Sporting Madness

I'll be live-blogging tonight's Game I clash between the Vancouver Canucks and the Chicago Blackhawks, perhaps with some of the other Out of Left Field staff. The puck will drop at 9:00 p.m. Eastern (6:00 p.m. Pacific). The game will be on CBC in Canada and Versus in the United States. A full preview of the series is after the jump. Vancouver - Chicago live blog How they got here: Vancouver swept St. Louis in four games, but the series was closer than it appeared. Every game was a hard-fought battle and the Blues, the league's hottest team over the last couple of months of the regular season, gave Vancouver a run for their money. Conversely, it took Chicago six games to knock off the Calgary Flames, but Games Five and Six were 5-1 and 4-1 blowouts for the Blackhawks. Chicago's had two full off-days to recuperate, so fatigue shouldn't be too much of an issue for them. Vancouver's been off for nine days, which could make the Canucks a little slow out of the gate...

Time for a quick update in my playoff bracket standings. After Round 1, I'm leading with 24 points. I managed to get all eight series right in terms of winners (beating all of the TSN experts ), but only predicted the exact number of games (six) in the Pittsburgh-Philadelphia series. Still, my bracket is still intact, which has to be seen as a victory. My father, Frank Bucholtz , is hot on my heels with 23 points; he picked seven out of eight series correctly, but figured that the Devils would knock off Carolina. However, he got two series exactly right: Pittsburgh in six and Washington in seven. New Queen's Journal co-editor-in-chief Mike Woods and Canadian University Press board guy extraordinaire Ricardo Bortolon are tied for third place with 19 points each. Both picked New Jersey and San Jose to advance incorrectly. Mike was dead-on on the Washington series, while Ricardo called the Detroit sweep. My mother brings up the rear with 14 points; she incorrectly picked Calg...

Here's the final post from my series of interviews for this piece for The Good Point on free agency in the NFL, featuring an extended interview with Kevin Ewoldt of the great Washington Redskins site Hogs Haven . Previous posts in this series include my interviews with Sean Yuille of Pride of Detroit and Michael Bean of Behind the Steel Curtain . My questions and Kevin's answers are below, with minor edits for clarity. I also highly recommend this recent post from his site, comparing the Redskins' front office to those of the Patriots and Colts, and this older interview with Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis about the Capitals' franchise-building philosophy and how that might translate to football. Andrew Bucholtz: Is there any free-agent signing by the Redskins over the last two decades that stands out as particularly bad to you? Did it seem like a bad idea at the time, or did it prove that way in retrospect? Kevin Ewoldt: There are a lot: Deion Sanders ...

Welcome to the first match of the Chris Cummins era. Can TFC repeat their success from Wednesday night's win over TFC? Find out in the live blog below. Kickoff is at 5 p.m. Eastern/2 p.m. Pacific. You can check out the It's Called Football pregame show here, featuring Michael Kuhn of Down the Byline . Toronto FC - Kansas City

Yesterday's news that New York Rangers head coach John Tortorella would be suspended by the league for today's Game Six against the Washington Capitals after squirting a fan with water and throwing a water bottle into the crowd [ James Mirtle , From The Rink ] was interesting, but not unique. Of course, Tortorella is famous for his temper; this video of him tearing a strip off Larry Brooks of the New York Post is hilarious, but it shows that he perhaps isn't the most controlled coach in the world. It's also worth noting that this came after he benched Sean Avery for Game Five for his own lack of control. However, the most interesting part about this story is that assistant coach/assistant GM Jim Schoenfeld is going to replace Tortorella behind the bench. Schoenfeld, of course, was famously involved in a similar situation back in the 1988 Prince of Wales Conference Finals when he was coaching the New Jersey Devils: Yep, it's that Jim Schoenfeld who confronted ...

It's the clash of the northwest titans, and an early preview of a 2011 MLS rivalry. The Vancouver Whitecaps take on the Portland Timbers at Swangard Stadium in USL action. Join me in the live blog below! Whitecaps - Timbers live blog

Just a quick note that I'll be live-blogging the Vancouver-Portland game tonight (the battle of the 2011 expansion teams!) and the Toronto FC - Kansas City game tomorrow here and at The 24th Minute . Kickoff tonight is at 10 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Pacific. Tomorrow, it's 4:30 p.m. Eastern/1:30 p.m. Pacific. Come join in the fun then!

