Author: Sports Radio Service

Barracuda power their way over Eagles 6-2

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photo from sjbarracuda.com

By Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Jose Barracuda didn’t have to wait long to get revenge on the Colorado Eagles. They scored six unanswered goals, including three on the power play, to take down their Pacific Division rival 6-2 on Saturday afternoon at SAP Center.

Only 16 hours after a tough 4-1 loss to the same Eagles team, San Jose snapped out of their funk and split the two-game series with Colorado. The ‘Cuda now have 13 points on the season and went 2-2 on their four-game home stand.

San Jose (6-10-0-1) jumped out to another fast start when Alex True sent a pass back up to Thomas Gregoire at the right point. Gregoire threw a wrist shot at the net, where Lean Bergmann deflected the puck past Eagles goalie Antoine Bibeau for his fifth goal of the season at the 2:42 mark of the first period.

Just under four minutes later, San Jose doubled its lead when Joachim Blichfeld intercepted a clearing attempt by Kevin Connauton. Danil Yurtaykin quickly passed it to Joel Kellman and the Swedish forward backhanded a centering pass back to Blichfeld, who fired a one-timer past Bibeau for a tic-tac-toe goal, his team-leading seventh of the season at the 6:36 mark.

The ‘Cuda completed their first period three-goal output on the power play just a little over half way through the opening frame. A give and go passing display between Jonny Brodzinski and Gregoire led to the Quebec native teeing up a slap slot just above the slot that rocketed past Bibeau for Gregoire’s second goal of the season at the 11:10 mark.

Bibeau was sent to the showers during the first intermission as he was replaced by Adam Werner in the second period after giving three goals on 10 shots.

San Jose continued their dominance in the second period scoring two more goals. Just like the first period, both goal came in the first 10 minutes of the period.

Sasha Chmelevski, playing in his first game back since October 30th when he was out with a lower body injury, did some nifty skating into the Eagles zone as he went past two Eagles defenders before putting a backhand shot on goal that Werner stopped but couldn’t handle the rebound. Maxim Letunov’s attempt deflected over to Jeffery Viel who cleaned up the rebound into the back of the net for his fourth goal and San Jose’s second power play goal at the 2:09 mark.

“Yeah it felt great,” said Chmelevski about how healthy he feels. “I didn’t even know if I was going (to play) today with everything that’s been going on (with my injury). I just wanted to help out the team anyway I could and I’m just happy we won.”

Just under three minutes later, Letunov sent a pass behind the net that Evan Weinger collected and fed back to Jayden Halbgewachs, who quickly turned toward the net with a backhander that slid past Werner’s five-hole for Halbgewachs third goal of the season at the 4:53 mark.

Colorado (9-8-0-0) had a chance to score before heading into the second intermission when Jacob Middleton went into the sin-bin for hooking with two minutes left in the middle frame, but San Jose’s penalty kill kept the Eagles from cashing in on their opportunity.

The ‘Cuda made it 6-0 in the third period with their sixth different goal scorer when Chmelevski won a face off over to Halbgewachs. The Saskatchewan native then skated over to the right slot when he snapped a wrist shot that Chmelevski tipped past Werner for his third goal of the season and San Jose’s third power play goal of the game at the 4:27 mark.

“I feel like when we play with passion and like that will, there’s not a lot of teams that can stop us. Today I thought I provided a little bit of a spark for the team. And I thought that’s what we needed to win today,” said Chmelevski.

Colorado broke ‘Cuda goalie Josef Korenar’s shutout bid with a little help from the referee. A clearing attempt by Keaton Middleton hit off the ref’s skate that allowed the Eagles to sustain pressure inside the zone. After a two point-blank chances by Colin Campbell were stopped by Korenar, the rebound trickled out to a wide-open Erik Condra who tapped it into an empty net for his third goal of the season at the 10:12 mark.

Sheldon Dries completed the scoring when he came crashing in to put home a rebound off a Jayson Megna shot was kicked out to the left of the crease for a power play goal. Dries’ eighth goal of the season came at the 15:50 mark.

Korenar finished the afternoon stopping 39 of the 41 shots he faced for his fifth victory of the season. Werner nine saves on 12 shots in mop-up duty.

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 3/7 on the power play. Colorado was 1/3. The three power play goals for the ‘Cuda were a season-high.

