Super Bowl XLVI takes place tomorrow from Indianapolis, as the New York Giants play the New England Patriots in a rematch of the Super Bowl from 2007 when the Giants beat the Patriots 17-14 in Phoenix, Arizona.
Currently the Patriots are a 2.5 point favourite.
With all the talk that the Giants have the better defense than the Patriots, I simply don’t buy it. The Patriots allowed 58 fewer points than the Giants this season.
Offensively, there has been some concern regarding who Tom Brady will be able to throw to at the tight end position with Rob Gronkowski hurt. People must remember that Aaron Hernandez is the best backup tight end in the NFL.
I’m picking the Patriots to win their fourth Super Bowl 34-16. For more information on Super Bowl XLVI please go to my blog earlier in the week.
The Calgary Flames moved closer to a playoff spot Friday night.
At the Scotiabank Saddledome, the Flames moved within three points of the Minnesota Wild for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference with a 3-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Flames goal scorers Friday were Olli Jokinen, Jay Bouwmeester and Jarome Iginla. Jokinen’s goal was a top corner shot. Bouwmeester meanwhile came in from the point on the powerplay and Iginla deked Ray Emery after receiving a beautiful long pass from Alex Tanguay.
The Flames finally generated some offense after scoring only one goal in their last two games combined. Miikka Kiprusoff was also key as he recorded 26 saves in a game where he passed Mike Vernon as the Flames’ all-time leader in games played with 527.
In other Flames news, the team called up Calgary native Krystofer Kolanos from Abbotsford who played in his first NHL game in three years. Kolanos could be a very valuable part of the Flames offense because of his experience (11 goals with Phoenix in 2002) and the injuries to Curtis Glencross (on the injury reserve with a lower body injury), David Moss (possibly out for the season with an ankle injury) and Lee Stempniak out for the next six weeks with a high ankle sprain.
Calgary next plays in Anaheim on Monday night. The Blackhawks meanwhile have now lost five straight.
History was made at Rexall Place on Thursday night.
To say that Edmonton Oilers forward Sam Gagner joined some elite company with his performance in an 8-4 win over the Chicago Blackhawks is quite possibly the understatement of the century. With a four goal, four assist night, Gagner becomes just the third Oiler ever, behind the likes of Wayne Gretzky and Paul Coffey, to rack up eight points in a single game.
Eight points!
Not only did he Gagner have one of the best offensive nights in the long history of the NHL, but the Oilers battled back from down 2-0 to blast a team that had a 22-point lead on them in the Western Conference standings coming into the game.
There was a lot to celebrate for the Oilers in this one – a 43-save night for Devan Dubnyk, Jordan Eberle scoring his 20th of the year, Ryan Whitney netting his first and Cam Barker putting one in after being out since November with an ankle injury. But seriously – eight points?! (more…)
On Thursday night Sam Gagner tied the Edmonton Oilers record for most points in a game with eight as Edmonton defeated Chicago 8-4.
Gagner had four goals and four assists. Coming into the hockey game, Gagner only had five goals all season long.
Taylor Hall added two goals while defencemen Cam Barker and Ryan Whitney added the other two.
Darryl Sittler of the Toronto Maple Leafs has the NHL record with 10 points in a game–on February 7, 1976. The last player to record 8 points in a game was Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins on April 25, 1989. The last player to record 8 points in a regular season game was also Lemieux on December 31, 1988.
Gretzky recorded eight points in a game twice– in 1983 against New Jersey and1984 against Minnesota. Paul Coffey recorded his eight point night against Detroit in 1986, in a game I had the highest honour of attending.
The hockey world is currently a buzz following Los Angeles’ 3-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets at the Staples Center last night.
With a second left in the game last night, Kings’ defenceman Drew Doughty scored on the power play from Anze Kopitar and Jack Johnson to give the Kings a much needed victory in the Western Conference.
But on the replay, the clock stopped momentarily with 1.8 seconds left. With the clock malfunction occurring, the goal should not have counted, meaning the Kings got an extra point that they should not have necessarily deserved as of yet anyways.
According to NHL Executive Vice-President Colin Campbell, the game last night cannot be changed. Los Angeles will get two points in the standings and Columbus none. The result is meaningless for the Blue Jackets but huge for the Kings, who in seventh place in the Western Conference, enhance their lead on a playoff spot to six points over Dallas and Colorado.
