EL SEGUNDO HERALD February 2, 2016 Page 5 El Segundo In-Line Hockey Playoffs Winners Story and Photos by Gregg McMullin The Los Angeles Kings call El Segundo home. The El Segundo In-Line Hockey Association (ESIHA) also calls El Segundo home. And for the past several months, the 125 or so hockey players in the ESIHA have been eyeing Championship Saturday this Saturday (weather permitting). To get there, the teams went through a playoff format. So on a sunny morning before standing room only crowds at the El Segundo Recreation Park hockey rink, this had all the excitement that you’d find at Staples Center—only it was right here in our backyard. In the Mites playoff game, the Werewolves faced off against Fantastic Beasts. This game involved a solid scoring team in the Fantastic Beasts against the Werewolves, who had been on an upward trend towards the end of this season despite being winless. The top-seeded Fantastic Beasts, 6-1-3 during the regular season, took a 1-0 lead when Brayden Vanek scored midway through the first half. The Fantastic Beasts took a 2-0 lead early in the second half when Carlin Cliver found the back of the net. With just over nine minutes remaining in regulation, Patriots Are Back at It Again By Adam Serrao Another Super Bowl is quickly approaching in the NFL and the New England Patriots have made themselves relevant once again. It seems like at the start of every single football season you can pretty much pencil in Bill Belichick and Tom Brady to at least be a part of the championship conversation. Every sport needs its enemy. If you’re not a Patriots fan, then they surely fit the definition in the football world. Despite how much you may hate New England, though, you certainly have to respect the way that the team that calls Foxborough, Massachusetts home has dominated the league over what has now nearly been the past two decades. Opponents of the Patriots’ success will argue that they are cheaters. People who hate the team will go through a prearranged list in their heads of all of the times that Brady and Belichick were either caught or accused of cheating. While some of those accusations may be somewhat correct, you don’t get to where the Patriots have been based purely on malicious intent and wrongdoing. On the contrary, New England has gotten to where it is now--on the brink of Super Bowl LI- -because of success. This Sunday’s Super Bowl LI will be Brady’s 34th career postseason game, which extends a record set by the quarterback that will likely take a very, very long time to be broken. All in all, it will be Brady’s seventh Super Bowl appearance. Yet despite all of the success, the quarterback still finds a way to keep his team first. “It’s pretty cool for our team to be able to accomplish this,” Brady explained. “I think we’ve done a good job taking advantage of our opportunities. It’s a pretty mentally and physically tough team that has proven itself over the course of a long season.” The team hasn’t only proven itself over the course of a long season, but also over time--ever since Brady’s first championship game in Super Bowl XXXVI against the St. Louis Rams and a team that called itself “the greatest show on turf.” Ever since that game and first-ever Super Bowl win for Brady, his Patriots have been the greatest show in the NFL. It’s a designation that New England will certainly be looking to strengthen even more so when the team takes on the highflying Atlanta Falcons and top candidate for this year’s MVP award, Matt Ryan. Ryan and the Falcons have the best offense in all of football this year. Behind offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, who was one of the highest-rated candidates for a head coaching job heading into next year, Atlanta can certainly put points up on the board. Aaron Rodgers found that fact out first-hand two weeks ago when the Falcons held a 24-0 lead at halftime and went on to hang 44 points up on Green Bay’s head with a 23-point victory in the NFC Championship game. Star wide receiver Julio Jones and a two-headed rushing attack behind Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman, among many other explosive options, will certainly be looking to repeat that performance in Houston this weekend. Despite Atlanta’s top-ranked offensive production this year, you know the old saying, “defense wins championships.” Many people don’t think of New England’s defense as being one of the best in football this year, but the team does in fact own the NFL’s top scoring defense in allowing only 15.6 points per game. The Patriots also rank eighth in yards allowed per game at 326.4. Belichick and his New England team have only had the league’s top-ranked defense on one other occasion in team history. The Patriots also won the Super Bowl that year. “They have very good players all around,” Shanahan explained. “Players that are interchangeable that can be pass-rushers, that can be linebackers, that can be corners, that can be safeties. And they have an extremely good scheme. So it’s by far the biggest challenge we’ve had this year.” The Falcons will undoubtedly rely on their offense to try to come out on top of that challenge. Atlanta’s offense has faced three top-10 scoring defenses this year and has averaged 25 points per game in those contests. The team has scored 30-plus points in its last six games and has been averaging 40 points per game in the playoffs this year. It’s safe to say that Shanahan and the rest of the Falcons are hoping for a high-scoring affair. Since the 1990 season, teams that enter the Super Bowl with the best defense in the league are 7-2 in the championship game. The Seattle Seahawks had the best defense in the league in 2014 when they lost to Brady and the Patriots to account for one of those two losses, even though that victory came on a last-second play from New England’s defense with a horrific call at the goal line from Seattle head coach Pete Carroll. Win or lose, both of Brady’s and Belichick’s résumés certainly speak for themselves. Each has reached seven Super Bowls--and with a victory over the Falcons, Belichick would become the first head coach to win five championships and break his current tie See Patriots, page 6 Old paint. Solvents. Batteries. Computer monitors. These are some of the household hazardous waste and electronic waste items you can bring to a Roundup for recycling. It’s a great opportunity to clean out your garage and clean up the environment. Our free drive-thru, drop-off events are a quick, convenient, and common-sense way to dispose of materials too toxic to trash, pour down a sink, or dump in a storm drain. TOO TOXIC TO TRASH Household Hazardous Waste & Electronic Waste Roundup Saturday, February 4, 2017 9:00 am - 3:00 pm Raytheon Company Parking Lot “F” Hughes Way off Sepulveda Blvd. El Segundo For more information or an event schedule, contact: 1(888) CLEAN-LA, www.CleanLA.com or 1(800) 238-0172 www.lacsd.org No Business Waste Accepted Brought to you by the County of Los Angeles and presented by the Department of Public Works and the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County in cooperation with the cities of Culver City, El Segundo, Gardena, Hawthorne, Hermosa Beach, Inglewood, Lawndale, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, and Torrance. Home-generated sharps waste such as hypodermic needles, pen needles, syringes, lancets, and intravenous needles SHOULD NOT be placed in your trash. Bring them to the Roundups or visit www.CLEANLA.com for alternate disposal options. You can also take your used motor oil to more than 600 oil recycling centers in Los Angeles County. Call 1(888) CLEAN-LA for a complete listing. Pizza, Pasta & More VALENTINO S Game Day Specials 2 - 14 inch Medium Pizzas 1 Topping Each Plus Tax No substitutions and coupon must be presented. Please mention coupon when ordering. One per customer. Expires 2/09/17. Ample Seating $2575 EL SEGUNDO 150 S Sepulveda Blvd. 310-426-9494 “A Taste of Brooklyn” 6 Sausage Rolls w/Large Garden Salad $2995 No substitutions and coupon must be presented. Please mention coupon when ordering. One per customer. Expires 2/09/17. MANHATTAN BEACH 976 Aviation Blvd. 310-318-5959 • DELIVERY IN LIMITED AREA AT BOTH LOCATIONS • Plus Tax Aiden McDonald skates on a breakaway. See In-Line Hockey, page 15
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