8 I The Behrend Beacon
playoff spot
By Nick Blake
sports afire,
nphSO4l (a psu.edu
With just over 20 games left to
play in the regular season, things
are heating up in the NHL's east
ern conference in the race for the
playoffs.
Hockey works off of a points
system. When a team wins a
game, they get two points, a loss
earns a team zero points and if the
game goes to overtime, the win
ner gets two points and the loser
gets one point.
The top eight teams in each
conference get a spot in the play
offs and it looks like it's going
to go right down to the wire in
the eastern conference.
Spots fourth through eighth are
currently separated by three
points or less. One win could
move you up two spots, but one
loss could move down two spots.
The Buffalo Sabres are current
ly sitting in the eighth spot with
66 points. Their record is (30-22-
6), and they are third in their divi
sion, but only one point out of
second.
The Sabres are (5-4-1) in their
last 10 games, and it is important
that they keep winning games to
stay on the inside of the playoff
picture.
The Sabres played the Toronto
Maple Leafs on Tuesday Feb. 17,
and got the win 4-1.
It was a big win for the Sabres,
who were playing without star
forward Thomas Vanek. Vanek,
who has 32 goals and 54 assists
on the season, will be out of the
lineup at least until early March
with a broken jaw.
Right Wing Drew Stafford had
a big game against the Maple
Leafs in the absence of Vlinek. He
scored twice in the game taking
his season total to 17. and he has
scored eight goals in his last II
games.
"As long as I'm contributing,
especially now with Thomas
(Vanek) out, we're going to need
all the goals we can get and if
that's what I'm going to be con
tributing, then so be it," Vanek
said.
Rachel has
taken the
lead with a
three game
advantage
over Nick.
Connor fol
lows closely
behind Nick
while
Christine is
one game
ahead of
Matt.
Want to
play?
Email
censos6@ps
eclu for a
list of next
week's
games to see
if you can
"beat the
experts".
Penguins
Stafford is in his third season
with the Sabres, and he is aware
of his role on the team.
I know it's not going to hap
pen every night, but we have a lot
of guys here who can contribute
in the goal-scoring department,
so I'm just trying to do my part
in that aspect as well as trying to
be solid everywhere else."
The Sabres had a big game
against on Thursday Feb. 19
against the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Flyers have four 20-goal
scorers in their lineup, so the
Sabres would have to play tough
defense. The game was in
Philadelphia where the Sabres
have won five of their last six
games against Philadelphia.
Unfortunately, the Sabres fell to
the Flyers by a final score of 6-3.
The Pittsburgh Penguins, on
the other hand, find themselves
on the outside of the playoff pic
ture, looking in.
In their last 10 games, the Pens
are (4-4-I) and playing a win one,
Beat The Experts
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Penn State (0) Ohio State
DePaul (a #4 Pittsburgh
Washington St. C 4, #2O UCLA UCLA
#25 Dayton ( Saint Louis
#7 Louisville (a Cincinnati
Brigham Young ar UNLV UNLV
CSC Uptate (a Campbell USC Up
East Carolina (a Tulsa
#l3 Clemson rct , Georgia Tech Clemson
NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Penn State (a Illinois
#7 Duke (a #9 Maryland
#1 UConn. 64 , # 24 Notre Dame UConn
#l2 Texas @ #l4 Texas A&M Tex. A&M
#5 Baylor (ev #2 Oklahoma
#25 Arizona St. CO Arizona A.S.O
Morehead St. 6_v Eastern Kentucky E. Kent
Austin Peay @ Tennessee Tech Tenn. Tech
Drake Ok Bradley
Season Totals:
and Sabres push to earn
down regular season stretch
lose one style. They are current
ly in tenth place in the eastern
conference and are five points out
of the last playoff spot.
Perhaps the higgest event for
the Penguins this season was the
firing of head coach Michel
Therrien. Therrien was let go by
the Penguins on Sunday Feb. 15.
