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| Twelve years ago, it was Dan Crowley throwing passes to receivers Jimmy Oliver, Denis Montana, and Eddie Brown, and handing the ball off to Darren Davis. Thats a quarterback with just 253 passing attempts experience, and who would be out of the league in two years; three receivers with just one career 1,000-yard season combined; and a running back who after consecutive 1,000-yard seasons with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, failed to gain even 300 yards on the ground in either of his two years in Ottawa before leaving the league. Sorry for the painful trip down memory lane Ottawa football fans. Flash forward 12 years and it will be an awfully different scene, one with a lot more promise. Instead of a QB with just 1,696 passing yards at the time leading Ottawas new expansion team, theyll have a 14-year veteran in Henry Burris, a former Most Outstanding Player and Grey Cup champion, who has 51,526 career passing yards. 1,696 yards is a good weekend for the former Calgary Stampeder, Saskatchewan Roughrider, and Hamilton Tiger-Cat. The team has some promise in the receiving corps as well and an electrifying running back in Chevon Walker backed up by some solid CFL experience at fullback. The point is the Redblacks this season will look different than almost any expansion team before them, not just in the CFL or even football, but in all professional sports. Theyll look like a team that can compete. Its a nice change from the Renegades debut, whose problems ran far deeper than their game day roster week in and week out; having a team that can contend, or at least keep things close when the West Division heavy hitters come to town, is a boon to both the new ownership and CFL fans in Ottawa, who perhaps more than anyone deserve some good fortune on the gridiron. Using one part updated expansion draft rules that made more players available and one part a little good fortune in free agency, the Redblacks have built a deeper and more talented roster than your typical expansion team mish-mash. As mentioned earlier, Ottawa will be led by Burris, but theyll have some other veterans sprinkled into the roster to help the roster through their maiden voyage in the CFL. Guys like Walker at running back, receiver Paris Jackson, and offensive linemen John Gott, Joe Eppele, and JMichael Deane will help Burris run an effective offence that could easily be closer to the middle of the pack than the basement come seasons end. And on defence, former Most Outstanding Defensive Player Jovon Johnson should have enough gas left in the tank to lead the unit alongside veterans Keith Shologan, Anton McKenzie, TJ Hill, and Malik Jackson. This isnt to say the Redblacks are instant Grey Cup contenders, which in a nine-team league isnt entirely crazy. With the Winnipeg Blue Bombers heading West and the Argos, Ticats, and Alouettes all coming off at least decent regular seasons in 2013, the Redblacks will enter the year as favourites to finish in the East Division basement, but a 5-7 win season should keep the fans intrigued, and more importantly, excited about the future. Notes Expansion Draft - The Redblacks took their biggest step towards looking like a real team with the Expansion Draft in December. Highlights included picking two quarterbacks in Kevin Glenn and Thomas DeMarco, and other notable names such as Keith Shologan, Chevon Walker, Joe Eppele, and Eric Fraser. Glenn Saga - Kevin Glenn looked to be the Redblacks quarterback of the present until Henry Burris became available on the free market and Ottawa pounced. Not happy with the demotion, Glenn was eventually traded to the Lions where hell instead back up Travis Lulay on his fifth CFL team. Free Agency - Burris was the big coup in free agency but the team landed several other notable players including LB Malik Jackson from the Stampeders, defensive back Jovon Johnson from the Blue Bombers, and WR Kierrie Johnson from the Roughriders. CFL Draft - The Redblacks traded the first overall draft pick to the Stampeders for veteran offensive lineman John Gott, but got back into the first by trading Glenn to the Lions, and ended up with defensive back Antoine Pruneau. Other picks included WR Scott MacDonell in the second round, DL Nijel Romick in the third round, offensive linemen Aaron Wheaton in the fourth and Hugo Desmarais in the fifth, DL Stephon Miller in the sixth, and DL Vincent Desloges, LB Alexandre Bernard, and LS Kevin Malcolm in the seventh. Lansdowne Park - TD Place Stadium has been constructed where Frank Clair Stadium once stood and is expected to be fully ready for the teams Week 4 game against the Argonauts, the Redblacks home opener. Cheap Brewers Jerseys . Bale has had a successful debut season in Spain, and Ancelotti appears ready to reward him with a starting role on Saturday. Ancelotti says "Gareth had some problems at the beginning (of the season) but when he found good physical condition he scored a lot of goals, he had a good impact on the