Month: March 2015

By: Joe Lami

The playoff hopes for the San Jose Sharks are getting smaller as they were handed a painful home loss to the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 on Saturday night.  The night started great for San Jose as they went up early, getting two goals in the first 12 minutes of the first period, but Vancouver was able to score three unanswered to bring home the victory, and strengthen their playoff contention.

With frustration of the loss the Sharks handed to the Canucks on Tuesday night, Vancouver started the game extremely aggressive.  Just 2:05 into it, things started to get dicey.  What started with a check from Brendan Dillion on Janek Hansen turned into a blood bath, where nearly every player on the ice got into an altercation.  Vancouver would somehow come out of it with a power play, that were not able to capitalize on, but the energy was definitely turned up.

The Sharks took advantage of the early fight, as Melker Karlsson started the scoring for San Jose, putting his eleventh of the year past Canucks’ goaltender, Eddie Lack.  The goal was set up on a point shot from Marc Edouard Vlassic  that kicked out to the left circle, where Karlsson picked it up and fired far side beating Lack’s glove side to put the Sharks up early.

San Jose would add another less than four minutes later.  This time off the stick of Joe Thornton for his 13th goal of the season.  Once again, a strong rebound was given up by Lack, and Thornton was in the right place at the right time, as he slammed the power play goal into the net from the right side.  However, the bounces would stop going San Jose’s way.

Vancouver would pick up momentum late in the first period, as they were able to get on the board, as Radim Vrbata scored his first goal of the evening with just 29 seconds remaining in the period.  Vrbata used a little bit of trickery to beat Antti Niemi, as he went behind the net, looking like he was looking for a wrap-around, he stopped came back to the same side and was able to slide it past the Sharks’ net-minder.  Sharks’ coach, Todd McLellan commented on the goal “that’s one Niemi probably wants back”.  The Sharks went into intermission with the 2-1 lead.

The Sharks best chance of the game that didn’t find its way home occurred in the second period, when Patrick Marleau had a wide open net at the left side of the goal mouth and he wasn’t able to tap it home.  Marleau commented on the missed opportunity, “I went to stop it, and missed it.  It went off the toe of my blade”.

Vancouver, once again, was able to capitalize on the Sharks’ misfortunes tying things up 16:24 into the second period, when a bad hop went over the stick of defenseman, Brent Burns, and led to the eventual breakaway goal for Bo Horvat.  Hornet skated in on the left side and just chipped it over the should of Niemi.  “It was a bad bounce, and then Burns got beat getting back,” added McLellan. The game was tied at two going into the final frame

The hockey gods were not helping the Sharks on Saturday night, as the puck would just not find its way home in the third period.  The bad luck would start just 1:09 into the period, when a scramble at the goal mouth would find the puck crossing the line, but after the referee blew his whistle.  The goal was taken away from Tommy Wingles, who said “the whistle was blown, and the referee let us know.  He was decisive, which is better than a ref that can’t make up there mind”. 

Vancouver was able to capitalize on the Sharks’ misfortune, when they took the lead 5:21 into the third.  Radim Vrbata put his second home of the game on a 4 on 3 power play goal.  It was set up on an offensive zone draw, that led to a scramble.  Vrbata was able to pick the puck up in the left circle bring it over to the right, and out wait Niemi who went down, as he flipped it over Niemi for the eventual game winner.

The bad puck luck would continue, when it looked like San Jose tied the game, on what would have been Thomas Hertl’s 11th goal of the season, but the puck hit the post and bounced back out.  “We didn’t have puck luck on either side tonight,” added McLellan.

The loss for San Jose puts them in a bind in terms of playoff contention.  Vancouver was four points ahead of them in the standings, good enough for second in the Pacific division, making this game so crucial.  Tommy Wingles commented on the loss “it was painful because they were a team we’ve been chasing”.