It turns out there was much more to Toronto FC John Carver abandoning the bench to watch Wednesday's victory over Chivas USA than I thought . Paul Attfield of The Globe and Mail suggests that part of the reason for Carver's departure may have been a lack of support from team management, particularly regarding his $750 fine after Sunday's loss. However, the club's announcement only mentioned " personal reasons " [ Goal.com ]. Carver spent just over a year with Toronto, recording a 11-15-10 record since taking over the franchise last February. It was by far his longest run at the helm of a franchise; he spent one game as interim manager at Newcastle United and five more as interim manager at Luton Town. Most of his other experience came as a coach and assistant manager. That's what makes this decision somewhat curious, particularly considering its timing. Carver's record with TFC was good but not great. It might be enough to get him another MLS head...

All the hype at the moment is around tomorrow's NFL draft, but it's important to remember that free agency plays just as important of a part in the offseason. One team that will be watched closely in both the draft and free agency is the Detroit Lions, who went 0-16 last year and are in full-on rebuilding mode. They hold the #1 and #20 overall picks, plus a second-rounder, two third-rounders, two sixth-rounders and a seventh-round pick, so the draft will be a key part of the turnaround; they've already agreed to a deal to give anticipated #1 pick Matthew Stafford more guaranteed money than any player in NFL history [ Kevin Seifert , ESPN.com]. The team may be active in the free agent market as well, though, and it will be interesting to watch and see what they do there. As part of the preparation for this piece on free agency at The Good Point , I spoke with Sean Yuille of Pride of Detroit , the SB Nation Lions blog, about the team's historical moves in free agency ...

Last night's 1-0 victory for Toronto FC over league-leaders Chivas USA was simultaneously the best of times and the worst of times for the franchise. On the pitch, it was a tremendous success. Despite the absence of Dwayne De Rosario , the team turned in a solid performance and gave Chivas their first loss of the season. That's pretty stunning, considering that Ives had Chivas at the top and TFC 14th in his most recent power rankings . It was also the first home win of the season for Toronto and an impressive showing from many of their players. Amado Guevara , Adrian Serioux and Danny Dichio were particularly effective. Even that success came with caveats, though. For one thing, Chivas was missing several of their stars thanks to injury, including Ante Razov and Maykel Galindo . For another, Guevara's impressive performance appeared largely due to him having more room to operate with De Rosario out. That's good news for the moment, as De Rosario is expected to miss...

There's big news in today's Globe and Mail from columnist David Shoalts (as well as Jeff Blair , Roy MacGregor , Paul Waldie , Andrew Willis and Jane Taber ) on the idea of another NHL team for Toronto, which I initially wrote about back in October . Then, it was informal conversations between NHL governors; now, it's moved on to a two-and-a-half hour meeting between deputy commissioner Bill Daly and a group of interested businesspeople. Sounds like it's getting more serious by the minute. The primary problem involved in bringing a new team into southern Ontario is getting the Maple Leafs and Buffalo Sabres to go along with it thanks to their territorial rights. This is where location becomes a key issue, and it's more of an issue for the Sabres than it is for the Leafs. The Leafs already have a huge market to draw from with the massive suburban population of Toronto, and they're in incredibly good financial shape. There's an almost inexhaustible demand...

[Photo from BSketti ] The Guardian is reporting that Roy Keane may return to English football as the manager of Championship side Ipswich Town. This is a terrific move in my view. As I wrote back when he left Sunderland, Keane has shown his managerial chops before, especially in the Championship; he took a mediocre side up to the Premiership and then held them there. I speculated back then that backroom intrigue involving owner Ellis Short may have been involved in his exit from Sunderland, and it appears that that may have been the case . Keane was far from perfect as a Premier League manager, especially in the transfer market, but he was learning and there's a good chance he'll be able to do well there in the future. This looks like a good situation for Keane as well. Jim Magilton was just fired , but the team isn't actually in bad shape. They're ninth out of 24 Championship squads at the moment and have some decent talent, including 22-year-old Argentine winge...

It's Wednesday night MLS action from Toronto's BMO Field! For a video preview, check out the It's Called Football pre-game show ; if text-based previews are more your style, Jason has a good one at Match Fit USA . Put away the hockey jerseys, don your scarves and join me in the live blog below! Toronto FC - Chivas USA live blog

I've been working on an extensive piece for The Good Point on NFL free agency for most of the last month, and finally finished it off the other day; check it out if you're interested in a look at how different NFL teams view free agency and the strengths and weaknesses of certain approaches. Tremendous thanks are due to Will Leitch of Deadspin and New York Magazine , Michael Bean (Blitzburgh) of Behind The Steel Curtain , Sean Yuille of Pride of Detroit and Kevin Ewoldt of Hogs Haven for taking the time to answer my questions. They all have a great understanding of the NFL and how their teams approach free agency. Of course, space restrictions and the thematic approach I took meant that I couldn't fit all the information I received from these guys into my article, so I figured I'd run some of the interviews here as companion pieces. First up, Michael Bean . Michael runs Behind The Steel Curtain , one of the best and most popular Pittsburgh Steelers blogs on th...

