Posted on January 4th, 2009 by Walt
If you have been searching the web for sports news or watching sports on television over the holiday you will know that the final is set for Mondays World Junior Championship with Canada playing Sweden for the second year in a row.
The bubble finally burst for Jaroslav Janus and his Slovakian mates. Sweden won 5-3.
The most entertaining game was the Canada / Russia tilt.The game was a seesaw battle back and forth.
Canada scoring first and Russia getting it back moments later. Russia got into some penalty trouble in the second period but Canada could not capitalize, this was the low point in the game as play was quite ragged with many missed passes.
The score was tied at 4-4 when Russia got its first lead of the game with just over two minutes to go.
The Canadians threw everything at the Russians, pulling their goaltender for an extra attacker.But it looked like they would hold on and Canada would be playing for Bronze.
Then with 41 seconds left in the game one of the Russian players made a very foolish and selfish mistake.
Instead of skating the puck across the center line, he shot it, trying to score from his own side of center. The Russians were charged with icing the puck and the face off came back into the Russian zone. Pat Quinn left Dustin Tokarski on the bench and stayed with six attackers. Russia was never able to clear the puck as Canada kept them hemmed in, then with 5.4 seconds left on the clock Jordan (nice hands) Eberle, grabbed a loose puck after a Russian shot block and flipped a backhand into the top of the net to tie the score at fives. I would hate to be the Russian kid that iced the puck after the game.
The ensuing ten minute overtime saw some chances on both sides but in the end settled nothing. So as per IIHF rules the teams went to a shoot out. Jordan Eberle and John Tavares both scored for Canada in the shootout, while goalie Dustin Tokarski stopped both Russian shots.
“No Guts No Glory”
Walt Webb
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Filed under: All Sports Buzz, World Hockey, World Juniors
Posted on January 3rd, 2009 by Walt
There was so much sports news content on the web over the past few days Allsports wonders where to begin.
First I guess I will begin with the Leafs loosing another game by a 4-1 score at the hands of the Buffalo Sabres the other night at the ACC. Curtis Joseph got the start and there were a couple I think he wishes he could get back. I won’t dewl on the game because the Leafs are playing at right around the level I thought they would be at, can you say lottery pick.
Canada played the US in the World Juniors final round robin game on New Years Eve. The winner would finish in top spot and receive a bye to the semi final game. The US came out strong and looked good early building a 3-0 lead thanks to some gratuitous penalty calls. Then about half way through the first period Canada started to take the game away, eventually winning by a score of 7-4. The US got cocky and they ended up paying the price. The game was much closer than that as Canada got two empty net goals when the US had pulled their goaltender to try and get the equalizer.
That set up a date with the Slovaks in a quarter final match up. The story of the game here was Jaroslav Janus. He stoned the US and won the game by a 5-3 score. He came to play but McCollum in the US net did not and seemed to fight the puck all game. I don’t know exactly what the problem is with the US team, maybe the key word here is TEAM. They have all kinds of talent but never really seem to get the job done. Maybe they were cocky again, thinking they would roll over the Slovaks but Janus had other ideas. Now the US will play for 5th place.
Janus will have to play the game of his life if the Slovaks have any chance against Sweden in the first semi-final. Russia will play Canada in the late game after disposing of the Czech`s by a 5-1 score.
The Red Wings played the Black Hawks in the winter classic New Years Day at Wrigley Field. The Wings veteran savvy won the game over the young stars on the Hawks. The fans at Wrigley showed some good humor with a sign below.
`No Guts No Glory`
Walt Webb
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Filed under: All Sports Buzz, NHL Hockey, World Hockey, World Juniors
Posted on December 30th, 2008 by Walt
If you have been searching for sports on the web or watching sports on TV you will likely have noticed that the World Junior Hockey Championship is being played in Ottawa. Canada beat Germany last night by a final score of 5-1 but the game was not really that close. Germany’s goaltender played a very good game even though he let in five goals. The score could have been much worse. Canada thumped Kazakhstan 15-0 in their previous game.
Due to the lopsided scores in some of the games taking place, there has been talk about reducing the teams in the group “A” competition. This has put the IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation) into a bit of a catch 22. On one hand maybe some of the countries should be dropped because they are not on par with the hockey world powers, but on the other hand, how are these countries ever going to improve their hockey programs unless they are playing against the best teams in the world. These young men will only improve their game if they are pushed by stiffer competition. Allsports believes that the latter has to remain in place in order for the weaker countries to keep a viable program. The bar has to remain high in order for the caliber to stay high. This is why the last place team in group “A” is relegated back to the group “B” playoffs. Maybe they should look at relegation of the bottom two or three teams in future years. Then only the winner of group “B” will compete in the championship.
