There can be little doubt when looking at Leafs GM, Brian Burke’s, past that Toronto will be active tonight.

Here are some other names that could be moved tonight.

Marleau              Bouwmeester       Pronger                      Nabokov

Scoring

27′ Jozy Altidore

74′ Clint Dempsey

Live Game News

Three Stars of the Match

1. Tim Howard. The shutout, and many great saves.

2. Clint Dempsey, Goal and an assist

3. Jozy Altidore, The first goal that got it all started.

It has been a big night for the U.S. they will play the winner of Brazil and South Africa, in Sunday’s final.

Brazil- South Africa game is tomorrow at 2:30. Spain will play the loser off that match.

Final Score              USA 2            Spain 0

US has shocked the world and beaten the number one time in the world.

One minute of 3 minutes gone in stoppage time.

We are in to stoppage time.

Pique gets a yellow card for Spain.

88′ Clint Dempsey out, Bornstein in.

87′ Michael Bradley gets a red card.

85′ Spain corner, resulting shot is blocked away.

84′ US sub Connor Casey, in      Altidore, out

82′ US in scramble mold tring to hold on.

Spain shot fisted away by Howard.

Current shots are 7-2 in favor of Spain.

David Villa strikes it right at Howard, easy save.

Spain gets free kick in great position.

77′ Spain Sub        Mata in, Riera out

Spain will certainly throw everyone forward now.

Clint Dempsey scores in the 74 min.

US Goal!!!      2-0

Jay Demerit has done a great job in the back.

Landon Donavan’s pass goes wide, ad U.S, got possesion for the first time in a while.

A defensive shift in tactics for the U.S. with the last sub.

69′ US Sub    Charlie Davies out, Feilhaber in

68′ Spain Sub.   Cazorla in and Fabregas out

U.S. needs to look to go forward, because it has once again slanted heavily in Spain’s favor.

66′ Ramos has shot blocked, U.S. throwing their body in front off the ball.

Tim Howard has been under a ton of pressure in the last couple of minutes and came up big

Riera has his shot blocked, then save by Howard

61′ David Villa with a shot that went wide. No call as Altidore goes down in the box.

59′ US doing a better job of getting some chances .

Good job by Altidore to win a corner for the U.S., Clark shot is saved.

Riera has a shot from inside the box go wide on the near side.

U.S. gets forward for the first time in the half, cross to strong though.

David Villa shot off of a corner stop by Howard.

Spain Corner, cleared away

five minutes into the second half, and it has gone much like the first with Spain dominating chances and time of possession.

48′ Great save by Tim Howard, Spain then had a shot go high.

47′ Clint Dempsey’s header goes high off of the corner for the U.S.

Second half is underway.

Teams get ready for the start of the Second Half.

U.S. from the beginning has made a point to have at least 9 guys behind the ball.

Spain has lots of offensive fire power and should still get plenty of chances to score in the 2nd half.

The U.S, should look to go forward more as them seem to have gone into a shell

U.S. should be trilled to be in this position.

Half Time, US leads 1-0

Spain still on the attack. They are getting chance after chance, the U.S, once to get to half time.

Ramos had a chance in the box, once again swept away by the U.S.

Spain on the offensive again, Torres continues to get looks in the box.

36′ Capdavila picks up yellow card, Donovan’s free kick deflects wide.

In the last 5 minutes, the play has been almost entirely on the U.S. side of the field.

Spain has been on the offensive since the U.S. goal.

32′ David Villa fires a shot in the box over the net

31′ Spain gets corner

Jozy Altidore gets a yellow card for taking his short off in goal celebration.

In 26′ Jozy Altidore scores from Clint Dempsey

U.S. Gooooal!!!!!! 1-0

next Spain corner goes short, and that doesn’t work either.

25′ Spain corner, quickly cleared.

U.S. having trouble clearing the ball, and getting it ahead to their forwards.

21′ long shot from Landon Donovan goes wide.

Spain starting to look a lot more threatening when they go forward, compared to the U.S.

off sides on Torres, in a great spot to score

15 minutes in, game starting to settle down.

Each team has 2 shots so far.

11′ Great chance for Fordando Torres, went wide

10′ No score, both teams with chances

9′ Shoot fired wide by Clint Dempsey from 25 yards out

8th min U.S. with a good start, getting more chances than Spain.

