Green Bay Press-Gazette du lieu suivant : Green Bay, Wisconsin • Page 19

www.greenbaypressgazette.com Green Bay Press-Gazette Friday, January 21, 2005 C-5 Sports Hockey fans aren't going anywhere Pittsburgh's Bill Cowher yells from the sideline during the Steel-ers' regular-season finale against Buffalo. The Associated Press Cowher lacking Super Bowl win the team lead with five power-play goals. High school update: The Green Bay Jaguars (8-10-1) and the De Pere Voyageurs (11-4-3) will play in this weekend's Be-longer Tournament at the Cornerstone Community Ice ter in Ashwaubenon. The eight-team tournament starts today and finishes Sunday. The U-16 Green Bay Jaguars also are in the tournament.

The U-18 Jaguars' first game is 9:30 p.m. today. De Pere's first game is 8 a.m. Saturday. Junior Gamblers update: Green Bay is 31-14-5 and has clinched a playoff spot in the Central States Developmental League with a 13-4-1 record, good for third place in the 13-team league.

The Junior Gamblers were 1-1-1 at the Martin Luther King Showcase Tournament in Chicago last weekend. Green Bay has four road games this weekend against the Chicago Cyclones and Skokie. Deacons update: Green Bay is 3-6 this season and is 1-4 in its last five games. J.E Coppo and Simon Hedeen are tied for the team lead with five goals and eight assists for 13 points. The Deacons host Fox Cities at 7:30 tonight at the De Pere Ice Center before taking on Milwaukee on the road at 8 p.m.

Saturday Jason Lauren covers hockey for the Press-Gazette. He can be reached at 431 -8222 or jlaurengreenbaypressgazette.com East Division. "There were commitments made to myself and Blake and his family. He's lived up to everything and more. He's very happy to be in Green Bay, and we're really happy to have him to build around and have him as one of our alumni one day.

I never entertained the thought of trading him." Wheeler, who is headed to the University of Minnesota next season, leads the team with 13 goals and 27 points. Mazzoleni isaid he also didn't want to trads Wheeler because he feels his team has a shot at the playoffs, )eing just four points behind "the fourth-place team. "There's a lot of kids in the locker room that have (worked hard) for the present," Mazzoleni said. "It wouldn't be fair to them and would kind of signal that (I'm) just positioning (myself) for the future." St. Norbert update: Junior forward Jon Schultz leads Division III with five game-winning goals this season for the third-ranked Green Knights (13-2-2, 5-0-1 Northern Collegiate Hockey Association).

Schultz also has a team-high four goals since SNC returned from the holiday break. St. Norbert's power play (26.6 percent) ranks third itt the nation, thanks to balanced scoring with the man advantage. Five players (Schultz, senior Jason Deitsch and juniors Kelly Wosnack, Connor Hughes and Spencer Carbery) are tied for JASON LAUREN Hockey lockout ends, the league knows its fans will return. "Do they realize there doesn't have to be an NHL? The public indifference is a clear sign that there doesn't have to be professional hockey," Sharp stated in the same column.

I'm guessing Sharp may not know the difference between the red line and a goal line. If the NHL announced there was no hope and it was folding entirely, then hockey fans would be taking out their hockey sticks and swinging them at everything in sight. We may be more rare than NFL, NBA and baseball fans, but we're still here. And we're not going anywhere. Gamblers update: Coach Mark Mazzoleni has received multiple trade offers for his top player, forward Blake Wheeler.

Mazzoleni said every program in the West Division has approached him in the last three weeks about trading for Wheeler, the 5 overall NHL draft pick in 2005. He's the highest NHL draft pick to play in the United States Hockey League. "I've had as many as four guys being (offered) for him," said Mazzoleni, whose team is 12-22-1 and in fifth place in the I care, and you're reading this hockey column, so I bet you care, too. The NHL owners have locked out the players threatening the entire season to be canceled and by listening to sports talk radio and reading newspaper columnists around the country, nobody apparently cares. Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press stated in a column, "If nobody is mad enough to care that a professional sports enterprise might shelve an entire season for the first time ever, why should anybody care if it ever returns?" It's not that nobody is mad.

