SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2014 SPORTS

Mamat storms clear in Manila Philippines beat Laos 4-1 Shehzad fit for NZ ODIs MANILA: Singapore veteran Mardan Mamat will take a four shot lead into the HANOI: Winger Patrick Reichlet scored twice as the Philippines fought LAHORE: Pakistan received some good news on their injured key players yes- final round of the Asian Tour’s $1 million Manila Masters after firing a super six- back from a goal down to beat Laos 4-1 in the opening match of the terday with opener Ahmed Shehzad set to return for the limited over series under-par 66 yesterday. The 47-year-old began the third round tied at the top AFF Suzuki Cup yesterday. Khampheng Sayavutthi opened the scoring against New Zealand. with South Korean Wang Jeung-hun (77) but the Singaporean burst out of the for the underdogs with a sublime, curling free-kick in the 21st minute Shehzad, 22, suffered a minor skull fracture during the first Test against New blocks with four straight birdies to move clear. as Laos threatened an upset at the My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi. Zealand in Abu Dhabi on November 10 after being hit by a bouncer from seamer Further birdie threes came at the ninth and 11th before he dropped his first But the diminutive side were pegged back five minutes before half- Corey Anderson. Shehzad made a career-best 176 in the match. He was ruled out shot of the day at the 12th only to get it back at the par-five last for a three-day time when Filipino rightback Simone Rota rose highest to head home a of the remaining two Tests but Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said he would be fit total of 17-under 199. “I got off to a great start which kind of gave me a good corner from the right. for the two Twenty20 matches and five one-day internationals which follow the cushion,” Mamat said. “I kept myself in my own zone. I knew I had to stay calm Former Chelsea youngster Phil Younghusband then took advantage Tests next month. “Shehzad was examined by a surgeon on Wednesday with to maintain my lead. I had to keep myself comfortable which is key for me to of some slack Laos marking to put the Filipinos 2-1 ahead in first half regard to injury which showed he has mild tenderness over the frac- playing well. I managed to do that and I am happy.” stoppage time with a neat header from a looping cross. ture site. On inspection, there is no obvious asymmetry although Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat will join Mamat in the final Laos enjoyed some dangerous moments on the counter in the sec- there is mild swelling,” the PCB said in a statement. “A review has group on Sunday after the reigning Asian Tour Order of Merit ond half but the Philippines always looked more likely to add to their been planned tomorrow. He has been advised to avoid contact winner hit a 68 on Saturday for his third round in the 60s. lead and German born Reichelt did just that in the 77th minute before sports for a period of six weeks but he can start his physical Frenchman Lionel Weber hit a brilliant 64 to jump up to third converting Younghusband’s cross at the end to complete the scoring. workout from next week.” The first Twenty20s against New on 12-under while American Berry Henson (64) and Nicholas “For about 25 minutes we really struggled in the first half but then Zealand will be played in Dubai on December 4. However mid- Fung (68) of Malaysia were on 10-under, seven back of Mamat. the rest of the game we created more chances and the victory for us is dle-order batsman Sohaib Maqsood has been ruled out of the The Singaporean has won three times on Asian Tour, includ- ok,” Philippines coach Tom Dooley said. limited over series due to a wrist injury sustained while playing ing the 2012 Philippine Open, but has failed to hit the Co-hosts Vietnam, winners of the Southeast Asian Championships for Pakistan ‘A’ against the United Arab Emirates last month. heights this year and is 74th in the Order of Merit race in 2008, host Indonesia later yesterday. Defending champions and co- Paceman Wahab Riaz has recovered from the knee injury he with the top 60 retaining playing privileges for next hosts Singapore take on Thailand in Group A action today after received in a one-day match against Australia last month and will season. —Reuters Myanmar face Malaysia. — Reuters be available for the limited over series. —AFP NHL teams slowly embracing advance statistics

