Art Clip Sport

STEVENS POINT -- Thomas Speer figures he has the easy part.

The guys playing in front of him for the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point men's hockey team are doing all the hard work.

Speer posted his second straight shutout, stopping all 16 shots he faced as the Pointers blanked Concordia (Wis.) 9-0 in a nonconference matchup at K.B. Willett Arena on Saturday night.

"Any goalie could have two shutouts the way the guys are playing in front of me. They have definitely been making it really easy," Speer said. "My goal is to give out team the best opportunity to win."

The back-to-back shutouts are the first for the Pointers since the 1997-98 season when UW-Stout failed to find the back of the net in a two-game series.

Since surrendering five goals to St.

'NFL.com Live: Thursday and Saturday Night Football' Features 'Live Look-Ins' Of NFL Network Games

For the first time ever, NFL.com and NFL Mobile on Sprint offer all fans live online and wireless video coverage of NFL Network games, was announced today.

This Thursday night's game between the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys on NFL Network at 8:00 pm ET will be featured on NFL.com Live: Thursday and Saturday Night Football presented by Sprint, offering NFL fans a unique way to experience NFL games.

For fans who don't have NFL Network, the live broadband broadcast covers the game from all angles. NFL.com Live: Thursday Night Football will be anchored by a live, originally produced video program, complimented by various interactive applications, giving fans a look at NFL Network games (NFL Network game schedule below) and programming.

NFL.com Live is also available to fans on the go via NFL Mobile on Sprint, which will stream NFL.com's video coverage.

Blues' stingy defense makes up for quiet offense

As of Tuesday morning, only one NHL team had scored fewer goals this season than the 53 generated by the St. Louis Blues.

"We would like to be higher than what we are on offense, but we don't want to compensate anything defensively to try to do that," Blues coach Andy Murray said. "I think when you play good defense, it usually contributes to good offense.

Same teams, boring result

Since the NHL resumed play after becoming the first major professional sports league to cancel an entire season in 2004-05, players have been reticent to criticize their sport. After all, the more tickets the league sells now — or doesn't sell — the more it affects their take-home pay.

But players can no longer stifle themselves about the league schedule, which has each team playing a divisional opponent eight times. In the Avalanche's case, it will play a Northwest Division opponent for the 10th time in the past 11 games when it hosts the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night at the Pepsi Center.

"I'm against the eight games against your own division. That's just too many times," Avs veteran Andrew Brunette said before .

Pele: England lacks good players

Pele believes England is too quick to blame its managers for underachieving - instead of admitting that the soccer-mad country is starved of talent.

The national team's only significant triumph remains the 1966 World Cup, which it hosted, and is now in danger of missing its first major tournament since the 1994 World Cup after last month's defeat in Russia maintained a patchy qualifying campaign for the European Championship.

Manager Steve McClaren, fighting for his future after 15 months at the helm, needs Israel to deny Russia three points on November 17 and for his team to beat Croatia four days later at Wembley.

"England has few very good players," three-time World Cup winner Pele said on Wednesday.

"When those players get injured in a tough, long tournament they don't have a player to replace them - that is the big problem in England.