Penguins Chill Out Sharks to Win Stanley Cup

Sidney Crosby (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In the first 25 years of the San Jose Sharks' existence in the National Hockey League, the Pittsburgh Penguins have won three Stanley Cups (1991, 1992, 2009).  Sunday night, the Pens won their fourth Cup on the Sharks' home ice, also known as the Shark Tank (minus Kevin O'Leary, Lori Grenier and Mark Cuban).

Pittsburgh won Game 6 with a 3-1 victory over the Sharks to take the series four games to two on goals by Brian Dumolin, Kris Letang and Patric Hornqvist.  Logan Couture scored the only goal for San Jose.

Sidney Crosby, who has won just about every major championship in his career including a Stanley Cup and an Olympic gold medal, didn't score a goal in the Finals.  But he did make enough of an impact to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.  For Phil Kessel, who was hounded out of the pressure cooker that is the Toronto Maple Leafs, winning the Cup was vindication for him.  He joins his sister Amanda, who won an NCAA women's ice hockey championship with the University of Minnesota this past season.

Having survived a lousy start to the regular season, injuries to key players and a midseason coaching change (Mike Sullivan for Mike Johnston), the Penguins made it through the Eastern Conference playoffs with series wins over the New York Rangers, Washington Capitals and Tampa Bay Lightning.  Oh, and having a hot goaltender like Matt Murray didn't hurt, either.

The Sharks made it to their first Cup Final in franchise history after years of not meeting their playoff expectations.  Under the leadership of Joe Thornton, Logan Couture and goaltender Martin Jones, they got past the Los Angeles Kings, Nashville Predators and St. Louis Blues to represent the Western Conference in the finals.

The Penguins may have deserved their Stanley Cup victory, but the Sharks have shown that they were more than happy just to make the final round with the way they played.  We don't think it'll be another 25 years before they have a chance to hoist the Cup themselves.

Gordie Howe (1928-2016): Mr. Hockey

Gordie Howe, owner of the Vancouver Giants, at Gordie Howe Night at the Pacific Coliseum in March 2008. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Before there was Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito, Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Sidney Crosby and Patrick Kane--heck, nearly every NHL star of the past half century--there was Gordie Howe.  The  hockey icon from Floral, Saskatchewan died Friday at age 88.

Howe's career spanned three and a half decades (1946-1980), three teams and two leagues.  He won four Stanley Cups in the 1950s with the NHL Detroit Red Wings, and two World Hockey Association titles in the mid-1970s with the Houston Aeros.  During his NHL career, Howe scored 801 goals and 1850 points, records that stood until Gretzky came along and obliterated them.

Howe was also known as a rough-and-tumble right winger who fit the stereotype of the typical hockey player, sometimes spending more time in the penalty box than on the ice.  He's been stitched up hundreds of times, lost teeth and even had a serious head injury during a game.  Despite all that, Howe played 1767 games during his NHL career, much of it with the Red Wings.

Howe also managed the feat of sticking around until the age of 52, playing with his sons Mark and Marty on the Aeros and Hartford Whalers (today's Carolina Hurricanes).

Since Howe finally quit playing hockey, those who have either watched him play in person or on TV have idolized and credited him with popularizing the sport across North America.  One example is  Gretzky, who began his NHL career at the same time Howe was ending his.  Not only did "The Great One" break most of Howe's records, but he also played using the number 99 as a tribute to the man who wore number 9 on his uniform.

Gordie Howe was a prolific scorer who sacrificed his body to lead his teams to championships, yet lasted long enough to live out every father's dream of having his sons play alongside of him.  They didn't call him Mr. Hockey for nothing.

Pot Shots '16, Volume 2

English: USA Training session for players on the USA National team and USA Select team, beginning training in preparation for the FIBA World Championship. Training took place 14-18 April, culminating in a red-white scrimmage on 18 April at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in the XL Center, Hartford Connecticut (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The new athletic director at the University of Minnesota is Mark Coyle, who held the same position for a few months at Syracuse University (and the folks there are pretty hot about it, from what we hear).  He replaces interim AD Beth Goetz, who replaced disgraced AD Norwood Teague.  In a job that will earn him more money than either Governor Mark Dayton or University president Eric Kaler, Coyle will be asked to (A) extricate the department from the excesses of the Teague administration, (B) reassess the contributions of men's basketball coach Richard Pitino (more on him in a moment), men's hockey coach Don Lucia and football coach Tracy Claeys, and (C) refute the notion that the Gophers are a third-rate athletic power that couldn't get out of its own way (though the women's hockey team did win another national title).  Other than that, good luck to Mr. Coyle.  You'll need it.

Richard Pitino helms what is currently one of the worst men's college basketball programs in America, made even worse by the absence of several of his players due to injuries, suspensions and brushes with the law.  Now we learn that Pitino has been exceeding his budget for using the university's private jets.  The 'U' would love to get rid of Pitino right now, except he's got a $7 million buyout clause and the freshman class he's got coming up for next season might improve the Gophers' fortunes a little bit--provided they walk the straight and narrow.  Meanwhile, down at the University of Louisville, his father Rick Pitino is having problems of his own with the men's basketball team he coaches, which allegedly involves prostitutes and strippers.  Like father, like son?

