University of South Carolina Libraries
Game off: NHL cancels season NICK ESARES/THE GAMECOCK Inferno center Matt Ulwelling tries to keep the puck away from a Greenville Grrrowl defender in Columbia's 2-1 win Thursday. Inferno ices Grrrowl ByAJ BEMBRY THE GAMECOCK Jimmy Buffett was in town Thursday night, with his easygoing sound and his lyrics preaching the virtues of leisure. Apparendy, the Columbia Inferno didn’t get the message. The Inferno were all business as usual on the ice against the division rival the Greenville Grrrowl. The Inferno snapped the Grrrowl’s four game winning streak, winning 2-1 in front of a sizable midweek crowd at the Carolina Coliseum. Columbia goaltender Mike Minard had the night off, after stopping 40 of 42 shots against the Charlotte Checkers north of the border on Tuesday. Inferno roach Scott White gave the nod to Rob McVcar, and the way the backup played, Minard might have a lot more free time on his hands. McVicar turned away 30 of 31 shots, earned the No. 1 Star of the Night award, and helped his team continue its torrid march up the ECHL’s East Division standings, with a 8-0-2 record the last 10 games. Columbia opened the scoring at 12:20 of the first period, when center D’Arcy McConvey netted his 14th goal of the year. Following a flurry of activity in the Greenville crease, McConvey took the pass from forward Erik Boulton and flipped the puck into the net over goalie JefFDeslauriers’s open glove. Center Matt Ulwelling was flying around the ice, fighting for every loose puck. His hustle was rewarded in the form of his 11th goal of the season when he received a pass from Boulton and defenseman Erik Eaton and fired a low, bouncing puck underneath Deslauriers’s right skate. Deslauriers single-handedly kept the Grrrowl in the game the rest of the way, and the rest of the Grrrowl seemed to follow Deslauriers’s example, matching Columbia’s husde in the third, and firing 13 shots on McVicar. The increased intensity quickly paid off for Greenville. At 1:26 into the period, center Colin Pepperall tucked defenseman Darryl Pierce’s rebound past McVicar’s glove hand. Columbia is tied with division leading Charlotte at 59 points, despite playing in 5 fewer games. The Inferno go on a two game road swing, starting- tonight in Florence to take on the Pee Dee Pride, and ending Saturday in Charlotte against the South Carolina Stingrays. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecockspoits@gwm.sc. edu By IRA PODELL THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK — The NHL canceled its season exactly five months after the lockout started. Now there’s no telling when there will be games again. “We’re planning to have hockey next season,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said Wednesday. That won’t be easy. Last-gasp negotiations got the league and the players’ association close to a settlement, but not close enough to prevent the cancellation of the season Wednesday. The issue that kept the sides apart at the end is the same one that has divided them since this fight started long ago — the inability to resolve differences over a salary cap. “The guys I’ve talked to in the last 24 hours were hoping it was canceled, not to see it canceled, but we’ve missed basically all of our paychecks anyway,” Nashville forward Jim McKenzie said. “We’ve offered too much and gone too far to a group that really hasn’t tried to move.” For the first time, a major pro sports league in North America has lost an entire season to a labor dispute. The resulting damage could be immeasurable to hockey, which already has limited appeal in the United States. * To begin with, all momentum gained in the final days of negotiations has been lost — late offers that broke down barriers are now off the table. “This is a sad, regrettable day that all of us wish could have been avoided,” Bettman said. “Every day that this thing continues, we don’t think it’s good for the game,” NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow said in Toronto. No Stanley Cup champion will be crowned, the first time that’s happened since 1919, when the 2-year-old league called off the finals because of a flu KYLE PARKER/THE GAMECOCK Sophomore guard Shannel Harris plays defense against the LSU Tigers on Sunday. After losing to Tennessee in Knoxville, the Gamecocks now return home to face the Alabama Crimson Tide on Sunday. ■ BASKETBALL Continued from page 8 Dee Merriweather’s 11 points and 17 rebounds, Alabama took advantage of Carolina’s poor first half play to win, 75 62. Scoring in double-digits in all but two games prior to the Alabama game, sophomore and leading scorer Lauren Simms has been held in a scoring funk as of late, topping 10 points only twice since the loss to the Tide. Last night’s loss to the Lady Vols set the new school record for consecutive losses at nine. If Carolina hopes to prevent that streak from continuing, the post players will need to show up tonight and win the battle on the boards. The Tide is second in the conference in rebounding, which was also a deciding factor in the last date between these two teams. The Gamecocks will also need to prevent a large scoring run to keep the game close. Given the closeness of the games against No. 1 LSU and No. 5 Tennessee in recent games, if the Gamecocks do not succumb to a scoring drought, they might be able to take this game. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. at the Colonial Center. