Mets Ink Perez to a Three Year Deal

By Bobby Holt

New York-The Mets have finally added a key piece to their rotation on Monday that they hope will get them over the post-season hump.  Oliver Perez, who was searching for a long term contract, agreed to terms on a three year/$36 million deal.  The signing solidified the second spot in the Mets' rotation behind ace, Johan Santana.  Perez, was 10-7 last year with a 4.22 ERA, will be added to a rotation that already includes Santana, Mike Pelfrey and John Maine.  The final rotation spot, barring any other signings or trades, will be a battle between Freddy Garcia, Tim Redding and Jonathan Niese.  

If Perez pitches as well as he did last year, combined with the addition of closer Francisco Rodriguez and setup man J.J. Putz, the Mets should be able to close out games; something they were unable to do in previous seasons.

Be sure to check out my blog:  www.bobbyholt.wordpress.com

Super Bowl XLIII

Pittsburgh 27 Arizona 23

By: Bobby Holt

Tampa Bay–The Pittsburgh Steelers have won Super Bowl XLIII in a thrilling game that featured two last minute scoring drives and potentially the start of a new football dynasty.  The Steelers have won two Super Bowls in the last three years and do not appear to be slowing down anytime soon.  

The game started off strangely when Arizona elected to kick after they won the opening coin toss.  A decision that could have played a major role in their demise.  The Steelers who received the kick, took the ball down the field in a nine play 5:15 minute drive that led to a Jeff Reed field goal.  This drive seemed to set the pace of the game and showed the Cardinals’ inability to slow down Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers.  

Arizona’s first possession was a five play lackluster drive that resulted in a punt.  For such a high powered offense, it seemed that Troy Polamalu and company were ready to stifle anything Kurt Warner threw at them.  After the punt, Pittsburgh continued their dominating ways and marched down the field on an eleven play drive that ended in a Gary Russell one yard touchdown run.  The score was 10-0 and the outlook was bleak for Arizona unless they could bolster a scoring drive of their own.  

At the start of the second quarter, Kurt Warner turned to Edgerrin James.  The duo connected on three passes that totaled twenty-six yards.  Arizona drove down to the Steelers one yard line where Warner, who stumbled out of the snap, lobbed the ball to tight end Ben Patrick who recorded the Cardinals first touchdown of the game.  

With two minutes remaining in the half, Arizona’s Karlos Dansby became the seventh different Cardinal to intercept a pass in the post-season, when he picked off Big Ben giving his team great field position and a chance to go ahead right before halftime.  Warner and company drove down to the Pittsburgh five yard line and with little time left, a touchdown seemed imminent.  That was until, the NFL Defensive Player of the Year, James Harrison intercepted Warner and took the ball 100 yards, in the longest play in NFL Super Bowl History, to score right as time expired.  Instead of going into half-time tied or ahead, Arizona now trailed 17-7 and had a lot to think about during the break.  

The start of the third quarter remained the same for the Cardinals who sputtered on their opening drive and had to punt after an eight play possession.  The following Steelers’ drive was all Willie Parker, who was given the ball seven times which help set up another Pittsburgh field goal.

With only a quarter remaining, the Cardinals trailed 20-7 and time was running out on their Super Bowl dreams.  Until this point, Larry Fitzgerald was limited to one catch for twelve yards and seemed overwhelmed by the double coverage of Polamalu and Ike Taylor.  However, Fitzgerald was determined to make an impact and that he certainly did.  On the next drive he had four catches for thirty-one yards and a touchdown.  

The next few drives were uneventful, all resulting in punts.  With 2:58 remaining in the game, the Steelers were pinned inside their own one yard by a beautiful Ben Graham punt.  On third down the Cardinals blitzed everyone they had which resulted in a Steelers holding penalty, which by rule, a hold that occurs inside the end zone results in a safety.  The score was now 20-16 with 2:37 left in the game.  

Arizona received the ball on their own thirty-six yard line and made short work of the task at hand.  It only took the Cardinals two plays before Warner threaded the ball perfectly to Fitzgerald for sixty-four yards, who beat two defenders on his way to score his second touchdown of the game.  

After the game Cardinals coach, Ken Whisenhunt was asked about the play and his thoughts. 

He replied “We scored too early and left too much time on the clock.”  

Ben took his team, with 2:30 remaining, on a nine play seventy-eight yard drive to win Super Bowl XLIII.  His pass to Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes was a

“Pump three time and get open”

route, Roethlisberger later said jokingly.  Holmes hauled in the perfect throw and tapped his feet in the corner of end-zone to give the Steelers the 27-23 lead with little time remaining.  