But my argument is something can be done and the NHL should not rule by the letter of the law. In the NBA in 2008 , the final 52 seconds of the game played between the Miami Heat and Atlanta Hawks was replayed because Shaquille O’Neal was mistakenly fouled out of the game.
The Kings play the Blue Jackets again this season on March 8, and in my opinion, the time leading up to the previous faceoff should be replayed at that time. What do you think?
Boy, how the time flies – another week has come and gone in the world of sports, which means there’s another fresh batch of viral greatness ready for its close up!
This week, we’ve got a dunk that ended a guy’s (Twitter) career, some magic from LeBron James, a ridiculous own goal and a couple of leaked Super Bowl commercials!
Let’s begin with some action from the NBA – check this video of LA Clippers forward Blake Griffin posterizing Oklahoma City’s Kendrick Perkins:
Perkins was dunked on so hard that his Twitter account got deleted!
Speaking of mega-hops, did you see the massive one-handed alley-oop by LeBron James this week? (VIDEO after the jump!) (more…)
Over the next two months the Calgary Flames will need to cheer for an unlikely source at times. It won’t happen all that often, but Tuesday night was one of those nights where an Oilers win actually helped the Flames.
With Calgary battling Colorado, Minnesota, Phoenix, and Dallas for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West, the Flames got significant help from their provincial rival.
Taylor Hall scored at 6:01 of the third period to give the Oilers a 3-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was expected to play but didn’t because of the flu.
The Flames, who are two points back of Colorado and three points back of Minnesota for a playoff spot, didn’t help themselves however with a 3-1 loss to Detroit. Jiri Hudler scored the game winning goal midway through the third period.
Prior to the game the Flames paid tribute to former captain and assistant coach Brad McCrimmon who died in the Lokomotiv plane crash in September.
The Oilers next play the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday, while the Flames play Chicago Friday.
The All-Star break didn’t leave us with many games around the NHL last week, but there was no shortage of highlight reel action before the players parted ways for a few days!
Since it would be a shame to put a goal from the no-defence All-Star game, as nice as it may have been, ahead of a beauty goal that happened with real points on the line, this edition of the GOTW won’t feature anything from this weekend. Here’s what I’ve got for you though: a penalty shot snipe, an incredible fake on a great goalie, a couple of unreal backhanders and a solid individual effort!
Let’s go!
5. Trevor Lewis
I’m not normally a fan of putting penalty shot goals on the list, but this dangle from LA’s Trevor Lewis is definitely worth another look. Sens fans might argue it shouldn’t count, because it shouldn’t have been a penalty shot, but there’s no doubt that Lewis made Craig Anderson look a bit silly with a couple of sweet fakes.
This week on 15 Minutes of Fame, we give a passing grade to the NHL’s All-Star Weekend, touch on Tim Thomas’ decision to skip his team’s White House visit and discuss the biggest surprises in the league at the All-Star break. As well: we give out our Super Bowl predictions and comment on a couple of massive MLB contracts!
In the GABBYs: The Canadian women’s soccer team, US Senator John Kerry, Jay Cutler, Kevin-Prince Boateng, Kyle Williams and Scott Gomez. The Punchline this week is Minnesota Vikings kicker Chris Kluwe!
The Calgary Flames have traded forward Brendan Morrison to the Chicago Blackhawks for defenceman Brian Connelly.
The move was made as representatives from all 30 teams in the National Hockey League gathered in Ottawa for Sunday’s NHL All-Star Game.
So far this season, Morrison has four goals and seven assists in 28 games. The 36 year-old began his NHL career with the New Jersey Devils, and since then has played for the Vancouver Canucks, Anaheim Ducks, Dallas Stars, Washington Capitals as well as Calgary since the 2010-11 season.
Morrison showed the hockey world last season he could still be a productive asset to a hockey club. Despite being cut by the Canucks in training camp, Morrison signed with the Flames and scored nine goals and 34 assists. Morrison’s best NHL season came in Vancouver in 2002-03 when he played regularly on a line with Todd Bertuzzi and Markus Naslund. Morrison scored 25 goals and 46 assists for 71 points that season.
