Edmonton Sports Blog – Any Sport Any Time

Marlies shutout Barons in AHL Playoffs

On a day where I highly praised the coaching skills of Todd Nelson, and suggested as Sportsnet’s Mark Spector implied, that the Oklahoma City Barons’ bench boss is a legitimate candidate for the Edmonton Oilers coaching vacancy, the Barons struggled mightily Thursday night in a terrible 5-0 loss to the Toronto Marlies in game one of the American Hockey League’s Western Conference Final.

Spruce Grove native Ben Scrivens made 31 saves for the Marlies. Marcel Mueller and Nicolas Deschamps each had a goal and an assist, while top Toronto Maple Leaf prospect Nazim Kadri and Philippe Dupuis each had two helpers.

Speaking of Scrivens, have we seen a better goaltender to come out of Spruce Grove since Grant Fuhr? I don’t think so.

It will be a short turn around for the Barons, the AHL affiliate of the Edmonton Oilers, and the Marlies, the AHL affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs, as the teams will play game two of the series tonight in Oklahoma City.

Meanwhile in the Eastern Conference Final, the Norfolk Admirals, the AHL affiliate of the Tampa Bay Lightning hammered the St. John’s IceCaps 6-1 in game one of their series.

May 18th, 2012 | Posted by Jeremy Freeborn | Filed under Home | No Comments

Are the Heat missing Bosh that much?

The Miami Heat got absolutely hammered last night, by the Indiana Pacers!

That’s right, the third seeded Pacers had a fantastic team performance and delivered a gritty defensive effort in a 94-75 win over the Heat to take a 2-1 series lead in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals.

The Heat got zero first half points from Dwyane Wade in this one and only five overall. When Canadian Joel Anthony scores twice as many points as Wade, who ended the game with five points, you know you’re doing something right when your team is protecting the basket.

May 18th, 2012 | Posted by Jeremy Freeborn | Filed under NBA | No Comments

Blue Jays move into a playoff spot

At 21-18, the Toronto Blue Jays find themselves in a playoff spot in the American League East.

Last night at the Rogers Centre, rookie Drew Hutchison threw six brilliant innings as the Blue Jays beat the New York Yankees to pass the Bronx Bombers into a playoff spot in the American League.

It was a very good pitching performance by Hutchison, as five Yankees bats (including first baseman Mark Teixeira) went hitless. Third baseman Yan Gomes, who became the first ever Brazilian-born player to play in the Major Leagues, got two hits in three at bats in his Major League debut.

May 18th, 2012 | Posted by Jeremy Freeborn | Filed under MLB | No Comments

King continues to star for the Kings

Prior to the game Los Angeles Kings Head Coach Darryl Sutter said there were five key ingredients in order to win the Stanley Cup A) You need great goaltending, B) Your star players need to be at their best, C) You need to be disciplined, D) Your special teams need to be strong, and E) You need unsung heroes.

Thursday night in Los Angeles, the Kings continued to get a solid performance by an unsung hero. Dwight King, who only scored five goals in the 2011-12 regular season, scored his fifth goal in the playoffs as the Los Angeles Kings defeated the Phoenix Coyotes 2-1 to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the best of seven Western Conference Final. King’s goal was the game winner, his second straight game winner in fact, as he also opened the scoring in Los Angeles’ shutout win in game two.

Game four of the series is Sunday afternoon.

May 18th, 2012 | Posted by Jeremy Freeborn | Filed under NHL | No Comments

Oilers fire Renney– is it now Sutter time?

The Edmonton Oilers have decided to fire Tom Renney as their head coach.

The Oilers were 32-40-10 last season under Renney’s leadership, and only moved up on place in the standings, from 30th place to 29th place.

There is talk that the Oilers are set to name former Calgary Flames head coach Brent Sutter next. I’m not so sure if this is the right move.

Despite only two losses at the most recent World Hockey Championships, Team Canada failed to get the job done in Helsinki under Sutter’s guidance. Being eliminated from the quarterfinals is simply not good enough.

Sutter, who seemed to advise the Flames to move toward a youth movement, would be in the position to teach young players in Edmonton. But I see some issues too. Under Renney’s guidance, the power play significantly improved. What the Oilers need is strong teaching by a coach on even strength, without any loss to their improvement when they have the man advantage. Easier written than executed.

