Dylan Gambrell has been enjoying his time while he’s been with the San Jose Barracuda. He was responsible for all the offense, including the game-winning goal in the shootout, in a 3-2 shootout win over the Iowa Wild on Friday evening at Wells Fargo Center. The Cuda split the two-game series with the Minnesota Wild’s AHL affiliate.
It was a mini-miracle the game reached the shootout as San Jose was short-handed for the majority of overtime. Alex True was called for a double-minor for high-sticking with 14 seconds left in the third period. Then at the 1:21 mark of the extra period, the Cuda were called for too many men, which gave Iowa two minutes of five-on-three play, but the penalty kill led by Cuda goalie Josef Korenar hindered Iowa’s attack.
San Jose (29-13-2-4) drew first blood in the first 29 seconds to start the game. Dylan Gambrell scored in his second straight game. beat Wild goalie Kaapo Khakonen (16-9-7) for his 13th goal of the season. Kyle Wood and Jeffery Viel were credited with assists.
Iowa (28-16-6-5) evened up the game on the power play. Kyle Rau scored his 16th goal of the season (and team-leading 11th power play goal) at the 13:44 mark just 12 seconds after Cavan Fitzgerald went to the sin-bin for interference. Gerald Mayhew and Cal O’Reilly received assists.
The Wild outshot the Cuda 10-6 in the opening frame.
Iowa didn’t waste time to take a 2-1 lead to start the second period. Brennan Menell set up Matt Read and his shot beat Korenar (18-5-1) for his 15th goal of the season at the :55 mark. Read has scored in back to back games.
The Cuda didn’t get their first shot on goal in the middle frame until almost five minutes in. TJ Hensick had the puck roll of his stick on a breakway. His centering pass to Francis Perron for a point-blank chance was stopped by Khakonen.
Gambrell scored the equalizer for San Jose with his second goal of the night. Gambrell was able to whack a loose puck in mid-air, as he turned his body in one motion, over the left pad of Khakoen for his 14th goal of the season at the 14:04 mark. Captain John McCarthy and Jacob Middleton were credited with assists.
Read had a chance to give the Wild the lead early in the third period when he went in on a short-handed breakaway–only to have Korenar kick swat his shot.
Rourke Chartier had a chance to give the Cuda a lead with over four minutes left in the third period as he rifled a shot off of the post.
Korenar, who stopped all three attempts in the shootout (Sam Anas, Read and O’Reilly), made 24 saves on 26 shots to earn his 17th victory. Khakonen stopped 22 of the 24 saves he faced in suffering the defeat.
GAME NOTES: San Jose was 0/2 on the power play. Iowa was 1/4.
It was the third multi-goal game for Gambrell this season. The rookie forward has nine points in his last five games (5G, 4A).
Jayden Halbgewachs returned to the lineup for San Jose.
Before the game, San Jose traded forward Vincent Praplan to the Florida Panthers for future considerations. Praplan is expected to report to Florida’s AHL affiliate the Springfield Thunderbirds.
San Jose is now 2-4 in shootouts this season.
The announced attendance was 12,936.
UP NEXT: The Barracuda conclude their three-game road trip as they take on their NorCal rival Stockton Heat on Sunday at 5:00 pm at Stockton Arena.
It’s obvious that not all of you are going to recall the late Rick Rasnick (1959-2019), but he was more than just a former San Jose State Spartan football starter, team captain and assistant coach. Unlike most other newcomers, Rasnick spent two years at El Camino College as the team’s Most Valuable Offensive Lineman and then weighed offers from San Jose State and Fresno State to continue his college football career. He chose SJSU because he wanted to be on the biggest possible college football stage.
Rasnick placed his stamps of focus, determination, skill, athleticism and knowledge of the game on a stage that resulted in 12 football seasons, most of which were successful, at SJSU, followed by four seasons at the University of Utah (1991-94) and five seasons as the Eastern Michigan University football head coach (1995-99).
Rasnick used all of those traits along with a trove of sports-related experiences in a five-plus year battle against Alzheimer’s disease. The tough battle ended on February 13, 2019 when Rasnick succumbed peacefully at age 59 surrounded by loved ones. It happened a little over a week ago, but it’s still hard to believe that he’s already gone.
Rasnick was born in Las Vegas and raised in Southern California. Rasnick ran the 40-yard dash in 4.7 seconds, which was a very fast time for an offensive lineman in his era. There was some question about his size, especially his listed playing weight, and whether he could deal with the constant contact of defensive players 20-50 pounds heavier than him, but that eventually subsided.
