NFL Wildcards; NHL Suspensions/Extensions

Eagles vs. Packers
As I am writing this Michael Vick just threw what will be his most forgettable play of the year. Down by five. Forty-five seconds left, clocks running. Ball at 30 yard line, the ball is thrown, INTERCEPTION. Brutal.

With tons of time for the Eagles to get two or maybe even three plays off Vick sees a man in the end-zone and he's covered man-to-man. It's tempting, tempting enough for Vick to gamble the game away. Can you blame him? The man wants to win and in those types of situations its all or nothing. You either make the pass and become the hero or screw it up, throw the INT and become the goat.

Vick's season has been a great story and I commend the man for his play on field and his attitude off the field. It's a bad end to a great season. Good job to the Packers and to Aaron Rodgers, who didn't throw for more than 200 yards but his three TD passes make up for that and then some. To go into Philly and silence the crowd is huge. Really starting to like Rodgers, classy guy. Great game.

Chiefs vs. Ravens

When the Chiefs came out of the first quarter in the lead I thought that we could have ourselves another upset here. But the Ravens are proving they are no joke, specifically Joe Flacco. Flacco finished the game 25/34, with 265 yards and two TD passes.

What a game for Flacco and what a disappointment for Matt Cassel. In his first playoff start Cassel was unable to get anything done against arguably the best defense in the league. Its never easy to move the ball against Ray Lewis and co. but after Jamaal Charles ran for the games first TD I honestly thought that maybe an established running game could open things up for Cassel. 9/18, 70 yards, and three INT's later and Cassel's first playoff game quickly goes from hopeful to disappointing.

All credit has to be given to the Ravens offense who controlled the ball and therefore controlled the game. Ravens time of possession: 41:44 minutes, Chiefs time of possession: 18:16. The Ravens never gave the Chiefs defense a moments rest, they looked tired and defeated. Watch out Steel Town, the Ravens mean business.

Seahawks/Saints; Jets/Colts
As for the previous two games I was fighting one of the worst snow storms Edmonton has seen in awhile on my way to work when the Seattle/Saints game began. Its hard to comment on a game I never watched but all I can say is WOW. Did not see that coming. Good on Pete Carrol and Matt Hasselbeck, they showed some true character.

I did get to listen to the games on the radio and when the Saints went up 10-0 I figured the Seahawks stood no chance. The crowd fell silent and that's a victory all in itself. Give the Seahawks credit for getting the TD on the following drive and waking everybody up. From there the offense took off. Marshawn Lynch only ran for one touchdown but what a run! Couple that with Hasselbeck's four TD passes and you've got a formula that can take down the champs.

Brees played exceptionally well in the losing effort, throwing the ball 60 times and completing 39 of those attempts for over 400 yards. Not much more he could have done.

The Jets/Colts match-up was hardly the offensive shootout I had expected. The Jets' defense was expecting a heavy dose of Peyton Manning, instead the Colts limited his attempts to under 30 and that resulted in Manning throwing one single touchdown pass. Rather than throwing the ball the Colts were determined to run the ball right at the Jets' defense, rushing the ball for a total of 27 attempts between Joseph Addai and Domenic Rhodes for a combined total of 93 yards.

The Jets did the same. They used their six minutes of added possession time to run the ball 38 times, including one QB scramble by Mark Sanchez and two rushing attempts from WR Brad Smith for a combined total of 169 yards. Sanchez threw one interception and zero touchdown passes. Definitely not his best performance but hey, they got it done, but if the Jets intend to beat the Patriots they're going to need a better performance from Sanchez.

NHL Quick Hits

• Atlanta Thrashers forward and recent Stanley Cup Champion Ben Eager has been suspended four games for his sucker punch on Colby Armstrong. All I got to say is, why? Why did Eager feel the need to first face-wash Armstrong and then when he's not expecting it, cheap shot him with a punch straight to the eye? See it for yourself--->CLICK HERE
• Calgary Flames forward Tom Kostopoulos has been given a six-game suspension for his reckless blindside hit on Red Wings defenseman Brad Stuart. I hate this hit. Stuart doesn't even have the puck and Kostopoulos takes a huge run at him. Again, why? The hit sees Kostopoulos' shoulder hit Stuart's face square on and sends Stuart flying! Almost literally! Reckless, needless play from otherwise tough but good player. See it for yourself---> CLICK HERE
• The Los Angeles Kings have inked defenseman Jack Johnson to a seven-year, 30.5 million dollar contract extension. The dollar amount is reasonable and hopefully this doesn't interfere with getting fellow stud blue liner Drew Doughty signed in the off-season. Most likely won't but weirder things have happened.
  