NEW YORK: Far removed from punishing “Over the long run, we should see the hits on the ice, the real crunching in the better teams holding the puck in the offen- NHL these days is being done in front sive zones longer and getting the puck out offices around the league with the numbers of their defensive zones faster,” he said. involved in the complex, lengthy calcula- “That’s sort of what I found. The metric I cre- tions of analytics. ated correlates pretty highly with the num- The “Moneyball” approach popularized ber of points in the standings.” in baseball has slowly become as much a Ventura’s stat could become the next big part of the NHL as the breakaway. More and thing in the NHL. Or it could take years for more teams are turning to the same kind of some teams to adapt. “Hockey’s such a free- analytics that have taken over Major League flowing game that it’s hard to determine Baseball when they assess talent, players automatically where each player is at each and performance. point of the game,” he said. “It’s not surpris- Never heard of Corsi and Fenwick statis- ing that hockey has been slower in adopt- tics? And you call yourself a fan? It’s a new ing analytics.” era in the NHL and - much like in baseball - The hard-liners agree that fancy math there’s a still a divide between the new should go the way of Fox’s glowing puck. school thinkers and the hockey lifers stew- “There are guys that leave people on the ice ing at the thought that newfangled stats in bad situations and don’t get punished for could ever replace gut feel in building a it in terms of the numbers,” Washington Stanley Cup championship roster. Take Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. “What ana- Philadelphia, for example. lytics doesn’t show for me is when the The franchise known for decades as the game’s on the line, when games or impor- Broad Street Bullies now has more use for tant situations happen, it doesn’t show me an extra set of pocket protectors than who’s going to win them.” The Sabres were rough-and-tumble goons. at the forefront of analytics with stats devel- “Analytics is where we’re going,” general oped by Corsi. He has moved on to St. Louis, manager Ron Hextall said. “You can’t over- leaving the heavy lifting in the front office value it, but in my mind it’s going to to Jason Nightingale. The Pittsburgh become more and more and more valuable, Penguins hired Jason Karmanos as vice I think in all sports. It’s another tool. Why president of hockey operations in June to not use every tool available? You still need be their analytics guru. The Blue Jackets eyes on hockey players. You need that. I turned to Josh Flynn. The Capitals hired Tim don’t think that will ever change, but the Barnes. The Flyers use Ian Anderson. The PITTSBURGH: Penguins’ Steve Downie (23) collides with New York Islanders Johnny Boychuk (55) along the boards during the third period of an analytics, I wouldn’t say it’s a huge part, but Maple Leafs hired Kyle Dubas, a twen- NHL hockey game. — AP it’s going to get bigger and bigger.” The tysomething former player’ agent without Flyers, Toronto, Buffalo, Columbus, the Los any previous NHL experience. Angeles Kings and others are leading the Teams have largely refused to make the Islanders down Penguins charge in using a new lens at scoping out analytics experts available to the media for the way players are judged. The key fear they’ll expose classified ideas. Most PITTSBURGH: Kyle Okposo scored in the third thought is, there are other ways to scout a advanced stats debunk the idea that the round of the shootout, sending the New York NHL results/standings player than the traditional means of goals, oldest stats are still the most reliable. Islanders to a 5-4 victory over the Pittsburgh saves, plus/minus ratio and puck possession Ventura said he found in his research that Penguins on Friday night. time. hits and blocked shots - bread and butter Sidney Crosby and New York’s Frans Nielsen NY Islanders 5, Pittsburgh 4 (SO); Boston 4, Columbus 3 (So); New Jersey 2, Edmonton 0. Here are some of the stats that are for many NHL general managers - tend to scored in the second round and Islanders goal- becoming part of the lexicon: be overrated. Western Conference Eastern Conference tender Chad Johnson stopped Brandon Sutter. Pacific Division Atlantic Division • Fenwick Percentage: The percentage of “If you hit someone, that means you did- Okposo deked to his forehand, slipping a shot Montreal 15 5 1 59 52 31 unblocked