NCAA Football 2011: Week One Preview (Part Two)

Part Two of my NCAA Football Opening Weekend preview:

Maryland vs. Miami

Miami's serious infractions have been extensively detailed over the last few weeks. It does not look good for the Hurricanes. The NCAA may well level penalties far more devastating than the ones levelled at USC, but calls for the Death Penalty (as given to SMU in the 1980s) is uncalled for. 

Miami's season has been shredded before it begins, a great shame given the optimism surrounding the arrival of new head coach Al Golden. If it's bad for Luke Fickell at Ohio State, it's disastrous for Golden, who probably has the toughest job in college football. The Hurricanes may yet be forced declare a number of their stars, including QB Jacory Harris - a guy they really need in their line-up - ineligible this week, after they were named in Shapiro's extensive tell-all.

It's going to be a long season for Miami, with the spectre of looming NCAA penalties for alleged years of infractions, coupled with the possibility of many good players rendered ineligible for this season. We'll be talking about the scandal and it's fall-out all season long. As far as gridiron performance goes, I don't think that it's out of the realms of possibility that The U won't win more than 3-4 games if they don't have guys like Harris and Sean Spence on the turf. They have a tough schedule, including Ohio State, as well as road trips to Virginia Tech and Florida State.

Maryland, on the other hand, have momentum behind them, and a good shot to give their new head coach Randy Edsall a first-up win. The Terps went 9-4 in 2010, including a 5-3 ACC record, and a 51-20 Military Bowl win vs. East Carolina.

After that win, the Terrapins fired decade-long coach Ralph Friedgen in favour of the man who took UConn to a Big East title and the Fiesta Bowl, Edsall. Former LSU offensive coordinator Gary Growton comes over, which should see the Terps playing an up-tempo aggressive style of football. It's a home game, on Labour Day night to kick off the Randy Edsall era at Maryland.

Maryland's new era will begin on a positive note, even if Harris and co. play. The distraction of the coming NCAA penalties has got to be a worry for the football team and, indeed, for the University of Miami full stop.

Winner: Maryland

Michigan vs. Western Michigan

After losing to Appalachian State a few years ago, there's no such thing as an easy season opener for the Wolverines anymore. This year, they take on the Western Michigan Broncos from the MAC in the head coaching debut for Brady Hoke, the former U of M assistant coach (1995-2002) who took over after the school fired Rich Rodriguez earlier this year, putting a period on the most disastrous era of Michigan Wolverines football that has ever been seen.

A proud program, the Wolverines see Hoke as the man to take them back to the top of the college football mountain. Luckily for the former San Diego State head coach, he inherits the remarkable talents of QB Denard Robinson, who put up gaudy numbers last year while running the spread offense that Rodriguez favoured. This year will be different for Robinson, as he will have to get used to the pro-style system that Hoke has installed. Still, he should put up some crazy numbers again.

The real problem for Michigan was defense. They were annually among the worst in the nation during Rodriguez's ill-fated tenure, leaking points and yardage on a regular basis. On average, opponents scored 35 points and racked up 450 yards of offense. New defensive coordinator Greg Mattison, a former NFL defensive coordinator, and perhaps the right man to turn around U of M's sieve-like unit. Mattison has always excelled at stopping the run.

Really, this should be a win for the Wolverines. It's merely a tune-up before next week's prime time match at The Big House against Notre Dame.

Winner: Michigan

UCLA vs. Houston

Houston's Case Keenum was granted a nearly-unprecedented sixth year of eligibility after a season-ending injury last year.

The Abilene, TX native returns at the head of the high-powered Cougars offense, and looks set to break a raft of NCAA records. Keenum is just 2,462 yards short of the former Hawaii quarterback Timmy Chang’s record for total offense, 3,486 yards short of Chang’s record for passing yards and 27 passing touchdowns behind former Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell’s record. Unless he's injured, Keenum should own them all. With Keenum under centre and a solid running game, Houston should be back amongst the Conference USA elite, and their QB should figure in the Heisman Trophy talk.

On the other side of the field will be UCLA, under Rick Neuheisel. It was Neuheisel who arrived in Los Angeles a few years back, promising to beat USC and restore UCLA to prominence. Thus far, it hasn't happened. The Bruins have been mostly disappointing through Neuheisel's reign, and they haven't done what he promised they would do: beat USC. Even with the Men of Troy serving NCAA-mandated punishment, they still own Los Angeles football.

With no victory against USC, no real showing in the Pac-10 and some embarrassing losses, this might be the last roll of the dice for Neuheisel. And it won't be an easy roll. They have a return dates with Houston and Texas, and road trips to Stanford and Arizona and USC. Until they solve their QB issues - either Kevin Prince or Richard Brehaut, with freshman Brett Hundley waiting in the wings and expected to see some snaps in 2011 - UCLA aren't going to scare many. It's their defense that's really going to need to be on their game vs. Houston.


Winner: Houston, narrowly.

USC vs. Minnesota

It was early on last season that Trojan fans had the sinking feeling that their defense was not as strong as it had been for many years under departed head coach Pete Carroll. Despite the presence of guru Monte Kiffin, the USC defensive unit had a tough time. Teams ran on them, teams threw on them, teams scored a lot of points on them. A thin roster was made worse by the complicated new system that never seemed to quite come together as it had been expected.

Monte Kiffin and his son, Lane, the head coach of USC, are adamant that things have changed during the off-season. This year, the Trojans who signed an impressive recruiting class, thanks to Kiffin's recruiting poise, will be a stronger team on the defensive side of the football. And they'll need to be, as the revamped Pac-12 features a raft of ridiculously-talented quarterbacks led by Heisman hopeful Andrew Luck up in Stanford. It's guys like Luck who'll make USC pay if their defense is bad.

First test for USC comes vs. Minnesota at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, against a Gophers program that has been nothing short of disappointing these last few seasons, and this year features a new head coach, Jerry Kill, who will be looking to turn around a 3-9 (2-6 Big Ten) record. Moving the football down the field and coming away with points was a real problem for the Gophers in previous seasons. Kill's first priority is getting the offense rolling. Seeing his needs-to-improve offense against USC's needs-to-improve defense will be very interesting.

For USC, Matt Barkley returns, a more mature player in his junior season, and has potential All-American WR Robert Woods on his outside. Woods was a surprising revelation during a difficult 8-5 season for the Trojans last year, a season that included a disappointing loss to Notre Dame in an almighty rain storm last November. There are enough weapons on offense for the Men of Troy to put up prolific numbers and big scores. The real question mark is defense. Only time will tell, and the Trojans have a week to tune up for the Pac-12 opener vs. Utah.

Winner: USC

NCAA Football 2011: Week One Preview (Part One)

After the most tumultuous off-season in recent memory, and one that the NCAA will want to forget as quickly as possible, college football is back for Season 2011.

It's been a long nine months since the Tostitos BCS National Championship Game ended with Auburn as National Champions, but the opening weekend of the new season provides some very intriguing games. Here is my pick of that litter:

Akron at Ohio State:

Perhaps not the most exciting game of the opening weekend in terms of the two teams on the field, but certainly an interesting one for all the coverage around the game.

This one at the Horseshoe in Columbus is notable, perhaps, for who isn't there as opposed to who is. Of course, I’m talking about former OSU head coach Jim Tressel and star QB Terrelle Pryor, both of whom endured rather ignominious exits from Columbus during a tumultuous summer, where rampart allegations of multi-year NCAA infractions have taken the gloss off the Buckeye’s win in the Sugar Bowl vs. Arkansas, a win featuring the now-absent pair of Tressel and Pryor. The school has vacated all of it's wins from Season 2010, including in the Sugar Bowl vs. Arkansas and against rival Michigan. And there may be further sanctions to come, at the uncertain and wild discretion of the NCAA.

This will be the coaching debut for interim head coach Luke Fickell, and despite not having Pryor under centre and another four starters serving suspensions as a result of tattoo parlour/memorabilia infractions that came to light in the lead-up to the Sugar Bowl this year, it should be a W for the former Buckeye player. It’s heading down the track where the Buckeyes might struggle, especially with Nebraska and Wisconsin looking pretty sharp.

