Category Archives: Tyler Englander

NHL, Tyler Englander

Monday’s NHL Matchup to Watch (Flames at Kings)

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Flames at Kings

 

Preview:

Tonight the Calgary Flames will travel to Los Angeles  to take on the Kings, in the League’s most intriguing matchup on this Monday. This game could ultimately determine who gets into the playoffs and who doesn’t with the Kings holding onto the eighth and final playoff spot while the Flames are on the outside looking in, holding onto the nine seed. The Flames got off to a fast start this season, but have struggled recently, losing eight straight games. The Flames have to get back on track as they are in danger of falling considerably in the very tough Western Conference. The good news for the Flames is they won three of their last five against the Kings. Speaking of the Kings, they come into this one in the middle of a four game home stand that will conclude Saturday against the Sharks. The Kings have won the first two one their home stand and look to stay hot and get a win heading into the Christmas break.

Prediction:

With the Flames struggling, it makes me believe that they were pretenders earlier in the season and I don’t see a way that they go on the road to defeat the defending Stanley Cup Champions.

Team Leaders:

Goals:

CAL- Jiri Hudler (13)

LAK- Tanner Pearson (11)

Points:

CAL- Mark Giordano (32)

LAK- Jeff Carter (32)

Plus/Minus (+/-)

CAL- T.J. Brodie (+15)

LAK- Tyler Toffoli (+14)

NHL, Tyler Englander

Sunday’s NHL Matchup to Watch (Maple Leafs at Blackhawks)

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Preview:

In the NHL’s most interesting matchup on this final Sunday before Christmas, the Toronto Maple Leafs will travel to Chicago to take on the Blackhawks. Both clubs are coming off losses yesterday, but the Leafs especially after giving up seven goals to depleted Flyers team. The Leafs are currently sitting in the first wild card spot of the Eastern Conference playoffs while the Blackhawks are sitting comfortably in second spot in the Western Conference. The Hawks come into this one with one of the league’s best offenses, but have played .500 hockey over their last ten games. Expect James Reimer to be in goal tonight for the Leafs as Jonathan Bernier gave up seven goals last night. On the Hawks side it is unlikely that Corey Crawford will play both ends of a back to back as he just recently returned from a leg injury. If Crawford doesn’t go it will be Antti Raanta in net.

Prediction:

Both these clubs are coming off a game last night so I would expect a sloppy game. With both these teams high powered offenses I would expect their to be a surplus of goals. With that being said I would expect the Blackhawks to rebound behind their stat duo of Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews.

Team Leaders:

Goals:

TOR- Phil Kessel (17)

CHI- Patrick Kane (15)

Points:

TOR- Phil Kessel (36)

CHI- Patrick Kane (33)

Plus/Minus (+/-)

TOR- Mike Santorelli (+15)

CHI- Kris Versteeg (+15)

NFL, Tyler Englander

Saturday’s NFL Action to Watch

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Eagles at Redskins (4:30 ET, NFL Network)

Preview:

In the first and only edition of Saturday Football this regular season, there are certainly some interesting story lines leading up to both of the games. In the early matchup at 4:30 eastern time on NFL Network, Chip Kelly’s Philadelphia Eagle’s take on Jay Gruden’s Washington Redskins. The Eagles come into this one on the outside looking in as far as the playoffs go after a tough loss to the Dallas Cowboys. The Eagles are trailing the Cowboys in the East by one game as well as the Seahawks and Packers by one game in the wild card standings. The Redskins come into this game with a lot of question marks regarding the futures of both their coach as well as their quarterback, Robert Griffin III. This game is all about pride for the Skins, with former Eagle Desean Jackson going up against the franchise who traded him last off season.

Prediction:

With all the distractions regarding the Redskins as well as the recent struggles, I find it hard to believe that the Skins will have any chance. Also, with the Eagles needing a win and coming off a tough game, I expect them to come out and play one of their best games in a while. I predict the Eagles will win 31-17.

 

Chargers at 49ers (8:25 ET, NFL Network and CBS)

Preview:

The late game features an potentially interesting matchup between the San Diego Chargers and the San Francisco 49ers. Just like the Redskins, the Niners have some distractions regarding their coach, Jim Harbaugh. It has been rumored throughout the season that Harbaugh would be on his way out, but as the season winds down it seems more and more likely that Harbaugh’s firing will become a reality. On the field the Niners have been struggling as well. They scored only seven points last week and with questions regarding the health of their top two running backs, Frank Gore, and Carlos Hyde I find it difficult that their offense will improve against a tough Chargers defense. Speaking of the Chargers, this is a game they need to have to have a chance at making the playoffs. Although this is not an elimination game, if they lose they would be trailing at least three teams heading into their final game against the Chiefs.

