Weekday Morning Sports – 3/23/16

sportsreport

Sports Radio 1400 WSJM     @wsjmsports     wsjmsports.com     Wednesday, March 23, 2016

NHL – National Hockey League
Last Night
Tampa Bay Lightning 6, Detroit Red Wings 2
Dallas Stars 6, Chicago Blackhawks 2

Lightning 6, Red Wings 2 – Condra scores 2, Lightning down Red Wings 6-2 to tie for 1st
Erik Condra ended a 20-game drought with a pair of goals to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning past the Detroit Red Wings 6-2 on Tuesday night.  Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat each had a goal and an assist, and Vladislav Namestnikov also scored for the Lightning. Brian Boyle, Tyler Johnson and Victor Hedman added two assists apiece.  Tampa Bay tied the Florida Panthers atop the Atlantic Division with 89 points. Both teams have nine games remaining, and the Lightning own the tiebreaker with more non-shootout victories (39-33). Justin Abdelkader and Darren Helm scored for the Red Wings, who were outshot 34-25. Coupled with Philadelphia’s shootout loss at Columbus, Detroit fell into a tie with the Flyers for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, two points behind the New York Islanders. The Red Wings own the tiebreaker with Philadelphia.  However Philadelphia has one game in hand.

Stars 6, Blackhawks 2 – Stars clinch playoff spot with 6-2 victory over Blackhawks
Vernon Fiddler scored two of Dallas’ four goals in the first period, and the Stars clinched a playoff spot with a 6-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night. Dallas stretched its win streak to three and improved to 4-1 against Chicago, outscoring the Stanley Cup champions 20-11 in the season series. Colton Sceviour and Patrick Eaves also scored in the first, and Jamie Benn had two assists in his 500th NHL game. The Stars (44-21-9) lead the Western Conference with 97 points with eight games left on their schedule. They also are on track for their first division title since they took the Pacific in 2006. The Blackhawks played without starting goaltender Corey Crawford for the fourth straight game due to an upper-body injury, and Scott Darling was pulled after Dallas’ big first period. Michael Leighton made 16 saves in his first NHL appearance since Jan. 27, 2013, for Philadelphia at Tampa Bay.

NBA – National Basketball Association
Tonight
Orlando Magic at Detroit Pistons, 7:30 p.m.
New York Knicks at Chicago Bulls, 8:00 p.m.

NBA – Staples Center gets 2018 game
The NBA clearly loves L.A. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver confirmed the All-Star Game is returning to Los Angeles in 2018. Staples Center will host the annual midseason basketball extravaganza two seasons from now. Los Angeles also hosted the All-Stars in 2004 and 2011 at Staples Center. The Los Angeles area will host for the sixth time overall in three arenas.

NCAA Men’s Basketball – Izzo will assist Davis as he explores option of entering NBA
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo says he will assist freshman Deyonta Davis as he considers entering the NBA draft. Izzo had a news conference Tuesday, wrapping up a season that ended with a stunning loss to Middle Tennessee State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Izzo says he isn’t sure if Davis will return for a sophomore season. The 6-foot-10, 240-pound forward is expected to be a first-round pick if he becomes eligible for the draft. Davis averaged 5.5 rebounds and 7.5 points, making nearly 60 percent of his shots. He had nearly two blocks a game and finished with 64 — a freshman mark at the school and second for a season at Michigan State.

NCAA Men’s Basketball – Men’s NIT – Valpo, BYU to meet in NIT semifinal
Alec Peters scored 20 points for his seventh straight 20-plus game and Valparaiso advanced to its first NIT semifinals with a 60-44 victory against Saint Mary’s. Valpo will play BYU in the semifinals. BYU advanced to the semifinals as well by beating Creighton 88-82. Zac Selijaas led the Cougars with 19. Tonight’s games feature Florida hosting George Washington and Georgia Tech at San Diego State. The semifinals will be played a week from Tuesday in New York’s Madison Square Garden with the championship game Thursday, March 31 at the World’s Most Famous Arena.

MLB – Major League Baseball – Spring Training
Yesterday
Toronto Blue Jays 16, Detroit Tigers 1
Chicago White Sox 8, San Francisco Giants (ss) 7
Chicago Cubs 9, Cincinnati Reds 6

Blue Jays 16, Tigers 1 – Norris leaves with back trouble, Blue Jays beat Tigers 16-1
Tigers starter Daniel Norris exited because of tightness in his lower back after getting just one out and Toronto Blue Jays went on to beat Detroit 16-1 Tuesday.  Norris, competing for the final spot in the rotation, gave up three runs on three hits and two walks. Norris was scratched from his previous start over the weekend because of a stiff back. He is considered day-to-day. Troy Tulowitzki homered and drove in five runs. Darrell Ceciliani also homered for Toronto. Blue Jays starter Drew Hutchison gave up one run in four innings.

