Things are Becoming Very Interesting in the Big Ten

The Big Ten might not be the best conference in college football, but it might be one of the most interesting and exciting.

Just when everyone thought that Michigan State looked like the cream of the crop in the Legends division, Nebraska's defense said not so fast. After beating Michigan and Wisconsin (in stunning fashion) the past two weeks, Michigan State's offense was stymied. Nebraska pulled off the victory 24-3 in front of an excited home crowd.

Michigan's Toussaint had a career day as his team beat Purdue 36-14. Penn State held on against Illinois for a 10-7 victory to give coach Joe Paterno his record 409th win.

One the main questions going into the week was how would Wisconsin respond from last week's heartbreak. Wisconsin quarterback Russell Wilson threw a touchdown pass and two point conversion to give the Badges a 29-26 lead with 1:18 left. However, Wisconsin's defense let them down as they allowed inexperienced freshman quarterback Braxton Miller to complete a 40 yard game-winning touchdown pass to give Ohio State the upset win. Perhaps Wisconsin should look into purchasing some Prevacid, as they are suffering some heartburn once again.

So where do we stand now. The Legends Division standings have a 3-way tie at the top with Michigan, Nebraska, and Michigan State all holding a 3-1 conference record. Penn State (8-1, 5-0 Big Ten) now holds a commanding lead in the Leaders Division. The next closest teams are Wisconsin, Ohio State, and Purdue, who all have a 2-2 conference record. The Nittany Lions are off next week and control their own fate from here on out.

Broncos March to Victory on "Military Night"

Ian Slater took the puck and shoved it past the goaltender, launching the Western Michigan Broncos to a 3-2 overtime win over the Northern Michigan Wildcats. Slater's goal kept the Broncos at an unbeaten 5-0-3 record, and propelled them to a weekend series sweep of NMU (4-3-1).

#14 Northern Michigan was hoping to come into Kalamazoo, Michigan and record their first win at Lawson Arena since early 2008. But the #6 WMU Broncos would have none of it, playing a hard-fought series and advancing in both the NCAA and the Central Collegiate Hockey Association standings.

The Wildcats were coming fresh off an incredible weekend against the University of Michigan, in which they won 5-3, and tied 3-3 in Marquette, Michigan. The seemingly unstoppable Wildcats seemed to have trouble this weekend, however, finding WMU's camouflaged jerseys, worn on Saturday in honor of "Military Appreciation Night." They were out shot on Saturday 33-14, and 29-14 on Friday.

The Broncos took a 2-0 lead in the first period, after Trevor Elias and Brette Beebe scored just two minutes apart in the opening frame. Northern Michigan's Stephen Vigier, who had two goals in Friday's contest, added two more goals in the second period Saturday, at just 21 seconds apart.

Ian Slater won the game quickly in overtime for WMU, shoving the puck past goaltender Reid Ellington just 28 seconds into the overtime period. Ellington was inserted for Wildcat goaltender Jared Coreau after the first intermission.

The Wildcats' task gets no easier, as they will host the #5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish this weekend, while Western Michigan gets the task of taking on #4 Michigan on the road at Yost Arena.

NMU sits in 7th place in the CCHA with four points, while WMU slides up to 2nd place with 11 points.
They trail CCHA leader Lake Superior State University by only four points, with a chance to pass the Lakers this weekend, as LSSU plays out-of-conference rival Bemidji State.


(Check out WMU's sweet military tribute jerseys here!)
http://www.wmubroncos.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=24451&SPID=1928&ATCLID=205322392&DB_OEM_ID=4600

Andrew Luck' Shows Once Again that his Skills are More Than Just Luck

Undefeated Stanford (8-0, 6-0 Pac-12) showed heart against USC in the LA Coliseum tonight.

After Stanford had outscored opponents 396-88 in their first 7 games, the Trojans gave the Cardinal their first real test.

USC running back Curtis McNeal scored two long (61 and 25 yards respectively) touchdown runs to give the Trojans the 20-10 lead midway through the third quarter.

