Author: Chris Cordella

Another fourth-place finish for Team Canada

For the second straight year, Team Canada has finished in fourth place at the World Junior Hockey Championships. Despite strong performances against the Americans on New Year’s Eve and the Swiss in the quarterfinals, the team lost their semi-final game to Finland 5-1 and then their bronze medal game 2-1 to Russia.

The gold medal game Sunday afternoon was between Sweden and underdog Finland. The game went into overtime when Finnish defenceman Rasmus Ristolainen potted the game winning goal, giving Finland their first gold medal since 1998.

Wild card weekend

The NFL playoffs provided four great games Saturday and Sunday with lots of lead changes and last-second victories. The first game was between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday. At half-time it looked like the game would have been over with the Chiefs up a commanding 31-10. However, key injuries to Chiefs’ running back, Jamaal Charles, and others led to 35 second half points by the Colts, leading them to a 45-44 victory.

The second Saturday game saw the Philadelphia Eagles take on the New Orleans Saints. The Saints showed a balanced attack that got them into position with seconds left in the fourth quarter down 24-23. New Orleans kicker Shayne Graham kicked a game-winning 32-yard field goal with no time left to win 26-24.

The first Sunday game was between the San Diego Chargers and the Cincinnati Bengals. After a modest 10-7 score for the Bengals in the first half, two Andy Dalton interceptions along with one Dalton fumble and a fumble by the Bengals running back, Bernard, led to a 20-point second half by the Chargers and held the Bengals scoreless, giving San Diego the 27-10 win.

The second Sunday faceoff featured the Green Bay Packers and the San Francisco 49ers. Both teams traded scoring chances but a 33-yard field goal by kicker Phil Dawson was the game winner for the 49ers as they prevailed 23-20.

Preview of NFL divisional round

On Saturday, Jan. 11, New Orleans will travel to Seattle to take on NFC west division champions, the Seattle Seahawks, at 4:35 p.m.. The 8:15 p.m. game on Saturday will be a familiar AFC matchup between the Indianapolis Colts and the New England Patriots.

Sunday will feature a clash between the San Francisco 49ers and the NFC south division champions, the Carolina Panthers. The last game of the week will be between the San Diego Chargers and the Denver Broncos in Denver.

Daniel Alfredsson returns to Ottawa

Former Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson returned to Ottawa for the first time when his Detroit Red Wings visited the Canadian Tire Centre on Sunday. Alfredsson played in Ottawa from 1995-2013 and served as captain from 1999-2013. This summer, Ottawa saw their face of the franchise leave to play for Detroit for more money and, according to Alfredsson, a better chance to win the Stanley Cup. After the national anthems, the Senators presented a tribute video on the big screen showing clips of Alfredsson and thanking him for his time with the organization. Alfredsson was then given a standing ovation by the fans. During the game however, the mood changed and Alfredsson was booed whenever he touched the puck. Alfie assisted on Detroit’s first goal and scored the empty net goal to ice the game for Detroit as they beat the Senators 4-2. Alfredsson was also chosen as third star of the game.

A $50,000 spill

Brooklyn Nets head coach Jason Kidd was fined $50,000 this week after spilling his drink on the court to get a stoppage late in the game last Wednesday against the Los Angeles Lakers, after he had used up all his timeouts. The Nets did get some extra time due to the stoppage to draw up a play during the clean up but still lost 99-94.

NFL sideline traffic

In a Thanksgiving game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin was standing very close to the field when Baltimore returner Jacoby Jones brought the ball down the sideline near Tomlin. Jones was nearly tripped up because of where Tomlin was on the sideline and reports came out on Monday morning that a fine could be coming from the NFL for the Steelers and Tomlin. However, there has been no official word on the fine.

Montreal Canadiens recap

The Canadiens have been red hot lately winning four of their last five games before Monday night’s tilt against the New Jersey Devils, including a 4-2 win Saturday night against their rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs. Montreal will be busy this week as they play four games in six days with a home-and-home against the Devils Monday and Wednesday. They will then play two straight games at the Bell Centre  where they will host Boston on Thursday and Buffalo on Saturday night. As of Sunday night, Montreal sits in fourth place in the Atlantic Division with a 15-9-3 record.

Semi final frenzy in the East

The CFL playoffs started this past Sunday with two games going down to the final play. The first game of the day featured the underdog Montreal Alouettes facing off against the home team Hamilton Tiger-Cats, with Hamilton winning in overtime 19-16. Both teams turned the ball over three times with an interception and two fumbles. The Alouettes had many opportunities to punch in drives for touchdowns. As for Hamilton, they didn’t play to their best either. But, they did enough late in the game with a touchdown pass with one minute remaining to take the lead and then a touchdown run in overtime time to end the game. The Alouettes defence was as good as it was the whole season and kept the game in reach even during the offensive struggle but couldn’t hold Hamilton enough. The Eastern Semi-final with be a battle of Ontario, as Hamilton will go to Toronto to face the Argonauts. The game with be at 1 p.m. eastern on Sunday, Nov. 17 on TSN.

