The Ticket Chest

Blackhawks Win First Shootout – Defeat Coyotes 3-2

Thursday, November 20th, 2008 | Chicago Blackhawks, NHL, Sports | No Comments

What a wild ride. At the end of the night, the Blackhawks won the game 3-2. But along the way, there were more up and downs than Disney World’s Space Mountain ride in Orlando.

The Blackhawks jumped out to a 2-0 lead on 1st period goals by Kris Versteeg and Patrick Sharp. Both goals came with less than 2 minutes left to play in the period. The Blackhawks couldn’t muster much of an attack after that, however, getting out-shot by the Coyotes in both the 2nd and 3rd periods. The Coyotes cut the lead in half on Zbynek Michalek’s goal in the 2nd period, and they tied the game 6 minutes into the 3rd period on Shane Doan’s 10th goal of the young NHL season. It was a demoralizing feeling after leading by 2 goals after 1 period and not really taking advantage of the situation for the remaining 40 minutes of the game. In addition, the Blackhawks had previously had no success in overtime and shootouts this season, so they knew their chances of emerging with 2 points on the road were slim. Letting that early 2-goal lead slip away seemed even more disappointing because of that.

Neither team scored in the overtime period and it was off to a shootout – the 5th shootout of the year for the Blackhawks. Jonathan Toews scored for the Blackhawks and Nikolai Khabibulin saved Kyle Turris’ shot on goal. Patrick Sharp put the Blackhawks in a great position with a goal to go up 2-0 in the shootout. The Coyotes had their backs up against the wall and Khabibulin’s save of Peter Mueller’s shot sealed the deal for the Blackhawks. It was the Blackhawks first shootout victort of the season in 5 chances. Khabibulin saved 36 of 38 regulation shots on goal, plus 2 more in the shootout session. One of his best games of the year.

Most importantly, the Blackhawks started off the “Circus Road Trip” on a positive note. Next up is the Dallas Stars, whom the Blackhawks and Khabibulin beat back on Halloween night at the United Center. If the Blackhawks can go 2 for 2 at the start of the road trip, that should give them a lot of confidence for the rest of the trip.

Tags: Chicago Blackhawks, NHL, Phoenix Coyotes

Bulls Lose Laugher in Portland, 116-74

Thursday, November 20th, 2008 | Chicago Bulls, NBA, Sports | No Comments

This will be my shortest Bulls blog of the year. It pained me to watch just the 1st half of this embarrassing game. Just a couple of quick notes. The Bulls didn’t win a single quarter and they didn’t win didn’t score more than 24 points in any quarter. The Bulls scored a paltry 13 points in the 1st quarter and trailed by 21 points after 12 minutes of play. How does that happen? The Bulls leading scorer was bench player Andres Nocioni with 13 points. Ben Gordon was held to a season-low 11 points and for the 1st time this season, Bulls rookie point guard Derrick Rose did not score in double-digit figures – he finished the game with only 6 points on 1 of 8 shooting. The Bulls were out-rebounded 49-33. The Bulls remain winless on the road during the young NBA season.

The Bulls allowed 6 Trailblazers to score in double-digits. The #1 overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft, Greg Oden, scored 11 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in only 17 minutes of play.

Let’s hope Vinny D and the Bulls have a short memory with this one. There’s no reason to watch any game tape of this embarrassing performance. At this point, barring a miracle, the Bulls will go 0 for 6 on the west coast portion of the Circus Road trip. With games against Golden State (5-6), Denver (8-4), Utah (8-4) and San Antonio (5-6), it’s going to take a Herculean effort for the crew to pull off an upset win in any of those road stadiums.