Luck answered with 2 touchdowns of his own (1 passing and 1 rushing) to give the Stanford the lead. However, USC quarterback Matt Barkley answered with a touchdown pass of his own. Stanford added a field goal later to tie the score at 27-27.

With three minutes to go in the 4th quarter, Stanford has the ball. We expect Luck to be at his best right now. However, he throws an interception to Nickell Robey, who returns it for a touchdown.

Stanford fans are shocked. Is their undefeated season and Rose Bowl hopes slipping away? But then Andrew Luck reminds them why he is the best quarterback in the game. Luck led the Cardinal on a clutch scoring drive that ended with a Stepfan Taylor two yard touchdown run with 38 seconds remaining.

In overtime, Luck led Stanford to scoring a touchdown in each of the three overtimes as the Cardinal prevail 56-48.

Luck reminded NFL owners, GMs, coaches, scouts, and fans why one NFL team is going to be very lucky to get him in next year's NFL Draft.

Michigan Tech Wins Big in Upset of #2 Denver

When Michigan Tech hockey signed Mel Pearson to be its head coach for the 2011-12 season, only a handful of people gave it much of a thought. After all, the team had recorded only four wins in the prior season. There can never be much hope after a team goes 4-30-4 in a year.

Think again. The Huskies are 5-2-0.

And it's not just the fact that MTU has already surpassed their win total from last year; it's who they've played so far and come out on top. They took down #18 Wisconsin twice up in Houghton, Michigan two weeks ago (along with a sweep of American International prior to that). And the most recent development?

Defeating the NCAA #2 Denver Pioneers. 

"Defeating"? Let's try "obliterating." Let's try "7-2 Huskies."

This Denver team was one win away last season from a trip to the NCAA Frozen Four, finishing the season with a 25-11-4 record. They only had one loss coming into the game. And they were, as Head Coach George Gwozdecky said, "embarrassed." This was well-below the standards of Gwozdekcy, who has coached the team to two NCAA Titles.

The Huskies got off to a quick start, scoring just under two minutes into the game, and adding two more in the first period, including the first of three goals by Milos Gordic. Gordic would add another in the second, and an empty-net goal in the third to complete the hat trick, leading the Huskies to their 7-2 blowout of the Pioneers.

Oh, and as a side note: The last series the Huskies played against Denver opened on Friday, February 18, 2011. And ended with MTU taking the game 3-2 on the road. 

MTU is moving in the right direction under Coach Pearson. He himself has two NCAA championships as an assistant coach at the University of Michigan. 

Not to jump the gun, but if performance continues, he will be adding a third championship very soon.

http://www.michigantechhuskies.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=90383&SPID=10914&DB_OEM_ID=18800&ATCLID=205324241

http://www.denverpioneers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=90195&SPID=10862&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=205324318&DB_OEM_ID=18600

Cardinals Unlikely Run to World Series Champions

Before the season even began, the St. Louis Cardinals found out that their ace Adam Wainwright would be out for the season.

Wainwright had won a combined 39 games the previous two seasons.

The Cardinals didn't appear to have an answer as to who would replace him, so many experts said the team's chances of making the playoffs were slim to none.

Additionally, there was more injuries during the season. A total of 17 players ended up on the DL at some point during the season.

On August 24, the lowly Dodgers finished a sweep of the Cardinals. They outscored them in the last two games of the series 22 to 6.

The Cardinals stood 10 1/2 games out of the playoffs with 31 to play.

Then, there was the bullpen.

The same one that blew 26 save opportunities (2nd most in the majors) and had given up 13 walk-off losses.

The Cardinals had acquired five players at the trade deadline. Edwin Jackson, Octavio Dotel, Mark Rzepcynski, Arthur Rhodes, and Rafael Furcal. Would these really make a difference?

It seemed so unlikely and impossible for this team to make the playoffs.

However, on the final day of the season, Chris Carpenter pitched them to 8-0 win over the Astros, which combined with a Braves lost sent them to the playoffs.

