Detroit Red Wings

Detroit Red Wings, The Detroit Red Wings have had almost a week to try and figure out how to fix their road game. Set to open the post-All-Star break schedule with four in a row away from Detroit, the Red Wings try to get their road mark back to .500 this evening against the Calgary Flames.

A 3-1 win over the Blues on Jan. 23 was the Red Wings’ seventh in a row overall and extended their club-record home win streak to 17 straight. However, they suffered a 7-2 pounding in Montreal last Wednesday, dropping the club to 13-14-0 on the road this year compared to 20-2-1 at home.

Detroit still entered the break atop the NHL standings with 67 points, but that is only two up on St. Louis for the top spot in the Central Division. Nashville and Chicago are only three points off the pace as well, leaving Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock knowing his team needs to improve on the road.

“We were not good tonight. All you have to do is look at the Western standings. With all the parity near the top, we’d like to be better,” said Babcock after the loss in Montreal. “Definitely didn’t want to give up seven goals and you just can’t do that anyway. I’m going to the break humbled.”

Jimmy Howard allowed four goals on 12 shots and didn’t make it out of the first period for the Red Wings. He then made 11 saves on 14 shots faced for Team Chara in the club’s 12-9 win over Team Alfredsson in Sunday’s All-Star Game. Teammate Pavel Datsyuk set up three goals for the winning side after being taken first overall in the All-Star fantasy draft.

“I’m very appreciative to be taken first,” said Datsyuk during Thursday’s selection. “It was kind of a surprise, actually.”

Jarome Iginla was a teammate of Howard and Datsyuk in Sunday’s game, notching a goal and two assists. Iginla, who earlier this year scored his 500th career goal, will be an opponent tonight looking to keep his club in the playoff race.

Calgary, which had a two-game win streak end with a hard-luck 1-0 loss to the Sharks a week ago, is tied for 10th overall in the West with 52 points, three back of a playoff spot.

The Flames also made a roster move over the break, trading veteran center Brendan Morrison to the Chicago Blackhawks for defensive prospect Brian Connelly. Morrison had four goals and seven assists in 28 contests this year

Bears Packers

Bears Packers, What sticks with you is the bear nearly beat the Packers in Week 17 at Lambeau Field in a game that was everything for the home team and nothing for the visitors. The Packers jumped since it is difficult to assess what a victory over Seahawks 10-loss team means.
Two of the last three NFC championship games have required overtime and it could be headed there. The teams are even, the issues that historically high. Ultimately, a game may get off at the last possession might depend on the health of veteran safety Chris Harris.
Against all odds, the Bears managed to win so unlikely this season. Can they withdraw their greatest triumph in decades? Field position, turnovers, kicking game – the Bears will win every mini-battles to survive a team with more playmakers on offense. The Bears will need every ounce of home field advantage.

This game could very well come down to one or two plays – which means it is completely winning. But it is hard to bet against Aaron Rodgers, who played a quarter about as well as anyone can play.

This Sunday, when the Bears and Packers meet for the 182nd, they will play for the championship trophy Halas NFC. From there, the winner goes to the Super Bowl trophy named to hunt for the legendary coach Vince Lombardi Packers.

“When I think of Green Bay and Chicago, I think the football at its best,” said former linebacker Mike Singletary Bears, now an assistant coach with the Vikings.

“I think that’s what it is. I think the rivalry, the tradition, George Halas, Lombardi, Butkus; I mean all the names and the greatness of Fame. It’s a story there. So it will be very interesting. ”

Halas and Lambeau Bear Packers made it a point not to shake hands after games; competitive rage already in these early years, laying the animated series that has not diminished over the decades.

A season, as the former star running back Paul Hornung Packers he said, Halas knocked Green Bay locker room, asking to speak to and then telling the Lombardi Packers coach who built a dynasty in the 1960s that the Bears were about to whip his behind, a psychological ploy if ever there was one.

Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/ct-spt-0123-staff-predictions-bears-p20110121,0,6800847.story

Evgeni Nabokov

Evgeni Nabokov, (AFP) – Russian goaltender Evgeni Nabokov has signed with the NHL Detroit contender, but rather a resident joined the NHL cellar on Saturday after being claimed off waivers by the New York Islanders.

The keeper 35 has signed a one-year contract with the Red Wings on Thursday after playing for SKA St. Petersburg of Russia’s Kontinental League Hockey.

But before you join an NHL team, league rules require that players from other professional leagues ballot, in which all the other teams in the league has the right to claim for the same financial conditions.

