The latest Steven Stamkos diary entry is posted, entitled A Thanksgiving Feast where Steven talks about celebrating his first Thanksgiving in the U.S.
Lightning center and No. 1 overall draft pick Steven Stamkos is making the transition this season from junior star to NHL regular. Throughout the season, the 18-year-old from Markham, Ontario, will share his experiences with Tribune writer Erik Erlendsson to give Tribune readers an insight into his new way of life in his rookie journey.
Canadian Thanksgiving is celebrated in October, but on Monday night, Gary and Michelle Roberts had us over to the complex and we had a little room downstairs on the main floor of their condominium all set up. It was me, Adam Hall, Ryan Malone and his family, Mark Recchi and his family, [Mike Smith] was there. We had a great turkey dinner. The Robertses put a lot of effort into it, and it was definitely very good.
Me, [Smith] and [Hall] had to drive to get to Vinny [Lecavalier’s] wine-tasting charity event. Obviously, I didn’t drink any of the wine, but we told him that we would come by so we stopped in. Then me and [Smith] drove back for some more food, had some dessert and played with the kids. We had a good mini-stick [hockey] game going on. It felt like back at home with all the family there and the turkey and stuffing. It was very generous of them to invite us over to enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner.
It was definitely the same feeling [as Canadian Thanksgiving] — we have the same type of foods. It’s just a time to be thankful for everything you have in your life and the people who surround you. To have that and enjoy that moment with all those guys and their families was pretty special. It’s something I’ll remember for a long time.
Just playing with the kids and the mini-sticks. We had a game, me and [Malone] against [Roberts and Smith], a little two-on-two game going. Unfortunately, they came out on top, 3-2, but it was great. It brought back a lot of memories. I know for me a lot more recent than other guys playing mini-sticks, but it was just something that let us forget about hockey, forget about everything and go have some fun and enjoy ourselves.
For several area runners, the high school cross country season was extended Saturday when they took part in either the Foot Locker South Regional in Charlotte, N.C., or Nike Cross Southeast Championships in Cary, N.C.
At the Nike meet, Jesuit’s boys, who were second in last week’s Class 2A state finals, finished 11th out of 22 teams. The Tigers were led by senior Connor Revord, who took 16th in a 5-kilometer time of 15 minutes, 48 seconds. Melbourne’s Brian Atkinson, the state champ in 4A, was the individual winner in 15:11. Jesuit’s HNo. 2 man was Jordan Schilit, 34th in 16:06. Only the top two teams advanced to the Nike Cross Nationals.
At the Foot Locker meet, where the top 10 individuals qualified for nationals, Hillsborough County had several participants. In the girls seeded race, Wharton’s Alyssa Franks was the county’s top finisher in 124th place in 19:54. Tennessee’s Kathy Kroger was the winner in 17:03 and four-time Class 4A Florida champion Ashley Brasovan was fourth (17:20) despite taking a fall in the race.
In the boys seeded race at Foot Locker, Sickles senior Derek Wehunt was the county’s top performer, taking 60th in 15:59. Wharton’s John Grellner (104th) ran 16:15, Dan Wehunt (130th) of Sickles went 16:26, Berkeley Prep’s Tyler Greathouse (140th) ran 16:31, Durant’s Johnn Mitchell (161st) finished in 16:42, Sickles Marc Dejute (218th) and Julian Gines (219th) ran 17:28 and 17:31, respectively, and Armwood’s Gilbert Vasquez (230th) came in at 17:46. No Floridians cracked the top 10. The individual winner was Bill Matthews of Birmingham, Alabama, who scorched the challenging—and muddy—course in 14:48.
USF’s football game at West Virginia next Saturday will have an 8 p.m. kickoff and will be televised on ESPN2, the Big East announced tonight.
Ian McConnell of Riverview took the lead at the Florida Junior Tour’s first major of the season after shooting a 3 under-par round of 69 in the second round at Harmony Preserve, Harmony. McConnell holds a two-round total of 140 as he aims for his fourth career FJT title.
Doug Letson of Tampa is two shots back of McConnell in a tie for second after he shot an even-par round of 72 on Saturday. Letson is tied with first-round lead Brandon Park of Weston, who shot a 73 to put them both at 142.
Jack Maguire of St. Petersburg also shot a 72, to leave him five shots back at 1-over 145, while M.J. Maguire shot a second straight 73 to sit six shots back at 146.
Tampa’s Jack Twomey shot a 74 in his second round, to put him nine shots back in a tie for 13th, while Kenny Cavender of Trinity fell back into the pack with a 78, leaving him tied for 21st at 151.
