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How 'bout them Chicago Blackhawks? And the Beat goes on..... Blackhawks Extend Points Streak to 20 Games.
Associated Press
The wins keep coming for the Chicago Blackhawks. Still, goalie Ray Emery is taking a realistic approach to their record-setting start.
"I know we're not going to go unbeaten," he said.
The way the Blackhawks are going, Emery may be selling his team short.
Jonathan Toews scored twice, and Emery and Corey Crawford combined on a shutout as the Blackhawks extended their NHL-record season-opening points streak to 20 games with a 3-0 win over the St. Louis Blues on Thursday night.
Andrew Shaw also scored for Chicago, which was coming off a 6-0-1 homestand and improved to 9-0-2 on the road. The Blackhawks, who have won seven in a row overall, have earned 37 out of a possible 40 points this season with a 17-0-3 start.
Chicago has a point in its last 26 regular-season games since a 6-1 loss on March 25, 2012 to Nashville. The Blackhawks, playing their first road game in 18 days, have won four in a row against St. Louis, which has lost three of four.
Crawford was pulled with an upper-body injury after making six saves in the first period. He missed four games earlier this month also with an upper-body injury and returned to the lineup Sunday, making 28 stops in a 1-0 win over Columbus. Coach Joel Quenneville said after the game that Crawford is day to day, and it wasn't the same injury that previously sidelined the goalie.
Emery made 15 saves over the final two periods, as he and Crawford finished with 21.
"It's kind of cool to be mentioned in history," Emery said. "But we've just got to continue to play well."
Emery was sharp in relief of Crawford. He stopped Chris Stewart from close range midway through the second period. Kevin Shattenkirk hit the post on a second-period power play.
"I was kind of surprised going in in the second period, but I've got to be prepared for that," he said. "That's why I'm here."
Toews scored his eighth goal of the season just 12 seconds into the game off a cross-ice pass from Brandon Saad. Marian Hossa started the play after Toews won the game's opening faceoff. The goal was the fastest at the beginning of a game by a Chicago player since Dave Bolland scored 10 seconds into a 4-1 win against Dallas on March 16, 2012.
Toews also scored on a scramble in the front of the net at 6:53 of the third period. But it was Toews' early goal that set the tone.
"It was a good passing play, all five guys touched the puck," he said. "I rushed to the net and it went in off my stick or my shin pad. It doesn't matter to me. But it was a great way to start the game."
St. Louis captain David Backes said the early going was difficult to overcome.
"To give up a goal 12 seconds in is totally unacceptable," Backes said. "Especially against a red-hot team."
The Blackhawks played 10 of their first 12 games on the road. They play three of the next four at home.
Quenneville said consistency is the key to his team's impressive run.
"I think we're taking pride in playing the game that's in front of us," he said. "Everyone is challenging and pushing one another."
Shaw made it 2-0 early in the third period when he converted from the slot off a pass from behind the net by Bryan Bickell.
Toews pumped the lead to a 3-0 with his ninth goal of the season.
Jaroslav Halak made 20 saves for the Blues, who fell to 4-5-1 at home. St. Louis was 30-6-5 at home last season. Halak lost for the first time in regulation this season.
St. Louis is 0 for 13 on the power play over the past five games. The Blues' last home shutout was a 6-0 loss to Calgary on March 1, 2011.
"The game was right there for us at 1-0," St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We probably had more quality chances (early) than they did. But the 2-0 goal took the wind out of our sails."
NOTES: Bolland is out with an upper-body injury. ... St. Louis linemates Andy McDonald and Alex Steen both missed Thursday's game with injuries suffered in practice Tuesday. McDonald is week-to-week with a left knee injury, while Steen is day to day with an upper-body ailment. ... Chicago played its first road game since beating Nashville 3-0 on Feb. 10. ... Halak is 16-2-1 in his last 19 starts at home. ... The Blues outhit Chicago 34-14.
Three weeks until the start of the “CS&T 2013 March Madness NCAA Basketball Tournament”.
NHL realignment plan includes four divisions, playoff wild cards.