The three stars of the game were…
1) Chmelevski
2) Korenar
3) Gregoire

The announced attendance was 3,385.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda travel down to San Diego to take on the Gulls on Wendesday 11/27 at 7:00 pm at Pechanga Arena.

San Jose State gets blown out at home by Portland State, 91-76

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Photo credit: @SanJoseStateMBB

By Ana Kieu

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Jose State men’s basketball team concluded its homestand with a game versus the Portland State Vikings on Saturday evening at Provident Credit Union Event Center. SJSU also hoped to win their third straight game.

On the contrary, SJSU was unable to keep the winning ways rolling. Portland State had the game from start to finish.

The Spartans played from behind from the get-go as the Vikings jumped out to an 11-point lead at the 10:22 mark before Richard Washington swung the momentum back to the Spartans’ favor with a deep 3-pointer. Zach Chappell scored the next 9 SJSU points with three triples to cut the deficit to 3 at 26-23. But the Spartans just couldn’t keep  up as the Vikings closed out the first half with a 14-6 run to take a 40-30 lead into the locker room.

Portland State showed no signs of slowing down out of the break. The Vikings extended the lead to 16 at the second media timeout at 52-36. The Vikings’ 15-2 run then put the game out of reach as they claimed a 24-point advantage. SJSU turned the ball over five times in the span and finished the night with 20 turnovers.

SJSU, however, didn’t go down without a fight. Seneca Knight sparked an 11-0 SJSU run that cut the lead down to 69-56 with 5:13 to go before a Portland State 3 put an end to it. After a pair of Chappell free throws, the lead was cut to 11, which was as close as the Spartans would get. Portland State hit free throws in the final minutes to shut the door and pick up their second win of the season.

The Spartans (3-3) were held to a 40% shooting clip and was 28% from behind the arc after putting up 25 shots. They made just 3-of-10 in the second half.

SJSU got most of their points (47) from off the bench as Washington (18) and Chappell (17) combined for 35 points. Knight, who was held scoreless until 7:36 remaining, finished with 17 points of his own. Washington pulled down a team-high 8 boards.

Despite a poor start from the free throw line in the first half, SJSU fared well in the second half, going 16-of-17 from the charity strip

Portland State (2-3) was led by Matt Hauser’s game-high 24 points. Hauser was one of six Vikings to reach double-digits. The team shot 44% for the evening.

The Spartans head to the Pacific Northwest to take on the Oregon State Beavers on Wednesday, Nov. 27 at 8 pm PST.

SJSU loses heartbreaker on the road against UNLV, 38-35

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Photo credit: @SanJoseStateFB

By Ana Kieu

After a bye week, San Jose State football headed to the desert to take on the UNLV Rebels on Saturday at Sam Boyd Stadium. SJSU had hoped to bounce back following a tough 42-40 loss at Hawaii on Saturday, Nov. 9. Sadly, that didn’t happen for the Spartans.

UNLV took an early 7-0 lead on a short touchdown run. SJSU’s Bailey Gaither made a nice grab and the Spartans were in the redzone for the eventual touchdown, courtesy of DeJon Packer, who plowed it in for the touchdown. However, the extra point was no good, so the Spartans settled for the 6 points to cut the Rebels’ lead to 7-6.

The Spartan offense made a great scoring drive, but it was soon silenced by UNLV. The Rebels turned a pair of deflected pass interceptions into touchdowns for a 21-6 lead midway through the second quarter.

SJSU trailed 21-6 at halftime. The Spartans looked to mount a second half rally, but came up just short in the end.

SJSU scored 22 points in the third quarter compared to UNLV’s 3 points. DeJon Packer chipped away at the Rebels’ lead using a 65-yard catch and run. The Spartans made it a 1 score game, thanks to a Packer touchdown and a 2-point conversion. The Spartans trailed 21-14 midway through the third. The Rebels tacked on a long field goal, keeping the Spartans down by 6 in the third.

SJSU had the ball, which led to Tre Webb making a huge play and wrestling the ball away from the Rebel receiver for a turnover. The play was under review and the call stood. Spartan ball at the 1st and 10 and the UNLV 23-yard line. The Spartans tacked on another touchdown when Jack Snyder pulled off the catch and score late in the third. Then, the Spartans took the lead over the Rebels.

