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He surpassed the previous mark of 103 set by Terry Sawchuck. From AP-
Martin Brodeur broke the NHL record with his 104th career shutout, and maybe the only surprise was how easily it came against the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins.
Brodeur needed to make only a few difficult saves while breaking Terry Sawchuk’s shutout record, further strengthening his case to be considered as the best goaltender to play the game, and the streaking New Jersey Devils had little trouble beating Pittsburgh 4-0 on Monday night.
Brodeur made 35 saves to break the coveted shutout record only two games after setting another NHL mark. He surpassed Patrick Roy’s record for regular-season appearances by a goaltender when he started his 1,030th on Friday, and Monday was his 1,032nd game in 16 seasons, all with the Devils.
Brodeur made NHL history against one of the most potent offensive teams today. What can be said about this future Hall of Famer that hasn’t been said already? I’ve never seen a better Goalie.
Mama Mia! From AP-
Papa John’s founder John Schnatter is promising a free pizza to every fan who saw him sink a shot from midcourt at a Louisville basketball game.
He banked one in after a few tries at halftime of the Oral Roberts-Louisville game last week.
Video posted by the company on YouTube shows Schnatter celebrating wildly after hitting the long shot in Freedom Hall.
The company estimates that if all 18,868 fans claim the free large one-topping pizza, it will add up to a $174,000 giveaway.
People who watched the game have up to December 27th to make a claim. Anyone for pepperoni pizza on Christmas day?
The last time a NBA team overcame a bigger deficit to win was in 1996. From AP-
The buzzer sounded, the 35-point comeback was complete and both the ecstatic Sacramento Kings and the stunned Chicago Bulls had trouble describing what had just happened.
“Wow! All I can say is, ‘Wow!” Tyreke Evans said after dominating down the stretch and leading the Kings to a 102-98 victory Monday night. “We fought to the end. It was amazing.”
Indeed, it was one of the most amazing comebacks in NBA history.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the biggest rally since Utah overcame a 36-point deficit to beat Denver on Nov. 27, 1996.
The loss makes Chicago 2-12 in road games. I’d say that is abysmal but point out many NBA teams are just as bad or worse. For example, Minnesota is 3-12 and Charlotte 1-12 in road games.Scratch that, Chicago blew the lead at home. Which is worse IMHO.
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OTB Sports linked with Keep digging- Indiana beats Phoenix 122-114...
Tonight’s meeting with the ‘Broad Street Bullies’ resembled a night at fights almost as much as it did a hockey game. There were four separate instances of fisticuffs between the Flyers and Panthers.Three of which took place in the first period.
When the teams weren’t trading punches, Florida’s first line was excelling at target practice. Michael Frolik, Stephen Weiss got one goal each and Nathan Horton put two pucks in the net on the way to a 4-1 Panther victory.
These players, Horton and Weiss in particular, have been on fire. Here are there point totals through 38 games.
Horton- 13 goals, 24 assists or 37 points
Weiss- 18 goals, 19 assists or 37 points
Frolik- 11 goals, 12 assists or 23 points
This line has scored 13 goals and had 21 assists over the last 6 Florida games.
Weiss had a career high 4 points tonight.
He is also only 2 goals off matching his previous season high(20). At this point Weiss and Horton(both former Florida first round draft picks) on their way to 80 point seasons.
Horton, who most NHL knowledgeable has been a underacheiver, has shown flashes throughout his career that he could reach that point plateau. Weiss is a whole other story. His highest points total for a season is 61 scored in the 2008-09 season. Are these guys just hot or having a breakthrough in their careers?
Florida was 5th in the Eastern Conference in goal scoring going into last weekend. That has occurred while two of the team’s biggest scoring weapons have been out for a month or more. 30-goal scorer David Booth hasn’t played since October and veteran Cory Stillman has been out for a month.
Florida continues to do well on the road. They are 10-9-2 versus 6-6-5 at home. Have the Panthers made a believer of me or do I still think they won’t make the playoffs? I still need more convincing that Florida is really this good.
A couple of closing notes
*- I got to start writing down some of the inane things Panther Billy Lindsay says during a game. Last month he invoked Ross Perot, last Friday he said the Panthers would win if Vokoun shuts out Carolina. Tonight he said the Florida 1st line ‘was hotter than donut grease’. Boy do I miss Denis Potvin.
*- Either Lindsay or Steve Goldstein noted how poorly Flyer Goalie Michael Leighton has played this year. No doubt Leighton has been terrible. He had a .848 save percentage entering tonight and let two of 17 Florida shots get by him tonight. When will Lindsay or Goldstein be just as honest about the performance of Panther Goalie Clemmensen? Clemmensen’s save pct. is .884 and he’s giving up 3.7 goals a game to boot. If Leighton has been terrible for this NHL season, Clemmensen has been very bad.