Both Pictures provided by TSN: Kostopoulos; Rodgers

Canada implodes, Russia wins Gold

The one thing about being involved in the service industry, particularly the bar scene, is that you're almost guaranteed to have to work the big ticket events. Last night was one of those nights. There I was along with five other cooks in downtown Edmonton preparing bar grub for a rabid group of Canadian hockey fans. Listening to guys from the FAN 590, Dan Dunleavy and Jack Miller who are by far two of the best hockey announcers going. We were all anticipating the best. Gold, and nothing less.

For the most part the night was great, the food was flying out and the crowd was drinking it up and having a great time watching Canada dominate the Russians through two periods.

Then that all changed.

The third period could not be described better than it was after the game by Canadian defenceman and captain Ryan Ellis.

"We just stopped skating, we stopped working hard and we stopped doing the things that got us there," said Ellis.

Perfectly said. Canada almost literally stopped skating in the defensive zone. Visentin can and will be blamed for the second goal. After surrendering an early goal in a game of this magnitude a team looks to their goaltender for stability and calm. Visentin could not deliver, it's doubtful that Roy would have either given his recent outings so lets not bring up that argument either. But on the third goal from Russian captain Vladimir Tarasenko, the Canadian defence were standing still! Not watching their man but rather following the puck like moths follow the light. You could see the play coming from a mile away.

Not taking anything away from the Russians, they came back against Finland and Sweden to get to the gold medal. They're obviously a good team and I refuse to play the what if game. The Russians are quite the story, an incredible group of resilient and competitive young athletes. The fact is is the Canadians got cocky, they thought they had it in the bag and that they didn't need to work in the final 20 minutes.

Unbelievable, disappointing but above all else deserved.

Hats off to the Russians, hope your hangovers go well. I know getting kicked off a plane and being drunk underage is a bit embarrassing but 21 is too damn old for a legal drinking age anyways. In Canada, you're men but that doesn't mean we like you.

Photo Credit: TSN

Canada defeat Swiss; Russia stuns Finland

Going into every international tournament my favorite underdog team is always the Swiss and occasionally the Germans. Both teams always fair well against the Canadians, they rarely win but they always manage to keep it close. The Swiss program has developed so well over time now sitting seventh in the the world, Germany sits ninth, and they've done this with players that have gone mostly unnoticed, until now.

Jonas Hiller, Martin Gerber, Nino Niederreiter, Mark Streit, Luca Sbisa and Yannick Weber are all playing in North America and with the performance Benjamin Conz has put on in this tournament it may be safe to suggest that another Swiss-born goalie could play over seas as well. Conz is currently the ranked as the fifth best international goaltender but has gone undrafted in both the 2010 and 09 NHL Entry Drafts. Something tells me that won't happen again this year in Minnesota.

On to the game...

After Mark Visentin let in that atrocious looking first goal a cold feeling came up the back of my spine, a feeling I quickly shrugged off. While the Swiss netminder stopped 50 shots against the Russians and another 42 against Slovakia, I was confident in Canada's scoring depth and was sure we would come right back. Canada fired 23 shots at Conz in the first period. It would be almost 14 minutes before the Canadians would respond, it seemed like a lifetime.

Still, I expected the flood gates to open and for Canada to start pouring it on but the Swiss played extremely tight defensively and established a decent forecheck on a battered Canadian defence. It took Canada 17 minutes before they would take the lead and unlike shot-heavy the first period, Canada directed eleven shot on Conz with the Swiss getting nine on Visentin. The Swiss were doing it again! They won't go away! Love these guys...

It wasn't until after Louis Leblanc potted home his third of the tournament that I was able to breathe.

For those unfamiliar with the Swiss program you should familiarize yourself pronto because they're only going to get better and better. Here's hoping they have a strong showing at the World Championships.

Canada is now set to play the United States tomorrow night in the semi-finals and the HSBC Arena is going to be LOUD. Game is scheduled for 7pm et/ 4pm pt. Go Canada!

Russia vs. Finland

The Russians tied it up with a late flurry in the third to produce overtime. I'm actually watching the game right now and I can't help but notice how good this Finland team is. Wouldn't mind seeing a Finland vs. Sweden Semi final.

Unfortunately for Finland, Russia is too strong and just scored the winning goal! Kuznetzov ended it in overtime for the Russians and celebrated the goal by diving stomach first onto the ice! What a comeback for the Russians!

