Cougar News Sports... 3-12-2008

Jackets playoff hopes on life support

The NHL is now in their final month of the regular season, and it shapes to be an exciting final month of the season for many teams fighting for position. The big question in Central Ohio how much of a fight does the Columbus Blue Jackets have.

The Blue Jackets returned home last Friday night after playing eight of nine games on the road. The team went 4-4-1 in that stretch, and found themselves in the same spot as when they left Detroit nearly four weeks ago; they’re a few wins away from that last spot. But they are starting to run out of time.

Friday night, Columbus faced off with Edmonton. Columbus went 59 minutes and 59 seconds without scoring a goal. With goaltender Pascal Leclaire pulled for an extra attacker, the Blue Jackets collapsed the net and was able to score a goal with less than one second left on the clock. The goal was credited to Dan Fritsche. But just a few minutes later, Edmonton’s Andrew Cogliano scored the game winner in sudden death to send the Blue Jackets onto their seventh straight home loss.

Two days later, Columbus played a game against Tampa Bay who has the second-worst record the NHL. The Jackets got the answer they were looking for. First of all, they got on the board early. 11:29 into the first, Columbus drew first blood as Rich Nash found David Vyborny at the near right point as he beat Lightning goalie Mike Smith. Tampa would tie the game later on in the first.

Columbus got the next two goals thanks to Fritsche challenging Smith who mishandled the puck behind his own net. Fritsche tried to dunk it into the empty net but he and fellow Columbus forward Gilbert Brule whiffed, but Derek Mackenzie was right behind to dunk it in.

“That was a big opportunity, between the three of us; me Dan (Fritsche) and Bru (Brule)
have been working really good on the forecheck and they did a great job tonight getting in and causing a turnover and I was sort of the recipient of a gift-wrapped little goal in the crease,” Mackenzie said.

Michael Peca would give the Jackets a two goal lead when Nikolai Zherdev skating down the right side of the ice found Peca in the high slot who clanged one past Smith’s high glove side. Tampa Bay answered back with a goal by Martin St. Louis. 1:02 later on a Columbus line change, Tampa Bay’s Vincent Lecavalier got on a breakaway and was tripped from behind by a Jackets defender. That prompted the refs to call a penalty shot. Lecavalier finished the job as he scored past Leclaire to tie the game.

In the third, the game became tighter, being played more in the neutral zone with either team not taking many shots. Zherdev gave the Jackets the game winning goal on the power-play when he scored from the left wing with Peca and Jason Chimera screening Smith. Jiri Novotny added in with a goal late to give the Jackets a 5-3 victory.

“When we score three or more goals, with our goaltending our record has been pretty incredible,” Peca said. “We are a team to score at times, but hopefully tonight is a turn in another direction.”

“It was like three different hockey games out there,” Columbus head coach Ken Hitchcock said. “First period, they were over us pretty good, then we got that second goal, played great in the second period. Then all of a sudden, two minute span, bang bang, tied up. Then track meet on in the third.”

After the win, the team finished the week tied for 10th place at 31-28-11 and five points behind eighth place Vancouver with 12 to play. Colorado is next in at seventh place with 80 points. 92 points appears right now to be the magic number to reach the playoffs in the Western Conference. For Columbus to do reach 92 points, they would finish the season no worse than 9-2-1 or 10-2.

“Teams are going up the ladder, and teams are going down the ladder,” Hitchcock said.

Mott ends Cougars’ season

The season came to a close Thursday afternoon for the Columbus State Cougars women’s basketball team as they lost to the Mott Bears in the quarterfinals of the District H NJCAA Tournament 73-60 in Oakland, MI.

Though the Cougars came into the game as the higher seed, they were missing OCCAC First Team point guard Nyesha Watson. Watson was unable to make the trip. She averages 17 points a game and also led the OCCAC in steals and assists.

Kassie Glispie and Tiffany Powell led the Cougars’ backcourt however their shooting was limited to 3-26 combined from the field. Columbus State’s front court kept the team in the game. Center Kerri Imwalle and forward Brenda Carter scored in double-digits and Imwalle also added in with 11 rebounds.

Columbus State got off to a rough start down 17-4 less than seven minutes into the game. The Cougars came back with a 7-0 run and would make it a one point game at halftime.

The Cougars got a lead early in second half when Molly Dinneen scored on a lay-up with
19:07 to play. The Cougars lost the lead but with 14:40 left, Carter blocked a Bears’ shot attempt and made a three pointer of her own to tie the game at 38. 30 seconds later, Carter assisted Imwalle on a layup to give the Cougars a 40-38 lead. This was the last time Columbus State held a lead this season. Over the course of 3:35, Mott went on a 15-0 run to provide the knockout of the Cougars. Columbus State never cut the Bears’ lead below nine.

“My kids played really hard, I was really proud of them,” Columbus State head coach Randy Crites said. “We just ran out of gas and shorthanded.”

Watson has provided a spark for this team all year. She finished second in OCCAC Player of the Year voting. In her most recent game, she scored 30 in an 89-81 victory against Cincinnati Sate who is ranked in the top 20. Crites said the team couldn’t adjust to not having their point guard on the court.

“I think it took us a while to adjust to the fact she wasn’t there because we leaned on her for everything and I think it took the other kids a while to adjust to that – and they did… We were making adjustments we just were shorthanded and couldn’t get things done,” Crites said.

Along with Watson making the conference’s first team, Imwalle was on the conference’s second team and Carter had an honorable mention. Crites felt Watson was a bit more deserving of the Player of the Year award which was handed to Ashley Huddleston of Cincinnati State.

Glispie did not want to comment afterwards on the game; however she was happy with the season.

“We had a great season, and we all had a lot of fun,” she said. I think Ny (Watson) and Kerri (Imwalle) both deserved the selections in the conference! I will miss the girls, and coaches.”

Mott went on to defeat highly ranked Schoolcraft in the semifinals and then followed with a win against the Owens Express in the tile game. The trio of wins gives Mott their second consecutive District title.

“Mott is a pretty deceptive ballclub, they can do a lot of different things,” Crites said. “They had a girl (Mott forward Suzie Jerisk) with 17 at halftime; we didn’t even know who she was. We knew those guards on the outside could shoot.”

Cougars snowed out in Cleveland

Columbus State men's basketball team was scheduled to begin their post-season in the NJCAA District 7 Tournament Saturday, however that was pushed back to Monday. Columbus State won their opening match against six seeded Clark State Monday. They now wait to face the winner of the Sinclair/Cuyahoga game. The winner of the championship game will advance to the NJCAA National Tournament in Davnille, IL.