He collapsed Sunday midway through the 3rd period of Seattle’s game against Tampa Bay. From AP-
Seattle Seahawks long snapper Kevin Houser is hoping to be out of the hospital in time for Christmas Eve after doctors re-inflated his collapsed lung.
Seattle coach Jim Mora said the 32-year-old veteran of 10 seasons was sitting up in his hospital room Monday and watching “Ren and Stimpy†cartoons with his wife and kids.
“He’s doing much, much better,†Mora said.
Houser got hurt while covering a punt in the second quarter Sunday against Tampa Bay.
The Seahawks’ only true kick snapper then went into a photographer’s shed on the sideline to get a painkilling injection. He returned to snap for Seattle’s only extra point later in the half.
Midway through the third quarter, Houser ran at Tampa Bay’s Sammie Stroughter at the end of a 33-yard punt return and collapsed in pain on the sideline.
Get well Kevin Hauser. If you tire of Ren and Stimpy, may I suggest Sabrina The Teenage Witch?
The 2009 Dolphin season is over. There are two games to be played. What I’m talking about is any chance the team had of making the playoffs.
Miami has never looked like a legitimate playoff team to me this season. Even after they won an exciting game against the Jets early in the season, my view of the fins was tempered. They make just too many mistakes and their defense is too prone to giving up big plays.
Like today when Miami fell behind 24-6 early in the 3rd period. I didn’t blame Miami’s two turnovers at the time(The Dolphins made a total of 4 for the game. More on that later.) for the deficit. They were certainly bad and couldn’t have come at worse times. Each taking place while Miami had the ball in the Tennessee half of the field.
What was killing the Dolphins inability to stop Tennessee anytime it mattered. As seen in the 364 yards they ran up against Miami. Vince Young was hardly brilliant, but he got the job done.
With 5:33 left in the third quarter, Miami narrowed Tennessee’s lead to 15 after Dan Carpenter sucessfully made a field goal. The score was now 24-9.
Both CBS announcers, Dan Fouts and Dick Enberg, were critical of Dolphin Coach Tony Sparano’s decision to go for the field goal. I differed, partly because I was ignoring the inane announcers(How many ways can the name Sparano be pronounced? I think Fouts and Enberg were going for a record today. Those were minor broadcast blunders compared to Fouts calling a pass incomplete when it was clearly caught and the player tackled and other bungled pronouncements from the booth. I really should have turned off the sound today but that was happening naturally without any help from me. The screen went blank six plus times during the game. First with audio, then without. The telecast would then re-appear after 10-15 seconds)and partly because I knew how to add. The score was now 24-9 and the game was now a two-touchdown affair.
Then in the waning seconds of the 3rd qtr, Chad Henne threw a INT from the Tennessee 14 yard line. For a few moments I gave up hope and started looking for other programming. Doctor Zhivago, playing on Turner Movie Classics, looked more appealing than 15 minutes of tortuous football.
Miami rallied in the 4th quarter. Mostly thanks to Henne, who played those fifteen minutes like a Hall of Famer. Henne threw 11 of 16 passes for 150 yards, two touchdowns, and with a passer rating of 119.3. A Ricky Williams run for the two-point conversion with less than two minutes to go made the score 24-24.
For overtime, the Dolphins won the toss. On a 3rd and 6 from the Miami 27, Henne three INT#3. Which would have given the Titans the ball on the 43 yard line or so. Except a official threw a unnecessary roughness penalty on Miami WR Greg Camarillo. A personal foul for making sure the play was dead? This was a bad call.
Given the ball inside the Miami 30 yard line, I knew Tennessee wasn’t about to blow their second chance to win. Three running plays came and went before Rob Bironas booted a 46-yard field goal to give the Titans a 27-24 win.
In theory Miami remains in the playoff picture. They will need LOTS of help to play this post season.
Next up for Miami- Games against Houston(a team they have lost to in each of 4 prior meetings) and Pittsburgh. Both games are played in Miami. I predict the fins to finish the 2009 season at 8-8.
It happened in a game against the Kansas City Chiefs. From AP-
Josh Cribbs of the Cleveland Browns has returned a kickoff 100 yards, breaking the NFL record with his seventh touchdown return.
At least six players got a hand on the 6-foot-1, 215-pound veteran before he broke into the clear and sped up the middle for his second touchdown return of the year. He had been tied with five other players with six kickoff returns for TDs. He came into the season with five and had a 98-yard return Dante Hall, Gale Sayers, Mel Gray,against Pittsburgh on Oct. 18.