Prediction:

The Niners have struggled all season and I don’t see a reason why that would change tonight. The Chargers will come out strong in a game they must have and win by a score of 21-10.

NHL, Tyler Englander

Wednesday’s NHL Matchup to Watch (Bruins at Wild)

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Boston Bruins at Minnesota Wild

(15-13-3)             (16-12-1)

Preview: With only three games on the NHL circuit tonight, it’s not a great night to be a hockey fan. With that being said, the most interesting game tonight is the Boston Bruins against the Minnesota Wild. Both teams will head into tonight’s game on the outside looking in as far as the playoffs are concerned, as they are both tenth in their respective conferences. Both teams are playing the second game of a back to back tonight.  Boston lost in a shootout last night in Nashville, while the Wild lost a high scoring affair against the Chicago Blackhawks. This game is important for both teams as they try to gain ground in the  standings, but with the Bruins on a tough road trip this is a must win for game for a team that has dropped seven of their last ten. The Bruins may get the boost they need as David Krejci may return tonight. The center has played in only eleven games this year registering three goals and seven assists. The Wild have a big question mark coming into this one, Who will be in Goal? Both Niklas Backstrom and Darcy Kuemper have come down with an illness, but neither have been ruled out for tonight’s game. The Wild have called up goalie John Curry from Iowa just in case neither Backstrom and Kuemper can play tonight.

Prediction: With both clubs coming off physical games yesterday expect this one to be a little bit sloppy. Both teams will play desperate, but with the uncertainty of who will be in goal for the Wild, I would give the upper hand to the Bruins.

Team Leaders:

Goals:

BOS- Reilly Smith (8)

MIN- Nino Niederreiter (14)

Points:

BOS- Patrice Bergeron (16)

MIN- Ryan Suter (17)

Plus/Minus (+/-)

BOS- Kevan Miller & Brad Marchand (+7)

MIN- Jonas Brodin (+15)

NHL, Tyler Englander

Monday’s NHL Matchup To Watch (Kings At Blues)

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Los Angeles Kings at St. Louis Blues

(15-10-6)                        (20-8-2)

Preview:

In a potential thriller, the defending Stanley Cup Champion, Los Angeles Kings, take on the St. Louis Blues. Tonights game will be the first of two meetings between these two teams in three days. These two clubs are very familiar with one another as they have faced off in two of the last three Stanley Cup Playoffs. In their first matchup of the year, Kings Goalie, Jonathan Quick stole the show with a 43 save shutout against Ken Hitchcock’s team. In the past, the Blues have struggled against the Kings going 2-7-2 over the last four seasons. With Brian Elliott still out for the Blues, 24 year old netminder Jake Allen is expected to make the start. Allen has played in fifteen games this season, winning ten of them with 2.50 goals against average. With the Kings struggling to find offense, Los Angeles looks to finish off their road trip strong as they have lost two in a row while the Blues look to stay hot as they are riding a two game win streak.

Prediction: With the the Kings losing two in a row I expect them to come out and play desperate as they look to take advantage of the of rookie goalie, Jake Allen. The Blues have struggled in the past against the Kings and I expect that to continue as Jonathan Quick will step up big time to get his team back on track.

Team Leaders:

Goals:

LA- Tanner Pearson (11)

STL- Vladimir Tarasenko (17)

Points:

LA- Tyler Toffoli (23)

STL- Vladimir Tarasenko (32)

Plus/Minus (+/-)

LA- Tyler Toffoli (+14)

STL- Vladimir Tarasenko (+17)

NHL, Tyler Englander

Monday’s Hockey Matchup to Watch

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Tampa Bay Lightning at Pittsburgh Penguins:

(19-9-3)                           (19-6-4)

Preview: In the league’s most interesting game tonight, the Tampa Bay Lightning will travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Penguins. Both of these two clubs are in first place of their respective divisions and look to open up a larger lead heading into the short Christmas break. The NHL’s best player, Sidney Crosby, will miss his third straight game after being diagnosed with mumps. Radko Gudas will also be out tonight for the Lightning with an illness. The Lightning look to rebound coming off a disappointing loss to the Capitals, while the Pens look to secure two points after falling to the Blue Jackets in a shootout on Saturday. Look for this game to be won on special teams; as both the Lightning and Penguins average over ten minutes of penalty minutes per game. Even without Crosby, the Pens are still potent on offense and could create problems for Tampa Bay. With that being said, lets not overlook a very strong offensive team in Tampa Bay, who have one of the top first lines in hockey.

