Over the Edge -January 9th 2013 GEOFF SARGENT SPORTS EDITOR For the last time this season, NFL fans have four games to watch this weekend. Over the Edge breaks down the viewing schedule and picks the winners and viewability of every game. Saturday, January 12th, 1:30pm — Baltimore Ravens at Denver Broncos Peyton Manning’s comeback season saw the Denver Broncos ascend even higher than last season’s magic with Tim Tebow at quarterback, as the Broncos earned the top seed in the AFC. After a primetime loss to New England in early October, the Broncos rattled off 11 straight wins, including a romp in Baltimore a month ago that saw Denver lead 31-3 at one point in the fourth quarter. It seems predetermined that Manning and Brady will face off again in the AFC Championship; the Ravens with Joe Flacco have yet to win a playoff game if they give up more than two touchdowns, and against Denver’s home- field advantage, Manning’s experience, and Denver boasting the best defense remaining in the playoffs, the matchup looks like too much to overcome for Baltimore. The Ravens only hope is to contain Manning with their defense — no easy task — while running back Ray Rice keeps the Broncos defense preoccupied, taking pressure off Flacco. This is a dubious hope at best, even for staunch Ravens fans. Score prediction: Broncos 24, Ravens 10 Game Viewability: C (but the unbalanced games on paper rarely go as planned) Saturday, January 12th, 5:00pm — Green Bay Packers at San Francisco 49ers A classic battle of offense against defense, as the explosive Packers travel to face the stingy 49ers. Green Bay started the season slowly before recovering to snatch the NFC North title, which they used to beat the rival Vikings at Lambeau Field last week. San Francisco has found new life under quarterback Colin Kaepernick, and the 49ers have been using the pass much more often than in recent years — allowing standout running back Frank Gore to stay relatively rested, as San Francisco has held him around 20 touches per game for most of the season. Even taking San Francisco’s evident renaissance into account, Green Bay looks too powerful to be stopped, as the shift in the NFL in recent years towards rewarding pass-heavy offenses that air the ball early and often has made Green Bay a staple in the discussion of best NFL team. Score prediction: Packers 20, 49ers 13 Game Viewability: B+ (great crowd, great teams) Sunday, January 13th, 10:00am — Seattle Seahawks at Atlanta Falcons The game story here is simple: Atlanta needs to shake their playoff woes under head coach Mike Smith. Since appearing out of nowhere four years ago to win their division witha rookie QB in Matt Ryan, the Falcons have done nothing in the playoffs. This was emphasized most clearly last season, as the Falcons laid an egg on the field against the (eventual champion) New York Giants, losing 24-2 in an embarrassing PREDICTING THE NFL PLAYOFFS effort where their offense was held without a score. Now 0-3 in the playoffs, Ryan has yet to reach 200 yards in a game, and a good effort against the ‘Hawks is sorely needed to help the team advance. Seattle crippled Washington QB Robert Griffin II to advance here, and are the de facto local team to cheer for. Good news folks, the bandwagon party continues, unless you’re a Falcons fan. Score prediction: Seahawks 17, Falcons 14(OT) Game Viewability: A+ (set your alarms, this will be the best of the bunch) Sunday, January 13th, 1:30pm — Houston Texans at New England Patriots Anyone who has casually followed football over the past decade is familiar with the Patriots under Bill Belichick. Despite having not won a Super Bowl in nine years, the Patriots are ever-present in the NFL postseason, and while their window may be closing, New England remains a force. Houston is struggling mightily with injuries and was lucky to face perhaps the worst playoff team in the first round. The Texans struggled in the last month of the season, splitting games with the Colts and losing to Minnesota and New England (badly). This was quite a turnaround for the Texans, who sat at 11-1 and looked like an easy lock for a first round bye at the start of December. If past history of Belichick is any indication, the Patriots will come out with completely new formations and plays than the schemes they used to manhandle the Texans 42-14, but the result will be no different. Score prediction: Patriots 38, Texans 10 Game Viewability: C- (unless you have a crush/mancrush on Tom Brady, then A-) Enjoy the best football week of the season! NHL LOCKOUT COMES TO AN END GEOFF SARGENT SPORTS EDITOR At the eleventh hour, the impasse between the NHL owners and the NHL player's as- sociation was resolved, and a Stanley Cup champion in 2013 will indeed be crowned. While the news wasn't unexpected after heavy negotiation through the holiday per- iod, it still leaves franchises with very little time to prepare before the abbreviated 48 game season, which is expected to start on January 19th. The new collective bargaining agreement contains no exceptionally drastic changes - it was designed by the owners to scale back the concessions the players received in the last CBA, and also to patch the front-load- ed, extremely-long-term deals handed out like candy to top-flight players in recent years. From this point forward, the min- imum yearly salary in a contract must be no less than half the highest years’ pay, and contracts are limited to seven years (eight years if a player is being re-signed). The most pressing matter for the Vancou- ver Canucks is of course, dealing with goaltender Roberto Luongo. While un- questionably one of the best goalies in the league, and with a sweetheart contract that wouldn't be legal if negotiated after the new CBA kicks in, it nonetheless seems like Bobby Lou’s time in Vancouver is about to end. The most likely destination for Luongo seems to be Toronto, but time will tell if the deal is closed, or if another suitor steps in to steal the prize. A trade would mean that Cory Schneider steps into the role of the full-time starting goaltender for the Canucks; not soon enough to many of the overreactive, uncompromising indi- viduals in the Canucks fanbase. The beauty of shortened seasons lies in their unpredictability. With a smaller sample size, and little time for preparation, some teams will undoubtedly fall from grace and miss the playoffs, with their spots being taken by cohesive, unheralded teams able to put a run together. February games, usually where some obvious play- off teams start to drift and slide in the mid- dle of a monotonous marathon of games, suddenly could be the difference between playoffs and a high draft pick. One possible downside to a small sched- ule is that with regular season games be- ing more important to franchise-saving playoff revenues than normal, it’s possible a very patient style of play could be seen, with teams taking ties in the third period all the way to overtime before trying to settle them. If the rumours of divisional playoffs are true, this would be even more notice- able in games between teams of differ- ent divisions — possibly why the schedule looks to be filled with more than half of the games this season inside a team’s division. Another question mark to the season lies in the social media campaign to boycott the first game of the season. While a noble pursuit, and absolutely one that would draw the attention of the owners, it seems extremely unlikely. To be blunt, the people campaigning so staunchly in support of this idea are not the same people that hold season tickets, particularly in major mar- kets like Vancouver and Toronto. Don’t expect to see any empty seats on opening night, only the same support the NHL has managed to carry for the last two decades, even after three lockouts. canadawest Standings Men’s Basketball Pacific Division 8-2. UBC 7-3 Victoria 7-3 Fraser Valley 5-5 UNBC 4-7 Thompson Rivers 3-7. ___ Trinity Western 2-8 — Mount Royal 2-9 — UBC-Okanagan Prairie Division 9-1 Alberta 8-3 Winnipeg 7-4 Manitoba 6-4 Saskatchewan 5-5 Lethbridge 4-6 Calgary 3-7. _ Regina 2-8 Brandon Women’s Basketball Pacific Division 9-1 Fraser Valley 8-3 — Thompson Rivers 7-3 UBC 6-4 Victoria 4-7 — UBC-Okanagan 3-7 UNBC 2-8 — Mount Royal 2-8 Trinity Western Prairie Division 9-1 Calgary 9-1 Regina 6-4 Alberta 5-5 Lethbridge 5-5 Saskatchewan 5-6 Winnipeg 2-9 Manitoba 0-10 Brandon