Having won three of the last five WNBA championships, what does the Minnesota Lynx do for an encore?  All the stars are back:  Maya Moore, Seimone Augustus, Lindsay Whalen, Sylvia Fowles, and the return of Janel McCarville after a year off.  But another title depends on how healthy the Lynx are after the long Olympic break (Moore, Augustus, Whelan and Fowles are all Rio-bound), competition from such teams as the Phoenix Mercury (with Brittney Griner and the return of Diana Taurasi) and Los Angeles Sparks (Candace Parker), and from fresh-out-of-college stars like Breanna Stewart (Seattle Storm) and Rachel Banham (Connecticut Sun).  With all that, it is going to be very difficult for the Lynx to repeat as champions.  Even though it is an odd-numbered year, they should still have one more run in them.

With an 8-26 record through May 13, the Minnesota Twins have started their season as one of the worst teams in Major League Baseball.  Nobody has a good explanation for what happened to a team that some thought might contend for a playoff spot.  Instead, the Twins have been all but eliminated by Kentucky Derby Day.  At this point, even Nyquist, the horse that won the Derby, has a brighter future than the Twins.

Wild and Wolves: Coaching Experience Wanted

English: Bruce Boudreau during warmups of Game 2 of the Washington Capitals vs Pittsburgh Penguins 2009 Stanley Cup Conference Semifinals. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Head coach Tom Thibodeau of the Chicago Bulls looks on from the sideline against the Washington Wizards at the Verizon Center in Washington on February 28, 2011 in Washington, DC. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Two of Minnesota's pro sports franchises, the NHL Wild and NBA Timberwolves, have come to the conclusion that experience is the best teacher, deciding to hire men who have already had success coaching in the NHL and NBA to see if they could fix whatever ails those teams.

The Wild hired Bruce Boudreau, who until recently led the Anaheim Ducks and Washington Capitals to consecutive division titles and Stanley Cup playoff appearances.  But his teams have had a tendency to lose the seventh game of a playoff round, which is why the Ducks ended up letting him go.

Boudreau replaces John Torchetti, the interim coach who was part of a long line of assistants and minor league coaches the Wild promoted to the top job with mixed success.  The last coach the Wild had with previous NHL experience was their first one, Jacques Lemaire.  He had won Stanley Cups as a player with the Montreal Canadiens, and as a coach with the New Jersey Devils.  The defensive style he imposed on the team served the Wild well in their beginning years, including a 2003 playoff run that ended when they lost the Western Conference title to the Ducks.

Boudreau will be asked to lead a team that, for all the big-money players on their roster signed to long-term contracts, have been underachievers who barely made the playoffs this past season.  The fact that the Wild lasted six games before losing to the Dallas Stars in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs, when everyone thought they'd be gone in four or five games, should be considered an accomplishment.

The Timberwolves have had coaches with previous NBA experience before (Bill Musselman, Rick Adelman and Sam Mitchell come to mind), but they were all pretty much asked to keep a team with inferior talent afloat.

The situation is much different now with the arrival of Tom Thibodeau as the new Wolves coach and chief of basketball operations.  Thibodeau, who replaces Mitchell, previously led the Chicago Bulls to consecutive NBA playoff appearances before being let go in a dispute with management.

Here Thibodeau gets to coach a team that basketball experts think is on the rise with young talent like Anthony Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns, yet hasn't made the playoffs in more than a decade.  All he has to do is to not run his players into the ground, which is something he was accused of doing when he was with the Bulls.

Do the Wild and Wolves really think experienced hands like Bruce Boudreau and Tom Thibodeau will help take them to where they want to go?  They'd better hope so.  They've tried everything else.  And unlike real teachers, pro coaches don't have tenure.

Wild 2015-16: Stumbling Out

Alternate logo since 2003. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Minnesota Wild ended their NHL season with a first round Stanley Cup playoff loss in six games to the Dallas Stars, the team that left Minnesota nearly a quarter century ago.  Considering the type of regular season the Wild had, it's a wonder the team made it to the playoffs at all, let alone for the fourth consecutive season.  And why even a major overhaul might not be the answer for seasons to come.

The Wild ended the regular season with 87 points, the fewest to qualify for the playoffs since the shootout era began.  They had two epic winless streaks, which resulted not only in getting coach Mike Yeo replaced with John Torchetti on an interim basis, but in nearly missing out on the last wild card playoff spot.  Along with the poor-to-indifferent play, there were key injuries such as the one to Zach Parise, whose back issues caused him to miss the remainder of the season and may require surgery.

It is now painfully obvious that the Wild spent too much money signing too many long-term contracts with free agents who, it turns out, are past their prime.  The Iowa Wild, their minor league affiliate playing out of Des Moines, have been the worst team in the American Hockey League the past couple of seasons.  Minnesota's draft prospects aren't that great either, having traded most of those picks to get the veterans you see on the ice today.

General manager Chuck Fletcher is expected to stick around, and so might coach Torchetti--if for no other reason than the Wild couldn't find anyone better.  We hear there's not exactly a bumper crop of experienced former NHL coaches this year.