It's just that hockey fans realize the reality Of the situation. The owners want a salary cap, and it seems they are not going to budge until they get one. So hockey fans just are patiently waiting for the NHL to return. Calling up a sports talk radio show or writing a letter to the editor to a newspaper is not going to bring hockey back and change the owners' minds. Also, hockey fans at least the ones I've talked to seem to agree that canceling the season might be the best option, if it means long-term stability for the league.

If the owners are losing as much money as they say and if canceling a season is what it takes for the NHL to prosper in the future, then I can handle missing one season, as much as I miss it. Hockey fans are loyal. The NHL knows that, so when the Who, when: University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (8-6-3, 3-2-1 NCHA, fourth place) at No. 3 St. Norbert College (13-2-2, 5-0-1, tied first place), 7 p.m.

today; UW-Eau Claire (8-6-3, 1-3-2, tied fifth place) at St. Norbert, 7 p.m. Saturday. Where: Cornerstone Community Ice Center, Ashwaubenon. Radio: WNFL (1440 AM).

Series: St. Norbert leads UW-Stevens Point 22-16-4, with a 22-8-1 advantage in the last 31 meetings. SNC leads UW-Eau Claire 21-3-1 and is unbeaten (21-0-1) in the last 22 games. St. Norbert College hockey preview Rooney and the Rooney family for their 13 years of support.

"The void that still exists there is not having given them the fifth trophy since we've been here," Cowher said. "That's really what drives me because of the support that they've given me through the years." The Steelers will get another chance Sunday, but there are complications. Although they had the better regular-season record (15-1), beat the Patriots in late October and have the home field, New England is a three-point favorite. But Cowher said he will approach this AFC title game the same way he has approached his previous four, three of which have ended in defeat. "I think every game has been a pretty good football game," he said.

"We have just been coming out on the short end more times than not. I think each game has had its own identity. I think we have been prepared to play every game. "We just have not made the plays that you have to make in big games. I think that is the thing that happens.

When you go into the playoffs, you are playing quality teams and you can't turn the football over and squander scoring Knight Ridder Newspapers DETROIT Bill Cowher has a list of accomplishments befitting his position as the longest-serving active coach in the NFL. Eight division titles. Nine playoff appearances. Five AFC championship game appearances. A winning percentage of 62.7, with only three losing seasons in 13 years at Pittsburgh.

There is only one thing Cowher hasn't accomplished with the Steelers: He still hasn't won a Super Bowl. Cowher's 1995 team made it to Super Bowl XXX in Tempe, but the Dallas Cowboys intercepted Neil O'Donnell twice on their way to a 27-17 victory, and the Steelers haven't been back since. So the franchise that won four Super Bowl titles in the 1970s is still waiting for the fifth ring. One for the thumb. "I'm looking for any finger, personally," Cowher said recently, holding up his empty right hand.

"They're all open." A victory Sunday against the New England Patriots would send the Steelers to Super Bowl XXXIX in Jacksonville, giving Cowher another chance to complete his coaching resume with the NFL's biggest prize and a chance to repay owner Dan record with a 3.76 goals-against average and a .879 save percentage. UW-Eau Claire update: The Blu-golds are 1-3-3 in their last seven games. Last weekend, they tied St. Scholastica 2-2 and lost to UW-Superior 6-0. UWEC ranks 13th in the nation in penalty minutes per game (25.6).

Senior forward Rob Ouimette leads the team with 16 goals (third in the nation) and 27 points (tied for 10th in the nation). Junior Steffan Braunlich has a 6-4-3 record with a 3.1 1 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage. Jason Lauren, jlaurengreenbaypressgazette.com STAGE COMPACT $359 SALE T0R0 ccr P0WERLITE 98 cc engine 16" clearing width Lightweight under 40 lbs. Patented Power Curve rotor system cleans down to the pavement GamblersMazzoleni learns to pace himself Loney to coach line, run offense for Vikes Gow (flu) hasn't practiced this week and is doubtful today and questionable Saturday. Freshman Kyle Jones will start in goal today, with Saturday's starter to be determined.