Despite me wanting to see a Scandinavian semifinals, Russia will give Sweden all the they handle and then some. It doesn't matter who wins Canada/USA or Sweden/Russia, the gold and bronze medal games will be outstanding to watch. It's hockey at its best! Stay tuned, I know I will.




photo credit: (Rick Stewart/Getty Images) and CBC

New Year Rundown

It's a new year and All Day Sports is primed and ready to rundown all things sports, 365 days a year. The goal is to make 2010 look damn silly as I roll out the carpet on what is already a very busy first weekend in the sporting world. 2011 will bring another exciting years worth of highlights and controversies. Can't wait to get started, so lets do it.

UFC 125: Edgar vs Maynard

Going into this event I gave UFC Lightweight champion Frankie Edgar no chance of defeating the challenger Gray Maynard in the nights main event. Maynard is the only man to beat Edgar and in the opening round it looked as if he would easily do the same as he landed over 90 punches. Maynard exposed Edgar repeatedly, busting his nose open and sending him spawling all over the canvas.

But Edgar showed why he is the champion.

After somehow escaping the first round Edgar came out in the second and picked Maynard apart with his well-placed jabs and straight-armed shots to Maynard's left eye. Then out of nowhere Edgar was able to pick up the challenger and slam him hard on his back leaving everyone watching asking, where did that come from?

Edgar and Maynard then battled it out for three more solid rounds where I saw Maynard taking the third but not doing enough in the fourth and fifth rounds to earn himself a decision. Maynard had never taken a fight that far and it showed as he looked gassed. The judges scored the bout a draw which unfortunately was fair. I hate draws, they leave everything open for speculation and unleashes the barrage of shoulda, woulda, coulda arguments. But in this case, it was too even to call. Was Maynard's first round flurry evidence of his superior skills or does it highlight Edgar's fighting spirit and unbelievable ability to pick himself up and push the pace for another four rounds?

Two words: re-match. Edgar and Maynard III would be amazing, WEC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis will just have to wait.

NFL schedule wraps up

With the NFL season winding down the playoff picture becomes increasingly clear. The Seahawks/Rams game is going to be the closest thing to an actual playoff game as the winner captures the NFC West division and the loser goes home. Prediction: Sam Bradford lives up to hype, Rams by 6.

In the AFC North the Steelers can lock-down the division title with a win over the 5-10 Cleveland Browns, leaving the Baltimore Ravens in a Wild Card position. Prediction: Sorry Ravens fans but the Steelers won't have any problems here, Steel by 14.

In the AFC South the Colts can get into the postseason with a win over the Titans or a Jacksonville loss to Houston. Prediction: Both teams win, Colts move on.

My favorite race is the three-way race for the last NFC Wild Card spot. The Packers, Bucs and Giants are all 9-6. The Packers are in the driver seat here as a win over the 11-4 Chicago bears will cement them the chance to play the Eagles in the Wild Card round. The Bucs are currently up 10-7 on the Saints in New Orleans. The Bucs are 0-5 versus winning teams and despite the current score I'm not sure they can pull this one out, even though admittedly I want them to. The Giants travel to FedEx field to take on the lowly Redskins and with Eli Manning winning eight of his past nine starts against the 'Skins, there's no reason why they can't win this one either. So how will it all play: Bucs fall, Giants destroy the Redskins, but the Packers get the 'W' at home following a gutsy Aaron Rodgers performance. Packers in, Bucs and Giants sent home.

NHL Hits

• The Bridgestone Winter Classic was postponed from its eleven a.m scheduled start to a six p.m prime-time showdown. I thought the rain added to the overall uniqueness of the outdoor game but at the same time it allowed for some sloppy action. No goals for Ovechkin/Crosby but two for Eric Fehr, a brutal blindside hit by Capitals' Dave Steckel on Penguins captain Sidney Crosby and a terrible play behind the net from Marc-Andre Fleury round out the highlights. It wasn't the greatest Winter Classic game but the NHL did a great job nonetheless, I can't imagine how much work went into putting this one together.
  

• The Oilers barely came to play against the Flames in another bore-fest that used to be known as the "Battle of Alberta". Eberle left the game with an ankle injury as the Oilers managed a paltry 8 shots in the first two periods compared to Calgary's 19 shots in the first period alone! The Oilers brought up defenceman Shawn Belle for some added size. He played over 17 minutes recording zero shots (insert slow-clap). Six losses in a row for the Oilers tells me that this team is nowhere near good enough to make the playoffs, nice try Renney.

• Quick trades. To Anaheim: (C) Maxim Lapierre; to Montreal: (D) Brett Festerling and a 2012 fifth round pick.
  

• To Tampa Bay: (G) Dwayne Roloson; to New York (D) Ty Wishart.

Check in later tonight as I re-cap the IIHF World Junior Quarter finals as Canada faces Switzerland for a chance to play Team U.S.A in the semi finals. In other action Russia faces off with Finland, winner takes on Sweden. Happy New Year!