Friday, December 02, 2005
MARVIN WILLIAMS WATCH, GAME 15
[actual post Sun ~2a]
The Raptors are terrible. The Hawks are terrible. Toronto came in having lost six straight overall and were 0-7 on the road. Even more dubious, the game combined two teams with a combined 3-27 record for a win percentage lowest in NBA history for a matchup between any two teams that had played a combined 30 games. It ended with Toronto rookie and Connecticut alum Charlie Villanueva hitting the game-winner, sending the Hawks to another defeat, 102-101 on their home floor.
2004 Bremerton graduate Marvin Williams scored two points on 1-for-5 shooting from the field. He grabbed four rebounds (two offensive) to offset a turnover and a foul in 20 minutes off the bench.
The Hawks travel to Phoenix for a Sunday game.
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Thursday, December 01, 2005
GAME 27: OILERS 5, CANUCKS 3
Oilers 5, Canucks 3
[actual post Sun ~12:58p]
1st period
Off a very early faceoff, Nolan Baumgartner passed from the back of the right circle to Josh Green in the left side of the slot, who picked the loose puck off an Oiler skater and beat Jussi Markkanen top shelf inside the far post.
»» 1, VANCOUVER, Josh Green 2 (Nolan Baumgartner, Mattias Ohlund) 0:18
»» CANUCKS 1, OILERS 0
Radek Dvorak backhanded a pass to Jarret Stoll in the low slot who skated backward, controlled the puck, then lashed it past Alex Auld stick side.
»» 2, EDMONTON, Jarret Stoll 9 (Radek Dvorak, Raffi Torres) 8:25
»» OILERS 1, CANUCKS 1
A Steve Staios shot from the back of the right circle was stopped by Auld, but he couldn't control the rebound. The puck came out to Marty Reasoner, and despite Auld's effort to make the type of save David Aebischer made the last couple nights against Vancouver, the Canuck goaltender's try on Reasoner didn't come up roses. Reasoner roofed it over Auld from in front of the crease.
»» 3, EDMONTON, Marty Reasoner 6 (Steve Staios, Georges Laraque) 10:35
»» OILERS 2, CANUCKS 1
The Oilers outshot the Canucks 12-11 in the period. No penalties were enforced in the period.
2nd period
Ales Hemsky flung a puck on the goal from the left point that found Ryan Smyth open in front of a half-open net; he had an easy time scoring glove side.
»» 4, EDMONTON, Ryan Smyth 12 (Ales Hemsky, Shawn Horcoff) 4:50
»» OILERS 3, CANUCKS 1
The slap-pass strikes again. Henrik Sedin slap-passed from the right-wing boards to brother Daniel Sedin midslot, who redirected the puck in side the far post.
»» 5, VANCOUVER, powerplay, Daniel Sedin 6 (Henrik Sedin, Ohlund) 14:49
»» OILERS 3, CANUCKS 2
Vancouver outshot the Oilers 10-8 in the period (21-20 after two periods). The Canucks were 1-for-3 on the power play while the Oilers were 0-for-1.
3rd period
Auld played the puck to his left, where Steve McCarthy tried to pass up the ice, but Raffi Torres stole the puck and quickly wristed one past Auld, short side from just right of the slot, basically putting the game away after the Canucks had gotten to within one goal.
»» 6, EDMONTON, Torres 12 (unassisted) 6:06
»» OILERS 4, CANUCKS 2
Stoll struck again, unleashing a slap shot from the back of the right circle along the right-wing boards that beat Auld inside the far post.
»» 7, EDMONTON, Stoll 10 (Dvorak) 14:48
»» OILERS 5, CANUCKS 2
Though the Canucks had the benefit of an Oiler penalty with 4:28 left, it proved to be too little too late as they were down 5-2. Henrik Sedin form the right hash threaded the puck between Marc-Andre Bergeron and Chris Pronger to former Oiler Anson Carter in the low slot, who beat Markkanen top corner, stick side.
