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ByJoshDubow The Associated Press ALAMEDA Afteratwo-monthplay- off run that changed the perception of the star players and a team that had been known for playoff letdowns, the reality of falling two wins short of the ultimate goal of winning the Stanley Cup hit the San Jose Sharks. Instead of preparing for Game 7 on Wednesday night in Pittsburgh, the SharksspentMondaysayingtheirgood- byesandreflectingonthemostsuccess- fulseasonintheteam's25-yearhistory. "We were planning on getting on a flight to Pittsburgh," center Joe Thornton said. "We have such a good group. You just don't want this thing to end. We really thought we could get this thing to Game 7 and you never know what could happen. It's just a weird feeling that all of a sudden you're done with hockey. It just comes to an end. You're just dis- appointed that way." San Jose's season ended with a 3-1 loss to the Penguins in Game 6 on Sunday night. After rolling through the Western Conference playoffs, the Sharks were unable to match up with the speedy Penguins. Pittsburgh's speed, depth and abil- ity to play from ahead for almost the entire series proved too much for the Sharks to overcome. But that won't entirely overshadow the fun they had getting to the final for the first time in franchise history. "It's disappointing when you lose, but this has just been a great jour- ney," defenseman Brent Burns said. "You earn the right to play for two months after the season and it's just a special experience to be a part of that. Obviously you want to win. That's what we play for. You don't dream of losing when you're 3 years old, you want to win." NHL SHARKS DEAL WITH FINAL LOSS PHOTOSBYERICRISBERG—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS San Jose Sharks players gather a er losing Game 6of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins. By Doug Ferguson The Associated Press OAKMONT, PA. Jordan Spieth feels confident about his game, typical talk from most top play- ers going into a major. Unlike so many others at this U.S. Open, however, Spieth speaks from experience. Not since Tiger Woods a de- cade ago has anyone had this kind of run in golf's biggest events. From the time he missed the cut at Valhalla in the 2014 PGA Championship, Spieth has not finished worse than fourth in his last five majors. He won the Masters and U.S. Open, missed a playoff at the British Open by one shot, was runner-up at the PGA Championship, and he tied for second at this year's Masters. He made it sound Monday as though form were secondary to sheer belief. "Is my game always (good) ... no," he said, answering his own question before he finished it. "The Masters this year, tee to green, I felt much worse than I did at events where I finished 25th at a tour event. But because I just felt that we were ready and that we could do it and I could draw on past experience — espe- cially at that event — we got into contention. I willed the putts in. I couldn't really describe it to you other than it just being kind of a mental state of being confident at the majors." Such streaks are rare. In the last 60 years, only Jack Nicklaus (three times), Woods (twice) and Arnold Palmer have gone at least five straight majors in the top five. Nick- laus went seven straight ma- jors from the 1971 PGA Cham- pionship through the 1972 Brit- ish Open, while Woods' longest stretch of top 5s was six majors from the 1999 PGA Champion- ship through the 2001 Masters. He won five of those six majors. Whether the 22-year-old Texan can extend his streak de- pends largely on Oakmont. US OPEN Jo rdan Spieth on a roll in the majors going into US Open CASPER, WYOMING The 68th an- nual College National Finals Ro- deo got underway at the Casper Events Center on Sunday with the Bulls, Broncs and Breakaway per- formances. All of the qualifiers in bull riding, breakaway roping, sad- dle bronc and bareback riding competed in the first of three rounds. Feather River College from Quincy took command of the leaderboard earning the top two spots. Clayton Biglow, a sophomore majoring in ag business got the round win with 80 points. Biglow is making his second appearance at the CNFR. The former high school rodeo champion is work- ing his way up the ranks of rodeo with hopes and plans of compet- ing at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. He leads the Pro- fessional Rodeo Cowboys Associ- ation rookie standings