Up top in the commentary box, ESPN debuts their new broadcast team of Dave Pasch, Chris Spielman and former University of Florida head coach Urban Meyer, the blockbuster addition to the Worldwide Leader’s team for Season 2011. It just so happens that Meyer, an Ohio native, is hot favourite – or at least a very warm favourite – to be the new coach at Ohio State next year.

There’s plenty going on, both on the field and in the commentary booth. Ohio State should get their new post-Tressel/Pryor era off to a good start with an easy win here.

Winner: Ohio State

Boise State vs. Georgia (Atlanta, GA):

The other big game on opening weekend, This time last year, it was heroics from QB Kellen Moore as Boise State beat Virginia Tech at the death in Washington DC, and this season, they begin non-conference play in a neutral venue, the Georgia Dome, for the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game.

Were it not for kicker Kyle Brotzman’s serious case of the yips, and the Boise State Broncos almost certainly would’ve been playing in a BCS Bowl Game, but Nevada’s famous victory on Black Friday in Reno ultimately ended what had been such a promising season for the team from the Smurf Turf in Treasure Valley. Even a victory against fellow BCS buster hopeful Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl was hollow.

Now, their chance for redemption. Boise are returning a large chunk of both the offensive and defensive units that came so close last year. Of course, the returnees are led by the brilliant quarterback Moore, who is almost certain to be a serious Heisman contender now that the award is once again open to those who, unlike Cam Newton, are mere mortals on the football field.

Impressive RB Doug Martin returns, as do 12 other starters from a year ago. Chris Petersen's team will be one of the most explosive in the country, on both sides of the ball. There's strength, power and experience in all three phases, really. This match-up vs. Georgia is a wonderful start to Boise’s campaign, a national television spotlight, a traditional SEC power, and a chance to show everyone that they’re as hungry as ever. They need big scalps like Georgia to keep their BCS busting hopes alive.

There's no doubt that Georgia were disappointing last year, offensively stagnant and fielding one of the most porous defenses in the country. This year, they’ll be without last year’s best player, their all-world WR AJ Green who is now in the NFL. To counter that, Georgia features probably the premiere returning SEC quarterback in Aaron Murray. Even though UGA was mostly horrible last year, Murray's performances were one bright spot when most everything else was bleak. Their 10-6 loss to Central Florida in the Liberty Bowl hurt big time.

This is a big year for head coach Mark Richt, who endured a season of fans calling for his head, a scapegoat for a bad season. I'm personally surprised that he remains in charge. Suffice to say, they won't stomach consecutive sour campaigns in Athens, so the ‘Dawgs need a big one to keep the critics at bay. That means SEC wins and challenging for an SEC East title. Of course, a BCS Bowl appearance would help greatly. A good start would be beating Boise State on Murray's solid arm, but it’s unlikely, even with what figures to be a sizeable home field advantage.

Winner: Boise State

LSU vs. Oregon (Dallas, TX)

Without doubt, the most eagerly-anticipated game of the opening weekend. For the Ducks and the Tigers, it's a test of their national championship credentials right off the bat, in the football palace that is Cowboys Stadium. Both teams have been haunted by scandal during spring and summer. Oregon are being investigated for alleged improper payments to recruiting specialists and LSU have recently been rocked by a police investigation into four players and their roles in an altercation in a Baton Rouge bar. Now, QB Jordan Jefferson's apartment has reportedly been searched as a part of said investigation. Football cannot come quickly enough for either program.

It's hard to know exactly how badly a loss would affect the season for either team, given that it would be a first week loss - plenty of time to rebound - against quality opposition. Both Oregon and LSU will play tough conference schedules, and could yet gain entrance to a BCS bowl by winning their conference. At any rate, a one-loss Oregon or LSU team is still an attractive proposition for most bowl committees. Especially if that loss came against a team who continued to win and finished inside the Top 5 in the BCS rankings.

I could definitely see a one-loss LSU team winning the SEC and playing for the National Championship. But could Oregon lose to LSU, win the Pac-12 and play in the big game for all the marbles? Perhaps not. The Pac-12 doesn't quite have the same reputation for tough football as the SEC does and there is the added disadvantage of many of Oregon's games being played late night on the east coast, with less eyeballs watching, including those whose votes help to formulate the rankings.

For mine, the jury is out on LSU. Their defence is solid, but I'm yet to be convinced by Jordan Jefferson at QB. Last year certainly didn't settle anything. There were times when he looked completely at sea. He needs a complete season and a flashy one to silence the doubters. His passing needs to improve to where it's as good - or better - than his running game. The great variable is the new offensive play-caller, line coach Greg Studrawa who takes over from Steve Kragthorpe who is battling Parkinson's Disease. Time will tell if the pro-style offense that Kragthorpe has prepared will suit Jefferson.

The unit that wins this football game might well be the LSU defence. If it can stop Oregon's high-octane offense, led by duel-threat QB Darron Thomas and RBs LaMichael James and Kenyon Barner, and then give it's own offense - helmed by Jefferson, unless the Baton Rouge PD have something to say; Jarrett Lee is the back-up - good field position, they might pull it off with a couple of good drives at key times in the contest. The defensive key might be returning linebacker Ryan Baker, fresh of an 87-tackle season. If he can steady things in the middle of the field, the Bayou Bengals might win. It's all about stopping the quick-strike Oregon offense. Can it be done effectively? Only time will tell. One thing's for sure, it'll be an entertaining football game and a great way to start the season.

Winner: Too close to tell

NHL 2010-11 Rewind: Islanders & Penguins Fight Night

The next in a series of blogs reviewing some of my favourite moments from the just-completed 2010-11 National Hockey League season:

The New York Islanders vs. Pittsburgh Penguins clash on the evening of February 11, 2011 was one of the most anticipated re-matches of the season. Not so much for anything that happened on the scoreboard in the previous contest - it was a comfortable 3-0 win to the Penguins at home - but for the extra-curricular activity that occurred with less than 20 seconds to play in the game. 

It was the usual cheap shot artist Matt Cooke who ran into the Islanders' goalie, Rik DiPietro, which brought about a brawl in the corner. Towards the end of that brawl, DiPietro marched out of his goal, skated to centre ice, beckoning his opposite number, the Penguins back-up, Brent Johnson. The rest, as they say, was history:

That one, solid punch from Johnson broke DiPietro's jaw and the Islanders goalie missed the rest of the season. There was disturbing footage aired in the days after the game, showing the Penguins bench laughing at DiPietro's misfortune. Things happen on the ice that are unfortunate, and sometimes career-threatening, but laughing at a guy's misfortune is pretty low.

Quite obviously, seeing the opposition laughing as your star goalie is carted off, and destined to miss the remainder of the season did not sit well with the Islanders. That's why, when the two teams met again 9 days later, this time at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, and in front of a much larger than usual crowd. It was a badly-kept secret that there would be some carry-over nastiness, and fans wanted to see what might happen. The situation was inflamed pre-game, when the Islanders brought up a gentleman named Michael Haley, a minor leaguer with a reputation for not being at all shy to drop the mitts. The game was ready to explode.

The Islanders burst out of the box, up a goal early when Haley made his presence known, taking on Pittsburgh's Craig Adams

It got better when the Islander's other resident tough guy Trevor Gillies got into a scrap with Pittsburgh's Eric Godard.

The Islanders scored 6 unanswered, and had the run of general play and the fights before this line brawl erupted with 14:39 to play in the second. It was a case of direct retaliation on Max Talbot for a hit from the previous game, a questionable one on Islanders' Blake Comeau, and it quickly became an all-in affair.

The man all the Islanders had marked was the goalie, Johnson. He had started the contest, and was relieved by regular starter Marc-Andre Fleury in the second period as the score got out of hand, but some questionable late hits on Fleury convinced the Penguins to pull their star, and put Johnson back in. Of course, that was exactly what the Islanders were hoping for.