White Sox 8, Giants (ss) 7 – Rollins homers, White Sox beat Giants’ split squad 8-7
Jimmy Rollins hit his third home run of the spring and the Chicago White Sox defeated a San Francisco Giants split squad 8-7 Tuesday. Ex-Giant Travis Ishikawa followed Rollins’ three-run shot with a tiebreaking homer. Both came off Cory Gearrin in the sixth inning. Austin Jackson also homered for the White Sox, his first of the spring. Brandon Belt and Miguel Olivo homered for San Francisco. Jake Peavy started for the Giants and after a rough beginning settled down, striking out eight in 4 2/3 innings. Chicago starter Mat Latos, making his first Cactus League appearance, gave up 11 hits and seven runs in 4 2/3 innings.

Cubs 9, Reds 6 – Rizzo homers, Hammel solid in Cubs’ 9-6 win over Reds
Anthony Rizzo hit his second home run for the Chicago Cubs and Jason Hammel pitched five solid innings Tuesday in a 9-6 win over the Cincinnati Reds. Hammel allowed one earned run and three hits in his longest outing of the spring. Alfredo Simon, who recently signed with the Reds, pitched three perfect innings in his first outing and struck out four. Devin Mesoraco, who is building stamina following hip surgery, hit his second homer for the Reds. Two other Reds who started spring training slowly also contributed _ Zack Cozart had two hits and Billy Hamilton walked, stole a base and scored a run.

Today
Chicago Cubs vs. Texas Rangers at Surprise, Ariz., 4:05 p.m.
San Diego Padres vs. Chicago White Sox at Glendale, Ariz., 4:05 p.m.
Tigers are off

MLB – Rays win, diplomatically
In a landmark game attended by presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro, the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Cuban national team 4-1 in the first visit by a major league team to the communist island since 1999. The near-capacity crowd at Estadio Latinoamericano roared as Obama and Castro entered and walked toward their seats right behind home plate, waving to fans and greeting other dignitaries.

NFL – League owners change some rules
The NFL owners have outlawed the chop block and confirmed extra point attempts will be permanently snapped from the 15-yard line. Those were among a number of rule changes owners signed off on at their meetings.  Other changes involved coach-to-player communications from the sideline as well as the press box; adding a delay-of-game penalty to a team that calls a timeout when it has none remaining; removing a 5-yard penalty for a receiver illegally touching a pass after being out of bounds; the expansion of what is called a horse-collar tackle to cover the nameplate on the back of jerseys and eliminating multiple spots of enforcement for a double foul after a change of possession.
NCAA Hockey – Notre Dame joining the Big Ten… only for Hockey.
The University of Notre Dame has been courted by the Big Ten conference for decades, but the Irish continue to say no, mostly because of the school’s football program.   However Notre Dame is saying yes to the Big Ten in one sport, ice hockey.  Starting in the 2017-18 season, the Fighting Irish will join the six school Big Ten hockey conference.    Currently only 6 of the Big Ten schools support ice hockey.  Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, and relative newcomer Penn State.   Notre Dame will spend one more season playing in Hockey East, which accepted the Irish after the breakup of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association in 2013.  Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State were also members of that conference with Notre Dame. Michigan will face Notre Dame in round 1 of the NCAA Hockey tournament Friday in Cincinnati.

AHL – American Hockey League
Last Night
San Antonio Rampage 2, Grand Rapids Griffins 1

Tonight
Charlotte Checkers at Chicago Wolves, 8:00 p.m.

ECHL – East Coast Hockey League
Last Night
Kalamazoo Wings 2, Adirondack Thunder 0
Wheeling Nailers 4, Toledo Walleye 0

Tonight
Kalamazoo Wings at Reading Royals, 7:00 p.m.

MHSAA – High School Sports
Yesterday
Boys Basketball Quarterfinals
Class B at Vicksburg
Lakeshore 51, Hudsonville Unity Christian 45 – OT

  • Lakeshore advanced to the Class B State Semi-finals with a 51-45 win over Unity Christian.  The Lancers led by as many as 13 at one point.  The Crusaders rallied to force overtime only to see Braden Burke score six of his 13 points for Lakeshore.  Logan Steffes led the Lancers with a game high 17 points.  Lakeshore (19-7) will take on Big Rapids (23-2) Friday night at MSU’s Breslin Center in the semis at 7:50 p.m.

Today – Opening of Spring Sports
Girls Soccer
St. Joseph at Vicksburg, 6:45 p.m.
Lake Michigan Catholic at Lawton, 5:00 p.m.
Hartford at Cassopolis, 5:00 p.m.
Okemos at Gull Lake, 6:45 p.m.

Baseball
Paw Paw at Lawton, 4:30 p.m.

Softball
Paw Paw at Lawton, 4:30 p.m.