Prediction: Expect this one to be a high scoring game with the teams combining for at least seven goals. The Penguins offense is still explosive without Crosby and I expect them to pull out a win by a score of 4-3.

 

Team Leaders:

Goals:

TB- Steven Stamkos (17)

PIT- Evgeni Malkin (15)

Points:

TB- Steven Stamkos (34)

PIT- Evgeni Malkin (36)

Plus Minus(+/-)

TB- Tyler Johnson (+17)

PIT- Christian Ehrhoff (+14)

NCAA, Tyler Englander

Did the Committee get it right?

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The NCAA wanted controversy, they wanted there to be an argument about who gets in and who doesn’t, and most of all they wanted to create a college football season that was more intense than it was in the previous BCS system. The College Football Playoff system delivered and created the best college football season in recent memory. With that being said there are a few teams, Baylor and TCU, who feel that the system failed them and they believe that they should have been included in the first edition of the College Football Playoff. The question is, did they get it right?

Let’s start with the top two seeds in this year’s playoff, the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Oregon Ducks. There is little doubt that both of these schools should have been involved in the playoff. Starting with the Tide, it is quite obvious that the winner of America’s toughest conference deserved to be in the playoff. Also, after a tough loss earlier in the season to Ole Miss, Alabama has looked like the dominant team they are, plus the resurgence of Blake Sims after struggling early against Auburn has cemented the Crimson Tide as the favorite heading into the inaugural playoffs. Next is the Oregon Ducks, they avenged their only loss of the season to Arizona in the Pac 12 Championship game and finished the season as one of the hottest teams in the nation. Heisman hopeful Marcus Mariota has the Ducks primed to make a run at the first championship in Oregon history. Moving on to the number three team in the nation, the Florida State Seminoles. While I understand that people don’t believe Florida State should be in the playoff because of their average margin of victory, I would disagree with them. As the only undefeated team left in the nation and the defending national champions, the Noles deserved a shot to prove their still the top dog and that’s why the committee got it right by putting Florida State at three.

With little disagreement about the first three teams selected, the controversy came with who the committee selected for the fourth and final spot in this years playoff. That spot was given to the Ohio State Buckeyes who absolutely dismantled Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship game. The other two teams in the running for that fourth spot were TCU and Baylor, and they feel that that they should have been included in the playoff. All of these three teams were deserving, but I tend to side with TCU and I believe that they should have been in the playoff. My reasoning behind that is that TCU had the toughest loss of those teams losing to Baylor, while Ohio State lost to a team in Virginia Tech that only scored three points in a double overtime game against an abysmal Wake Forest team. Also, if just one week ago TCU was two spots better than Ohio State how did a 52 point win make them fall three stops? Finally, the committee’s job was to get the best four teams in the playoff and it’s hard to believe that Ohio State with Cardale Jones is a better team than TCU with a proven quarterback in Trevone Boykin. It’s only sensical to believe that Cardale Jones won’t have the same performance against a stingy Alabama defense that he has against Wisconsin and that’s why I think the committee overvalued Ohio State’s win in the Big Ten championship game. With that being said, give credit to Ohio State who made a strong final impression and forced the committee to make a decision and it ultimately went in their favor.

MLB, Tyler Englander

From Worst to First, Twice? Not Quite

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It was a good Monday for Red Sox Nation. They signed both Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval today to five year deals, and almost instantly Red Sox fans were boasting about going from first to worst for a second time after doing it in 2012 and 2013. I don’t want to burst anyone’s bubble, but the Red Sox of today are not even close to winning another championship, yet alone even making the playoffs. Don’t get me wrong the Red Sox are much better today than they were when you went to bed last night, however last time I checked pitching is still part of baseball.