shots (on goal or missed) taken n’t have the puck before. Not having the WL OTLGFGAPTS that hit off Marc-Andre Fleury’s pad and into the Anaheim 12 4 5 58 53 29 Tampa Bay 13 6 2 75 59 28 by the player’s team; also known as FF%. puck is bad,” Ventura said. And blocked net for the win. Boston 13 8 0 57 52 26 • Corsi: Named for former Buffalo Sabres shots? Vancouver 13 6 1 61 60 27 Detroit 10 4 5 54 45 25 Fleury, who was seeking his 300th career win, Los Angeles 11 5 4 53 44 26 Ottawa 9 5 4 50 47 22 goaltending coach Jim Corsi, this stat tracks “Not that it’s bad to block shots, but if had 29 saves. Matt Martin, Nikolay Kulemin and Toronto 10 8 2 63 62 22 shot attempts for and against taken by a you have a lot of blocked shots, it means Calgary 12 7 2 66 57 26 Ryan Strome scored in an impressive flurry in the San Jose 10 9 3 59 60 23 Florida 7 5 5 38 44 19 team or player. It’s the sum of a team or your team rarely has the puck when you’re first, helping the Islanders to the early lead. Buffalo 5 13 2 34 69 12 player’s goals, shots on net, shots that miss on the ice,” he said. Arizona 8 10 2 49 62 18 Metropolitan Division Strome also had two assists. The Islanders have Edmonton 6 12 2 48 67 14 Pittsburgh 13 3 2 68 40 28 the net and shots that are blocked. There’s really no stopping the move- won seven of eight. Patric Hornqvist forced over- NY Islanders 13 6 0 64 56 26 • League-Wide Success Rate: The league- ment. The Stanley Cup champion Kings Central Division time with his 10th goal of the year for the Nashville 12 5 2 54 40 26 Washington 9 7 3 55 52 21 wide shooting percentage from that area of serve as a blueprint for finding undervalued Penguins, who had won three in a row. Brandon NY Rangers 8 7 4 52 58 20 the ice in the time frame selected. players and consistently ranking among the St. Louis 12 6 1 50 39 25 New Jersey 9 9 2 49 56 20 Sutter, Blake Comeau and Nick Spaling also Chicago 11 7 1 55 39 23 Philadelphia 7 9 2 53 58 16 • PDO: The sum of a player’s on-ice league leaders in FenClose (the percentage scored. Carolina 6 10 3 45 58 15 shooting percentage and on-ice save per- of unblocked shot attempts a team takes in Winnipeg 10 8 3 43 47 23 Minnesota 11 7 0 53 41 22 Columbus 6 11 2 47 68 14 centage. a game when the score is within one goal or BRUINS 4, BLUE JACKETS 3 Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth one Sam Ventura, a 26-year-old Ph.D candi- tied). It’s up to a team’s stats whiz to convey Dallas 7 9 4 56 68 18 point in the standings and are not included in Alex Khokhlachev scored the winner in the Colorado 6 9 5 49 64 17 the loss column (L). date at Carnegie Mellon, co-founded the what’s important in clear terms to the guys seventh shootout round in his second NHL analytics blog War On Ice. Ventura has on the bench. game, leading Boston to the road win. become such a fan of NHL math, he has tin- “If I cross the blue line with possession of Khokhlachev was called up from the minors in regulation.Dennis Seidenberg scored on a 78- in his second shutout of the season. Adam kered with creating his own advanced stats, the puck, I don’t need to be a math major to on Thursday for insurance up the middle. His foot shot from the neutral zone, and Matt Fraser Henrique and Tuomo Ruutu scored for the working on a metric called zone transition know that the percentage of shots that I get forehand goal came after Niklas Svedberg and Daniel Paille also scored for Boston. Ryan Devils, who won for the third time in their last times. are going to be higher,” Trotz said. “Every stopped all seven Columbus shooters, including Johansen had a goal and two assists, and Sergei nine games. Eric Gelinas had two assists, and He used zone information (which zone a coach in the league wants to enter the zone the final one, Matt Calvert. The Bruins got three Bobrovsky had 38 saves for the Blue Jackets. Schneider recorded his 14th career shutout. The hit or shot may come from) and measured with possession of the puck, they really do. goals in the third period to overcome a 2-0 Oilers have lost five in a row for the second time how long it took for each team to transition And for us, when it gets thrown in a coach’s deficit, and then got the win after Columbus DEVILS 2, OILERS 0 this season. Viktor Fasth had 24 stops for between zones. face, you go, ‘Yeah, I get that.’” — AP pulled even on Jack Johnson’s goal with 7:13 left New Jersey’s Cory Schneider made 29 saves Edmonton. — AP NFL should realign after NFC South debacle