»» 8, VANCOUVER, powerplay, Anson Carter 8 (H Sedin, Ohlund) 17:09
»» OILERS 5, CANUCKS 3
Edmonton outshot the Canucks 8-5 in the third period and 28-26 for the game. The Canucks scored on their only power play of the period and finished 2-for-4. Edmonton finished scoreless on their only power play of the night. Alex Auld stopped 23 of 28 for Vancouver.
Three stars -- (1) Edmonton's Jarret Stoll, (2) Edmonton's Raffi Torres, (3) Edmonton's Jussi Markkanen
skater, goals-assists-points
Ohlund 0-3-3
H Sedin 0-2-2
Carter 1-0-1
Green 1-0-1
D Sedin 1-0-1
Baumgartner 0-1-1
The Canucks got the first goal, but it fizzled away afterward.
In the faceoff circle, Vancouver was a pathetic 21-for-54 (39%) in the faceoff circle. Brendan Morrison was 7-for-17, Ryan Kesler was 1-for-9 (OUCH), Henrik Sedin was 6-for-14, and Josh Green was 5-for-10. Sami Salo dished out three hits. Markus Naslund, Green, and Anson Carter recorded a pair of takeaways each. Bryan Allen blocked five shots and Nolan Baumgartner blocked four. Green led the team in shots with four.
Plus skaters for Vancouver (all plus-1) were Mattias Ohlund, Baumgartner, Trevor Linden, and Green. Minus-1 skaters included Morrison, Steve McCarthy, and Wade Brookbank. Minus-2 skaters included Salo, Kesler, Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, Jarkko Ruutu, and Carter. Minus-3 skaters (yes, it got that bad) were Allen, Richard Park, and Ed Jovanovski. All other Canuck skaters were even.
The loss took the Canucks down to 16-9-2, good for 34 points. They were to play only one game in the following seven days.
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Wednesday, November 30, 2005
GAME 26: CANUCKS 5, AVALANCHE 2
Canucks 5, Avalanche 2
[actual post Sat ~5:04p]
The Canucks looked once again to overcome their bad habit of slow starts. They looked to improve their not-so-stellar record against opponents in their division. In particular, they hadn't had that good of a record against Colorado coming into the game either. They'd also just lost to the Avalanche three nights earlier.
1st period
The good start thing looked like it might wither away once again. A soft rink-wide pass across center ice by Todd Bertuzzi was stolen at the Colorado blue line. Joe Sakic came away with the puck, split a pair of Vancouver defenders (Mattias Ohlund and Sami Salo), and wristed the puck past Alex Auld's glove side.
»» 1, COLORADO, Joe Sakic 11 (Milan Hejduk, Brett Clark) 1:52
»» AVALANCHE 1, CANUCKS 0
With 9:06 to go, Wade Brookbank woke up the subdued crowd a bit by wiping Brad May into the boards in the Vancouver end. The multiple-time Manitoba Moose call-up Josh Green got some spotlight time. A very long pass from Richard Park along the left-wing boards in the Vancouver end met Green in the Colorado zone on a breakaway, who then bore down on the net, dodged a hook attempt from Rob Blake, and put the puck over David Aebischer's stick.
»» 2, VANCOUVER, Josh Green 1 (Richard Park, Sami Salo) 11:22
»» AVALANCHE 1, CANUCKS 1
The Canucks appeared to respond to being down in the period. A long Sami Salo slap shot was jabbed through by Henrik Sedin from beside the net as Patrice Brisebois was a bit late getting back to him.
»» 3, VANCOUVER, powerplay, Henrik Sedin 7 (Salo, Nolan Baumgartner) 12:52
»» CANUCKS 2, AVALANCHE 1
With just over a minute left in the period, Aebischer showed some moxie. A loose puck in the slot was picked up by Bertuzzi, who passed behind him to Brendan Morrison, who was stopped beside the net by Aebischer. The clearing attempt went to Bryan Allen behind the left circle, who put another puck on the net that was stopped. Allen got the rebound back to him and put a shot off a stick and wide. Vancouver outshot the Avalanche 16-11 in the period and was 1-for-3 on the power play. Colorado was 0-for-2 on the power play.