He was replaced by Dan Bylsma.
the former head coach of the
Pens' AHL affiliate in Wilkes-
Barre/ S cran t o n
General Manager Ray Shero
decided that, with the situation
that the team was in, it was time
to make a change
"We believe we need a change
in direction and, with 25 games
remaining in the regular season,
our goal remains to finish strong
and qualify for the Stanley Cup
playoffs. - Shero said.
This season, under Bylsma, the
Baby Penguins were (35-16-1-2)
and Shero felt that he was a good
fit in the big leagues.
"Dan Bylsma is one of the
Connor Matt
Penn. St
Penn. St
DePaul
Vyksh. St
Dayton
St. Louis
Campbell
E. Car.
E. Car.
Gerog i a T.
Penn. St
Penn. St
Maryland Duke
Notre D. UConn
Tex. A&M Tex. A&M Tex. A&M
Baylor
Arizona
More. St. E. Kent. E. Kent
Tenn. Tech Tenn. Tech Tenn. Tech
49-40 58-31 50-39
54-35
SPORTS
bright young coaches in the game
and has done an exceptional job
as the head coach in Wilkes-
Barre/Scranton this season."
The magic number to get into
the playoffs is 92. That is how
many points are needed to realis
tically get into the playoffs. The
Penguins currently have 60
points, so in their last 24 games
they need to get at least 32 points
if they want a playoff birth.
Blysma is introducing a more
aggressive style of play that will
hopefully spring the Pens up the
ranks.
"We want to have the puck and
make plays, - team captain Sidney
Crosby said. "Look at a lot of
good teams, they're puck-posses
sion teams. In order to maintain
possession you have to win your
battles and do a lot of different
things that aren't X's and O's
either. It's up to us to make sure
our work ethic is them to make
sure that we do those things."
The Penguins will have to be
Rachel
Christine
O.S .0
OS.O
UCLA
UCLA
Dayton
Dayton
UNLV
UNLV
USC Up
Campbell
E. Car.
Clemson
Clemson
Illinois
Penn. St
Maryland
UConn
A.S.U. A.S.O
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Penn. St
UCLA
Dayton
UNLV
US C Up
Clemson
Illinois
UConn
A.S .0
E. Kent
Austin P.
Bradley
55-34
aggressive and will have to get to
work if they want to make the
playoffs
They played the Montreal
Canadiens on Thursday Feb. 19.
The Canadiens are in somewhat
of a slump, so the Penguins
would have to try and take advan
tage of that. The Pens would
have to steal this one in order to
keep their playoff hopes alive.
Left: Bmoks Orpik lays a big hit on a New York Rangery player in
the ckfensive zone.
Top: Buffalo &lbws' Dnit. .storiOnl looks - to lereive a pass loon a
THIS WEEK ' S
SPORTS SCHEDULE
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21
The Men's and Women's Indoor Track and Field team competes at
Kenyon College.
The Behind Men's Tennis team plays against
Waynesburg at 3 p.m.
The Women's Basketball team (12-11) plays their last
regular season game against Pitt-Bradford (11-13) at the
Junker Center at 6 p.m.
Following the women's game, the Men's Basketball team
(16.8) also play against Pitt-Bradford (15-9) at 8 p.m.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24
The Behrend Men's and Women's baskeball teams will begin post
season play in the AMCC tournament. Time and location TBA. I
LAST WEEK'S
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14
and W. Swimming and Diving: AMCC CHAMPIONS
Basketball: Behrend 57 Franciscan 41
Basketball: Behrend 71 Franciscan 69
Tennis: Behrend 2 Baldwin-Wallace 7
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14
. Basketball: Behrend 68 La Roche 75
. Basketball: Behrend 49 La Roche 56
All scores based from Sports Calendar and individual team page results Il sour sport
is not listed and you feel that it should be, Contact cisso6o(apsti.edu
Friday, February 20,2009
The Pens got the big win they
needed tOr by a score of 5-4
The regular season is quickly
winding cbwn and the playoffs
approaching, Sabres and the
Penguins will have to play their
best hockey.
The schedule doesn't get an
easier for either team clown the
stretch, and it will he a tough road
to the playoffs.
Won male
SPORTS
All wins in italic text