By The Sports Xchange
The NHL's realignment plan would reduce the number of
divisions from six to four and alter the playoffs to include wild-card teams.
The league sent a memo to all 30 teams on Tuesday to confirm reports that have circulated for several days regarding realignment. If the proposal is approved by the NHL Players' Association and the NHL Board of Governors, it would be implemented next season.
The new postseason setup would include divisional playoffs instead of seeding based on conference finish during the regular season. The top three teams in each division would secure berths and the remaining four spots would go to wild cards.
The division winner with the most regular-season points would face the lowest-seeded wild card in the first round.
Under the realignment plan, Detroit and Columbus would switch from the Western Conference to the Eastern Conference, which is a change from the December 2011 proposal that had the Red Wings and Blue Jackets remaining in the West.
The new Eastern Conference would break down into Atlantic and Central divisions, and the Western Conference would have Mid-West and Pacific divisions:
The divisions would look like this:
Atlantic: Carolina, Columbus, New Jersey, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington.
Central: Boston, Buffalo, Detroit, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa Bay, Toronto.
Mid-West: Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota, Nashville, St. Louis and Winnipeg.
Pacific: Anaheim, Calgary, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose and Vancouver.
NHL realignment follow-up: The Wild Cards vs. the Play-In Games.
By Greg Wyshynski
Everyone seems rather pleased with the geography in the NHL’s realignment proposal, which of course means the NHLPA will probably derail it to just to give Bettman the Fehr Anger Shakes again.
But if the union’s OK with the shifting rivalries and added travel, the real pickle is the playoffs.
The current proposal has:
• Four divisions, two with eight teams and two with seven teams.
• The top three teams in each division qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
• The next two teams with the highest point totals in their conference qualify for the playoffs, no matter their division. Which means one division could have three playoff teams while the other has five.
• Here’s where it gets a little complicated. The fourth and fifth-place teams in one division can both qualify for the playoffs, and “the club with fewer points would play the higher-seeded No. 1” in the conference. An example:
Using the current standings and proposed realignment: Montreal, Boston and Ottawa would be in; Pittsburgh, New Jersey, Philadelphia would be in; Toronto and Detroit would be the other two playoff teams. Because the Toronto Maple Leafs (24 points) have a better record than the Detroit Red Wings (21 points), and the Montreal Canadiens (29 points) have a better record than the Pittsburgh Penguins (26 points), it would be the Habs and the Wings in the first round of the divisional playoffs, with the Leafs sliding over to face the Penguins in Round 1 in the Atlantic.
Do you dig the “wild card” format? Or is there a better, just as equitable way of doing this?
Elliotte Friedman discussed the politics of seeding on CBC Sports:
What it does mean, though, is if a team crosses over, it stays there. So, let's say the Oilers finish fourth in the Pacific next year, but get to the playoffs as the "remaining team" with the most points. And say Chicago wins the Midwest (ahead of St. Louis and Nashville) and has fewer points than Pacific winner Vancouver. The Oilers technically become a Midwest Division club. They would play the Blackhawks in the first round and, with a win, the Blues or Predators in the second.
It wouldn't be a surprise if the league wasn't 100 per cent thrilled with this solution, because it might hurt the development of some divisional rivalries. But, it also increases the possibility of, say, Vancouver vs. Chicago. What it also proves is that players will accept the possibility of worse travel if it means a better chance at the playoffs, as suspected when the first re-alignment attempt was nixed last season.
Using the previous example of the Eastern Conference and the current standings, your playoff seeds in the East would be:
| CENTRAL | ATLANTIC |
| 1. Montreal Canadiens (29 points) | 1. Pittsburgh Penguins (26 points) |
| 2. Boston Bruins (26 points) | 2. New Jersey Devils (24 points) |
| 3. Ottawa Senators (26 points) | 3. Philadelphia Flyers (21 points) |
| 4. Detroit Red Wings (21 points) | 4. Toronto Maple Leafs (24 points) |
What this format does is allow compensate for the unbalanced divisions by allowing a stronger one to overwrite a weaker one’s last playoff seed. This is actually something fans were clamoring for 25 years ago: Whether it was the New York Rangers watching the Hartford Whalers – three games under .500! – qualify over them in 1988 or the Calgary Flames getting screwed in 1992-93, the divisional playoffs could sometimes be inequitable.