2nd period
A couple minutes into the period, former Canuck Brad May and current Canuck Wade Brookbank exchanged fists. Brookbank got the upper hand and wrestled him to the ice. About six minutes into the period, Skrastins had a shot blocked and Trevor Linden and Jarkko Ruutu were off on a breakaway. Linden was the last one with the puck, and he tried to go with the backhand to the stick side, but Aebischer made the stop from his back, getting his glove (far arm) on the shot. Colorado tied it. Rob Blake centered the puck from the right-wing boards and Sakic and Alex Tanguay were going to the net. An unimpeded Tanguay got the puck beside the net and put it through as Auld had left the stick side quite open trying to make a play on Sakic.
»» 4, COLORADO, Alex Tanguay 9 (Rob Blake, Sakic) 7:54
»» AVALANCHE 2, CANUCKS 2
With just over nine minutes remaining in the period on a Vancouver power play, Alex Auld played the puck from behind his own net and to his right. Bertuzzi was near the puck, but so was Patrice Brisebois until he was smeared by Ed Jovanovski. The hit left him slow getting onto his feet. The Canucks cleared a rebound in their own zone, and Markus Naslund tried passing to Todd Bertuzzi at center, but the puck hit two Colorado skaters who had collided into one another. Brendan Morrison was near the two-player pile and took the puck, rushed toward the net, and tucked one in on the glove side before Aebischer could close it.
»» 5, VANCOUVER, Brendan Morrison 5 (Markus Naslund, Ed Jovanovski) 18:00
»» CANUCKS 3, AVALANCHE 2
The Canucks outshot Colorado 14-8 in the period (30-19 total) and was 0-for-3 on the power play (1-for-6 total). Colorado was 0-for-1 on the power play (0-for-3).
3rd period
A Nolan Baumgartner shot from the blue line was deflected past Aebischer by Ruutu out front.
»» 6, VANCOUVER, Jarkko Ruutu 3 (Baumgartner, Trevor Linden) 5:25
»» CANUCKS 4, AVALANCHE 2
Naslund from the left hash kicked the puck out to Bertuzzi near the blue line, who dished back to the captain. Naslund powered toward the net, probably putting one shot on the net that was stopped and then tucking the rebound through as Karlis Skrastins bowled him into Aebischer. The Swiss goalie was beyond ticked after the goal, which he obviously thought wasn't a goal.
»» 7, VANCOUVER, Naslund 15 (Mattias Ohlund, Todd Bertuzzi) 14:07
»» CANUCKS 5, AVALANCHE 2
Vancouver outshot Colorado 14-13 in the period (44-32 total) and was 0-for-2 on the power play (1-for-8). Colorado was 0-for-2 on the power play and was 0-for-5 for the game. Alex Auld stopped 30 for Vancouver.
Three stars -- (1) Morrison, (2) Colorado's Joe Sakic, (3) Jovanovski
skater, goals-assists-points
Naslund 1-1-2
Baumgartner 0-2-2
Salo 0-2-2
Green 1-0-1
Morrison 1-0-1
Ruutu 1-0-1
H Sedin 1-0-1
Bertuzzi 0-1-1
Jovanovski 0-1-1
Linden 0-1-1
Ohlund 0-1-1
Park 0-1-1
The Canucks scored the final three goals of the game after it was tied in the second period. They got a better start and got more of a complete effort, and they happened to beat a division rival along the way.
In the faceoff circle, Brendan Morrison was 5-for-15 (probably the only bad thing about his night), Ryan Kesler was 7-for-11 (nice), Henrik Sedin was 10-for-16, and Josh Green was 1-for-6 (but he did score). Mattias Ohlund dished out a pair of hits. Todd Bertuzzi led the team with six shots, and Morrison followed up with five. Ohlund and Ed Jovanovski blocked a trio of shots apiece.
Plus skaters (all plus-1) included Nolan Baumgartner, Bryan Allen, Brendan Morrison, Trevor Linden, Markus Naslund, Steve McCarthy, Henrik Sedin, Josh Green, and Ed Jovanovski. Ryan Kesler was the only minus skater (minus-1). All other Canucks were even.
