The document discusses plans for Weber State University to partner with Weber County to build an indoor practice facility for WSU football and other sports. The county is expanding an existing facility, The Ice Sheet, and through an agreement would include a second-story indoor practice field. This would allow WSU to build a facility for about $3 million, much less than the $7 million it would cost to build independently. The partnership provides WSU an opportunity it would not have otherwise.

1. By ROY BURTON
Standard-Examiner staff
rburton@standard.net
OGDEN — Being able to
run the ball inside and out-
side the tackles is an advan-
tage to any football team.
Being able to train in-
doors and outdoors is anoth-
er advantage, one that may
become available to Weber
State’s football program in
the future through a part-
nership
with Weber
County.
The
county is
in the pro-
cess of designing a new $7.5
million expansion to The
Ice Sheet, which through an
agreement with Weber State
University, would include a
second-story indoor practice
facility for football and oth-
er WSU sports like soccer
and softball.
The Ice Sheet, which
hosted curling in the 2002
Winter Olympic Games, is
northwest of the Dee Events
Center on the Weber State
campus.
By partnering with Weber
County, Weber State will be
able to build an indoor facili-
ty with an approximately 48-
by-60 yard turf surface with
a 28-foot ceiling for about $3
million, which the school is
in the process of fundrais-
ing. That’s about $7 million
cheaper than if the universi-
ty were to build a standalone
facility, WSU athletics direc-
tor Jerry Bovee said.
“It gives us the ability to
have something we wouldn’t
have been able to do on our
own,” he said. “It’s a huge
upside for us to be able to
partner with the county.”
COMING
WEDNESDAY
A new crop of river
guides prepare for
careers on the Weber
River
By JUSTIN JOHNSON
Standard-Examiner correspondent
N
ot too long after Real Salt
Lake was unceremoniously
dumped in its U.S. Open Cup
tilt, coach Jason Kreis issued a near
ultimatum, and a pair of long time
veterans vented their frustrations
at a dismal on-field effort.
“We will go back to the
drawing board, and we’ll make
sure that everybody on my
squad right now recognizes
that there is only one way to
play here, and that’s to give
your best, and if you’re not
going to, you need to stand
up and move aside,” Kreis
said. “The coaching staff is
waiting for me as well as
the trainers. We are going
to look at the next 2 ½
weeks. I’ve said this once
before in my coaching
career and I’ll say it now
… I would not want to be a
player under me right now.”
With 18 days between matches
after the loss, Kreis has plenty of
time to work with his squad, and
vowed push the level at training.
While it might be easy to dismiss
the loss, given that the team was
missing four starters to national
team call-ups and two other first-
choice selections due to injury, what
transpired on the pitch of Rio Tinto
Stadium during the loss had nothing
to do with tactics. The team created
opportunities, and could have put the
match away in the first half, but with
a few exceptions lacked the energy
or enthusiasm necessary against
their second-tier opponent.
“We keep leaking goals, and
we’re getting away with it in league
play,” midfielder Ned Grabavoy said.
“I think guys fought on our team,
maybe it was too little, too late, and
maybe we picked and choosed when
we decided to fight.
“This is a different team than
2009 or 2010. I sometimes think we
feel too good about ourselves. It’s a
different group, and we haven’t won
anything for a while. I think winning
is a habit, and there’s a lot of guys
that still got to prove they can win,
just win games, whether it’s reserve
league, first team, exhibition, games
in training … at this level it’s all
about winning, period.”
Grabavoy, while visibly frustrated
with Tuesday’s result, hits on some
key points that Real needs to address
over its current break, which lasts
until taking on Chivas on June 16.
Despite holding the top spot on
the overall Major League Soccer
table, Real has hardly done so in
convincing fashion.
While it’s true that Real’s main
starters have spent all of 59 minutes
together on the pitch in 14 league
matches, this is a team that has
prided itself on its depth over the
past few seasons, and that depth has
struggled to make the same impact
The Associated Press
SAN ANTONIO — Kevin
Durant scored 27 points and
the Oklahoma City Thunder
are on the brink of the NBA
Finals, beating the San Anto-
nio Spurs 108-103 in Game 5
on Monday night and moving
within a victory of a series
knockout.
Russell Westbrook added
23 and the Thunder took a 3-2
lead in a wildly entertaining
Western Conference finals.
Looking invincible while car-
rying 20-win streak a week
ago, the Spurs have lost three
straight and are on the verge
of a stunning collapse.
Manu Ginobili scored 34
in a smashing return to the
starting lineup. But trailing
106-103 and the Spurs down to
their last shot, Ginobili missed
an off-balance 3-pointer in the
final seconds.
Game 6 is Wednesday
night in Oklahoma City, where
the Thunder can punch their
ticket to the NBA Finals in
the place they haven’t lost all
postseason.
They’re bringing home just
what they needed: the must-
win on the road if they’re go-
ing to pull this series out.
Oklahoma City pulled it
off behind their stars. James
Harden scored 20, joining
Durant and Westbrook as the
only Thunder players in dou-
ble figures.
Harden hit the biggest
shot, draining a 3-pointer with
28.8 seconds left that pushed
Oklahoma City’s lead to five.
He admitted afterward that
the ball was supposed to go to
Durant but had no choice but
to let go with the shot clock
winding down and Spurs rook-
ie Kawhi Leonard in his face.
“The shot clock was run-
ning down and I had to make
a play,” Harden said. “Leon-
ard was playing great defense
on me. I just shot it with confi-
dence. West Conference finals
— that’s a big shot.”
Tony Parker had 20 points
and Tim Duncan had 18
points and 12 rebounds for
the Spurs.
After remaining unbeaten
for 50 days before arriving in
Oklahoma City, San Antonio
has lost three games in five
day. They now must win two
straight to avoid seeing their
last best chance to win in a ti-
tle in the Duncan era end.