Anyway Canada should face some pretty good competition from a solid American squad on New Years Eve. Lets hope it is a good game for the IIHF format.
“No Guts No Glory”
Walt Webb
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Filed under: All Sports Buzz, World Hockey, World Juniors
Posted on December 28th, 2008 by Walt
So Christmas has come and gone for another year and I hope it was a very joyous occasion for everyone. I was able to get a few glimpses of some sports on the web and on the TV over the break. The Toronto Maple Leafs followed their poor game against the Dallas Stars up with another stinker out on Long Island, falling to the Lowly New York Islanders 4-1. Toskala has been anything but sharp in both losses but the rest of the team has played poorly as well.
The Canadian Junior team opened the Defence of their Gold medal in Ottawa Boxing Day. The first period was close against the Czech Republic, but Canada scored with about two seconds left in the first period to go up 1-0. The rest of the game was all Canada as they went on to roll to an 8-1 thrashing of the Czechs.
Coach Pat Quinn has them playing some responsible hockey and allsports would be surprised if they don’t bring home the Gold again. Pat is a very familiar face in both the Toronto and Vancouver areas.
The Canadians play Kazakhstan later today (Sunday Dec 28 2008) in Ottawa. Unless there are some surprises this game should be another romp for the Canadian team.
“No Guts No Glory”
Walt Webb
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Filed under: All Sports Buzz, NHL Hockey, Olympics, World Hockey, World Juniors
Posted on December 24th, 2008 by Walt
First and foremost Allsports would like to wish everyone that looks for and reads sports news stories on the web, a very Merry Christmas and all the best to you and your families in 2009.
So last night the Maple Leafs came back form their road trip to host a well rested Dallas Stars team. Dallas was all over the listless Leafs in posting an 8-2 victory. Local boy James Neal, (he grew up in Whitby) had a big game for the Stars, scoring a hat trick in the game. It was a bad game all the way though the Leafs lineup from Vesa Toskala out. Know one on the Leafs had any legs at all and the Stars jumped on them early and often. While not making excuses for the Leafs it was their fourth game in six nights.
They had played the night before in Atlanta. They played pretty well there, beating the thrashers 6-2 and got a little bit of payback after Atlanta had beaten them earlier in the year at the ACC. Justin Pogge got his first NHL start and was steady in the victory.
Anyway other than last night, which was a total washout, (the Leafs had sugar plumbs dancing in their collective heads) the Leafs had been playing some good responsible hockey where they had won five of six.
Toronto goes into the Christmas break with a 500 record, better than the experts thought at the beginning of the year. Toronto does not get much of a break. Boxing Day they fly off to take on the woeful New York Islanders the next night.
“No Guts No Glory”
Walt Webb
More sports news stories on the web for the Dallas and Atlanta games.
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Filed under: All Sports Buzz, NHL Hockey
Posted on December 23rd, 2008 by Walt
The battle for the NFC #1 seed took place at Giants Stadium on Sunday night and what a knock down, drag them out affair it was. The fans were treated to a great football game between the two best teams in the NFC. Both the New York Giants and the Carolina Panthers were at 11-3 going in.
Carolina looked very strong early, scoring three majors on their first three possessions with some excellent running by DeAngelo Williams.
But like a true Heavyweight Champion, the Giants were staggered by the blows but kept picking themselves up off the canvas to stay in the game. The Giants tied the game at 28-28 with three minutes and change left in the game when Jacobs ploughed into the end zone and Manning executed the two point conversion.
Carolina attempted a 50 yeard field goal in the dying seconds of the game but the swirling wind at Giants Stadium pushed the ball wide.
In overtime the Giants won the coin toss but could not move the ball on their first possession and neither could the Panthers with theirs. When the Giants got the ball back Derrick Ward took over. Three huge runs of 51, 14 and 17 yards respectively put the ball on the Carolina two yard line. From there Jacobs smashed his way into the end zone. Game over, Giants 34, Panthers 28. Ward finished the game with 215 yards on 15 carries. Not a bad day at the office. The game was likely a preview of the NFC Championship.
For the complete sports news story on the web, click Here
“No Guts No Glory”
Walt Webb
P.S. Allsports says, watch out for the Indy Colts in the AFC, the other Manning has them playing their best football of the season.
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Filed under: All Sports Buzz, NFL
Posted on December 21st, 2008 by Walt
The Toronto Maple Leafs went into Pittsburgh last night and handed the young stars on the Penguins their worst thrashing of the season to date. The final score was 7-3 Toronto but the score was flattering to the Penguins. The Leafs dominated the game right from the start and forced turnovers from the Pens. Evgeni Malkin was victimized on more than one occasion and on Hagman’s goal brought the puck right in front of his own net before loosing it for Hagman to snap home. It was an early Christmas present for Hagman. It was also a real rookie mistake by Malkin who is not a rookie anymore. Sid the kid was smothered all night and you could see his frustration growing as the game progressed.
