Sharks Lose Hertl and Then Lose 2-1 to Coyotes

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Photo credit: nhl.com/sharks

By Jerry Feitelberg

The San Jose Sharks’ depth took another major hit Tuesday night, forcing head coach Peter DeBoer to get a little creative with his lines. With Tomas Hertl exiting the game with an undisclosed injury, DeBoer moved reigning Norris Trophy Winner for best defenseman Brent Burns to the top line’s wings for alternating shifts. Burns’ move upfront wouldn’t be enough to spark the Sharks though, as Team Teal fell to the visiting Arizona Coyotes 2-1 at the SAP Center.

The Sharks outshot the Desert Dogs 41-26, but goals from defensemen Kevin Connauton and Alex Goligoski proved to be the difference makers. Former Coyote Mikkel Boedker scored for the Sharks, but Scott Wedgewood and Antti Raanta combined to snap the Sharks win-streak at two games. The Sharks powerplay went 0-4 in the loss, failing to gain ground with the teams directly behind them in the standings, Los Angeles and Calgary losing to Eastern Conference teams.

Connauton opened the scoring 7:58 into the game, crashing the net on a Nick Cousins point shot, tipping home the loose puck while another Coyote crashed into the far post behind Sharks goalie Martin Jones. The net was knocked off its moorings, but the collision had no effect on the result of the play, so a brief discussion between the officials confirmed a good goal.

Boedker responded just 1:20 later, channeling team captain Joe Pavelski by tipping a Justin Braun point blast past starting goalie Wedgewood to tie the game. Marc-Edouard Vlasic joined d-partner Vlasic in picking up the assist on Boedker’s strike.

Goligoski, appearing in his 700th game, picked up the game-winner for the Western Conference cellar dwellers. Goligoski took advantage of a powerplay opportunity, blasting a point shot 9:35 into the second period for a 2-1 lead.

First star Wedgewood took a puck off the helmet in the second, but was near perfect through two periods. He made 28 of 29 saves, but exited the game early in the third period after his defenseman pushed a Sharks player on top of him. The collision caused Wedgewood to hit the crossbar with his head, leading to his exit from the game.

The Sharks tested Raanta immediately, sneaking the puck behind him on their first shot. Goligoski was there to pull it off the line before the Sharks could tie the game. Raanta made 12 saves to finish out the win.

The Sharks get to face another struggling western conference team in game two of a three-game homestand. The Vancouver Canucks come to town Thursday before the Dallas Stars stop by for a Sunday start. Coach DeBoer hasn’t ruled out if Burns would make an appearance at forward if Hertl is unavailable.

San Jose State and Fresno State won’t be feeling the love on Valentine’s Day

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Photo credit: sjsuspartans.com

By: Ana Kieu

San Jose State holds only meeting with Fresno State at home on Wednesday
The San Jose Spartans will return to the Event Center Wednesday night to take on the rival Fresno State Bulldogs in a 7:00 pm PT tipoff. Tickets for the game are available at the Spartan Ticket Office, which can be reached at (408) 924-7589. The game will be broadcasted live on the Mountain West Network and on KLIV 1590 AM radio with Justin Allegri’s play-by-play. The 171st meeting between the Spartans and Bulldogs on Wednesday will be their only meeting of this season.

Game #24
San Jose State (3-20, 0-12 MW) vs. Fresno State (17-8, 7-5 MW)
Wednesday, February 14, 2018, 7:00 pm PT
The Event Center (5,000)
San Jose, California

Tickets: Spartan Ticket Office (408) 924-7589
TV: Mountain West Network
Radio: KLIV 1590 AM and KSJS 90.5 FM

Historical Facts
According to SJSU’s records, Wednesday will be the 171st meeting between the Spartans and the Bulldogs, with Fresno State owning an 89-81 advantage. The Spartans have taken two of the last three from the Bulldogs with both wins coming inside the Event Center. While the Spartans won last year’s first meeting, 69-62, it was Fresno State with a commanding 77-59 win in Fresno, California, on February 15.