And in the West…

The Saskatchewan Roughriders are one step closer to reaching the Grey Cup, which will be played in Saskatchewan this year, after beating the B.C Lions 29-25. Roughriders quarterback Darian Durant had a great game throwing two touchdowns but more importantly didn’t turn the football over. The same couldn’t be said for the B.C Lions, who had two fumbles. Apart from the two turnovers, their offense was good but could only muster two running touchdowns. The Roughriders must now beat the heavily favoured Calgary Stampeders in Calgary, led by star Canadian running back Jon Cornish. This game will be at 4 p.m. eastern on TSN.

Did that just happen?

Week 10 of the NFL season saw some wacky results. The first shocker of the day came in Indianapolis, where the St. Louis Rams were without quarterback Sam Bradford, beat a very good Colts team 38-8.

Life without Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay isn’t so pretty as the Packers were upset by the Philadelphia Eagles 27-13. Eagles quarterback Nick Foles now has 10 touchdowns in his last two days after throwing three this week and seven last week against the Raiders. Things just keep getting worse in Green Bay as their backup Seneca Wallace left the game with a groin injury, which left the Packers with third string QB Scott Tolzien, who didn’t have much time to prepare for the game.

The Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Tennessee Titans 29-27, which improves their record to 1-8.

Three wins in under a decade

The Boston Red Sox have won their third championship since 2004, yet it was the first one they won at home since 1918. This was a series with the St. Louis Cardinals that went back and forth through the first five games with a lot of odd finishes. For example, a reversal call in game one swung momentum Boston’s way and an obstruction call ended with a Cardinals win. Then in game four we saw a pick off attempt in the ninth inning by a Red Sox pitcher with two outs, catching a Cardinal off the base to end the game. But the game six finale was much less dramatic. The Red Sox solved Cardinals rookie pitcher Michael Wacha early and often, which led to a 6-1 decisive win to take the world title.

A blizzard in Colorado

Colorado Avalanche goaltender Semyon Varlamov was charged last week with second degree kidnapping and third degree assault, according to CBC. He allegedly did this to his girlfriend, who in a recent interview said he might have a drinking problem. Things got more interesting when it was announced that he would keep playing after he was released on a $5,000 bail. He played Friday night in Dallas against the Stars and won the game 3-2.

CFL playoffs are set

The regular season ended Saturday night and and the Canadian Football League are down to six teams looking to punch their ticket to the Grey Cup in Saskatchewan. The eastern semi-final will be the Montreal Alouettes going on the road to face the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the winner will go on to play the Toronto Argonauts. As for the west, the B.C. Lions will travel to Saskatchewan to take on the Roughriders, where the winner will take on the Calgary Stampeders. The games will be on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. and they can both be seen on TSN and RDS.

Late fourth quarter heroics in Motor City

The Dallas Cowboys faced off against the Detroit Lions in Michigan on Sunday. This was a game that saw lots of adversity for the Dallas Cowboys. The first three quarters were relatively quiet points-wise, which led to a frustrated Dez Bryant (Cowboys Wide Receiver) who decided to yell at his quarterback (Tony Romo) on the sidelines to show his displeasure of his limited touches of the ball. The day belonged to Detroit receiver Calvin Johnson, who finished the game with 14 receptions, one touchdown and a career high 329 yards. That wasn’t even the most shocking part of the game, that part goes to the Cowboys for blowing a 10-point late fourth quarter lead to end up losing 31-30. The Cowboys only needed one first down to chew up some clock but a holding penalty on a third down play negated that and stopped the clock, which gave the Lions just over a minute to get down the field and score. They did, with only 12 seconds left on the clock. The Lions improved to 5-3 while the Cowboys go to 4-4.

First big NHL trade of season

The hockey world got some buzz late Sunday night when the Buffalo Sabres took the next step of their rebuilding process, as its goal-scorer and co-captain Thomas Vanek was traded to the New York Islanders for forward Matt Moulson along with a 2014 first round pick and a second round pick in 2015. Signs are all leading toward Buffalo looking to trade on the roster players to help to rebuild for the future. The Sabres have a league-worst 2-10-1 record to start the season, one point behind the Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Rangers.

