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His health issues and the emergence of Ondrej Pavelec have made the 2nd overall pick of the 2002 NHL draft expendable in Atlanta. From ESPN-
The Atlanta Thrashers have agreed to trade goalie Kari Lehtonen to the Stars, Dallas general manager Joe Nieuwendyk said on Tuesday.
The Thrashers will get prospect Ivan Vishnevskiy as well as a fourth-round draft pick in exchange. The 21-year-old Russian defenseman was the Stars’ first-round pick, 27th overall, in the 2006 NHL entry draft.
The deal was first reported by ESPN.com’s Pierre LeBrun.
Lehtonen will take a physical for the Stars on Wednesday.
Lehtonen is earning $3 million this season and is a restricted free agent July 1. The Thrashers deemed him expendable with the tandem of youngster Ondrej Pavelec, 22, and veteran Johan Hedberg, 36.
The acquisition of Lehtonen looks risky to me. That due to the fact he has had back surgery twice in the last year.
Dallas will likely need a new starting goaltender for the 2010-11 NHL season. Veteran Goalie Marty Turco is a unrestricted free agent at the end of this season.
She will miss the February 11th game against Seton Hall. From AP-
Rutgers suspended Hall of Fame women’s basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer on Tuesday for one game for misusing practice players.
Duncan Williams/Icon SMIC. Vivian Stringer was found to have violated an NCAA bylaw that bars managers from participating as practice players. Rutgers has only nine players on its roster.
Stringer will miss the Scarlet Knights’ game against Seton Hall on Wednesday. She is third among women’s coaches on the all-time victories list with 838 wins and was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame last September.
Stringer violated an NCAA bylaw which states that managers may not participate as practice players with the institution’s team if they are not eligible student-athletes.
“Accountability is a vital element of the Rutgers athletics family,” the school’s athletic director, Tim Pernetti, said in a statement. “We will always follow what is in accordance with athletic department and NCAA policy.”
Associate head coach Carlene Mitchell will be the acting head coach against Seton Hall.
Rutgers is down to nine players due to one player transferring away from the school. In my opinion a one-game suspension or a warning is enough punishment for this particular rules violation.
In addition to the bronze medal in the slalom he won at the 1964 Winter Olympics held in Innsbruck, Huega was the 1963 NCAA Champion. RIP.
Former U.S. Olympic skier Jimmie Heuga, who won a bronze medal at the 1964 games and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis six years later, died Monday. He was 66.
University of Colorado ski coach Richard Rokos, a longtime and close friend of Heuga’s, said the former NCAA champion for CU died at Boulder Community Hospital.
“He was a very strong man and an inspiration to so many people in the ski world and the medical world,” said Huega’s wife, Debbie Huega. “He’s skiing the hills of heaven right now.”
Rokos said Heuga had recently been dealing with respiratory problems.
Heuga finished third in the slalom at the ‘64 Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria. Fellow American Billy Kidd won the silver. It was the first time U.S. skiing had gained prominence worldwide.
“Jimmie Heuga was a champion in every sense of the word,” said U.S. Ski team president Bill Marolt, who skied with Heuga on the 1964 Olympic Team. “He was a champion as an athlete, as a person and any way you want to measure him.
“When I look back at all the athletes I’ve known, pound for pound, Jimmie Heuga was the toughest I’ve ever met. He was a 5-foot-6, 140-pound guy who didn’t back down from anybody. That’s the kind of toughness you need to be a champion.”
Heuga, born in Squaw Valley, Calif., won the 1963 NCAA championship in the slalom.
In 1968, Heuga and Kidd were pictured on the cover of Sports Illustrated before they competed in the Olympics at Grenoble, France.
Heuga was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1970 after displaying symptoms for a year. The effects of the disease eventually confined him to a wheelchair.
“He was the personification of determination and never giving up — he inspired so many people,” Kidd said in release from the U.S. Ski Team. “Jimmie’s accomplishments on the race course will forever be remembered. But it’s his accomplishments and drive in the fight against MS that will continue to help so many people live their lives. His life is an inspiration.”
Heuga founded in 1983 the Jimmie Heuga Center for M.S. in Edwards, a nonprofit organization now called Can Do Multiple Sclerosis.