With veteran goalie Rick DiPietro Islanders and injured Dwayne Roloson traded to Tampa Bay earlier this month, New York has been using a pair of rookie goaltenders and happy to pull Nabokov when the opportunity arose.

With only 15 wins in 46 games, the Islanders’ third worst in the 30-team NHL with 37 points, which does Edmonton and New Jersey.

The St. Louis Blues have suffered similar setbacks in trying to land talent KHL earlier this month, losing center Kyle Wellwood to San Jose and Marek Svatos right in Nashville.

Nabokov has won 44 of 70 games last season with San Jose, who reached the NHL playoffs in the semifinals before losing to eventual champion Chicago.

After spending parts of 10 seasons with the Sharks, Nabokov signed a four-year contract with St. Petersburg and won eight of 21 games with an 88.8 percent save ratio and 3.02 goals against average before being released last month.

The Red Wings, whose 29 wins in 47 games are the same for the second in the NHL with 64 points in third place overall, need help with Jimmy Howard netminding harassed by a knee injury and Chris Osgood hernia surgery during the last week.

“The Islanders are terrible and I’m not sure why they did that,” said Osgood.

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved

(AP) – Evgeni Nabokov left Russia for the chance to play with the Detroit Red Wings. Instead of landing in Hockeytown, the veteran goalkeeper will take an unexpected detour on Long Island – perhaps.

Nabokov lost his chance to join the Red Wings on Saturday, when the New York Islanders claimed him off waivers.

While it would have dreamed of making a long playoff with Detroit as a foil, Nabokov will now play the strings with New York, which entered Saturday with the third-fewest points in the NHL.

“It was a good opportunity for a quality keeper with a proven track record,” the Chief Islanders Garth Snow told The Associated Press.

However, several reports surface on Saturday that Nabokov would not report to the Islanders, but Snow said he had not been told.

“That’s good news for me,” said Snow, who added that he expected a call back from Nabokov. “We have a player that has a standard player contract and we look forward to having join our organization “.

A message left by Nabokov’s agent, Don Meehan, was not immediately returned.

Islanders Nabokov caught two days after the goalkeeper from 35-year-old signed a one-year contract with the Red Wings. He spent this season with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL and the Russian Federation had not yet played for Detroit. NHL collective bargaining agreement provides that any person who plays in a professional league before signing an NHL contract must clearly exceptions.

Snow said the Islanders have a ticket to fly from Nabokov Oakland, California, New York on Sunday, when the Islanders face the Buffalo Sabres in a match in the afternoon.

Nabokov’s new agreement contains a non-displacement.

“When I put my request, I did not intend to claim for him to pass by any means, Snow said.

This is the third time in recent weeks that the player back to the NHL from the KHL was snatched off waivers. The St. Louis Blues have been assaulted twice by the process they lost the right wing Marek Svatos to the Nashville Predators and center Kyle Wellwood to San Jose.

The Islanders (15-24-7) struggled in goal because of the absence of injured Rick DiPietro and trade Dwayne Roloson to Tampa Bay this month. New York was under way with rookies Kevin Poulin and Nathan Lawson in place of DiPietro, who missed several games recently because of persistent knee problems and a case of the flu.

Lawson was forced to win in Buffalo Friday night, after a sprained knee. The 20-year, Poulin played the last two periods and got the win. DiPietro is in the fifth season of a landmark agreement 15 years with the Islanders.

Nabokov was 8-8-5 with a 3.02 GAA and a percentage of 0, 888 in 22 games with St. Petersburg. He became a free agent in December after being released by the KHL club in the first season of a four-year contract.

Last season with San Jose, Nabokov was 44-16-10 with a 2.43 GAA and helped the Sharks reach the Western Conference finals against eventual Stanley Cup Champion Chicago.

After being selected in the ninth round of the NHL draft in 1994, Nabokov moved to a 293-178-29-37 mark with an average of 2.39 and a percentage of 0 .912 in parts of 10 seasons with the Sharks. He was 40-38 with a 2.29 GAA and a percentage of 0, 913 in 80 playoff career.

Detroit has been looking for help because the backup goalie Chris Osgood has hernia surgery last week and should be until March. A bruised right knee has bothered No. 1 goaltender Jimmy Howard. Howard returned to the lineup Thursday night in St. Louis after missing two games and made 26 saves in the victory of the Red Wings 4-3 in overtime.

Only the Edmonton Oilers and New Jersey have fewer points than New York.

“I have not thought much about, but the Islanders are terrible and I’m not sure why they did that,” said Osgood, a former goalkeeper for New York.

