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The Setonian
Sports

Field Hockey | The times they are a-changin'

October 28

    It has been said that elephants never forget. And the Jumbos are no exception.     Last year, the Bowdoin Polar Bears iced the Tufts field hockey team in both the NESCAC and NCAA championship games. The last time the two NESCAC foes met, the Jumbos fell in a 3-2 double-overtime loss in the 2008 NCAA championship game. Understandably, the Jumbos have had a lot on their minds as they prepare to face Bowdoin again — including payback. In this Friday's bookend game to the regular season against the Polar Bears, the nationally ranked No. 5 Jumbos will have their chance at revenge.     After solidifying their place in NESCAC field hockey history by winning two consecutive national championships, the Polar Bears have lost ground this season. Bowdoin was 39-2 in the last two seasons of play, sporting the highest winning percentage in the country, but has slipped to 4-4 in NESCAC play this season. Currently, Bowdoin sits sixth in the NESCAC standings, while ranked 12th nationally. This marks the first time since 2004 that the NESCAC powerhouse has dropped from the top ten list.     "It's definitely a new Bowdoin team this year," junior midfielder Tamara Brown explained. "That said, they have great fundamentals, strong formations and excellent coaching, so we're not writing them off. It'll be interesting to see their new team, and it's an exciting feeling to play them again."     The defending national champions graduated some of their most prominent players at the end of their championship season, including two-time NESCAC Player of the Year forward Lindsay McNamara. With McNamara, a major offensive force who holds the records for the most goals in a game, season and career in the history of the Bowdoin program, and other playmakers gone, the question in Tufts' locker room continues to be how the Bowdoin squad will have changed on the field since last season.     "We're all very excited to play Bowdoin, but we understand that it's not going to exactly be a rematch," senior co-captain Margi Scholtes said. "We're both different teams, and although it's an emotional matchup, we want to make sure to keep things in perspective in light of this year ... McNamara and the other seniors who graduated were key to the Bowdoin team last season, but so were our captains that graduated last May ... It's hard to tell what we're getting, but it'll be different than last year's matchups."     Though Bowdoin may not be up to par compared to its performances in past seasons, the Polar Bears still pose a serious threat to the Jumbos. While Bowdoin holds a 9-4 overall record, it is 6-1 at home, suffering its last Ryan Field loss in September to Middlebury. Additionally, the return of players like senior forward Shavonne Lord, who scored in the national championship game, should keep Tufts on guard.     Moreover, in the event that the Jumbos are eliminated from the upcoming NESCAC tournament, they are going to need to sport a strong regular season record for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament in late November, meaning every game counts.     "The NESCAC has been different this year," Brown said. "It seems to be more competitive, just based on some of the close games and upsets like Wesleyan's win over Bowdoin earlier this year. We're going to have to study our opponents, no matter what their reputation, because anyone can win any given day."     With the regular season coming to a close this Friday, the Jumbos look ahead to the start of the NESCAC tournament beginning Sunday. Having clinched the second seed with its win over Bates, Tufts will enjoy home-field advantage for at least the quarterfinal round of play. With the seventh seed still undecided, the Tufts squad could face off against either Wesleyan or Connecticut College, depending on which one of the NESCAC teams emerges victorious in their deciding matchup Friday. With the postseason on the horizon, the Jumbos are looking forward to a fresh start.     "Obviously we are excited about playing at Bello Field," Brown said. "There's a psychological advantage to playing on your own turf ... We've been there before and we know what to expect so hopefully we'll have a better outcome this season."

