“I was proud of the way we started,” Suttons Bay coach Todd Hursey said. “Our focus has been strong defense, and we got off on that note tonight. This time of year, it’s all about how you play on defense.”

Read Norsemen put on a show, beat Boyne City in the Record Eagle

Leland, now 16-8, used big games from Sam Scott (22 points); Galen Whittaker with 16 points, 12 rebounds and six blocks; Calvin Gibson’s 16 points and Nate Sneed’s 11 points to hold off Manistee Catholic Central 69-64 in overtime. They now get a third game against Northwest Conference Rival Buckley for the Class D Regional Title.

Leland won the more exciting game, as Scott’s bucket with 35 seconds left knotted it up and Whittaker’s block with two ticks left sent the game into an extra session.

“I was really proud of our team,” Whittaker said. “We were down and we just didn’t quit. All of us. On that block at the end of regulation, I saw my career flash before my eyes.”

Read Leland, Buckley to collide for title in the Record Eagle

1971 Bernie Gera, a thirty-nine year old New York housewife, files a civil right suit against MLB after her contract to umpire in the New York-Penn League is voided after six days without an explanation.

1974 In Yuma, Arizona, Ron Bryant, a twenty-four game winner for the Giants last year, is hurt in a pool accident during spring training. The promising southpaw’s record will drop to 3-15 this season, and the Redlands, California native’s career will end in 1975 after a brief 0-1 stint with St. Louis.

1975 The Dodgers sign their once arch-nemesis Juan Marichal as a free agent. After two-regular season outings, that includes a loss to Cincinnati, the former San Francisco superstar and future Hall of Famer will retire in mid-April.

1977 In a nine-player spring training trade with Pittsburgh, the A’s send Phil Garner, Chris Batton and Tommy Helms to the Pirates for Tony Armas, Mitchell Page and four pitchers, including Doc Medich and Dave Giusti.

1999 The Yankees name Don Zimmer as the interim skipper of the club. The team’s bench coach will fill for Joe Torre, while the manager receives treatments for prostate cancer.

2000 In spring training action, Red Sox star Pedro Martinez and five relievers combined on a perfect exhibition game beating the Blue Jays, 5-0.

2008 In front of 12,224 fans, a near sellout at the new Olympic venue in Beijing, the Dodgers and the Padres played to a 3-3 tie in the first major league game ever to take place in mainland China. In the seventh inning, the crowd hears “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”, but not knowing the lyrics just listen without singing.

2008 Five days after unilaterally renewing his contract for the upcoming season, the Pirates sign Ian Snell (9-12, 3.76) to three-year deal reported to be worth $8 million. The 26-year old right-hander, eligible for salary arbitration after 2009 season, has compiled a 24-26 record with the struggling ball club over the past three seasons.

The Detroit Red Wings gave up a two goal lead, but still managed a 3-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabers in overtime.

Pavel Datsyuk scored only two minutes into the game tonight and Patrick Eaves followed suit less than two minutes later. Before the halfway point of the first period, Buffalo’s Jochen Hecht scored to make it a one goal game. In the second, Hecht tied the game. Nothing changed until 31 seconds into overtime when Brian Rafalski scored the game winner on the powerplay.

Detroit’s powerplay has goals in nine consecutive games, which ties them for the season best with Washington, and Detroit’s penalty kill hasn’t allowed a goal in five games, allowing only five goals in the last 46 times the Wings have been shorthanded. Detroit seems to be getting everything back in line after a season long struggle with injuries. Tonight’s win leaves Detroit in eighth in the conference behind Calgary, who has a tough game against Vancouver tomorrow before meeting the Wings on Monday.

In Play! Man of the Game: Brian Rafalski. Rafalski lead all players in minutes played, with just short of 26, and netted the game winning goal. He also had 6 attempted shots, four of which were on net.

The Detroit Red Wings spent their entire first shift tonight in the Minnesota Wild’s zone, something that never really changed in this crushing 5-1 victory in Detroit.

It didn’t take long for Johan Franzen to crack tonight’s score sheet open, scoring a goal less than two and a half minutes into the game. Later in the first period, Tomas Holmstrom and Henrik Zetterberg scored goals, both less than a minute apart. Minnesota then scored with only seconds left. In the second, Drew Miller netted his first career short-handed goal, followed in the third by Franzen’s second goal of the night.