UW-Stevens Point update: The Pointers lost to UW-Superior 4-3 and beat St. Scholastica 9-6 last weekend. UWSP is 2-5-1 on the road. Stevens Point's power play (25.5 percent) is tied for fifth in the nation. Senior forward Mike Brolsma has a team-high 19 assists and 26 points (tied for 12th in the nation).

Senior forward Adam Kos-tichka leads the team with 1 3 goals. Freshman Bryn Davies has a 5-5-2 SINGLE Model 38172 Model 38517 w-V SINGLE 5 Press-Gazette wire services Steve Loney, who has served as the Minnesota Vikings' offensive line coach since the 2002 season, was named the team's offensive coordinatoroffensive line coach on Thursday Loney replaces offensive coordinator Scott Linehan, who accepted the same position with the Miami Dolphins. Falcons: Offensive tackle Todd Weiner and cornerback Kevin Mathis sat out practice on Thursday because of ailing ankles, leaving them questionable for the NFC championship game. While coach Jim Mora said both players "were a lot better," they skipped practice for the second day in a row. The coach STAGE POWERCURVE From C-1 "You really don't know until you get out there and size it up against everybody else's team." Mazzoleni has come to recognize that a single game in the USHL's 60-game regular season is not as critical as a single game in college hockey, so he's learned to pace himself and his players something he didn't do at the start of the season.

"(The 60-game schedule) has allowed me to not get as emotionally involved as I have in the past, because if I did that every night, I wouldn't last very long," he said. Next season, Mazzoleni also will push his defensive philosophy from the start of the season, rather than waiting six weeks as he did this season. "Probably the biggest thing I've learned is just managing (the players') time, that I can't be overbearing on them, because there isn't a rest time. It helps them so much, not only physically, but mentally, just to get away from it. And I think for myself, also." Mazzoleni seems comfortable at making moves to improve the Gamblers.

He's made six trades St. Norbert update: The Green Knights are unbeaten (12-0-2) in their last 14 games. They are coming off a road sweep of UW-Stout (won 8-5) and UW-River Falls (won 3-2) last weekend, which helped them move up from No. 4 to No. 3 in the Division III national poll.

Senior center Jason Deitsch leads SNC with 17 assists (tied seventh in the nation) and 24 points. Junior forward Spencer Carbery's 1 2 goals lead the team. Two of the Green Knights' top four defensemen will be out. Sophomore Mikael Virta (shoulder) is out this weekend and could be out for two weeks. Sophomore Tyler this season, and they've had a noticeable impact.

In the last six games, Green Bay is 4-2, including a 4-2 win over the best team in the USHL, Cedar Rapids. "With the number of player personnel moves, I didn't expect that going in," Gamblers President Rob Nicholson said. "That's something we haven't done a whole lot of in the past. But he's not the kind of guy who's going to sit back and lose with the talent that he has." If experience brings success, the Gamblers should improve next season. Sixteen players could return for the 2005-2006 season.

When Mazzoleni makes moves, he considers whether the player could play for him next season, giving him the veteran team he wants. "I don't think (the Gamblers will) suffer through another year like this year," said St. Norbert College hockey coach Tim Coghlin, who played for Mazzoleni at UW-Stevens Point and has remained a friend since. "When he gets the squad that he wants in here, people will find that it will be very exciting." be back on Feb. 4 against Tri-City.

Defenseman Justin Johnston may be done for the season. He had surgery on his broken left wrist and the team has until Feb. 1 to decide if it wants to place him on injured reserve. He's not expected to be ready to play until the third week of March at the earliest. The regular season ends April 2.

Green Bay is averaging 3,581 fans per home game, which ranks third in the USHL. Cedar Rapids update: The RoughRiders have the best record in the USHL. Cedar Rapids leads the USHL with 3.9 goals per game. The RoughRiders rank second in both power play (19.2 percent) and penalty kill (87.1 percent) in the league. Forward Matt Vokes leads the league with 20 goals.

Forward Ted Purcell leads the team with 24 assists (fifth in USHL) and 37 points (sixth). Dan Tormey leads the league with a 1 .92 goals-against average and a .933 save percentage. Jason Lauren, jlaurengreenbaypressgazette.com i POWER MAX TWO STAGE PackersWashington might be candidate NFL notebook is hopeful both will be able to practice today The Falcons leave Saturday for Philadelphia, where they'll meet the Eagles for the NFC title on Sunday. Weiner has started all but one game at right tackle for Atlanta over the past three seasons. Mathis started 13 games this season, but Jason Webster probably will get the nod at right cornerback against the Eagles.