“‘Ras’ was one-of-a-kind, 215-pounds soaking wet,” recalled offensive tackle Max Hooper, Mr. Rasnick’s Spartan teammate in 1979 and 1980 and a team captain in 1981.
Rasnick was listed at 225 pounds on the Spartans roster for his two seasons. Hooper also recounted one story involving weigh-ins when he tried to help Rasnick weigh more than he actually did. The scheme didn’t quite work, but a lot of things did as a starting center in the offensive line, team captain in 1980, undergraduate assistant, graduate assistant, offensive line coach, offensive coordinator and interim head coach during the 1990 spring prior to the appointment of Terry Shea as a head coach.
Rasnick played for San Jose State Sports Hall of Fame coach Jack Elway and coached with SJSU Sports Hall of Famer Claude Gilbert and Shea. His first game as a SJSU player was a 48-48 tie with Utah State in Spartan Stadium, then the highest scoring tie in NCAA Division I-A history. The Spartans had winning seasons in 1979 and 1980 and knocked off No. 10 Baylor, 30-22, in Waco, Texas on November 1, 1980, after trailing 15-0 in the second quarter.
“He told me Mike Singletary (Baylor’s middle linebacker and Pro Football Hall of Fame member) was the best player he’s ever seen on a football field and about the joy they going to Baylor (as a 28-point underdog) and beating them… I think he was joking around, ‘He was so good, I never really touched him during the game because he was so fast and so good.’ He would look up and see Mike Singletary six feet in front of him — the best player he’s ever faced and trying to chase him down the whole game was kind of comical. That was one of his biggest thrills — beating Baylor,” said younger brother Ryan Rasnick, a starting free safety for the Spartans from 1986-89.
Rasnick defeated both Cal and Stanford in the same season twice in 1981 and 1987. The “mythical Bay Area championship” eluded the Spartans until then.
During his SJSU days, Rasnick experienced beating Stanford 6-of-12 times; Cal on four occasions; going 2-2 with Oregon and 2-0 at Washington State. The Spartans lost a pair of seven-point games at Arizona State and lost two nail-biters at Washington by three (20-17 in 1990) and four (35-31) in 1988.
Rasnick won four conference championships and playing in four bowl games between 1981 and 1990.
Rasnick got promoted to the offensive coordinator position in 1987. At age 27, he was the youngest offensive coordinator in NCAA Division I-A football. In four seasons, the Spartans averaged 31 points a game, were never shutout, led the nation in passing offense in 1987, was in the top-15 in passing offense each year and averaged at least 400 yards of total offense a game each season.
“Coach Rasnick always made sure that we were 100% prepared to be successful. He made sure we knew what was likely coming at us, and what to do about it. As a player, that builds great confidence and that’s the only thing you can ask from your coach, really,” said 1987 First-Team All-Conference offensive guard Jim Carter, who originally came to the SJSU football program as a tight end prospect.
“Putting your players in the best position to be successful, and then let them play. That’s what he did. He was the best tactical coach I ever had.”
“He enjoyed the game, enjoyed watching game film, enjoyed being prepared and preparing his players. …Our guards were 235 (pounds). You play Stanford. Those guys were 275, 280, 290 years ago. Back in the day, he would take middle linebackers and if you weren’t starting, ‘You want to come over and play guard for me.’ We had pulling guards at 235 pounds that could run. That was an advantage we did have,” said the younger Rasnick about his older brother’s approach to coaching.
Rasnick was appointed SJSU’s interim head football coach in the spring of 1990 during a time of considerable consternation surrounding the program. His steadying hand was instrumental in laying the groundwork for a 9-2-1 record, conference championship, California Raisin Bowl victory and a final national ranking of 20th in the United Press International coaches poll. The Sporting News, the nationally-known weekly publication based out of St. Louis, named him the Big West Conference’s top offensive assistant coach for the 1990 season.
Rasnick shifted his priorities to the University of Utah in 1991 as the Utes assistant head coach for offense, working alongside Spartan alum Ron McBride.
“Rick’s talent as a coach extends far beyond his years. I’ve watched him coach and recruit. He is an excellent teacher of the game of football. He understands our offense, inside and out,” said McBride at the time he hired Mr. Rasnick.
The Utes would go on to play in three bowl games in his four seasons and be voted eighth in the final 1994 USA Today/CNN coaches poll and 10th the final Associated Press writers poll.
