Stars und Sternchen! » ball and then juked goal

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Carolina Hurricanes hope they now have the leadership tandem in place to turn the franchise around. Bill Peters was introduced Friday as the Hurricanes new coach, the first big hire made by new Carolina general manager Ron Francis. Now its up to Peters to prove it was a shrewd move. Carolina has made three coaching changes since 2006 and has only one playoff appearance to show for it. "When I did my due diligence and went to look at rosters ... were not far off," Peters said. "I think theres lots of pieces here and its up to us and our coaching staff ... to max our group out." A few hours after Peters formal introduction, the Hurricanes made another addition to their management team, hiring 44-year-old Ricky Olczyk -- the younger brother of former NHL coach and current NBC Sports analyst Ed Olczyk -- as an assistant general manager. The younger Olczyk spent six years as Edmontons assistant GM and was the Oilers NHL liaison for all collective bargaining agreement matters. Peters replaces Kirk Muller, who was fired last month -- a week into Francis tenure as GM -- and went 80-80-27 in three seasons with no playoff berths. Instead of an established NHL head coach or a popular ex-player, Francis went with Peters -- a 48-year-old Detroit Red Wings assistant who has never been an NHL head coach but was in demand this off-season. Peters said he interviewed for two other jobs and Francis says he spoke to 10 candidates during "a pretty extensive search," narrowing that to a three-man short list before deciding on Peters and giving him a three-year contract. "You have to take the time to go through it and make sure you get the right guy," Francis said, "and thats what we did." What dazzled Francis was Peters attention to detail: He penned a booklet breaking down the team and brought it to his first interview with them, and his second one included a PowerPoint presentation, Francis said. "Hes extremely, extremely detailed," Francis said. "Hes going to communicate with our players. Our players are going to know where he stands, and theres no little detail that (will) be overlooked." From the outside, his challenge looks daunting: Making the Hurricanes a consistent playoff team. Muller couldnt do it in three years. Neither could Paul Maurice, at least during his second stint with the team. Even Peter Laviolette -- the only Carolina coach to hoist the Stanley Cup -- couldnt get the Hurricanes back to the post-season. Now Peters gets his chance to try to revive a club that has missed the playoffs in seven of the eight years since the Hurricanes won their only Stanley Cup in 2006. The lone post-season berth since that Cup run came in 2009, when the Hurricanes reached the Eastern Conference final in the first year of Maurices second term as coach. Peters plan is to address three glaring problems from last season: Starting games strong, producing more on the power play and winning more often at PNC Arena. Carolina was the leagues third-worst team with the man advantage and was just 18-17-6 at home. "Weve got to become a harder team to play against here in Raleigh," Peters said. His hiring caps about two months of turbulence in the Hurricanes organization. Francis, a Hall of Fame player who has been both an assistant coach and an assistant GM with Carolina, was moved up a rung on the organizations ladder and his mentor, Jim Rutherford, stepped aside after two decades -- and eventually wound up bolting to Pittsburgh to take over as the Penguins GM. Francis first big move came a week later when he fired Muller and put the players on notice that the responsibility for turning the team around is on them, too. After a 46-day search in which some recognizable names were floated, Francis plucked Peters from Mike Babcocks staff with the Red Wings. He spent the past three years working primarily with the Red Wings defencemen and penalty killers. Before joining the Red Wings staff, he coached Rockford of the AHL from 2008-11 and guiding that team to consecutive 40-win seasons. Eight of his Rockford players helped Chicago win the Cup in either 2010 or 2013, and he also coached Spokane (Washington) of the Western Hockey League for three seasons. "This is a guy that knows coaching," Francis said. Danny Trevathan Jersey . There are surprises among the Vezina candidates, but most of the others are standard top-tier performers, even if the two Hart Trophy runners-ups have never been quite as good as they have been through the first half of the season. Kyle Fuller Jersey . And though his comeback night didnt quite go to script, Bryant couldnt help reflecting on the work necessary to get back on that court -- and all the months of steady labour ahead to reclaim his game. Bryant had nine points and eight rebounds in his season debut, but Amir Johnson scored a career-high 32 points in the trade-depleted Toronto Raptors 106-94 victory over Los Angeles on Sunday night. http://www.officialchicagobearsfootball.com/authentic-allen-robinson-jersey-womens . Dallas (2-0-1) sits atop the Western Conference with an MLS-best seven points. Castillo opened the scoring in the 71st minute off a Mauro Diaz set piece, and Watson outran defender Tony Lochhead on a long ball and then juked goalkeeper Ian Kennedy for the eventual game-winner in the 78th minute. Sam Acho Jersey . The injury could land Machado on the 15-day disabled list, but its not as serious as it looked on Monday night, when the third baseman crumpled in a heap at the plate after taking an awkward swing in a game against the New York Yankees. Roquan Smith Jersey . The Nashville Predators were glad their captain was still on their side. Weber had a goal and two assists, and Roman Josi scored the shootout winner to lift the Predators to a 4-3 win over the Flyers on Thursday night. PHOENIX -- The San Antonio Spurs were worn out at the end of a nine-game road trip, and they prefer a slower pace even in the best of times. So their winter journey ended in Phoenix, against the NBAs top fast-break team with arguably the leagues fastest player in Ish Smith. The result was a 106-85 Suns victory. Smith scored a career-high 15 points, matched his career best of seven rebounds and triggered a decisive second-quarter run. "Im like Ricky Bobby (from the Will Ferrell movie "Talladega Nights"), I want to go fast," Smith said. "The biggest thing with us is we want to play that pace. We want to