Montreal Impact squeak into MLS playoffs

After the Montreal Impact lost to Toronto FC 1-0 on Saturday night, they had to rely on other teams to help get them into the playoffs during the handful of Sunday games. The team they need to thank is the New York Red Bulls for beating the Chicago Fire 5-2 which clinched their spot into the playoffs.  The Impact will now face the fourth-place Houston Dynamo in a one-game playoff at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston sometime this week.

Down to four

St. Louis, Los Angeles, Boston and Detroit are the teams that have moved on to the American League and National League championship series in Major League Baseball. St. Louis was pushed to the limit against the Pittsburgh Pirates but pulled out a game five victory to move on. Detroit was in a similar situation against the Oakland Athletics, as they were down in the series 2-1 and were down 3-0 in game four, but climbed back to win game four and eventually game five to advance. Boston took a 2-0 stranglehold in their series against the Tampa Bay Rays which was too much for Tampa to handle, as Boston eliminated them in game four. The L.A. Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves in four games after the teams split the first two games. The Dodgers took the next two to finish the Braves off. Next, the Red Sox will face the Tigers in the AL championship and the Cardinals will face the Dodgers in the NL championship.

Way bigger than football

As reported on ESPN this past Friday, the star running back for the Minnesota Vikings, Adrian Peterson, is dealing with every parent’s nightmare. His two-year-old son was killed on Friday afternoon after being assaulted by his ex-girlfriend, Ashley Brown’s, new boyfriend, Joseph Robert Patterson. Patterson was later arrested and his bail is posted at $750,000. Details are very minimal at this point. Before the little boy was pronounced dead, Peterson said he would play this weekend against the Carolina Panthers, which he did, but the Vikings fell 35-10.

Good news for Alouettes and Habs

This past week the Alouettes had their annual team photo taken. Injured quarterback Anthony Calvillo spoke to the media for the first time since suffering a concussion and shoulder problems. He told the media he expects to be ready for the last game of the regular season in week 18 and possibly for the playoffs. As for the Canadiens, general manager Marc Bergevin had great news to deliver this past week on injured forward George Parros. He told the media that Parros was almost symptom-free after suffering a concussion Oct. 1 against the Leafs.

Leading the way

Former Montreal Alouettes head coach Marc Trestman made the jump to the NFL this year and things could not have gotten off to a better start. His Chicago Bears are 3-0 after beating the Cincinnati Bengals 24-21 in week one, the Minnesota Vikings 31-30 in week two and the Pittsburgh Steelers 40-23 in week three. The Bears are first in their division, the NFC North.

Trestman, who spent five years in the CFL from 2008-2012, led the Alouettes to two Grey Cup championships in three appearances. He was also named CFL coach of the year in 2009. Known as a quarterback guru, this is Trestman’s first head coaching job in the NFL.

-Tim Lazier

Race to the postseason

The MLB regular season may be winding down but the postseason races are heating up. In the National League, the Braves have a stranglehold on the NL East while the LA Dodgers have clinched the NL West. Things get interesting in the NL Central. Although the St. Louis Cardinals are in first, the Cincinnati Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates are both two games back, heading into this past weekend. The Reds and Pirates have a five game lead in the wildcard, with the Washington Nationals on the outside looking in.

In the American League, the Boston Red Sox have clinched the AL East while the Detroit Tigers sit atop of the AL Central and the Oakland Athletics have the AL West under control. When it comes to the AL wildcard race, it’s anyone’s game. As of Saturday, the Cleveland Indians and the Tampa Bay Rays cling to the final two spots. However, the Texas Rangers are only a half game back, while the Baltimore Orioles and the Kansas City Royals are just two and a half games behind. Lurking in the background, the New York Yankees have an outside shot with three games back.

-Tim Lazier

Hail to the Chiefs

Andy Reid and his Kansas City Chiefs made a statement Thursday night when they beat the Philadelphia Eagles 26-16. Reid, who coached the Eagles for 14 seasons, has his new Chiefs sitting at 3-0 on the season and are surprising everyone. The Chiefs went 2-14 last season and ended dead last in the NFL. This offseason, Chiefs front office signed Reid, after he was let go by the Eagles. They also traded for starting quarterback Alex Smith. Smith was previously the starting quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers until being replaced late last year by the highly-talented and younger quarterback, Colin Kaepernick.

-Tim Lazier

Playball

As reported last week on Sportsnet, Montreal is going to officially have professional baseball back in Quebec. For two games next March with the Toronto Blue Jays hosting the New York Mets at the Big-O in exhibition game action. This will be the first professional baseball game in Montreal since 2004 when the Montreal Expos played their last game before relocating to Washington. The goal of this event is to help bring a major league team back to Montreal within the next 10 years. Tickets are now on sale for both games on evenko.ca

-Chris Cordella