Author: lleonardbw

Golden State Warriors commentary & podcast: W’s have their All-Stars on (three of them) going into the Big Apple

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by David Zizmor

OAKLAND–The Warriors who are coming off a three game win steak after beating New York, Philadelphia and Minnesota they let those three teams stay in a lot more than they would have liked especially considering how bad those teams are. New York and Philadelphia are considered the two worst teams in the NBA. Minnesota is a little better they have potential rookie of the year Andrew Wiggins whose playing really, really well.

Minnesota is a little more frisky but their not a good team either. The Warriors would have hoped in all three of those games they would have just blown them out. The Warriors are going into the break tired things are a little bit heavy right now and at this point of the season things are a little bit of a drag because your not playing for anything yet.

The playoffs are not quite in their sites so your not getting super excited about positioning and the W’s are a little bit tired they’ve been playing a lot of games they’re on the road. The Warriors look a little slow, a little sluggish and as a result they played these three teams that were all bad teams and they were all inexplicably close games.

That last game against Minnesota was a close one right at the end a 94-91 Warrior win. New York and Philadelphia teams but they both stayed pretty close to the Warriors. The mark of a good team even on nights when your not looking your best especially on the road you still pull off the victory and that’s what the Warriors did.

They went out and took care of business it wasn’t the prettiest but they went out and got the victories. That’s why the Warriors are sitting at the All-Star break with a 42-9 record. It’s kind of amazing record if your a Warriors fan to think that in the last 40 seasons how they could have 42 wins at the All-Star break at this stage of the season. They’ve never accomplished that.

2015 All-Star game: The Warriors have sent three representatives head coach Steve Kerr and players Stephen Curry and Klayton Thompson. Curry got the most votes of anybody in the All-Star game the starting point guard. Thompson made it on as a reserve and he ended up as a starter because the Lakers Kobe Bryant got injured and they needed to replace him in the back court.

Kerr as the head coach he and his staff are the ones in charge in the Western Conference All-Stars, It’s a trifecta who can remember the last time that a Warriors coach coached the NBA All-Star game? Kerr has been fantastic and not bad for his first year coaching the team. Curry is a bonafide all star.

David discusses the NBA All-Star game in New York on his podcast below http://www.sportsradioservice.com

AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro Am commentary & podcast: Jones and Snedeker leading the way on the boards weather conditions permitting big time

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by Jeff Hall & Jeremy Harness

PEBBLE BEACH–The thing about the course at Pebble Beach Spyglass Hill it rained here with the big storm one week ago Friday the greens are a little wet and the ball is sticking on the greens and the players are taking advantage of it. Matt Jones who led the leaderboard with -12 mentioned on Friday that the conditions at Spyglass was the best he ever has seen in the seven years that he’s played here.

Brandt Snedeker said that he enjoyed the conditions and no wind it gave him a great chance to not play the weather but play the game good enough to get him in a two way tie with Jones with a -12, “There’s no hitting toward the middle of the greens the rest of the week. You’ve got to keep your foot on the gas pedal and keep going low” Snedeker said.

Pebble has the smallest greens, the greens start to harden up that golf course becomes more and more difficult, so we’ll see how that plays out because you have the leaders there today. “last year, I remember playing the Monterey Penninsula in 35 MPH wind and rain blowing sideways. It was not very much fun at all. It’s a far cry from that this year, 75 degrees and sweating out there. When the weather’s like this, there’s no better place to be on the planet” said Snedeker.

Working the course we had to find a place to plant ourselves and watch some golf and get a good view of the action out there. There’s nothing like seeing the best in the world playing golf. It’s a thing of beauty of course, the golf course itself is gorgeous and you can’t get any better weather than what were getting right now out here and Snedeker used that to his advantage of be on the top with Jones on the leaderboard “I haven’t been competitive in a while. I just need to get myself some chances to win, and all that stuff will take care of itself” said Snedeker.

John Daly struggled on Friday with a bogey on the first hole at the Monterey Peninsula Course Daly finished Friday with a one over within six shots of the lead and plays Spyglass on Saturday. It was the best round he’s had in ten years even though he struggled with that bogey on that first round he battled on the first night and came back on the second night.