Last meeting inside the Event Center
Jalen James hit a baseline jumper with 22.1 seconds left in regulation to put the Spartans ahead of the Bulldogs, 64-62. Fresno State inbounded the ball, came down the floor, and James was there again to take a charge on Fresno State guard Jaron Hopkins. Bulldogs head coach Rodney Terry was tossed after showing his displeasure with the call, giving SJSU a chance to put the game away from the free throw line, which it did. SJSU came away with the 69-62 victory, making it back-to-back wins against Fresno State for the first time since January 2009.

Keith Fisher III had his best game of the season last Saturday
Spartan freshman Keith Fisher III had his best game of the season last Saturday at Colorado State with 23 points, nine rebounds and four assists. He was efficient, hitting 7-of-10 field goals, and sinking 9-of-12 from the free throw line. While it was Keith’s best game, a performance like that has been becoming more regular for him. He’s averaging 14.0 points and 6.8 rebounds over the last five games while shooting 51.9% from the field. Fisher’s ability to knock down the outside jumper and make moves off the dribble has opened up more opportunities for himself and his teammates.

Spartan offense is shaping up
SJSU is shooting 43.8% from the field and averaging 66.5 points per game for the 2017-18 season. In the last five games though, those number have jumped up to 47.8% shooting and 74.2 points per game. The development of Keith Fisher III’s game together with close-range scoring from big men Oumar Barry and Ashtin Chastain has resulted in the team’s rise in shooting efficiency. Those three have combined to shoot 57.7% (56-97) during the last five games.

Defense tumbles down
While SJSU’s offense is trending upward, their defense is headed in a completely opposite direction. The Spartans are holding opponents to 43.7% shooting while allowing 75.0 points per game for the season. In the last five games, SJSU opponents are shooting 47.9% and averaging 84.2 points per game.

Things have changed at Colorado State
SJSU trailed 60-59 at the 8:47 mark in the second half last Saturday at Colorado State. Then in a matter of 42 seconds, the Spartans found itself down by 10 points, and the Rams ran away with a 90-79 win on their home floor. The 42-second span started with an offensive foul called on Jaycee Hillsman after a defensive rebound under the Rams’ basket. The Rams hit a pair of 3-pointers and converted a standard 3-point play to break the game open. All three scoring plays for CSU were preceded by a Spartan turnover.

Welage continues to surge career ranks
With 16 points in the last game against Colorado State, Ryan Welage surged up to eighth on SJSU’s all-time scoring list with 1,144 points. Coby Dietrick, who played more than a decade of ABA and NBA basketball, sits ahead of Welage in seventh place with 1,173 points. Welage is currently second all-time at SJSU with 146 made 3-pointers, trailing only Tim Pierce, who finished his Spartan career with 153.

SJSU ALL-TIME SCORING LEADERS
1,767 – Ricky Berry (84 games)
1,750 – Adrian Oliver (80 games)
1,504 – Stu Inman (123 games)
1,432 – Wally Rank (102 games)
1,272 – Justin Graham (119 games)
1,236 – Chris McNealy (81 games)
1,173 – Coby Dietrick (72 games)
1,144 – Ryan Welage (84 games)
1,139 – Terry Cannon (97 games)
1,136 – Johnnie Skinner (73 games)
1,125 – Ken Mickey (82 games)
1,095 – Sid Williams (111 games)
1,050 – S.T. Saffold (72 games)
1,050 – Olivier Saint-Jean (51 games)
1,049 – Carroll Williams (75 games)

Turnovers put Spartans’ first Mountain West win on hold
SJSU shot better than New Mexico — 47.1% to 41.4% — outrebounded the Lobos, 43-19, and made more free throws than the Lobos. However a season-high 25 turnovers led to 30 UNM points and SJSU lost 71-68 on its home floor. It was the 11th game with 20 or more turnovers this season for SJSU, and the team’s 17.4 turnovers per game are the most in NCAA Division I.