constantly push the ball, push the ball. Thats what makes us really good." Markieff Morris scored 21 points and Channing Frye 17 for Phoenix. Gerald Green and Marcus Morris added 13 apiece. Danny Green had 15 points and Tim Duncan 13 for the Spurs, who finished a nine-game road trip, the teams annual sojourn while a rodeo is held back home. The Spurs went 6-3 on the swing. The Suns, 3-0 since the All-Star break, snapped San Antonios three-game winning streak and climbed to a season-high 12 games above .500. "You never know how you are going to get a team," Suns coach Jeff Hornacek said. "They have been on the road for a long time, they were probably itching to get back home. They had an off night and we had a decent night. We will take it." The Spurs NBA-best road record dropped to 22-8. "They made shots, we didnt, and we turned it over," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. "It wasnt bad. Our ninth road game in a row, they played hard and we couldnt stick it in the hole. It happens. It was a great trip. Six and three on that trip under the circumstances of all the guys out and back and forth, I thought they were great." The Suns outscored San Antonio 28-12 in the second quarter to lead 47-35 at the break, the Spurs lowest scoring half of the season With a lineup of mostly bench players, the Suns scored 19 points in a row in what eventually became a 26-3 second-quarter run..dddddddddddd. San Antonio got the first basket of the quarter, then didnt score again until Duncans three-point play with 5:11 to play in the period. Frye responded with a 3-pointer, then Smith scored twice inside, the second on a nifty underhanded layup in traffic, and Phoenix had its biggest lead of the half, 45-28, with 3:06 to play. Smith, getting added court time because Leandro Barbosa was out with a sprained left big toe, was 5-for-5 shooting in the second quarter for 10 points with five rebounds, two assists and a steal. "(Russell) Westbrook is fast, but hes not like dash fast, first step," teammate Goran Dragic said. "Ish is special. Its harder because hes so small and when he goes low, its even harder to stay in front of him." Smith almost singlehandedly speeded up the game. "The game was kind of their pace," Hornacek said. "I think we were down 21-17 when he came in and he got the tempo going, really pushed the ball, got our guys in that running mode." San Antonios 12-point second quarter matched its lowest-scoring quarter of the season. The Suns outscored the Spurs 17-7 to open the second half, taking a 64-42 lead on Fryes 3-pointer with 5:39 left in the period. About that time, San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich sat Duncan and Manu Ginobili for the night. Ginobili, a game-time decision because of a sore hamstring, played 13 minutes. For the Spurs, Patty Mills was 2 of 14 from the field and Marco Belinelli 1 for 8. San Antonio was 2 of 21 from 3-point range. The 21-point loss was the second-worst of the season for San Antonio. The Spurs lost by 23 at the Los Angeles Clippers Dec. 16. NOTES: Phoenix snapped a five-game losing streak against the Spurs. ... Tony Parker missed his fourth game in a row for what Popovich labeled an assortment of ailments. ... Popovich drew a technical seven minutes into the game and the Suns P.J. Tucker got one in the second quarter. ... The Spurs have five days off before playing their first home game since Feb. 1, against Detroit next Wednesday. 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They wanna make t-shirts about it and sell them at our next hockey game..DB: Wow, they want to make t-shirts? That sounds pretty amazing.MS: Yeah, I was also on the Top 10, I was number 1 today, so that was pretty cool.New York, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Kyrie Irvings season-high 37 points and two timely LeBron James baskets helped the Cleveland Cavaliers avenge an opening-night loss to the New York Knicks and leave Madison Square Garden with a 90-87 win. The Cavaliers trailed for most of the second half, but James scored five straight points late in the fourth to put them back in front. Irvings lefty scoop layup over two defenders with 10 seconds left made it 90-87. The Knicks went to a Carmelo Anthony isolation on the games final possession. Anthony shook James and shot a 3 from the right wing, but it was just off the mark. Iman Shumpert tipped the rebound out to Jose Calderon, who hit a 3 a full second after the final buzzer. Irving hit 12-of-18 from the floor and made 10 of his 11 free throw attempts for Cleveland, which has won a season-high five straight games. James gave 19 points and 12 assists, and Kevin Love posted 11 points and 11 boards. The Cavaliers dropped a 95-90 decision to the Knicks on Oct. 30. Since then, New York has managed just three more wins in 19 games. Tim Hardaway Jr. paced the Knicks with 20 points off the bench. Amare Stoudemire had 18 and Quincy Acy scored a career-high 15 in New Yorks sixth straight setback. Anthony shot just 4-for-19 for nine points. Neither team led by more than four during a back-and-forth first quarter. James had five points and five assists, and Cleveland led 25-24 after one. Irving opened the second quarter with a layup before Cleveland wennt cold, missing four straight shots and turning the ball over three times during a 13-0 Knicks run.dddddddddddd Hardaway scored 11 of the 13, including three 3-pointers, and New York climbed out to a 37-27 lead. The Knicks might have opened a larger lead had it not been for Irving. The former No. 1 pick scored 17 points on seven shots in the frame, with his 3- pointer in the closing seconds pulling the Cavs to within 53-50 at halftime. Cleveland chipped away and eventually tied the game at 64 on a James layup with 3:21 left in the third. Irving then put the Cavs in front with another layup, but New York scored nine of the last 11 points in the quarter to take a 73-68 lead into the fourth. New York clung to a narrow lead until James hit a deep triple with just under four minutes left to put Cleveland back in front. Then, Irving took it from Calderon and sent it ahead to James for a breakaway slam. Irvings first two assists of the game gave the Cavs their largest lead since the first quarter with 3:26 to play. Stoudemires layup made it 88-87. Shane Larkin then had a chance to give the Knicks a lead with a short runner, but it rimmed out with 39 seconds left and Anthony missed a tip-in. 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