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ABBOTSFORD, B. Anthony Rizzo Cubs Jersey .C. -- The Texas Stars snapped a three-game winless streak the best way they know how -- by scoring a bushel of goals in quick succession. The Stars are the highest scoring team in the American Hockey League and showed it by thumping the Abbotsford Heat 7-2 on Sunday. Colton Sceviour scored his first of the night just 53 seconds into the game, but it was his second that capped a six-goal second period for the Stars. "We were able to get a goal early and we buried our chances," said Sceviour. "In yesterdays game (a 3-2 Abbotsford shootout victory), (Heat goalie Olivier) Roy made some big saves and we werent able to capitalize. Today we were able to capitalize and that was the big difference." Lopsided victories are nothing new between these two clubs. Abbotsfords largest margin of defeat this season was a 9-3 loss in Texas Oct. 20, which it followed with a 7-3 win. The Stars also toppled the Heat 5-0 in January. "Its kind of strange," said Sceviour. "The second game they played us in Texas they beat us pretty handily. Its weird how teams that are so tight in the standings that when they play one team seems to control the other a little bit. But fortunately its been us more times than not." Scott Glennie had a pair of goals, while Brett Ritchie, Jyrki Jokipakka, and Mike Hedden also scored for Texas (29-15-6), which moves the club to within two points of the Heat for first in the Western Conference. "Its good for us, but we know theyre a good team," said Glennie. "The games, it seems, have been one-sided this year, one way or another. Its been fun playing them and well have a tough matchup in the future." The Stars boast the top-two goal scorers in the AHL in Sceviour and points leader Travis Morin. "(Sceviour) is such a big part of the team," said Glennie. "We need those guys to be scoring for us to be successful, and they bring it every single night. But obviously when we get the secondary scoring, like tonight, its huge for us as well. When youre playing a team like Abbotsford you need that." Cristopher Nilstorp made 33 saves for the win. "(Nilstorp) was fantastic," added Glennie. "They had a lot of good opportunities to get back in the game and he was there to stop them every single time and that was great." Max Reinhart and Shane OBrien replied for Abbotsford (31-15-4), which had a five-game winning streak snapped. Olivier Roy allowed four goals on 24 shots before being replaced by Joni Ortio, who was reassigned to the Heat by the Calgary Flames for the Olympic break. Ortio let in the first shot he faced and three of the first six shots that went his way. "The second period was a big outburst and that was kind of a shock for both teams," said Glennie. The Stars opened the scoring when Dustin Jeffreys pass deflected in off Sceviours skate, and after review the goal stood. The Heat tied the game at 11:19. Corban Knight jammed at the puck down low, and with the puck sitting on the goal line Reinhart swooped around the net to tuck it in for his 12th of the season. OBrien gave the Heat their only lead of the game at 2:14 of the second. After leading a shorthanded rush he dropped the puck to Markus Granlund and went to the net. Granlund had two assists on the night. Ritchie tied the game a little more than a minute later on a power play. His wrist shot from the left face-off dot found its way through a pair of bodies into the top right corner for his 11th of the season, beginning the offensive onslaught. "We knew we let it snowball on us, and give them credit - they smelled some blood and they took advantage," said OBrien. Glennie then scored two goals in a three-minute span. First he one-timed a feed from Chris Mueller while shorthanded. Then he was the beneficiary of a lucky bounce, with the puck going off a defencemans backside and in. Ortio came in to play goal, but allowed Jokipakka to score on the first shot he faced. "Goals four and five were the absolute backbreakers for me and our team," said Heat head coach Troy Ward. "The ones that were on the power play after, thats a frenzy of wolves feeding. They just smelled blood, and they went for it and they got it." Hedden and Sceviour then scored on successive power plays for their 18th and 29th goals respectively to round out the scoring. Kosuke Fukudome Cubs Jersey . The NFL club and Rogers Communications announced Wednesday theyve put the beleaguered Bills Toronto Series -- which features Buffalo playing exhibition and regular-season games at Rogers Centre -- on hold for at least a year. Jeff Samardzija Jersey . Abreu hit his 20th homer and Adam Dunn added a three-run shot as Chicago beat San Francisco 7-6 on Wednesday, handing the Giants their fifth straight loss.PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas -- Ryan Arcidiacono had not made a shot all night. So naturally, he was Jay Wrights choice on the play that wound up deciding Villanovas fate. And it was the right choice. Arcidiaconos 3-pointer with 10.1 seconds left put Villanova on top for good, and the Wildcats upset No. 2 Kansas 63-59 in the semifinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis on Friday night. "We had a choice who we were going to run that for," said Wright, the Villanova coach whos now 4-1 in last five games against teams ranked in the top five. "And we picked Ryan. I dont think theres a guy on our team who would doubt that. ... Everybody just knows he lives for that. When we practice end of the game situations in practice, he always makes the shot." Sure enough, he delivered. Arcidiacono had missed all five of his previous shots, but made the one that counted -- the only field goal for the Wildcats in the final 7 minutes. "I thought I was wide open, so I just pulled the trigger," Arcidiacono said. Arcidiacono got it off in plenty of time, even as Kansas Perry Ellis -- listed as 5 inches taller -- charged his way. "Almost," Ellis said. Darrun Hilliard and Dylan Ennis each scored 14 for Villanova (6-0), which meets Iowa in Saturday nights championship game. JayVaughn Pinkston scored 13 and James Bell added 10 for the Wildcats. Frank Mason scored 12 for Kansas (5-1). His three-point play with 34.2 seconds left gave Kansas its first lead in more than 25 minutes, but the Jayhawks couldnt hold on in the final moments. "It was not a pretty game," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "Certainly, I hate that it came down to one possession like that." Ellis scored 11, while Canadian Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid added 10 each for Kansas, which plays Texas-El Paso in the third-place game Saturday. Villanova led 57-46 with just over seven minutes left, then got outscored 13-1 to lose the lead -- and then found a way at the end to cap a wild night where one team would go on a run, then the other would follow. It held true to the end, with the Wildcats having the last run. Pinkstons layup made it 36-26 early in the second half, before Kansas ran off eight unanswered points in a flash -- four of them by Ellis -- to get within two. Villanova was undeterred. The Wildcats answered with a 12-2 run, capped by Ennis 3-pointer with 12:44 remaining too give Villanova what was its biggest lead, 48-36. Darwin Barney Authentic Jersey. The margin was still 11 with 7:19 left, but the Jayhawks just kept coming. And after Villanova went more than 4 minutes without scoring, Kansas was back within 57-54 with plenty of time left. Masons layin off a lob cut Villanovas lead to one, and the converted ballroom serving as an arena this weekend was simply rocking. Kansas fans had filled the building, and they werent quiet. That is, until Arcidiacono rendered them silent and gave Villanova a huge early win. "He seemed like a tough kid to me," Self said. "Usually, in a game like this, the tough guy is the one making plays. It didnt surprise me at all that hes the one who took the shot." For the first 6 1/2 minutes, Villanova made nothing. Literally, outside of a couple free throws, nothing. It was 11-2 Kansas out of the gate, and Villanova was looking wholly overmatched in the early going. The Wildcats missed their first seven shots, not getting anything from the field to drop until Hilliard -- who had scored 12 by intermission, seven more than anyone from Kansas to that point -- hit a 3-pointer with 13:14 remaining. Just like that, everything changed. Villanova scored 27 of the next 35 points over a stunning 12 1/2-minute stretch, turning that 11-2 deficit into a 29-19 lead, the last point coming when Arcidiacono made one of two free throws awarded after Self was protesting a bit too much with one of the referees during a time-out. The shot by Arcidiacono capped a 12-0 burst by the Wildcats. It was his only point until the 3-pointer in the final moments. Kansas went into the locker room down only 29-22. It could have been so much worse -- after holding Villanova without a field goal for nearly seven minutes to start the game, the Jayhawks went the last eight minutes of the half without one of their own, going 0 for 7 from the floor with five turnovers during that dismal stretch. Combined, the teams were 14 for 53 in the opening 20 minutes. Villanova shot 29 per cent, Kansas 24 per cent, but the Wildcats held a 28-15 rebounding edge in the half. "Were a long ways to go," Self said. "I love our talent, I love our players and all that stuff. But the thing is, theres a difference between trying hard and actually competing. And we have to learn how to compete. And its not going to happen overnight." wholesale nfl jerseys cheap jerseys from china ' ' ' |