Tags: Chicago Bulls, NBA, Portland Trailblazers

NBA Highlights Nov 19th

Thursday, November 20th, 2008 | NBA | No Comments

Tags: NBA

College Basketball Scores Wednesday

Thursday, November 20th, 2008 | College Basketball | No Comments

1 2 Total Florida A&M 23 25 48 Alabama 55 34 89 Final Coleman Coliseum (Tuscaloosa, AL)		1 2 OT 2OT Total Charlotte 35 33 7 9 84 Final Appalachian St. 36 32 7 12 87 2OT Holmes Convocation Center (Boone, NC)
1 2 Total Murray St. 28 19 47 Arkansas St. 23 32 55 Final Convocation Center (Jonesboro, AR)		1 2 Total Mercer 44 34 78 Auburn 40 34 74 Final Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum (Auburn, AL)
1 2 Total Albany 39 37 76 Bryant 25 42 67 Final Chace Athletic Center (Smithfield, RI)		1 2 Total Ball St. 29 26 55 Butler 31 33 64 Final Hinkle Fieldhouse (Indianapolis, IN)
1 2 Total Bacone 21 36 57 Central Arkansas 35 39 74 Final Farris Center (Conway, AR)		1 2 Total Wofford 23 17 40 Clemson 42 51 93 Final Littlejohn Coliseum (Clemson, SC)
1 2 Total Delaware St. 21 21 42 Dayton 28 34 62 Final University of Dayton Arena (Dayton, OH)		1 2 Total Morehead St. 39 31 70 Drake 35 51 86 Final Knapp Center (Des Moines, IA)
1 2 Total Campbell 26 39 65 East Carolina 40 46 86 Final Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum (Greenville, NC)		1 2 Total Manchester 17 36 53 Eastern Illinois 59 23 82 Final Lantz Arena (Charleston, IL)
1 2 Total Binghamton 26 31 57 Geo. Washington 38 33 71 Final Charles E. Smith Center (Washington, DC)		1 2 Total Southern Tech 31 33 64 Georgia St. 45 37 82 Final GSU Sports Arena (Atlanta, GA)
1 2 Total Brown 27 35 62 Holy Cross 31 26 57 Final Hart Recreation Center (Worcester, MA)		1 2 Total American 30 35 65 Howard 37 26 63 Final Burr Arena (Washington, DC)
1 2 Total (5) Michigan St. 32 38 70 IPFW 24 35 59 Final Allen County War Memorial Coliseum (Fort Wayne, IN)		1 2 Total Emporia St. 34 26 60 Kansas St. 40 42 82 Final Fred Bramlage Coliseum (Manhattan, KS)
1 2 Total Morgan St. 30 30 60 Manhattan 26 35 61 Final Draddy Gymnasium (Riverdale, NY)		1 2 Total Upper Iowa 20 39 59 Wis. Milwaukee 35 52 87 Final US Cellular Arena (Milwaukee, WI)
1 2 Total North Alabama 30 31 61 Mississippi St. 48 54 102 Final Humphrey Coliseum (Starkville, MS)		1 2 Total Harvard 48 32 80 New Hampshire 33 36 69 Final Lundholm Gym (Durham, NH)
1 2 Total New Orleans 26 36 62 Nicholls St. 41 38 79 Final David R. Stopher Gym (Thibodaux, LA)		1 2 Total Talledega 25 29 54 N.C. A&T 36 47 83 Final Corbett Sports Center (Greensboro, NC)
1 2 Total Texas A&M C.C. 21 27 48 Northwestern 39 27 66 Final Welsh-Ryan Arena (Evanston, IL)		1 2 Total UC San Diego 27 31 58 Pacific 33 33 66 Final Spanos Center (Stockton, CA)
1 2 OT Total Maine 27 24 7 58 Final Princeton 31 20 4 55 OT L. Stockwell Jadwin Gymnasium (Princeton, NJ)		1 2 OT Total Kent St. 24 35 17 76 Final Saint Louis 20 39 15 74 OT Chaifetz Arena (St. Louis, MO)
1 2 Total Cal Maritime 12 25 37 San Jose St. 39 40 79 Final San Jose State Event Center (San Jose, CA)		1 2 Total Nebraska 37 25 62 TCU 24 26 50 Final Daniel-Meyer Coliseum (Fort Worth, TX)
1 2 Total Huston-Tillotson 43 38 81 Texas St. 60 44 104 Final Strahan Coliseum (San Marcos, TX)		1 2 Total Eastern Wash. 33 41 74 UC Irvine 30 39 69 Final Bren Events Center (Irvine, CA)
1 2 Total Northern Iowa 33 44 77 Ill. Chicago 31 53 84 Final UIC Pavilion (Chicago, IL)		1 2 Total Niagara 30 32 62 (23) Villanova 36 41 77 Final The Pavilion (Villanova, PA)
1 2 Total South Florida 34 41 75 Virginia 34 43 77 Final John Paul Jones Arena (Charlottesville, VA)		1 2 Total South Dakota St. 30 26 56 VCU 38 34 72 Final Stuart Siegel Center (Richmond, VA)
1 2 Total St. Peter’s 26 18 44 Wagner 35 24 59 Final Spiro Sports Center (Staten Island, NY)		1 2 Total N.C. Wilmington 44 44 88 (20) Wake Forest 61 59 120 Final Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum (Winston-Salem, NC)
1 2 Total Eureka 38 19 57 Western Ill. 43 32 75 Final Western Hall (Macomb, IL)		1 2 Total Mo. Kansas City 27 39 66 Wichita St. 26 37 63 Final Charles Koch Arena (Wichita, KS)
1 2 Total Norfolk St. 20 38 58 William & Mary 31 43 74 Final Kaplan Arena (Williamsburg, VA)		1 2 Total Prairie View A&M 31 44 75 Wyoming 34 46 80 Final

Tags: College Basketball Scores

NHL Scores Wednesday

Thursday, November 20th, 2008 | NHL, Sports | No Comments

Wednesday, Nov 19, 2008

1 2 3 Total Buffalo 4 0 0 4 Final Boston 3 3 1 7 Game Winning Goal: C. Kobasew (BOS)		1 2 3 Total Vancouver 2 3 1 6 Final NY Rangers 0 2 1 3 Game Winning Goal: R. Johnson (VAN)
1 2 3 Total Washington 3 2 1 6 Final Anaheim 2 0 2 4 Game Winning Goal: M. Bradley (WAS)

Tags: NHL Scores