Jaycee Hillsman made the most out of his opportunities
SJSU’s Jaycee Hillsman has had the ball in his hands a bit more than usual in the last couple of games and he made the most of his opportunity against New Mexico with career-highs of 21 points and 11 rebounds. It was the second double-double of his career, but the first against a Division I opponent. Hillsman played 30 minutes as the team’s so-called sixth-man, which are the most since he played 32 minutes against San Diego in SJSU’s second game of the season on November 12.

Notes
SJSU’s home game on February 24 against San Diego State will be broadcasted live on ESPN3. Tipoff against the Aztecs will remain at 7:00 pm PT. However, fans will want to get to the arena early for a pre-game recognition of Ryan Welage reaching the 1,000-point plateau.

Golden State Warriors Podcast with David Zizmor: Players take on coaching roles calling own plays and crush Suns

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Photo credit: nba.com/warriors

On the Warriors podcast with Dave:

What a difference a week makes after losing three out four games the Warriors have righted the ship and have won three straight games. The latest game had Warriors players, assistant coaches, and yes on occasion head coach Steve Kerr taking the clipboard and designing or calling plays. It was a technique that worked doing it for the first time as Golden State trounced the Phoenix Suns on Monday night 129-83 at Oracle Arena.

David Zizmor does the Warriors podcasts each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Warriors blow out Suns 129-83 for third straight win

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Photo credit: @warriors

By Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND — The Phoenix Suns were the owners of one of the worst records in the NBA this season, but gave the Warriors a little bit of a tussle during the first 12 minutes of the game. They trailed 25-24 after one quarter of play, and it was as close as they would come close all evening. The Warriors pounded them the next three quarters and trounced the Suns 129-83 at Oracle Arena on Monday night.

The Warriors were without the services of Draymond Green Monday. Green sprained his index finger in the game Saturday night against the Spurs, and the Warriors felt that they could handle the Suns without him. Were they right? Yeah. Omri Casspi started in Green’s place and had his best night as a Warrior with a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds.

The Warriors overwhelmed the Suns by 16 in the second quarter, 11 in the third, and 18 in the fourth quarter. During timeouts, Warriors’ coach Steve Kerr turned over his chalkboard to the players and they did a great job as the dominant Warriors swamped the hapless Suns.

Game Notes and Stats: The Suns were without the services of Devin Booker for the fourth straight game due to a hip pointer. The Suns cannot afford to lose Booker, who is a rising star in the NBA.

The Warriors shot 58.4% from the floor and held the Suns to just 34.7%.

The Suns were just 3-for-23 from 3-point range while the Warriors made 11 threes.

The Warriors recorded 36 assists and turned the ball over  11 times. On defense, the Warriors made eight steals and recorded 16 blocks.

Steph Curry led the Warriors with 22 points, Kevin Durant had 17 points, six assists, and seven rebounds and he blocked two shots. Nick Young and Klay Thompson tallied 16. Patrick McCaw, who had played a couple of games in the G-League to help rebuild his confidence, scored nine.

The Suns were led by Elfrid Payton’s 29 points. Payton was playing his second game as a Sun since being acquired at the trade deadline from the Orlando Magic. The only other Sun in double figures was T.J.Warren with 14.

Up Next: The Warriors face the Portland Trail Blazers Wednesday night in Portland. This will be the last game before the annual NBA All-Star game, which will be held in Los Angeles this weekend.

San Jose Sharks Podcast with Len Shapiro: Sharks have turned the corner pick up third straight win and second place

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file photo by bladesofteal.com: The San Jose Sharks Logan Couture (39) who scored a goal and an assist on Sunday against the Anaheim Ducks at the Honda Center in Anaheim and had an even busier day on Saturday with two goals in regulation and a game winner against the Edmonton Oilers at SAP in San Jose

On The SJ Sharks Podcast with Len:

1 The San Jose Sharks won back to back games on Saturday and Sunday with a 6-4 win over the Edmonton Oilers and a 3-2 win past the Anaheim Ducks at the Honda Center Sunday

2 The Sharks move into second in the Pacific avoiding a three way tie for second which would have been the case if it had not been for the overtime games and shootouts

3 The Sharks Logan Couture notched the game winner vs. Anaheim goalie John Gibson in the second round it was Couture’s fourth point in three games.