With the loss, the Sharks still have 72 points in 66 games played.  They are four points back of the closest playoff spot, third in the pacific division, held by Calgary whose holding 76 points in 65 games played.  The game in hand will occur tomorrow for the Flames, as they travel to Canada’s capital to take on the Senators.

The Sharks have another tough opponent on their docket, as Sidney Crosby, and the Pittsburg Penguins come into town on Tuesday night.  The Pens are currently sitting third right now in the Metro division with 85 points, picking up two on an overtime win over Los Angeles on Saturday.

By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Saturday, March 7, 2015

TEMPE, Arizona – After suffering a season-worst drubbing two days ago against Arizona, California did what it wanted to do Saturday afternoon – jump to a big lead against Arizona State.

The Bears did exactly that, leading 13-5 4 1/2 minutes into the game. But ASU erased that deficit by the end of the first half and held on for a 74-70 Pac-12 men’s basketball victory.

“That’s what happens when you don’t let your seniors all start on Senior Day,” ASU Coach Herb Sendek said, noting the unselfishness of senior reserves Jonathan Gilling and Bo Barnes choosing not to start their final home game at Wells Fargo Arena. “After falling behind early, our guys kept their poise and played great defense in the last 2/3 of the first half – that was our best defensive stretch.”

The Bears (17-14 overall, 7-11 Pac-12) were mauled 99-60 by Arizona on Thursday in Tucson, and hoped for an outcome that would help secure the sixth seed in the upcoming Pac-12 tournament. Arizona State (17-14 overall, 9-9 Pac-12) finishes no lower than sixth with the win.

“It was a hard fought game. We gave ourselves a chance but came up short,” Bears Coach Cuonzo Martin said. “I thought (Savon) Goodman did a good job of getting rebounds and making plays. They competed and they battled. Both teams battled. We got off to a great start and just came up short.”

Guard Tyrone Wallace scored 18 of his game-high 23 points in the second half, hitting a pair of 3-pointers down the stretch and ignoring the fabled Curtain of Distraction by hitting 5 of 7 free throws. Jabari Bird scored 13 points for Cal, with Jordan Mathews and Sam Singer adding 11 points each.

As a team, Arizona State hit 44 percent (28 of 64) from the floor, but missed 7 of 11 free throws in the second half. Shaquielle McKissic, who was sizzling in the Sun Devils’ Thursday night win over Stanford, continued where he left off by leading ASU with 21 points.

“Shaq was huge for us,. He played with a lot of confidence,” Sendek said. “Bo Barnes hitting those four free throws down the stretch was huge as well. It was a good team win on a very short turnaround.”

Savon Goodman added 18 points and eight rebounds for Arizona State, while Gerry Blakes contributed 16 points and Eric Jacobson grabbed eight boards as ASU outrebounded Cal 40-37.

“Savon killed us down low,” Bears guard Tyrone Wallace said. “I thought we fought, we came back with a run and just didn’t have enough.”

Cal missed its first six free throws against the Curtain of Distraction and finished the game 4-for-11 after going 4-for-4 in the first half. The notorious Curtain is only used in the second half when the visiting team shoots toward the student section.

After Cal built a 22-12 lead, the Sun Devils used a five-minute, 16-4 run to surge ahead for the first time on a Blakes layup with 5:10 remaining in the first half. ASU then broke a 28-28 tie with a 7-2 run to close out the half, taking a 35-32 lead into the lockerroom.

The Sun Devils took a 52-42 lead on a three-point play by McKissic with 14:05 left in the second half. Cal pulled to within 56-54 on a David Kravish lay-in. After a Jacobson tip-in put ASU up by 63-52, the Bears used a 10-2 run, capped by a Kravish layup with 1:32 left, to pull with 65-63.

Wallace buried a 3-pointer with 30 seconds remaining to bring Cal to within 67-66, but the Sun Devils were in the two-shot bonus and pulled away with three free throws by McKissic and four by Barnes. Wallace hit one final 3-pointer with :15.3 to play and an uncontested layup with :06 left.

