Edmonton Journal from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada • 43

hand-tied bouquets especially SEQION I 9 vu rly Icall Vi 419-6800 vi Vta Mickelson survives HOLES and we will deliver 1 UUltK piclVUll I MS I II. EDITOR: JOHN MacKINNON, 429-5303; sportsthejournal.southam.ca EDMONTON JOURNAL MONDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2001 OVERTIME XFL viewers Nedohin locks up Brier berth tune out in droves The novelty factor didn't last" long for the XFL. NBC's second broadcast of the fledgling football league -owned by the network and the World Wrestling Federation drew about half as many vieWrl ers in the U.S as the debut did despite a boost in the final 45ijt minutes from a double-over--; time game. Tellingly, NBC finished last among the four major networks in prime time Saturday just a week after beating ABC, CBS. I and Fox with the opening of the part-sports, part-spectacle program.

It took just seven days for the loud and sometimes lurid XFL to go from vastly exceeding expectations to being right around the 4.5 national rating NBC promised its advertisers. Saturday's program had more WWF influence. One of its star wresders opened the on-field proceedings in Los Angeles -199QJj L199qJ i i A y'V iV-nr -I I -v fj 1 i'i with a rambling about being 1 "sick and tired of NFL suits telling us what they want." Solo skipper makes sailing history LES SABLES-D'OLONNE, FRANCE British skipper Ellen MacArthur became the fastest woman to single-handedly sail around the worid Sunday as she crossed me finish line of the Vendee Globe boat race. MacArthur reached the finish at this western French port Sunday evening, ending a gru- elling 94-day voyage. 'It was me most beautiful ex- perience of my life," MacArthur; said moments after crossing the finish line.

"Finishing an ex- i perience like I am doing now is not easy," said the 24-year-old skipper after travelling about 40,000 km. "I made mistakes lots of The Edmonton Ottewell rink of, from left, Randy Ferbey, David Nedohin, capturing the Alberta men's curling title Sunday in Stettler. Scott Pfeifer and Marcel Rocque hoist DAVE BRUNNER, SPECIAL TO THE JOURNAL the championship trophy after Martin falls short in provincial battle of Ottewell rinks NORM COWLEY Journal Curling Writer STETTLER The Stettler Recreation Centre was a Heartbreak Hotel for defending champion Kevin Martin and a place of sweet redemption for Dave Nedohin's crew. Nedohin claimed the Alberta men's curling tide with a 6-4 victory over Martin in Sunday's sudden-death final watched by a standing-room-only crowd of 1,100. "Ken Hunka made a fabulous shot to beat us two years ago and it just fueled that fire to get back here," said Nedohin, 27, who also lost out in several provincial championships in Manitoba "We got to the final and we knew we had been playing well we played so well all week." Nedohin, whose Ottewell team of RandyFerbey, Scott Pfeifer and Marcel Rocque earned a bye to the final after finishing first with a 6-1 round-robin record, thrust his arms in the air when his last shot removed Martin's rock from the back of the house.

"Scottsaid, Take your timebut I wasn't going to take any more time than I normally do," Nedohin said of his final shot. "If I make it into something it's not, then it's going to be probably more difficult 'It was good all the way." Nedohin, who became the seventh straight Edmonton team to win the provincial men's tide, felt so much better than when he collapsed at the back of the house after Hunka's quiet come-around hit stayed for shot rock in the last end of the final two years ago. "It felt beautiful getting back here," said a teary Ferbey, who earned his first trip to the Brier since winning the Alberta championship for the third year in a row with Pat Ryan in 1989. "I can't explain how emotional I am right now. These guys just played an awesome game.

"It was a real big win," he continued. "Beating Kevin Martin, one of the best teams in the world, means we battled them hard. It was a tough game. Kevin got a bad break in nine, but right nowit just doesn't matter. I'm just ecstatic aboutthat win.

