NHL Captains Everywhere Beware!

Former UND Fighting Sioux hockey player TJ Oshie is earning a new nickname with the St. Louis Blues - "The captain assassin." Why you ask? Oshie has been dishing out big hits on opponents' captains in the last week. Both Columbus captain Rick Nash and Los Angeles captain Dustin Brown learned first hand. Actually, Nash got destroyed two nights in a row, the ladder being my favorite.

Oshie's been receiving more and more national attention as of late as he helps push the Blues into the playoff picture. TSN's Bob McKenzie wrote a short piece on how Oshie is a phenom in the league.

A few weeks ago it looked like the young St. Louis Blues' season was over. Now they are sitting 8th in the West poised to make the playoffs. A lot of this is due to the surge made by their great young talent, i.e. TJ Oshie, Patrick Berglund, David Perron, and Erik Johnson. Notably Oshie's 13 G, 23 A, for a total of 36 pts and a +16! The Blues are young and hot. I feel like you can expect them to just squeak into the playoffs this year. They return all their young talent and get some key veterans back from injury next year and I believe they will be a force in the West in 2-3 years and a lot of fun to watch!

CHECK OUT THESE VIDEOS:

Oshie's Highlight Reel Goal at home against the Canucks

Oshie Big Hit on Columbus Captain Rick Nash - Night 1

Oshie Big Hit on Columbus Captain Rick Nash - Night 2

Oshie Hits LA Kings Captain Dustin Brown

Advice to John Calipari: Take the UK job!

The word is John Calipari and Kentucky are in talks and discussing a potential 8 year/$35 million contract.

Well Mr. Calipari, this is your opportunity. This is what you've been waiting for your whole coaching career! You now have an opportunity to coach for what is IMO, the best coaching job in all of college basketball. I can tell from seeing interviews and you on ESPN over the years, that this job is made for you.

The Kentucky job is what most and every college coach should dream about. Kentucky has some of the best facilities, pay, fan base, and history in all of college basketball.

If you turn down this offer, it will come back to bite you. But I personally doubt you will.

I know you've been working on building Memphis and you've come a long way with it. But this is your opportunity to take a job with such a history-rich program back to where it belongs. This is your ticket to the Hall of Fame coach!

John Calipari is the best man for this job. He is one hell of a recruiter, he's done a very good job making Memphis a household name in College Basketball. But I cannot stress enough how big of a deal this job is.

Like I've said, Kentucky is the best college program in all of College Basketball. It is the winningest program ever, tied for 4th in Final Four appearances, 2nd in total national championships... what is there not to like?

If Calipari takes this job, the SEC and everybody else (including UNC, Duke, Kansas, UConn, Michigan St, etc.) need to watch out! Calipari is a terrific coach and if you give him the resources that Kentucky has, he'll have this program back to where it once was.

Sweet 16 Predictions: Friday Edition

Kansas vs. Michigan St.
A rematch of two teams that met in the regular season where the Spartans dominated; the game was never really close and the Kansas young guns were exposed, but look for a closer result this time. Kansas has been an up and down team lately. They shot very well from the field (50%) against a pesky North Dakota State team in the first round and then defeated Dayton in the 2nd round in a less than stellar performance. Tom Izzo always has his team ready in the tournament and he should have a terrific game plan for the Jayhawks. The guard play for the Spartans matches up very well with Kansas. Kalin Lucas showed Sherron Collins up in East Lansing last time with 22 points. If Collins and Cole Aldrich don't get any help from their teammates, Kansas will not be defending their national championship.

The Pick: Michigan St.- Look for Michigan State's depth and ability to control Aldrich to be the difference in the game.

Louisville vs. Arizona
What a ride it's been for Arizona. Going from a bubble team to a Sweet Sixteen team. Although some may be surprised the Wildcats are this far, I am not. They have 3 very good players in Nic Wise, Chase Budinger, and Jordan Hill. Also, they've been the better team in both of their match-ups. The Utah win wasn't really an "upset" and the Wildcats were flat out better than Cleveland St. Zona will have a tougher time vs. a Louisville team that loves to pressure and some gives tough matchups. Louisville is one of the most athletic teams out there with Earl Clark and Terrence Williams, also Samardo Samuels is a tough draw down low. Louisville's guard depth could be a problem as well for Zona. I don't know if the Cats have enough depth to overcome the Cards.

The Pick: Louisville- I like Rick Pitino over Russ Pennell coaching wise and Zona relies way too much on their "big three".

North Carolina vs. Gonzaga
This is a very intriguing matchup. Gonzaga matches up fairly well with UNC. They could give some tough match-ups on the perimeter with Austin Daye, Micah Downs, and Steven Gray size wise. UNC has the edge down low even with the Zags' Josh Heytvelt. Gonzaga just isn't tough enough down-low and their frontline would prefer to play on the outside mostly. Defense could be a problem for the Zags' as they will face the best offense in the nation. If Ty Lawson is healthy for UNC they should win, but they could have some trouble defensively with Gonzagas size. But other than that, Tyler Hansbrough and Deon Thompson down low along with Wayne Ellington and Danny Green on the outside should be too much.

The Pick: UNC- Too much firepower for the Heels' and the Zags just aren't tough enough.

Syracuse vs. Oklahoma
Another intriguing match-up. I am interested to see how Blake Griffin does against the Syracuse zone. If Cuse is able to not let OU dominate down low, they will win this game. It will be a tall task though. Johnny Flynn will have a big advantage over Willie Warren and Austin Johnson at point.

The Pick: Oklahoma- Too much Blake Griffin down low.

March is here!

March is finally here, probably my favorite month of the year. We all know what that means, MARCH MADNESS BABY!

In honor of the month of March and March Madness, here's some clips to get you pumped up...

Our thoughts and prayers are with Corey Smith and Marquis Cooper

NFL players Corey Smith and Marquis Cooper along with 2 others are reported missing at sea after a fishing trip. Both have been gone for about a day and there are still no traces of them.

The Coast Guard has been searching all day Sunday and will continue all throughout the night and into Monday morning.

Smith is a starting defensive end for the Detroit Lions and Cooper is a LB for the Oakland Raiders.

TSF is asking to keep these guys in your thoughts prayers and we hope that they will be found alive soon.