It also serves as a hybrid between divisional playoffs – where blood feuds are born – and the quirky conference playoff format that made for strange bedfellows at times. It’s a way to have the repetitious series like the Flyers and Devils meeting for the umpteenth time, and something fresher like the Leafs vs. Penguins (and not just because the Leafs are actually in the playoffs).
It’s a format that could work … but is there a better option?
I can’t get the idea of expanding the playoffs out of my head. Having the four and five seeds in a given division playing a 3-game series, or even a 1-game play-in, would expand the playoff pool without hurting the integrity of the 16-team tournament.
Again, using the current standings:
| CENTRAL | ATLANTIC |
| 1. Montreal Canadiens (29 points) | 1. Pittsburgh Penguins (26 points) |
| 2. Boston Bruins (26 points) | 2. New Jersey Devils (24 points) |
| 3. Ottawa Senators (26 points) | 3. Philadelphia Flyers (21 points) |
| 4. Toronto Maple Leafs (24 points) | 4. Carolina Hurricanes (19 points) |
| 5. Detroit Red Wings (21 points) | 5. Tampa Bay Lightning (19 points) |
Detroit and Toronto in a play-in series, to determine who plays Montreal? Wowzer.
This format would not only expand the playoffs, but keep things simpler: The divisional playoffs are playoffs within the division, rather than having all of these crossovers. Familiarity can breed contempt.
It would also give the NHL some added time to hype the Stanley Cup Playoffs and allow teams a few extra days of rest before the tournament. Neither of these things would be a negative.
Also, TV will love them. Big time. And why realign if not for television?
The Stanley Cup Playoffs are nearly perfect as-is, mind you, so anything the NHL does shouldn’t monkey around too much with the 16-team war for the Chalice. Expanding the playoffs is a touchy subject; hence, the proposed realignment doesn’t. But a play-in game would, and would do so in a responsible way that doesn’t blow up the current playoff seeding.
I’m fine either way. I’m just bummed we won’t get to see the final four teams reseeded as was previously proposed, because I rather love the idea of Vancouver having to go through Boston in the semifinal and then play Chicago for the Cup.
Which do you prefer: Wild Card or Play-In Games?
Correction: Golf Notes story.
In the Feb. 26 Golf Notes fixture, The Associated Press reported erroneously that Americans have won the last 11 official PGA Tour events. They have won 10 in a row since Jonas Blixt of Sweden took the Frys.com Open title last October.
A corrected version of the story is below, see Stat Of The Week:
By DOUG FERGUSON
Russell Henley said he couldn't feel his arms or legs on the back nine of the Sony Open. He was trying to win his first PGA Tour event, and Georgia was on his mind.
''I was trying not to think about Augusta out there,'' Henley said after his win, which earned him a spot in the Masters.
Scott Piercy won the Canadian Open last summer and talked about a promise he made to himself to not go to Augusta National unless he was in the Masters field. Ted Potter Jr. said it was a career goal to play in Masters after he qualified by winning The Greenbrier Classic.
These stories likely are to weigh heavily on Augusta National chairman Billy Payne when he decides whether PGA Tour winners in the fall will be invited to the Masters. Payne could announce changes to the criteria during his Wednesday news conference at the Masters.
Augusta National returned to its practice of inviting PGA Tour winners the year after the FedEx Cup began in 2007. But there was a caveat. The club invited winners only of tour events that offered full FedEx Cup points. The opposite-field events, and the Fall Series held after the FedEx Cup ended, didn't count.
The PGA Tour, however, is going to a wraparound season after this year. That means the six tournaments in the fall will be included in the 2013-14 FedEx Cup season.
The question for Augusta National is whether the winners of those six events will earn a trip down Magnolia Lane.
The club and tour have been talking about it the last several months, and one person involved described the discussions as positive.
The Masters has the smallest field of the majors and wants to keep it that way to enhance the experience of those playing. It has not had more than 100 competitors since 1966, though it has come close it recent years, with 99 in the 2011 tournament.