Before today, Cribbs was one of six players to have six career kickoff returns for a touchdown. Some of the other players were Dante Hall, Gale Sayers, and Mel Gray. I’m more than a little surprised to learn that the career mark was so low.
Update- Cribbs has struck again. He returned a kickoff 103 yards for another touchdown. The record is now eight.
IMHO this fight was just a tune up for the Venezuelan. From AP-
Edwin Valero stopped veteran Hector Velazquez after six rounds Saturday night to keep his WBC lightweight title in a town on Venezuela’s Caribbean coast.
The 28-year-old Valero (26-0, 26 KOs) was bleeding from an eyebrow and his nose after a pair of accidental head-butts early in the fight. But the feisty Venezuelan kept attacking, giving Velazquez (51-14-2) his third loss in four fights.
It was Valero’s first defense since winning the belt in April with a second-round knockout of Antonio Pitalua in Austin, Texas. Valero is already planning to defend the title in early 2010 against Antonio DeMarco, who holds the interim WBC belt.
Unification are given a great deal publicity but they are a very transparent gimmick. Say fighter AB wins the WBA and WBC flyweight title. He has to defend his belt, but both boxing organizations demand the fighter take on the highest ranked challenger. Which is almost never the same fighter. So when AB signs to fight one organization’s challenger, the remaining group strips him of the other title. The unification rarely lasts for long.
The fight Saturday night was held just outside Caracas – Valero’s first fight since problems renewing his U.S. visa prevented him from defending his title in Las Vegas last month against junior lightweight champion Humberto Soto.
Valero at the time accused the U.S. government of discrimination, saying he had completed all the necessary paperwork and that his application wasn’t approved in time because of his sympathy for Venezuela President Hugo Chavez – a fierce critic of the U.S. government. Valero has an image of Chavez tattooed on his chest along with a Venezuelan flag.
Authorities say that Valero has a pending drunken driving charge in Texas, which is the primary reason he was denied a visa.
I’ve blogged many times about the broken U.S. immigration system but in Valero’s case I believe his legal problems not his political stance is what caused him visa problems. Legal immigrants to the United States who haven’t acquired citizenship yet can lose their residency by being found guilty of a felony.
The Wild had to scramble for equipment after most of it was destroyed in a Friday fire. From the AP-
Mike Brodeur made a name for himself Saturday night in his NHL debut for the Ottawa Senators.
No relation to New Jersey goalie Martin Brodeur, the rookie goalie carried a shutout into the third period, and Erik Karlsson scored his first career goal, leading Ottawa to a 4-1 win over the Minnesota Wild.
Brodeur stopped 22 shots in his first career start after backing up Brian Elliott for 13 straight games.
Actually this article states Mike and Marty Brodeur are distant relatives.
Just last season Mike Brodeur was toiling for the Rochester Americans, the AHL affiliate of the Florida Panthers. In spite of having a very good season, Ottawa some how came into possession of the Goalie. The Panthers are so cost conscious, I’m at least partially surprised they didn’t bring Brodeur to the NHL this year rather than sign free agent Scott Clemmensen. Brodeur would have been cheaper, and die hard South Florida hockey fans all know how much the Panthers watch their bottom line usually to the detriment of the team’s chances to compete. Just look at how the exchange of Clemmensen for the slightly higher priced Craig Anderson has been working out for Florida this year.
BTW Clemmensen had one of his better games as a Florida Goalie last night. Still the Panthers ended up losing to the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2.
The Lightning made this personnel move just before the NHL’s holiday roster freeze went into effect. From the St. Petersburg Times-
A day after Lukas Krajicek’s defensive-zone turnover led to a goal in Thursday’s 3-0 loss at Detroit, the defenseman was shipped to AHL Norfolk.
Officially, an accumulation of factors cost Krajicek. He had one assist in 23 games and was minus-4 in his past two. And his turnover against the Red Wings led to Todd Bertuzzi’s third-period goal that made the score 2-0.
“The thing is, when you’re not scoring goals, you can’t be at the scene of the crime too many times,” coach Rick Tocchet said Friday. “When you’re not producing, you can’t have your fingerprints at the scene of the crime.”
Acquired in October 2008 from the Canucks for Shane O’Brien, Krajicek, 26, signed a one-year, $1.475 million contract during the summer.
Krajicek’s disappointing play in Tampa is just a continuation of his NHL career that started with the Florida Panthers during the 2001-2002 NHL season. The Panthers made the Czech born defenseman the 24th overall pick of the 2001 NHL entry draft.(Florida dealt him to the Vancouver Canucks on June 23rd 2006 in the infamous Roberto Luongo trade) Prior to 2008-09 where Krajicek scored 19 points, his highest output was 16. A slippage this year shouldn’t have come as a surprise to Tampa Bay management.
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