how would you have liked to have been one of the Warriors' players or coaches and then falling behind 16-0 the day after having a big team air-out meeting? I'm almost glad for the Warriors' sake that they made a game out of this. That could have been even more crippling to a team that's horrible to begin with.
I could say more about this Ted Miller article, but I'll keep it simple to avoid much buzzkill. After this year, with all of the players that could leave the Sonics and given the dire straits the team is in...just enjoy this year, let's put it that way.
Upcoming...
Monday vs. San Antonio (7p, FSNNW)
Tuesday at Sacramento (7p, FSNNW)
Saturday vs. Charlotte (7p, FSNNW)
HOCKEY
Before this section starts, Chris Durand of the Thunderbirds got some press. He would be a top-15 prospect in the upcoming NHL entry draft if there was one.
Seattle beat Kamloops 4-2. Seattle coach Rob Sumner called his team's effort on Wednesday night, the Thunderbirds' third straight home loss, "awful." Last night, they played more physically and jumped out to a 2-0 lead on power-play goals by Clayton Barthel and Derek Couture in the first period. The Blazers got within one by the end of the first period on a 5-on-3 goal and eventually tied it in the second period on a shot just inside the blue line. Ladislav Scurko beat Kamloops goalie Devan Dubnyk five-hole on a two-on-one rush for the winner with 5:50 to go in the middle period. Tyler Metcalfe iced the game with an empty-netter in the third period. Seattle outshot Kamloops 31-24. Bryan Bridges stopped 22 in the Seattle net.
Portland beat Everett 4-2. Everett has fallen on hard times as the Portland Winter Hawks' first three-game winning streak of the year has put them in a tie with the Silvertips for second place in the WHL's US Division. The Winter Hawks killed off all four Everett power plays last night, and have killed off 27 straight power plays over the last five games. Portland chased Mike Wall after they scored twice (Garrett Festerling and Mike Funk) on their first eight shots. Everett cut the deficit in half when Curtis Billsten put in a rebound about six minutes into the second period, but Brandon Dubinsky of Portland raced in off the bench on a change to score 48 seconds later. Tyler Dietrich scored in his first game back from injury with a goal to get the Silvertips within one at 3-2 just past the halfway point in the third. Everett eventually pulled Leland Irving from the net in the final minutes, but Alex Leavitt took an untimely high-sticking penalty. Portland eventually finished it off with a Dan DaSilva empty-netter. Everett outshot Portland 25-24. Mike Wall stopped 6 and Leland Irving stopped 15 for Everett, and Blake Grenier stopped 23 for Portland.
Vancouver beat Tri-City 3-1. The Giants scored once in every period to beat the Americans. Vancouver got the first goal from Andrej Meszaros and never lost the lead. The other goals were from Mitch Bartley and Gilbert Brule, who scored the empty-netter shorthanded in a 6-on-4 Tri-City attack. Vancouver badly outshot Tri-City 28-16. Marek Schwarz stopped 15 for the Giants, and the continent's top-rated goalie going into the NHL entry draft (if there is one), Carey Price, stopped 26 for Tri-City.
Utah beat Manitoba 4-3 in a shootout. Manitoba scored in each of the first three periods, but blew a 2-1 lead and pulled Alex Auld out of the net for an extra attacker in the late minutes to get the tying goal (3-3) to net a point in the standings and force an eventual shootout, where the Grizzlies won on the their seventh shot. Jeff Heerema scored the first and last Moose goals, and Peter Sarno scored the other. The Moose outshot the Grizzlies 33-25. Alex Auld stopped 22 in net for Manitoba.
Puget Sound beat Spokane 3-2. These two teams do not like each other, a point which was punctuated when Maciej Michalik of the Tomahawks dropped the gloves with under five minutes left in the game with a Spokane opponent and also dropped the Flyer in four punches, sending him to the ice and making slow to get up. There was also a good deal of trash-talking after the finall buzzer. The Tomahawks killed off back-to-back minors in the third period with a 3-2 lead to stave off the Flyers. Whit Garey shot into an open net from low in the slot to open the scoring just past the five-minute mark, and Mike Truex put in a sharp-angle low shot from the corner that hit the inside of the far post for a 2-0 lead. Spokane scored just past four minutes into the second period, but took a penalty not long after, and the Tomahawks converted on an end-to-end passing play, the last pass of which went from the left point to Chase Ambuter low in the slot, where he punched it in for a 3-1 Puget Sound lead. Spokane got to within one in the third period with 10:53 left on a breakaway in which goalie Iggy Slepokourev may have been screened by his only defender that the Spokane skater had to beat. The Michalik got into that fight after a whistle that was originally for a Puget Sound penalty. The Tomahawk minor was short-lived, as the Flyers got whistled six seconds later. The Tomahawks withstood the Flyers' assault in the final minutes, and had the help of two key plays. A Spokane skater carrying the puck was moving across the blue line on a rush, but new acquisition Brett Dreher caught him with his head down and nailed him, breaking up the rush. One puck was deflected high up into the air and was grabbed by the hand of Jan Loboda, who was positioned in the slot. He was able to bat the puck away into a less dangerous area of his own zone. Iggy Slepokourev also withstood a flurry of activity in close until the buzzer sounded. The same two teams go at it tonight.
Upcoming...
Tonight: Everett at Seattle, Tri-City at Portland, Kelowna at Vancouver, Manitoba at Utah, Spokane at Puget Sound
Tomorrow: Everett at Tri-City
Monday: Grand Rapids at Manitoba
Tuesday: Grand Rapids at Manitoba, Queen City at Puget Sound
Wednesday: Spokane at Seattle, Vancouver at Red Deer, Queen City at Puget Sound
---
Whew. Have a great Sunday, everyone.
/ Click for main page
