Buzzer Beaters

Action on the ice is heating up. The Boston Bruins shut out the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-0 in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Most of the game was exactly as advertised. Both teams played lock down defense for the majority of the game. Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas, the leading candidate for the Vezina trophy, had 31 saves over the course of the game. While Lightning goalie Dwayne Roloson racked up 23 stops in 25 chances.
What little offense went on in the game came from the visiting team. The B's struck early off a goal by David Krejci in the first 1:09 of the game off a solid pass from Milan Lucic. In the third period, Andrew Ference scored his first goal in a playoff game since his goal, and controversial celebration, against the Montreal Canadiens. The series continues Saturday at 1:30 P.M. on NBC.

The next beat is staying with hockey, but changing conferences. The Vancouver Canucks blew the San Jose Sharks out of the water 7-3 on Wednesday. Little defense necessary for Vancouver to win this one with all of their offensive firepower. Daniel Sedin scored two goals for the Canucks, while his twin brother Henrik added three assists. Christopher Higgins added three points of his own to the Vancouver attack with a goal and two assists; while Dan Hamhuis was the third Vancouver player with three points in the game with three assists of his own. The goaltending for the Canucks has been solid as well. Roberto Luongo had 28 saves on 31 shots.
The Sharks have given up twice as many goals, ten, as they have scored, five, in the two games of this series. The puck drops for game three tomorrow at 9 P.M.


Shifting to the NBA now, we have ourselves a series out West. The Oklahoma City Thunder took game two of the Western Conference Finals 106-100 over the Dallas Mavericks. Kevin Durant was impressive for the Thunder as usual, scoring 24 points. However, it was the bench of the Thunder that enabled Oklahoma City to get back into this series. The reserves for OKC put up a total of 50 points, lead by sixth man James Harden and his 23 points. The Oklahoma City Thunder have not lost consecutive games in this postseason, and this win snaps the Maverick's seven game home winning streak in these playoffs. The series now shifts back to Oklahoma City, and the NBA's take on the Red River Rivalry tips off at 9 P.M. on Saturday.

The Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls are both seeing red after the first two games of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Chicago Bulls took game one by a final score of 103-82. Derrick Rose lead the running of the Bulls with 28 points, and the rest of the team held the big two of Lebron James and Dwayne Wade to a combined 33 points; although  Chris Bosh had 30 points and nine rebounds.
Game two was a much different story, mostly because the Miami Heat played great defense in their 85-75 win. Lebron Jame played much better in game two, scoring 29 points while grabbing ten rebounds and five assists. Dwyane Wade also stepped his game up, scoring 24 points and coming down with 9 rebounds and getting two assists.
The key to this series has been rebounding. The Bulls out rebounded the Heat 45-33 in game one, but the Heat beat the Bulls on the glass 45-41 in game two. Both teams will take their talents to south beach for game  three. Tip off is at 8:30 P.M. on Sunday.

With all of the television money that certain conferences are making, college football could explore the possibility of paying their athletes. The idea was first proposed by Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany and several other conference commissioners across the NCAA. Conference USA commissioner  Britton Banowsky summed up the situation, by saying, in his words, "Universities justify spending tens of millions of dollars on coaches' compensation, with a seemingly insatiable appetite for more growth. At the same time, a small fraction of that amount is spent on all scholarships for all student-athletes, Unless the student-athletes in the revenue-producing sports get more of the pie, the model will eventually break down. It seems it is only a matter of time." The specifics of financial compensation for players has not been specified, yet it seems that college football continues to move towards the business aspect of football.