Five minutes into the third period, the crowd at Nassau Coliseum and Isles fans everywhere got what they wanted, in spectacular fashion. Michael Haley decided to find Max Talbot in the scrum, some further retribution after Matt Martin had earlier tried his hand. It was a super-serve of Haley, who beat down Talbot and skated down ice, wanting to settle things with Johnson.

Settle, Haley did. Of course, he was suspended, but Eric Godard of the Penguins, the brave man who skated in to help a badly-outmatched Brent Johnson, received an automatic ten-game suspension for leaving the bench to join a fight.

Some other notes:

The final score: 9-3 Islanders.

The final count on penalty minutes: 346 (multiple fines and suspensions as well)

NYI's Travis Hamonic recorded a Gordie Howe Hat Trick - a fight, a goal and an assist in the same game

NYI's Michael Haley scored his first NHL goal, somewhere in between a raft of fighting majors.

The non-fight highlights of the game are below:

Swans Review - Geelong (27 August, 2011)

SYDNEY 3.1  7.5  10.9  15.9 (99)
GEELONG 2.5  5.7  8.10  12.14 (86)

Goals: Sydney: G Rohan 2 J Bolton 2 L Parker 2 S Reid 2 A Goodes B McGlynn B Meredith J Kennedy J White M Spangher S Mumford. Geelong: C Ling 3 J Bartel 2 D Menzel D Wojcinski M Stokes S Byrnes S Johnson T Varcoe T West.

Best: Sydney: A Goodes B McGlynn R O'Keefe S Mumford J Bolton R Shaw. Geelong: J Kelly C Ling J Bartel J Selwood P Chapman C Enright.

Umpires: Michael Vozzo, Mathew Nicholls, Jason Armstrong.
Official Crowd: 25,900 at Skilled Stadium.

Finally, the Skilled Stadium fortress has fallen. Since August of 2007, 29 teams have tried to win at Skilled Stadium in Geelong. 29 teams have gone home beaten, battered, humbled and humiliated.

The Sydney Swans, themselves victimised by the Cats at Skilled during that long drought, and playing perhaps their greatest and gutsiest win since the Grand Final of 2005, just went down to the graveyard of the AFL and did the unthinkable, did the thing that most people didn't give them a chance of doing this afternoon. They went down the highway from Melbourne, the McVeigh family in their hearts - and black armbands on their sleeves in honour of their captain's baby daughter who tragically passed away during the week, a horrible occurrence that has seemingly galvanised this football club - and played the game of their lives. 

Not only did the Swabs play the game of their lives, but they rattled the premiership hopefuls, putting them off their game, potentially changing the dynamic of the 2011 AFL Premiership season. The critics thought that the chances of the Swans battering down the doors at Skilled Stadium was nigh on impossible. Well, the Swans are the Houdini's of the AFL and critics everywhere will be forced to eat some humble pie. It's the biggest upset of the 2011 season, perhaps the biggest upset of the last few years. 

It was a commanding performance by the Swans. The red and whites took the lead late in the first quarter, and didn't let it go from there. The Cats came and came and came, the Swans stood up and played sensational football, always delivering an emphatic answer when Geelong seemed like they were perhaps about to mount a comeback. It was a wonderful flashback to the glory years of 2004-2006 and if the Swans continue to play like they did today over the next few weeks, they are going to make some serious noise in the finals.

Today, the Swans did everything right. They tackled hard, kicked well in general play, chased when they didn't have the football, were steady in their back half and, when it counted the most, their goal-kicking woes disappeared. The important players - Goodes, O'Keefe, Jack, Hannebery, Mumford, Shaw, McGlynn, Reid, Bolton - were insanely good from the first bounce to the final siren, ably assisted by Rohan, Parker, Kennelley, Mattner, Spanger, White...the whole team, really. This was the perfect example of a team effort. Everyone pulled their weight; there were no free-loaders today.

As a season-defining performance, this win couldn't have come at a better time for the Swans, who now have a home elimination final in their grasp. I wasn't sure that they could get it done today, not based on the last twenty-nine results out of Skilled, but always hoped that they could. And they made me happy to admit that I was wrong! There could not have been a better tribute to the courage of the McVeigh family than what we saw out on the field today.

The best sound of all today? The silence as Geelong fans stared on in disbelief, the realisation that the great run was finally over. So, the Cats at Skilled Stadium are moral after all and the Swans have a home elimination final in their grasp!

Swans Preview - Geelong (27 August, 2011)

Sydney vs. Geelong
Saturday August 27, 2011
Skilled Stadium, Geelong; 2.10pm

Sad and terrible news for the Swans this week, with Jarrad McVeigh's baby daughter, Luella, passing away after a month-long battle with serious heart complications. Yesterday afternoon, the struggle was over. She died with both parents by her side and the Swans community - indeed, the entire AFL community - is in mourning.

More than anything else, it was McVeigh's inspiration performance on Sunday, dedicated to his tiny daughter, that helped the Swans to a much-needed win. The Sydney Swans Football Club is close and full of good people who will help Jarrad and his wife, Clementine, through a tough period in their lives. Incredibly, McVeigh has played in two of the three Swans games since his daughter was born. Of course, he will miss this week's clash. RIP Luella.

And so, for the Sydney Swans, comes the toughest test in football, the greatest test in football: the death march to Skilled Stadium in Geelong, an absolute graveyard for visiting teams. The last team that isn't called Geelong to win at the Cattery was Port Adelaide in the final round of the 2007 season. Remember that the Cats ended up playing Port in the Grand Final that year, and proceeded to absolutely and totally destroy the game, the will and the spirit of the Power.

Perhaps it's wise to take the 2007 incident as a lesson. It's not a stretch to say that the Power have never really covered. I mean, look at them now. A 150-point loss seems a genuine chance every time they take the field. If you beat Geelong at Skilled Stadium, something pretty horrible is going to happen to your football club! It would be really nice to know if that was just a Port Adelaide thing, or if it happens to anyone who goes down into the lion's den and happens to come away with a win. Maybe the Swans can help us with the answer Saturday afternoon?

The word 'honourable loss' is bandied around a lot when teams head to Geelong to take on the Cats. It seems almost a foregone conclusion that a team goes in and loses. But it's the level of a loss, apparently, that matters. If you run the Cats close, it's a moral victory of sorts, or so I am reliably informed. As far as I can tell, an honourable loss is somewhere between 7 and 9 goals, as opposed to those games like the recent Demons vs. Geelong contest, where the Cats were up by that number of goals somewhere midway through the first period.

The Swans cannot go down to Geelong and hope to come away with a loss by seven or eight or nine goals. To do that is to invite disaster. A team that plays expecting a tough loss but not a destructive one is the team that will end up with a shellacking on it's hands. They'll get beaten by 150 points and any momentum carried in from last week's tough but pleasing victory against St Kilda will fall by the wayside as quickly as the Cats can move the football coast-to-coast and kick a goal.

One win gets the Swans into the finals. Or so say the latest set of prognostications. These last two weeks are going to be crazy, with so many teams still jostling for a finals berth, teams whose coaches tell them that it is still mathematically possible - my favourite two words this time of year - that they'll make the finals. The Swans must not be focused on that one win coming in the last week of the season, against the Brisbane Lions (Saturday September 3, SCG, 4.10pm). If they do that, Geelong will tear them apart, like they've torn apart so many teams this season.

For the Swans, this will be a good test against perhaps the best team in the league. Nothing but a 100% team effort where everything goes right from the opening bounce to the final siren will get the Swans across the line. The team has the talent to do it, provided there are no proverbial spanners tossed into the works. Josh Kennedy thinks it's possible, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Of course, he's not going to raise the white flag. If nothing else, this is a challenge, for the Swans have been written off by most of the Melbourne press, given no chance of leaving Geelong with a W. They may surprise some people.

To be honest, I don't know that the red-and-whites can beat Geelong in Geelong. Maybe at the SCG or even ANZ Stadium, but going down to Skilled, to the close-in hostile crowd who gather every week, almost expecting a triple-digit win - or at least a number close to the magical 100 point margin of victory - when they take their seats, baying for blood.