Plant City’s Madison Opfer continued to lead the Girls under-15 event at Hunter’s Creek in Orlando, but saw her lead drop to just one shot after a second round of 77 brought her back to the field with a two-round total of 8-over (150)
Robbi Howard of Bradenton trails Opfer by a shot after she shot a 3-over round of 75, while Alessandra Kutz a further shot back after shooting a second straight 76.
By BILL MILLER
The dropping water temperature has fired up the North Suncoast trout season. The grass flats and Intracoastal Waterway spoil islands from Clearwater Bay north to Anclote Key have started giving anglers all the trout action they can handle, even on the coldest days. Soft plastic jigs bounced over the top of the grass in 3-6 feet of water produces the most action. Jig tail colors vary from day to day, so start with your favorite and if that doesn’t work, just switch colors until the hot color is found.
Drifting is a good technique to cover a lot of ground and locate groups of trout. Cast ahead of your drift. If you hook a trout or two, quietly drop the anchor and fish there. If the bite turns off, pick up the anchor and start drifting again. When it is time to go back upwind and make another drift, swing out wide around the area you are going to drift. If other boats are drifting the same area, motor slowly past them.
The spoil islands are best fished by anchoring and fishing back to the drop-offs on the island edge. Live shrimp, horn-hooked and suspended under a cork, is the best fishing method. A free-lined shrimp will also work, but it will have a tendency to hang up in the rocky bottom. Do not be surprised to catch pompano, bluefish, redfish, sheepshead and others fishing with shrimp.
Captain Bill Miller hosts “Hooked on Fishing” on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7-8 p.m. on Bright House Networks Catch 47.
It’s probably not a surprise, but we were greeted in Denver last night with snow. Lots of snow. It’s still snowing. It’s not the kind that really sticks to the road, but it does accumulate on the grass and on top of cars. And it actually feels kind of strange because it just doesn’t feel cold enough for it to be snowing. But snowing it is.
I think this is my fourth or so trip into Denver and it’s a really beautiful site to look out on the horizon and see the Rocky Mountains off in the distance. It’s a view that I don’t think could ever get old, sort of like seeing the mountains in Vancouver, I could stare at them all day. Driving down to the arena this morning, it was a refreshing and downright picturesque scene to look down the streets and see the snow covered trees lined down each side of the street. A very Rockwell-like scene.
I’ve also noticed that for the first time visiting here that I’m struggling a bit with my breathing. There are times where I just can’t seem to get enough air into my lungs. My sinuses were certainly affected last night as well as I struggled to get some good sleep and kept waking up with a dry mouth. I kept a bottle of water on the nightstand just to keep my throat moist!!
I guess it just comes with the change in altitude. Even the board inside the Lightning locker room today reminded the players to drink plenty of water today.
As far as the game tonight against the Avalanche is concerned, Olie Kolzig gets the call in goal. He’s struggled of late so he’ll look for a bounce-back effort tonight. Peter Budaj goes for Colorado.
Gary Roberts will be in the lineup tonight in place of Evgeny Artyukhin. Interim coach Rick Tocchet said he wants Artyukhin to get a look at the game from above tonight after he struggled in Friday’s game, with Tocchet stating that Minnesota had three quality scoring chances as a direct result of a mistake by Artyukhin.
So the line combos tonight will look like this:
Ryan Malone-Vinny Lecavalier-Marty St. Louis
Vinny Prospal-Steven Stamkos-Radim Vrbata
Gary Roberts-Jussi Jokinen-Mark Recchi
Ryan Craig-Adam Hall-Steve Downie
Marek Malik will miss his second consecutive game with a lower body injury, so Andrew Hutchinson goes back into the lineup. Hutchinson was a minus-3 against Minnesota, but Tocchet said he felt Hutchinson got better as the game went on, stating that it can be tough to make the quick jump from the minors to the NHL and try to pick up the speed right away.
Matt Smaby was sent back to Norfolk today, as he was essentially called up as insurance in the event Hutchinson didn’t make it through waivers on Friday. Also, Jason Ward cleared waivers today - he cleared recall waivers on Friday - and was officially reassigned back to Norfolk.
Don’t forget, tonight’s game is on WTOG, CW-44.
Dark, heavy clouds hang over Doak Campbell Stadium some two hours before this afternoon’s 3:30 kickoff between the second-ranked Florida Gators and the No. 23 Florida State Seminoles.
The day has produced off and on showers but the afternoon is growing progressively threatening.
Tailgaters seem determined to power through, a lot of mixed gathering with orange and blue shirts well mixed with the home-standing garnet and gold of the Seminoles.
Ticket scalpers were easy to find, in part because many FSU students are still away for Thanksgiving weekend, but, according to some theories, Seminoles fans are fearing a hard beating.