In a affidavit he accuses his girlfriend of attacking him. From AP-
Officials say Miami Dolphins defensive tackle Tony McDaniel is out of jail after being arrested and accused of domestic violence.
McDaniel was released Sunday on $3,500 bond. Authorities say the 25-year-old South Carolina native returned from a night out with friends and then got into a fight with his girlfriend early Saturday at his home in Davie, which is near Miami.
McDaniel says in a police affidavit that his girlfriend attacked him.
McDaniel is in his fourth season. He played for Jacksonville for three seasons and came to Miami in 2009. He had 16 tackles and 1.5 sacks this season.
McDaniel is a marginal NFL player. Getting in trouble with law enforcement won’t help his career.
The bad weather on the east coast is playing havoc with both pro and college sports. From AP-
The game between the Atlanta Hawks and Washington Wizards has been postponed because of the blizzard that battered the Mid-Atlantic region.
The NBA said on Saturday that neither the Hawks or Wizards could fly to Washington after their games Friday night. The Wizards played at Orlando and the Hawks hosted the Bulls.
The game will be rescheduled for a date yet to be announced.
A record 2½ feet of snow or more was predicted for Washington.
A slew of mid-Atlantic men’s college basketball games slated for Saturday afternoon were also postponed or canceled, including Florida A&M at Morgan State, St. Bonaventure at Saint Joseph’s and James Madison at Towson.
The Atlanta Thrashers were stuck in Virginia after playing the Washington Capitals last night. They only got to Atlanta around 6 p.m. tonight and are currently playing the Florida Panthers.
2 and a half feet of snow. Are scientists sure it isn’t global cooling instead of global warming?
You won’t win many games in the NHL when your team only makes 13 shots on goal. From AP-
Ales Kotalik and Mark Giordano scored, and Miikka Kiprusoff made 12 saves in the Calgary Flames’ 2-1 victory over the Florida Panthers on Friday night.
The Panthers had a season-low 13 shot on goal.
Dennis Seidenberg scored for Florida, and Tomas Vokoun stopped 38 shots.
Calgary won for just the fourth time in its past 16 games and ended a four-game road losing streak. Florida has lost three of its last four games.
Calgary took a 2-1 lead on Giordano’s power-play goal with 2:42 left in the second period. The Flames won a facoff in the Panthers’ end and Giordano’s shot from the right point got cleanly past Vokoun, who was screened on the play.
Calgary opened the scoring with 10 seconds left in the first period. On a power play, Kotalik passed across the crease toward Matt Stajan at the side of the net. The puck glanced off a Panthers players’ skate and into the net to give the Flames a 1-0 lead. It was Kotalik’s first goal for the Flames since joining the team Sunday in a trade with the New York Rangers. Jay Bouwmeester and Niklas Hagman, both former Panthers, were credited with assists on the play.
Panther fans booed Bouwmeester tonight. I been a die hard Florida for three years and I hold no animosity towards the defenseman. Unlike someone like Nick Saban, Bouwmeester didn’t pretend he would be staying in South Florida.
Calgary Flames Jarome Iginla and Daymond Langkow played their 1000th and 999th career game respectively tonight. Iginla who was originally drafted by the Dallas Stars, has played his entire NHL career in Calgary.
The Panthers offense is seriously MIA at this time. No forward has scored a goal in the team’s last 3 games. Overall Florida has scored just 10 goals in its last 9 games. Vokoun has been magical in goal but not the greatest Goaltender in the world can win with that kind of support. Florida is 24-24-9 at present. I still can’t make myself believe the Panthers will make the playoffs even if they stand just a few points out of a playoff spot at present.
Note- I was happily surprised tonight to learn that Saturday’s game against Atlanta will be on NHL Center Ice. Before the 2009-10 season began this game it was reported this game would not be on any form of television.
The long anticipated deal finally took place. From ESPN-
The New Jersey Devils have won the Ilya Kovalchuk sweepstakes, acquiring the superstar winger from the Atlanta Thrashers on Thursday night.
The Devils have struggled of late, especially scoring goals. Veteran Devils GM Lou Lamoriello didn’t hesitate, swooping in and acquiring the biggest rental player available on this year’s trade market.