4 The Ducks started out the game with a 2-0 lead and the Sharks had a number of chances and went almost seven minutes without a shot on net

5 The Sharks open up a three game homestand beginning Tuesday night against the Arizona Coyotes, Thursday against the Vancouver Canucks, and Sunday against the Dallas Stars.

Len Shapiro does the San Jose Sharks podcasts each Monday at http://www.sportsadioservice.com

 

 

Cal Bears Podcast with Morris Phillips: Jones says team had no fight in them last game vs. Utah

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photo by calbears.com: Cal Bears Darius McNeill (1) calls out a play bringing the ball up court scored 10 points to lead the Bears on Saturday night in Utah

On the Cal Bears Podcast:

1 Cal head coach Wyking Jones said  of the Bears most recent loss to the Utah Utes that the team had no fight in them in the 74-43 defeat.

2 Cal started out leading 8-4 after four minutes but after went on a 10-0 run Cal went scoreless for more than five minutes and were facing a 40-21 deficit at halftime

3 Cal first half turn only hurt them 11 in the first nine minutes and the Utes took advantage with 17 of their 40 points resulting from the turn overs

4 The Bears return home next Sunday the 18th to host Stanford the first three home games

Morris Phillips does the Cal Bears Podcast each Monday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

 

Jason Hawkins resigns as San Jose State head baseball coach

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Photo credit: mwcconnection.com

By: Ana Kieu

Jason Hawkins was the San Jose State Spartans head baseball coach for the 2017 season.

Hawkins submitted his resignation, effective immediately. SJSU’s director of athletics, Marie Tuite, made the announcement on Tuesday.

In Hawkins’ one season as head coach, the Spartans had a 19-35-1 win-loss record.

Brad Sanfilippo was appointed as an interim head coach in January 2018, but will not be taking over as the head coach as SJSU’s search continues for the vacant position.

A national search for the next SJSU baseball head coach will occur during the season. The Spartans open their 2018 schedule with a four-game, non-conference home series, starting with Northern Colorado on Friday, February 16, at San Jose Municipal Stadium.

For Transactions
SJSU — Accepted the resignation of baseball head coach Jason Hawkins.

San Jose State completes non-conference football schedule; agrees to 2020 game at Penn State

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Photo credit: sjsuspartans.com

By: Ana Kieu

The San Jose State Spartans finalized their non-conference football schedule through the 2021 season and agreed to a 2020 game against the Penn State Nittany Lions on Monday.

San Jose State and Penn State will meet for the first time in NCAA football in a road game at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania, on September 19, 2020.

Spartans’ director of athletics, Marie Tuite, made the announcement for SJSU.

“I know our student-athletes, coaches, alumni and friends of the program will look forward to playing Penn State in 2020,” said Tuite, whose football scheduling philosophy is to have SJSU play two home and two road non-conference regular season games each season.

With the addition of Penn State as a non-conference opponent, SJSU now has their future non-conference football schedules complete for the 2018 to 2021 seasons.

Penn State became the fifth team affiliated with the Big Ten Conference on a SJSU football schedule. Previously, SJSU played at Minnesota four times between 1991 and 2014, at Ohio State in 2002 and twice at Wisconsin in 1997 (in San Jose, California) and 2010 (in Madison, Wisconsin). SJSU also played at Nebraska twice before the Cornhuskers joined the Big Ten.

The SJSU at Penn State matchup will be one of five Eastern Time Zone games during the 2019 through 2021 seasons. SJSU will travel to Army West Point for games in 2019 and 2021, Central Michigan and Penn State in 2020 and Georgia in 2021.

Kings play tough in Minnesota but come up just short losing 111-106

Published on by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment

Kings vs Twolves final

by Charlie O. Mallonee

Style points are usually reserved for events in the Olympics. Well, the Winter Olympics are in full swing and the Kings are in full “player development mode”, so we have to judge them on more than just wins and losses.