The Setonian
Sports

Inside NHL | Glory days: Avs look to return to dynasty form

October 28

     Rewind to the 1995-96 NHL season. The Colorado Avalanche, formerly the Quebec Nordiques, was beginning its first season since making the move to Denver, and Walt Disney himself could not have written a happier start for the young franchise. Led by captain Joe Sakic, forward Peter Forsberg and goalie Patrick Roy, the Avs brought the Stanley Cup back to Colorado in their first year of existence.     The next year, the Avs seized the Presidents' Trophy for finishing with the best regular season record in the entire league. Quickly endearing themselves to their new hometown fans, the Avs in the late '90s were simply one of those legendary hockey dynasties that people will continue to talk about for a very long time.     It seemed for a time that Colorado would continue to dominate the hockey scene, winning its division every year until 2003-04, including a second Stanley Cup victory in the 2000-2001 season. The Avalanche's nine consecutive division titles broke the former NHL record of eight, set by the Montreal Canadiens between 1974 and 1982.     But despite their early franchise success, the Avalanche has failed to advance past the Western Conference Semifinals since 2001-02. Why? Roy retired in 2003; Forsberg was injured the entire 2001-2002 season, and only played in 39 of 82 games in 2003-2004 before finally being traded out of frustration to the Philadelphia Flyers in 2005; and by 2006-07 Sakic and Milan Hejduk were the only remnants of the 2001-02 Stanley Cup squad. This past summer, Sakic, the Avs' captain and 13-time all-star, retired, marking the end of an era for the Colorado Avalanche.     But instead of fading into the background of the NHL, the Avalanche currently sits atop the Northwest division. Not only that, the Avalanche is above Canadian powerhouses Calgary and Vancouver, and has the league lead in points with 20, ahead of the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins by two points.     Surprisingly, little has changed in the Colorado franchise over the last year. While teams like the Flyers and the Chicago Blackhawks were busy making blockbuster trades, the Avs quietly signed Florida Panthers' backup goalie Craig Anderson to a two-year deal.     Last year with Florida, Anderson posted a lackluster 15 wins in 31 games. The Avs were ready to roll with goaltender Peter Budaj in the No. 1 spot come October, but Anderson stole the job in training camp with stellar play and game readiness.     In addition, rough-and-tumble forward Darcy Tucker, who posted only 16 points in last year's campaign with the Avs, has started the 2009-10 season with impressive offensive vigor, putting up four goals, two assists and four power-play points in 10 games. Unfortunately for Colorado, Tucker is out indefinitely after Ottawa Senators pest Jarkko Ruutu crushed him face-first into the boards last Friday.     On the bright side, the Avalanche has been getting much more than it ever imagined from its young core early in the season. Wojtek Wolski, Colorado's first round pick in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, looks like he could be heading for a breakout season, already having picked up seven goals and five assists in 12 games. Tied with Wolski for the team lead in points is Paul Stastny, son of former Nordiques legend Peter Stastny, who has four goals and eight assists this season.     At only 23 years of age, Stastny is quickly helping to fill the void at center left by Sakic's retirement, along with prospect Matt Duchene. Selected third overall in last year's entry draft, Duchene wasn't expected to make the team's roster this year. But given the opportunity, he has played effectively, with six points so far this season.     Perhaps the most pleasant surprise for the Avalanche thus far has been the exceptional play of Ryan O'Reilly, whom the Avalanche picked up in the second round of last year's draft in July. O'Reilly is a force to be reckoned with in the faceoff dot and has notched 10 points on two goals and eight assists, along with a team best +10 rating on the year. Colorado coach Joe Sacco has taken notice of the rookie's responsible defensive play, entrusting O'Reilly with a spot on the Avs' penalty kill.     As often is the case with success, this year's Avalanche squad isn't one of those teams that really dazzles you with offensive skill or spectacular goaltending, but it's a team that works hard every night and gets the job done. No Alexander Ovechkins or Martin Brodeurs here — just an entire team of guys that wins those battles in the corner, gets the puck deep in the zone, pays the price in front of the net and scores greasy goals. Hard work and good defense wins games, and so far the Avalanche has shown that they are more than ready to put in that effort.