In a season that contained much criticism about the NFL officiating, the second to last play of the Super Bowl cemented the idea that something needed to be done.  Warner dropped back and appeared to throw an incomplete pass (was ruled a fumble on the field) and was recovered by the Steelers.  Of course, in such a big game, you would expect an official review.  However, there was nothing.  It was a very poor job by the NFL review crew to not take a closer look at a play that should have been ruled an incomplete pass and would have given the Cardinals one last opportunity to attempt an unbelievable comeback.  At the end of the night the Steelers were the best team and deserve all the credit in winning their sixth Super Bowl title.

Stats:

Arizona Cardinals:

Kurt Warner: 31-43, 377 yards 3 TDs 1 INT.

Edgerrin James: 9 rushes, 33 yards.

Larry Fitzgerald: 7 rec, 127 yards, 2 TDs.

Pittsburgh Steelers:

Ben Roethlisberger: 21-30, 256 yards 1TD 1 INT.

Willie Parker: 19 rushes 53 yards.

Santonio Holmes: 9 rec, 131 yards 1TD.

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http://Bobbyholt.wordpress.com 

Quick Start for the Rangers

New York Rangers 3 Carolina Hurricanes 2

By Robert Holt

New York City–After a long layoff from the All-Star break, the New York Rangers were back in action Tuesday night when they faced the Carolina Hurricanes at Madison Square Garden.  It was extremely important to establish the tempo of the game early especially after such a long period of time between games which is exactly what the Rangers did.  New York put a lot of time and effort into remaining focused during the break, this is how Rangers’ goalie Stephen Valiquette described it:

“Everybody is very serious about the way they carry themselves. That showed tonight because we came back and were ready to play.”

New York started the game hot with numerous odd-man rushes but just could not put the puck past Hurricane’s goalie Cam Ward.  However, at 4:21 of the first, Lauri Korpikoski changed that when he slide the puck between Ward’s legs.  The play was started by Ryan Callahan who made a perfect pass to send Markus Naslund and Scott Gomez on a two-on-one rush.  Naslund passed the puck to Gomez who took a partially blocked shot that was stopped by Ward.  However, Korpikoski followed up the play and put the rebound in the net.

About six minutes later, Scott Gomez added another goal to the Rangers’ lead and his 10th of the season.  Once again, the Rangers found themselves on a two-on-one with Gomez and Naslund leading the way.  Gomez took Naslund’s pass and put it top corner, glove side.  At this moment, it appeared as though the game was going to be a blow out.  However, to the Hurricanes credit they did not give up.  With 13:04 remaining in the first, Ryan Bayda cut the lead in half with his 4th goal of the season.  After the goal by Bayda, it seemed as though it settled down Carolina and made the game tighter.  Stephen Valiquette, who was given the nod to start in place of Lundqvist, was absolutely stellar, stopping 33 of 35 shots.  

Throughout the second period both teams had many scoring chances but could not convert.  Both Valiquette and Ward played spectacular and did not allow a single goal.  

Brandon Dubinsky scored the game winner at 12:35 of the third when Nikolai Zherdev made a beautiful play sliding the puck between two defenders, drawing the goalie out of position and then passing the puck to a wide open Dubinsky for his 8th of the season.  However, a mere 25 seconds later, Tuomo Ruutu scored for the Hurricanes to once again cut the lead to one goal.  Ruutu made a great play when he scored on his own rebound that showed remarkable hustle and totally surprised Valiquette.  This is what he said after allowing the quick goal.

“It’s so important to stay in the moment and not get too caught up in the fact that we just gave a goal up, Everyone stayed focused from that point on, and it seems like that’s the style of play we’re going to have to play the rest of the season - just be able to bury a team in the third period.”

The next ten minutes were extremely nerve-racking as the Hurricanes peppered Valiquette with shots from all over the ice.  Luckily, he was equal to the task and earned his 5th win of the season.  Valiquette has been a great asset to New York, not only giving Lundqvist a chance to rest, but has also kept them in many games.  His two goals against average ranks him on par with many top goaltenders in the league. 

The Rangers are now 30-15-3 and play the rival Penguins at 7:30pm tonight.  The Hurricanes are 23-21-5 and have the night off before heading home to face the Tampa Lightning on Thursday. 

Quotes attributed to NHL.com

NHL Skills Competition

57th NHL All-Star Game: Skills Competition

By Robert Holt

Another year has passed and another successful NHL skills competition has ended. For those of you unfamiliar to the event, it takes some of the most talented players in the league and pits them against each other in various competitions to display their world class skills.

Fastest skater, accuracy, hardest shot, fan favorite breakaway challenge and finally the brand new elimination shootout round out the list of events. Below is a short description of each event and the winners:

Fastest Skater: Each player must skate around the entire length of the ice, behind both nets and the player who crosses the red-line the fastest, wins.

