Well, God has pelted us with the snow and the ice, and I think that’s one way of telling us we should all just sit back and take in the sports scene this weekend.

Now, I know that many of you will be spending your hard-earned free time watching the NFL Playoffs, but there’s local sports to be had as well.

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After the jump:

Tonight: Blazers v. Suns, Winterhawks v. Tri-Cities, Lumberjax v. Arizona
Saturday: Ducks v. Cal and Beavers v. Stanford
Sunday: Blazers v. Bucks

Blazers at Phoenix:
Tonight, the Blazers will show up for their traditional (well, if the last two or three years is long enough to establish a “tradition”) curb-stomping at the feet of the Phoenix Suns. Which is okay. The Suns are at the pinnacle of success right now and may very well be the league champions at the end of the season. The Blazers are in a rebuilding phase and have an injured point guard, a nigh-useless overpaid center (Jamaal Magloire), and a young nucleus that suffers with the inconsistencies that only time and experience can cure. But at least the game should be pretty fast-paced. I’m expecting the Suns to break 100 points and the Blazers to be in the 90’s, so this will be a good game to watch (on KGW, in fact…).

Hawks host Americans:
Honestly, I haven’t paid any attention to the Winterhawks this year. All I know is whenever I go to one of their games, there’s at least one fight and that makes me feel like it was worth the price of admission, win, lose, or draw. Aside from Seattle, Tri-Cities seems to be one of our arch-nemesies, so grab a cold one and enjoy the bludgeoning.

Lumberjax v. Sting:
Not here. No coverage. Who cares? I swear to God I’ll be seeing these guys in town soon. I hear it’s about the best sports deal in town. Fights, cheerleaders, Thirsty Thursday. But they’re a non-event when they aren’t playing at home and they don’t seem to have any broadcast deal with anyone. For the fans, enjoy. For the general sports follower, this event hardly matters.

Ducks host Cal:
Damn, the Ducks have made me look absolutely foolish this year. Earlier this season I scoffed at their early success, citing the lack of true challenges on their schedule and predicting that they would go down in flames once they hit some bumps. Well, they are now 17-1 and ranked in the top 10. Goes to show you that being verbose certainly doesn’t make you right.

The Cal Bears are 12-6 and have struggled in recent near-losses agaisnt Stanford (11-5) and Oregon State (9-10). Though the Ducks are travelling, I’d expect them to win this game readily. I’ll predict a victory by 7+ points.

Beavers host Stanford:
Speaking of the Beavers and Stanford, this should actually be a fun game to watch as two also-ran teams compete for nothing but pride. The Beavers have been tremendously inconsistent this year, prompting recent calls in the local press for Coach Jay John’s head, but the realists in the crowd can see that John’s doing the best he can with the resources he’s being provided. Needless to say, this game doesn’t look any more promising for the Beavs than any of their other 10 losses have, but I think it’ll be a close one. I call Stanford by a 3 point margin in a low-scoring game.

Blazers at Milwaukie:
Generally the Blazers have proven to be just as effective on the road (7-12) as they are at home (9-12). They’ve also had some trouble with Eastern Conference teams, which is curious given that they should probably be faring better against the East than the West.

The Bucks beat the Blazers in their last contest of the season. And the Bucks, on average, score over 10 points more a game than the Blazers do. But, as with Phoenix, the Bucks don’t defend the Blazers as well as other teams (the Blazers average 94 ppg against both the Bucks and Suns, where other teams hold them to about 92 points per game) and the Bucks didn’t have to face Brandon Roy in the prior meeting. And the Bucks are playing without Michael Redd, who’s out until sometime in February and who leads them in scoring (he scored 33 on the Blazers in their last contest).

I’m going out on a limb and calling this game a Blazers rout. They’re hungry, they’re nearly at full strenght (Jarrett Jack is questionable, but Brandon Roy more-than-suffices) and Milwaukie’s loss of Redd will be their downfall.

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So, there’s your weekend preview. What games are you looking forward to? Do you agree/disagree with my picks? What other local sporting events do you want people to know about?

Related posts:

1. Oregon Sports Weekend Run-down (a couple days early)
2. The end of a sports season (or two), the beginning of another two, and Portland food
3. Blazers Haters, Unite (and best/worst sports teams to pay to watch, I guess…)
4. Sports Talk
5. PDX Sports Roundup