What I want to see is a throwback to the Swans of old: a committed, tough, disciplined performance. I want to see strong tackles, smart use of the football, no bad handballs to sell team mates into trouble, no shaky play in our own defensive 50m and, most of all, some accurate goal-kicking. The best players need to stand up and be counted. If they play hard from the first bounce to the last kick, I'll be happy. We've seen glimpses of it this season, but not nearly enough.

Even if they lose on Saturday, any true fan will be happy with a four-quarter effort. We know what that is: the complete opposite of the performance - or lack thereof - against Richmond two weeks ago. A performance more like what the Swans dished up last week vs. St Kilda. Let's just not be embarrassed. Who knows? The Swans may yet turn a few heads.

Fearless Prediction: Geelongagaisnt a committed, tough Swans team.

Go Bloods!!

NHL 2010-11 Rewind: Anaheim’s Bobby Ryan Scores The Goal Of The Year!

The next in a series of blogs reviewing some of my favourite moments from the just-completed 2010-11 National Hockey League season:

If you have not seen this goal, you're missing out on perhaps the greatest individual effort of the NHL's 2010-11 season.

Unfortunately for the Anaheim Ducks, they lost this contest 4-3 in OT to the Nashville Predators - it was the Western Conference Quarter Final series - and so the amazing moves and subsequent goal by Bobby Ryan, the pride of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and the first member of Team USA to score a goal at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games, was somewhat lost in the aftermath of the Preds extra time victory. It was his third goal of the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs, and most definitely his finest.

That is a shame, for Ryan stole the puck at his own blue line, headed up ice, deked and faked, undressing two defencemen in the process, on his way to bury the puck past Nashville's goalie, an astonished Pekka Rinne. It was one of those goals that almost defies belief, the sort that no goalie, no matter how good he is, should feel bad about letting in. Sometimes, in a league chock-full of brilliance, these things just happen, one of those superlative moments of extreme skill, where the hockey world should feel privileged to witness such a play. Ryan was in the groove: nothing, no one, was going to stop him. Watch the crowd at Honda Centre go NUTS!!!!!




The celebration reminds me of Washington's Alex Ovechkin. He was really the first guy to slam himself against the glass behind the goal after a spectacular tally, and now everyone's doing it. Talk about homage to the Great Eight!!

And, you know what, while we're on the subject of brilliant goals from the 2010-11 season...how about this pearler from Thrasher-turned-Bruin (and now Stanley Cup champion) Rich Peverly, faking out Ottawa defenders on his way to lighting the lamp! And one of the great Jack Edwards goal calls - Oh my goodness gracious! Rich Peverly with some magic on the ice!

Swans Review - St Kilda (21 August, 2011)

SYDNEY   1.5   3.12   6.17  10.23  (83)
ST KILDA   3.3    6.4    9.6     10.8   (68)

Goals: Sydney: R Shaw J McVeigh D Hannebery R O'Keefe J White S Reid J Bolton M Spangher A Goodes S Mumford. St Kilda: N Riewoldt 2 D Armitage 2 B Goddard S Gilbert F Ray T Lynch S Milne D Polo.

Best: Sydney: S Mumford J McVeigh R Shaw D Hannebery T Richards N Smith. St Kilda: S Fisher N Dal Santo J Gram S Dempster B Goddard.

Injuries: Sydney: A Johnson (foot). St Kilda: J Blake (leg) S Dempster (concussion) J Koschitzke (gastro) replaced in selected side by T Lynch, Z Dawson (gastro) replaced in selected side by S Baker.

Reports: D Polo (St Kilda) for tripping A Goodes (Sydney) in the final quarter.

Umpires: Luke Farmer, Ray Chamberlain, Shaun Ryan.
Crowd: 25,025 at ANZ Stadium.

Finally, something good to write about in a review piece. With their backs to the wall, the Swans have had a much-needed win at Sydney Olympic Park this afternoon, strengthening their chances of playing finals for a second-straight season.

It wasn't pretty for most of the game. At times, it was downright frustrating. The Swans couldn't have bought a goal for long stretches of a contest they dominated almost from the outset. Despite creating 33 scoring shots to St Kilda's 18, it was twenty three behinds and ten goals that kept the game close for most of the afternoon, and kept a reasonable crowd of twenty-five thousand at ANZ Stadium on the edge of their seat.

The three goal explosion early in the fourth quarter - majors to Goodes, the Mark Knopfler lookalike Spanger and Jesse White - proved the difference, and the Swans came away with a win, but still with apparently no end in sight as far as their goal-kicking woes go. The final result could've been a blow out, had the kicking been straighter. There was a maddening run of ten minor scores, including some that just shaved the post, after Rhyce Shaw kicked the opening major of the game. The win, by 15 points, puts Sydney into seventh on the AFL ladder. St Kilda are sixth, with Essendon in eighth.

Shane Mumford was clearly best on ground, putting in a herculean effort from the ruck, and kicked a timely goal to pad the lead in the final quarter. Also excellent for the Swans were Ted Richards and Nick Smith. Ted kept Nick Riewoldt relatively quiet, despite the Saints skipper kicking two goals, and Smith did a wonderful job on dangerous forward, Steven Milne, who recorded only the one major. The midfield worked well, with Shaw, Hannebery and McVeigh among the best for the Swans.

Surprisingly with Ray Chamberlain umpiring, it was a fairly solid performance from the men wearing canary yellow this week. Unlike a few weeks back, when Razor Ray decided he would become the show against Fremantle, the universally-disliked ump managed to swallow his whistle at times, and let the game play out as a tough and hard struggle, like so many other Swans vs. Saints games of recent years. Thankfully for the sanity of those at the ground and watching on TV, there were no outrageous umpiring decisions this time around. Kudos to Ray, I suppose.

Despite the continuing goal kicking issues, the Swans played a good game. They did more things right than wrong, and I was very impressed with their tackling, kicking and general effort at the football. There were few out there who didn't answer the bell today. When the season was on the line, the big names stepped up and created scoring attempts with regularity. If Longmire can just find a way to cure the problems in front of the big sticks, the Swans just might cause a little stir come September and finals football. Because, kicking aside, they looked pretty good today.

Almost better than the win was the kick to kick after the game. A win and a chance to kick the Sherrin about on the ground makes for a solid afternoon!!

The tough road trip to Geelong awaits for the Swans, then it's back home for the season finale against Brisbane, two weeks from yesterday (September 3, 4.10pm, SCG) and, hopefully, some more action after that, some elimination final action.

Swans Preview - St Kilda (21 August, 2011)

Sydney vs. St Kilda
Sunday August 21, 2011
ANZ Stadium, Sydney; 1.10pm

Make no mistake, for the Sydney Swans it is D-Day. Tomorrow's game against St Kilda looms as the defining contest of the season. They need to win to keep alive their chances of playing finals football in 2011, with the death march road trip south to Skilled Stadium to face Geelong up next week.

There is the possibility, however distant, that the Swans could lose two or perhaps three of their final three games of the season and still sneak into the eighth spot and face a road elimination final in the first week of post-season action. We've seen too many teams back into finals action in that matter - going in with a whimper rather than a bang - only to be blown away by a far superior team, thus igniting the endless debate about whether a final six would be better than a final eight. On that, the AFL won't change, not while the eight-team finals series continued to be such a wonderful revenue earner.

I digress, and onto this week's game at Sydney's Olympic Park, for which the Swans have sent struggling defender Tadhg Kennelley to the reserves to find some form, form that he has sadly been lacking for large chunks of this season. Matt Spangher, who impressed many in his one game earlier this season, comes back into the line-up, and it may be the spark and dash that Spangher showed in his last appearance that might push the Swans to a victory.

St Kilda are one of the success stories of the second half of the season. After a horrible start, they are back in contention, and Ross Lyon has them playing solid football, notching wins and putting the football world on notice. While they probably do not have the same class as the top two or three teams, on their day, the Saints have enough talent to explode and match it with anyone. Whoever draws them in the finals should be very wary.