Winner: Andrew Cogliano, Edmonton Oilers

Accuracy: Each player has eight shots to hit the four targets set up in each corner of the net. Player who hits the most targets out of the least amount of shots(example: 4/4) wins. In case of a tie the two (or more) players will go head to head to see who can hit the most targets on four shots:

Winner: Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins (4/4) Tie breaker: (3/4)

Side note: Only four players in NHL history have hit all four targets on four consecutive shots. The list includes Mark Messier, Tomas Kaberle, Ray Bourque(who completed the task twice) and Jeremy Roneick. This year two players added to the list are the winner Malkin and runner-up Danny Heatley.

Hardest Shot: Each player will have two shots on goal, the player with the hardest shot to hit the net wins:

Winner: Zedeno Chara, Boston Bruins

Side note: This year Zedeno Chara broke the NHL record with a blistering 105.4 mph shot. He broke the previous record held by Al Iafrate in 1993 when he clocked in at 105.2 mph.

Fan Favorite Breakaway Challenge:  Each player has two minutes to take as many shots as possible on the goalie, however the catch is the players are not voted on by how many goals they score, but how creative they are.  

Winner: Alexander Ovechkin, Washington Capitals

Side Note:  Ovechkin won the competition with over 40% of the fan vote.  On his winning shot he donned a hat with a Canadian Flag in it and a pair of sunglasses put on him by fellow Russian and rival Evegni Malkin.  He then proceeded to use two sticks and skate down the ice until he tossed away the right handed stick and scored using the left. (Ovechkin is a right-handed shot.)

Elimination Shootout:  Forty-two players start and shoot on four goalies, each player who does not score is eliminated and those who do score, move on.  

Winner: Shane Doan, Phoenix Coyotes 

That rounds out the list of winners.  The night had lots of laughs, display of immense talent and fun all-around.  Tune in tomorrow at 6pm(eastern time) on Versus for the 57th NHL All-Star Game.  Also be sure to check back here for my thoughts on the event.

Check out my blog at bobbyholt.wordpress.com

Big Win for Broadway Blue Shirts

New York Rangers vs. The Anaheim Ducks

by Robert Holt

Last night, at a sold out Madison Square Garden Arena, the New York Rangers squared off with the visiting Anaheim Ducks in the final game before the all-star break.  The Rangers relied heavily on their specials teams to overcome the relentless attack and forecheck of the Ducks.  Cashing in on two of their nine power-play chances, while adding two short-handed goals was the key for the Rangers 4-2 win Tuesday.  

Markus Naslund gave the Rangers the lead at 12:46 of the first period after a flurry of shots, which were all turned aside by Ducks goaltender Jonas Hiller, the puck then squirted out towards the slot, while an awaiting Naslund slapped the puck between Hiller's legs.  A minute later, the Ducks on a power-play of their own,tied the score on a rebound goal by Bobby Ryan.  Henrik Lundqvist stopped the previous three shots until Ryan scored his 14th of the season.  

The second period started off quickly when the Rangers took a "too many men on the ice" penalty after Chris Drury jumped off the bench too hastily.  Lundqvist, who has won 4 of his last 5 games, stifled the Ducks on numerous scoring chances. Michal Rozsival then made a great defense play in his own zone to spring Fredrik Sjostrom on a short-handed rush into the Duck's zone.  Sjostrom then placed a beautiful shot into the upper right hand corner of the net, beating Hiller, to once again give the Rangers the lead.  

The Rangers proceeded to get chance after chance while being stopped by Hiller.  The Ducks then took three straight penalties, however the Rangers were unable to capitalize.  Seemingly rejuvenated by the penalty kill, the Ducks took control of the final minutes of the second period.  Corey Potter made a beautiful move to get passed the Rangers defense and slid the puck between Lundqvist's legs to tie the game.

The entire third belonged to Blair Betts and the New York Rangers.  A major reason why the Rangers are 2nd in the NHL in penalty kill is largely due to the stellar play by Betts.  As stated before, this was a game of special teams and the third period was no acceptation.  Scott Gomez put the Rangers up for good with his power-play goal and ninth of the season.  He recieved an excellent pass from Naslund across the goal mouth and put the puck over a sprawled out Hiller.  

Finally, with thirty seconds left in the game, Betts got rewarded for all his hard work.  He notched his fifth goal of the season while killing off a Dan Girardi delay of game penalty in the final minute of the game.  

This was a huge win for the Rangers who wanted to head into the All-Star game on hot streak and gained valuable points in the very competitive Atlantic Division.  The Rangers ended the first half of the season leading the Division and third in the Eastern Conference.  

Henrik Lundqvist stopped 32-34 shots and earned his 24th win.  The Rangers are 28-16-4.  The Ducks are 23-21-5.   The Rangers will continue play on Tuesday night against the Carolina Hurricanes.