For their efforts in Minnesota on Sunday night, the young Kings get a 10 for effort, a 10 for hustle and eight for style. Sacramento lost the game to the T-Wolves 111-106, but they did what no one really expected them to do in this first game of a three-game road trip. The Kings made it a very competitive game.

The Kings did two major things right on Sunday night:

  1. They came out of the gate an played hard from the opening jump ball. De’Aaron Fox led the way scoring 14 points in first period as the Kings outscored the Timberwolves 29-23 in the first quarter. Sacramento also played some tough defense as they gave up only 23 points.
  2. The second thing the Kings did well on Sunday night is they avoided the dreaded third quarter letdown. Sacramento has established a habit of playing very ineffective basketball in the third stanza and then having to try to come back in dramatic fashion in the fourth quarter to make up for bad third quarters. The Kings won the third quarter on Sunday night 26-19

The Timberwolves superior firepower took its toll in the fourth quarter as they outscored the Kings 36-26 to win the game 111-106. The game was competitive right up until the final seven-seconds of the contest.

The victory was the Timberwolves 13th consecutive win on their homecourt. That is truly an incredible run.

Star Performances

Kings

Kings vs Twolves 5

  • Rookie De’Aaron Fox played an outstanding game in his almost 35-minutes on the floor. Beyond his 14 points in the first quarter, Fox finished the game with a team-high 23 points. He shot 8-for-16 from the floor and went 6-for-8 from the free throw line. Fox added three steals and two assists to his stats for the game.
  • Buddy Hield had another productive game coming off the bench. Hield played just under 19-minutes but manged to post 16 points in that time on the floor. Hield shot 6-for-13 including going 2-for-5 from 3-point land. Buddy also recorded four rebounds, two steals, one assist and one blocked shot.
  • Rookie (well NBA rookie) Bogdan Bogdanovic put 13 points in the book in 30-plus minutes on the floor. He shot 5-for-12 from the field and hit 2-of-5 from behind the 3-point arc. Bogie also dished out eight assists in the game.

T-Wolves

Kings vs Twolves extra

  • To no one’s surprise, the big KAT was the man for Minnesota on Sunday night. Karl-Anthony Towns scored a game-high 29 points shooting 10-for-17 from the floor. Towns went a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line. He grabbed eight rebounds, dished out six assists and blocked three shots in the game.
  • Veteran Jimmy Butler added 18 points hitting 5-of-9 shots from the floor. Butler went to the free throw line nine times and converted seven of those opportunities. Butler also added three assists.
  • Andrew Wiggins was another key part of the T-Wolves win on Sunday. He scored 16 points, grabbed eight rebounds and distributed three assists. Wiggins hit 7-of-13 of his shots in the game.

Prime Numbers

Sacramento (17-38)

  • The Kings shot 47.7-percent (42-for-88) for the game and hit 10-of-25 (40-percent) from 3-point range.
  • Sacramento hit 12-of-17 from the charity stripe. The team needs to go to the free throw line at least 20 times per game, but hitting 70.6-percent of their opportunities is acceptable.
  • The Kings pulled down 43 rebounds – 15 of those rebounds were offensive grabs. Those 15 offensive rebounds turned into 22 points for SAC.
  • Sacramento committed 19 turnovers that became 22 Minnesota points. The Kings totaled only 17 assists which gave them a negative assists to turnover ratio.

Minnesota (35-24)

  • The T-Wolves shot 50-percent (37-for-74) from the floor for the game on Sunday night. They hit 9-of-24 chances from long-range.
  • Minnesota went to the free throw line 32 times. They sank 28 of those free throw shots (87.5-percent).
  • The Timberwolves dished out 29 assists while committing 17 turnovers which is close to the 2-to-1 desired ratio goal.
  • The T-Wolves biggest lead in the game was five points while the Kings largest lead was 10 points. There were 10 lead changes and the game was tied 15 times.