A number of Saturday’s television pregame shows, however, are being cautiously supportive of FSU’s changes. Nevertheless, the general consensus is that Florida gets its victory, but may have to work a lot harder than most expect.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Cheerleader of The Week
Ashton Rel
2nd Year Veteran
Doug Letson of Tampa shot a 2-under round of 70 to put himself in a tie for second, while Ian McConnell of Riverview shot a 1-under 71 for fourth as both put themselves in contention at the Florida Junior Tour’s first major tournament of the season at Harmony Preserve, Harmony.
Plant High’s Letson trails first-round leader Brandon Park of Weston by one after Park shot a 69, the only player in the field to break 70.
Kenny Cavender of Trinity and Mitchell High shot a 1-over round of 73, and is among nine players first for eighth place, which also included M.J. Maguire of St. Petersburg High and Jack Maguire of Shorecrest Prep.
Tampa’s Jack Twomey was a further two shots back after a 75 put him in a tie for 21st.
Madison Opfer of Plant City took a three shot lead in the girls under-15 division, as her 1-over round of 73 put her ahead of both Robbi Howard and Alessandra Kutz at Hunter’s Creek Golf Club in Orlando.
DADE CITY – Gulf coach Jay Fulmer knew his Bucs were in for a long night when he found out Wednesday starting quarterback Madison Burr would be unable to play Friday night against Pasco in the Class 3A-Region 2 semifinals.
But after the 50-0 whitewashing the Pirates put on Gulf, Burr probably wouldn’t have made a different.
The Pirates (11-1) racked up 289 yards of total offense and Pasco quarterbacks threw 5 touchdowns as the Pirates picked apart the Burr-less Gulf defense.
Starting quarterback D.J. Clower was a modest 4-for-9 for 73 yards but three of his four completions were for touchdowns. Josh Johnson caught a 6-yard pass from Clower for a score and, on a fake punt, completed a 47-yard touchdown pass to Hakeeme Ishmar.
Junior Chaise Dunn caught four passes for 73 yards, three of them for touchdowns. Running backs Jamall Haynes and Jamaal Sampson each scored rushing touchdowns.
Burr’s absence was felt throughout the game. The junior also was the Bucs punter and linebacker. Without Burr to punt, the Bucs were forced to go for first downs when they would have normally punted and when they did punt, the results weren’t favorable.
Gulf (10-2) was held to a net-total of 52 yards on offense. Adrian Golden, the county’s record-setting running back, was held to 47 yards rushing. Sophomore Jacob Jackson never got the Bucs offense rolling, completing only 3 of 10 passes for 27 yards.
Pasco will host Citra North Marion on Dec. 5. The Colts blasted Williston 49-7 in the other Region 2 semifinal.
Read Saturday’s Tribune for more insights and return to TBO.com on Saturday for Bill Ward’s “Sights and Sounds.”
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FINAL SCORE, Pasco 50, Gulf 0.
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Dunn catches his third TD of the game, this one 6 yards from Gus McLaughlin. Pasco leads 50-0 and we now have a running clock.
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nd of 3, Pasco 44-0
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On fourth and 11 from the Gulf 47, Pasco converts a fake punt when upback Josh Johnson connected with Hakeeme Ishmar for the touchdown. Pasco leads 44-0 witrh 1:55 left in the third.
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Time is running out for Gulf, The Bucs now using Golden at QB on most plays.
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After trading fumbles inside the 20, Pasco’s Josh Johnson caught a 6-yard pass from Clower. Pasco leads 37-0 with 5:16 remaining in the third.
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Both teams have traded 3 and outs to start the second half. Score update—Citra North Marion 28, Williston 0 at half.
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Halftime stats
Gulf—Adrian Golden 1 carries, 49 yards; Jackson 2 of 7 passes for 19 yards, 1 interception; Gulf total offense—27 yards.
Pasco—Haynes 10 carries, 70 yards, 1 TD; Sampson 8 carries, 61 yards, 1 TD; Clower 3 of 7 passes for 67 yards, 2 TDs; Dunn 3 catches, 67 yards, 2 TDs. Pasco total offense—198 yards.
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HALFTIME, Pasco 30, Gulf 0.
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Pasco is scoring at will. Haynes found Dunn alone in the end zone from the 4. Dunn also caught the 2-point conversion. With :26 left before half, Pasco leaqds 30-0.
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After Pasco took Gulf’s kick following the safety, the Pirates went 45 yards in 7 plays with Jamall Haynes scoring from 13 yards out. The PAT kick was missed. With 4:32 left in the second quarter, Pasco leads 22-0.