Charlie Beljan had and an 8 under day and finished -10 for the tournament he did have an amazing Friday and he got a little bit aggressive in the last hole he couldn’t even believe the score he shot yesterday. He ended up with a Bogey on the last hole he just overplayed it. That was the only hole that he struggled with other than that it was a great day. If someone told him he was going to shoot that well going into the day he would have been happy.

Jeff Hall and Jeremy Harness are covering the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro Am for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Are Cuban baseball players overrated?

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

TEMPE–There is no doubt, for the past few years Cuban players have been the hottest commodity.There has been so much talk about the Cuban players and Cuba, that the Asian invasion of a few years ago has been all but forgotten. Remember when Japanese players were coming into the majors, and big press conferences were put together to announce the most recent import to the game? That has subsided, but at the same time the Cuban market has gone crazy.

The Oakland Athletics have shown interested, along with the Giants, Padres and Dodgers(among others)in 29-year old Cuban infielder Hector Olivera, who many scouts believe could be a middle of the order hitter in the Athletics lineup, and in a totally different infield this season for the A’s. He could be a good deal for the bargain-hunting Oakland A’s if they can land the free-agent -the A’s would not have to pay a luxury tax.

Not long ago(last eight years or so) you could count with the fingers on one hand the Cuban players in the major leagues. In 2014, between 25 to 30 Cubans players were in the majors, and there will be more playing in 2015. Red Sox speedster-outfielder Rusney Castillo, could make a big difference on top of the Boston Red Sox lineup, a Boston team that could go from last to first in their division this year. Yoenis Céspedes is now on his third team since he first played with the A’s. He has played in Boston and this season will be playing for the Detroit Tigers, and is poised to have his best season at Comerica Park, a great place for a right handed power hitter.

Meanwhile in Chicago, the Rookie of The Year, first baseman José Abreu will be on his second season with the Chicago White Sox, one of the most improved teams in baseball this winter. Yasiel Puig who is the poster child for the crop of talented Cuban players of recent memory, now feels more comfortable with the Dodgers, as he plays with the enthusiasm and the talent that puts him in a class by himself, an MVP waiting to happen, but like a precious stone that needs to be polished,he will bet better, he is one of those special players that people pay just to see.

So are Cuban players overrated? I do not think so. These Cuban players arriving today, are ready to play,at least at the Triple A, level, but most are major league caliber. After defecting from Cuba, these players usually make it to the Big Show in an average of two years. That’s very good, they know that the contract is awaiting, that teams are sending scouts all over the world to give them a look. The Cuban players, know that they are a very hot commodity in today’s very wealthy Major League Baseball. It is good to see that the pioneer Latin country when it came to players in the major leagues is coming back. Recently the Cuban team won their first Caribbean Baseball Series as the beat México 3-2 in the final game. It was the first win for Cuba in the tournament that they used to dominate since 1960.(First Caribbean Series was in La Habana, Cuba in 1949)

The Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum at the Athletics Fanfest.

Oakland Athletics Cuban-born right hander reliever Dan Otero, sat with yours truly at The Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum and Hall of Fame table, during the Oakland A’S 2015 Fanfest. Around 15,000 A’S fans showed up, during a stormy day to see their heroes. Otero signed for approximately 30 minutes at our table and he seemed to really enjoy it as he signed autographs and have his picture taken with fans of all ages. He told me “estoy listo para el entrenamiento” trans: “I am ready for Spring Training”.

President’s Day and Baseball:

America’s affinity baseball made its way to the White House during the Taft administration. President William Howard Taft was the first American president to throw out the ceremonial first pitch in 1910. It was opening day for the Washington Senators at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C. Since Taft, every U.S. President has thrown out at least one first pitch inaugurating a season. Richard Nixon was probably the most savvy of US Presidents, when it came to baseball. The great New York baseball writer Dick Young once wrote about President Nixon: “Richard Nixon would have to top the list of presidential baseball fans. “This isn’t a guy that shows up at season openers to take bows and get his picture in the paper and has to have his secretary of state tell him where first base is. This man knows baseball.”