Before the finals, the Swans have them tomorrow, and it won't be an easy task. Alongside Spangher, the inclusions in the twenty-five man squad named by John Longmire are Gary Rohan, Mark Seaby, Jesse White, and Nick Malceski, whose trip to the reserves last week had the desired effect. Joining Kennelley on the sidelines is backman-turned-forward, Lewis Roberts-Thompson, out with an injury. Rohan's speed should help to combat the Saints' pacy midfield. Jesse White will play ruck/forward, a back-up for Shane Mumford, and the usually-dependable Nick Malceski will straight swap with Kennelley on the Swans back line.

If there is a lack of effort this week, it will be unforgivable. If ever there has been a time to put together a committed, four-quarter performance, this is it. The season is on the line, with a difficult run to the finish line starting this week, and extending through Geelong next week before the home finale vs. Brisbane, a game that should not be taken for granted based on the recent offerings that the Swans have served up.

My greatest concern for the game - and, by extension, the season - is the promise of wet weather. It is an understatement to say that the Swans have not been good in the rain this year, laying eggs against Carlton, Geelong, Adelaide and Fremantle among others. They simply cannot afford to do that this Sunday. One hopes that the prospect of sliding out of the eight is enough impetus for a solid performance and a lift from the last week's capitulation to lowly Richmond.

A four-quarter effort of intensity and pressure and solid execution can get the Swans across the line tomorrow at ANZ Stadium. But every facet of their game needs to be perfect - the midfield needs to be strong, Nick Riewoldt needs to be put on a very tight leash, kicking must be accurate and the tackling pressure that did not exist needs to return this week in spades - or the Saints will have a field day.

Fearless Prediction: Swans by 6 points. If not, it's time to start thinking about 2012.

NHL 2010-11 Rewind: Gaborik 4, Toronto 0

The next in a series of blogs reviewing some of my favourite moments from the just-completed 2010-11 National Hockey League season:

It was another night when the frustratingly hot and cold 2010-11 season for Slovakian-born New York Rangers superstar Marian Gaborik went from ice cold to red hot in the most resounding fashion imaginable. The victims? The Toronto Maple Leafs, who had the misfortune to turn up to the World's Most Famous Arena just in time to run smack-bang into Gaborik's most dominant effort of the season. His new line mates, Artem Anisimov and Sean Avery, benefited nicely, recording 4 and 3 assists respectively.

When all was said and done, the Slovakian sniper, who had not lit the lamp in his previous eight games and had recorded only three goals and six assists in 19 games since his previous hat trick against the New York Islanders on December second, had four goals (and an assist) in the 7-0 rout, so reminiscent of the similar drubbing that the Rangers had put on the Washington Capitals a month or so prior. Gaborik’s three hat tricks were the most for the Rangers since the great Czech skater, Jaromir Jagr, had three in the 2005-06 season.

On a night when it was suggested that the Rangers offense would struggle without regular spark plug and unofficial leader, Brandon Dubinsky, the Alaskan native out due to a stress fracture in his left leg, Gaborik was a sensational +3 on the night, scoring four goals and an assist on seven shots, carrying the team on his shoulders. On the flip side, the best Leafs skater was a measly even 0 rating. 

Until Johann Franzen scored five goals in a Red Wings 7-5 victory over Ottawa a number of weeks later, this was the most dominant game of the season, the sort of performance by Gaborik that some had suggested was unique to games against the New York Islanders. Not on this night. Gaborik had two of the four first-period NYR goals, then completed his four-spot with two goals less than three minutes apart in the second. It was all over, bar the shouting. Mats Zuccarello's third period tally was the icing on a very delicious cake for Ranger fans.

The struggle for the season, for Gaborik, was replicating those sudden and scintillating performances into an even spread across eighty-two games. The hope for long-suffering Ranger fans is that the added firepower of Brad Richards, the prized free agent acquisition of the summer, will allow that to happen.

Australia's Marcos Ambrose is a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race winner!

The man they called Kangaroo Meat finally did it! Launceston's Marcos Ambrose, a two-time V8 Supercar Champion, is now a race winner in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the peak of motor sport in North America, and one of the most competitive racing series in all the world. Finally, Australia has a Sprint Cup winner.

Australians have prospered throughout the motor sport world. From Casey Stoner to Alan Jones to David Brabham, some of our best drivers have won Formula One world titles, MotoGP crowns, the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans. Our pilots have won IndyCar races, sports car titles and more, but no one before Ambrose had managed to go to Victory Lane in a top-tier NASCAR event. Now, that streak is over, and the name Marcos Ambrose will go down in motorsport history. After three victories at Watkins Glen in the second-tier NASCAR Nationwide Series, he got it done in the big-time.

After more than a hundred starts and some notable heartbreaks, Ambrose finally made it to victory lane in the top series, driving his #9 Stanley Tools Ford Fusion for Richard Petty Motorsports to a memorable victory in a wild final two laps on the road course at Watkins Glen International in upstate New York. Ambrose spun his tires on the final restart and lost some ground, but made it up with a superb pass on Brad Keselowski, Ambrose driving his Fusion ahead of the #2 Dodge Charger on a green-white-chequered finish after a blown tire and subsequent fence contact to the #27 Chevrolet Impala of Brickyard 400 winner Paul Menard put the race on hold for a lengthy clean-up.

As Ambrose and Keselowski fought for the win, closely shadowed by superstar Kyle Busch (#18 Toyota Camry), mayhem broke out in the pack behind. Boris Said made an ill-advised move at the entrance to the uphill Esses, which tapped the #6 UPS ford of David Ragan, sending him sliding across the track, hard contact with the guard rail, then slamming into the #00 Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota of David Reutimann who ended a rough race upside down, his car completely totalled.

As if that wasn't enough, multi-time Watkins Glen winner and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Tony Stewart ended his race against the guard rail. Stewart, normally a man to be reckoned with on a road course, hardly figured the entire day. For so many, it was a crazy end to a strange day on one of only two road course events on the Sprint Cup calendar.

The incredible vision of the Ragan/Reutimann crash, Ambrose's win is below:



"I'm happy with what I've done. I've got to victory lane. I can go home knowing that I've won in the Sprint Cup series. It's a proud day for myself and my family," Ambrose said in Victory Lane, getting much-deserved kudos from many drivers for his maiden victory. "We make sacrifices every day to do what we do, and today is my little girl's first day at school. I want to take her to school but here we are racing at Watkins on Monday, she's probably still cranky at me but I think it's a good compromise to be here in victory lane."

A year ago, on another road course in Sonoma, California, Ambrose had been leading the race, and looked to have sewn up his maiden victory, but, in an effort to save fuel, he stalled his car under caution, having turned off the engine. He was unable to fire the engine in time through an uphill section of the race track, and lost the lead with a mere six laps to go, costing him the win.

The word choke was starting to creep into the back of my mind," Ambrose admitted. "We survived today, we fought our way back to the front. We had a late race restart - fought and gouged our way to the front and got the win - just a dream day. I'm very thankful for the opportunity I've got to be here, and that I made the most of it today. No one realises how much everyone puts in to get to victory lane, and when it happens it's such a surreal moment."

Congratulations, Marcos Ambrose, Australia's first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series winner. Let's get one on an oval now, mate!

Swans Review - Richmond (14 August, 2011)

Make no mistake, the Sydney Swans season is most definitely on the ropes. Their 43-point shock loss to the Richmond Tigers has opened the door for so many teams to possibly sneak into the eight. Fans of North Melbourne, Fremantle and Melbourne, among others, are thanking the Tigers for their demolition job of the Swans that now leaves the red-and-whites in real danger of watching from the sidelines in September.

It's hard to win an AFL premiership when you can't win football games at the MCG. The Swans have not done that. They haven't won a contest in 4 years at the Home of Football. As close as they've come to a win was the draw vs. Melbourne earlier this year. The last time they came from behind to win a game at the great venue was the 2005 preliminary final vs. St Kilda. That amazing night feels a long time ago, after this afternoon's football game.

Today's loss, typically at the MCG in a lackluster performance that has become surprisingly the norm rather the exception for the Swans in 2011, basically ends our hopes of playing a home elimination final. Three wins from the last eight games seems almost unfathomable after we watched our team come so close to beating Collingwood in June. So much has changed. The team that took to the field that night and played hard, inspired football that really had the Pies worried is sadly MIA.