Join me in the live blog below! Vancouver Whitecaps - Austin Aztex

A quick note that I'll be live-blogging both tonight's Vancouver Whitecaps - Austin Aztex match (8:30 p.m. Eastern/5:30 p.m. Pacific, usllive.com) and tomorrow's Toronto FC - Chivas USA match (7:30 p.m. Eastern/4:30 p.m. Pacific, GolTV). Join me here or at The 24th Minute for either or both!

I'll be live-blogging tonight's Toronto FC - FC Dallas match. Game time is 7:00 p.m. Eastern, and it's on GOLTV. Come join me here then! Toronto FC - FC Dallas live blog

I'll be live-blogging tonight's USL game between the Vancouver Whitecaps and the Puerto Rico Islanders both here and at The 24th Minute . My match preview is already up over there. Check it out, and then join me in the live blog at 7 p.m. Eastern! Whitecaps - Islanders live blog

Yes, this is a little late, but seeing James Mirtle 's playoff bracket yesterday inspired me to create my own. Unfortunately, it's nowhere near as pretty, but it's functional. If you're interested in joining my bracket pool for fun, just go to Simply Sports Ware ; the pool name is SportingMadness and the password is Sporting. The pick deadline is Friday night at 7 p.m.; that will allow picks to be made after one game in every series has been played. Let's see who comes out on top! Here's my picks: Round One: West: - Vancouver over St. Louis in six games. - Anaheim over San Jose in seven games - Detroit over Columbus in six games - Chicago over Calgary in five games East: - Boston over Montreal in five games - Washington over New York in six games - Carolina over New Jersey in six games - Pittsburgh over Philadelphia in six games Round Two: West: - Vancouver over Chicago in five games - Anaheim over Detroit in six games East: - Boston over Carolina in ...

The University of Calgary announced [ Ben Matchett , University of Calgary Sports Information Director] today that they will cut varsity funding [ Neate Sager , The CIS Blog ] to the men's soccer and women's field hockey teams. There's a chance that those teams could still survive if they're able to raise funds through alternative methods, but it doesn't look good for them. Tennis and golf have also been lowered to competitive club status. By contrast, women's soccer will be returned to fully-funded status and women's hockey is applying to return to CIS play after winning the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference. After the changes, Calgary will have eight fully-funded team sports (men’s and women’s basketball, football, men’s and women’s hockey, women’s soccer, and men’s and women’s volleyball) and fully-funded teams in cross country, swimming, track and field and wrestling. This isn't all that surprising, as plenty of American and Canadian schools hav...

Join us in the live blog below with all your EPL questions and comments! Premier League Punditry 04-12-09

Join me in the live blog below! You can also check out my match preview here . Whitecaps - Battery live blog

This is interesting. After the media flurry the other day about apparent threats [ Friends of Soccer ] by the party to axe the proposed retractable roof for B.C. Place, which I wrote about here , the NDP has come out with a statement calling the whole thing a " Liberal lie " and claiming that they've always been at war with Eurasia in favour of a retractable roof. That does seem to be a bit of a reversal in my mind thanks to the ads they have ran and the lack of specific provisions for B.C. Place in their platform, but it could also have been a misinterpretation. Regardless of who's to blame, the important thing for B.C. soccer fans is that both sides in the election now are committed to the renovations, which is a great thing for both the Whitecaps and the B.C. Lions. That's as it should be in my mind; this team and their move to MLS are too important to be used as political pawns. Regardless of who takes the election, the future of the renovations now appears ...

I haven't done a GBU post in a while, and it's also been a while since I've written about the Canucks, so I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone after attending last night's win over the L.A. Kings Thursday [ Jason Botchford , The Vancouver Province ]. The score: Canucks 1, Kings 0 . How I saw it: In person. The Good: -Roberto Luongo: Luongo certainly looks back in form these days. After standing on his head to steal a win against the Flames Tuesday [ Nucks Misconduct ], he was solid against an offensively talented L.A. team. He received considerably more defensive support from the rest of the team Thursday than he had against Calgary, but he still had to make several spectacular saves and didn't get a lot of offensive backing. He was named the game's first star, and was a deserving selection. -Ryan Kesler: Kesler was selected as the team's season MVP before the game, and he justified his selection with some solid play Thursday night. He was ...

