Caps Sent Home Early

The top seeded Washington Capitals lost in Game 7 of the first round against the Montreal Canadiens by a score of 2-1. After a stellar season, the Caps' bid for the Stanley Cup championship has ended much earlier than most had anticipated. After being up 3 games to 1 in the series, the Caps lost 3 games in a row.

Marc-Andre Bergeron put the Canadiens on the score board first with a power play goal with seconds left in the first period. After a scoreless second period, the Canadiens extended their lead to 2-0 with a goal from Dominic Moore. The Capitals were finally able to get onto the board with a goal from Brooks Laichs with just under four minutes left in regulation. While the Caps had scoring opportunities late, they were unable to get anything going, primarily due to the efforts of Canadien goalie, Jaroslav Halak. He saved 41 shots this game.

The Capitals' offense was shut down for much of the last two games. Alex Ovechkin ended the series with 5 goals and 4 assists, but was scoreless in the last two games. Alexander Semin, who scored 40 goals during the regular season, did not score a single goal during the series.

The Montreal Canadiens will move on to face the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

When Do Classes Really End?

Shortly after classes resumed after snow week, GW students were sent an e-mail about make-up classes. While many groaned at the thought of having classes on Saturday, they quickly put it to the back of their minds. Now as the end of the spring semester quickly approaches, there has been a lot of talk about these classes. When are they? How many Monday schedules are there in a row? Do I really have a class on Saturday?

The break down for the final week of classes is:
Monday, April 26- Monday schedule
Tuesday, April 27- Monday schedule
Wednesday, April 28- Monday schedule
Thursday, April 29- Tuesday schedule
Friday, April 30- Wednesday schedule
Saturday, May 1- Thursday schedule

Although all students received an e-mail regarding the schedule for make-up classes, many are still unsure if their professors are holding them. According to some GW students, some of their professors have not even acknowledged the make-up classes or they are even more confused about them than the students are.

Marisa Mammone, a sophomore, had to ask one of her Monday-Wednesday professors what the schedule was for the final week of classes, but the professor was unaware of the schedule changes and stated "I don't know, we'll just have class Monday and Wednesday." Mammone went on to explain that she does not have classes on Saturday because her professors were against the idea of having class on a weekend.

Many other students have had similar experiences as Mammone. Nicole Longo, also a GW student, says although most of her "professors are sticking to the new schedule", her Monday-Wednesday professors are not holding class on Tuesday.

Victoria Wright, who is currently taking six classes, has not experienced any cancellations. Not only does she have classes every day, but she has a quiz on Saturday. She finds it frustrating since finals start on Monday and this leaves her less time to devote to studying.

Professors have every right to hold classes according to the make-up schedule, but before setting your alarm for next week, be sure to find out when and where you actually need to be.

Caps Lose Game 1 in Overtime

The top seeded Washington Capitals were upset in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Playoffs Thursday night against the Montreal Canadiens in overtime, by a score of 3-2. The # 8 seeded Canadiens were able to shut down Cap's All-Star Alex Ovechkin, who was not a factor in this contest.

Mike Cammalleri got the Canadiens on the scoreboard first with a power play goal in the opening period. The Capitals responded with a goal to tie the game just 3 minutes later by Joe Corvo. It was a scoreless second period, but early in the final period Capitals took the lead off Nicklas a Backstrom goal. They could not hold onto the lead however, as Scott Gomez tied up the score for the Canadiens to send the game into overtime.

The sudden death extra session ended 13:19 minutes after it began, as Tomas Plekanec scored the winning goal for Montreal. Both goaltenders battled all night, with Montreal's Jose Theodore making 44 saves and Jaroslav Halak stopping 36.

The Capitals will hope to rebound Saturday night, as they host Montreal in Game 2 of the best of seven series. The puck drops at 7:00 PM.