Today's loss also probably ends our chances of playing finals full stop, with games against St Kilda (ANZ Stadium) before the Death March down to Skilled Stadium to play Geelong. That match-up really scares me. The red-and-whites could get mauled down there, especially if they play like they did this afternoon. By the time the Swans take to the SCG to play Brisbane in the last game of the regular season, their finals fate may well be sealed.

It was frustrating to watch this afternoon, as it has been frustrating to watch so many times this year. Basic skill errors abounded, execution has been poor, and the goal-kicking, for both teams, was horrible. Of course, goal kicking has been horrible for the Swans for weeks. A 2.9 final quarter vs. Essendon last Saturday condemned the team to a loss then. A similar effort in front of the sticks this week has resulted in an upset loss to a Richmond outfit not nearly as talented as the Swans are, a game that should have been won. But so many this year have been games that should have been won, yet the Swans, a team boasting a solid list, have found a way to lose against opponents far inferior and much less skilled.

The video montage of a visibly frustrated and at times angry John Longmire at the beginning of the fourth quarter summed it all up. The Swans played with no heart, showed no spirit or grit, none of what made them a good football team, and a good football team to follow for so long. Even when they were down, there was always the fight, a struggle, some toughness, never capitulation. Today, for the first time in a long time, I saw a team who fell flat, capitulated late, and let the Tigers run out victors. There was also a horrible lack of composure under pressure, a very uncharacteristic trait for this football club.

For the most part, the Swans looked uninspired in their forward fifty - Sam Reid perhaps the only exception there - and always scrambling in the defensive zone. There are many who could take the blame for this loss, for not putting in the effort required to win a football game: Richards, Grundy, Jetta. The list could go on. John Longmire might have to wield the axe this week at selection time. Maybe it's time that Longmire wielded the axe? Something needs to be done to shake things up a little.

Perhaps the final word should be left to Swans coach, John Longmire. "You'd probably go a long way to see us put in a poorer performance at a crucial time than what we did today."

Congratulations to the Tigers, who deserved their win today. Commiserations for the Swans' season. We didn't deserve a win today. It's St Kilda next week at ANZ Stadium, with a 1.10pm bounce.

Swans Preview - Richmond (14 August, 2011)

Sydney vs. Richmond
Sunday 14 August 2011
2.40pm; MCG

A week after a tough loss and a highly entertaining football game against Essendon, the Swans remain in Melbourne, to take on the Richmond Tigers. It was the corresponding game last year, a Round 14 match-up at the MCG, where the Swans jumped out to a 33 point lead deep in the third quarter after a tight first half, and it seemed as though the red-and-whites would record a percentage-boosting victory. That was certainly what I thought.

But, in a collapse that is not often seen by the Swans, and certainly not during Paul Roos' reign at the club, the final result recorded Richmond as four point winners. From the point where the Swans were up by 33, the Tigers kicked the next - and last - three goals of the quarter, to give themselves at least a glimmer of hope heading into the fourth frame. The margin was 14 points at the final change. Swans fans were starting to get nervous.

Lewis Roberts-Thompson did some heavy work early in the fourth, concussing Tiger Andrew Collins, and the Tigers rallied, an extraordinary victory for them, spearheaded by Jack Riewoldt, then a burgeoning star at full forward, and the previously-concussed Collins, who, in one of the most inspirational moments of the entire season, returned to the field late, and kicked the last two goals of the game. Riewoldt finished with five, and was credited with being the man who kept the Tigers there or thereabouts before the amazing fourth quarter rally. The Tigers didn't lead at any change, but led when it counted: at the final siren. It was one of the most difficult losses of the Swans 2010 campaign.

Simply put, Sydney absolutely cannot afford another game like this one when the two teams square off on Sunday afternoon. There have already been too many contests this year where the Swans decide, for whatever reason, to take a quarter - or two - off, and it has been their undoing. Think Fremantle at the SCG a few weeks back, and, to a lesser degree, think the game last week vs. Essendon, where poor conversion, 2.9 in the final term, and lack of basic skills cost a win.

Hopefully the team have worked on goal kicking skills this week, especially in light of the horrendous last quarter of kicking against the Bombers. Richmond are a young team, who should not be taken lightly. As if the Swans needed to be taught that lesson after last year's game. They will be as wary as any team who has ever been scalded in that manner.

Thankfully for the Swans, it seems likely now that Jarrad McVeigh will return to the line-up. The inspirational midfielder was a late scratch, not making the trip south, instead remaining in Sydney with his wife and newborn daughter, for whom doctors were concerned. That McVeigh returns is good news for the football team, but better news for a wonderful ambassador for the club, and a good person. No one deserves to go through the scenario that McVeigh has lived out over the last week or so. No doubt the realisation that doctors have pronounced his daughter to be out of the woods will spur him on to great heights on the football field.

Adam Goodes has been given the all-clearafter the match review panel cleared him of any wrongdoing in a clash with Essendon's Angus Monfries. It was a solid hit, but front-on contact was Goodes' saviour in this case. With the great man in, dare I say it, All Australian form, the Swans could ill afford seeing #37 on the sidelines rather than doing what he does best: dominating games. Say what you will about the end of last week's game, but the fact remains that Adam Goodes was by far and away the best man on the field in either jumper last week. He is back with a vengeance after a somewhat quiet middle of the season.

So the Swans should fly south to Melbourne, bolstered by the presence of their two on-field leaders, Goodes and McVeigh - and with familiar faces like Brett Meredith back, riding the pine to start the game - looking to bury the ghosts of last year's collapse. The hunt for a home elimination final is still alive, and there are good football teams nipping at their heels. A win in Melbourne is important ahead of a crucial clash vs. St Kilda in a week's time at ANZ Stadium in Sydney.

Fearless Prediction: Swans by fourteen.

NHL 2010-11 Rewind: Franzen's Five

The next in a series of blogs reviewing some of my favourite moments from the just-completed 2010-11 National Hockey League season:

It's no secret that the Detroit Red Wings - known by some as the Swedish National Army, thanks to the preponderance of great and skillful Swedes on their roster - are annually among the most talented teams in the league, always in contention for a playoff berth out of the Western Conference and frequently skating all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals. 

The numbers do not lie. Since 1997, the Wings have won four Stanley Cup titles - 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2008. They appeared in the 2009 Stanley Cup Finals, losing in seven games to the Pittsburgh Penguins. That's four Cups in 15 calendar years and five appearances in the Finals. Particularly impressive when you consider that there was no play in 2004-05 due to the lockout.

As good as they've been for years and years, with a roster featuring the likes of Brett Hull, Steve Yzerman, Nicklas Lidstrom, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterburg, there have been few individual efforts more scintillating than the one Sweden's Johann Franzen AKA the Mule put together in Ottawa against the home-town Senators on February 2nd 2011.

It was a one-man demolition job at Scotiabank Place, and on a team featuring superstars Zetterburg, Lidstrom, Datsyuk and Rafalski, it was Franzen's night to steal the show. The lumbering Swede accounted for FIVE goals in a 7-5 Detroit win. On his own, Franzen tied the game with the Senators, who were the unfortunate one on the receiving end of perhaps the best individual performance the National Hockey League saw in Season 2010-11.

Franzen scored the opening goal for Detroit, his 22nd of the season - his first and second goals came 48 seconds apart - and after a nice setup from his Swedish compatriot Henrik Zetterburg for the game-icing empty net goal, the Mule had his 26th, scoring three even strength five-on-five goals, a power play goal in the third, and the previously-mentioned empty-netter, as selfless a play as you'll see, and a wonderful illustration of why the Red Wings are so good every year: because they work for each other and play as a team. 

The second goal from a sweet feed from Zetterburg was a thing of beauty. Henrik's pass was a smooth backhander, which found Franzen in the slot. He delayed, fired, and lit the lamp. The hat-trick goal, a bullet from the dot, stick side and high, gave Detroit a 5-4 lead. Nice to see some hats hit the ice. The Wings supporters always travel well. They were well-rewarded on this night.