Charlie Davies’ bicycle kick goes wide

US yellow card to Landon Donovan

4′ US corner, Spain clears

Spain chance  off of deflection

2′ Spain with lots of possession early

game underway!

game time 2:30 Eastern

check back for more

a few minutes before game time

Starting Lineups

Landon Ferraro is known for his finishing ability, and if he is anything like his father he will have the grit that the Caps have enphasized for this offseason.

His father Ray, was known as “the little ball of hate”.

     Last year, the Washigton Capitls made the second round of the playoffs for the first time since they made the Stanley Cup Finals in 1998. While there is now doubt that the future of the Capitals looks brighter now then ever, their playoff run exposed some weaknesses that must be addressed if the Caps are going to become a true threat to hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup.

    On Friday, the 2009 NHL Draft will take place in Montreal, there the Caps hold the 24th pick and will have  their first oppertunity to improve holes on the team.

Their are three big names in this years draft, and all three seemingly have a chance of going number one overall to the New York Islanders. John Tavares ia the all-time leading scorer in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), Victor Hedman is a defenseman out of Sweden who is being compared to Chris Pronger and Matt Duchene also from the OHL has scouts salivating. Though it is unlikely that the Washington Capitals will land any of these cornerstone pieces there are still lots of quality players to be had. 

     The Caps have one of the most prolific offenses in the NHL. However, they depth after that top line is a weakness. Another problem is the lack of grit shown by Capitals’ forwards. Hence a strong power forward that can help secondary scoring is one direction that the Caps can go.

     The Caps poses one of the top offensive defenseman of all time Mike Green. He was a finalist for top defenseman of the year. The problem when it comes to the Caps back end is the defensive defenseman who can stay at home. If the Capitals organization fells that highly touted prospect Karl Alzner can not fill this void than they will need to find a solution for this problem.

     Capitals General manager George McPhee has been quoted by saying that they could trade the pick in the hopes of filling their needs with proven NHL talent.

 If the Caps don’t go that route, the good news entering the draft for the Capitals is that this years class is full of great power forwards. Top power forwards in this years draft like Magnus Svensson-Paajarvi, Evander Kane, and Zach Kassian will likely have already be taken  before the the Caps choose at 24, more likely canidates to be the Caps choose are the Guelph Storm’s Peter Holland, the Omaha Lancers’ Louis Leblanc, or Carter Ashton of the Lethbridge Hurricanes. All three of these players have the mix of skill and grit that the Caps are looking for. Carter is a name that has been closly associated with the Caps. According to TSN’s Bob McKenzie ” He is a traditional power forward in the mold of a Bill Guerin”.

     Others have linked Nick Leddy. Letty, a U.S. High School product out of Eden Prairie, Minn was name Mr. Hockey for the state the calls themselves”The State of Hockey” (Minnesota). Letty is a defenseman who’s biggest atributes are that he has great hockey sense, and has speed that matches anyone in this year’s draft. Nick could be moldded into the perfect defenseman for the Caps, capable of covering the whole ice. 

There is a lot riding on this off season if the Caps want to show there fans that they are serious about winning the cup. Made even more critical after McPhee made no moves at last year’s trade deadline and the Caps ultimately fell short in the second round.

What will the do, NHL Draft starts 7:00 PM on Versus

while this is a short article, it is very timely and well written. It also does a great job at looking at the trade from both teams perspective.

Tom Verducci of SI looks at the job done by Donald Fehr as head of Baseball’s Players Union is a piece with strong opinion on the work that Fehr did. While pointing out some sticking points, it is still very far and has a strong take that will interest any baseball fan.

The Metro crash that killed nine in D.C. his a huge story. This piece looks at posible causes, share some quotes and shares problems that officials were aware of and how an event like this can be prevented in the future. Aslo gives the basics of a story that is sure to be talked about around the watercooler all over the U.S.

2. strong headline, more critical now than ever.

3. Images enhance a blog tremendously.

from Pierre Lebrun Good article on this years Hockey Hall of Fame class. It should be a great class. Great information on hockey and the history surrounding this players and the teams they effected.

A story on Brian Kelly’s contract extension thru 2013. A major story for the city of Cincinnati and good news for all of the Bearcat fans that believe they are witnessing the birth of a Big East power.

Cincinnati Enquirer

This story is from si.com. It is very relovant w/Thabeet being a  top 3 pick in thursday’s draft. An injury could make his status fall. The story also toucheson some other headlines entering the draft.