Photo from WTOP.com

2010 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Nears End

This weekend is the 2010 NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four in Indianapolis. With only one #1 team left, the teams that remain are not the ones that were expected to be there.

On Saturday, April 3 at 6:07 p.m. the Butler University Bulldogs will play in their hometown against the Michigan State Trojans. Both teams were seeded five in their respective sections of the bracket. The Bulldogs have had several upset wins throughout the tournament that have allowed them to reach the final four. They beat the #1 seeded Syracuse Orange in the Sweet Sixteen and #2 seeded Kansas State in the Elite Eight. Michigan St. on the other hand has not had to face a team ranked higher than four because of various upsets including, Northern Iowa knocking off top seeded Kansas in the second round. Last year, the Trojans lost in the national championship game to North Carolina.

The second game on Saturday is between two teams that many predicted would make deep runs in the tournament. The Duke University Blue Devils, the last remaining top seed, will take on the #2 seeded West Virginia Mountaineers. Duke has not encountered any major trouble thus far in the tournament and has reached the Final Four for the first time since 2004. The Mountaineers' biggest test came in the Elite Eight against top-seeded Kentucky, where they were able to prevail by the score of 73-66. West Virginia was able to take down Kentucky with a score of 73-66. Tip-off for this game is at 8:47 p.m.

The national championship will be on Monday, April 5 at 9:21 p.m. All games will be aired on CBS.

She Got Game?

Beginning Selection Sunday on March 14 until the NCAA men's basketball national championship on April 5 sports fans across the country are consumed by March Madness. Some GW students have clear allegiances to their hometown teams, while others love the unpredictability of the tournament. Groans can be heard by those who have had their brackets "busted" due to Georgetown University and Kansas University's unexpected early elimination. What many people tend to forget that as the men fight for the championship title, the women are doing the same. Their championship game happens just one day after the men's, on April 6.

The difference in popularity for the two tournaments is staggering. According to NCAA.com, in the 2008 men's chamionship final Memphis and Kansas was played in front of a sold out crowd of 43,257 this is almost double the 21,655 people who attended the 2008 Women's Final between Tennessee and Stanford. In 2009 the Men's Final was held in an even larger arena in Detroit, where 72,922 fans were in attendance. Although the Women's Final in 2009 between University of Connecticut and Louisville was contested in front of a sold out crowd, it was in a much smaller arena in St. Louis that only sits 20,551. While most of the men's games have been played in sold out crowds in large arenas, the women's NCAA tournament is still advertising ticket sales.

Although TV viewership between the men's and women's college basketball is incomparable, there has been an increase in viewership for women. In 2006 the women's championship recorded a record rating, with 1.32 million household. Last year's men's final had 17.6 million TV viewers, which was down from the year before. Some efforts have been made to increase attendance and viewership for the women's tournament: having the final games in one location and having the women's final after the men's so it can officially end March Madness. However, TV viewership for women's is expected to be lower because ESPN and ESPN2, which airs the women's games reaches a smaller audience than CBS, which airs the men's games.

We see this gap in popularity between men's and women's sports here at GW. The GW women's basketball team has performed better than the men's team, but receives much less support at games. Since the 2006-2007 season, the men's basketball team has made it to the Atlantic-10 tournament two times and once to the NCAA tournament in the 2006-2007 season. The women's team on the other hand has made it to the Atlantic-10 tournament each year since the 2006-2007 season. The women's team made it to the WNIT tournament last season and reached the NCAA tournament the two seasons before that. The women's team was able to reach the semifinals of the NCAA tournament in the 2007-2008. This past season was the first time the GW men's team outperformed the women's team in recent years.

Rebecca Dauer, a sophomore at GW, has always been surrounded by college basketball due to her close proximity to Kentucky University. While she has attended many Kentucky men's basketball games and GW men's basketball games, she has attended less than 5 women's basketball games and none were for GW's team. She believes her lack of interest in women's basketball is due to her upbringing, "older generations really do not associate many sports with women and therefore when my dad took me to a game it was men's because that was what he was used to." Dauer goes on to state that she does not believe the difference in physical abilities between men and women contribute to her lack of attendance of women's basketball games.