Calgary was a much better team than Edmonton on even strength this year, but that reason was because of Miikka Kiprusoff, not Sutter.

May 17th, 2012 | Posted by Jeremy Freeborn | Filed under NHL | No Comments

Team Canada eliminated from World Hockey Championships

Miroslav Satan (Dan Nicholas, Wikimedia Commons)

For the second straight season Team Canada had a great round robin in the World Hockey Championships, only to lose in the quarterfinals.

Last year it was Russia who was the opponent. This year it was a hmmmmm, Slovakia.

Despite having a 3-2 lead with only six minutes left, Canada could not hang on to the victory. Milan Bartovic tied the game at three and then Michal Handzus of the San Jose Sharks scored the game winning goal on the power play with captain Ryan Getzlaf in the penalty box serving a five minute major for kneeing.

Miroslav Satan, a former Edmonton Oiler, also scored for Slovakia, who advances to the semi-finals where they will play their nemesis, the Czech Republic in the semi-finals Saturday. Finland will play Russia in the other semi-final. The final takes place Sunday morning at 11:30am from Helsinki.

Canada got off to a slow start where they fell behind 2-0 early, but dominated the second before the wheels fell off in the third.

May 17th, 2012 | Posted by Jeremy Freeborn | Filed under Home | No Comments

Guinness World Record set in Chestermere Lake

It’s not often you find a World Record set in Chestermere Lake, in the town just east of Calgary, but on Wednesday, local sports fans saw just that.

Forty local players played hockey for ten and a half straight days, 246 straight hours, to head into the record books, setting the mark for the longest hockey game ever played. The final score? Team Cure defeated Team Hope 4,178-3,845. Dave Shillington, who used to play for the Calgary Royals of the Alberta Junior Hockey League led the way with 524 goals.

But the real winners this past week was the Alberta Children’s Hospital, who received $1.4 million in donations.

NHL players also came out to show their support. Calgary Flames captain Jarome Iginla was in attendance for part of the contest, while former Flame Brendan Morrison helped out as a referee. The game was also attended by country music star Paul Brandt, who sang his hit song I Was There.

May 17th, 2012 | Posted by Jeremy Freeborn | Filed under Home | No Comments

Kings continue to play great in the Playoffs

Jonathan Quick (Wikimedia Commons)

The Los Angeles Kings are quite possibly the best team in hockey.

Tuesday night in Phoenix, the Kings continued their excellent playoff stretch by going 10-1, after their convincing 4-0 shutout win over the Coyotes to take a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference Final.

Jeff Carter led the Kings attack with a hat trick while Jonathan Quick made 24 saves.

But a major reason why Los Angeles Kings won was discipline and they were able to capitalize against a Phoenix Coyotes team that lacked disciplinary behaviour.

Coyotes’ forwards Shane Doan and Martin Hanzal both received game misconducts for separate boarding incidents. Doan’s penalty led to a Jeff Carter power play goal, his first of two on the evening.

Another King who is red hot lately is Meadowlake, Saskatchewan native Dwight King who has three goals in two games, including the game winning goal last night.

Game three of the series is Thursday in Los Angeles.

May 16th, 2012 | Posted by Jeremy Freeborn | Filed under NHL | No Comments

Why many Canadians are cheering for the Pacers

It was a great day for Canadian basketball fans Tuesday night as the Indiana Pacers defeated the Miami Heat 78-75.

David West, who has valuable playoff experience with the New Orleans Hornets led the way by recording a double double, 16 points and 10 rebounds.

The reason why this is a positive move for Canadian basketball is because the Heat have ex-Raptor Chris Bosh on their roster, because of an abdomen injury. Bosh is sidelined indefinitely. The other reason why Canadians are pro-Indiana is because of the whole mentality of the Heat– which has a overconfident cockiness in the way they play the game.

May 16th, 2012 | Posted by Jeremy Freeborn | Filed under NBA | No Comments

Lawrie showing his youth and inexperience

The Toronto Blue Jays will probably have third baseman Brett Lawrie out of the lineup for a little while.

On Tuesday, the Langley, British Columbia native threw his helmet, which bounced and hit home plate umpire Bill Miller, while arguing a strikeout call in Toronto’s 4-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays at the Rogers Centre Tuesday night.