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On the first play following the kickoff, the snap in shotgun formation sails over Jacob Jackson’s head and he is tackled in the end zone for a safety. With 7:32 remaining, Pasco leads 16-0.
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D.J. Clower hits Chaise Dunn with a 46-yard touchdown pass. With 7:29 left in first half, Pasco leads 14-0.
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Jamaal Sampson runs 28 yards for the first score of the game. With 11:53 remaining in the second quarter, Pasco leads 7-0.
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First quarter ends 0-0. Gulf is missing QB Madison Burr—not as a quarterback, but as a punter. Gulf missed a fourth-down instead of punting and had a punt blocked that led to a Pqsco score.
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Pasco took the opening kickoff and went three and out but Gulf tundd the ball over on downs—going for the first down on fourth-and-2 from its own 49. Pasco returned the favor, going for it on fourth-and-3 from the Gulf 43. With 5:14 remaining in the first, no score
Tim Bogar did quite a bit of behind-the-scenes work for the Rays this season, but other teams around baseball took notice.
The Red Sox hired the Rays’ quality assurance coach today to serve as their new first base coach. Bogar was previously a finalist for a job on the Phillies’ coaching staff that ended up going to former Reds manager Pete Mackanin.
The former big-league infielder spent 2008 in a newly created role with the Rays that blended coaching and scouting responsibilities. He was in uniform every day during batting practice, working with players on the field - particularly their baserunning. But he watched games from the stands, assigned to watch the Rays as an opposing scout would and report back to Joe Maddon and the rest of the coaches on the team’s tendencies.
“It opened up my eyes to what went on at this level,” the former minor-league manager told Boston reporters. “I also missed being on the field, having a direct impact as the game progressed. I’m really looking forward to having that again.”
By BILLY NOBLES
With the cold weather moving in, look for snook to be well into their winter haunts. The bait is a lot tougher to find than it was a few days ago, because the baitfish are heading for deeper water.
With winter seemingly arriving a little early this year, the trout bite has been unreal. The Berkley Gulp baits seem to be the ticket.
Early in the mornings, the water temperature has been in the low 60s and the fish have been pretty lethargic. Keep this in mind, and even if you think you are retrieving your bait too slowly, you should probably slow it down some more.
Live shrimp are a good bet for snook. When their metabolism slows down, they don’t want to chase a bait too much. The shrimp is easier for them to catch and a lot easier for them do digest. Free-lining the baits or floating them under a cork is the ticket.
Snapper and grouper are biting in the bay, with reports of large numbers being caught. Most of the grouper are just under the legal size, but there is a lot of them. For grouper, a pinfish is hard to beat. Fish the rock piles along the shipping channel and the artificial reefs and wrecks in the bay.
Some of these areas are holding fish weighing 20 pounds or more. In these same places, you will find mangrove snapper to five pounds.
Shrimp and whitebait are great for this, but be ready. These fish are hard fighters and will make short work of you if you are not paying attention.
Catch captains Billy Nobles and Mike Anderson on the “Reel Animals Fishing Show” on Saturdays from 6:30-7 a.m. and Sundays from 11-11:30 a.m. on WFLA, Channel 8, and on Sundays from 8-10 a.m. on 1040 AM. To book a charter, call 1-866-GAMEFISH or visit reelanimalsfishingshow.com.
Florida plays Florida State on Saturday.
But you probably already heard that.
These small Gator bites are not so well known:
Speed Scores: The Gators love speed. Before this season began coach Urban Meyer said he wanted “the fastest team in America.’’ It’s hard to argue that he doesn’t have it. Twelve Gators (seven of offense, five on defense) are clocked at 4.4 or faster in the 40-yard dash.
Of Florida’s 69 touchdowns this year, 42 have been scored by players who are among the dozen speedsters.
It’s Intercepted: Three different Florida defensive players have returned five interceptions for a touchdown, tying a school record. The five scoring returns is tied for the nation’s most.
The Gators’ 479 interception return yards rank second nationally.
Spread the Wealth: Twenty different offensive players have touched the ball this year for the Gators. Fourteen players have at least one carry and a dozen have at least one catch.
Five different players have been Florida leading rusher in a game and eight different players have been a game’s leading receiver.
Take It Away: Florida’s plus-18 turnover margin ranks tied for first nationally.
The Gators’ have lost three interceptions, the fewest in the nation.
Player Injury Fri. Participation (Game Status)
QB Brian Griese (Right Elbow) Limited Participation (Questionable)
S Jermaine Phillips (Forearm) Limited Participation (Questionable)
TE Alex Smith (Ankle) Limited Participation (Questionable)
WR Ike Hilliard (Shoulder) Full Participation (Probable)
G Arron Sears (Illness) Full Participation (Questionable)
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