Have a happy and safe President’s Day weekend.

Amaury Pi-González is on his 38th season as major league broadcaster, Spanish Voice for the Oakland A’S radio network, and also play by play for the LA Angels on Anaheim on the Fox Sports West/Español in southern California. Amaury also does News and Commentary each week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Francisco Giants commentary & podcast: Panda still talked about he will leave a void but the memories run deep

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by Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO–Pablo Sandoval the Giants former third baseman will be missed and the Giants new third baseman Casey McGehee who played in Miami last season will be starting at the hot corner this year. Last season for Sandoval it helps out the Giants that he brought a little bit of that exuberance to the Giants. Not only in the clubhouse but he was one of the most popular Giants in the 12 years that I have covered this team.

His void is going to be memorable because he was just so popular in San Francisco, I wouldn’t say he’s up there with a Willie Mays, Willie McCovery, Juan Marichal, Gaylord Perry or a Orlando Cepeda but he’s in that era because he was a huge part of those three World Series for the Giants. He was one a few players that was a part of all three championships he’s going to be memorable for a long time.

Pablo will be just as big of a part of the team as Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Buster Posey, and Brandon Crawford the difference about the Panda and those other players was you didn’t see fans wear Lincecum, Madision Baumgarner, Posey, or any of the other players hair. You saw the Panda hats roam around AT&T Park each night. It didn’t matter who the Giants played around this country, you saw Panda hats in other MLB cities and his popularity with that whole Kung Fu Panda phenomenon period in 2008 and 2009 he became like the crown guy. Sandoval was “the guy” with the Giants in that era.

The former Giant and now Miami Marlin Michael Morse said that he could hit 50 home runs in a season when he was interviewed about eating the right kinds of foods. Morse has a lot of confidence that he could hit well coming into spring training. Morse is back home in Miami where he’s from and for him to hit 50-60 home runs that means your in the Mark McGwire, Babe Ruth, Sammy Sosa, Roger Maris, or Barry Bonds territory.

I don’t think Morse is going to hit anything close but because the way the ball park is in Miami, it’s a big ball park, it’s not the old Marlins ball park, it’s not one of those band boxes, it’s not Petco Park, it’s not AT&T Park a pitcher’s ball park and it has been that way for 15 years and that’s why the Giants have three world’s championships. It was because of the Giants pitching and not because of their offense, the Giants offense is good but their pitching adds something extensively over the last few seasons.

For Giants pitcher Matt Cain his presence in the clubhouse is huge as he’s a big part of these Worlds Championships for the Giants. Angel Pagan is coming back and he’s going to be huge in the lineup leading off because he brings a presence. He’s quick he can get on base, he can steal second, he can be on third base and he can be on there before you know it. Pagan’s presence will be huge for the Giants going forward into spring training.

Jeremy Kahn covers San Francisco Giants baseball and does Giants commentary each week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to his podcast below

Evgeni Nabakov

San Jose Sharks commentary & podcast: Nabby’s retirement party greeted by presser and standing ovation

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by Ivan Markarov

SAN JOSE–This is a special day as former San Jose Shark Evgeni Nabokov’s storied career comes to end as he announced his retirement on Wednesday and retired as a San Jose Shark. Nabokov was a goalie for the Sharks from 2000-2010, he was here for that decade and brought a lot of great moments for the Sharks. It was a really great gesture by the organization and to let him retire as a Shark in the city where his family lives and the city that loves him.

Nabokov amassed 697 career NHL games and played 593 of them as a Shark he won rookie of the year in 2001, and careerwise there are not a lot of goaltenders that stay that long with one club in the NHL. He is number 18 all time on the NHL winning list with 293, he also has 50 shutouts. He is one of the best goaltenders in the league in the last 20 or so years. He could arguably be the best Russian goaltender ever.

Nabokov has done a lot in his career it’s great to watch him come retire like this on his own terms. He’s one of the few players in the NHL who achieved almost all the goaltender records on an NHL team as Nabby holds most goaltender records for San Jose. He will be remembered as a great regular season goaltender. He had mixed results in the playoffs but the fans really loved him one of the few players to go out by being called back by a former team and get a day to retire.