GW Men's Basketball Ousted from A-10 Tournament

On Tuesday, the George Washington Colonials were ousted from the A-10 Tournament in the first round by the 7th-seeded Dayton University Flyers by a score of 70-60. GW senior Damian Hollis scored a game high 19 points. GW was able to rally from behind and tie the game with less than 7 minutes remaining, but the Flyers went on a 15-2 run to close out the game. Dayton will play 2nd-seeded Xavier on Friday in Atlantic City. The Colonials ended the season with a record of 16-14.

With the temperature rising, GW can now focus its attention on outdoor sports. GW's baseball team extended their winning streak to four games on Wednesday with a 5-2 win over Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks. This is the Colonials' (8-4) longest winning streak since the 2004 season. Freshmen Ryan Heinz pitched six solid innings. He gave up two runs, four hits, and struck out five. Senior Curtis Edwards recorded two hits, an RBI and scored a run. Freshman Tyler McCarthy successfully reached base three times and scored a run. The Colonials quickly took the lead after scoring twice in the first inning. Senior Bobby Lucas pitched two innings in relief and only allowed one hit. Sophomore Stephen Oswald earned his first save for GW after pitching a scoreless ninth. GW plays their first conference game at Dayton on April 9th. This weekend the Colonials will host Cleveland State with Friday's game starting at 3:00pm, Saturday's at 1:00pm, and the series finale on Sunday at 12:00pm.

The Washington Capitals (45-13) defeated the Carolina Hurricanes (28-31) 4-3 in overtime Wednesday night. Alexander Semin of the Capitals scored early in the first period and Mike Green had a multiple goal game with goals in each of the first two periods. Both teams went into the third period with 3 goals, but neither team was able to take the lead. The game went into overtime and 3:20 into OT, Tomas Fleischmann of the Caps scored the winning goal. The Capitals will host the Tampa Bay Lightning (27-27) Friday night. The puck drops at 7:00pm.

The Washington Wizards (21-41) fell to the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday night by a score of 105-99. Andray Blatche led the Wizards with 30 points and 10 rebounds. Blatche's double-double was not enough to beat the Hawks. Atlanta was able to avoid a three game losing streak. Jamal Crawford had a game high 29 points for the Hawks. The Wizards will travel to Detroit Friday night to play the Pistons (22-42). Tip-off is at 8:00pm.

Colonials Unable to Win Final Regular Season Home Game

The Colonials (16-12) lost their final regular season home game on Wednesday to the St. Joseph's University Hawks (10-19) by the score of 80-71. Junior Joseph Katuka of the Colonials led the team with a career-high 15 points while the Hawks were led by Darrin Gavens, who scored 19 points. GW is currently tied for ninth place with Duquesne University in the Atlantic-10 division. The Colonials' final regular season game will be at Temple University on Saturday. Tip off is at 2:00 pm and be sure to follow the game at gwradio.com.

Now that the 2010 Winter Olympic games are over, the National Hockey League has resumed play. On Thursday night, the Washington Capitals (43-13) defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning (26-26) at home, 5-4. The Caps got one goal in first period from Eric Fehr, followed by two in the 2nd from Mike Knuble, and another two in the third from Scott Walker. This was Walker's first two-goal game in over three years. Walker, along with two others, were recently acquired by the Caps and this was their first home game. The Capitals will host the New York Rangers (29-27) on Saturday at 7:00 pm.

The Milwaukee Bucks (31-29) defeated the Washington Wizards (21-37) on Wednesday night, 100-87. Recently acquired John Salmons led the Bucks with 22 points. Andray Blatche and R. Randy Foye led the Wizards with 18 points a piece. The Wizards return home Friday night, facing off against the Bucks again. Tip-off is at 7:00 pm.