It'shuge." While Pfeifer previously won two Canadian junior championships and the worid junior tide in 1994, Rocque's only other appearance in a provincial final was a loss to Ed Lukowich in '94. "That was the last time I got through the North," said Rocque "It's a long drought There are incredible teams in Edmonton and King-sized Oilers coach hopes troops snap out of offensive doldrums JIM MATHESOV Journal Hockey riter MANHATTAN BEACH. CAI.IF. In the '80s, Flames coach Badger Bob Johnson wanted to snap his team out of a scoring funk so he brought in a kid from Mount Royal College and another from the Tier Calgary Canucks, and outfitted them in Oilers jerseys. The Flames found a lot more holes in those pretenders than Grant Fuhr and snapped out of their doldrums which brings us to today and Oilers coach Craig MacTavish, who's in the same bind as Badger Bob.

Irk, too, has a team that can't shoot straight. MacTavish never thought to ask if anybody from Pomona junior college wanted topK the pads on at Sunday's practice. He did have video guy Brian Ross out there, as usual, as the third goalie, but even Ross was stopping them or the NEW STRATEGY Dave Nedohin was adamant about scoring the first points against Kevin Martin in Sunday's provincial final. "We had given up steals in the first end the last couple of times we played them," said Nedohin. "We said we're not going to do that again." Instead of their usually aggressive attack, Randy Ferbey called a conservative first end for Nedohin.

"As soon as the first end was over and the jitters were out, we just said let's go at it," Nedohin recalled. "Scoring first against them was huge." I SIZZLING HOT: Kevin Martin's Ottewell rink of Don Walchuk, Kevin's team has probably made all the curlers around Edmonton better with their level of expectations and shot-making." Martin was riding a four-game winning streak after victories in his final round-robin game, two tiebreakers and Sunday morning's semifinal to reach his seventh final in eight appearances at the provincial championship. But he suffered only his second loss in 13 career provincial playoff games after his last rock in the but you learn. Bravo, Mich," she said, congratulating race- winner Michel Desjoyeaux of France, who reached the finish a day earlier. But MacArthur's time smashed the previous best set by a woman.

France's Cather- ineChabaud's record of 140 -days was set in 1997, when she became the first woman to fin-' ish a nonstop solo round-the-. world voyage. MacArthur was the youngest I person to take part in the 2000-; 01 Vendee Globe, which set off from Les Sables-d'Olonne on Nov. 9, and took skippers across three oceans and around three capes. THE BRIER FIELD Provincial champions who will compete in the Canadian men's curling championship March 3-11 in Ottawa: Territories: Steve Moss, Yellowknife B.C.: Dean Joanisse, Victoria Alberta: Dave Nedohin, Edmonton Saskatchewan: Doug Harcourt, Humboldt Manitoba: Kerry Burtnyk, Winnipeg Northern Ontario: Al Hackner, Thunder Bay Ontario: Wayne Middaugh, Victoria Harbour Quebec: Guy Hemmings, St-Aime New Brunswick: Jim Sullivan, Saint John Nova Scotia: Paul Flemming, Halifax P.E.I.: Peter MacDonald, Charlottetown Newfoundland: Keith Ryan, Labrador City I hate that in a game.

It doesn't matter if it's to us or to our opposition or to somebody else. It's an empty feeling. LinescoresD7 same as Sean Brown. The Kings have just two wins in seven games on their current homestand, even though they've suffocated most teams with their checking and they continue to score more than just about anybody. The key tonight will be Jamie Storr.

Nobody will ever confuse him with Belfour or Burke; he's struggled this year and the Kings are looking for another veteran goalie. "In this eight-game homestand we've given up more than 23 shots once. We haven't given up more than 14 scoring chances in any game," said Murray. "And we score a bit, too, but we're 10th in the league in shots given up and second last in save percentage. "If you look at the stats, we're the seccl-rughest-5O0ring team, we lead in blocked shots, we're third in hits, we're third in power play but we're fifth or sixth worst in goal average." So let's see: we've got one team that can't score against another that cant stop amthing CamecLnD? EXTRA ENDS Carter Rycroft and Don Bartlett got hot at the right time.