We saw the reaction before the game on Wednesday night how much the fans love him as they were chanting “Nabby, Nabby” right after the anthem was over and he got to drop the puck before the game with Sharks representing captain Patrick Marleau and Capitals representing captain Alex Ovechkin. He was really an important player in Sharks history.

With the franchise goalie records that Nabokov holds he will be in the NHL record books for a long time. NHL goaltenders tend to switch teams more regular than Nabokov did he spent the majority of his career all the good years with San Jose. He was a starter for most of the year and he really didn’t have a lot of competition at goal but he outshined a lot of former Sharks goalies like Mikka Kiprusoff or Vesa Toskala.

They had good gaoltending battles and the Sharks ended up trading those other goaltenders to other teams so all in all Nabokov provided a lot of great moments for the Sharks and their fans. In Nabokov’s retirement he wasn’t really surprised the way things went, he thought he could play awhile. He was playing in Tampa Bay and got waved helped the decision to retire the Lighting turned out to be one of his last teams.

Ivan Markarov is the San Jose Sharks beat writer for http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to his podcast below

AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro Am commentary: Tiger rehabbing bad back says it’s not surgery related; could be back in action Feb 25

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by Jeff Hall and Jeremy Harness

Tiger Woods who is not at the AT&T Tournament and begged off at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines has announced on Wednesday that he will put the golf clubs in the closet while he rehabs his bad back. Woods had complained about back spasms during the Phoenix Open and had to leave that tournament. Tiger 39 has not said anything about retirement but listening to most radio talk shows the suggestion was not on short order.

Woods has said that his performance is not up to PGA standards and has said that he would not return to the game until his game is up to par. Woods during the Phoenix Open shot a career worst 82 shots and missed the cut by 12. Woods then moved onto LaJolla and shot 11 holes but back spasms forced him to leave that tour.

As of this week Woods said that his back is feeling better and that he was having physical therapy everyday and the treatments were helping.”Right now I need a lot of work on my game, and to spend time with the people that are important to me. My play, and scores are not acceptable for tournament golf. Like I’ve said, I enter a tournament to compete at the highest level, and when I think I’m ready I’ll be back.”

Tiger said that he could be back as soon as the Honda Classic on Feb 26th but said that he will not play in the tournament if he’s not up to code. Woods who had back surgery last spring said that his current condition is not related to the surgery and that these are a new set of back problems that he was dealing with at the Farmers Insurance Open.

When Woods left Torrey Pines he had treatment done to his back almost immediately on Feb 5, that day it was foggy and somewhat cool and that might have led up to his back having spasms. Woods agent Mark Steinberg told ESPN that therapy helped tremendously and gave Tiger a chance to see light at the other end of the tunnel in coming back this month, “it alleviated the discomfort quite a bit. They said it’s not surgery related and that was a great relief. I don’t know what you call it but their saying it wasn’t related to the surgery and he didn’t even need to see a doctor.”

Jeff Hall and Jeremy Harness are covering the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro Am this week at Pebble Beach Calif for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sacramento Kings commentary & podcast: Karl hiring announcement expected during NBA All-Star break; Corbin and team spent over coaching controversy

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by Jeff Hall

SACRAMENTO–When this whole thing about bringing George Karl on has head coach which started on Tuesday night it brought a whole whirlwind of confusion going on this road trip to Chicago and now onto Milwaukee. The word that the Sacramento Kings DeMarcus Cousins said after last week’s Utah game Cousins said “were confused” and the players were all confused and that added to it in their loss to Chicago on Tuesday night 104-86.

The Kings new owners who already have the new arena being built in downtown Sacramento couldn’t wait to have things start happening to this team. Things didn’t get off the ground as the owners expected. From the beginning of the season things were going better than anyone expected in terms of the way the Kings were performing for former head coach Michael Malone.

When Cousins came down with meningitis and while he was out the team stopped performing and when that performance started to drop out the door went Malone who was fired by the Kings. Then the Kings replaced Malone with Tyrone Corbin who will work his last game on Wednesday night before new head coach George Karl will take over the reigns after the NBA All Star game on Sunday.

