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Sharks earn win before Olympic Break

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By: Phillip Torres

SAN JOSE-The San Jose Sharks (37-16-6) defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets (29-24-5) 3-2 at the SAP Center in San Jose on Friday night. The victory was just was the Sharks were looking for before heading into the Olympic break. Not only was it the last game before the 2014 Sochi Olympics, but it was also Sharks head coach Todd McLellan’s franchise-record 435 game with San Jose.

The Sharks jumped out to the early advantage as they took the 1-0 lead at the 3:23 mark in the opening period. John McCarthy scored his first goal the year after he deflected the puck into the net after James Sheppard’s shot did not find the net.

San Jose’s fast start continued as they found themselves up 2-0 after another goal less than five minutes later. This time it was Patrick Marleau finding the net with a slapshot. Scott Hannan earned the assist on the play. The Sharks dominated early and finished the first period with a 2-0 advantage.

The lone goal of the second period came at 18 seconds as the Blue Jackets cut the deficit in half. Ryan Johansen scored the unassisted goal for his 24th goal on the season and pulled his team to within one. The rest of the period was played with very stout defenses and both respective teams could not find the net. The score remained 2-1 San Jose heading into the third and final period.

Tommy Wingels gave the Sharks their two goal lead right back early into the frame. At 5:11 Wingels knocked a back hand shot into the net. Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Jason Demers picked up the assists on the shot.  The goal proved to be the eventual game winner as Columbus would tack on one more goal, but ultimately fall short 3-2 on Friday.

With the victory the Sharks finish at the break with 80 points, just five behind the Anaheim Ducks for first place in the Pacific Division.

 “We would have been probably pleased with that at the beginning of the season. Considering some of the players we lost over and throughout the year, we go into the break satisfied. Coming out of it we have work to do,” said McLellan.

With the Sochi Olympics set take off, the Sharks will not be back on the ice until Thursday February 27th. San Jose will be Philadelphia Flyers in Philadelphia. The puck will drop at 4:00 P.M Pacific Standard Time. 

Big Pac-12 road win for Cardinal

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By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Road victories have been tough to come by this season for Stanford men’s basketball, but the Cardinal came up with a huge one Wednesday night at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley.

Thanks, in large part, to Dwight Powell’s third double-double in his last five games, the Cardinal rolled past California 80-59 and pulled into a tie for third place in the Pac-12 standings with the Bears.

It was the Cardinal’s third win over Cal in their last four meetings, and the win avenged an earlier 69-62 loss to the Bears on Jan. 2.

Stanford improved to 3-2 away from Maples Pavilion. Since 2008-09, the Cardinal are 15-34 as road warriors in the conference.

Chasson Randle had his usual strong game, finishing with 19 points. But it was the all-around effort from Powell that sparked the Cardinal. Powell finished with 22 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. Anthony Brown added 16 points and six boards, including an 11-point burst down the stretch that helped seal the win.

Brown sparked an 8-0 run in the second half after Cal pulled to within five at 52-47. But it was a 15-4 run in the first half – with Powell doing much of the damage – that set the tone for the game. Powell scored nine of those 15 points and hit one of Stanford’s six 3-pointers made in the first half.

The Cardinal defense did the rest, forcing numerous Bears turnovers in the second half. That, combined with a four-minute scoreless stretch by Cal, did the Bears in.

Stanford had a decent shooting night, going 43 percent (23 of 53) from the floor and 80 percent at the free throw line (28 of 35).

The Cardinal improved to 15-7 overall and play again in one week, when they travel to the University of Washington for a Feb. 12 contest with the Huskies.

Sizzling Stars enjoy a stop in the desert

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NHL COMMENTARY
By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Tuesday, February 4, 2014

GLENDALE, Ariz. – With the Olympic break just days away, every team in the National Hockey League finds itself trying to get some needed standings points by the end of the week.

Along that line, Dallas arrived at Jobing.com Arena Tuesday looking to extend it’s current hot streak, while the Phoenix Coyotes hoped to build on a much-needed win last Saturday against Pittsburgh.

Dallas came in as one of the hottest teams in the NHL, despite what its overall record may indicate. Since Jan. 14, the Stars have gone 6-3-2 after halting a six-game losing streak with a win over Edmonton.