The Setonian
Sports

Ethan Landy | Call Me Junior

October 27

This past weekend, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hosted my New England Patriots. But instead of the Patriots going to Tampa Bay, they jetted off to London to play in Wembley Stadium. I suppose that is an upgrade.     Now, I am not a fan of the NFL's London-game gimmick, but that is not my biggest concern. I am much more interested in the comment that Patriots owner Robert Kraft made when he was asked about the possibility of the league eventually placing a franchise in the capital of the United Kingdom.     "I really believe it'd be the right thing to do sometime in the next decade," Kraft told the Boston Herald. "There should be a franchise here."     Fair enough, Mr. Kraft. London has brought us some great things — Led Zeppelin, fish and chips and David Beckham. Okay, scratch that last one. But why have an NFL team there? Forget about the crazy traveling logistics that this would entail or the fact that if there were more than a single game in London during the year, the novelty would probably wear off. Instead, think about the problem that has plagued so many other leagues: over-expansion.     Let's start with the NBA. In the last two years, there was talk amongst the league that increasing global popularity should be capitalized upon by putting teams in Europe. There was even discussion in early 2008 outlining five teams being placed there. The NBA saw success in preseason games in which the league's stars were showcased in European cities like London, Barcelona and Berlin just last year, and David Stern was talking about the prospect of putting an NBA team in Europe within the next decade.     That was first mentioned in 2003. Flash forward to the preseason this year. While the Denver Nuggets traveled to Asia and the Utah Jazz and Chicago Bulls met at the O2 Arena in London, the league scaled back its push to expand its overseas market. And, while Stern would like to put a regular season game in London, doing so seems less realistic now than it did years ago.     In fact, instead of expanding, the NBA might have to contract. The Sacramento Kings and Memphis Grizzlies both averaged fewer than 13,000 fans a game last year and are struggling with economic issues. And for the record, that Memphis team originally was the Vancouver Grizzlies, founded in 1995. How'd that expansion attempt go?     Then there is the NHL, where the Phoenix Coyotes already filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. Though the most recent Stanley Cup Finals enjoyed its highest ratings in years (thanks to the star power of Sidney Crosby and the Detroit Red Wings), it is still not the most popular of sports.     In my mind, that is because there are too many teams. Do we really need to see hockey played in Phoenix, Atlanta or Nashville? Too often the prospect of increased league revenue tantalizes commissioners and owners, making them forget about the failures that litter many expansion teams.     The NFL is probably the most popular league in all of pro sports, but that is not a reason to oversaturate the market. It isn't like there are no bad teams out there — witness the Cleveland Browns or St. Louis Rams. And with all the stories of games being blacked out locally, shouldn't the league focus on those places that are not supporting their teams (that's you, Jacksonville) before it starts thinking about conjuring up new franchises?     In addition, hockey and basketball actually have leagues overseas. The NFL might be popular in London on TV, but that is not an indication that a uniquely American sport will be sustainable in a foreign market.     I know it is tempting to globalize football as a product, but the problems that would arise from such a decision would far outweigh any good that could come from it.     Anyway, why mess with a good thing?  

The Setonian
Sports

Five reasons why the Yankees will claim their 27th crown

October 27

Winners of 26 World Series titles, the New York Yankees are the most storied franchise in the history of major North American sports. All that's in the way of the Yankees adding to that record total is the Philadelphia Phillies, who, with their explosive lineup and top-of-the-rotation strength, are certainly a formidable foe. However, not even the defending champions can stop the Yankees from claiming title No. 27, and here are the top five reasons why:

The Setonian
Sports

Phillies have what it takes to repeat as champions

October 27

The last team to repeat as World Series champions was the New York Yankees, who won three World Series in a row from 1998-2000. No National League team has accomplished the back-to-back feat since the 1975-1976 Cincinnati Reds.

The Setonian
Sports

Men's Crew | Tufts overcomes illness, fatigue to end fall season

October 26

After a successful run at the Head of the Charles, the men's crew team continued to show promising talent at the Head of the Fish Regatta in Saratoga, N.Y. this past weekend. Despite the cold weather and strong winds, the Jumbos persevered and finished the race pleased with their accomplishments.

The Setonian
Sports

Volleyball | Jumbos take home Hall of Fame Tournament championship

October 26

For the past two seasons, the Tufts women's volleyball team has ventured to Smith College for the annual Hall of Fame Tournament to test its skills against the best in New England only to come up short on the final day in the championship bracket. But on Saturday, this year's Jumbos squad broke new ground, sweeping perennial rival Williams to capture Tufts' first ever Hall of Fame Tournament championship.

The Setonian
Sports

Daily Digits

October 26

316 - Rushing yards for the New York Jets in their 38-0 rout of the Oakland Raiders on Sunday. Starter Thomas Jones chipped in with 122 yards and rookie Shonn Greene added 141 of his own, as Gang Green became the second team to torch Oakland's NFL-worst run defense for at least 300 yards on the ground in as many weeks.

The Setonian
Sports

The Sauce

October 25

In the past week, I've heard a lot about how Joe Girardi has done his best to blow the ALCS for the Yankees. I've heard about his so-called catastrophic mistakes (more on those later), and a number of fellow Yankees fans have talked to me about how they miss the days of Joe Torre.

The Setonian
Soccer

Athletes of the Week

October 25

Dena Feiger, Volleyball - In this past weekend's Hall of Fame Invitational at Smith College, senior co-captain Dena Feiger made her mark. The 25-2 women's volleyball team earned a first place finish, and Feiger won the title of Tournament MVP along the way.

