Ace

VANCOVER, British Columbia — Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas was never anyone's prize prospect. The native of Flint, Mich., was drafted 217th by the Quebec Nordiques in 1994 and bounced around for years, playing college hockey in Vermont before beginning an odyssey that wound through the best and worst minor leagues in North America, to Europe and back. He was 28 when he made his NHL debut and didn't become a regular with the Bruins until he was 32. But his fearless, straight-ahead approach never wavered.

Staked with an early lead, Northern-Calvert ace Kaitlyn Schmeiser was simply too overwhelming for third-ranked Howard in Saturday's Class 3A state championship at the University of Maryland. Schmeiser, a Maryland recruit who threw four perfect games this season, allowed just one hit — a first-inning single to Katie Wilkinson — and struck out 16 in the 3-0 victory. She also won her fourth consecutive state title with the Patriots. Howard coach Dave Vezzi said the key was to be as aggressive as possible when players did reach base, and the Lions managed to steal two bases in the first three innings.

LOS ANGELES — Pat McInally never tires of reminders that he is the only NFL prospect to record a perfect score on the Wonderlic intelligence test. "It's intellectual annuity," he says. The Harvard-educated McInally, in fact, has gained far greater distinction from acing the Wonderlic in advance of the 1975 NFL draft than he did from playing 10 seasons as a punter and wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals. Further eclipsing his playing career, McInally in retirement conceived a line of action figures that were sculpted and painted to resemble specific pro football and baseball players.

The nominees for the 2011 James Beard Foundation Awards were announced today! Winners will be announced in May. Baltimore’s own, Duff Goldman, received two nominations. Here’s a short list of nominees of interest. For the full list, visit jamesbeard.org. James Beard Foundation Broadcast Media Awards TV Food Personality/Host Alton Brown Show: Good Eats Bobby Flay Show: Brunch @ Bobby’s Duff Goldman Show: Ace of Cakes Television Program, On Location Ace of Cakes Host: Duff Goldman Avec Eric Host: Eric Ripert Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern Host: Andrew Zimmern James Beard Foundation Journalism Awards Individual Food Blog Politics of the Plate Politicsoftheplate.com Barry Estabrook Poor Man’s Feast Poormansfeast.com Elissa Altman Red Cook Redcook.net Kian Lam Kho Food Section of a General Interest Publication GQ The Editors of GQ San Francisco Chronicle Jon Bonné and Miriam Morgan The Washington Post Joe Yonan James Beard Foundation Restaurant and Chef Awards Best New Restaurant ABC Kitchen NYC Chef/Owner: Jean-Georges Vongerichten Owner: Phil Suarez Benu San Francisco Chef/Owner: Corey Lee Girl & the Goat Chicago Chef/Owner: Stephanie Izard Owners: Kevin Boehm, Rob Katz, and Daniel...

The natural accompaniment to cake is, of course, ice cream — which may be why Duff Goldman is making it his next business venture. The "extreme baker" who became a national fixture with his "Ace of Cakes" television show on the Food Network has sealed a deal with Blue Bunny for his own ice cream line. The cake-inspired flavors are set to hit freezer cases this month and will be sold in the Baltimore area at stores including SuperFresh, ShopRite, Food Lion and Walmart. The ice cream line is the latest venture by Goldman.

Cliff Lee did his best to sound humble in a recent interview. He stressed the greatness of the Phillies team he joined — creating a potential super rotation the way LeBron James and Chris Bosh created an NBA super team — remains strictly hypothetical. He talked about how things look "on paper" but tried to sound humble in explaining that nothing was given any baseball team in March. Still, he said that along with Roy Halladay , Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels he would give the Phillies so much pitching that they could "expect" — that was the word he used — to win the National League East, roll through the playoffs and win the World Series.

Two days before pitchers and catchers report to spring training, the Orioles crossed one final thing off their offseason to-do list Friday, agreeing to a one-year, $5.75 million deal with Jeremy Guthrie. Guthrie, the club's likely Opening Day starter, was the sixth and final Oriole eligible for arbitration. His signing extends the Orioles' streak of not going to a potentially contentious arbitration hearing for a fifth straight year. Since being named general manager of the Minnesota Twins in November 1996, Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail has not gone to a hearing with a player.

Duff Goldman, the rock 'n' roll chef of Charm City Cakes , wants to set the record straight about the announcement last week that "Ace of Cakes" will be ending its long run on the Food Network early next year. "People say to me, like, 'Oh, man, I hear you got canceled. I feel sorry for you.' And I'm, like, 'No, not really. I'm actually going to have time to make a lot more money,'" he says laughing. "Don't anybody feel sorry for me. " The 35-year-old rock musician, pastry chef and entrepreneur who rose to reality-TV fame almost overnight when "Ace of Cakes" debuted 41/2 years ago, says he has three new TV shows in development, and one of them involves him moving to Los Angeles in February to open a West Coast version of Charm City Cakes in June.

Pam Shriver put on a charity ball last week at the Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel, and just as the live-auction portion of the evening was winding down, Martina Navratilova popped up and offered to donate tennis lessons to the highest bidder. Her surprise gesture brought in an extra $15,000 for cystic fibrosis research. Sounds like a sweet ending to the evening. And it would have been, if celebrity baker Duff Goldman hadn't been cued at that very moment to make a grand, music-filled entrance on the stage to present Shriver with a cake.

"Ace of Cakes" fans who are disappointed about the TV reality show's cancellation can take heart in knowing that star baker Duff Goldman is expanding a recently launched line of baking and decorating products. Just days after the Food Network confirmed it had canceled the show, which followed the exploits of the Charm City Cakes owner and his staff, specialty retailer Party City announced it would sell the Duff Goldman Collection. Goldman, whose bakery is in Remington, launched the line in June at Michaels craft stores, selling mixes, spatulas, pans, edible cake graffiti spray and fondant in nine colors.