“Championship teams win
on the road,” Spurs coach
Gregg Popovich said. “Okla-
homa City just did that.”
King-size roll
L.A. routs New Jersey for
3-0 Stanley Cup lead. 5B
NBA
OKC 108, San Antonio 103
BASEBALL
American League
Minnesota 10, Kansas City 7
Oakland 12, Texas 1
Seattle at L.A. Angels, late
National League
St. Louis 5, N.Y. Mets 4
San Francisco 3, Chi. Cubs 2
L.A. Dodgers 4, Philadelphia 3
Colorado 4, Arizona 0
SPORTS SHORTS
WSU’s Pilkington
captures honor
OGDEN — Weber State
distance coach Paul Pilkington
has been named the Mountain
Region women’s outdoor
track assistant coach of the
year by the U.S. Track & Field
and Cross Country Coaches
Association.
Pilkington is the head
men’s and women’s cross
country coach and is an
assistant track and field coach,
coaching the distance runners.
During
the 2012
outdoor
season,
Pilkington’s
runners
won four
Big Sky
titles on the
women’s
side and
combined to score 78 of the
team’s 97 points at the Big
Sky championship meet.
Pilkington, a former WSU
runner, was named head
cross country and distance
coach in 2006 after serving
two seasons as an assistant
with the ’Cats. In his six
years at Weber State he has
coached six All-Americans and
one Olympian.
Pilkington will guide Amber
Henry in the women’s
steeplechase and Mike Hardy
in the men’s steeplechase
at this week’s NCAA
championships.
Bees shut out
Grizzlies on road
FRESNO, Calif. — Three
Salt Lake pitchers combined
for the pitching staff’s first
shutout of the season, as
the Bees blanked the Fresno
Grizzlies 9-0 on Monday night
in PCL play.
Starter Eddie McKiernan
(1-1) set the tone with seven
scoreless innings. Ryan
Brasier worked a scoreless
eighth and Kevin Johnson
completed the shutout.
Cory Aldridge and Paul
McAnulty hit back-to-back
homers. McAnulty led the
Bees with two hits and three
runs batted in for the Bees.
TAKE A TICKET
Local sports: See complete
schedule on Scoreboard / 6B
ON THE AIR
11 a.m. — Tennis: French
Open, quarterfinals, ESPN2
5 p.m. — Baseball: L.A.
Dodgers at Philadelphia or
Tampa at N.Y. Yankees, MLB
6 p.m. — Baseball: Chi-
cago Cubs at Milwaukee, WGN
6 p.m. — College softball:
NCAA World Series, Okla-
homa vs. Alabama, ESPN2
6:30 p.m. — NBA playoffs:
conference finals, game 5,
Boston at Miami, ESPN
7:40 p.m. — Baseball:
Colorado at Arizona, ROOT
SPORTS QUOTE
Perfect attendance
Meg Roh, 13, of Dana
Point, Calif., has surfed every
day for a year, reaching the
365-day milestone last Friday,
the Orange County Register
reported.
But she’s no beach bum.
When she’s not hanging 10
on a wave, she’s hanging 4.0
in the classroom.
— Standard-Examiner staff
and wire services
SPORTS
Sports Editor:
801-625-4261
www.standard.net
Standard-Examiner Tuesday, June 5, 2012 3B
SIDELINES
BIGGER Sky Conference
Standard-Examiner staff
OGDEN — For the Wildcats, Ben-
gals, Grizzlies and Bobcats, it’s time to
dust off the welcome wagon.
On July 1, the Big Sky Conference
will officially welcome Southern Utah
and North Dakota as full members, and
also admit UC Davis and Cal Poly as
football affiliate members.
The additions bring the Big Sky to
11 full members and 13 football-play-
ing schools. The upcoming expansion
means plenty of changes for the upcom-
ing intercollegiate athletic season.
“With new schools and enough teams
to have an automatic qualifier (to the
NCAA Tournament), having our own
conference allows us to include softball
in our All-Sports Trophy and Presidents
Cup standings,” Weber State athletics
director Jerry Bovee said.
Having enough softball-playing
teams in the league also allows the
Wildcats softball squad to be part of the
Big Sky family, he said.
Weber State, along with Idaho State,
Montana and Montana State, are what’s
left of the original six charter members
of the league. Northern Arizona joined
the league in 1970, giving the Big Sky
five members with at least 40 years of
continuous membership.
Tuesday, the Big Sky released up-
dated championship formats and sched-
ules for the upcoming season.
• For the first time, the Big Sky will
sponsor a championship in women’s
softball. Idaho State, North Dakota,
Northern Colorado, Portland State,
Sacramento State, Southern Utah, and
Weber State currently field teams. Mon-
tana has plans to add the sport.
The first Big Sky softball champion-
ship will be played May 9-11 at the site
of the regular-season champion. The top
four teams will advance to the postsea-
son tournament. The winner will earn
an automatic bid to the NCAA Champi-
onship.
• In football, teams will continue to
play an eight-game conference sched-
Pilkington
Big Sky welcomes new schools, updates formats
Thunder storm ahead 3-2
’Cats one
step closer
to indoor
facility
Standard-Examiner file photo
RSL players: We’re picking and choosing when to fight
Paulo
Junior
Luis Gil
See NBA | Page 5B
See REAL | Page 6B
See WILDCATS | Page 5BSee BIG SKY | Page 5B
ONLINE: See
scale drawings
of the proposed
indoor facility at
standard.net
DARREN ABATE/The Associated Press
San Antonio Spurs’ Tony Parker (right), has the ball stolen by
Oklahoma City Thunder’s Russell Westbrook (left) during Game 5 of
the Western Conference finals in San Antonio on Monday.