The Setonian
Sports

Ethan Frigon | The Beard Abides

October 22

Too fried from a week of midterms and papers to come up with a coherent column idea for this week, I've decided to use this space to rant about a couple of recent beefs I've had with sports broadcasting.     One is the obnoxious tendency of football play-by-play and color guys to refer to quarterbacks, and only quarterbacks, solely by their first names. As far as I can remember, the trend started a few years ago with Ben Roethlisberger, probably because it was his rookie year, and some announcer was too lazy to learn how to pronounce his last name. Since then, the trend has spread to other quarterbacks, with announcers sounding particularly chummy when referring to not only Ben, but also Tom (Brady), Brett (Favre), Peyton and Eli (Manning), Carson (Palmer) and Drew (Brees).     This trend has not, however, spread to other positions. I have yet to hear anyone refer to Adrian Peterson as just Adrian or Randy Moss as Randy. It may just be coincidence that it's quarterbacks who get the first name treatment; it could also be a matter of convenience, as I would guess announcers use the quarterback's name more throughout the course of a game than any other player's.     But I'm going to choose a more sinister motivation: latent racism. Most football announcers are white, as are most NFL quarterbacks. The NFL at large, meanwhile, is over 70 percent black. I'm not accusing announcers of any active feelings of dislike for players of a different race, I just think it's a possibility that on some level, some announcers feel more comfortable with players of their own race and are more likely to show that affection by talking about them on a first-name basis. Whether or not this is the case, hearing a grown man in a football uniform referred to as "Ben" makes me want to punch Joe Buck in the face.     The second trend, one that seems a lot more benign, is sports media's — and most especially SportsCenter's — habit of inundating the average sports fan with utterly useless statistics. For example, I learned on SportsCenter that Jimmy Rollins' game-winning double against the Dodgers on Monday night was the first walk-off extra base hit with a team one out away from losing since Kirk Gibson's 1988 World Series walk-off home run. I can speak from experience that pulling out a fact like that absolutely makes ladies melt. Every time.     Later that night, I learned that the Chargers-Broncos game was the first in NFL history in which both teams returned a punt for a touchdown and one of the teams also had the same player who returned the punt for a touchdown return a kickoff for a touchdown. Now that's vital information for your everyday life.     I blame two things for the increasing prevalence of ridiculous stats like these: fantasy sports and Wikipedia.com. Fantasy sports have made the average sports fan hyper-aware of statistical accomplishments, to the point where there's a decent subset of the population that actually cares about stats like these. And Wikipedia — because where else could information like that come from? I think I'll start throwing up random stats on Wikipedia, and I bet it'll take me less than a week to get one on SportsCenter.     Aww, who am I kidding? I really love all the extra information. When SportsCenter told me that Eddie Royal was the 11th NFL player to return a kickoff and punt for touchdowns in the same game, my first thought was, "Come on, who were the first 10?"