First, lets take a look at what these recent signings bring to the Red Sox. I think that the signing of Pablo Sandoval is a steal for the Red Sox. Last year in a very spacious AT&T Park, Sandoval hit 16 homers, in a hitter friendly Fenway Park he will be able to use the Green Monster and the short wall in right to add possibly 10 homers to that total; which is a major upgrade from Will Middlebrooks. Forget the numbers, Pablo Sandoval will be a major fan favorite among Red Sox fans and should contribute to a positive clubhouse attitude. The more interesting signing to me is Hanley Ramirez. The reason this signing doesn’t make sense to me is the Red Sox pride themselves on team chemistry and Hanley is the exact opposite. Ramirez has always had an attitude problem and I’m not sure that he will fit in with the core group of guys that the Red Sox have. Also it’s important to recognize that Hanley Ramirez is an injury prone player. Ramirez who has played an average of 107 games a season over the past two years is entering his age 31 season and will need to play more than 107 games for his five year deal to become worthwhile for the Red Sox.

The biggest reason why as of now I don’t see the Red Sox as a playoff team is they have nobody to pitch, we saw it last year when the Yankees signed Brian McCann, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Carlos Beltran, but they had nobody to pitch and they ultimately didn’t make the playoffs. Right now the Red Sox pitching staff is led by Joe Kelly and Clay Buchholz, while Joe Kelly is a decent pitcher, he is a number three starter at best and if Buchholz pitches like he did last season he should be a good number two starter on the PAWTUCKET Red Sox. All of these signings are good and great, but they are essentially worthless if they don’t get a number one starter and another better than average pitcher. The option that makes the most sense it to bring back Boston hero Jon Lester, but the question is can they outbid former friend Theo Epstein for the lefty’s talents. Whether or not they get Lester, the Red Sox have a plethora of outfielders as well as prospects, most noticeably Yoenis Cespedes to trade. There is no place for Cespedes to fit in any more now that Hanley Ramirez will be in left field for the foreseeable future and he should bring in a good return in the trade market. I spoke to a source from Philadelphia who said “it’s always a possibility,” concerning Cole Hamels as a potential fit in Boston. You would also have to think that the Red Sox will speak to the Nationals about Jordan Zimmermann and the Reds about their arms that include Johnny Cueto and Mat Latos.

Tyler Englander

Females in Male Sports

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She captured our hearts this summer. She became one of the greatest stories in recent memory. That story was the remarkable story of Philadelphia teenager Mo’ne Davis. Davis and the rest of her Taney Dragons teammates took the world by storm when they played in this years edition of the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. It wasn’t just that Mo’ne Davis was a girl, it was what she was able to do against her male counterparts. What she did was dominate; in the regional final as well as her first start in the LLWS she combined for 15 strikeouts while only allowing 5 hits to the boys from Newark, Delaware and Nashville, Tennessee respectively. She became so popular that athletes such as Mike Trout and Kevin Durant began to recognize her accomplishments. With Davis announcing yesterday that she would release a memoir coming out next march, we decided to take a look at how close we are to having females in male sports.

I know what some people are thinking; there is no way that Mo’ne Davis can keep this up at a higher level. While that is a good point; I would argue that is is a realistic possibility that we could  be seeing Davis down the road on a professional baseball diamond. Davis, 13, is already further developed than most boys her age, with her 70MPH fastball and her knee buckling curveball. In addition to her skills, baseball is not the type of sport where it would be highly unlikely. Unlike Football; it’s not hard hitting, and if Mo’ne can throw heat and be a solid Major League pitcher it would be foolish for a team not to take a chance on her. Obviously, these next few years are critical for Mo’ne Davis and it will be very interesting to see in the future if Mo’ne Davis’ name will be called in the years to come.

 Another recent advancement with women in sports comes with the story of San Antonio Spurs Assistant Coach Becky Hammon. Hammon a thirteen year WNBA veteran became the first full time female assistant coach in NBA History. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich who is usually ahead of the curve, is once again a leg up on the competition and if history serves us right, Hammon’s hiring could become the first of many roles in which women play in male sports. Finally an example of a female player that almost played in the NBA a year ago. If you remember correctly Dallas Mavericks Owner, Mark Cuban, almost gave Brittney Griner a chance by drafting her in the 2013 draft. That didn’t happen, but what it shows is people are becoming open minded about having a female in a male sport and we might not be that far from that becoming a reality.

NCAA, Tyler Englander

College Football 11-15-14

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NCAA Football: Auburn at Mississippi State

A big day of College Football is on deck. None- bigger then when undefeated #1 Mississippi State travels to Tuscaloosa to take on #5 Alabama. A huge game in the Big Ten when #8 Ohio State takes on #25 Minnesota. The Number four TCU Horned Frogs take on Kansas as they look to stay hot coming off a huge performance against Kansas State. Finally, Another game to watch as Auburn Vs. Georgia as Todd Gurley comes back from suspension.