Detroit had a lot of questions to answer after Tuesday, no one facing more than Zetterberg who played possibly the worst game of his career. The Wings came back and answered those questions tonight. Other than the top line, the bottom three lines got shuffled and that seemed to have solved quite a few problems.

Photo by Jack Rosenberg / In Play! Magazine

In Play! Man of the Game: Henrik Zetterberg. Zetterberg played an excellent game, seeing time tonight on all four lines and scoring a goal and two assists.

1951 J.Edgar Hoover , longtime director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, declines the post of baseball commissioner. President Calvin Coolidge appointed him to 1924 and the nation’s top cop remained in the FBI until his death in 1972.

1963 In an exhibition game against the White Sox, rookie Pete Rose goes 2-for-2 in his first appearance as a Red .

1992 The Pirates trade pitcher Neal Heaton (3-3, 4.33) to the Royals for outfielder Kirk Gibson (.236, 16 HR, 18 SB).

1993 Sherry Davis becomes the first woman major league public address announcer when she is hired by the Giants to work at Candlestick Park.

1995 Citing the labor unrest as the reason, former Chicago Bulls great Michael Jordan announces he is leaving baseball to return the NBA.

2004 When asked by Senator John McCain to renegotiate the major league baseball’s contract in regard to the use of controlled substances, Donald Fehr refuses to comply. Although the union boss condemns the use of steroids, he believes the players oppose random drug testing as a violation of privacy, an argument countered by the Arizona republican as unacceptable and promised congressional action if the status quo.

2005 Singling off Brad Thompson in a Cardinal intersquad game, former pitching prospect Rick Ankiel goes 1-for-2 in his debut as a position player. Historic wildness and injuries ended the 25-year old once very promising career on the mound.

2006 Jhonny Peralta (.292, 24 ,78) agrees to a $13 million, five-year deal which includes a club option for 2011. In his first full season, the Indians shortstop established himself as one of the top offensive players for his position.

2006 Shairon Martis throws the first-ever no-hitter in WBC history as the Netherlands rout Panama, 10-0. The 19-year-old Dutch hurler threw exactly 65 pitches, which is the Classic’s pitch limit, to accomplish the historic deed in a game which was called after seven innings because of the mercy rule; a 10 run lead after seven innings.

2009 At Puerto Rico’s Hiram Bithorn Stadium, the Netherlands WBC team, made up of mostly unknown players, upsets a heavily-favored the Dominican Republic club for the second time in four days to advanced to the next round of the World Baseball Classic. The Dominicans, considered to be an odds-on favorite, with a roster filled with major league All-Stars including David Ortiz (Red Sox), Hanley Ramirez (Marlins), and Miguel Tejada (Astros), are eliminated in the first round of the 16-team tournament.

The combined opinion is that Rodney may return to a progressive exercise program.

1897- The Cleveland Spiders sign Penobscot Indian Louis Sockalexis. Although the former Holy Cross star plays only three seasons due to alcoholism, the fans admire his outstanding skills and refer to team as the ‘Indians’- in 1915 the name will become official.

1943-The Dodgers trade first baseman Babe Dahlgren to the Phillies for outfielder Lloyd Waner and infielder Al Glossop.

1961- The Yankees announce the team will be leaving its spring training home in St. Petersburg to move to Fort Lauderdale by 1963. The Yankee owners also encourage new yet unnamed National League New York franchise to play its home games at the Polo Grounds and not to consider Yankee Stadium.

1979 -Fearing legal consequences, Bowie Kuhn gives access to female reporters to enter major league locker rooms. The commissioner’s unpopular ruling puts the players in an awkward position in their once all-male domain.

1994- Phillies first baseman/outfielder John Kruk is diagnosed with testicular cancer. After surgery, doctors expect a full recovery. 1961 The Yankees announce the team will be leaving its spring training home in St. Petersburg to move to Fort Lauderdale by 1963. The Yankee owners also encourage new yet unnamed National League New York franchise to play its home games at the Polo Grounds and not to consider Yankee Stadium.