Winter Olympics Nears End

The United States are leading the medal count race with 32 medals: 8 gold, 12 silver, and 12 bronze. The U.S. has already surpassed 26 medals they won at the 2006 Winter games in Torino. Germany is trailing the U.S by 6 medals, with a total of 26.

On Thursday night the U.S. Women's Hockey team lost 2-0 to Canada in the finals. There is debate whether women's hockey should be in the winter Olympics because it is so dominated by the U.S. and Canada. No American won a medal in women's figure skating, but 16 year-old Mirai Nagasu narrowly missed a medal, claiming 4th place. Expected winner, Kim Yu-Na of South Korea easily won gold. She finished 18 points ahead of silver medalist, Mao Asada of Japan. American free style skier, Jeret Peterson placed second in men's aerials.

On Wednesday, GW alumna Elana Meyers of the USA-2 women's bobsled team unexpectedly won a bronze with driver Erin Pac. Americans have made it to the podium in the three years since women's bobsledding was added to the winter games in 2002.

The Winter Olympics will come to an end on Sunday night with the men's hockey final.

USA Trails Germany by 1 in Medal Count

The United States is currently second in the medal standings with 8 medals. Germany is leading by 1, with 9 medals. USA has earned bronze medals in men's downhill, men's moguls, women's moguls, and the men's 1500m short track speed skating event. American speed skater, Apollo Ohno was able to win a silver medal in the 1500m short track after two South Koreans collided and were unable to cross the finish line. The United States has also won a silver medal in the individual normal hill event. Thus far two Americans have won gold medals: Hannah Kearney in women's moguls and Seth Wescott in men's snowboard cross.

Today, American Lindsey Vonn will attempt to be the first U.S. woman to win an Olympic gold medal in downhill skiing. She is the two-time defending World Cup champ and double world champ. Vonn has had much attention lately due to her recent shin injury. American snowboarder Shaun White will try to defend his Olympic gold medal tonight in the men's halfpipe event. White is the favorite to win. Both events will be broadcasted on NBC.

Be sure to watch George Washington alumna, Elana Meyers, go for the gold in the women's bobsledding event on February 23-24. She is one of the 6-member bobsled team.

Photo from nbcsports.msnbc.com

Washington Sports and the Winter Olympics

The snow storm did not affect the basketball game between the George Washington Colonials (12-10) and the Duquesne University Dukes (12-11) on Saturday, February 6th at the Charles E. Smith Center. The Colonials extended their losing streak to three games by falling to the Dukes, 70-63. GW freshmen, Lasan Kromah led the team with 15 points. Two other GW freshmen scored in double figures. Dwayne Smith contributed 14 points and Bryan Bynes added 11 points for the Colonials. Duquesne was led by Damian Saunders, who scored a career-high 27 points. GW will travel to Bronx, NY on Saturday to play the Fordham University Rams (2-18). Tip-off is at 1:00pm. You can listen to the game on WRGW.

After Sunday's game between The Washington Wizards (17-33) and the Atlanta Hawks (33-18) was postponed due to snow, the Wizards fell to the Charlotte Bobcats (26-25) on Tuesday by a score of 94-92. The Wizards lost in the final seconds when Charlotte's Raymond Felton scored the game-winning shot with 1.9 seconds left. The Bobcats were led by Stephen Jackson, who scored 22 points in the game. Washington's Caron Butler led the team in scoring with 23 points. All-Star Weekend begins Friday night with the All-Star Celebrity game. The 2010 All-Star game will be on Sunday night at 7:00 pm at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

On Thursday night the Washington Capitals (41-13) fell to the Ottawa Senators (35-22) by the score of 6-5. The Capitals were able to come back from a 3-1 deficit after the first period to tie it up in the second period 4-4. Capitals' Alexander Semin achieved a hat trick by scoring twice in the second period and once in the third. Tomas Fleischmann and Jeff Shultz each contributed a goal in the game. The Capitals will not be playing until March because of the Winter Olympics. Five players from the Capitals are headed to Vancouver: Semyon Varlamov, Alexander Ovechkin, and Alexander Semin (Russia), Tomas Fleischmann (Czech Republic), and Nicklas Backstrom (Sweden).