After averaging a team percentage total of 83 during their first six round-robin games, they scored 87, 86, 90 and 93 while winning four consecutive games to reach Sunday afternoon's final. In the 7-6 come-from-behind semifinal victory over Ralph Brust of Grande Prairie, Rycroft and Walchuk were each marked at 96 per cent while Martin scored a 94 and Walchuk a 93 in Saturday night's tiebreaker win over Blake MacDonald. I OF NOTE: Martin was trying to become the first skip to win the provincial title after losing his first ninth end grabbed something on the ice and wrecked on a guard, giving Nedohin an easy draw for two and a 6-4 lead coming home. "We fought backreal well toget into this final," said Martin, a six-time provincial champ. "I don't think midway through the week we thought we'd be in the final We played well this game and had them right where we wanted them in nine.

It was either a case of him taking one or giving us one, whichever he decided. Ei- 10. Any time you get a chance to play a team you're actually battling withforaplayoff spot, that's what you want, instead ofhoping other teams do you favours." The shooting drills were long overdue, considering only five Oilers forwards Ethan More-au with three and Mike Comrie, Mike Grier, Domenic Pittis and Anson Carter with two each have scored more than once in the last 10 games. "The last couple of games we've faced hot goaltending with (Dallas's Ed) Belfour and (Phoenix's Sean) Burke, but the drills make us think about how and where we're shooting," said Weight. "You do drills and you get repetition.

Repetition creates norm-It becomes second nature to try and go upstairs with a shot, instead of along the ice where all the goalies make saves. I don't know how many players have the ability to go upstairs (and score), but 70 per cent of the guys in this league have the ability to shoot upstairs on a regular basis." Kings coach Andy Murray remains an unabashed fan of the game since Harold Breckenridge turned the trick in 1990. Breckenridge lost his first game and won seven games in a row in the old triple-knockout format. HEARTBREAKER: Dennis Graber, who called the shots and threw third rocks for Brust, was having a difficult time digesting the semifinal loss to Martin because it may be his last chance to get back to the Brier. Graber, 50, helped Gary Morken win the Alberta title in 1982 but reached the playoffs just once in his next six trips to the provincial championship.

"We outplayed them for seven ends and ended up losing," Graber said. ther way, we're feeling pretty good about the 10th end. "Then my last one picks and he has an easy shot for two. Of course, that was the game. "We're happy with the game," he noted.

"We stayed close. We played well; both teams did. It was an excellent game. But that's the story of the whole gameright there. Tm happy for them," Martin added.

"I just don't like it when a rock picks to make the difference. Kings goalie Jamie Storr Oilers' style, even if they've got nothing to show fccworking hard the last two games. 1 thought they played great the last two games I saw (on TV)," Murray said. "I like playing against them Tve always Lked coaching against them. "And if they cc get Comrie to score like he did in that shooting drill today "Comrie scored on four straight breakaway's, the scoring drought a royal pain for Maclavish A THt ASSOCIATED PJttSi.

Britain's Ellen MacArthur celebrates her round-the-world -sail with a spray of champagne. 1 1 1 a NHL NEW JERSEY 1 N.Y. RANGERS 1 MINNESOTA 4 PITTSBURGH 2 MONTREAL 4 BUFFALO 3 ST. LOUIS DALLAS 3 CAROLINA 2 ANAHEIM 2 PHOENIX 3 CHICAGO 2 THAT TV 1 p.m.. Sport snet Soccer English Premier League, West Ham vs.

Coventry City 1 8:30 Sportsnet NH1: Edmonton Oilers at los Angeles Kings cold. He robbed Georges Laraque with a great glove save on one play. On the whole, the Oilers seemed to have a little more luck finding the net in the practice, through a host of shooting drills. More than they've managed in the last 10 games (19 goals) or specifically the last two (two goals in 60 shots) as they get ready for the biggest game of the new yean a battle with the Kings for the e'ghth playoff spot. MacTavish had three-on-one breakouts where guys fired at will, breakaways on goalies Tom-my Salo and Dominic Roussel, a shooting drill where guys had to put the pucks up in a triangle in the top corners of the net, and a mini-game inside the blueline where pucks were flying-Will translate into more goals a win tonight? Who knows? "We caught a break Saturday when the Kings lost (to Washington) and so did Nashville, but maybe we were due after what happened to us the last two games," said Todd MarchanL lt seems like we been watching standings from about Game.