Backup defensive end Travis Hall also was listed as questionable, missing his second straight practice with a chest injury. He is one of only two holdovers from Atlanta's 1999 Super Bowl team. he might retain him as defensive backs coach. Schottenheimer had worked with Sherman once before, in 1983, when both were assistant coaches at Tulane University. He has been an NFL assistant for 18 years, including stints as defensive coordinator for Kansas City (1999-2000), Washington (2001) and Detroit (2002-03).

In another development, Ted Thompson, the Packers' new general manager, said the San Francisco 49ers have not contacted him for permission to speak with team scout John Schneider about their GM position. The Web site profootballtalk.com listed Schneider as one of four possible candidates for the job. Schneider, 33, is the Packers' personnel adviser to the general manager. The 49ers fired GM Terry Donahue and coach Dennis Er-ickson earlier this month, then made the unorthodox move of hiring a new coach, Mike Nolan, before hiring a new GM. Vi Green Bay Gamblers preview $599 SALE T0R0 CCR 3650 GTS Exclusive 141 cc R-Tek engine Throws snow up to 35 feet Patented Power Curve rotor system cleans down to the pavement year starting guarantee' ilMLL T0R0 826 LE POWER MAX 8 HP 318 cc engine 26" clearing width Quick Stick chute control Power Max1" auger system to reduce clogging Electric start standard MARINETTE Cozzy's Polaris W1740 US Hwy41 STURGEON BAY May's Sport Center 75 West Maple r- Must tie paw) in full by 1106.

finance charges will he assessed from date of purchase unless total is paid in full by Financing available to qualified customers from 1 2,1 '04 to 228 05 on Toro's revolving charge program. Minimum finance amount is S400 See your locai Toro dealer for programs and warranty details Prices and availability may vary pe dealer From C-1 Rookie Ahmad Carroll started 12 games, including the playoffs. Rookie Joey Thomas worked as a dime defensive back much of the year, Starting safety Darren Sharper had a sub-par year, and new safety Mark Roman was a major disappointment as a free-agent signee. As the season closed with the Packers' playoff loss to Minnesota, there was open dissension on the defense. Several defensive backs had a shouting match on the Packers' bench after the Vikings' Randy Moss caught a 34-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter.

Green Bay ranked 25th in the NFL in passing yards allowed and intercepted only eight passes, which was the second fewest interceptions. The Packers have a potential replacement for Schotten-heimer in Lionel Washington, who's been their assistant defensive backs coach since 1999. Or, if Mike Sherman removes Slowik as defensive coordinator, Who: Cedar Rapids RoughRiders (27-4-3, first in United States Hockey League's East Division) at Green Bay Gamblers (12-22-1, fifth East Division). When: 7:05 p.m. today.

Where: Resch Cen ter, Ashwaubenon. I Radio: WOWN 99.3 mis season: oeuar Rapids has won two of three games against the Gamblers, all of which have come at Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The RoughRiders won 4-3 on Wednesday. The Gamblers won 4-2 on Jan. 2, which is one of two losses the RoughRiders have suffered at home this season.

Cedar Rapids won 6-0 on Nov. 13. Gamblers update: Green Bay is 4-2 in 2005. The Gamblers (35 games played) are four points behind Indiana (36 games) for the last playoff spot. Green Bay is 8-8-1 at home.

Forward Blake Wheeler leads the team with 13 goals and 27 points. Forward Mark Stockdale paces the Gamblers with 16 assists. Defenseman Andrew Meyer (broken right wrist) may Count on it. www.toro.com GREEN BAY Kimps Ace Hardware 2548 Glendale Avenue Mathus Appliance Power 2297 Manitowoc Road DE PERE Ambrosius Sales Service 840 North Ninth Street Vanevenhoven De Pere PamPs Outboard Hardware 41 2 Soutt1 Tayor Street 1 045 North Broadway Paulson Power Center 2270 South Ridae Road.