team. Taylor Williams Brewers Jersey . -- Detroit Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera has a broken bone below his right eye after being struck by a bad-hop grounder, sidelining the star slugger for at least a week with opening day on deck. https://www.cheapbrewers.com/2039y-tyler-saladino-jersey-brewers.html . -- Arizona coach Sean Miller rose from his seat every time Roberto Nelson touched the ball and yelled "Shooter!" He could have been talking about his own team, too. Ray Black Brewers Jersey . - Diego Fagundez scored his team-leading 13th goal of the season in the 76th minute to lift the Revolution to a 3-2 victory over the Columbus Crew on Saturday night that kept New Englands playoff hopes alive. Rollie Fingers Brewers Jersey . -- On any given day here at his companys Silicon Valley headquarters, Vivek Ranadive is ready to compete against any employee who wants to challenge him to any contest.BOSTON -- Carey Price was all-world in goal and P.K. Subban delivered a double-overtime dagger with a blast from the blue line as the Montreal Canadiens held off the hard-charging Boston Bruins for a wild 4-3 win in the opening game of their second-round playoff series. No wallflower, Subban savoured the spotlight Thursday after scoring two power-play goals and leading all skaters with 33 minutes 49 seconds of ice time. But the slick-skating defenceman with the big shot was also keeping things in perspective. Is there a better feeling than scoring a double-overtime winner, he was asked? "Im sure theres a better feeling," the 24-year-old said after pausing to reflect. "Winning the Cup. "Thats one win for us (tonight) but were going to need a lot more to have the Holy Grail feeling." Job 1 in Game 2 on Saturday is helping Price out more. The Canadiens goalie with ice in his veins faced 51 shots, compared to 33 for Tuukka Rask at the other end. "We cant be giving up 50-plus shots," said Subban. Price deserved the victory after staving off the Bruins comeback the way he did, he added. "When a guys standing on his head like that, youve got to find a way to win. It doesnt matter who it is." Subbans second power-play goal of the game came from the point through traffic at four minutes 17 seconds, silencing the sellout TD Garden crowd of 17,565, some of whom responded by tossing garbage on the ice. Matt Bartkowski was in the box for holding, as he was for Subbans first score. Rene Bourque and Francis Bouillon also scored for Montreal, which outshot Boston 4-1 in the final OT period. Reilly Smith, Torey Krug and Johnny Boychuk had Bostons goals. A smiling Subban, whose ice time can be regulated by coach Michel Therrien depending on performance, said there was a simple reason for his success. "I think that Im always playing my best when I play a lot," he said somewhat mischievously. Subban also loves a big stage, and he delivered Thursday. "A really solid game for us," Therrien said of Subban. Down 2-0 after 40 minutes, Boston came on strong in the third to force overtime. Boston threw everything it had at Price, who kept the Canadiens in it while extending the roller-coaster game. Price combined brilliance with a little luck in holding back the rampant Bruins. "It was a battle," Price said. "It was exactly what we were expecting. We just gutted it out. It was a hard-fought game. It could have gone either way." Boston nearly won it in the first overtime when a puck leaked through Prices pads but somehow deflected off the post through the crease. A pad save by Price saved the day later in the period and the sprawling Montreal goalie robbed David Krejci on a backhand from in close minutes later. Rask stopped Lars Eller at the other end to extend the game. Then Habs winger Brendan Gallagher cleared the puck out of the crease to keep the Bruins out. Boston outshot Montreal 14-6 in the first overtime period for a 50-29 overall edge. The final count was 51-33. "I made some saves but I couldnt make the game-savers as you say," said Rask, whose career mark against Montreal in Boston fell to 0-9. Bruins coach Claude Julien was calm in the face of the loss. "This is just Game 1 here. You dont get frustrated after just one game," said Julien, who had no complaints with the two overtime penalties called against his team. "I didnt mind the way our team played tonight. We had lots of chances. Sure we fell behind 2-0 but we showed some resiliency and came back. I thought we carried the play for the most part." "The only thing is we have to find a way to bury those great opportunities that we had," he added. "Thats probably where there are some regrets." The second overtime opened with Bostons Daniel Paille in the box for tripping but the Habs failed to take advantage. Rask had to be sharp soon after though to glove a Tomas Plekanec shot from the slot. It had looked like Bouillons knuckleball goal at 12:09 of the third would be enough to help the shell-shocked Canadiens stave off the Boston comeback as Montreal went ahead 3-2. But the Bruins continued to throw everything at