Rasnick’s coaching success led to his appointment as the head coach at Eastern Michigan University in 1995, just months before his 35th birthday. In his first season, EMU posted a 6-5 win-loss record, the school’s only winning season between 1989 and 2016. Though his head coaching record at the Mid-American Conference school was 20-34 over five seasons, he remained as EMU’s sixth winningest head football coach among the 41 to serve the school in that position.
Rasnick’s final years were spent often at the Beach Cities Health District Center for Health & Fitness in Redondo Beach, Calif., following the unfortunate diagnosis. In 2018, Rasnick was honored with the organization’s “Spirit of Wellness” Award” for the year.
Mr. Rasnick is survived by his parents, Jim and Donna Rasnick; brother, Ryan Rasnick; sister, Kendahl Rasnick; sons, Blair and Pierce Rasnick; and companion, Annette Adams.
A celebration of life has been set for Saturday, March 16, 2019 from 2-5 p.m., at the Rice Mortuary, 5310 Torrance Blvd., Torrance, Calif., 90503.
San Jose State men’s basketball has nothing to play for except for pride, but it’d be great if they picked up their first conference win of the season against the Air Force Falcons Saturday afternoon at the Clune Arena in Colorado Springs, Colo. Tipoff has been scheduled for 1:00 pm PT and Justin Allegri has the Spartans play-by-play call on the TuneIn app.
Like SJSU (3-22, 0-13 MW), AF (11-15, 6-8 MW) plays in the same conference so this likely will be a tough test for both teams. SJSU lost 16 in a row with its last loss occurring at home versus the Colorado State Rams on February 20th. AF, on the other hand, edged the Fresno State Bulldogs 64-61 on the road on February 20th. So there you have it folks, these two teams will likely battle it out on the hardwood.
In case you missed the SJSU vs. CSU matchup, I just have to emphasize that the Spartans fell to the hot-shooting Rams, who shot the ball with authority as six players finished in double figure scoring led by Kris Martin’s 19 points. The Rams shot 59.3% for the game and were 48.5% from the 3-point range. Moreover, the Rams’ 16 made 3s were the most the Spartans have surrendered this season.
The Spartans struggled from the floor, shooting 42% for the game and finished 5-of-21 from the 3-point range. SJSU was limited to just 39.3% in the first half. That was an embarrassment to put it lightly.
Still, the Spartans were delighted by a silver lining, despite what appeared to be a lot of negatives. SJSU committed just three second-half turnovers and wrapped up the game with only 11 total turnovers.
I’d also like to add that the Spartans out-performed the Rams in both points off turnovers (20-6) and points in the paint (42-34). SJSU improved from its 8-21 performance from the free throw line against UNLV (9-14). CSU struggled, finishing just 5-of-11.
On the Stanford Cardinal basketball podcast with Joey Friedman:
#1 The Stanford Cardinal (14-12) absolutely got demolished on Wednesday at ASU (18-8). What were some of the fundamental issues on defense to contain the Sun Devils?
#2 The Sun Devils head coach Bobby Hurely after the game was wearing a gangster shirt while addressing reporters and said that it was his gangster shirt and his players played like gangsters and delivered.
#3 On defense, the Cardinal tried everything and KZ Okpala said that he was overwhelmed by the turnovers and shooting that ASU capitalized on.
#4 Head coach of the Cardinal Jerod Haase said considering how hard the defense played it was disappointing with all that passion that Stanford had to take loss like this.
#5 It’s onto Tucson on Sunday and the Wildcats. Can the Cardinal contain the Arizona defense in that game?
#1 How serious is this Calgary Flames team (37-16-7) ever since that loss to the San Jose Sharks back on Feb. 7th as they’ve been a team on fire?
#2 The Flames first in the Pacific got goal help on Wednesday night when Austin Czarnik and Johnny Gaudreau scored 29 seconds apart talk about team work.
#3 The Flames won their third straight game in that 4-2 win over the New York Islanders (35-18-6). The Isles are no slouches either.
#4 The Islanders on Wednesday got goal help from Casey Cizikas and Anders Lee. These two have been key for New York this season.
#5 The Flames won’t face the Sharks for the rest of the regular season, but most likely will meet them in the playoffs. The last time the two teams met the Flames’ Sam Bennett rocked the Sharks’ Radim Simek. Would that translate that these two teams will rival each other right down to the postseason if and when they meet?
#1 Talking about the Golden State Warriors’ DeMarcus Cousins, what is it like each time he goes out and plays the Sacramento Kings, a team he was with for very long?
#2 What kind of player is Cousins today as opposed to the player he was with Sacramento?
#3 There was so much pressure on Cousins when he was a Sacramento King to do it all. Did that pressure fuel some of his anger at the media at times?