In exchange, the Thrashers get rookie forward Niclas Bergfors, defenseman Johnny Oduya, prospect Patrice Cormier and a first-round pick in this year’s draft.
Oduya has two more years on his deal after this season at a $3.5 million salary-cap hit. Bergfors will be a restricted free agent July 1. Cormier was suspended for the rest of the season in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League for an elbowing incident but he’s a highly regarded prospect.
In addition to Kovalchuk, New Jersey also gets defenseman Anssi Salmela, who was originally a Devil and sent to Atlanta at the trade deadline last year.
Kovalchuck is still a free agent at the end of this season. The Devils may have acquired a rental only. If Kovalchuk doesn’t get New Jersey to the Stanley Cup finals at least before fleeing for greener pastures, this deal will rate as a total bust.
Here is another concern with the dea- How well will Kovalchuk, 31 goals and 27 assists in 49 games this season, play under the system, sometimes referred to as ‘neutral zone trap’ used by NJ Devils Coach Jacques Lemaire? It is very defensive oriented. I think Kovalchuk will adapt but may slow scoring goals and assists till the Olympic break.
He had a record of 215-326 leading the team. From ESPN-
The Los Angeles Clippers have decided to make a coaching change with just 32 games left in the season, relieving Mike Dunleavy of his duties, the team announced on Thursday.
The Clippers have named assistant Kim Hughes as interim coach.
Dunleavy, who has been serving as the Clippers’ coach/general manager since Elgin Baylor left the club early last season, will retain his front-office title.
*****
The Clippers began play Thursday with the 12th-best record in the Western Conference, seven games out of a playoff spot at 21-28.
Dunleavy has been a head NBA almost continuously for the last 20 years, the last seven of which were with the Clippers. The Clippers were doing better this season than last year’s horrible 19-63 but still Dunleavy hasn’t been able to turn around this moribund franchise. It looks about time to me to try giving someone else a chance.
He was league MVP in 1946. RIP.
Bill Dudley, a Hall of Fame player who in 1946 with the Pittsburgh Steelers led the NFL in rushing, punt returns and interceptions, has died. He was 88.
He had a stroke Saturday and was admitted to Lynchburg General Hospital, son Jim Dudley said Thursday. He said his father had not been ill before the stroke and died in his wife’s arms.
“Bullet” Bill Dudley was a runner, passer, punter, kicker and defensive back during his nine-year NFL career, highlighted by his 1946 season in which he was the league’s Most Valuable Player. While with the Washington Redskins, he shared an apartment with NFL great Sammy Baugh. Dudley later served in the Virginia Legislature.
“He lived to a high standard,” Jim Dudley told The Associated Press. “He was devoted to service and having a positive effect on those people he associated with, and he did. If that’s the measure of greatness, he was a great man.”
Dudley starred in college at Virginia and was the No. 1 overall draft choice of the Steelers in 1942. He played three seasons with Pittsburgh, a stay interrupted in 1943 and 1944 because of Army service during World War II. He later played three years with the Detroit Lions and three with the Redskins, ending with his retirement in 1953.
The year after his MVP season, Dudley scored 11 touchdowns — on seven receptions, two rushes, a punt return and an interception return.
Female Lone Star NBA fans are so friendly. From the Oregonian-
The league is looking into the security lapse that allowed two fans to walk into the Blazers’ huddle during Portland’s game at Dallas Saturday.
Two women walked onto the court and into the Blazers’ team huddle during a timeout with 41 seconds remaining in the game. One of the woman wrapped her arms around a stunned Rudy Fernandez from behind. The women were ushered away from the huddle.
By any measure, the incident is a major breach of arena security and a league spokesperson said the league is investigating.
“We’re looking into exactly what happened,” Tim Frank, the NBA’s vice-president, basketball communications, said in an e-mail Wednesday.
What could be even more shocking – if that’s possible – is that the women were allowed to return to their seats and were not kicked out of the arena. Normally, fans walking onto the court would likely result in an automatic ejection from the arena.
Sports fans running out on the court or field doesn’t shock me. Dumb spectators just doesn’t move me very much.
As for security not ejecting the fans, there was less than a minute to go in a close game. I’m betting security wanted to view the ending, not deal with a couple of drunks who were going to leave very soon any way.
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