the Habs and Boychuks slapshot from the point with 1:58 remaining continued Bostons tsunami-like late rally. Smith and Krug had scored early third-period goals to pull Boston even at 2-2 before Bouillons shot from the top of the faceoff circle, on a rare Montreal attack in the period, handcuffed Rask. It was just the third career playoff goal for the 38-year-oldd Bouillon.dddddddddddd. Boston outshot Montreal 14-6 in the third and 36-23 over three periods. Subban and Bourque scored in the first and second periods for Montreal, which made the most of its offensive opportunities while riding the broad shoulders of Price against a Boston team that spent much of the night on attack without much to show for it. Price made a string of key saves, including some keys stops late in the game -- a few of which he didnt know too much about. It was a nail-biting finale, however, as Boston turned the screws on the Canadiens. Smith finally beat Price on Bostons 24th shot, firing a shot from near the boards through the legs of a Habs defenceman and through two players tangled up in front of the Montreal goal at 2:44 of the third period. Subban went to the box for interference 34 seconds later but the Canadiens survived. Only briefly, however. A trailing Krug, on a nice setup from Milan Lucic as his linemates crashed the goal, beat Price with a slapshot at 6:30 on Bostons 25th shot. Montreal was living dangerously as Bruins circled Prices goal like sharks. Lucic missed a near open goal midway through the third only to see Bouillon score at the other end as Montreal crashed the next and the puck found its way back to the defenceman. Both teams were well rested coming in. The Canadiens were off for eight days, having completed a sweep of the Tampa Bay Lighting on April 22. The Bruins last game was April 26 when they dispatched the Detroit Red Wings in five games. Therrien said his team looked rusty from the layoff . But he took solace in the success of his power play, as well as the play of Price and Subban. Montreal holds a 24-9 edge overall in playoff series between the two but Boston has won six of the last nine. Boston.com celebrated the history by publishing a gallery of "30 pictures of Bruins and Canadiens beating the hell out of each other." The game, the opening salvo of the NHLs second round of the playoffs, started at a high pace with few stoppages and the Bruins pressing after taking the ice to a sea of yellow rally towels and trademark over-the-top anthem renditions from Rene Rancourt. Boston pest Brad Marchand, who skipped the morning skate, was back in action and looking to annoy. But Price was up for all-comers, stopping Gregory Campbell in close and making a good glove save on Smith midway as the Bruins came from all angles. The much maligned Montreal power play connected at 11:23 of the first period with Bartkowski off for tripping. Marchand and Patrice Bergeron did their job, majestically killing off the first half of the penalty but the Habs took advantage when the two went off. Subban sent in a wrist shot through traffic for a Montreal lead that went against the run of play -- and came seconds after a pair of in-close saves from Rask It was Subbans fourth game with a point but his first goal since March 23. And it shut up the Boston fans who had been booing him from the puck drop. Montreal was 19th over the season on the power play with a 17.2 per cent success rate, compared to third for Boston (21.7 per cent). The Canadiens went 0 for 23 over the final eight games of the season with the man advantage and scored on only two of 13 chances against Tampa. Krug, trying to play cat and mouse with Price later in the period, hung onto the puck in the slot after a nifty tic-tac-toe passing play in the hope that the Habs goalie would make a move. But the sphinx-like Price waited him out and made the save. Subban led all skaters with nine minutes three seconds of ice time and three hits in the first period, which saw Boston outshoot Montreal 13-10. The Bruins continued to attack early in the second but Montreal doubled its lead on an opportunistic counter-attack after a puck bounced off Krugs foot to Bourque at centre ice. Bourque headed towards goal on a three-on-one and ripped a wrist shot through Rask at 3:38 for his fourth of the post-season. Marchand played as if he had a chip the size of a grand piano on his shoulder, whacking Habs with his stick or offering a glove face-wash. But there was also a sandpaper side to the visitors who looked to take a piece out of towering Bruins captain Zdeno Chara at every opportunity. At times they bounced right off the big man but Chara had a target on his back. Boston pressure resulted in a holding penalty to Josh Gorges with 5:44 remaining in the second. Jarome Iginla had two glorious chances from in close but one was stopped by an amazing Price pad save and the other went wide. Then defenceman Dougie Hamilton rang a shot off the post and Carl Soderberg was denied. ' ' ' |
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