All in all it was a very solid win for Toronto and the best line for the Leafs was the Moore, Williams, Blake trio. Williams scored again last night and this kid is really looking for real. All he does is put the puck in the net and his defensive game has really improved. Jason Blake had another strong game and is using his speed to really push the puck at the oppositions defence. He deserves credit for his unselfish play of late. Moore and Williams seem to have brought out the best in him. The win though was a complete team effort with not one passenger last night.
Jason Blake
For the full sports news story see the post in the Toronto Sun.
`No Guts No Glory`
Walt Webb
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Filed under: All Sports Buzz, NHL Hockey
Posted on December 19th, 2008 by Walt
Well I guess everyone has heard by now that Mats Sundin has signed a pro rated contract to play for the Vancouver Canucks. This really was the only fit for Sundin because any of the other teams that were interested in his services had very little or no cap room to make him an offer. If they did they would have had to get rid of someone else.
I thought Sundin would always be back this year but he was going to fart around for awhile ala Scott Niedermayer and be fresh for the second half of the season. The main reason Sundin did not go last year at the trade deadline was because he felt that there was not enough left in the tank for a long playoff run with a new team.
That being said does Mats have a chance at the cup this year with the Canucks? There is no doubt that Sundin will make them a better offensive team but allsports thinks the Canucks are still a little shy on talent to get to the dance. It would be nice if they could get there and win the cup but there are teams in San Jose and Detroit that would beg to differ. The good thing is that Vancouver still has some cap room and can get some help at the trade deadline.
Good luck Mats all sports on the web thinks you will need it.
“No Guts No Glory”
Walt Webb
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Filed under: All Sports Buzz, NHL Hockey
Posted on December 17th, 2008 by Walt
Well it has certainly been a while since my last post. First I ran into a browser glitch that would not let me onto the Internet. Then my computer guy decided that since he had to strip down the computer anyway to figure out why the browser would not work. Why not upgrade the computer while he was at it. Mean while I was off line for almost two weeks.
Now I have the new Vista program and it is taking quite a bit of time to sort out the differences from XP. I don’t know how much I like it yet but I guess it will just take some getting used to.
The last article for sports on the web posted was about the leafs and Wendel Clark’s sweater retirement. The Leafs went on a western swing through LA, San Jose and Phoenix. They did ok in LA, with a big penalty kill near the end of the second period and rode the momentum in the third to squeak out a win. They weren’t so lucky in San Jose as there was just too much Joe Thornton and they were down 4-0 to the best team in the league after one period.
San Jose coasted from there. They came out on the short end in Phoenix too, but have been well of late and in fact won their third straight last night, beating the Jersey Devils in a shoot out.
The Leafs are playing pretty good and are usually out working the opposition in order to get the win, they have to because they are a young team and just don`t have enough finish with a go to guy, although Jeremy Williams is making a case for himself. All he does is put the puck into the net, which on this Leafs team is a welcome addition. He has been playing with Jason Blake and to give Blake some credit, he is playing the best hockey of his Leafs career.
News just in, Mats Sundin will sign with one of 30 teams before the trade deadline. We caught up with Mats at a local watering hole.
`No Guts No Glory`
Walt Webb
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Filed under: All Sports Buzz, NHL Hockey
Posted on December 2nd, 2008 by Walt
Well looking back on the past week in sports news stories on the web, there is no shortage of things to talk about so I will just get started.
On Saturday November 22rd, the Toronto Maple Leafs hosted a very good young team in the Chicago Black Hawks. The Leafs out played the hawks very badly for the first forty minutes of the game but could not finish them off. The young hawks hung around and ended up winning the game, the Leafs got a single point for their efforts.
The big thing for me personally in the game was the retirement of Wendel Clark’s jersey. I am a big Wendel fan as I am sure all Leafs fans are. Clark never took a night off and was always there when called upon. His picture would appear in the dictionary under the term “Hockey Player”. It was just to bad that Wendel’s back could not hold out and he had to retire a little earlier than I would have hoped. For so many years he carried a bad Leafs team. The big hit, the big goal or the big fight, Wendel would do it all. Pound for pound, one of the toughest Guys to ever lace up a pair of skates, just ask Bob Probert who got all he could handle from Wendel and he out weighed him by about 30 pounds. Patrick Roy’s jersey was retired the same night in Montreal. Patrick was a great player, no doubt about it, but I always found him to be pretty full of himself. Wendel on the other hand has always been humble showing class and dignity, It’s just to bad he never got his name on Lord Stanley’s Mug. Read more…
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Filed under: All Sports Buzz, Canadian Football League, NHL Hockey
