2011 Breeders Crown Finals; 2YO Filly Pace, Open Pace fields set

29OCT Post Positions Drawn For Two Breeders Crown Finals

No eliminations are required for the $600,000 Breeders Crown Two-Year-Old Filly Pace and the $500,000 Breeders Crown Open Pace, therefore all entries will advance automatically to their respective finals.

The draw for the October 29 finals took place Tuesday, October 18.

The fields will line up as follows:

$600,000 Breeders Crown Two-Year-Old Filly Pace
Post) Horse – Listed Driver
1) Marty Party – Dave Palone
2) Handsoffmycookie – Tim Tetrick
3) Pirouette Hanover – Ron Pierce
4) Apogee Hanover – Scott Zeron
5) Economy Terror – Brian Sears
6) Shelliscape – Randy Waples
7) Big Mcdeal – Jody Jamieson
8) Angel Scent – David Miller
9) Podges Lady – Yannick Gingras

$500,000 Breeders Crown Open Pace
Post) Horse – Listed Driver
1) We Will See – Ron Pierce
2) Foiled Again – Yannick Gingras
3) Alexie Mattosie – Jody Jamieson
4) Mach Dreamer – Mark MacDonald
5) Bettor Sweet – John Campbell
6) Clear Vision – George Brennan
7) Dial Or Nodial – David Miller
8) One More Laugh – Tim Tetrick
9) Atochia – Brian Sears
10) Bigtime Ball – Paul MacDonell
11) Aracache Hanover – Doug McNair

Source: StandardbredCanada.ca, with files from WEG

Here Comes Frazier has stretch drive surprise for jockey

Jockey Julien Leparoux has no idea what's coming in the stretch, after leading the Bourbon Stakes right out of the gate.



I imagine he was singing that George Thorogood song when he came to... One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer.

NHL funnies; NEW changes to NHL teams' strategy

Although some of Sean's comments are cryptic, the humor clearly shines through. The Canucks nugget is probably both the truest and funniest; sorry Van fans, your team is soft.

A primer on subtle changes to NHL teams' strategies

Sean McIndoe Oct 11, 2011

The NHL regular season has arrived, with all 30 teams having seen action. And if you settled in to watch your favourite team’s opening games and felt like something seemed different, you may be right.

After a long off-season of planning and an exhibition schedule for fine-tuning, the opening of the regular season is the time for teams to unveil the new systems and strategies that they hope will translate into improved results. Whether it is a change in coaching, new personnel or just a different approach to certain game situations, most teams have tweaked something.

These changes are often subtle and can be difficult for the casual fan to notice. To help, I have spoken to several scouts and front-office executives and they outlined some of the most important strategic shifts to watch for early in the season.

Philadelphia Flyers Trying a bold new strategy where the on-the-fly line changes executed by the team every minute or so will no longer include the goaltender.

Los Angeles Kings Working hard in practice on improving Drew Doughty’s accuracy from the point, since this year every single one of his slap shots seems to be heading directly for the front office’s private suite.

Montreal Canadiens Apparently playing under the new slogan “Let’s go on out there and be part of a moment that thousands of people have been waiting 15 years for and completely ruin it.”

Vancouver Canucks Trying a new strategy called “If some guy is punching our best player in the face over and over again, maybe think about doing something about that.” Still in the experimental phase.

Toronto Maple Leafs Currently rethinking their long-standing game plan of “If Colton Orr scores a goal, everyone else immediately stop playing for the rest of the game since we know that the End Times are upon us,”

Edmonton Oilers Tom Renney ends each fiery pre-game speech by saying, “Now go on out there and compete hard for the team, just like A.C. Slater at Bayside High!”, before looking around the room and adding “Wow, really? Not one of the good players is old enough to get that reference? Oh man, I am screwed.”

Atlanta Thrashers Have decided to take a break from that whole “existing” strategy that hadn’t really been working for them in years.

Columbus Blue Jackets Unlike the previous eight seasons, will no longer employ a simplistic offensive strategy called “As soon as you get the puck, immediately pass it to Rick Nash.” Will now be switching to the more complex “As soon as you get the puck, immediately pass it to Jeff Carter who then immediately passes it to Rick Nash.”

Washington Capitals Coach Bruce Boudreau has decided to get the completely unnecessary goaltending controversy out of the way on opening night, rather than waiting for the first bad period of the playoffs like every other year.

Dallas Stars Management will no longer assume that a star player is harbouring childhood dreams of trying out for the local baseball team if he spends the entire season muttering, “Man, I cannot wait until I get to sign with the Rangers.”

Ottawa Senators New head coach Paul MacLean has reassured his players that, if he learned one thing while coaching in the Western Conference with the Red Wings for six years, it’s that road games never actually get started until around 9 or 9:15 p.m. Eastern.

• Sean McIndoe’s humour site, Down Goes Brown, is updated regularly at www.downgoesbrown.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DownGoesBrown

OCT 2011: Toronto Maple Leafs Top 30 players ranked

Here is an unofficial ranking of the Top Thirty players currently on the Leafs or in the system, ranked by their ability to help the team this year.

