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GUELPH, Ont. Ellis Lankster . - Scott Kosmachuk scored four times and Nick Ebert had two goals and two assists as the Guelph Storm pummelled the Sarnia Sting 13-1 on Friday in Ontario Hockey League action. Kerby Rychel also had a pair of goals for Guelph (52-12-3), which clinched first overall in the OHL standings, while Phil Baltisberger, Zac Leslie, Robbie Fabbri, Jason Dickinson and Marc Stevens added single goals. Justin Nicholas made 19 saves for the Storm. Hayden Hodgson scored the lone goal for the Sting (17-43-5) and Brodie Barrick gave up all 13 goals on 61 shots against. --- FRONTENACS 5 67s 4 (OT) KINGSTON, Ont. — Robert Polesello scored twice, including the winner, as the Frontenacs slipped past Ottawa. Michael Moffat, Darcy Greenaway and Henri Ikonen also scored for Kingston (38-23-6) and Evan McEneny chipped in with three assists. Connor Brown, Dante Salituro, Travis Konecny and Tyler Hill scored for the 67s (23-38-6), who are on a four-game slide and two points behind Mississauga for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Matt Mahalak made 26 saves for the Frontenacs while Philippe Trudeau turned away 43-of-48 shots for Ottawa. --- OTTERS 10 WHALERS 1 PLYMOUTH, Mich. — Connor McDavid, Brendan Gaunce and Michael Curtis each scored twice as Erie hammered the Whalers for its seventh straight victory. Jake Evans, Spencer Abraham, Dane Fox and Andre Burakovsky also scored for the Otters (51-14-2) while Burakovsky tacked on two assists for a three-point night. Zach Lorentz scored the lone goal for Plymouth (27-33-7). Eries Devin Williams made 24 saves for the win as Zack Bowman allowed 10 goals on 54 shots for the Whalers. --- GREYHOUNDS 6 SPIRIT 5 SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. — Jorgen Karterud and Bryan Moore each had two goals and an assist as the Greyhounds edged Saginaw. Sergey Tolchinksy scored once and set up two more for Sault Ste. Marie (43-17-6) while Charley Graaskamp added his first-career OHL goal. Justin Kea had a pair of goals for the Spirit (32-29-5). Luke Cairns, Mitchell Stephens and Jacob Ringuette had the others. Matt Murray made 28 saves for the Greyhounds. Saginaws Nikita Serebryakov stopped 28-of-34 shots in defeat. --- SPITFIRES 3 RANGERS 2 (SO) KITCHENER, Ont. — Brady Vail scored the winner and Alex Fotinos made 50 saves as Windsor came from behind to defeat the Rangers and end a five-game slide. Vail also had a goal and an assist in regulation for the Spitfires (37-27-3), who trailed 2-0 with less than five minutes remaining in regulation, and Ben Johnson scored the other. Curtis Meighan and Dmitrii Sergeev scored for Kitchener (22-41-5), which dropped its 11th game in a row. Matthew Greenfield made 31 saves for the Rangers. --- KNIGHTS 4 ATTACK 2 LONDON, Ont. — Chris Tierney scored twice as the Knights doubled up Owen Sound for their fourth win in a row. Bo Horvat and Owen MacDonald also scored for London (48-13-4) and Josh Anderson had two assists. Kurtis Gabriel and Kyle Hope each had a goal and an assist for the Attack (30-29-8). Anthony Stolarz made 23 saves for the Knights. Owen Sounds Jack Flinn stopped 34-of-38 shots in defeat. --- STEELHEADS 2 ICEDOGS 1 (SO) MISSISSAUGA, Ont. — Lucas Venuto and Bryson Cianfrone scored in the shootout as the Steelheads kept their playoff hopes alive by downing Niagara. Andrew Goldberg scored in regulation for Mississauga (24-37-6), which holds the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with one game to play in regular-season action. Billy Jenkins scored for the Ice Dogs (23-35-9), who are seventh in the East. Spencer Martin made 31 saves for the Steelheads while Niagaras Brent Moran stopped 29 shots in defeat. --- BATTALION 5 WOLVES 3 SUDBURY, Ont. — Brett McKenzie had a pair of goals as North Bay earned its fifth straight win by downing the Wolves. Barclay Goodrow, Matt MacLeod and Mathew Santos also scored for the Battalion (37-24-6). Nicholas Baptiste scored for Sudbury (32-23-11) and assisted on goals by Nathan Pancel and Connor Crisp. North Bays Brendan ONeill made 26 saves for the win. Franky Palazzese kicked out 30-of-34 shots for the Wolves. --- GENERALS 3 BULLS 2 (OT) OSHAWA, Ont. — Michael Dal Colle scored at 4:57 of overtime as the Generals ended Bellevilles attempt at catching the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Bradley Latour and Scott Laughton scored in regulation for Oshawa (42-19-6), which ended a three-game skid, and Cole Cassels had two assists. Jordan Subban and Cameron Brace scored for the Bulls (22-38-7), who sit 10th in the East. Daniel Altshuller made 30 saves for the Generals while Bellevilles Charlie Graham stopped 28-of-31 shots in defeat. --- Willie Colon . - Dwight Howard returned for the first time to Staples Center, where the Los Angeles Clippers ran his Houston Rockets off the floor with their most points in four years. Joe Klecko .Y. -- Bills starting defensive tackle Marcell Dareus wont be ready for the opening of training camp in his latest off-season setback.TORONTO – Minutes after Kevin Pillar played the hero in Monday nights 5-4 Blue Jays walk off win over the Twins, he alluded to a conversation he shared with Jose Bautista earlier in the evening. The two