It’s worth noting that the Stars’ wins in that stretch included decisions over Anaheim, Minnesota, Toronto, Pittsburgh, and, on Tuesday, over Phoenix by a 3-1 count.

Asked about the Stars’ recent turnaround, Antoine Roussel, who scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period, said it was a matter of “getting well.”

“And increasing our tenacity,” Roussel said. “That’s what kept us in the game tonight, “

Ryan Garbutt added, “We’ve just been playing hard every night, using our speed and the guys are playing to the best of their abilities, and having fun at the same time.

“Everybody’s working hard every night, and it’s fun to be a part of it.”

Stars Coach Lindy Ruff didn’t address his team’s recent success precisely, but said, “We’ve just been able to battle through. Tonight, we had two teams that are very similar. We’re in a tight game and somebody is going to take advantage of an opportunity and win the game.”

It made for an interesting matchup with the Coyotes, who have had their own issues of late – lack of scoring and a leaky defense in particular.

The 12,257 in attendance watched a close-checking defensive affair until Antoine Vermette pushed an unassisted shot from the slot through Karl Lehtonen’s 5-hole to put the Coyotes up 1-0 midway through the second period. Two and a half minutes later, Shawn Horcoff flipped a rebound past Mike Smith on the power play, and the game was again deadlocked at 1-1.

Dallas outshot the Coyotes 31-18 after two periods, and the shooting advantage paid off early in the third period when Antoine Roussel ratted the puck around the pipes and past Smith to put the Stars ahead to stay at .2-1.

“That first period was a little sloppy on both sides,” Ruff said. “I thought it was just disjointed play. In the second and third periods, we really turned the corner.”

A sloppy empty-net tally by Ryan Garbutt with 26 seconds left gave Dallas a 3-1 win. Phoenix pulled Smith with 1:12 to play, and the shot by Garbutt from his own blue line barely crossed the goal line and didn’t have enough steam to hit the back of the net. But they all count, right?

New image?
Elsewhere, in Coyotes news, the team announced earlier this week plans to bow to the whims of the Glendale City Council and rename themselves the Arizona Coyotes next season, along with yet to be determined marketing changes. One thing is known for sure – the new owners are bringing back the old Southwest/Mayan-styled jerseys from the mid-1990s as throwback gear.

While there’s nothing wrong with the current Coyotes garb, it’s apparent that the new owners want to try and eradicate the bankruptcy/Wayne Gretzky coaching/NHL ownership period image. That’s understandable.

Changing the name from Phoenix to Arizona is senseless. The state name only works in areas like the Twin Cities or Raleigh, N.C., where the Hurricanes reside. Arizona could be anywhere in the state (well, some think that does apply to Glendale). People tend to know where Phoenix is, and as a marketing focal point, there was no logical reason to change it.

Teams like the NFL Cardinals and the NL Diamondbacks like to claim that by using the state name, “we represent the whole state.” Maybe. But it hasn’t done anything to cure the transient fan bases for Valley pro teams with the exception of the NBA Suns.

Generic marketing just isn’t a logical move for a market so identifiable by the largest city. Seems like a desperate move. We’ll see how well it works.

Daniel Dullum covers the NHL for SportsTalk.

(TAGS: NHL,Phoenix,Coyotes,Dallas,Stars,Arizona,Glendale)

Warriors arena at piers 30-32: Warriors back to the drawing board;voters avalanche City Hall with height control ballots

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by Ken Gimblin

SAN FRANCISCO–Warriors spokesman Nathan Ballard said it best this whole new arena idea about building on a few deteriorating pylons at Pier 30-32 wasn’t going to be the slam dunk as the NBA basketball team thought it would be. The drawing of what the UFO looking saucer arena would be with a bay window that would put any see through glass around here to shame overlooking the bay, Bay Bridge, and what would be the Warriors former home the East Bay was rejected for it’s size by registered voters in San Francisco in the size of 20,000 ballots whom have spoken loudly asking for a measure that asks voters to control the height of a new Warriors arena.

The main protest is that San Francisco residents do not want any of the proposed projects by the Warriors to block or be over sized in blocking the waterfront bayviews, “it’s difficult to build an arena over the water when we’re replacing two crumbling piers that are dilapidated and falling into the bay, we never said this was going to be easy” said Ballard. A San Francisco ballot measure that asks city voters should there be height control to not only the Warriors proposed 12 story new arena but also the planning of a 17 story luxury condo and ten story hotel to be built across the street from Piers 30-32 at the Embarcadero.

