NJ Outlaws winning streak ends

The New Jersey Outlaws were defeated by the Danbury Whalers this evening by the score of 4-2. They got behind 4-1 in the first period and they weren’t able to come back from that. The Outlaws winning streak came to an end at four games. They are now 4-2 on the season but still lead the league with 12 points. They won’t play again until Friday night at home against the same Danbury Whalers team.


The Whalers took a 1-0 lead in the first period at the 18:32 mark. The goal was scored by Matt Caranci, the Outlaws would tie the game 13 seconds later on a goal by Kevin Cooper who was assisted by Matthew Puntureri and Trevor Kauffeldt. The first penalty of the game would come at the 14:37 mark and it would be a minor for roughing on Puntureri. Chris Seifert who is the leading goal scorer for the Whalers would score a power play goal at the 14:10 mark of the first period. At the 14:07 mark there were two penalties one for each team. Jari Bolbotowski had a holding penalty and Devin Guy got a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. John Goffredo received an interference penalty at the 11:47 mark of the period. Greg Holt scored 11 seconds later on the power play and was assisted by Martin Moucha. At the 8:19 mark Kelly Miller scored to make it a 4-1 game in favor of the Whalers. He was assisted by Matt Caranci. Seifert had a slashing penalty at the 5:38 mark of the period. Gentry Zollars of the Outlaws got a tripping penalty at the 2:15 mark of the period and Seifert got a hooking penalty at the 1:40 mark of the period. The period would come to an end and the Whalers had a 4-1 lead.

In the second period Sean OMalley was charged with a delay of game penalty at the 10:23 mark of the period. Kauffeldt would score a goal at the 5:35 mark of the second period. Zollars would assist on the goal and it would be a 4-2 game in favor of the Whalers.

In the third period there would be no scoring at all. Nick Deschenes would receive a hooking penalty for the Whalers at the 16:53 mark of the period. William McCreary had a slashing penalty at the 7:30 mark of the third period. Miller of the Whalers got a tripping penalty at the 5:53 mark of the third period. At the 3:19 mark of the third period Matt Moffat got a tripping penalty.

The shots on goal were 50-31 in favor of the Outlaws. The Outlaws really came at them in the third period outshooting the Whalers 25-7. The Whalers were 2-5 on the power play and the Outlaws were 0-5. Danbury had 14 penalty minutes and New Jersey had 13. Dan McWhinney took the loss for the Outlaws as the goalie. He made 27 saves out of 31 shots. Vetri picked up the win in net for the Whalers, he saved 48 out of 50 shots.

The time of the game was two hours and 34 minutes and there were 963 people in attendance. If you haven’t come on out to check out the Outlaws and see what they are all about then you should come down to the Capital One Ice Vault arena. It is a good atmosphere and it is good for the whole family. The tickets are 13 dollars for adults and 10 for children. There is a team store which sells a lot of hockey equipment and a lot of NHL merchandise. There is an arcade for the kids and plenty of food options for fairly cheap.

Yankees Offseason begins quickly

The New York Yankees offseason started earlier then they expected.  The Yankees were eliminated from the postseason at the hands of the Detroit Tigers in Game Five of the ALDS.  The Yankees mantra is to win the World Series every year so losing in the first round is a huge disappointment, especially after having the best record in the AL and homefield advantage due to that.  The Yankees though have addressed what probably were there two biggest issues of the offseason already. 

CC Sabathia the unquestioned ace of the staff had an opt out clause in his deal for October 31, 2011.  That was on Monday and a few hours before he could even opt out the Yankees and Sabathia agreed to a contract extension.  The Yankees have their ace for the next five years and that is a great move.  It also worked out well for Sabathia who not only made money but came off looking great in the process also. 

The original contract had four more years left on it which would of taken Sabathia through 2015.  It will have a fifth year extension on it for 2016 and a vesting club option for 2017.  Sabathia is 31 years old and has played three seasons with the Yankees where his record is 59-23.  His ERA in that time is 3.18, and he has won at least 19 games in each of those seasons.  He is the first major leaguer with at least three straight 19 win seasons since Randy Johnson in 2000-2002.  He is only the fourth Yankees to accomplish the feat.  Vic Rashi, Red Ruffing and Jack Chesboro are the three others to accomplish the feat. 

Sabathia said all along that he wanted to stay in New York that he loves it here and he now lives in NJ fulltime and that his family really loves it there.  He said that was a major factor in the decision.  He also said he didn't want to be a free agent, that he doesn't like the whole process and he wanted to stay with the Yankees without going through that, he wants to finish his career with them and hopes that this will accomplish that.  The weight issue was brough up and Sabathia said he will be proactive, that he did let himself go during the season but that didn't affect his performance.  He said he wants to be out there every fifth day for the team and if that means losing weight then he is going to do that, and he will be doing that again in the offseason. 

The other big thing for the Yankees is that they resigned their General Manger Brian Cashman yesterday.  Cashman started with the Yankees as a 19 year old intern in the minor league and scouting department and has been there ever since.  He became the GM on February 3, 1998 and has won four World Championships in that time.  His clubs have won 11 division titles and 6 AL titles in that span and made the playoffs in 13 of the 14 years.  His feat of reaching the playoffs in his first 10 seasons is unmatched in baseball history.  The Yankees are very comfortable with Cashman and that will continue for at least three more years.  He has the third longest tenure among current GM's and is longest serving Yankees GM since Ed Barrows in 1920 until 1945.  I like the fact that the Yankees are still owned by the Steinbrenner family and Cashman is the GM, they are successful and part of it id because they have the same people running the show for all these years.  It is a big departure from the 80's when there was so much change and upheaval. 

The Yankees center fielder and second baseman are in Taiwan now competing in a exhibition with major league all stars against the Taiwanese national team.  They also both won the silver slugger award at their respective positions today.