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc. edu ■ SOFTBALL Continued from page 8 Hunter is only 1-3 because she has gotten little to no run support. She has a .82 ERA, just below McDonald. To wrap up round-robin play Saturday, USC squares up against Syracuse (1-0). The Orangemen’s lone game this year was against national powerhouse and third-ranked UCLA in Tempe last weekend at the Kajikawa Tournament. Sophomore Courtney Mosch led Syracuse at the plate and on the mound. She went 1-2 at the plate with a two-run home run and was also the winning pitcher. Relieving her was another underclassman, freshman Erin Downey, who picked up the save in her first collegiate appearance. Carolina needs to stay hot at the plate and on the mound in order to succeed in this tournament. Carolina’s two hottest players of the year have been pitchers freshman Jessica Barnes and junior Michelle Henkes. Henkes has a record of 3-0 with an ERA of .00. She has recorded three straight strikeouts to start off her junior campaign strong. At the plate, Carolina is led by another freshman, Lisa Longo. She leads the team in RBIs with 11. Another freshman who has stepped up this year is Jessica Josker. She is fourth on the team in batting average and second regarding hits. Carolina’s power hitter so far this season has been junior catcher Ashley Smith who has two home runs, one of which was a walk off against Charlotte. Carolina plays another game in bracket play Saturday afternoon with the final game to be played Sunday. The times of these final games will depend on how well the Gamecocks play. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@givm.sc.edu Attention prospective football players The USC coaching staff will hold an organizational meeting for potential walk on football players Monday, Feb. 21 at 5 p. m. in the team meeting room of the new South End Zone addition ofWilliams-Brice Stadium. Interested student-athletes must be enrolled full-time in the University and meet eligibility requirements. Ha <' ^ Serious reasons to spend Summer 2005 on Hilton Head Island Good Jobs http ://www. lcwow.com and great faculty and courses at USCB 877.519.4759 • www.sc.edu/beaufort gg UNIVERSITY OF HI SOUTH (XROLINA BEAUFORT SOUTH CAMPUS at the gateway to Hlfton Head Island • NORTH CAMPUS In historic downtown Beaufort epidemic. Without an agreement, there can be no June draft. The sport’s heralded next big thing, Canadian phenom Sidney Crosby, won’t pull on his first NHL sweater anytime soon. Then there is .the parade of aging stars — Mario Lemieux (39), Mark Messier (44), Steve Yzerman (39) Brett Hull (40), Ron Francis (41), Dave Andreychuk (41) and Chris Chelios (43) — whose playing days could be ending on someone else’s terms. “This is a tragedy for the players,” Bettman said. “Their careers are short and this is money and opportunity they’ll never get back,” Bettman said. Despite being the NHL’s best known star, there was never a chance that Pittsburgh’s Lemieux, the first owner-player in modern American pro sports history, would side with the players. “A few years ago, I thought the owners were making a lot of money and were hiding some under the table, but then I got on this side and saw the losses this league was accumulating,” he said Wednesday. Hockey was already a distant fourth on the popularity scale among the nation’s major league sports. The NHL lost the first season of its two-year broadcasting agreement with NBC that was supposed to begin this season, a revenue-sharing deal in which the network is not even paying rights fees. Taking a year off, or more, will only push the league farther off the radar screen. Between shifts of a pickup game at the Denver rink where the Avalanche used to practice, fan Don Cameron called the cancellation “a shame.” I ADRIAN WYLD/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Basketball fan Andrae Anglin airs his thoughts on the NHL situation during the NBA game Wednesday in Chicago. “When they come back, it’s not going to be as easy to pay for a $90 season ticket,” he said. Not to mention how difficult it will be for all the ushers, trainers, officials, Zamboni drivers and businesses near arenas that will continue to be affected. “If you want to know how I feel, I’ll summarize it in one word — terrible,” Bettman said. But he added that the sides would keep working toward an agreement. Goodenow stressed that the players had already given a lot of ground. “Every offer by the players moved in the owners’ direction,” he said. -- GAMECOCK CHALLENGE THE CHALLENGE: Every week, The Gamecock’s readers and staff test their sports knowledge with game predictions. Florida at LSI) Auburn at Georgia __ Tennessee at Ole Miss Arkansas at Vanderbilt Mississippi State at 3 Kentucky Clemson at 4 UNC 9 Syracuse at 6 Boston College Texas Tech at 8 Oklahoma St. 5 Wake Forest at 7 Duke USC at 16 Alabama Jonathan Hillyard Sports editor (32-18) Florida Auburn Ole Miss Vanderbilt Kentucky UNC Syracuse. OSU Wake use 71-68 Stephen Fastenau Asst. Sports editor (32-18) _ Florida Auburn UT Arkansas Kentucky UNC Syracuse OSU Duke Bama 75-70 Alex Riley Staff Writer (31-19) Florida Auburn UT Vanderbilt Kentucky UNC _BC OSU Duke use 65-58 Miquel Jacobs Staff Writer (32-18) Florida ■ Auburn UT Vanderbilt Kentucky UNC Syracuse OSU Wake use 78-74 David Stagg Special guest (30-20) Florida Auburn UT Arkansas Kentucky UNO Syracuse Tech Duke Bama 73-68 Brandon Newton Reader of the week (31-19) LSU Auburn Ttf Arkansas Kentucky UNC BC OSU Duke Bama 72-50 WANT TO BE READER OF THE WEEK? E-MAIL SELECTIONS FOR NEXT WEEK’S GAMES TO GAMECOCKSPORTS@GWM.SC.EDU. LAST WEEK’S RESULTS: Hillyard has slowly crept into a tie for first after a safe and solid week of picks. Former staffer David Stagg drops in this week. vy i j j^i rit^| j/\ y jj v JulAl UN Vjij u v/ivll i vi i iTii^ X dii oiuu p«in« Trinity Episcopal Cathedral Sumter Street at Gervais (across from the State House) For more information, call 771-7300, or visit www.trinitysc.org -:-1