BEACON SPORTS
Senators and Red Wings on top as 2006 NHL
By Jordan Gilmore
copy editor
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The first NHL regular season under the new rules
negotiated during last year's lockout is giving us
some new and surprising match ups going into the
playoffs. The St. Louis Blues, a fixture of the play
offs for the last 25 years, not only failed to make the
cut this year but also finished dead last in the
league. The Tampa Bay Lightning, the last team to
win the Stanley Cup, crawled into the playoffs in
the eighth and final spot in the Eastern Conference.
Despite having a core of talented veteran players
including Mario Lemieux, Ziggy Palffy, John
Leclair and Sergei Gonchar, the Pittsburgh
Penguins ended the season with 58 points, just one
more than St. Louis. The Detroit Red Wings pro
vided the only stability, winning their third
Presidents' Trophy in the last four seasons for hav
ing the league's best regular season record.
The playoffs promise to be wild and unpre
dictable. In the East, the number one seed Ottawa
Senators should have an easy time with the defend
ing champion Lightning. Tampa Bay lost the key to
their Stanley Cup success when goalie Nikolai
Kahbibulin signed with Chicago in the offseason.
Ottawa beat Tampa Bay all four times they met this
season by a combined score of 16-6. If Tampa Bay
is to win this series, they will have to take advan
tage of Ottawa's rookie goaltender and work to shut
down the Senators' offensive juggernaut.
The second ranked Carolina Hurricanes take on
the seventh place Montreal Canadiens in the next
match-up in the East. Carolina was a huge surprise
this year, setting a franchise record with 112 points.
Benefiting from some great offense generated by
veteran Rod Brind'Amour and youngster Erie'
Staal, and getting solid goaltending out of Martin
Gerber, the Hurricanes look to go far in this year's
playoffs. Montreal finished strong after veterans
Saku Koivu, Alexei Kovalev and Andrei Markov
HOUSING AND FOOD SERVICES
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
NAME:
SPORT:
CLASS:
DATE:
Kristin Macha (Ex,portiFutnklin Regional) has been named the Housing
and Food Services Athlete of the Week.
The junior first baseman and designated hitter led the Blue and White
to a 4-0 week against two /MCC conferenci foes. Against Medaille,
Macha went a combined five for seven in the doubleheader with three
runs batted in and a tom. Over the weekend she went three for fur in
the first gam againit Mom Aloysius to lead the team to a 17-0 vim
ry. Macha. It batting outstanding .500 from the plate and has a .515 on
base permit s *, bother in the AMCC.
The Betwixt Liota:prayed Tuesday when they traveled to rival Pitt-
Bradford for a dolibitheador , The Blue and White then hosted Grove
City on Wedileaday,;lolo,they travel to Penn State-Altoona on
Saturday. Agit
Housing and rOod Services Athlete of the Week is, selected by the
Sports b*** 4 Staff.
Kristin Macha
Softball
Junior
April 17, 2006
If Philadelphia Flyers' winger Peter Forsberg can stay healthy throughout the playoffs, Philly has a decent
chance at winning the Stanley Cup. Senators and Red Wings currently lead their conferences this year.
returned from injuries and look very strong in goal
with Crisotbal Huet being backed up by former
Colorado goalie David Aebischer. This match up
should be exciting to watch, and the veteran leader
ship of the Canadiens may make this the least sur
prising upset of the year.
The New Jersey Devils went on an 11-game win
ning streak to win their division and finish the sea
son ranked third in the East. In the first round they
take on a slumping New York Rangers team that
lost five straight games heading into the playoffs
potent offense and goaltender Martin Brodeur
should stay hot and finish the Rangers in no more
than five games.
The final match-up in the East features one of the
most underrated teams this season: the speedy
Buffalo Sabres. Buffalo quietly went about its busi
ness finishing the season nine points ahead of New
Jersey. Because New Jersey won their division and
Buffalo couldn't overtake Ottawa in theirs, Buffalo
is ranked fourth and takes on a much bigger
Philadelphia Flyers team. If Peter Forsberg is able
to stay healthy, the Flyers should have a great
offense to match up against the Sabres' unknown
but talented offense. For Philly, the sub par per
formance on special teams this season will be a
problem in this series, and Buffalo looks to reap the
rewards of owning the league's best special teams.
The real question in this series comes in goal.
Buffalo has two young and very talented netmin
ders in Ryan Miller and Martin Biron, but neither
has any post-season experience. The Flyers have an
experienced goalie in Robert Esche, but Esche is
and six of their
last ten. The
Rangers bene
fited from an
outstanding
performance in
goal by rookie
and Olympic
gold medalist
Henrik
Lundqvist, but
don't have
coming off a groin injury and his backup is rookie
Antero Niittymaki. Look for the Sabres to use their
speed to make Philadelphia take penalties and then
bury the Flyers on the power play.
The Western Conference may be even wilder
than the East. The top match-up features the Red
Wings facing off against the eighth seeded
Edmonton Oilers. This series promises to be closer
than the rankings indicate. Both teams are fast and
experienced. The season series was split 2-2. Both
much help in
front of him
besides likely
MVP Jaromir
Martin
and
Jagr,
Straka
Michael
Nylander.