and is 12th in their world standings. Biglow's traveling partner and classmate Wyatt Denny finished with a 77.5-point ride to take second. Denny is also making his second appearance here, is a sophomore and is majoring in ag business. Not only are the two schoolmates that travel to rodeos together, they are also each oth- er's heros. "Clayton Biglow is my hero." Denny wrote on his bio sheet. "Even though we are the same height, I look up to him." Biglow also listed Denny as his hero, but only because he knows the best places to eat on the road. They will each compete two more times and could the friends could be in a fight for the championship here if they keep it up. Brandi Hollenbeck from Gar- den City (Kan.) Community Col- lege nearly broke the arena record in breakaway roping on Sunday. She stopped the clock in 1.9 sec- onds, just one-tenth of a second off the record. She is a second- generation qualifier making her second appearance. The bull riding winner came from Western Texas College at Snyder. Jacob Spencer scored 78.5 points. Clayton Brum from the College of Southern Idaho (Twin Falls) won the first round of sad- dle bronc riding with a 76.5. The following are results from Bulls Broncs and Breakaway at the College National Finals Ro- deo, June 12, courtesy of the Na- tional Intercollegiate Rodeo Asso- ciation. Compete results are avail- able at www.collegerodeo.com. Breakaway Roping: (first round winners) 1, Brandi Hollenbeck, Garden City Community Col- lege, 1.9 seconds. 2, Samantha Jorgenson, Black Hills College, 2.2. 3, Haillie Taylor, Colorado Mesa College, 2.3. 4, (tie) Coralee Spratt, Gillette College, and Kir- bie Spratt, Missouri Valley Col- lege, 2.4 each. 6, Katie Rice, Cal Poly State University -San Luis Obispo, 2.5,. 7, (tie) Brittany Dias, California State University — Fresno and Kylee Mackelprang, Southern Utah University, 2.6 each. Bareback Riding: (first round winners) 1, Clayton Biglow, Feather River College, 80 points. 2, Wyatt Denny, Feather River College, 77.5.. 3, Jake Sterno, COLLEGE NATIONAL FINALS RODEO Feather River College takes command of bareback riding San Jose Sharks right wing Melker Karlsson (68), from Sweden, and defenseman Paul Martin (7) react a er losing Game 6of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins in San Jose Sunday. SHARKS PAGE 2 US OPEN PAGE 2 RODEO PAGE 2 MARCIO J. SANCHEZ — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) shoots against the Golden State Warriors during the first half of Game 5of basketball's NBA Finals in Oakland Monday. By Janie McCauley The Associated Press OAKLAND LeBronJameshad41 points,16reboundsandsevenas- sists, Kyrie Irving also scored 41 points and the Cleveland Cava- liers capitalized on the Warriors playing without suspended star Draymond Green, staving off NBA Finals elimination with a 112-97victoryinGame5onMon- day night. James and Irving became the first teammates to score 40 points in an NBA Finals game as the Cavaliers pulled within 3-2 and sent their best-of-seven series back to Ohio. Take that, haters. James had much more to say about these playoffs before he's done — and not with his mouth, even as the criticism came from all direc- tions following his Game 4 tus- sle with Green and reaction to what he considered the Golden State forward's inappropriate words. He was booed again as the Cavs left the court for their locker room, but thousands of fans had already made for the exits minutes earlier. The Cavs handed defending champion Golden State just its fourth defeat at sold-out Oracle Arena all season, denying MVP Stephen Curry and the Warriors a chance to celebrate a second straight title with their golden- clad "Strength In Numbers" supporters. Now, Curry and Co. must try to win on the road just the way the Warriors did last year and also in their only other championship season out West in 1975. The Warriors will get Green back Thursday as they try again for that repeat title. Banned from the arena, Green watched from a base- ball suite in the Oakland Col- iseum next door, joined by Golden State general manager Bob Myers. The All-Star forward was sus- pendedSundayforhisfourthfla- grantpointofthepostseason.He was assessed a retroactive Fla- grant-1 for his swipe at James in the fourth quarter of Friday's Game 4. NBA CavsstayaliveinNBAFinals SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Tuesday, June 14, 2016 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1