were in the batting cage moments before game time. Bautista was taking final warm up cuts. Pillar was hitting soft toss. The one-time utility player turned All-Star pulled aside the clubs young, fourth outfielder and offered him some advice. Pillar described it as a discussion about hitting. Bautista told him there was nothing wrong with his swing, that he should remain aggressive in the batters box in order that the pitcher doesnt get too comfortable. He reminded Pillar that in Pillars role, he could step to the plate in crucial, late-game situations. Sure enough, Pillar got the game-winning single to snap a 4-4 tie in the ninth inning. Sure enough, he remained aggressive, perhaps too much so early in the at-bat when Pillar swung at the first two pitches down and out of the strike zone. With the count 1-2, Pillar took a pitch on the outer half to right field, Erik Kratz came around to score and the Blue Jays celebrated. Pillar thought enough of the conversation to share it with the assembled media postgame. Bautista seemed surprised to be approached on the topic. "You hope to have an effect on all your teammates, no matter what you talk about or discuss," said Bautista. "Even if its, hey youre opening up a little bit or having a 10-minute talk about being mentally ready, preparation and mindset and all that. You hope that your teammates listen to you. You dont hope that they do exactly what you say and if you say hop on one foot they start doing it, but if you make a comment that you think is going to help you hope they at least listen. Digest it and if it helps and it works then so be it." The type of conversation Bautista had with Pillar is rare this season, according to Bautista, because the Blue Jays are laden with veterans. The need doesnt arise as often. This, too, is the second year the group has been together after being arranged in the flurry of high-profile offseason moves made in November and December, 2012. "I think each person is more knowledgeable of others capabilities, more realistic with the expectations," said Bautista. "I think last year, people didnt know what to expect exactly with other players. Expectations might have been a little unrealistic, sometimes on the higher end and sometimes on the lower end. Sometimes you might have expected more out of somebody and that might have been not right. Sometimes you expected less and the guys surprise you. So now I think everybody is more in tune with each others capabilities." DICKEY THROWING MORE FASTBALLS R.A. Dickey is using his fasttball more this season than he did last year. Dennis Byrd. . Hes thrown a heater 14.3 per cent of the time in 2014, compared to 11.9 per cent last season. This years number is more reflective of his 2012 Cy Young award season with the Mets, when 14 per cent of his pitches were fastballs. "I think its conscious because Ive had a lot of high-pitch games," said Dickey. "I had a 31-pitch first inning against (the Twins on Monday night), I had like a 30-pitch against the Royals, first inning. I need to get back to trying to induce contact earlier in counts so in that regard it has been something that Ive consciously tried to do. Especially with teams, Minnesota for instance is a team that leads the league in pitches taken so whenever you have a club like that you want to try to get ahead of guys as much as possible." Dickey is also conscious of his walk rate, which has skyrocketed this year. Hes issued a free pass to 10.2 per cent of hitters hes faced, compared to 7.5 per cent last year and 5.8 per cent in 2012. In each of his last two starts, hes allowed home runs off his fastball. On June 4 in Detroit, Miguel Cabrera took him deep on a first pitch fastball in the first inning. On Monday night against the Twins, leadoff hitter Danny Santana hit a home run off a full count fastball. Dickey had been falling behind in that first inning in Detroit and thought he could sneak a heater by Cabrera. "That was just a roll of the dice," said Dickey. "I had gone 2-0 with the first two hitters and felt that he would want to get in a hitters count. I tried to steal a strike the first time through the lineup and his numbers off me, I think hes had like 14 at-bats and two first-pitch swings and so the percentages were in my favour that he was taking and so I tried to play to those and got burned." Half of the home runs Dickeys allowed this season, five of 10, have been off fastballs. Has he become too predictable, throwing fastballs when in need of a strike? "I would hope not because I try to do a good job of throwing a lot of 2-0, 3-1, 3-2 knuckleballs," said Dickey. "Im not in the habit of routinely throwing a fastball in a fastball count but because I dont feature the same velocity as a lot of guys its a lot easier to put the barrel on the ball if theyve seen multiple fastballs in an at-bat; if theyre not well located in particular." JAYS INK TWO MORE PICKS The Blue Jays locked up their second and fifth round picks from last weeks amateur draft. They are highly-touted right-handed pitcher Sean Reid-Foley (49th overall) out of Sandalwood High School in Jacksonville, Florida and centerfielder Lane Thomas (144th overall) out of Bearden High School in Knoxville, Tennessee. Both players are 18 years old. ' ' ' |
