Pete Weber’s Postgame Report http://www.thunder1320.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Preds-Report-1-6-16.mp3 Drew Stafford scored two power-play goals and Connor Hellebuyck made 43 saves to help the Winnipeg Jets to a 4-1 win against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena on Tuesday. Ben Chiarot and Alexander Burmistrov scored for Winnipeg (18-19-2). Colin Wilson scored and Pekka Rinne made 14 saves for Nashville (19-14-7). Stafford gave the Jets a 1-0 lead at 10:43 of the first period on a goal from the slot on the power play. Defenseman Tyler Myers entered the zone and delivered a backhand pass to Stafford, who was able to shoot the puck...

The Coffee County Middle School Lady Raider defense held White County to single digit points in all four quarters in a 37 to 15 win on Monday night in CTC basketball action. After a slow offensive start, the Lady Raiders reeled off 10 second quarter points to take an 11 point lead into intermission. The Lady Raiders were able to stretch their lead to 19 points in the 4th quarter as Coach George Pearson emptied his bench. Julia Duncan led Coffee County in scoring with 19 points. Bella Vinson added 6 points and Jenna Garrettson finished with 4. The...

The Motlow Lady Bucks will look to build on one of the program’s best starts to a season in recent memory when they open the second half of the basketball campaign by hosting the Martin Methodist College JV squad on Monday, Jan. 11, at 7:30 p.m. at Copperweld Arena. The Lady Bucks (7-6, 3-4) under second-year head coach Dominic Tharpe have brought a renewed excitement to the program with an influx of new talent and a more dynamic, exciting style of play. After rebuilding his roster from scratch, Tharpe has guided the program to the point where it can...

Trailing by as many as 12 points in the 2nd half, a late Coffee County rally came up short at Grundy County on Saturday as the Lady Raider basketball team dropped a 62 to 56 decision to open the 2016 portion of their schedule. Playing their first game since December 21st, the Lady Raiders seemed to struggle to find their rhythm on both ends of the floor as they committed 23 fouls and suffered at least 10 second half turnovers.   The loss spoiled a splendid 2nd half performance by junior Holli Smithson as she has 16 of her team high 18...

Pete Weber’s Postgame Report http://www.thunder1320.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Preds-Report-1-4-16.mp3 Mattias Ekholm finally ended the Nashville Predators’ overtime jinx on Saturday night. The Swedish defenseman scored with 1:51 left in the extra period, lifting the Predators to a 2-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes and their first overtime victory in seven tries this season. Ekholm corralled a deflected pass from Filip Forsberg, skated in on Eddie Lack and beat the goalie top shelf. ”Obviously overtimes haven’t been our best so far,” Ekholm said. ”We just tried to wait them out and go to offense as soon as we could. As it is, 3-on-3 is...

Pete Weber’s Postgame Report http://www.thunder1320.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Preds-Report-1-1-16.mp3 Despite scoring six of his nine goals this season in December, Dallas Stars rookie forward Mattias Janmark said he doesn’t wish the month would somehow continue beyond Thursday. Janmark broke a tie late in the second period and Tyler Seguin scored twice in the third period as the Stars beat the Nashville Predators 5-1 on Thursday night. Jamie Benn and Patrick Eaves also scored for the Stars, who moved one point ahead of the East-leading Washington Capitals in the overall standings. Dallas and Washington, which lost on Thursday night, share the league-lead with 28...

2015 may be best remembered as the year of change on Red Raider Drive.  Dismissals of the boys’ basketball coach and head baseball coach soiled the headlines in a tumultuous February.  The retirement of long time softball coach Terry Floyd brought sadness to the community in the early summer.  The “promotion of the Red Raider football team to the new “Super 32” Class 6A filled the hearts of many with a foreboding fear.  And the resignation of the athletic director, along with the restructuring of the athletic administration structure had the potential to quell the momentum gained by the...

As 2015 draws to a close, it is time to look back at the highlights from our local prep teams in the past 12 months.  We began our review on Wednesday with a look at Coffee County Middle School.  Today we will visit the highlights of the year from Westwood Middle School and on Friday, we look back at 2015 sports at Coffee County CHS. 2015 at Westwood ended much like it started, on the basketball court; only with dramatically different results.  In January, the Rockets and Lady Rockets were eliminated in the 2nd round of the Duck River...