Malone was to be the interim coach who didn’t last and then Corbin was hired as the permanent full time coach and that’s not the case anymore as Corbin’s case is not as successful as they would hope. Now their going to go with a legendary NBA coach George Karl which on the surface is not a bad thing. When you look at it you say “hey George Karl is a winning coach, he’s had some experience with some great basketball players and some great basketball teams.”

Karl is coming off his last job coaching for the Denver Nuggets, the thing about this is that Karl is getting older 62 he’s beaten cancer twice and that’s a concern that the Kings have. The original deal was that the Kings wanted to sign Karl onto a four year deal worth $4 million per year. The Kings are expected to make an official announcement on the signing within the next few days and are expected to make that announcement during All-Star weekend.

Karl reportedly was holding out as of Tuesday for another year to make it a five year contract. Terms of the deal have not been updated but it was reported on Wednesday night that Karl had signed on with the Kings. The team is concerned about Karl’s cancer history, the plan sources have been saying throughout the negotiations that the Kings would like to get Karl started after the All-Star break as that looks like it will come to fruition from all indications.

Jeff Hall covers Sacramento Kings basketball for http://www.sportrsradioservice.com listen to his podcast below

AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro Am commentary & podcast: Bill Murray and cavalcade of stars ready to swing the clubs

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by Daniel Dullum

Bill Murray who shows up at almost every AT&T Tour this year being no different as he lead the cavalcade of stars at Pebble Beach on Wednesday. Here’s a look at the top celebrity golfers appearing at this year’s event: Kenny G, Kelly Slater, Peyton Manning, Chris O’Donnell, and Wayne Gretzky. Is Murray a great golfer? We’ll if you were that good you’d be on the tour and Murray has a lot of fun with it. He’ll put on a show by himself for the folks who show up.

He brings an act to every tournament that he shows up at he has a way with connecting with the crowd they want to see a little bit of a show and he knows he’s not a great golfer so he disguises that with having fun with the crowd. With some of the celebrities that show up fans might be mildly surprised how these folks are at golf.

There’s former 49er quarterback John Brodie he actually played on the seniors tour for a little while and that was back in his playing day with the 49ers. He was very close to being a scratched golfer, he was good quite good back then does that surprise anyone that some celebrities can play the game? Not really, they have athletes like former 49ers quarterback and current Chief quarterback Alex Smith out there and he’s working on his game between seasons. Golf for these guys are a way for these guys to unwind in between season going to mini camp and working out.

A lot of these guys are a lot of fun to watch in scenario like this because I’ve got to cover a few celebrity golf tournaments through the years an just to watch these guys in the T box just swing away it’s just amazing how far they can hit. What usually does their game in is the short game or the approach shots when it comes to driving a lot of these guys former ball players have the strength to do it. It’s really fun watching them swing away and see how far they could hit it.

There is a lot of former pro hockey players that play quite well on the links, it does not surprise me if Gretzky has a little bit better game than the average celebrity. With the celebrities having their game on Wednesday before the pros get in there on Thursday it says a lot about the early days of the tournament it’s always been a highlight to bring in the celebrities whether it’s from sports or the entertainment field.

It’s a chance for those guys to rub elbows with the touring pros. The course at Pebble Beach is challenging and it’s one of the few like it in the world so and everybody enjoys getting out on a course like Pebble Beach to see how good they are. It’s probably the best American equivalent to the type of courses that are played on when the guys play in the British Open.

Daniel Dullum does commentary on the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro Am listen to his podcast on the AT&T below on http://www.sportsradioservice.com

18th hole at Pebble Beach

AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am commentary & podcast: Taking you through the experience of being at the Pebble Beach course

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by Jeff Hall and Jeremy Harness

PEBBLE BEACH–For those of you who have never been at Pebble Beach you usually go to the lodge when first arriving for the AT&T and if you go around the corner on the right hand corner of the lodge and as your going around the corner one of the first things that you see is the coast crashing against the 18th Fairway and the 18th hole, it makes your jaw drop it’s gorgeous.