UNLV, however, scored 14 points in the fourth quarter compared to SJSU’s 3 points. The Spartans trailed by 3 midway through the fourth, but persevered as Tre Walker made an incredible catch in the endzone to help the Spartans to another lead. Then, SJSU was back in front, 35-31, thanks to an amazing pitch and catch from Josh Love to Tre Walker. Walker had himself a day with 11 catches, 123 yards and 1 touchdown.

The defense got a stop late in the fourth, UNLV punted and SJSU looked to add to its lead with a little over four minutes left in the game. A huge gain allowed the Spartans to be in the Rebels’ redzone. The Spartans converted a third down inside the 10 as they trailed by 3. Then, a batted ball led to a UNLV interception so the Rebels kneeled out the clock and won 38-35.

SJSU wraps up the regular season at home versus arch-rival Fresno State on Saturday, Nov. 30 at 7:30 pm PST.

NHL podcast with Matt Harrington: Pens get go-ahead goals from McCann and Marino for win; Sens’ Chabot, Ennis and Duclair score in win; plus more

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photo from nj.com: New Jersey Devils’ Jack Hughes (86) brings the puck up ice as Pittsburgh Penguins’ Chad Ruhwedel (2) defends during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Friday, Nov. 22, 2019, in Pittsburgh.

On the NHL podcast with Matt:

#1 Only two games in the NHL Friday night. The Pittsburgh Penguins Jared McCann and John Marino both scored goals in the third period against New Jersey on Friday night that got the Pens past New Jersey for a 4-1.

#2 The Pens’ Jake Guentzel scored his 11th goal to lead Pittsburgh in scoring and Dominik Kahun also scored his sixth goal of the season against the Devils on Friday.

#3 The Ottawa Senators’ Thomas Chabot picked up a goal and assist and Anders Nilsson stopped 30 shots as the Senators picked up a home ice win over the visiting New York Rangers 4-1.

#4 The Senators’ Logan Brown, Tyler Ennis, and Anthony Duclair picked a goal each in the Senators’ win. This was the Senators first three goal win of the season.

#5 The New York Islanders, who play in San Jose tonight, are the hottest team in the NHL at 16-3-1. What are some of the strengths you would point to that make them the NHL’s best?

Matt does the NHL podcast each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa Walsh: Sharks face toughest team in NHL on Saturday night in Isles

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Photo credit: fearthefin.com

On the Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa:

#1 The San Jose Sharks’ win on Thursday night just getting by the Vegas Golden Knights 2-1 gave the Sharks seven wins in their last eight games.

#2 The Sharks, who won by a goal, got it from their captain Logan Couture, who scored it in overtime at 3:20

#3 The Sharks got their first goal from Timo Meier at 1:26 in the first period to open things up against the Knights.

#4 Talk about the job that goaltender Aaron Dell did stopping the Knights with stopping 37 out of 38.

#5 Sharks host the New York Islanders, who are 16-3-1, The Isles are coming off a win against the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3.

Mary Lisa is a beat writer for the Sharks and does Sharks podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Eagles take down the Barracuda 4-1

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Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

By Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Jose Barracuda are trying to stay afloat through stormy waters. They put forth a better effort from the other night against Tucson but still ended up on short end of the stick of a 4-1 victory by the Colorado Eagles on Friday evening at the SAP Center.

With the win, Colorado has now won two of their last three games after splitting a two-game series with the Bakersfield Condors last weekend. For San Jose, their woes continue with back-to-back losses and eight out of their last nine games.

Colorado (9-7-0-0) drew first blood in the first period. The Eagles sustained pressure in the ‘Cuda zone as Mark Alt kept the puck in and fed a pass over to Erik Condra. Condra skated near the right slot when he threw a shot on net that was tipped in by Sheldon Dries for his seventh goal of the season at the 6:29 mark.

Despite outshooting the Eagles 11-9 and having some good scoring chances late, the ‘Cuda went into the first intermission down by a goal in a penalty-free opening 20 minutes.

“It’s just tough right now,” said ‘Cuda head coach Roy Sommer. “We make a mistake and it’s in (the back of) our net. That’s kind how things are going for us right now.”

Colorado doubled its lead just 32 seconds to start the third period. Nick Henry centered a pass from the left faceoff circle over to Julien Nantel, who was all alone camped out just to the right of the crease. After his inital shot was saved by ‘Cuda goalie Andrew Shortridge, a Quebec native, put away the rebound chance for fourth goal of the season.