The win moved the Canucks to 16-8-2, good for 34 points and a three-point lead over Calgary and Colorado for the Northwest Division lead.
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MARVIN WILLIAMS WATCH, GAME 14
[actual post Sun ~1:50a]
The Miami Heat are better than the Atlanta Hawks. This we know. That and more manifested itself in a 96-74 home loss by the Hawks to the Heat.
2004 Bremerton graduate Marvin Williams put up 11 points the night before against Houston but was held scoreless against the Heat on 0-for-4 shooting from the field and 0-for-1 shooting from downtown. He grabbed two rebounds (one offensive) to offset a turnover and a foul in 15 minutes of play off the bench.
The Hawks were to host the Toronto Raptors on Friday.
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Tuesday, November 29, 2005
MARVIN WILLIAMS WATCH, GAME 13
[actual post Sun ~1:40a]
The Hawks were in time for the return of Tracy McGrady to the Houston lineup. They trailed 52-51 at half, but scored only 34 points in the second half en route to a 100-85 loss.
In one of his better games of the season, 2004 Bremerton graduate Marvin Williams scored 11 points on 5-for-9 shooting from the field, shooting 1-for-2 from beyond the arc. He also grabbed five rebounds (one offensive) and recorded an assist along with a steal to offset one turnover and five fouls in 26 minutes off the bench.
The Hawks were to host Miami on Wednesday and the Raptors on Friday.
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Monday, November 28, 2005
THE 12TH MAN ROCKS
Newark Star-Ledger: Crowd noise rattles Giants
"The constant noise resulted in 11 false starts for the Giants -- five on tackle Luke Petitgout, three on guard David Diehl, two on corner Frank Walker and one on receiver Plaxico Burress.
"I embarrassed my team and my family," Petitgout said. "Ridiculous. I can't tell you why."
Diehl could.
"A lot of times, I couldn't hear anything," he said. "I was right next to (quarterback) Eli (Manning) and I couldn't hear him.
"You can put up speakers (in practice), but there's nothing that simulates a game like this."
During the 1980s, the Kingdome was a place where opposing teams hated to play in, thanks to the 12th Man. Two decades later, the 12th Man is making its mark once again. Since 2003, the Seahawks are 19-3 during the regular season at Seahawks Stadium/Qwest Field. So far in 2005, the Seahawks are 6-0 at home. Barring a complete collapse, the Seahawks will have homefield advantage in January.
The 12th Man rocks. Name another NFL franchise that has retired a number in honor of their fans?
Wait, you can't.
"The constant noise resulted in 11 false starts for the Giants -- five on tackle Luke Petitgout, three on guard David Diehl, two on corner Frank Walker and one on receiver Plaxico Burress.
"I embarrassed my team and my family," Petitgout said. "Ridiculous. I can't tell you why."
Diehl could.
"A lot of times, I couldn't hear anything," he said. "I was right next to (quarterback) Eli (Manning) and I couldn't hear him.
"You can put up speakers (in practice), but there's nothing that simulates a game like this."
During the 1980s, the Kingdome was a place where opposing teams hated to play in, thanks to the 12th Man. Two decades later, the 12th Man is making its mark once again. Since 2003, the Seahawks are 19-3 during the regular season at Seahawks Stadium/Qwest Field. So far in 2005, the Seahawks are 6-0 at home. Barring a complete collapse, the Seahawks will have homefield advantage in January.
The 12th Man rocks. Name another NFL franchise that has retired a number in honor of their fans?
Wait, you can't.
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Sunday, November 27, 2005
GAME 25: AVALANCHE 6, CANUCKS 2
Avalanche 6, Canucks 2
[actual post Sat ~1:56p]
The Canucks were still looking to shake their habit of not starting off their games very well. They were also looking to do better against divisional foes. They were also looking to shine up their not-that-good road record as well.
1st period
Not long after the opening faceoff, an Anson Carter giveaway at the Vancouver blueline led to a Colorado 2-on-1 with Milan Hejduk and Joe Sakic. Hejduk never passed over to Sakic and instead wristed the puck past Alex Auld's stick side from beside the slot.