1. Phaneuf
2. Kessel
3. Grabovski
4. Reimer
5. Schenn
6. Kulemin
7. Lupul
8. Connolly
9. MacArthur
10. Armstrong

11. Liles
12. Gardiner
13. Bozak
14. Orr
15. Gunnarsson
16. Steckel
17. Dupuis
18. Frattin
19. Komisarek
20.Brown


21, Rosehill
22. Kadri
23. Gustavsson
24. Franson
25. Rosehill
26. Aulie
27. Boyce
28. Crabb
29. Lashoff
30. Colbourne

Did I miss anybody?

31. Scrivens

Somebeachsomewhere yearling colt Hitting The Cycle tops sale at $450,000

New record for Lexington, exceeding Mustang Almahurst's price

Some may wonder why a human would plunk down 450k on a yearling by a yet-to-be-proven sire, so let me explain. The two fastest pacers of the 21st Century are Somebeachsomewhere and Rock N Roll Heaven. This record setting yearling is by Somebeachsomewhere, out of the mom of Rock N Roll Heaven. There is no other way to get the most leading edge breeding, other than by buying this colt.

He looks pretty good too!

2011 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale from USTA on Vimeo.

Hitting The Cycle, from the first crop of 2008 Horse of the Year Somebeachsomewhere and out of Artistic Vision, dam of 2010 Horse of the Year Rock N Roll Heaven, drew a winning bid of $450,000, surpassing the previous record of $430,000 for a pacing colt set in 1983 by Mustang Almahurst. Trainer Bruce Saunders signed the ticket on behalf of owner Frank Bellino. The same pair teamed up with Rock N Roll Heaven. Hunterton Sales Agency consigned the colt for breeders Charles, Julie and Francene Nash, and Steve Stewart.

The pacer Captaintreacherous is by Somebeachsomewhere out of Worldly Treasure, a full sister to champion Worldly Beauty. Tony Alagna paid $250,000 for the yearling that was consigned by Preferred Equine Marketing for breeder White Birch Farm.

The 3rd highest priced Beach yearling was South Pacific, by Somebeachsomewhere out of Best Laid Plans-M-P-$170,000-John Cancelliere

Leafs top line shines in win over Ottawa

Mikhail Grabovski just keeps getting better, and again tonight he and his line mates proved coach Ron Wilson's wisdom in naming them the Buds number one unit.

Grabovski had a beautiful shorthanded goal and two assists, Kulemin potted a goal while MacArthur picked up a goal and an assist. Liles had a power play goal and PEI's Darryl Boyce scored the game winner in the third.

Here's the Box Score:

1ST PERIOD

10:44
OTT PPG - MIKA ZIBANEJAD TIP-IN - ASST: C. NEIL AND D. RUNDBLAD
11:51
OTT ZACK SMITH SNAP - ASST: K. DAUGAVINS AND C. NEIL
14:31
TOR SHG - MIKHAIL GRABOVSKI WRIST - ASST: NONE
18:11
TOR PPG - JOHN-MICHAEL LILES SLAP - ASST: J. LUPUL AND N. KADRI
18:32
OTT NICK FOLIGNO WRIST - ASST: Z. SMITH AND E. CONDRA

2ND PERIOD

12:05
TOR NIKOLAI KULEMIN WRIST - ASST: M. GRABOVSKI AND C. MACARTHUR

3RD PERIOD

01:35
TOR DARRYL BOYCE TIP-IN - ASST: C. FRANSON AND M. FRATTIN
18:03
TOR CLARKE MACARTHUR WRIST - ASST: M. GRABOVSKI AND P. KESSEL

Leafs bring young lineup to Philadelphia

Toronto Maple Leafs lineup for Wednesday, September 21, 2011, at Philadelphia Flyers

Maple Leafs lineup for the game on Wednesday night in Philadelphia vs. the Flyers:

Goalies

30. Ben Scrivens
50. Jonas Gustavsson

Defence

2. Luke Schenn
8. Mike Komisarek
22. Cody Franson
36. Carl Gunnarsson
51. Jake Gardiner
54. Juraj Mikus
55. Korbinian Holzer
59. Keith Aulie

Forwards

9. Colby Armstrong
11. Philippe Dupuis
28. Colton Orr
32. Joe Colborne
33. Luca Caputi
38. Jay Rosehill
39. Matt Frattin
41. Nikolai Kulemin
42. Tyler Bozak
47. Darryl Boyce
48. Ryan Hamilton
69. Greg McKegg
71. Jerry D’Amigo

Other than Komi, Colby and Kulemin, this is quite a youthful lineup, so in a few hours we'll see whether they bring Monday night's energy or Tuesday evening's mistake-prone play. There are a lot of cuts scheduled for today with probably more by tomorrow, so Friday's lineup should contain at least two-thirds of the gents who will start the season for the Buds.