San Jose (5-10-0-1) cut the deficit in half on the power play. From the point, Jeremy Roy fed a pass over to Noah Gregor, who skated in and from the left slot wired a wrist shot that beat Eagles goalie Adam Werner, who was screened on the play by Alex True, for his second goal of the season at the 13:32 mark. Maxim Letunov was credited with the secondary assist.

Gregor’s goal sent the Tank into a frenzy of stuffed animals being thrown onto the ice in the annual Teddy Bear Toss Night the ‘Cuda have put on since moving to Silicon Valley from Worcester, Massachusetts five years ago.

“Yeah, it was cool,” said Gregor when asked how it felt to play Santa Claus for one night. “Teddy bear toss games are fun, fun for the fans. It was nice to get the one goal for myself and see the teddies fly (on to the ice).”

Shots were even at 10-10 in the middle frame. One of them Shortridge could have been charged with grand theft when he made a point blank save on Nantel with just over 11 minutes remaining that helped shift the momentum in San Jose’s favor.

San Jose had a golden opportunity to even the game midway through the third period when both Ty Lewis and Kevin Connauton went to the penalty box 63 seconds apart. However, the ‘Cuda sqaundered the 5-on-3 power play as Colorado killed it off and seized back control of the game.

“The bottom line is the five-on-three we don’t score on,” said Sommer. “That was the game right there. That’s kind of (opportunity) what you wait for and (we) didn’t get it done.”

Colorado iced the game with two empty-net goals with under a minute remaining in the game. First, Jacob McDonald fired a long shot from inside his own defensive zone after winning a battle along the boards for his fifth goal at the 19:16 mark. Then, Michael Joly won a race to a loose puck and put the biscuit in the basket for his fifth goal at the 19:31 mark.

Werner stopped 35 of the 36 shots he faced to earn his sixth win of the season. Shortridge made 23 saves on 25 shots in their losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 1/5 on the power play. Colorado was 0/2.

Eagles forward Josh Dickinson left the game with a lower body injury early in the first period.

Fisticuffs! San Jose’s Jacob Middleton and Colorado’s Dan Renouf dropped the gloves in a fight that had two hits, one by Middleton and Renouf hitting the ice after just one punch.

San Jose Sharks forward Barclay Goodrow scored the first ever Teddy Bear Toss goal when he was a member of the ‘Cuda back on November 7th, 2015.

The announced crowd was 3,923.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda conclude their four-game homestand on Saturday, November 23 vs. the Eagles at 1:15 pm at SAP Center.

Short-handed Kings fall to the Nets 116-97

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Photo credit: nba.com/nets

By Jessica Kwong

BROOKLYN — The Sacramento Kings had a “tough night” and beginning to their four-game road trip on Friday night as they played short-handed and lost 116-97 to the Brooklyn Nets.

Both teams struggled with offense to start at Barclays Center, but Garrett Temple hit a triple to give the Nets a lead—that lasted the entire game except for one tie with a few minutes remaining in the first quarter. Brooklyn lead by as many as 22 points. Sacramento was only 4-26 from the three-point line.

“Tough night for us,” Kings head coach Luke Walton said. “If you’re a 3-point shooting team and you shoot 15 percent, you’re not going to win a lot of games. Where we have to be better at are things that we can control.” The Kings could not control the number of injuries that have plagued the team. They played without Bogdan Bogdanovic due to left hamstring tightness, in addition to Marvin Bagley and De’Aaron Fox who have been out with injuries.

Buddy Hield, who tried to step up in his teammates’ absence, had similar words to Walton about their performance: “It was a tough night.”

“When we have extra guys that can make shots it’s a little easier, but missing Bogie didn’t help us for sure,” Hield said. “It’s always ‘next man up’ mentality and we had to come out here and play. They did a good job. they made some shots and made some good plays.” The Kings trailed 26-23 after the first quarter and stayed in the game in the second, trailing 56-49 at the half. Rookie Justin James scored 4 points in 13 minutes played in the first half.

“I felt good out there—I was playing my game. I had a lot of mishaps defensively that I’m not too happy about but coach called on my number and I was ready to play,” James said. “Bogie was down tonight so I tried to come up and play the best that I can.” The game ran away from them in the Kings in third. The Nets began 4-4 and a 10-2 run led Walton to call a timeout. The Kings finished the quarter down 86-70. Sacramento’s bench players came out in the fourth quarter and the Kings fell to a 6-8 record.

