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Sports 1B Friday February 26, 2010 Friday D-II Boys BBball Playoffs — Red Bluff at Pleasant Valley, 8 p.m. D-III Boys BBall Playoffs — Corning at Paradise, 7 p.m. D-II Girls BBall Playoffs — Red Bluff at Pleasant Valley, 6:30 p.m. Wrestling Championships at Redding Convention Center, Noon Olympics — coverage on NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, USA NBA — Jazz at Kings, 7 p.m., CSNBA Spartans special on, off floor Yu-na wins gold; Canada women beat US MCT photo South Korea's Kim Yu-na competes in the women's figure skating free skate, Thursday night. Yu-na won the gold medal. Japan's Mao Asada won the silver and Canada's Joannie Rochette won the bronze medal. VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Gold was the only option for Canada's women's hockey team. For the U.S. Nordic combined squad, any medal in any color would do. All of them were quite pleased with the way things turned out Thursday. The Canadian women beat the United States 2-0 for their third straight Olympic title, this one even sweeter because it was on home ice — and in front of a who's who list of fans that included Wayne Gretzky, Prime Minis- ter Stephen Harper, actor Michael J. Fox and several members of the men's hockey team, including captain Scott Niedermayer. ''It's so special,'' said women's cap- tain Hayley Wickenheiser, a four-time Olympian with three gold medals. ''You grow up in Canada, you know the expectations.'' Up in the mountains, Billy Demong and Johnny Spillane finished 1-2 in a Nordic combined race, a surprising medal haul in a sport that's been part of the Winter Olympics since 1924 but never had an American medalist until these games. Demong's victory is the first gold and his second of these games. Spillane became the first medalist on Sunday, and now he has three, all silver. ''I think it has been building over the past five to 10 years,'' Demong said. ''These Olympics are the combi- nation of years of hard work and hard breaks.'' Add silvers by the hockey women and Jeret ''Speedy'' Peterson in men's aerials, and the U.S. medal count is up to eight golds and 32 overall. The Americans are closing in on their record hauls of 10 gold of 34 total, both set at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. Germany had a 1-2 finish in giant slalom to reach eight golds and 26 overall medals. Norway's Marit Bjoergen became the top medal-winner thus far, becom- ing the first with three golds and with four overall medals by leading the win- ning team in the women's cross-coun- try relay. The lone medal event left Thursday night was in women's figure skating, with South Korean's Kim Yu-na a heavy favorite. WOMEN'S HOCKEY In a showdown between the sport's only powers, speedy 18-year-old Marie-Philip Poulin scored twice in the first period and goaltender Shannon Szabados made it hold up. Canada has- n't lost an Olympic hockey game since dropping the gold-medal game at the 1998 Nagano Games. The Americans beat everyone else 40-2, but couldn't get a single goal on 28 shots. Several Americans were in tears, including four-time Olympians Angela Ruggiero and Jenny Potter, who was joined on the ice by her two children during the medal presentation. The Canadian crowd raised a chant of ''U- S-A!'' while the players got their bou- quets. ''When you give your whole life to something and you come up short, as a team, it's just awful,'' Ruggiero said, choking back tears. ''It's a little differ- ent than playing on the men's side. You really give your life to it. You make lots of sacrifices to win the gold medal.'' Earlier, Finland beat Sweden 3-2 in overtime for the bronze, Finland's first medal since taking bronze when women's hockey debuted at the 1998 Winter Olympics. Finland President Tarja Halonen was among those cele- brating. Considering the dominance of Canada and the drop in quality after the United States, there's been speculation about cutting women's hockey from the Olympics. Unlikely, says IOC pres- ident Jacques Rogge. ''Women's hockey is a growing sport,'' he said. ''There is no doubt that in the future women's hockey will be a hit.'' NORDIC COMBINED This race involved ski jumping on the large hill, then a 10-kilometer race. Weather was another obstacle. A driving, wet snow and tail wind late in the ski jumping portion ruined the distances for many of the top com- petitors, forcing them to start way back in the cross-country race. Demong and Spillane were among those to win the weather ''lottery,'' as World Cup leader Jason Lamy Chappuis of France called it. The Americans weren't the only lucky ones, though. And Demong did rise from sixth to first, outlasting Spillane and Bernhard Gruber of Aus- tria after they distanced themselves from everyone else. So don't put too much of an asterisk on this. AERIALS Peterson pulled out his one-of-a- kind ''Hurricane'' jump and landed the highest score of the 24 jumps, but his two-jump total came up just shy of Alexei Grishin of Belarus. Peterson's move wraps five twists into three somersaults as he vaults off the ramp and 50 feet in the air. Then, he stuck the landing. Teammate Ryan St. Onge was fourth. Saturday's soccer D-I championship #2 West Valley at #1 Corning Division I Champi- onship, Noon #2 West Valley Eagles: 8-4; 7-3, second in Northern Athletic League #1 Corning Cardinals: 17-1; 10-0, Northern Athlet- ic League Champions Previous meetings: Corning won both matches this season 6-2. Players to