ATLANTA: The Atlanta Falcons won’t apologize for some- playing at home. how being in first place with a losing record. They The NFL, you see, gives the top four seeds in each con- shouldn’t have to. This one is on the NFL. ference to the division champions, regardless of whether a The league should seriously consider realignment - or, wild-card team - or, as was the case in the aforementioned at the very least, a revamping of the playoff system - to years - both wild-card teams have better records. prevent a repeat of this looming postseason embarrass- That’s certainly going to be the case again this season in ment: the Falcons or New Orleans Saints or whoever the NFC. The Falcons, in fact, could actually win the division emerges as champion of the woeful NFC South actually with a 6-10 record, having beaten no one outside the getting to host a first-round game when they have no busi- South. If that happens, they would still open the playoffs at ness playing after December. the Georgia Dome. Other than the World Series, where “It’s set up the way it is,” Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan home-field advantage is ridiculously based on which said with a shrug. “We’re not worried about what people league wins the All-Star Game, every other postseason say.” The NFL should be. series in every other sport gives that edge to the team with YOKOHAMA: Champion Takashi Miura lands his right to challenger Edgar Puerta of Mexico during their WBC super The playoffs are supposed to reward the best teams, the best record. featherweight title bout. — AP and no one would put Atlanta (4-6), New Orleans (4-6), The NBA saw the light a few years ago. Its six division Carolina (3-7-1) or Tampa Bay (2-8) in that group. champions are still guaranteed playoff berths and slotted Yep, even the Buccaneers are still in the postseason mix, into the top three seeds in each conference, but they don’t Miura batters Puerta to defend WBC crown a team that trailed the Falcons 56-0 early in the season and get home court if they team they’re paired against has a just doubled its win output with a victory over Washington. better mark. It’s past time for the NFL to adopt something TOKYO: Japan’s Takashi Miura battered into the sixth, a left-right to the body header also featuring a flyweight title “Normally this time of year, when you’re talking about similar. But that doesn’t go far enough. The current eight- Mexican challenger Edgar Puerta into opening him up for a crunching left to match between Nicaraguan champion that second win, you’re not throwing a lot of parties,” coach division alignment and scheduling format should be submission with a sixth-round techni- the jaw which forced the referee to step Roman Gonzalez and Rocky Fuentes of Lovie Smith quipped. “But for us, to be two wins out of first scrapped immediately, since it clearly breeds these sort of cal knockout yestesterd to successfully in. “It’s a relief,” a beaming Miura told the Philippines, who failed to live up to place in the win column, that is big.” It’s not like this is all travesties. With only four teams in each division, and just defend his World Boxing Council super reporters after dominating the fight in his hard-man name, also winding up that unusual, either. six of 16 games against division opponents, it’s really not featherweight title for the third time. Yokohama. “He was a tough opponent. the victim of a sixth-round TKO. In the last six years, three mediocre teams - San Diego in all that farfetched to have wind up with a wretched group The 30-year-old overpowered the I’d like to have finished him off earlier A devastating uppercut from top-ranked challenge, sending him to but it doesn’t always go to plan. I still Gonzalez sent the challenger sprawling 2008 and Denver in 2011 with 8-8 records, Seattle in 2010 such as the NFC South. the canvas in the first round before fin- have a few things I need to improve on. to complete a successful first title at 7-9 - not only made the playoffs at the expense of more- The NFL should go back to the six-division alignment ishing Puerta off with a ferocious flurry I wasn’t completely happy.” defence for the South American in deserving teams, but won their opening playoff games that worked just fine for so many years before the league of punches two minutes, 15 seconds The fight was part of a WBC double- another one-sided bout. —AFP against superior opponents largely because they were expanded to 32 teams. —AP