The Nets won on rebounds 48-33, while the Kings beat them on assists 26-22 and had 16 turnovers, two fewer than the Nets. The Nets dominated on three’s, scoring 12.

“Brooklyn executed it well tonight and for whatever reason we didn’t do a good enough job of creating looks,” Walton said. “When we did get good looks, we just didn’t knock them down.” Brooklyn was without injured stars Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant.

The Kings continue their east coast road trip on Sunday facing the Washington Wizards. Tipoff is at 3 p.m.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: What’s Next Regarding the A’s Howard Terminal Park?

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Photo credit: bizjournals.com

By Amaury Pi-González

“We’re excited to enter into this next phase of negotiations with the A’s to ensure they remain rooted in Oakland!”

That was the last statement issued by City of Oakland Officials right after the city dropped lawsuit over Alameda County over the possible sale of the Oakland Coliseum to the Oakland Athletics.The team offered to buy out both halves of the 112-acre Oakland Coliseum site, with the goal of building a new ballpark at Howard Terminal.

So what’s next? EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) was founded by the US government in 1970 about concern of environmental pollution. They will conduct studies about the location and what challenges they will encounter at Howard Terminal about the environment.

The New York Mets’ City Field was inaugurated in 2009, but was built with the highest environmental standards, with 95% recycled steel and a green roof to decrease energy needs along with water conserving measures like hand-free faucets and automated flush valves that save millions of gallons of water. It is not only the New York Metropolitans, but most new stadiums today are built similarly and the Bay Area is not different,

Earlier this year, KGO reported that the Bay Area is the most expensive place in the world to build. According to a report by United Kingdom-based consultant Turner and Townsend, the average construction cost in the Bay Area is $417 per square foot, surpassing New York’s $338. It is good news because the A’s will privately finance the park, so it will never go to a local election. When that happens here in the Bay Area,and there is an election to approve or disapprove the construction of a professional sports facility. The vote is “no” and you can just ask the San Francisco Giants.

Unlike states like Texas, Georgia or Missouri, the Bay Area is not easy to build a sports facility for a major league franchise. There are many decisions to be made and this is a project that involves hundreds of millions of dollars. This is the only professional big league franchise left in the City of Oakland, a once proud city that was named “City of Champions” in the 1970’s when the A’s, Raiders and Warriors all won titles, respectively. Obstacles remain and we will be talking about this until it happens or not. If the Howard Terminal location cannot be the place, the same place where they have been playing since 1968 to date would be the most sensicble solution for the A’s future. BART and Highway 880 are also not moving.

SJSU Spartans podcast with Ana Kieu: Has football bye helped?; Does home court help men’s basketball?; plus more

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Photo credit: @SanJoseStateFB

On the SJSU Spartans podcast with Ana:

1. Football: SJSU was on a bye week last week. The Spartans take on the UNLV Rebels on Saturday, Nov. 23.

2. Men’s basketball: SJSU hosted the Simpson Red Hawks on Sunday, Nov. 17.

3. Men’s soccer: Fourth-seeded CSU Bakersfield scored a late goal to end SJSU’s postseason on Wednesday, Nov. 13.

4. Women’s basketball: SJSU picked up first road victory with 73-70 win over UC Santa Barbara on Friday, Nov. 15.

5. Women’s golf: SJSU signed two winning golfers for the 2020-21 season.

Ana’s final thoughts…

Catch Ana on the SJSU Spartans podcast each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Oakland Raiders podcast with Joe Hawkes: Raiders forcing turnovers and getting a good pass rush going

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Photo credit: justblogbaby.com

On the Raiders podcast with Joe Hawkes:

#1 The Raiders are getting help on their pass rush. They have 25 sacks this season. They got 12 in their last three games.

#2 The Raiders head coach Jon Gruden says the pass rush had also forced turnovers in those last three games.

#3 In the game last Sunday, the Raiders pressured Bengals quarterback Ryan Finley. The Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby knocked the ball out of Finley’s hand.

#4 In another play, Crosby chased Finley, who threw the ball to his right that got intercepted by cornerback Trayvon Miller.

#5 The Raiders face the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium Sunday. Joe sets this game up.

Joe Hawkes is a Raiders beat writer and does the Raiders podcasts each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com