“That’s the play that we scripted and we run in practice,” Martin said.”I thought we got the look we wanted but it just didn’t go in.”

“After I made the 3, we had to foul,” Wallace explained. “After they got a 3, we designed a play to get either Jordan or Jamari to go off the pick and get a shot. We got the shot we wanted and it just didn’t go down.”

Arizona State spent the final 3 1/2 minutes in the two-shot bonus after Christian Behrens picked up the Bears’ 10th team foul of the half. Jordan Mathews fouled out with five seconds left, while Wallace and Jabari Bird each finished with four personals.

Cal was whistled for 23 fouls, including a technical on Roge Moute A Bidias late in the first half, while ASU was called for 16.

“It’s never fun to get into foul trouble because it gets you out of the flow of the game, especially when we were up early,” Kravish said. “Arizona State did a great job of battling, but the fouls just get you out of the flow and it’s very frustrating.”

“Losing David (Kravish) hurt because he’s our best post man,” Wallace said. “Right now, he’s about the only one we can throw the ball in to and expect him to score on his own. He’s also a rim protector, so when he’s out, it changes the game and it really hurts.”

A 2-for-20 shooting stretch midway through in the second half didn’t help the Bears, either.

““I just think we had some foul trouble,” Martin said. “One of the things again, just like the last game, when David Kravish goes out you don’t have that low-post production so it’s hard to get the ball inside like you need to and everything is really on the perimeter. Tyrone (Wallace) got two fouls, so when you have two of your better scorers and leaders on the bench that makes it tough when you’re playing against a good team that really pressures you and gets in the passing lanes. But that’s what’s to be expected.”

The Pac-12 men’s basketball tournament starts Wednesday at MGM Arena in Las Vegas. Seedings will be announced later. Because of their overall record, the Bears could also be headed to the National Invitation Tournament.

“The most important thing for us is to get back home safely and we’ll go from there,” Martin said. “I think that’s the biggest thing. That and we have to get ready for the Pac-12 Tournament before we do anything else.”

“We’re working hard to get better every day, and we played much better than we did against Arizona,” Kravish said. “We’re just trying to take steps to improve because there’s still an automatic berth up for grabs, and it’s anybody’s tournament.

“If somebody wants to sit back on their heels and think they have it made, we’ll take them.”

The announced crowd was 5,619 for ASU’s home finale.

By: Joe Lami

The Stanford Cardinal held on in a nail biting win over UCLA in the second round of the Pac-12 tournament on Friday afternoon, as they beat the Bruins 67-62.  UCLA was coming off of an impressive 80-62 victory over the Arizona Wildcats in the first round, while Stanford got Thursday off with a first round bye.

Stanford led the entire contest, except for a one-minute period early in the first half, where they fell behind by two.  Even with leading the entire way, however, UCLA kept it close.  This was the case especially down the line, as the Bruins had a late push, going on a 11-0 run with 8:30 remaining to pull within one.  The run ended when Taylor Greenfield hit a free throw with 5:25 left.  The bruins were able to tie it at 56-56 with the next trip down the floor when Kacy Swain hit her jumper.  However, that would be UCLA’s last bucket until 2:15, as the Cardinal were able to go on a 5-0 run that ended up being the difference maker, as UCLA was unable to make the comeback.

Amber Orrange led all scorers with 18 points, as the Stanford senior also contributed three assists.  Lili Thompson finished the day just four of ten from the field, but was still able to manage 14 points to become the Cardinal’s second top scorer.  Erica McCall capped off the double digit scorers with ten.

Jordin Canada finished as UCLA’s top scorer with 15.  Kari Korver added 12, and Swain finished with ten.

The Cardinal will move onto the semi-finals of the tournament, where they will take on Arizona State on Saturday.  Arizona State has the Cardinal’s number this year beating them in both meeting, so Stanford will look to exact their revenge.