They were rewarded with getting to play the World Series favorite Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies playoff rotation only featured Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, and Cole Hamels as their top 3.

In the best of 5 series, the Phillies were up 2 games to 1, one win away from another NLCS berth. However, the Cardinals showed life beating Roy Oswalt to force a game 5.

Game 5 featured the epic pitching matchup of Chris Carpenter vs. Roy Halladay. Mid-season acquisition Rafael Furcal led the game off with a leadoff triple.

This brought Skip Schumaker to the plate. Schumaker is a part-time utility player, who finished with a regular season total of 38 RBIs.

The Cardinals eliminated their division foe, the Milwaukee Brewers, in 6, giving them their 18th World Series berth, where they would face the Texas Rangers.

Following Albert Pujols' game 3 performance, the Cardinals were feeling pretty good. Pujols finished the game with a ridiculous stat line of 5-6, 3 home runs, and 6 RBIs. The Cardinals were up 2 games to 1.

But then, the Texas Rangers won two games in a row at home to go up 3 games to 2.

This setup game 6, which turned out to be one of the greatest games in baseball history.

Bottom of the 9th. Rangers up 7-5. Two men on for the Cardinals. Texas closer Neftali Feliz was one strike away from the Rangers' first World Series Championship. But then, hometown boy David Freese tripled to deep right to score the two runners. Molina lines out, so we are headed to extras.

In the top of the 10th, Jason Motte throws a mistake pitch to Josh Hamilton, who turns it into a 2-run home run.

In the bottom of the 10th, Ron Washington decides to bring in veteran Darren Oliver. Oliver gives up 2 singles. Following a sacrifice bunt by Kyle Lohse, the two baserunners are on 2nd and 3rd. Oliver is relieved by Scott Feldman.

Ryan Theriot grounds out, but one run scores and the other baserunner moves up to third. Feldman decides to not mess with Pujols, so he intentionally walks him. This brought up Lance Berkman with two outs. Feldman gets two strikes, so the Rangers are one strike away from being champions. However, Big Puma is clutch and comes through with the big RBI single. Allen Craig grounds out to end the inning.

Jake Westbrook pitches a scoreless top of the 11th. In the bottom of the 11th, Mark Lowe of the Rangers faces his first batter David Freese. On a full count, Freese homers to center, giving the Cardinals a walkoff win to force game 7.

The Cardinals won game 7 6-2 last night behind great pitching by Chris Carpenter and some more clutch hitting early on by David Freese. Freese becomes a hometown hero and wins the MVP.

Do you believe in miracles? Well the Cardinals do. They just proved it by winning their 11th World Series Championship.

Talk About Under the Radar...

Lake Superior State University was picked in the CCHA conference pre-season to be one of the two
worst teams in the CCHA. Miami (OH) was projected at second in the conference, and #6
in the nation. How are things shaping up right now?

LSSU will be ranked #15 in the country after this weekend, and #1 in the conference with 15 points.
http://www.lssulakers.com/sports/m-hockey/2011-12/releases/LS-MIA2

Miami will be unranked after this weekend, and have 0 points thru four conference games.
http://www.muredhawks.com/sports/m-hockey/recaps/102911aab.html

The Lakers (7-1-0) opened up a 4-0 lead in the second period against the
 Redhawks (2-6-0), and despite a Miami push making the score 4-3, LSSU added a late tally to win the game 5-3. Lake State swept Miami, who now has lost 5 straight games.

The last time the Redhawks were swept at home? 2006-2007 playoffs in the second round.

To none other than Lake Superior State University.

St. Louis Celebration

St. Louis has done it.

With a convincing 6-2 win over the Texas Rangers, the Cardinals close out one of the
most entertaining World Series games in the past decade. Filled with drama and dramatic
finishes from both teams, it left viewers on the edge of their seats nearly every pitch.

Congratulations to St. Louis, who now holds 11 World Series Titles.

Because that's just how they do it under the Arch. Time to party.

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/18177/cards-complete-comeback-series-champs
(Check this out for the "expert" opinion. It's a good read.)