The most likely scenario is for the Masters to take the winners of the six fall events and eliminate the category of top 30 on the PGA Tour money list.
To follow that model a year ago, there would have been two fewer players at the Masters and three fewer players in 2011 and 2010. And with the U.S. Amateur Public Links soon to go away that would free up another spot.
The Masters got away from inviting PGA Tour winners in 1999. That was the same year the World Golf Championships began, and with the WGCs came opposite-field events the same week. That's a polite way of saying ''watered-down fields,'' and the Masters did not deem those winners worthy of an invitation.
Gabriel Hjertstedt won in Tucson the week of the inaugural Match Play Championship. He remains the only opposite-field winner to get invited to the Masters.
When it stopped inviting winners after 1999, the club said it was interested in the most consistent player throughout the year. That's why the Masters is likely to continue taking the 30 players who qualify for the Tour Championship.
And perhaps it's no coincidence that the tour is looking to tweak its FedEx Cup points system so that one high finish in the playoff events doesn't get a player to East Lake (see Chez Reavie in 2011) and qualify him for three majors, including the Masters.
THE TIGER EFFECT: Butch Harmon first worked with Steve Elkington in the 1980s, and his roster of clients has grown enormously over the years. He coached Greg Norman and Tiger Woods during their rise to No. 1, along with four players in the World Golf Hall of Fame - Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson, Jose Maria Olazabal, Fred Couples.
But when he worked with President Barack Obama at The Floridian, he was referred to only as Woods' former swing coach.
''I haven't been with him for 10 years. It's irritating to be honest,'' Harmon said. ''I guess they were looking for a connection because the president was playing with Tiger. But people think Tiger made me successful. No one remembers I took Greg to No. 1 in the world, or all the work with Elkington, or Davis Love III. It's the press. Anything to sensationalize. And you're dealing with a White House press that doesn't know any of these names.''
Hank Haney, on the other hand, expects to be linked with Woods the rest of his life. Then again, Haney didn't have such a long list of top golfers (except for Mark O'Meara) before coaching Woods, and he has said he won't coach another.
''It's a big honor to have coached Tiger,'' Haney said. ''You couldn't have a better feather in your cap, especially with the success that Butch Harmon had with Tiger. In terms of my coaching career, obviously nothing can come close to the opportunity I had to work with Tiger Woods.
''I never hit any shots and Butch didn't, either, he said. ''My friend Bill Parcells always says it best. 'You are what your record says you are.' And so how Tiger played while you coached him certainly has a lot to say about you as a coach.''
REST VS. RUST: Ian Poulter was never tempted to return to golf earlier than he planned, and it worked out just fine for him. After a six-week break after Kapalua, he returned at the Match Play and reached the semifinals, before losing to Hunter Mahan and then Jason Day in a meaningless consolation match.
His quarterfinal match was a perfect example of how players can be sharp even after a long break. He beat Steve Stricker, who also had not played in six weeks.
''I guess I was glad to beat a part-timer,'' Poulter said.
Poulter said he did not play a single round over the last four weeks of his break, or even one hole on a golf course. He spent his time on the range, tuning his equipment. It reminded him of the early days working in a golf shop, when his duties left him no time to play on the course.
''I had time to practice, and that's what I do when I have time off,'' he said.
Some players have had time off, though not by choice.
Rory McIlroy goes into the Honda Classic with three competitive rounds this year, having missed the cut in Abu Dhabi and losing in the first round of Match Play.
OPEN QUALIFIER: Guan Tianglang will find out this week if the 14-year-old from China gets to play in two majors this year.
Guan earned a spot in the Masters when he won the Asia-Pacific Amateur late last year. The win also put him in the International Final Qualifying for the British Open, and the teenager is in the Asia qualifier. It starts Thursday at Amata Spring in Thailand, where he won the Asia-Pacific Amateur.
Four spots are available.
Also in the field are Cheng-tsung Pan of Taiwan, the runner-up to Guan and the highest-ranked Asian amateur at No. 5; and Hideki Matsuyama of Japan, a two-time winner of the Asia-Pacific who made the cut both times he played in the Masters.