New Jersey's
2006 NFL Draft brings up questions
By Tommy Phillips
contributing writer
tap2o2 Citpsu edu
With the NFL draft coming up at the
end of the month, there are still many
questions about what actions will be
taken by teams drafting early in the first
round. While former USC running back
Reggie Bush is expected to be drafted
first overall by the Houston Texans,
there is much uncertainty over what the
New Orleans Saints will do with the
second overall pick, as well as in what
order the top three quarterback
prospects will be chosen.
New Orleans drafts immediately after
the Texans, and reports have suggested
that they would rather trade this pick for
multiple lower picks than use it. Since
the Tennessee Titans hold the third
overall pick and are interested in draft
ing former USC quarterback Matt
Leinart, other teams such as the New
York Jets and the Oakland Raiders may
look to trade with the Saints in order to
be able to draft Leinart before the Titans
take him. However, New Orleans may
Sports Trivia 101
Pittsburgh Penguin Sidney Crosby is the youngest player in the NHL
to have amassed 100 points in his rookie season. What NHL player
holds the record for most points in his rookie season?
Last Week's answer: The baseball player with the most times having
stolen home plate is Ty Cobb with 54.
(Answered by Dereck Ayala and Stephen R. Oyler).
The answer will be posted in next week's Beacon issue. Email your answers to
cslsoos@psu.edu. The first person to answer correctly will have their name
printed next week. Good Luck!
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
decide not to trade their pick and take
Leinart themselves or possibly draft
former North Carolina State defensive
end Mario Williams, who is considered
the top defensive prospect in the draft.
Leinart is one of three highly touted
quarterbacks who are likely to be
picked in the first round. The other two
are Vince Young from Texas and Jay
Cutler from Vanderbilt. Young has
received much hype since his excellent
performance in the Rose
Bowl, and his combination
of passing and running
skills has drawn compar
isons to Michael Vick.
However, the fact that he
received poor scores on a
test known as the Wonderlic
has raised questions about
whether he is fit to be a
leader in the NFL. Cutler
has drawn interest from
teams due to the strength of his arm, but
his poor winning percentage in college
is a questionable factor. Leinart has
none of these doubts surrounding him,
which has caused him to be considered
The Behrend Beacon I
Friday, April 21, 2006
playoffs begin
teams have goalies with playoff experience. Both
teams are fast and have solid defensemen. The key
to this series lies in the special teams and depth.
Detroit has the advantage in both categories, own
ing the NHL's best power play unit this year, and
they will dominate if they can keep it going in the
playoffs. Edmonton needs to take this series one
goal at a time to improve confidence and will need
a huge series out of goalie Dwayne Roloson.
Two traditional Western Conference powerhous
es square off when the number two Dallas Stars
meets up with the Colorado Avalanche in the first
round. While the Dallas lineup is mostly
unchanged from two years ago. Colorado has lost
its number one forward Forsberg to Philadelphia,
gave up its starting goalie to Montreal for Jose
Theodore who struggled this season with the
Canadiens and lost key defensemen Adam Foote to
the Columbus Blue Jackets. Dallas has a little more
depth than Colorado, and Theodore leaves the Avs
weak in goals. Marty Turco is solid in net for
Dallas, and if they can score more than three goals
a game and win at home, the Stars should be able to
make quick work of this series.
The sixth seeded Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
skate into Calgary to take on the three seeded
Flames in a series that features two very fast teams.
Calgary will want to make this a physical series to
match up better against the finesse-style forwards
of Anaheim. The Flames will need to avoid the
penalty box to avoid giving the Ducks' forwards too
much room on the ice. Anaheim took advantage of
Calgary penalties in the last game of the season but
backs into the playoffs losing three of their last five.
Calgary also slide into the playoffs losing three of
its last five including the final two. Miikka
Kiprusoff will have io have a great series in net, and
the Flames will have to remain disciplined for
Calgary to win this series. Anaheim has a great shot
at the upset if it can use its speed to capitalize on
Calgary's mistakes.
The final match up is between the fourth seeded
Nashville Predators and the fifth seeded San Jose
Sharks. Until the middle of April this would have
been the most exciting match up in the first round.
Unfortunately Nashville lost goaltender Thomas
Vokoun for the remainder the season to a condition
that caused blood clots to form in his blood stream,
seriously damaging the Predators' playoff hopes.
San Jose has one of the explosive offensive
tandems in the league this year with Joe Thornton
and Jonathan Cheechoo. Although Vokoun's back
up Chris Mason has been great down the stretch, the
San Jose offense may be too much for him to han
dle. The Sharks should make quick work of the
Predators if Nashville can't produce a defensive
scheme to keep San Jose away from Mason.
The first round of NEIL playoffs in two years
should produce some great action and classic match
ups. Both conferences are wide open, and the par
ity amongst the teams should allow for some first
round upsets. The playoffs start Friday and will be
covered on OLN and NBC.
the top quarterback available in the
Although both Bush and Leinart have
gained respect from scouts, their former
USC teammate Len Dale White has seen
his draft stock fall recently. White
recently tore his hamstring, and he only
performed in one drill at the pro-day for
USC players looking to enter the draft.
He was not helped by the fact that
Arizona and Minnesota both signed free
"Cutler has drawn
interest from teams
due to the strength of
his arm, but his poor
winning percentage in
college is a question-
able factor"
intrigue to the early
selections in the draft, as fans of the
teams that have the early selections in
the first round hope that their team will
choose the right player.
agent running backs
instead of waiting for
the draft. He is expect
ed to be drafted late in
the first round or early
in the second round.
It will be interesting
to watch how the first
round of the NFL draft
plays out. These situa-
tions are sure to add