#4 One things fans in Sacramento reminisce about on Cousins is how community-oriented he was.
#5 Getting Jerry’s impressions on the Kings and Warriors meetings and how he sums up those matches when the two teams get together.
~ San Jose had no even-strength goals in their win over the Pittsburgh Penguins Thursday.
I wonder if Tomas Hertl likes penguins as animals as he certainly had no mercy for the team. Back when the teams played January 15 in a 5-2 victory, on he was the first star again with a hat trick that included an empty-netter.
This time he started the scoring just 57 seconds in.
Martin Jones was a perfect 26-for-26 in net on the other end of the ice. This included shutting down Pittsburgh star Sidney Crosby who was on another season-high six-game points streak. Jones plus the Sharks’ defense held Crosby to three shots on goal.
Hertl last had two goals February 7 and the Penguins were last shutout February 5. The last time San Jose shut out a team was back on December 18 versus the Minnesota Wild by the identical score of 4-0.
Brent Burns was the second star of the game with one goal and two assists.
The Sharks finished 3-for-6 on the power play, taking advantage of their opportunities.
Hertl’s first goal came just one second after Jack Johnson was called for tripping.
Evander Kane doubled the lead short-handed at 10:01.
Hertl reappeared at 13:19, with his second power-play goal of the period. Kevin Labanc assisted on both of Hertl’s goals as the goal came on another tripping penalty by the Penguins.
This provided a tough hill for Pittsburgh to climb.
Neither team scored in the second with each taking nine shots on goal. The Penguins had two more penalties and San Jose another one.
That penalty action escalated in the third. It started with Hertl and Tanner Pearson called for roughing minors at 2:20. 15:24 was the highlight, with Pittsburgh’s Marcus Pettersson, Crosby and the Sharks’ Brenden Dillon and Micheal Haley, all receiving 10 minute misconducts. At that same time, Kane and Pearson again received a five minute fighting major. Two seconds later, Phil Kessel was called for a high stick. Kris Letang, who led with six shots on goal, received a cross check minor at 15:17 and Evgeni Malkin capped the period off at 19:47 with a 10 minute misconduct.
Burns managed to capitalize at the height of this in between as he scored at 16:51.
Up Next: San Jose plays the Columbus Blue Jackets Saturday at 2 pm.
The struggling Arizona Wildcats hadn’t won a game in three weeks, but those issues didn’t persist with the Cal Bears visiting McKale Center Thursday night.
The Bears shooting percentage defense ranks just above the bottom of the spectrum in 353-member Division I basketball, which brings into question whether a team playing defense on par with Elon or Houston Baptist can stop a traditional powerhouse like Arizona, even if they’re going through one of their roughest stretches with seven, consecutive losses.
Well, based on what transpired between the Bears and Wildcats, the answer is no. Arizona started slow, missing it share of shots in what was an ugly game offensively, but an 11-0 run early in the second half propelled them to an easy 76-51 victory.
So while Arizona’s offense struggled, it wasn’t to the degree that Cal’s offense did, as 30 percent shooting made it impossible for the Bears to gain traction on Thursday. The Bears missed 20 of their 26 3-point attempts, and appeared to labor with each miss creating additional pressure on the visitors.
“Guys want to make plays and they want to get back into the win column so bad that we’re not allowing ourselves to slow down and make the right play,” coach Wyking Jones said of his anxious Bears.
Cal lost for the 15th consecutive time, a streak that includes a second, 20-point loss to Arizona at home on January 12. The Bears are assured the bottom seed in the upcoming Pac-12 conference tournament in Las Vegas, and an opening round matchup with the 5-seed, a position currently held by 14-win Utah.
The Bears were led by Justice Sueing’s 16 points and Paris Austin’s 12 points, the only two Cal players to score in double figures.
Cal’s Arizona swing concludes on Sunday in Tempe with a meeting with the Arizona State Sun Devils.
The Sacramento Kings began their final stretch of 25 regular season games on Thursday night in Oakland versus the defending NBA Champion Golden State Warriors. The Kings entered the game in ninth place in the Western Conference with a record of 30-27. They trailed the LA Clippers by one game for the eighth and final playoff berth in the conference.
This game also represented the first time the Kings would have the opportunity to face DeMarcus Cousins in a Warriors uniform. Word leaked out early that Cousins was going to play without any minute restrictions in this contest. In other words, “Boogie” was going to have plenty of time to make his former team pay for trading him away.