Up Next

Kings

Sacramento will play the second game of their three-game road trip on Tuesday night in Dallas versus the Mavericks.

Timberwolves

Minnesota will stay at home and host the Houston Rockets on Tuesday night.

 

 

Sharks end dad’s trip on positive note with 3-2 win over Ducks

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~ Photo credit: NHL.com

~ By Pearl Allison Lo

~ ANAHEIM — The San Jose Sharks won both back-to-back weekend games with a 3-2 shootout win over the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center Sunday.

The Sharks showcased their resiliency after relinquishing four straight goals Saturday and earning full points Sunday after they were scoreless with 10 minutes left in regulation.

San Jose was rewarded with second place in the Pacific for now instead of a three-way tie for second, which would have been the case had they not gone to extra periods.

Logan Couture notched the game-winner versus goalie John Gibson in the second round. It was Couture’s fourth point in three games.

This match clinched a 3-1 regular season series between the teams. It was the third time they had gone to a shootout .

Anaheim started with a 2-0 lead for the second game in a row. They had a number of close chances in the first.

The Sharks went almost seven minutes without a shot on net, starting with Chris Tierney’s shot at 2:16.

Ondrej Kase raced past Brenden Dillon and shot past goaltender Martin Jones from the left faceoff circle. It looked like an initial save, but the puck squeezed through five-hole at 2:39.

Before Marc-Edouard Vlasic had San Jose’s next shot on goal at 8:58, the Ducks had four shots on goal and the Sharks blocked four shots.

Instead of 1-0 after the first, the score could have been 3-0 in favor of Anaheim.

San Jose got lucky when a strong shot went off the boards and the rebound went to Andrew Cogliano short side near a clear part of the net, as he missed with his shot in the opposite direction. Cogliano led with three shots in the period.  

With 18 seconds left, Corey Perry made it 2-0 on the Ducks’ second power play of the period, but it was negated for offsides.\

After 13 shots in the first, the Ducks’ sole two shots on goal in the second sandwiched the Sharks’ first power play of the game.  

Nick Ritchie had a shot at 3:48, San Jose had three shots during their man advantage and Rickard Rakell had Anaheim’s last shot of the period at 6:54.

The game’s first fight occurred at 15:11.

Joonas Donskoi had four and Jannik Hansen had three of the Sharks’ 14 shots in the period. San Jose also had 11 missed shots.

On allowing the Sharks to get back into the game, Ryan Getzlaf replied, “It started in the second period…at that point, you’re receiving the game a little bit.”

The Ducks went up 2-0 legitimately when Cam Fowler won and got to the puck before Jones at 6:28 of the third.

San Jose Captain Joe Pavelski relayed, “…guys show character and there was no reason for us to panic. We were playing good…Staring at it down 2-0, guys stepped up.”

Coach Pete DeBoer concurred, “Despite being down in the third, we had played well enough that we should have either been tied or up. So, the fact that we stuck with it, it took us 59 minutes…I liked our game tonight.”

Couture prevented the shutout and started the Sharks’ comeback when he shot from the top of the right faceoff circle through the slot at 10:56.

When San Jose started with the man advantage after Jones was pulled, the puck was cleared three times. The Sharks even had to bring Jones in to take a faceoff in their own zone. However after that, San Jose went around the horn and Timo Meier redirected Couture’s feed to tie the game with 53.7 seconds left.

Pavelski explained, “We are here to win, obviously. We went out on that last shift and the chatter was, we are scoring. We are not going to give up an empty net goal.”’

Fowler recounted, “That last goal is a tough one to give up. I kind of left my man in front, so personally I feel a little responsible for that one.”

Both sides had three shots apiece in overtime.

In the shootout, Adam Henrique’s shot was saved. Pavelski scored after corralling his shot around a spread out Gibson. Rakell hit the post after Couture’s winner.

Game notes: Anaheim’s Kevin Bieska played in his 800th NHL game.

Up Next: The Sharks head back to SAP Center for a three-game road trip, featuring the Arizona Coyotes first Tuesday at 7:30 pm PT.