»» 1, COLORADO, Milan Hejduk 5 (Alex Tanguay) 0:11
»» AVALANCHE 1, CANUCKS 0
Antti Laaksonen took the puck in the high slot and threw a right elbow to the pursuing Ed Jovanovski, who fell to the ice. The puck trickled away due to impact, but Andrew Brunette raced in to slap it past Auld's glove side from the low slot.
»» 2, COLORADO, Andrew Brunette 6 (Antti Laaksonen, Ian Laperriere) 4:02
»» AVALANCHE 2, CANUCKS 0
Midway through the period, Brendan Morrison passed from behind the net to Markus Naslund on the right side, who quickly put a wrister on the net, but the short side was quickly covered up by David Aebischer. Later, a long lead pass led to a Colorado 2-on-2 with Sakic and Hejduk. With Mattias Ohlund defending him, Sakic simply put a puck on goal that was stopped by Auld's equipment but it bounced into the air and went off Ohlund's arm and went into the net past Auld's stick side.
»» 3, COLORADO, Joe Sakic 8 (Brett Clark, Tanguay) 11:32
»» AVALANCHE 3, CANUCKS 0
Marek Svatos took a very long lead pass after getting behind the Vancouver defense. With Carter trying to pull him down, Svatos still had control of the puck after Auld whiffed on a pokecheck, and the puck got through the five-hole before the three players crashed into the net.
»» 4, COLORADO, powerplay, Marek Svatos 12 (John-Michael Liles, Brett McLean) 18:42
»» AVALANCHE 4, CANUCKS 0
Shots were 17-12 in Colorado's favor. Colorado was 1-for-4 on the power play while the Canucks were 0-for-1 in their horrible first period. Bad, bad, bad.
2nd period
Richard Park was foiled in front by Aebsicher with about 14:37 to go. With 7:45 to go, Bertuzzi passed back to Ryan Kesler, whose backhand shot was robbed by Aebischer, who was on his back and had the puck go off his stick and wide. Brendan Morrison took a pass from Sami Salo and from the left hash found a sliver of space between the left post and Patrice Brisebois and reached the top shelf. David Aebischer, who may have been a bit in front of the crease trying to raise hell, had been pushed down by Todd Bertuzzi just before the shot was released. Morrison had gone twelve games without a goal.
»» 5, VANCOUVER, powerplay, Brendan Morrison 4 (Sami Salo, Markus Naslund) 14:31
»» AVALANCHE 4, CANUCKS 1
Shots were 14-9 in Vancouver, who finally woke up a bit compared to their awful first period. The Canucks were 1-for-2 on the power play and held the Avalanche scoreless on three pwoer plays.
3rd period
Todd Bertuzzi passed from the left-wing boards to Bryan Allen in front of the crease. Allen wristed it past the open glove side of Aebischer to cut the Colorado lead to two.
»» 6, VANCOUVER, Bryan Allen 2 (Todd Bertuzzi, Naslund) 8:14
»» AVALANCHE 4, CANUCKS 2
With the Canucks on a power play, Auld tried to get the puck ahead to the blue line, where it was stolen. Laaksonen and Dan Hinote got on the rush, and Hinote took the puck toward the net and may have fanned on a deke attempt but the puck softly moved through Auld's legs for the dagger goal.
»» 7, COLORADO, shorthanded, Dan Hinote 1 (Laaksonen) 12:34
»» AVALANCHE 5, CANUCKS 2
Burnaby Joe stepped in again, unleashed a laser wrister from the left circle over Auld's right leg.
»» 8, COLORADO, Sakic 9 (Tanguay, Hejduk) 13:21
»» AVALANCHE 6, CANUCKS 2
Shots were 14-10 on Vancouver's favor for the period and 40-36 for the game. Vancouver was 0-for-2 on the power play and Colorado was 0-for-1 in the period. Vancouver finished 1-for-5 while the Avalanche were 1-for-8, but they had the shorthanded goal that sealed it as well. Alex Auld stopped 30 Colorado shots.