The Vancouver Winter Olympics opening ceremony will be on Friday night at 6:00pm. Medal events will begin on Saturday. The Olympic events will be broadcasted on NBC.

Capitals Continue Winning Streak, Super Bowl Weekend, GW Sports, and More

The George Washington men's basketball team suffered a tough lost in Wednesday's game against UNC Charlotte 49ers (17-5). The Colonials (12-9) were ahead for most of the game, but lost the lead with 20 seconds left and could not recover. The 49ers pulled out with the win with a score of 72-68. GW senior Damian Hollis led the team by scoring 23 points. Charlotte was able to keep the game close due to Junior Shamari Spears, who scored 19 of his 31 points in the second half. The Colonials are scheduled to host the Duquesne University Dukes (11-10) on Saturday at 2:00pm. It is unclear if this game will be affected by the expected weekend snow storm. Check back for updates. You can always catch the game at gwradio.com.

The big sports event of the weekend is obviously Sunday's Super Bowl XLIV between the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints. Peyton Manning led the Colts to a Super Bowl victory in Super Bowl XLI in 2007. This is the first Super Bowl appearance for the Saints. Kick-off is at 6:25pm. The Who will be performing at the half time show.

The Washington Capitals (39-12) have extended their record-breaking winning streak to 12 games by beating the New York Rangers (25-26) 6-5. Alex Ovechkin had a pair of goals; Mike Knuble, Tom Poti, Boyd Gordon, and Nicklas Backstrom each contributed with one goal for the Capitals. The Rangers had a 5-4 lead going into the third period, but were unable to stop Poti and Backstrom from scoring. Ryan Callahan, Olli Jokinen, and Brandon Dubinsky each scored a goal for the Rangers while Vinny Prospal added two goals. The Caps will host the Atlanta Thrashers (24-23) Friday night. The puck drops at 7:00pm.

The Washington Wizards (16-32) lost Wednesday to the New York Knicks (19-29) 107-85. Nate Robinson led the Knicks with 23 points, while David Lee who had 22 points. Washington's Randy Foye and Nick Young led the Wizards with 15 points a piece. The Wizards will travel to Orlando to play the Magic (33-16) on Friday night. Tip off is at 7:00pm.

Sports Update

On Saturday GW’s men’s basketball team hosts the Richmond Spiders (14-6). The Colonials will try to snap their 3-game losing streak. On Wednesday, GW fell to Dayton, scoring only 51 points. This is the lowest amount of points scored by the team this season. Freshmen Lasan Kromah led the Colonials with 14 points.Saturday’s game will start at 2:00pm at the Smith Center, and you can always tune to gwradio.com for live coverage of the game.

The Washington Wizards (14-27) will be home for their next two games. On Friday night, Dwayne Wade comes to town as the Wizards take on the Miami Heat (21-20). Tip-off is at7:00pm. Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers (19-22) starts at1:00pm.

On Thursday night, the Washington Capitals (32-12) took on the Pittsburgh Penguins (31-20) at the Mellon Arena. This was the first match-up between the two teams since theplayoffs last year. The Capitals beat the Penguins by the score of 6-3. The Caps have now won 5 games in a row. Alex Ovechkin scored two of the goals Thursday night. Mike Knuble, Eric Fehr, Tomas Fleischmann, and Niklas Backstromeach added a goal. For the Penguins, Sidney Crosby, Nick Johnson, and Kris Letang scored. On Saturday night, the Caps will be back home to play the Phoenix Coyotes (28-17). The puck drops at 7:00pm at the Verizon Center.