Monday, May 14, 2007.

Sleeping in your own bed, breathing your city’s warm spring air, feeding off the frenzy of your fans. Something in there, possibly all three, struck a chord with the Idaho Steelheads in Game 4 of the ECHL National Conference Finals last night. After the Alaska Aces sent a message on the Qwest Arena ice with a 5-2 victory Friday night (as in, “we intend to rally”), the Steelheads replied with a stunning 7-2 runaway to take a three games-to-one lead in the series. The Steelies went up 2-0 late in the first period on goals by Marty Flichel and Travis Wight. The Aces tied it 7½ minutes into the second, but then the floodgates opened with five unanswered Idaho goals.

Flichel, the Steelheads’ leading scorer during the regular season, potted two goals on the night despite a tender knee. But he was overshadowed by rookie John Lammers, who was all over the offensive end with a goal and three assists. His marker with 7:18 left in the second period was the ultimate game-winner. The assist on that one went to Francis Wathier, who just 24 hours earlier was playing in the AHL West Division Finals with Iowa. When the Stars lost, ending their season, Wathier was reassigned to Idaho—and he rushed to Boise to be in uniform for the pivotal tussle with the Aces. The 6-4, 204-pound power forward made an instant impact in his first game with the Steelheads since a week before Christmas. Now the Steelies go after the toughest win to get, no. 4, tomorrow night in Game 5.

This is not an official, historic sports document, but it is kind of cool. The Sporting News this week has a feature called “Best By Number”, choosing the best current athlete wearing each uniform number, 0 through 99. And the best no. 79 out there, they say, is “Ryan Clady, Boise State football.” Clady was one of only seven college athletes on the list, the rest were from pro sports. The other six collegians: Oklahoma’s Adrian Peterson, Miami safety Kenny Phillips, USC defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis, North Carolina basketball star Tyler Hansbrough, Oregon State guard Jeremy Perry, and Wisconsin offensive tackle Joe Thomas. Granted there are fewer no. 79’s in sports than other numerals, but it’s still good stuff for Clady’s ever-growing scrapbook.

Rules in arena football aren’t set up for defense, but you do need some once in awhile. And the Boise Burn didn’t have enough in Saturday night’s 79-70 loss to Central Valley at Fresno’s Selland Arena. The Coyotes presented a quarterback, Clay Groefsema, who threw for 373 yards. That’s a lot on a 50-yard field. And he did it in an empty atmosphere—the announced attendance was 1,638, and onlookers will say it was somewhere in the triple-digits. The Burn’s Levi Madarieta warned teammates last week they’d have to be self-motivated. “I had the pleasant opportunity to play there last year in front of 600 people,” said Madarieta. “Yeah that's right, that wasn't a typo, 600 people.”

Davey Hamilton has nailed down his seventh start in the Indianapolis 500—six years removed from the last one. Hamilton’s long road back from the debilitating accident at Texas Motor Speedway in June of 2001 culminated yesterday with a final practice run topping at 222.327 miles per hour, earning him a seventh row spot May 27. This isn’t the first time patience has paid off for Hamilton. He first entered rookie orientation at the Brickyard in 1991 but had to wait five years for his first start in the Indy 500. This was a different kind of perseverance, though. Many didn’t think he could ever come back, and at times—though the pain—Hamilton didn’t think he could, either. But he steadfastly held onto that dream, and here he is in the show again.

Boise State men’s tennis coach Greg Patton always had his eye on 2008 as a bell-weather year for the Broncos, who will be senior-heavy and experience-heavy. But that doesn’t diminish the disappointment of Saturday’s 4-2 loss to Texas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. BSU had won the doubles point and had forged early leads in the singles matches, but the Broncos couldn’t hang on in the heat and humidity of Austin. Hosting the NCAA first and second rounds becomes a primary goal next year. “When you look back at our season, it is apparent that losing to Texas in Chicago and to Alabama in Alabama sealed our fate,” said the General. “Texas belonged hosting the first two rounds due to their victory over us.”

The WAC Track & Field Championships saw Boise State dethroned by none other than Utah State, while Louisiana Tech took the women’s title, officially ending the WAC athletic year Saturday in Fresno. The Broncos finished second in the men’s competition, with Forest Braden the high-point athlete of the meet. Braden was a double-winner, as were Elena Kafourou and Becky Guyette for the fourth-place BSU women.

In the NAIA Region I Baseball Tournament, Albertson College was game Saturday against the no. 1 team in the country, with Coyote starter Joey Zubizarreta holding the Warriors scoreless on four hits over 10 innings. But L-C State broke through with a couple of unearned runs in the 11th to win 2-0 and advance to the Super Regionals. Zubizarreta’s stint was the longest by a Yote pitcher in nine years. Albertson thus finishes 31-17, with 10 of its losses to LCSC. It was the Coyotes’ 21st consecutive 25-win season.

While his one-time school was seeing its season end over the weekend, former Albertson College pitcher Jason Simontacchi was seeing something he hadn’t experienced in almost four years. The Washington righthander notched his first victory in almost four years in the Nationals’ 6-4 win over Florida. It was Simontacchi’s second appearance in his return to the bigs after spending most of the past two years recovering from surgery in early 2005 to repair a torn labrum. He pitched 5 1/3 innings and gave up three earned runs on eight hits against the Marlins.

This Day In Sports…May 14, 1981:

The Boston Celtics top the Houston Rockets, 102-91, to claim Game 6 of the Finals and win the NBA Championship. The Celts’ Larry Bird, in his second NBA season, went 7-of-10 in the second half—finishing with 27 points and 13 rebounds. The MVP of the Finals, though, was Boston’s Cedric “Cornbread” Maxwell. Although it was the Celtics’ 14th NBA title, it was the first for any member of that Boston team.

(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment Sunday nights at 10:30PM on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra and anchors five sports segments each weekday on 1350 KTIK/The Ticket. He also handles color commentary on KTVB’s telecasts of Boise State football.)

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