If anything, it was a solid learning experience for Lawrie, who is in his second season with Toronto. So far in 2012, he leads the team with a .289 batting average.

May 16th, 2012 | Posted by Jeremy Freeborn | Filed under MLB | No Comments

Methot suspended for Canada’s quarterfinal game against Slovakia

Team Canada will not have Columbus Blue Jackets defenceman Mark Methot when they play their quarterfinal game tomorrow against Slovakia at the World Hockey Championships in Helsinki, Finland.

Methot was suspended one game for slamming Belarussian Yevgeni Kovyrshin into the boards in Canada’s 5-1 win over Belarus on Tuesday. The physicality in the game began when Andrei Kostitsyn hit Corey Perry from behind. Perry was ok, but Kostitsyn was given a five minute major and game misconduct.

Then after Ryan Nugent-Hopkins made the score 4-1, another scrum immediately pursued.

Canada is actually lucky only to hear that Methot will be suspended because they could have easily lost Luke Schenn of the Toronto Maple Leafs as well for a hitting from behind infraction. If they are going to win the tournament, they will simply have to be more disciplined.

May 16th, 2012 | Posted by Jeremy Freeborn | Filed under Home | No Comments

NHL would love Rangers/Kings Stanley Cup

Darryl Sutter (Wikimedia Commons)

I think it is safe to say that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman might be sleeping well at night. Why? Well, he is finally about to sell the Phoenix Coyotes and the two teams in the largest American markets are leading their respective conference finals.

The Los Angeles Kings lead the Phoenix Coyotes 1-0 in their best-out-of-seven series after their 4-2 win on Sunday night. The Kings continue to play flawless in these playoffs, especially on the road, where they are a remarkable 6-0. Dwight King scored twice and Dustin Brown scored the game winner. I know Darryl Sutter did a masterful job coaching the Flames in 2004, but he is doing equally a sensational job in southern California. Los Angeles outshot Phoenix 17-4 in the first period, as the Kings took the Coyotes fans out of the game early.

Meanwhile on the American east coast, Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers made 21 saves for a 3-0 game one win over New Jersey. The Rangers got all three goals in the third period, including a goal by Dan Girardi 53 seconds in which turned out to be the game winner. The Rangers must also be excited about the play of Chris Kreider who scored on the power play.

May 15th, 2012 | Posted by Jeremy Freeborn | Filed under NHL | No Comments

Oil Kings win Ed Chynoweth Cup– Thumbs down to the Edmonton sports fan

The Edmonton Oil Kings are the 2012 Western Hockey League Champions and winners of the Ed Chynoweth Cup.

Last night, the Oil Kings punched their ticket to Shawinigan, Quebec and the MasterCard Memorial Cup with a 4-1 victory over the Portland Winterhawks in game seven of the championship series.

My initial reaction during the game however was simple. Where were all of the fans? I know perfectly well that there was a satisfactory crowd last night and the 12, 514 fans need to be commended, but the capacity of Rexall Place is 16,839 which is 26% less than a sellout.

May 14th, 2012 | Posted by Jeremy Freeborn | Filed under More, Western Hockey League | No Comments

Winterhawks force seventh game against Oil Kings

There will be a seventh and deciding game tonight in Edmonton for the Western Hockey League Championship.

Last night in Portland, Oregon, Edmonton native Oliver Gabriel scored twice including the game winner as the Portland Winterhawks defeated the Edmonton Oil Kings 3-2 to tie the series at three. Gabriel’s second goal won the game for Portland with 2:39 left in the third period.

Gabriel, a left winger who is property of the Columbus Blue Jackets, is the latest Winterhawk to score a key goal in the series, joining Sven Bartschi and Brendan Leipsic.

The Winterhawks have the offensive firepower and stronger offensive talent, and until last night I thought Edmonton was better on the defensive end. But for the Oil Kings to win, it is clear that defenceman Keegan Lowe needs to get better. He was on the ice twice for Portland goals in the third period, including one time when he gave the puck away that led directly to a Portland goal.

Game seven is tonight at Rexall Place at 6pm on Shaw TV.

May 13th, 2012 | Posted by Jeremy Freeborn | Filed under More, Western Hockey League | No Comments