Just finished watching an epic marathon game between the Vancouver Giants and the Spokane Chiefs. It wound up going into the fourth overtime before Spokane's Blake Gal was able to put it away; he wound up with a breakaway in transition after the Chiefs' Dustin Tokarski made a save at the other end. Mike Berube of the Giants caught him and lifted his stick, but wound up knocking the puck into his own net past a surprised Tyson Sexsmith , who was readying himself for a deke from Gal. It was the second-longest game in WHL history. It's games like this that prove how much fun a good junior hockey game can be. This one was certainly worth the time invested; both of these teams have tons of talent and it was tremendous to watch them battling full-tilt as the night went on. The great thing about the WHL in my mind is the consistent emphasis on defence, checking and goaltending; I've seen plenty of OHL and QMJHL games over the years, but they often seem to turn into just pla...

Through a friend getting some tickets unexpectedly, I managed to make it to last night's Vancouver Canucks - L.A. Kings game. The game was quite good, and I'll have a few thoughts on it to post later. However, what stood out the most from the experience was the Canucks' bizarre mascot logic. Typically, they're no less ridiculous than the vast majority of professional sports teams. Their star mascot is "Fin", an orca, which fits in nicely with the area's heritage and natural surroundings and also with the team's logo. I'm not a fan of mascots in general, but this one isn't too offensive. However, some brilliant mind thought it would be a good idea to give "Fin" some bunny ears for Easter. The results? Horrific, and potential " Nightmare Fuel ". It looks like a mad rabbit/killer whale escaped from the Island of Dr. Moreau . This monster will crush its enemies, see them driven before it, and hear the lamentation of their women...

The upcoming B.C. provincial election has invaded many areas of life, but sports wasn't really a key issue until now. Tyler Green and Mike Martignago from The TEAM 1040 reported on their blog this afternoon that the provincial New Democrats are threatening to scrap the planned retractable roof for B.C. Place, which of course was a key element in the Whitecaps' successful bid for MLS status. According to the TEAM's sport business commentator Tom Mayenknecht , their goal is "to scrap the plans for a retractable roof and proceed with a simpler replacement fixed roof." With a retractable roof, as I've written before , B.C. Place could actually become a solid soccer stadium. The renovations are based on Commerzbank Arena in Frankfurt, home to Eintracht Frankfurt of the Bundesliga and a stadium that hosted World Cup matches in 2006. The new design for B.C. Place follows the lines of Commerzbank Arena quite closely and has a lot of potential. Without that roof, B....

Former CFL president Jeff Giles is off to Hamilton. Giles is taking over as the McMaster Marauders' athletic director after Therese Quigley leaves this summer to go to Western. I have more details and analysis over at The CIS Blog .

After a couple of weeks off thanks to the interlull and some scheduling issues, Premier League Punditry will make its triumphant return today. We'll kick things off at 1 p.m. Eastern Time. Join us in the live blog below then! Premier League Punditry 04-05-09

Justin Chapdelaine may be the new kid on campus [ Neate Sager , Out Of Left Field ], but he's hardly intimidated. Of course, that might be a bit easier when you're coming off a spectacular high school campaign where you threw for 1,827 yards and 21 touchdowns, were named a provincial all-star and took your school to the AAA provincial final.Genetics can't hurt either. Chapdelaine's father is famed CIS and CFL player/coach Jacques Chapdelaine , while his mother Kim is a former track and field athlete [ Dan Kinvig , Abbotsford News ] who competed for Canada, his older sister Kaela plays for the women's national basketball team and his older brother Matt is his new teammate at Queen's. Still, Chapdelaine shows a surprising amount of confidence for a rookie entering the famed Queen's football program. He said the tradition and history around the program is a motivational boost, not an intimidating factor. "It's actually flattering being recruited...

Reports of the death of fans' interest in the Toronto Maple Leafs have been exaggerated. Bob McCown and Jim Kelley spent the first 15 minutes or so of Prime Time Sports ' 5:00-6:00 hour today discussing the idea that no one cares any more because the team isn't in playoff contention, and offered two major arguments as to why this was so; the Leafs' game story from last night was on the fifth page of the Toronto Star 's sports section, and there have been less callers than usual who want to talk about the Leafs during their 4:00-5:00 call-in hour. This is a flawed analysis, however. First, let's examine the placement of the story in the Star. I don't have the print edition handy, but you can see the listing of the stories in today's paper here , which is generally organized by importance. The top story is about hurdler Perdita Felicien 's return to competition, which is a reasonably big deal; she's a well-known Olympic athlete and the Star is k...