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Show J ^Wednesday, Jan. 31,2007 - Take Note: The USU women's tennis team hosts Boise State Thursday at the Sports Academy and Racquet Club. 797-1761 sports@statesman.usu.edu Second half run propels Warriors BY SAM BRYNER Staff Writer Downline \ Sports Noil Pebley delivers baby Tuesday For the first time, Utah State Head Coach Stew Morrill decided to wear a Hawaiian shirt during the game against Hawaii. BY ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS After Monday night's game which Hawaii won 69-61, it will probably be Utah State women's basthe last. ketball head coach Raegan Wearing the shirt to honor longPebley gave birth to an time ___ 8-pound, 9-ounce, 21-inch baby girl, Harper Susan Hawaii Jane Pebley, Tuesday afterHead noon at 4:30 p.m. at Logan Coach Regional Hospital. Riley Wallace, Harper is the second HAWAII 69 who will child for Pebley and husband Keith, as she joins resign USU 61 three-year old brother Joe after this,_ in the Pebley family. season, don't expect Coach Morrill to don the Pebley will not be makisland clothing when Hawaii comes ing the trip to San Jose, to Logan to play. Calif., with the team for "I told him before the game, the the Aggies' game against only reason I am wearing this is San Jose State on Saturday. to honor you and our last competiShe is planning to meet up tion here, and I may even wear it in with the team for Monday's Logan," Morrill said. "But not if we game at Las Cruces, N.M. get our rear end kicked I probably against New Mexico State. won't. So I probably won't bring it out Assistant coach George in Logan." Brosky will be the acting For the first 30 minutes of the head coach, with assistance game late Monday night, the Aggies from Kristy Flores and Erin avoided getting kicked. But unfortuScholz. nately, in college basketball there are Pebley said she will 40 minutes in a game. watch the game on wac.tv while listening on the radio. Game Over AP Photo USU's DURRALL PETERSON, left, goes up for a shot as Hawaii's Matt Lojeski defends during the Warriors' 69-61 win Monday night. The Aggies led by as many as seven points in the U second half before a 25-6 run left USU in the dust. see page 7 7 Karl earns WACplayer of the week award Hockey: fast, physical and, at times, confusing area, and he tries to take the puck. The number two guy supports the first guy whatever happens." Some Despite the best efforts of evange- teams forecheck aggressively, flooding the offensive zone to try and crelists and proponents of the game, ice ate turnovers. There are many forehockey remains a fringe sport in the United States, lagging far behind the checking systems. Cycle — When USU has the puck popularity of baseball, football and in the offensive zone, they will run basketball. what is called a two-one-two cycle. With the help of USU hockeys Greg Finatti, Scotty John and Robert Two defenders skate near the blue line and try to keep the puck in the Hashimoto, The Statesman Explain series will try to make the game more zone. One forward stays high above • M M M M ^ ^ ^ M ^ the circles and two accessible to casual forwards cycle the fans. puck. Zones — There are Hashi three zones on a rink, explains, "One Learning the game two offensive zones : ! and the neutral zone. — forward could go up the boards The neutral zone is the middle of the and drop the puck behind him in ice between the two blue lines. The the corner for the second forward to offensive zones are where the majorgrab. The second forward goes up the ity of the action and scoring take boards, and the first guy takes the place. number two spot." Face-off — To start off each John said USU favors a two-man period and also after any stoppage in cycle because the Aggies have a lot of play, the referee will drop the puck fast skaters who can beat their man between the two opposing centers, one-on-one. who fight for the puck with their "If you're the number one forward sticks. There are nine faceoff circles and you're shoulder to shoulder with on the rink: five in the neutral zone and two in each offensive zone. After your guy, you can beat him and go a penalty is called, the ensuing faceoff inside. You want to do that," John said. will take place over the circle closest Backcheck — This refers to the to where the infraction occured. forwards skating back down to help The Crease — A colored area their defensemen. "The forwards directly in front of the net where the come back to support the D. They're goalkeeper is supposed to be allowed breaking out and attacking us and we to work without being interfered skate back to help the defense," Hashi with. Offensive players will station said. themselves right