First Quarter
Cousins did indeed get the start at center for the Warriors in the contest to the surprise of no one. The Kings did make a change to their starting five. Bogdan Bogdanovic made the start at small forward in place of Nemanja Bjelica. The decision appeared to be based on trying to set up the best matchups to start the game.
The Kings came out and were ready to push the pace against the World Champions. They served notice that they were ready to go toe-to-toe with the Warriors and that is exactly what they did the quarter.
Sacramento won the war in the paint 18-16. Golden State scored all of the 2nd Chance Points (4). The Warriors outscored the Kings on the fast break 12-8.
The Kings shot 54.5-percent (12/22) in the quarter but went just 1-for-7 (14.3%) from downtown. They had nine rebounds, four steals and committed five turnovers (4 GSW points).
Golden State shot 48.3-percent (14/29) in the opening period. The difference was they hit 3-of-12 from 3-point land (33.3%). The Dubs had 13 rebounds, five steals, and two blocked shots.
Buddy Hield led the Kings scoring with eight points hitting 4-of-5 shots from the field. Kevin Durant was the Warriors leading scorer with 13 points.
After 12-minutes, Golden State held a 35-30 over Sacramento.
Second Quarter
Two major things happened in the second period. Marvin Bagley III came alive for the Kings and Kevin Durant went the bench for an extended rest for the Warriors. Both events had a profound effect on the contest.
“Marvelous” Marvin Bagley played eight and one-half minutes for Sacramento and was a “monster of the midway”. The rookie scored 13 points going 5-for-10 from the floor and hitting 3-of-4 from the free throw line. He also grabbed four rebounds – three off the offensive glass.
Sacramento took the lead with just over nine minutes to go in the half and built that lead to as many as 11 points. That situation began to change very quickly when “KD” returned to the floor. Golden State went on a run which you expect them to do and the game tightened up quickly.
The Kings did not panic but continued to play their game. When the buzzer sounded to signal the end of the first half, Sacramento held a 62-60 lead over Golden State.
Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson were the Warriors leading scorers with six points each.
The Kings won the battle in the paint 14-8. Sacramento outscored the Golden State 3-0 on 2nd Chance Points. The Kings scored 11 Fast Break Points to the Warriors 3 in the period.
Third Quarter
As the third period began, the Kings tried to take advantage of Boogie Cousins being on the floor. Cousins who is still trying to get into shape after having been out due to the Achilles tear is unable to run at high speed. The Kings decided to make him run and he could not do that.
The Kings were able to take advantage of Cousins and opened up a nine-point lead. Sacramento was trying to put a separation between themselves and the Warriors as they could before Golden State went on one of their patented runs.
Marvin Bagley III did not let up in the quarter as he added five points converting 3-of-4 opportunities from the free throw line plus hitting a field goal. Bagley also grabbed five rebounds.
Durant played the entire period for Golden State and scored nine points. He shot just 3-for-9 from the field.
Steph Curry put eight points in the book going 2-for-4 from behind the 3-point arc.
At the end of the 12-minutes, both teams had scored 29 points. The Kings held a 91-89 lead over the Warriors.
Fourth Quarter
The Warriors turned it on in the final period becoming who everyone knew they would become in the game. Golden State started sinking 3-pointers and going to the free throw line which usually means defeat for their opponents but it did not eliminate the Kings who refused to go away.
Sacramento who had been terrible from 3-point land in the game found their shots in the final 12-minutes. The Kings made 6-of-9 3-point attempts in the fourth quarter which kept them in the game. The problem for SAC was Golden State hit 6-of-11 from downtown which allowed them to establish a lead.
The Kings also made a fine effort from the free throw line converting 8-of-9 from the charity stripe. The Warriors were just a little bit better hitting 10-of-14 chances from the line.
When the period ended, Golden State had outscored Sacramento 36-32 in the period which allowed them to win the game 125-123.
GSW sweeps the series
The Kings lost all four games they played versus the Warriors by a total of 12 points.
Stars of the Game
Kings
Marvin Bagley III was the Kings leading scorer with 28 and then made it a double-double by grabbing 14 rebounds
Buddy Hield put up 19 points
De’Aaron Fox scored 18 points and had eight assists
Corey Brewer played his first game for the Kings and scored 11 points
Warriors
Steph Curry was the Warriors leading scorer with 36 points
Kevin Durant added 28 points (why would he want to go to the Knicks?)
Klay Thompson recorded 18 points
Playoff chase
The Kings are now 1.5-games behind the Clippers for the final playoff spot. The Lakers beat the Rockets and trail the Kings by just one game in the standings.
Up next
The Kings will be back in action on Saturday in Oklahoma City when they will take on the Thunder.