DIVOTS: The OHL Classic at Mayakoba, held opposite the Match Play Championship the last six years, moves to November this year. Tournament officials were at Dove Mountain with a clever recruiting tool, and to remind players of the date change. They gave players an iPad with their names engraved, loaded with information about the Mexican beach resort. ... Golf Channel altered its programming last week to show live coverage of the Women's Australian Open, where 15-year-old Lydia Ko was tied for the lead going into the final round. It had an audience of 288,000 viewers for a 0.22 rating. ... Trump Doral has signed on as the host course for the World Golf Championship event through 2023. ... Bo Van Pelt and Mark Wilson were elected co-chairmen of the Player Advisory Council, meaning they will join the policy board next year.
STAT OF THE WEEK: Americans have won the last 10 official PGA Tour events, their longest streak since 11 in a row from the 2010 Barclays through the 2011 Sony Open.
FINAL WORD: ''If they happen to play poorly at Augusta, those two, I think it's going to be a tough year for them as far as winning majors.'' - Johnny Miller, on Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.
Masters odds updated, Tiger Woods still the favorite.
By Shane Bacon
Golfodds.com came out with an updated version of their odds, and Woods is still atop at 5-to-1. Rory McIlroy, the 2012 PGA Championship winner, comes in just behind him at 8-to-1 and Phil Mickelson is third at 12-to-1.
Call me crazy, but I like Louis Oosthuizen at 25-to-1 as well as Justin Rose at that same number. The rest of the odds are after the jump.
By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service
10: The number of drivers who have won two or more Daytona 500s. Jimmie Johnson added his name to the list with his second victory last Sunday. Other members of that exclusive club include Richard Petty (a record 7 wins), Cale Yarborough (4), Bobby Allison (3), Dale Jarrett (3), Jeff Gordon (3), Bill Elliott (2), Sterling Marlin (2), Michael Waltrip (2) and Matt Kenseth (2). Of the 10 drivers, only Marlin and Waltrip have not won at least one NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship.
REFILE-Golf-Woods against anchored putter despite PGA Tour stance.
By Simon Evans
Tiger Woods supports the idea of banning players from anchoring long putters to their body despite the PGA Tour's recent public opposition to a proposal from golf's rulemakers to outlaw the practice.
Last November, the United States Golf Association (USGA) and the Royal and Ancient (R&A) said they wanted to enforce the ban starting in 2016, but PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem came out against that plan last Sunday.
Since Finchem's comments, two of the leading names in the game, world number one Rory McIlroy and now Woods, have come out in favour of supporting the governing bodies.
Finchem's stance has raised fears of different regulations being in effect for the European Tour and the PGA Tour in the United States and Woods is among those concerned.
"My position hasn't changed. I still think it should be swung, it shouldn't be anchored and that hasn't changed at all," Woods told reporters on Tuesday, after the Pro-Am ahead of the Honda Classic.
"Obviously nothing is set in stone, nothing is firm. The USGA and the R&A are the governing bodies of our rules and we will see what happens.
"Hopefully we don't have to bifurcate or adapt a local rule like we do sometimes out here on tour with stones and bunkers and things like that. Hopefully we won't have to do that with the putter."
Three of the last five major tournaments have been won by players using long, or belly, putters - Keegan Bradley at the PGA Championship, Ernie Els at the British Open and Webb Simpson at the U.S. Open.
With those three players all being full-time members of the PGA Tour, Woods said he understood Finchem's stance but said it would not make him chance his view.
"I understand that. I get it. All three of them play our tour full-time, have won major championships with an anchored putter. I understand his position but I still feel that all 14 clubs should be swung. That hasn't changed nor will it ever," said the 14-times major winner.
On Tuesday McIlroy urged the PGA Tour to fall in line with whatever decision is made by the two governing bodies.
"We've trusted this game of golf; we've put it in the hands of the R&A and the USGA for I don't know how many years, and we've always abided by the rules that they have set," McIlroy said.
"I don't think this should be any different. I think golf is pretty good at the minute and it's in good hands."
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