Three stars -- (1) Colorado's Joe Sakic, (2) Colorado's Alex Tanguay, (3) Colorado's David Aebsicher
skater, goals-assists-points
Naslund 0-2-2
Allen 1-0-1
Morrison 1-0-1
Bertuzzi 0-1-1
Salo 0-1-1
The Canucks were 32-for-61 (52%) in the faceoff circle. Brendan Morrison was 12-for-19, Trevor Linden was 3-for-10 (ouch), Ryan Kesler was 6-for-11, and Henrik Sedin was 11-for-17. Ed Jovanovski dished out three hits and Sami Salo blocked three shots. Bryan Allen notched three takeaways. Anson Carter and Markus Naslund led the team with five shots apiece.
No Canuck skaters were on the plus side of the ledger of plus/minus. Kesler, Steve McCarthy, Wade Brookbank, and Jarkko Ruutu were the even skaters. Mattias Ohlund, Allen, Sami Salo, Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, and Carter were minus-2. All other Canuck skaters were minus-1.
This game put the Canucks down to 15-8-2 (good for 32 points), rounding out an 0-for-2 road trip. This game also left the top three teams in the Northwest Division all within three points of one another.
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MARVIN WILLIAMS WATCH, GAME 12
[actual post Sun 4 Dec ~1:30a]
Josh Smith was nailed for grabbing the rim on an offensive rebound attempt with 7.2 ticks left, leading to a final possession where Darius Miles hit the game-winning shot for a 77-75 Portland win in Atlanta, ending the Hawks' consecutive-game win streak.
In 16 minutes of play off the bench, 2004 Bremerton grad Marvin Williams scored one point on a single free-throw attempt. He was 0-for-3 from the field. He grabbed three rebounds (one offensive) and recorded two steals. He turned the ball over once.
The Hawks were to travel to Houston on Tuesday.
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OUR BLUE IS BETTER
"Two-thousand zero-five, it seemed like a different season this time...
...and Seattle won't tank it like it's 1999."
[if Prince gets ticked off about how I just butchered his lyrics, I'll take 'em down upon request and sufficient proof of identity.]
The Dallas game turned quickly. The San Francisco game was way too close.
The Jeremy Shockey touchdown call was crap.
The entire first half for the Seahawks other than the Joe Jurevicius catch (and the pass interference penalty before it) was crap.
I was disappointed in just about every one of these Seahawks at some point in the game. Even Joe Jurevicius dropped a ball on what should have been the final time-killing drive in regulation.
The defense had some trouble getting off the field on third down. Also, they didn't have much of an answer for Plaxico Burress.
But you know what? This team hung in there and finally showed their resiliency. DJ Hackett's second catch of the game was his longest, and it went for 38 yards, and it was in overtime, setting up the final field goal by Josh Brown.
What's the difference between a 9-2 Seahawks team and an 8-3 Seahawks team? They just saved themselves a buttload of questions from the media for the next week about how they collapsed in 1999 or how they collapsed last year and the year before that after devastating losses. Not so sure about the defense getting off the field on third down; they might still get questions for that.
Quite a few times this year, we've found that there's something different about this team. They don't choke these kinds of games away anymore. If you read the game thread (which is admittedly profane because that's how dire things got), you can see that I, in terms of knee-jerk reaction, thought the game was over about five, six, maybe seven times or so. Today, it seemed that the Seahawks choked the game away too many times to count, but they still won.
If there's one thing I hope the Seahawks learn in practice this week, it's this -- play 60 minutes of football, preferably all in regulation.
And my goodness, what can we say about the crowd? Holy hell, people! To everyone that showed up at the Q today, nice job. Eleven false starts. I've never been more proud of a Seattle crowd in my life. Incredible job by the legions of fans with hoarse throats coming out of the Q today.
I simply can't believe this. Our Seattle Seahawks are 9-2 after Week 12.
It's unreal, folks. Unreal.
It's Monday Night in Philly next week, everyone. That's bad for folks like me on the east coast.
Enjoy this win. Enjoy every win.
Enjoy this team.