A Stanley Cup title is not in the Minnesota Wild's future as long as their underachieving players continue to coast during the regular season, doing just enough to earn that final playoff spot, then hitting the golf courses once they've been eliminated in the first or second round.  Management needs to be reminded that money spent on pricey free agents doesn't change everything.  It only masks the problems that already exist on the ice, no matter how many sellouts you have at Xcel Energy Center.

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Our projected Stanley Cup Final matchup:  Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Dallas Stars.

Wolves 2015-16: Out of the Ashes

The current Minnesota Timberwolves logo (2008-present) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Minnesota Timberwolves began their season mourning the death of coach and director of basketball operations Flip Saunders.  Interim coach Sam Mitchell was tasked with the job of shepherding a team filled with talent, including Andrew Wiggins, Karl-Anthony Towns and Zach LaVine, that long-suffering fans hoped would take them to where the Cleveland Cavaliers, San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors are now.

Now it's the end of the season, and the Wolves with a 29-53 record did not make the playoffs once again.  They made news in the past few weeks with signature wins over the Warriors (at Oakland), Oklahoma City, Portland and Memphis.  In the final game of the season at Target Center, the Wolves put up 144 points--the most in team history--on the New Orleans Pelicans.  Towns (a possible NBA Rookie of the Year) scored 28 points, 14 rebounds and two three-pointers, marking the 51st time this season that he has triple-doubled in a game.

Despite players and some media members requesting the Wolves to keep Mitchell as coach, his status went from 'interim' to 'former'.  The same fate awaits General Manager Milt Newton, once the NBA Draft is over and the team determines who takes over Saunders' old jobs.  There will be plenty of candidates this time around, unlike what happened before disgruntled Kevin Love was traded to the Cavs.

Yes, the Timberwolves have a bright future.  But that's the same thing we were told about the Minnesota Twins before this season, and look where they are now.  Winless to start the 2016 baseball season, as of April 14.  The Wolves have been down this road many times, and they are perfectly capable of screwing up the future again.

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Meanwhile, Kobe Bryant said goodbye to his playing career by dropping 60 points in a rare Los Angeles Lakers victory over the Utah Jazz at Staples Center.  He has had a great career, but the Lakers and their fans couldn't wait to see him leave so they could start winning without him.

The Warriors did indeed win its 73rd game of the season against the Memphis Grizzlies, a new NBA record.  Unless they win another championship, how much will it actually mean?

Our NBA Finals pick:  Toronto Raptors vs. Golden State Warriors.

UPDATE (4/20/16):  The new coach and Chief Basketball Operator is Tom Thibodeau, who used to run the Chicago Bulls and get them into the playoffs.  Time will tell whether Tommy T. will do the same thing with the Wolves before inevitably running them into the ground.

NCAA: A Dynasty and a Buzzer-Beater

English: National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) logo. Source: http://www1.ncaa.org/eprise/main/Public/mlp/promotions_special_events/pe_web/promo_manual/memos/identity.pdf Converted by User:King of Hearts from :Image:National Collegiate Athletic Association logo.png using Inkscape. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The 2016 NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Championships were notable in that one team came completely out of nowhere to win it all, and the other renewed its dominance over the sport with a record-setting fourth consecutive title.  Here's what happened:

Connecticut 82, Syracuse 51

A few records were set in Indianapolis Tuesday as the Huskies won their fourth consecutive NCAA women's title.  Not only has no other team won that many in a row, but they have also won 75 straight games.  Coach Geno Auriemma has now won more championships (11) than John Wooden ever did during his tenure as the UCLA men's coach in the 1960s and 70s.  Senior Breanna Stewart closed her college career by scoring 24 points, ten rebounds and six assists against the Orange, earning her the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament for the fourth time.  No other player had done that, either.

Some might ask whether UConn's domination is good for women's basketball when the sport is struggling to be on a par with the men's game in terms of media attention and fan support, and why the best players in the country seem to land on Auriemma's squad as if it were an all-star team.  This shouldn't diminish the impact of what the Huskies women have accomplished, but it should be food for thought.

Villanova 77, North Carolina 74

The Wildcats' win in Houston Monday night was just as surprising as the last time they won the men's title, which was in 1985.  Right after Marcus Paige of the Tar Heels shot a three-pointer to take the lead with five seconds left, Kris Jenkins went down the floor to hit his own three as time ran out to give Villanova the championship.  Ryan Arcidiacoma, who scored 14 points in the final game for the Wildcats, was the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player trophy winner.

If nothing else, Villanova not only rescued a mostly mediocre tournament filled with blowouts and upsets, but they also spared the NCAA from the embarrassment of having to strip North Carolina of its title because of alleged academic improprieties..  The Tar Heels might get sanctioned anyway, but nobody's holding their breath.

Seventeen million folks watched the men's championship game on TBS, the first time it had been seen only on cable.  That's eleven million down from last year's game on CBS, which was more highly-anticipated than this year's was.  Wonder if the number would have been more if there hadn't been "homer" feeds on TNT and truTV?