the NIT Season Tip-Off

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MONTREAL -- The Hamilton Bulldogs couldnt recover from two goals in quick succession. Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Buddy Robinson scored 43 seconds apart in the second period to lead the Binghamton Senators to a 4-1 victory over the Bulldogs in American Hockey League action Friday night at the Bell Centre. The goals came off defensive lapses - missed coverage, and a mistake by goaltender Dustin Tokarski. Pageau was left alone in the slot for the equalizer, and Robinson benefited from Tokarskis lax play for the winner. "Those were two gifts. We gave them those goals," said Bulldogs coach Sylvain Lefebvre. "Those were glaring mistakes." With Hamilton leading 1-0 in the second period, the Senators tied the game at 15:00 when Pageau beat Tokarski above the glove into a gaping top corner. Pageau was left unmarked just outside the crease following a defensive breakdown, and could make no mistake from such close range. Robinson put Binghamton ahead less than a minute later, slotting home his ninth of the year past a sprawling Bulldogs goaltender. After an initial shot from the point, Tokarksi tried to smother the puck with his glove, but Senators forward Derek Grant got to it before him. Grant poked it out to a wide-open Robinson. "Its tough to come back from that," said Lefebvre. "Those really hurt your confidence. And were in a tough stretch right now, so confidence isnt coming easy to us. Sometimes we get discouraged too easily." The Bulldogs (22-24-5) found no way back after the abrupt turnaround. Instead, they were kept at bay by Binghamton (33-15-4) netminder Andrew Hammond, who was in fine form. Hammond made 31 saves, including 10 in the third period, for his 17th win of the season. Hamilton is slumping of late. Theyve gone 2-7-1 in their last 10 games, and have only scored four times in their last three. "Thats the story of our season so far," said forward Gabriel Dumont, who was kept off the score sheet for the fourth straight game. "Were trying to keep it simple and drive to the net, put pucks on the net, but were having trouble finding the back of the net." Dumont, whos played two games with the Montreal Canadiens this season, has been a Bulldog for the last four years. His struggling team has fallen to 13th in the Western Conference, and is eight points out of a playoff spot. "Its a frustrating season with some highs, and a lot of lows," he added. "Were still looking for consistency. Tonight, we were only able to score one goal." The goal was Nick Tarnaskys, and it opened the scoring at 4:18 of the second period. The six-foot-two Bulldogs forward used defenceman Mike Sdao as a screen to fool Hammond with a shot between the legs. "I got a lucky bounce at the blue-line," said Tarnasky, who was on a partial breakaway when he entered the Binghamton zone. "I heard somebody yelling: Youre on a two-on-one. But I wasnt. I was going to pass, but there was nobody there. "It was lucky enough that (Sdao) was coming across at the same time as I shot it. I dont think the goaltender was able to see it. That play gave us a little lift at the time." But it was all Binghamton after their two quick strikes later in the frame. Andre Petersson scored on a great individual effort at 12:29 of the third period to seal the victory, and Mike Hoffman added another in an empty net in the games final two minutes. Hoffman has 10 points (five goals, five assists) in his past five games. Hes second in the AHL in points with 65. Tokarski made 18 saves. There was little love lost between the teams to start the game. Tarnasky and Binghamtons Darren Kramer set the tone before the encounter even got underway, exchanging words and a few slashes during the pre-game warm-up. Tarnasky and Kramer waited only seven minutes into the game to solve their differences, dropping the gloves to earn fighting majors. Jarred Tinordi and the Senators Mark Borowiecki also fought in a first period that saw 34 penalty-minutes doled out by the referees. Notes: The attendance at the Bell Centre was 8,771. a The Senators, Ottawas AHL affiliate, are in first place in the East Division. Theyve won four games in a row. a This was the second and last matchup of the season between Hamilton and Binghamton. Tinordi scored in overtime to lead the Bulldogs to victory over the Senators on Feb. 8. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! .com) - James Harden put the Houston Rockets on his back and willed them to an overtime victory on Thursday. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! . In fact, with a few improvements, this could very well be a decent team over the next few seasons. I will go into more detail when digging into the Canucks Off-Season Game Plan, which will be coming earlier this year since they are part of the non-playoff contingent, there are some reasons to think this is a favourable situation for President of Hockey Operations Trevor Linden and whomever he selects to be the new general manager. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку!. According to Dave Stubbs of The Montreal Gazette, preliminary talks have begun between Markov - an unrestricted free agent this summer - and general manager Marc Bergevin. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! . The 23-year-old from Thornhill, Ont., defeated Germanys Benjamin Becker 6-3, 6-4 on Tuesday in the fourth round of the Sony Open in just 89 minutes. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! . Hoefl-Rieschs exit — from the downhill course into safety nets, then airlifted from the slope by helicopter — left Anna Fenninger of Austria favourite to win her first giant crystal trophy one month after becoming an Olympic champion.NEW YORK -- It wasnt a marquee matchup of freshmen, although both of the young stars showed how bright their futures can be. Instead, No. 4 Arizonas 72-66 victory over No. 6 Duke on Friday night in the championship game of the NIT Season Tip-Off was a chance for two junior guards to take the spotlight. Nick Johnson scored all but two of his 15 points in the second half and T.J. McConnell had 10 points and eight assists to lead the Wildcats to the win that showed just how versatile a team they are. "Were an all-around team. Really you could see it in the box score. It was pretty even all the way around," Johnson, the tournaments MVP, said, referring to the five starters scoring in double figures. "Were a good team and we can play with anybody." The game was expected to be a matchup of two of the best freshmen in the country and, although Aaron Gordon of Arizona and Jabari Parker of Duke didnt spend a lot of time covering each other or supplying highlight clips, they were both key factors in the outcome. Gordon, the quiet forward, finished with 10 points and seven rebounds and came up big late with a dunk on an alley-oop pass and then fed fellow freshman Rondae Hollis-Jefferson for a dunk less than a minute later to give the Wildcats (7-0) a 61-51 lead with 3:59 to play. "He stayed patient, which is one of the qualities that he has as a player," Arizona coach Sean Miller said of Gordon, who had two points in 11 minutes in the first half. "I chose not to play him a lot in the first half, because he was in foul trouble. ... He played 20 minutes in the second half so he was out there more. But we as a group have to find ways to use his offensive talent even more, and hes such a unique player." Parker, who had 19 points for his first game with fewer than 20 points this season, struggled against Arizonas physical defence and was 7 of 21 from the field. He came into the game shooting 60 per cent from the field. "Jabari gets a lot of attention and it was a good physical game," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "His shots just didnt go down." Parker, who came into the game shooting 61 per cent from beyond the arc, missed all five of his 3-point attempts. &quoot;I need to get experience against big guys," said the 6-foot-8 Parker, who faced an Arizona frontline that goes 6-9, 6-8, 7-foot.dddddddddddd "Two things you cant practice against are quickness and length," Krzyzewski said. "We have quickness. We dont have length. They have great length on their team." The victory gave Arizona its fourth NIT Season Tip-Off title, tying Duke (6-2) for the most ever. "I tell you, Im really ecstatic that we were able to win this tournament here in the Garden," Miller said. "Everybody here knows what a special place this is. We talk to our players a lot about it. ... So everybody embraced where we were because they knew it was a big stage and for us to get on a plane and travel about 15 hours tonight, its going to be a nice plane ride home because I think we feel good about how hard we played and what we were able to accomplish." Johnson, the Wildcats leading scorer at 17.3 per game, shook off a quiet first half to become the focal point of Arizonas offence. His 3-pointer with 11:07 to play tied the game at 45. He hit another 3 with 6:22 left to give Arizona a 57-48 lead. Brandon Ashley had 13 points and Kalen Tarczewski added 10 points and nine rebounds for the Wildcats, who finished with a 36-28 rebound advantage. Rodney Hood led Duke with 21 points and eight rebounds. The Blue Devils other loss was to No. 2 Kansas. "We talked all year about we dont have a centre, and we have good players, and we have to figure out how to be good with the players we have," Krzyzewski said. "So I thought those kids played really well. I mean, I thought they played their hearts out." Gordon, who came in averaging 12.5 points and 9.7 rebounds, had a big block of Rasheed Sulaimon with 45 seconds left and the Wildcats leading 65-59. Duke had won 15 straight games in the NIT Season Tip-Off and had won 15 of its last 17 games played at Madison Square Garden. The Blue Devils, who came into the game shooting 53.4 per cent from the field, finished 25 of 58 from the field, including 4 of 14 from 3-point range, where they came in shooting 44.7 per cent. They were held 24 points below their scoring average for the season. ' ' '