Cardiac Cardinals Force Game 7

I have a girlfriend.

She wouldn't let me stay in front of the Student Center television here at the university
to finish the 9th inning of the World Series Game 6. I figured it was over anyway, so we left.

Whoops.

I returned to my dorm to find out the Cardinals had actually come back to tie the game. Just about
the time I found this out, I walked past a couple guys screaming their heads off.

Texas just gave themselves the 9-7 lead with a two-run shot.

I figured the game must be over then. I closed out of MLB.com GameTracker. I brushed my
teeth, checked my Facebook and came back to find that the Cards had tied the game 9-9.
In the bottom of the 10th.

Double whoops.

And then, in perfect Cinderella ending, they scored a run in the 11th to force Game 7. And I
missed it all. Gosh, I love baseball. Oh, and did I learn from my mistake of leaving the
television during the game? Will I watch the game like a die-hard fan tonight?

Actually, I'm going to see "Captain America." During the most American thing there is.

Game 7 of the World Series.

The Manthan Has Spoken

Good evening! My name is Nathaniel Bond. My nickname, which you will commonly see on this blog, is Manthan. I will be another author on this fine sports blog.

I am an aficionado of all sports of all types. This includes collegiate, professional, and international events. I am unashamedly a fan of the New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Steelers, UConn Huskies, Pittsburgh Penguins, Minnesota Timberwolves, and the Brasilian National Team.

However, I will attempt to refrain from bias as much as possible!

I look forward to engaging and discussing sports topics of all sorts with you.

On the Road Again...

So remember that game I told you to listen to tonight? You didn't check it out, did you?

Your loss.

#18 Lake Superior State University went into Oxford, Ohio, tonight and beat the #16 Miami Redhawks
by a score of 3-2, extending MU's losing streak to four games.  Lake Superior is now 6-1-0 on the year,
which is their best start since 1995-1996.

Did I mention the win was in overtime? Yep. Dramatic finishes for the win.

LSSU has (obviously) won 6/7 games this year...I love looking at it as a fraction. It looks so insane that
a tiny school of 3000 students has beaten huge institutions like Michigan State and, tonight, Miami.

They are 3-0 against those two schools.

Better tune in tomorrow night to the game at 7:35pm ET.  Might be another thriller.
Check out the story here: http://www.lssulakers.com/sports/m-hockey/2011-12/releases/LS-MIA1

Now That We've Got That Done...

Here's your first dose of college hockey....remember how to handle this.

Breathe deeply.

Obviously, I don't know what your connection so far is with hockey. But I encourage you to give it a chance. Take some time to check in on a key Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) game this Thursday night.

Conference leader Lake Superior State University, ranked #18 in the NCAA, is visiting #16 Miami (OH) for a game at 7:35 tonight and Friday. Stop by this link, click "Listen Live" and go!

http://www.yesfm.net/

For other score updates, and general college hockey news, visit the best website in the world for collegiate hockey news at http://www.uscho.com/

Take care. Enjoy the games.

Welcome to the Fire...

Welcome to "Fire Away", an opinionated blog that's going take you to the wire as I blog about the world of sports. This isn't some lame run-of-the-mill sports blog either. I'm going to give some pretty hardcore opinions, and I would be thrilled for you to post your agreements.

 And disagreements. 

 And hate. 

 And "I-can't-believe-he-just-wrote-that" anger. 

 My only rule? Keep it clean.

I'd prefer to keep the focus of my posts geared towards college hockey, but you may find some other nuggets  of outside sports buried inside. My co-founder and author Manthan will keep you updated on other sports with some more general posts.  

You'll get doses of all these, so check out something different, but scan and search for what you want to read. I'll keep it simple.

Last thing, then I'm done. Blogs spread by word of mouth. Nothing makes a blogger happier than getting the word out about what he's writing. It makes us feel good.

 I mean, I'd guess it does. This is still the first post.

 I'll keep you informed...and hopefully I'll keep you interested.
 Contact me with what YOU think I should be blogging about or to let me know how to improve. 

Fire away.