Otto-man “empire” ends; a new era begins

There have been a lot of moves on the coaching staff for the football team in the off-season. One that has gained much popularity is long-term coach Otto Zeman being removed and having Jason Rech as the new head coach.  This also brought in a whole new system of offense, bringing in a running game that has not been seen at Riverside Brookfield in a long time.

New coaches, including Tim Brasic, Dan Monahan,  and Tom Fuller joined the team. Brasic is the new head coach for the freshmen and Monahan and Fuller are returning to the staff after taking a few years off.

“I’m excited to have them back,” Rech said.

The new offense will be running the ball more this year.  “We are going to be running the ball this year. There will be a lot more balance in terms of running and passing,” Rech said.

A greater variety of running plays will be brought in including options, traps, zones, etc. Stabilizing running backs and quarterbacks is crucial in helping this offense.  Some key players will be Nick Callahan starting at quarterback and Tyler Radek as running back/wide receiver.

Radek was quite pleased in the new systems this year. “I like running the ball, not as much passing, focusing on more people getting involved as oppose to just one or two players,” he said.

On the defensive end, the systems will basically stay the same. Many juniors will be added in the mix on defense.  Other notable defense players are David Skowronski as defensive end and Radek in the secondary.

Expectations are never at a low for the football team. “We can make playoffs. We all are striving to get there and I think we can this year,” Callahan said.

Radek expects similar goals as well. “I truly we can finish the season off strong and make playoffs, then take it one game at a time,” he said.

The Bulldogs are off to a rough start of 0-2, losing to Lemont the past Friday, but if the systems will kick in, fans can hope for some Bulldog victories.

NHL ’11 scores an easy goal

EA Sports unleashed another franchise classic, NHL 11 , on September 7.  There has been much anticipation to adding on to what is already a great sports game. Last year’s edition, NHL 10 had new features like board play, be a GM mode, and a new fighting engine. NHL 11 brings plenty of additions to be entertained throughout the whole hockey season.

Game play has been greatly improved including new stick handling, broken sticks, a new face-off system, and my new favorite, a physics-based hitting engine. Also, a new mode to play, EA Ultimate Team is a new mode introduced this year. This adds a much more realistic feel to the game.

When NHL brought in the one-on-one stick handling aspect three seasons ago, it was a hit. Again, for another consecutive season, they add on with establishing the dekeing system better than ever. The game runs much smoother when making a deke and will actually put you past a defensive player if you pull it off right. Many dekes are new too, including through the legs, off the skate, and others even I have yet to discover.

A player can break a stick by shooting the puck or taking a shot directly to the stick and the shattered stick will fall to the ice as your player skates around without a stick until he reaches over the bench for a new one. The broken stick also interferes with the game and the puck will be affects by a broken stick on the ice if hit.

Face-offs in NHL 10 were all too simple. Now, you can tie up the opposing center, push him out of the way, or win the face-off in other ways. This adds some strategy to face-offs which are important to coming out with the puck first.

A new mode the new Ultimate Team game mode is loads of fun, taking away some of the more boring parts from be a GM mode and season mode. With this mode, you start off with a pack of random semi-pro and professional players. This is much like a trading card game with all your players giving their own player card in which you can switch them in or out of lineups and roles on the team. This brings in the importance of team chemistry and matching together the right players on the right lines to have each line play to their full potential. Also, you can play games in your season to earn more points to buy more packs that give you more players to enhance your roster. A supplement is having bonus cards to boost a player’s performance, extend player contracts, etc.  This mode is a lot of fun and will not get bored for a long time.

We cannot forget the new hitting engine brought in. with this addition, all hits are unique in their own way. Updates like this add a whole new way of enjoying the game through bone-crushing hits that are always a joy to see on the highlights and to save on your system for watching it again. Hip checking has also been brought in to use at your disposal and when you put a guy down hard enough, he will lose his stick and be a bit disoriented, taking a bit more time than usual to get back up on his skates.  But, with all this new hitting, the penalties are always right behind the dirty deeds. Penalties can be more severe, some resulting in a game misconduct which ejects the player from the game and giving the opposing team a gruesome five-minute power play. So lay your hits down hard, but wisely.

Overall, NHL 11 is a fantastic game. The graphics are always up to pay, the new broken sticks system, great face-off mini game, and the hitting engine are more than enough reason to invest in this game.  Plus the Ultimate Team mode will be great to mess around with. I give this game, 4 out of 5.

Back on the ice

On Monday, September 14, the Bulldogs hockey team returned to the ice for the first time since the spring season ended. The Bulldogs are returning with a spark this year after winning the spring season championship.

The head coach for the Bulldogs is Yovan Stevanovich also known as Coach Yo. Coach Stevanovich is looking to bring the team to the championship and bring home a trophy.

The team will be held to high expectations this season because they had gone to the fall season championship but lost to Nazareth/Guerin Prep, to with  score of  6-4. “ I expect our team to developed well, because we’re practicing a lot to become better players, and be a force to be reckon with in the league.” Said junior assistant captain Jon Stevanovich

Stevanovich helped the Bulldogs to the spring league championship. If his efforts can carry over, he can do the same for Bulldogs this fall so the Dogs can bring home a championship.

The team got some help in between the pipes from freshman goalie Bobby Heff. All together the Bulldogs did great during there spring season. Hopefully their efforts will carry over so the team will can bring back a trophy to R-B.

Now with one game in the books, the Bulldogs are 1-0. The Dogs beat St. Charles East to a score of 8-2. Now the Bulldogs hope they have some momentum that will help them through the season.

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