outside the crease Blueliner — This is a nickname in order to be in position to get for defensemen like John who stay rebounds or receive a pass and whip home at the blue line to keep the puck it into the net. contained in the offensive zone. Forecheck — This is a system The Circles — Often used as a where the offense applies pressure to point of reference for where a shot is the defense when the puck is in the made. Scoring a goal from above the zone. Hashimoto said USU uses a circles requires a fast, accurate shot. two-man forecheck: "Say the puck is in the corner, the first forward tries to take the defender's body. The sec• HOCKEY ond forward is watching in the slot see page 7 7 BY G. CHRISTOPHER TCRKY Senior Writer Let me explain... NEUTRAL ZONE FACEOFF SPOT RED LINE 25 CENTER ICE FACEOFF SPOT AND CIRCLE REFEREE CREASE BLUE LINE Sosa back in baseball, signs contract END ZONO FACEOFF SPOT AND CIRCLE Illustration courtesty www.wikipedia.org A STANDARD HOCKEY RINK, shown above, displaying the names of the various lines and circles on the rink. USU bowling team places 20th in tournament BY WES MECHAM Staff Writer As USU's most prominent sport, basketball, hits the middle of its season, another sport, which people might not know about, is just about to finish its own. The USU bowling team just finished competing in the Brunswick CocaCola Las Vegas Collegiate Classic, a tournament that hosts many of the top bowling schools in the nation. The Aggies finished 20th. "We did okay," fouryear Head Coach Craig Lofthouse said. "Many of the schools there were ranked in the top 10. We missed some spares that we should have picked up, but there wasn't any one team that just took one away from us." The team may have a couple more tournaments if funding permits. For those students that may not have heard much about the Aggie bowling team, here is a little infor- DENVER — Boise State guard Coby Karl has been named the Western Athletic Conference men's basketball player of the week for January 22-28. Karl, a senior from Mequon, Wis. (Homestead HS) averaged 22.5 points and 3.5 assists in a pair of victories last week. Karl scored 21 points and dished out five assists in a 65-61 win over Fresno State on Thursday. On Saturday, he had 24 points in a 75-57 win at Idaho. For the week, he was perfect from the free throw line in 15 attempts, including 10 in the game against Idaho. He also had three rebounds in each game. It is Karl's first career WAC Player of the Week award and second for a Bronco player this year. The other nominations were junior forward Dominic McGuire, Fresno State; senior forward Nick Fazekas, Nevada; and senior guard Shaun Davis, New Mexico State. mation. The bowling team, which is a club sport, just finished its fourth season. The players are coached by Lofthouse, a Bronze Level certified USBA coach. They practice and play at Logan Lanes, and any student can play. One rule they have is in order to compete in tournaments, a player must be a full-time student. At the start of the fall semester, anyone interested in joining the bowling team can find their table on the quad during Rush Week. "We don't care what your average score is," Lofthouse said. "Average doesn't mean anything because the more you practice, the better you get. "It doesn't matter how good you think you are because you're not competing against other people; you're competing against yourself. It's a matter of practicing and getting some coaching. I would like to encourage everyone not to be afraid and to give it a try." The bowling team starts practicing in September and playing in tournaments in October. So for students that would like to have something more to do in the winter than trying to stay warm, Lofthouse said they can consider going out for the bowling team and competing against themselves. 'Wwm@cc.usu.edu ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Sammy Sosa is back in baseball — and back to fielding the same steroids questions that dogged him when he left the game more than a year ago. Sosa and the Texas Rangers agreed to a minor league contract Tbesday, giving the former slugger his first crack at the major leagues since the 2005 season with Baltimore, when he hit .221 with 14 home runs in 102 games. If he makes the Rangers' roster at the end of spring training — and Sosa said there's only a "one in a million" chance that he won't — he would get a $500,000, one-year deal. He could also earn up to $2.1 million more in performance bonuses. "You guys won't be disappointed, ' Sosa said. "I wanted to come back in 2006, but I was beaten mentally. ... I'm fresh. I'm relaxed. "I've got my game face again, and I feel great. My body's in shape. I'm ready to go." |