Connelly meanwhile played for Colorado College in the NCAA before signing with the Blackhawks on March 26, 2009. Since then he has played for the Blackhawks’ American Hockey League affiliate in Rockford over the last three seasons. He has yet to play a game in the NHL.
Say what you will about the internet, but it really is the gift that keeps on giving when it comes to viral videos!
Don’t believe me? Fine. Be that way.
For those of you who are picking up what I’m throwing down though, I’ve got another batch of delicious internet awesomeness for you to check out. This week in “When Sports Go Viral,” we’ve got a couple of pro athletes goofing off, an interesting dangle from the KHL’s All-Star weekend and a highlight from the support staff!
Let’s start with the latest viral video from Phoenix Suns star Steve Nash – not content with playing in the NBA, Nash is apparently trying to convince ESPN to let him enter the Real Snow snowboard competition.
Check out Nash debuting The Corn Chopper:
(AFTER THE JUMP: More sporty viral videos!) (more…)
The Edmonton Oilers go into the NHL All-Star break a pathetic 14 points back of the Minnesota Wild for a playoff spot in the Western Conference.
On Tuesday, Cody Hodgson scored the shootout winner as the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Edmonton Oilers 3-2 in a shootout.
The Canucks were leading 2-1 late in the third period before Taylor Hall scored the game tying goal on a tip from a Corey Potter shot from the point.
Despite the loss, Devan Dubnyk has been excellent the last two nights, where the Oilers got three of a possible four points. He has made 80 saves on 83 shots. Still, I cannot get over his several terrible performances throughout the year that have partially put the Oilers in the very awkward position that they’re in.
Tom Renney very seldom starts the same goaltender on back-to-back nights, but made the right call Tuesday night in Vancouver, because Dubnyk had a career performance against San Jose Monday night. (Although, the Sharks didn’t have that many quality scoring chances). Also, Nikolai Khabibulin had one of the worst games of his career in Edmonton’s 6-2 home loss to Calgary Saturday night. Just how bad has Khabibulin been? Well, he hasn’t won since December 22 and against Calgary on Saturday, he gave up so many soft goals it was incredible.
The Calgary Flames go into the All-Star break three points back of the Minnesota Wild for a playoff spot.
On Tuesday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome, the Flames lost 1-0 to the San Jose Sharks.
The game was 0-0 heading into the third period, when the Sharks scored the deciding marker. Benn Ferriero gloved the puck down and scored on the rebound.
Sharks goaltender Antti Niemi was outstanding in this one. He made a great glove save off of Mikael Backlund in the third period, and that was followed by a big save off of Alex Tanguay on the breakaway. Tanguay was playing in his first game for the Flames since late December when he injured his neck. Niemi ended with 25 saves and had his 16th career shutout.
The Flames will now rest for a full week. Their next game is on January 31 against the Detroit Red Wings at the Saddledome. One player that will not et a break however is captain Jarome Iginla, who will be part of the festivities this weekend in Ottawa.
I thought it couldn’t get any better around the NHL, but the third week of 2012 was absolutely dynamite when it comes to beauty goals!
In this edition of the GOTW, we’ve got a hard working dangle from the Blues, two insane shorthanded goals, a lovely power play effort and a memorable goal from a young Oiler.
Let’s go!
5. TJ Oshie
The St. Louis Blues have become a powerhouse in the NHL’s Western Conference, not just in terms of sheer size, but also thanks to beauty goals like this one from TJ Oshie. He comes in 2-on-3 with David Perron, takes a pass in front with a defenceman all over him and pulls a nice move on Kari Lehtonen to score.
Super Bowl XLVI takes place tomorrow from Indianapolis, as the New York Giants play the New England Patriots in a rematch of the Super Bowl from 2007 when the Giants beat the Patriots 17-14 in Phoenix, Arizona.
History was made at Rexall Place on Thursday night.
Boy, how the time flies – another week has come and gone in the world of sports, which means there’s another fresh batch of viral greatness ready for its close up!
The All-Star break didn’t leave us with many games around the NHL last week, but there was no shortage of highlight reel action before the players parted ways for a few days!
Say what you will about the internet, but it really is the gift that keeps on giving when it comes to viral videos!
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