The golf is great but you get the bonus of the glorious creation of the land and the sea it breathtaking and gorgeous. The setting couldn’t be better and this tournament started out in Southern California and Bing Crosby moved it to the Monterey Peninsula and he picked the right spot and were all still being rewarded for that decision.

If you think about it, think about the name of the tournament like the last tournament in Torrey Pines in San Diego it’s corporate sponsored Farmers Insurance Open and so is this one but they didn’t call the last one Farmers Insurance LaJolla, this one is actually called the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am. You put the name of the location that tells you how important that location is.

The experience of meeting the celebrities is special in this event. It give you the experience of getting up in front of people in the entertainment industry that you normally wouldn’t get a chance to get in front of. If there are any presidents playing which there are not there will be that much more people and their staff and security working the event but we won’t have that this year.

Speaking about LaJolla, Torrey Pines is a wonderful golf course but it is not Pebble Beach. There are a lot of players to look forward to seeing in this tournament that will be appearing Ernie Els being one, Jason Day, J.B. Holmes who won last week’s tournament will be playing this week. There will be some good golfers showing up at the tournament, also the PGA had a rough week this week losing Tiger Woods after 11 holes at Torrey Pines to a back injury, the passing of the PGA’s first black player Charlie Sifford passed away at age 92 and Billy Casper passed away at the age of 83.

Also it’s not known how long Tiger is going to be out, he had to leave in his last three tournaments due to a bad back. Since the big story of the spat between ex-wife Elin Nordegren in December 2009 Woods has not played up to his past potential. Whether Woods can come back based on what happened in LaJolla is still a mystery and the PGA hopes that Woods can make a comeback soon he’s been the face of the PGA for decades.

Jeff Hall and Jeremy Harness are covering the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am for http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to Jeff’s podcast below

San Jose Sharks commentary & podcast: The frustration continues as the Sharks drop three of four and face Ovechkin and the Caps

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by Ivan Markarov

SAN JOSE–It’s been a little discouraging for the San Jose Sharks who have now dropped three of their last four games, they look like a disorganized team, they look like their out of sink. They can’t put a lot of passes together, they’re not playing as physical, the Flames are just running circles around the Sharks.

The possession by the Calgary Flames in one offensive series in the first period of Monday night’s game in SAP Center put together 30-40 passes for an unprecedented 1:30 possession of the puck without a Shark even touching the puck. That’s not how the Sharks want to play. Head coach Todd McClellan is giving it his all right now in a nice beating on the team in the locker room after a first period like that.

The Sharks used to be the team that was known for very strong first periods at the Tank, this season hasn’t been the case the Sharks have fallen asleep in the beginning and let the other teams get on board much like the game in Calgary or the game against Carolina last Saturday in San Jose. The Sharks didn’t start playing well until the third period on Saturday, these things happen but nobody on the Sharks seems to know why and they lost by three goals on Monday to Calgary 4-1.

The Sharks still want to be that team that plays very well in San Jose and get on the board first but so far this season they’ve been very inconsistent. It’s hard to say what their going to look like for the game with the Washington Capitals coming up on Wednesday night but they’ll have their hands full no doubt. The game on Saturday wasn’t enough against the Hurricanes they came back in that see saw match and scored three goals in the third period but then again it proved not be enough.

At the end of the game the Sharks allowed the goal that was to the go ahead goal for the Canes for the 5-4 win. The Sharks when they get in over their heads they have trouble trying to master another come back. The Sharks are struggling defensively right now they lost their best player Marc Edouard Vlasic who is the most consistent player on the team. Right now the Sharks are not sure what his injury is, it was ruled as a bad cold in the previous game but the Sharks put him on injured reserve.

For Valsic it might be an illness that might last longer or it could be something else no one really knows from the Sharks medical staff right now. It’s a big loss none the less as you could sense in the game without him on Monday night. He would be the one who pick up the puck in the end and position himself well.

Listen to Ivan Markarov’s podcast below on Sharks hockey right here on http://www.sportsradioservice.com