Jim Stearns spokesman for the height control ballots says any confusion over this issue between voters and City Hall should be cleared up after more than 20,000 ballots were double the minimum of 10,000 to qualify to get the measure on the ballot, “there’s been a disconnect between City Hall and the voters about waterfront height limits. We’re confident the voters want to have a say in what is developed there” said Steans.

Some of the voters or city residents do not want a Warriors arena at the piers at all but at the very least they want an arena with limitations to what was proposed in the original Warriors blueprints. The drawing of the structure left very little doubt that the hotel, condo or the arena should have height limitations according to those who signed the ballots. San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee who called the new arena “a legacy” to his administration has backed off that stance and has recently said that it is up to the voters of San Francisco what the future of the waterfront should look like.

After the realizing the city voters are ready to squash any over sized building at the piers the Warriors go back to the architect and will redesign a new arena that will hopefully satisfy the residents height issues. The Warriors were hoping to have the arena done by 2017 but now have set their completion date at 2018 by that time it is expected that the Warriors will have both sides of the argument on board fully.

The Warriors have met with community leaders for and against the project on Tuesday at Pier 1 showing the Warriors schedule and the steps to be taken over the course of the months between now and 2018 on the development of the arena, condos, and hotel. There is little doubt after the Warriors backtracked on a new completion date that they will also introduce new height sizes for the three buildings.

The Warriors are concerned that the size reduction might cut into their business profits as the hotel and condo were designated to off set the new arena costs. While Ballard said piers 30-32 were dilapidating the Pier 1 meeting no doubt will aim to settle the arena being built at piers 30-32 regardless of the piers condition.

Meanwhile the ballot measure that will ask voters if there should be a height limitation on any new buildings at the pier 30-32 site will be on the June 2014 election ballot. It might be all for not as the Warriors sound like their prepared to adjust the size to satisfy the voters and waterfront residents so they can get the downsized project off the ground at a shorter version. The Warriors want to get an idea of when groundbreaking day is going to be they might have to go to the voter to find that out.

Ken Gimblin is covering the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings arena developments for Sportstalk radio

Seahawks shut down Peyton, rout Denver for first NFL crown

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NFL COMMENTARY
By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Sunday, February 2, 2014

Seattle scored first in Super Bowl XLVIII (48), literally, in a New York minute. After that, it was a hopeless downhill slide for Denver.

The safety scored by the Seahawks’ defense on the first play from scrimmage was also the fastest score of any kind in Super Bowl history, according to Elias Sports Bureau.

There’s other fun stats too: Elias also reports that it’s the first time the winning team scored more than 40 points while the losing team scored less than 10.

Whatever. On a day of good football weather in East Rutherford, N.J., the Seahawks claimed their first Super Bowl victory by routing Denver 43-8. It was Seattle’s first NFL title in its 38th season in the league.

The win also provided Seattle Coach Pete Carroll with redemption of sorts. Carroll was fired in his first two NFL head coaching gigs at New England and with the New York Jets before winning a pair of national college championships at Southern California.

On this day, Seattle’s defense was too physical, too quick, and, frankly too good for the Broncos to handle. The Seahawks made life miserable for quarterback Peyton Manning from the first snap and never let up.

Adding insult to injury, it was the lowest point total by a Broncos team with Manning as its quarterback.

The rout began 12 seconds into the game, when a snap to Manning flew past him and into the end zone, where running back Knowshon Moreno fell on it, giving the Seahawks a 2-0 lead.

Seattle added a pair of field goals by Steven Hauschka made it 8-0. That was just the start, as the Seahawks’ noted 12th man – its fans – made their presence felt in what is usually a sterile, very corporate environment.

Marshawn Lynch’s 1-yard plunge made it 15-0. Linebacker Malcolm Smith, selected as the game’s most valuable player, returned an interception 69 yards to make it 22-0 and the rout was on. Russell Wilson tossed a pair of touchdown passes to help extend Seattle’s lop-sided advantage.

Now, the discussion for the next six months reverts to Manning’s legacy. Even with a bag full of records and wins, Peyton is 11-12 in the postseason and 1-2 in Super Bowls. Denver is 2-5 in seven Super Bowl appearances.

Next year’s Super Bowl will be played at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.