Franzen is a big man, and when he sets up in the crease, screening goalies and moving lesser defenders out of the way with his size, he's tough to stop. On this night, he was almost impossible to stop. Think of it in these terms: Ottawa scored the same amount spread amongst their entire time. Alone, the Mule could've tied them and sent the game to OT.

Strangely, for all that Franzen has done, it was his first hat-trick in the regular season. last season, he scored four goals in a playoff game vs. San Jose - he is a proven playoff performer, the sort of guy who trundles along during the regular season and explodes when the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin - but had never replicated that effort between October and early April. 

That all changed on February 2nd. Below, vision of all five goals from FOX Sports Detroit:

The funniest moment of the night? A cheeky Kris Draper asked TSN's Inside the Glass report Pierre McGuire to led play-by-play man Gord Miller know that "Johann Franzen is a good player!" 

Miller replied, "Thanks for the update!"

No kidding!!

NHL 2010-11 Rewind: Bobby Ryan Destroys St Louis

The next in a series of blogs reviewing some of my favourite moments from the just-completed 2010-11 National Hockey League season:
 
One of the great things about having access to so many different NHL contests each season is getting to watch some of the great individual efforts by players on teams who're rarely featured on NBC or CBC or TSN or VERSUS. The Anaheim Ducks are certainly in that category, but their brand of hockey is sensational to watch:

(Disclaimer: The Ducks were the first team I ever saw LIVE, in January of 2008, against the Dallas Stars, an amazing night with fights and goals, so I have a bit of a soft spot!)

It's a shame there was basically no one at the Honda Centre in Anaheim on this January night to see this entertaining match-up between the Ducks and their Western Conference opponents, the St Louis Blues. It was Bobby Ryan's night. One of the best American players in the NHL today netted a hat trick and an additional assist for a four-point game, a superlative effort on a night when tempers ran high, and when the lamp was light ten times, six of those times in a wild fight-filled third period.

The young superstar from Cherry Hill, NJ - the first American to score a goal in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games - is a part of the best line in the NHL, with Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf. With those two around, it's no wonder that Ryan is finding the net so easily and with so much consistency. The scary thing? He's only going to get better, and the Ducks should remain at least playoff contenders in the Western Conference for as long as this line is together and producing like they produced for so much of the 2010-11 season.

On this night, Ryan was already pretty good. Too good, for the St Louis Blues, who, admittedly, were missing some firepower. It was a one-man demolition job of the Blues, who lost the game 7-4 and late, when things got heated, they lost the fights as well. Ryan took the game by the scruff of the neck, netting three goals and the additional assist, doing what great players do frequently: putting his stamp on the contest. It was his smooth-skating brilliance that separated the Ducks from their foe this night.

Just for some further illustration as to the genius of Cherry Hill, NJ's favourite son, check out this sick deke that Ryan used to undress both Nashville defensemen to score perhaps the goal of the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs:

Swans Review - Essendon (6 August, 2011)

ESSENDON 1.2 8.5 13.7 15.10 (100) SYDNEY 3.3 9.4 12.6 14.15 (99)

Goals: Essendon: K Reimers 4 D Hille 3 D Zaharakis 2 L Jetta 2 A Davey B Stanton J Melksham M Hurley. Sydney: A Goodes 3 S Reid 3 L Jetta 2 B McGlynn C Bird J Kennedy R O'Keefe S Mumford T Dennis-Lane.

Best: Essendon: J Watson D Heppell P Ryder D Fletcher M Hurley B Stanton. Sydney: A Goodes D Hannebery S Reid T Richards J Kennedy H Grundy.

Umpires: Stuart Wenn, Stephen McBurney, Dean Margetts.

Official Crowd: 38,722 at Etihad Stadium

So close yet so far for the Swans at Etihad Stadium tonight.

This was the defining contest of the 2011 Toyota AFL Premiership, an epic game that see-sawed back and forth between two evenly-matched teams. Game of the Week status was very fitting. It will now gain Game of the Season status. This compelling football drama had everything that makes our game great, and was played out at breakneck speed from the first bounce to the final siren, completely enthralling nearly forty thousand at Etihad Stadium and many more watching on Foxtel. There was no respite, no break. It was full-on and it was a brilliant contest to watch.

There was never a point in the game when you could predict with any sort of certainty that either team would win. It was completely fitting that the final result wasn't determined until after the siren, in the most dramatic way possible. The kicked from Goodes looked good early, then faded late, and the Swans went from jubilation to despair, as the Bombers went from despair to jubilation.

The game had an extraordinary rhythm to it. One team would go out and build a lead of two or three goals, only to have the other team come storming back - and then go out to their own lead, which was soon erased just as quickly. That was the pattern of the game. For the most part, goals were scored in bunches, running with momentum, which ebbed and flowed for the entirety of the contest.

For a game in August, it felt like a game in September. Certainly, it was a game worthy of being played during the Finals. The scene post-game, in the seconds after the siren, the seconds after Adam Goodes had just dragged his potential game-winning kick wide, scoring a behind rather than the necessary goal, it seemed as though one team's season was over. There were tears in the Swans cheer squad, a distraught look on Adam Goodes' face as his team mates hugged him, and jubilation from the Essendon players. On both sides, there were no players who hadn't given their absolute all, running themselves ragged. You had to remind yourself that there would be a next week - a few more next weeks for both teams.

A draw might've been the fitting result, a thought I would have recorded here even if the Swans had won tonight. For such an exceptional game, neither team deserved to lose. Unfortunately, the Swans came out on the wrong end after the siren sounded, and now that road to a home elimination final is a little bit tougher.

The Swans will rue missed opportunities, especially late. Kicking 15.14 and 2.9 in the final quarter is what killed them. It's hard to win a game with that stat in the books. The final term was defined by mistakes on both sides, made by players who were completely dead on their feet, who had toiled and struggled and scrapped for more than two hours, delivering the best game I have seen all year. It was just that the Bombers made a few less mistakes, and capitalised on some the Swans made near the death to score two late goals, the two late goals that won them the game.

It is unfair to lay the blame on Adam Goodes, who had another tremendous game, but his first two misses were in situations where he had a paddock to work with and put the ball on the boot instead of perhaps taking another bounce or two. Those two missed goals would, of course, have won the game. But, for every mistake Goodes made, he did two things brilliantly. His hit on Monfries was fantastic, and he always looked like the man most capable of winning the game for Sydney and he almost did. Whenever Goodes snared the football - especially in open space - supporters on both sides held their breath. It was brilliant to watch. 

There were certainly other players wearing red and white who could have stepped up and won the game tonight. That's the thing about football, the thing that makes it so great. You live and die as a team. Tonight, the Swans did the latter. Thankfully, they are still in the eight, even on points with the Bombers, who oust Fremantle - at least temporarily - from a finals berth after the Dockers were blown out late by St Kilda on the same ground, twenty-four hours earlier.

For the Swans, there were positives, the poor kicking effort aside. Goodes' overall performance was sensational - a word so often used to describe his body of work on the football field. There were others, too, like Lewis Jetta. Consider Jetta's game in this way: a year ago, the kid could not buy a goal. Now he is kicking absolute miracle goals and making them look easy. Kudos to Dan Hannebery, who looked like he'd been knocked cold late in the first half. To his credit, Hannebery

It hasn't been a great football night for me. At least the Swans contest with the Bombers was enjoyable to watch, completely at odds with the inspid effort our national rugby team put together across the ditch in New Zealand. Essendon's dominance of the Swans at Etihad Stadium continues like the All Black continue to dominate the Wallabies at Auckland's Eden Park.

Richmond next week, and although the road to a home elimination final is tougher after this heartbreaking loss, there's still a chance. Go Swans, go Bloods!!

NHL 2010-11 Rewind: Boston vs. Montreal - after THAT Hit

The next in a series of blogs reviewing some of my favourite moments from the just-completed 2010-11 National Hockey League season:

It was one of the most hotly anticipated games of the 2010-11 regular season. As if the Bruins vs. Canadiens rivalry needed anything more to make it exciting, there was more controversy afoot heading into the last regular-season meeting between these classic rivals.