1995- With a vote of 28-0, the major league owners admit two new teams, the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The teams will be assigned leagues in January of 1997.

2005- Current and former big leaguers players as well as baseball executives are issued subpoenas to appear on March 17 by the House Committee on Government Reform. The eleven ‘invitees’ to the congressional hearing on steroid use include Sandy Alderson, Jose Canseco, Donald Fehr, Jason Giambi, Rob Manfred, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Curt Schilling, Sammy Sosa and Frank Thomas and Kevin Towers.

2006- At Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan a “Down with Fidel,” sign, seen by millions of television viewers — including those watching the WBC contest in Cuba, creates an international incident. A Cuban official attending the game confront the male sign-holder, but Puerto Rican police quickly intercede take Angel Iglesias to a nearby police station where the vice president of Cuba’s National Institute of Sports is reminded that Puerto Ricans enjoy the right to freedom of speech.

2009 -Alex Rodriguez undergoes an 80-minute arthroscopic surgical procedure to repair torn cartilage in his right hip. The Yankees third baseman, who will need a more extensive operation in the offseason, expects to return to the lineup in May.

1903-The Giants trade last season’s part-time manager Heinie Smith to Detroit for second baseman Kid Gleason. Gleason is immediately sent to the Phillies.

1923-Commissioner Landis turns down the American Legion requests to discontinue major league morning games on Memorial Day.

1924-At the age of 48, Reds’ manager Pat Moran dies of Bright’s disease at spring training.

1955-Commissioner Ford Frick announces he favors the legalization of the spitter.

1956- Still seeking workman’s compensation coverage, the players accept the owners’ position on the World Series television deal and the proposed minimum salary structure.

1995- The Veterans Committee selects former players Richie Ashburn‚ Vic Willis‚ and Leon Day, and past president of the National League, William Hulbert, for induction to the Hall of Fame. Day, a Negro League right hander, who played in Baltimore with the Black Sox and the Elite Giants and with the Brooklyn and Newark Eagles, will be dead of a heart attack in less than a week after hearing the good news.

2001- Bud Selig upholds the January 14 Blue Jay and White Sox trade which sent Toronto pitchers David Wells and Matt DeWitt to the White Sox in exchange for pitchers Mike Sirotka, Kevin Beirne and Mike Williams and outfielder Brian Simmons. Although, upon further medical examinations, Mike Sirotka was determined to be ‘damaged goods’ prior to the deal, the commissioner used a ‘buyers beware’ policy stating the individual club must take responsibility for the information originally used in making the transaction.

2006- In their World Baseball Classic debut, Team USA blanks Mexico, 2-0. Home runs by Derrek Lee and Chipper Jones along with Jake Peavy and bevy of relievers combining to throw a four-hitter proves to be the difference as the United States defeat their neighbors from south of the border.

2008- With a two-out RBI single in the ninth inning off reliever Colter Bean, Danny Sandoval spoils the Braves bid for a spring training combined no-hitter. Atlanta uses seven hurlers beating the Indians at Winter Haven 4-1.

2008- The Cape Cod Times reports MLB has threaten to withhold their annual grant from from Cape League if the six teams in the 10-team circuit sharing nicknames with big league, such as the Chatham Athletics, do not purchase all future uniforms and souvenir merchandise from licensed vendors, a more expensive option. The deadline has been extended until March 21, to give league officials more time to resolve the issue.

Pistons point guard Rodney Stuckey collapsed on the team’s bench at the 2:30 mark of the third quarter of Detroit’s loss last night in Cleveland to the Cavaliers. He was carried out on a stretcher with an oxygen mask and transported to Cleveland Clinic.

Tests came back negative, and the team says Stuckey should return to Detroit today. The 23-year-old guard experienced similar dizziness last season and wound up missing two games. He’s started every game for the Pistons this season, but should he have to miss time, veterans Will Bynum, Ben Gordon and Chucky Atkins would likely split the minutes at point guard.

It was an emotional scene following the game when both teams huddled and prayed for Stuckey and his family. Members of both teams admitted to be shaken by the incident and remained adamant that his health was more important than the game itself.