The Islanders were burned by the waiver rule in January 2009 when they tried to put the goalie Wade Dubielewicz in the organization after playing for Kazan Ak-Bars of the KHL. After signing an agreement with New York, Dubielewicz was claimed by the Columbus Blue Jackets.

AP Sports Writer Larry Lage in Detroit contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Michigan Football Recruiting

Michigan Football Recruiting, (AP) – Auburn coach Gene Chizik won the Paul “Bear” Bryant College Coach of the Year Tuesday night.

Chizik, whose Tigers won the national championship, beat six other finalists for the honor.

He said he has not had time to reflect on his perfect 14-0 season and the team’s primary school national title since 1957 because he was so busy with recruiting.

“You work so hard and you’re so demanding of yourself, it’s really hard to grasp everything there is a month or two goes by,” he said. “You really do not have time to sit. A month or two later, when he really slows down and you get a chance to step back is when you really realize it. ”

He said that recruitment also took too busy to think about next season.

“I’m not there yet,” he said. “We’ll get there. We went to the next stage and it really finishes this year strong recruitment. Next year will be here fast enough. We try to finish and finish this year and I ‘am sure we will come back soon. ”

Chizik was honored to win a prize named Bryant.

“As a football coach when you can have your name associated with a guy who does a lot for the sport, it’s a blessing,” he said.

Former Florida State coach Bobby Bowden was honored the other night; Bryant received the Lifetime Achievement Award given by the National sports commentators and sports journalists association.

Bowden, who won two national championships with the Seminoles, said he has always sought to Bryant. Bowden liked to make the short trip to Tuscaloosa to study coaching techniques Bryant at Alabama, while he was an assistant football coach at Howard College, now known as Samford in 1950.

“I lot to me,” he said of the award. “When I rode my idol was Bear Bryant. He was just 50 miles when I was at Howard and I could go there and visit and learn football. It really helped me to get kicked out of my career. ”

The awards were presented in collaboration with the American Heart Association; a fact has not escaped the state of Michigan and coach Mark Dantonio finalist, who suffered a mild heart attack in September.

“Because the American Heart Association’s involvement in it becomes a little more special,” Dantonio said. “If you asked me to be at the event-winner or loser. – I had ”

He said he learned a lot about heart disease in recent months while recovering from his heart attack.

“I was raised,” he said. ‘Never thought it would have happened to me and I was there. So it can happen to anyone, thank you and God I listened to my body and I’m OK now. There are several ways to return. That’s the only thing people should understand that you can be strong again. You can do many things again. ”

The other finalists were Nevada Chris Ault, Bobby Petrino of Arkansas, Texas AM & Mike Sherman, Chip Kelly, Oregon and former head coach Jim Harbaugh at Stanford.

Petrino and Harbaugh, the new coach of the San Francisco 49ers were the only finalists not to attend the event.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Indianapolis Star

Indianapolis Star, (AP) – The tea party activists across the state will meet later this month to try to agree on a candidate to challenge established U.S. Senator Richard Lugar in the Republican primary of the next year.

Representatives from more than 50 groups of tea will meet Jan. 22 in Tipton, said Monica Boyer, co-founder of Northern Indiana Kosciusko County Silent No More and an organizer of the group anti-Lugar Hoosiers Conservative to the Senate.

Unlike the 2010 Senate primary, where party activists tea was distributed among five candidates, “we do not split the vote. It is vital and it is essential to make it a race of a candidate,” said Boyer The Indianapolis Star for a story Saturday.

Two Republicans mentioned as a possible challenger Lugar State Treasurer Richard Mourdock and state Senator Mike Delph of Caramel.

Lugar, who represented Indiana in the Senate since 1976, said he would seek a seventh term of six years in 2012.

His support for things such as the DREAM Act, which would help some illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children get access to citizenship, and his voice for the candidates of President Barack Obama Supreme Court overturned many conservatives in Indiana, particularly those aligned with the movement of tea.

Lugar met Boyer and other supporters of the party tea for two hours in December to try to convince them he shares their conservative values. However, rather than to convince them to drop any challenge for him, “he actually gave us the strategy on how we approach the battle to come…. It was almost like when you start a football match and you shake hands, and we know what we have to do now. ”

Lugar spokesman Mark Helmke said that if the group wants to organize “an event anti-Lugar is their business.”

New Indiana Republican Party Chairman Eric Holcomb Lugar defended, saying that he and the rest of the Hoosier GOP Congress to share there concerns Tea Party delegation on arm’s length and expenditure, and that “the rest of Washington may learn from them. “

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