The Setonian
Sports

Inside the NHL | Roster shakeup sparks Bruins to action

October 22

    You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. Or at least that's what they say. But try telling that to the Boston Bruins' management.     After a mediocre 3-4-0 start to the season that has left the Bruins sitting near the bottom of the league in key categories such as goals scored, power play percentage and penalty kill percentage, the Bruins' prospects to repeat as the best team in the Eastern Conference have not looked good so far. To make matters worse, the B's have recently had to place premier forwards Milan Lucic and Marc Savard on the long-term injured reserve, leaving some gaping holes on their already patchy roster.     Not one to just wait and hope for the best, Bruins' general manager Peter Chiarelli has shown that he is willing to do whatever it takes to fill the voids left by his injured stars and jumpstart his squad. On Sunday, Chiarelli dealt struggling winger Chuck Kobasew to the Minnesota Wild for second-round draft picks, and fewer than 48 hours later, he moved again, this time acquiring former first-round draft pick Daniel Paille from the Buffalo Sabres.     The Kobasew trade helped to clear up some cap space and allowed the team to call up talented young forwards Brad Marchand and Vladimir Sobotka from the Bruins' minor league affiliate in Providence. Both youngsters have had outstanding performances with Providence thus far and have been among the Baby Bruins' top three scorers. But what Chiarelli and coach Claude Julien are really looking for from the duo is some added physicality and grit, which the Bruins have certainly been lacking this year.     The hope for Paille was similar. Though Paille has yet to live up to the hype that surrounded him prior to the 2002 draft, he is known as a hard-nosed and gutsy forward who can contribute positively both on the defensive end and on the penalty kill — two things the B's desperately need.     "[Paille has] all the attributes to be a good penalty killer," said Julien at Wednesday's morning skate. "He's got speed, obviously he's got grit, he's done a good job in Buffalo in that regard, and he's a guy that obviously takes pride in killing penalties, so [he] certainly should help us in that area, and we certainly plan on giving him that opportunity to do that with our team."     So when the Bruins took to the ice against the Nashville Predators on Wednesday night for the first time since the recent wheeling and dealing, no one knew just how they would react. It didn't take long to find out.     Playing on the first line with Patrice Bergeron and Michael Ryder, Marchand validated his promotion by notching the first point of his NHL career. With the Bruins down 1-0 at the start of the second period after struggling to find any rhythm in the first, Marchand fed Ryder in the slot for a nifty backhand goal just 26 seconds into the middle frame, knotting the score at 1-1. In just his first game, Marchand provided both offensive output and a newfound energy to the floundering Bruins.     "When I first got up here, I was with Bergy and Ryder, and I just would do what I could to bring a little offense to the table," Marchand said. "But the same thing the coaches have been talking about for the past three or four days now is just competing and bringing as much energy to the table as you can. I just wanted to work hard and bring as much energy as I possibly could."     Unfortunately for the Bruins, the Predators struck back fewer than five minutes later, when an outside shot took an awkward bounce off of B's goalie Tim Thomas' shoulder, and Nashville's Colin Wilson was able to poke in the easy goal to retake the lead 2-1.     That marked a turning point for the Bruins, and from there on out, the game's momentum shifted. As Boston's lines started to click, the team was able to mount the consistent offensive effort that it had been lacking throughout the first half of the contest — and the season. Scrapping for pucks in front of the net and upping the pressure on Predators goalie Dan Ellis, the Bruins soon broke through again. Not surprisingly, it was the Bergeron-Ryder-Marchand line that was responsible once more.     After Ellis managed to hold off a flurry of shots, the puck made its way back to Bruins captain Zdeno Chara at the point. Chara fired on net, and Bergeron was able to tip it in past Ellis at 12:38 for his third goal of the season, evening the score at 2-2.     "I think that [in] the first period, we were trying to get a feel for each other, and we were kind of playing on our heels a little bit," Julien said. "It obviously wasn't a good period for us. At some point you have to start playing to win and start having confidence in your team. We seemed to get better. I felt like our lines got a lot better as the game went on. Hopefully that bodes well."     Though no one was to score again for the remainder of the period, the ice had clearly begun to tilt in Boston's favor, and all the new faces were starting to show why they had been brought in.     "I didn't feel that it was the line combinations [that caused the slow start]," Julien said. "I felt that everybody, even players that have been here, [was] playing tentative and playing on their heels. Basically we were playing not to lose. That happens sometimes when you go through these kinds of stretches.     "The confidence level is certainly not where it should be," Julien continued. "We have to start to rebuild and get that confidence. Confidence gives you more energy. I thought that as the game went on we started feeling better about ourselves. I thought that we did a good job at keeping the puck in their end, protecting it and creating some chances later in the game."     That confidence was evident from the time the puck dropped at the start of the third period. The Bruins kept the Predators on the defensive end for the majority of the period and peppered Ellis with quality shots throughout the frame. While to that point it was mainly the first line carrying the offense, everyone began to get in on the action in the final frame.     Nearing the halfway point in the period, Paille made his first major contribution to his new squad when his wraparound attempt produced a juicy rebound that line mate Steve Begin was able to cash in on. Begin's goal would prove to be the game winner  thanks to continued offensive pressure by the Bruins and a strong 13-save third period effort by Thomas — including a major last-second stand — that allowed the Bruins to hold on for a much-needed 3-2 victory.     With the new kids on the block already looking comfortable in their roles and the entire squad looking energetic and confident for the first time in a while, it seems that the roster shakeup has served its purpose and that the Bruins are playing solid hockey again.     "It's always a little difficult when new guys are brought in, new faces in the dressing room," Paille said. "It's a lot more difficult on the guys, but we got a great group of guys, I think we are all clicking pretty good. I think tomorrow will be a little better and on Saturday will be even better."

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