Why After Zdeno Chara's questionable - but, ultimately legal - hit on Canadiens defenseman Max Pacioretty in Montreal, the Canadiens were out for blood. The Montreal police had opened a criminal case against Big Z, there were whispers that the entire roster were queuing up to take a run at the towering defenseman, and there'd been a war of words in newspapers and on radio, leading to a powder keg situation. We'd already seen a wild game between these two teams in Boston in February, the Bruins winning a fight-filled contest 8-6.

Footage of THE HIT, Chara putting Pacioretty into the Bell Centre stanchion, is below:



Yep, an ugly incident, but the league didn't suspend Chara for it, deeming it to be an unfortunate by-product of the rough game that hockey undoubtedly is. As for the Montreal police wanting to charge Chara...well, all I can say is that, based on the laws that govern our society, there'd be an assault - or four - on the ice on every given night. Let's just leave that sort of thing on the ice, and not get the law involved, eh?

The next match-up between the B's and Habs promised to be a big one, and there were few people around the league not excited to see what transpired.

Interestingly, in the lead-up, Boston's Mark Recchi discovered, apparently overnight, that he had become a doctor, and as such felt it pertinent to share his learned medical opinion on Pacioretty's ongoing recovery - like, if the guy had such a serious concussion, as was first suggested, he shouldn't be watching a movie. For the record, this was on the back of Pacioretty tweeting that he was out enjoying a film a few days after injuries that, it was claimed, were potentially career-ending. Recchi insinuated that the Habs had embellished the injury to get the NHL to suspend Chara.

And so came the game, after days of antagonism via the media. We all expected a close, hard-fought contest, perhaps with a lot of Canadiens players trying to extract some measure of revenge on Chara for his misdeeds in Montreal. Instead, it was a Bruins 7-0 shut-out, including a gorgeous 3-on-5 short-handed breakaway goal to Gregory Campbell that ended the rout with 6:25 to go in the third.

The best moment of that shorty? Aside from the goal itself, it was NESN's Jack Edwards coining a new phrase. It was a "skunking" that night in Boston. See for yourself:



After all the talk, the Bruins came out to play hockey, and they played good hockey. They were physical without needing to drop the gloves, and the Canadiens came out flat, when you figure they would've taken to the ice with all the fire and anger they could muster. Instead, they put in their worst performance of the season, and were resoundingly beaten and booed out of Boston, to the delight of delirious Bruins fans, who'd mocked them before and after Canadiens goalie Carey Price had been pulled from the game, and all through the moments where Montreal skaters tried to antagonise Chara and just bounced off his lumbering frame:

Swans Preview - Essendon (6 August, 2011)

After a bye week that followed on from their best performance of the season - a four-quarter performance - the Swans return to the field, hopefully refreshed and refocused, ready to take on fellow September football hopefuls the Essendon Bombers, this Saturday night at Etihad Stadium.

The good news of the day is that the Swans have named an unchanged line-up, for Ted Richards' 150th match against the club whom we recruited him from. Richards is the perfect example of a discarded player, on the outer at his old club, who was recruited to the Swans and has become a solid role player and a fan favourite. That particular list is long. Some examples? Okay. Darren Jolly, Shane Mumford, Craig Bolton, Josh Kennedy, Ben McGlynn.

Yesterday's dose of good news was that Adam Goodes has signed a contract extension, taking him through the end of the 2013 season. This is wonderful news, because I can't imagine Goodesy wearing any other uniform than the red-and-white. It's a relief to know that he'll close out his amazing career as a Swan. The way Goodes is going this year, it's no wonder that John Longmire quipped that he'd like to see #37 play til he's 45. You and me both, Horse!

And as if that's not enough good news to brighten your week, Jude Bolton is apparently in the final stages of finalising an agreement to extend his contract by at least a year. This is another fantastic bit of news. His solid leadership and the courageous way he goes about attacking the football are wonderful examples to show the young kids coming through. As I like to say, Jude looks like Jane, but he sure as hell plays like Tarzan.

To this week's game against Essendon. Every game at this time of the year is important for those teams hoping to play finals. Thankfully, the Swans have a reasonable run to the end of the premiership season, and barring a major collapse over the next couple of weeks, they should be fighting for a home final in the first week. It begins against the Bombers, who were decimated by injury and stunned by a ten-goal final quarter after leading by as many as 30 points against Collingwood last week.

The first game against the Bombers, round two at ANZ Stadium, was an epic, tight contest. A lot has changed since then. The Bombers are a different team now, missing some important midfield cogs. It's no longer a foregone conclusion that they may miss the finals all together, with so many teams jockeying to get into the bottom half of the eight. Those who predicted that club legend and new coach James Hird would have the Bombers at or near the top of the ladder are suddenly re-thinking their earlier thoughts. Even so, they are still a formidable opponent, and should not be taken lightly.

The Swans come into Saturday night's contest refreshed, riding the momentum from a great four-quarter performance vs. the Western Bulldogs, and face a team who're coming in after being pounded late by the Magpies - not that the Bombers are the first team to have had that treatment from the Pies - and who need to rebound quickly. The Swans need to win a few games in Melbourne, and break the perception that they have trouble doing that, for the road to a premiership most definitely runs through the southern capital.

I think the Swans can win this contest. It will probably be a close won. My thought is a 2-goal Swans win, and plenty of nervous moments for us all! Go Bloods!!

NHL 2010-11 Rewind: Islander Killer

The next in a series of blogs reviewing some of my favourite moments from the just-completed 2010-11 National Hockey League season:

One of the great frustrations of following the Rangers this year was the up-and-down form of Marian Gaborik, the Slovakian sniper who had shown such promise in his first season on Broadway. But whenever the Islanders appeared on the schedule, you could almost count on #10 having one of his blinders. On this night, he did - and then some!

It was the first game of a home-and-home in December. The Rangers were on Long Island at the Nassau Coliseum, a venue with as many Blueshirts as there were Islander fans, a wonderful thing when you invade the arch enemy's turf. There was intensity in the crowd and on the ice. Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro had shot his mouth off again, talking about how much he hated the Rangers.

The game started off scrappily, short stretches of play between whistles. Then noted heavyweights Derek Boogaard and Trevor Gillies. The late, great Boogey Man got on top early, and threw some massive punches at the Islander with the ridiculous-looking handlebar moustache, and although it was Gillies who managed to get Boogaard down on the ice to end the bout, there was no doubt that Derek took the decision. This was a  much anticipated bout. We all knew it would happen, and no one was disappointed.



It was a game of ebb and flow, momentum changes. One team held the ascendancy for a while, then it switched to the other. It was good hockey to watch. The Rangers-Islanders rivalry is really back, and hockey is much more interesting because of it.

The Rangers were up 2-0 with 1:00 to go in the first period, thanks to goals from Erik Christensen and Ryan Callahan, but the Islanders struck back, scoring three consecutive to chase Martin Biron from net - he was replaced by Henrik Lundqvist - before the Rangers came back with two of their own, to Brandon Prust and Marian Gaborik. The wild second period featured four goals and a fight between Matt Martin of the Islanders and NYR's Michael Sauer. Martin won easily and quickly.

Gaborik's second goal, at 3:31 of the third, was a thing of beauty off a monster of a feed from master agitator Sean Avery, who meshed excellently with Gaborik and Christensen that night. It was a sweet pass from behind the goal, to Gaborik in front, on the edge of the paint, and a quick wrister buried it behind DiPietro's back. Like Gaborik, Avery had a whale of a game.

The Isles came back, another change of momentum, and tied the contest at five. Then came the moment where Gaborik really stamped his authority on the game. It was his second hat-trick - the first had come in an 8-2 victory vs. Edmonton at Madison Square Garden a few weeks before - but this one was important, a game winner from the side of the net against one of the biggest rivals the Rangers have. What a way to close out a win on the road. Surprise, surprise, on a night when they led the offensive charge, once again it was the Christensen-Avery-Gaborik line that combined for the winning goal.