watch: West Valley — #3 Ray Close, #9 Harold Stacey, #10 Dylan Fematt Corning — #9 Adrian Aceves, #19 Jose Arce, #15 Fredy Carrillo Notes: Corning beat West Valley in last season's semifinals then lost in the finals...the Cardinals knocked off Oroville in Tuesday's semifinal 5-1, while West Val- ley beat Lassen 7-1...Close was a 25-goal scorer for the Eagles...the Cardinals are 32-2-1 over the past two sea- sons Local happenings Fast pitch softball tryouts The Nor-Cal Pride Junior Olympic Girls Fast pitch Softball Organization will be holding tryouts for its 14- and-under summer travel team on Saturday from 10 a.m. to Noon at Trainor Park, "Frey Field" in Red Bluff. The Nor-Cal Pride is looking for players with positive attitudes, who work hard and play together as a team. All positions are open. If you cannot make the tryout and are interested in playing an individual tryout can be arranged. If you have any questions feel free to contact Mike McEnaney at 510-5326 or Brian Zazueta at 575-0796. Nor Cal Rapids ASA softball Those interested in tryout information for the Nor Cal Rapids 14-and-under ASA softball team should contact Mel Clatty at 567-6528 or John Fox at 514-3437. Lacrosse season opens The Red Bluff Youth Lacrosse program is inviting the public out to its season opening games, Sunday, at the Red Bluff High School soccer park. There will be no entry fee, but feel free to bring money as there will be a snack bar. The action starts at 10 a.m. with the Under-11 team taking on Redding, followed by the Under-13 club at 11:30 a.m. At 1 p.m. the Under-15 team will play Grass Valley. By RICH GREENE DN Sports Editor There's no question the Spartans boys bas- ketball season could have went better in 2010. A buzzer-beating shot dropping here, one last defensive stand there and Red Bluff may be entering tonight's Division II semifinal in Pleas- ant Valley as the favorite. However, the breaks didn't come for the Spartans, who lost four Eastern Athletic League games by less than four points, on their way to a 5-9 league finish. It wasn't for a lack of effort and it wasn't because a lack of a strong senior class. Seven Red Bluff seniors will suit up for the last time at some point this week and whether its tonight or hope- fully the championship game on March 5, they will have left their mark on the program and on their coach even if the win total didn't match their effort. "This has been a real special group to coach," Red Bluff coach Stan Twitchell said. "I really like not only the way they compete on the floor, but the quality of human they are off the floor." On the floor, point guard Grant Blaser proved to be one of Red Bluff's top players in his senior year, but went he began his career as an undersized freshman it didn't seem as if that would be the case. "He went from being a kid on the freshman team who didn't play much to being of the best kids in the league as a senior," Twitchell said. Blaser's success came from the hard work he put in from his time in the gym to workouts during the offseason, said Twitchell. Another player who improved through his offseason work ethic was Trevor Miller. Twitchell said he had never seen someone improve from one season to the next, the say Miller did from his junior to senior year. See SPARTANS, page 2B Raiders place franchise tag on Richard Seymour ALAMEDA (AP) — The Oakland Raiders placed the exclusive franchise tag on defensive lineman Richard Seymour before Thursday's deadline. By choosing to use the exclusive designation, Sey- mour is prohibited from even negotiating with other teams when free agency starts next month. With the tag, Seymour will be guaranteed a salary for next season of at least $12.398 million, which is the average salary earned last year by the five highest-paid defensive ends in the league. If the average for next season is greater than that on April 15, Seymour will get the new amount. Oakland would like to sign him to a long-term deal. The decision by the Raiders not to let Seymour become an unrestricted free agent comes as no surprise after they dealt a 2011 first-round pick to New England to acquire Sey- mour before last season. The only question was whether they would be able to sign him to a long-term deal or would have to use the franchise tag. Oakland hadn't used the designation since 2008, when cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha was the exclusive franchise player. The Raiders signed long-term deals with Asomugha and punter Shane Lechler before last year's deadline and with kicker Sebastian Janikowski earlier this month. Seymour, 30, was paid about $3.7 million last season. He was a stalwart in New England after being drafted sixth over- all in 2001. He played on three Super Bowl winners with the Patriots, recording 39 career sacks and being selected to the Pro Bowl for five straight seasons beginning in 2002. Seymour made an impressive debut just days after arriv- ing in Oakland, recording two sacks in a season-opening loss to San Diego. But Seymour had only two more sacks in the final 15 games and was unable to solve the Raiders' run defense woes. The Raiders finished the season 5-11, their NFL-worst seventh straight season with at least 11 losses. Oakland fin- ished 29th in run defense at 155.5 yards per game. Bulldogs knocked out On Thursday, the Los Molinos boys were knocked out of the Divi- sion V playoffs after a 78- 43 loss to Liberty Christ- ian. Los Molinos finished their season with a record of 13-14. See GOLD, page 2B