Für die Damen » Giroux still plans to watch the Winter

SOCHI — Hayley Wickenheiser not only will carry the Canadian flag in the opening ceremonies on Friday, the hockey legend also carries high hopes for a fourth-consecutive Olympic gold medal and for the womens game as a whole. But before her work on the ice begins, shes going to savour a special moment at Sochis Fisht Olympic stadium on Friday. "Just going to enjoy it and take it all in and, you know, honour the fact that I have this opportunity and that my family is going to be in the building," said Wickenheiser, who hails from Shaunavon, Sask. "So its going to be a fun night, said the Olympic veteran," who will have 11 family members in Sochi. The 35-year-old Wickenheiser is well aware that if the womens tournament evolves as presumed with a Canada-United States gold-medal final on Feb. 20, the scrutiny will continue as to whether womens hockey belongs in the Olympics. But shes been around the international game for two decades, when she cracked the Canadian roster as a 15 year old in 1994, and she sees progress. Womens game in good shape “I always worry about the future of womens hockey, mainly because of the fact that most of the world pays attention to womens hockey only for two weeks out of every four years,” Wickenheiser said. “I dont worry about the womens game when I look at every game and what goes on internationally. “I look at Team Japan and what [current coach and former Canadian player] Carla MacLeod has been able to do to get that team to an Olympic Games, which is a huge accomplishment for a country. You look at Finland and how they centralize their under-18 and national teams. You look at Sweden and you look at Russia what Alexei Yashin [the teams general manager] has been able to do with his team.” Still, the Russians, Swedes, Finns and Swiss need to exhibit that they have closed the gap. But that wont be easy because Canada and the U.S. continue to elevate its level of play. “This is a dilemma womens hockey is always going to face. But the reality is were so much further ahead in this time span than say where mens hockey was in [after the first five Olympics]. I think the [womens] game has really come a long way in five Olympics.” Will this be Wickenheisers final Olympics? She wont decide on whether to continue or conclude her decorated career, that includes three Olympic gold medals, seven world championships and playing pro mens hockey in Finland and Sweden, until after the final buzzer sounds in Sochi. So what keeps Wickenheisers competitive clock ticking? “The No. 1 thing is a love of sport,” said the six-time Olympian said, who also competed for Canada in softball at the 2000 Sydney Games. “Ive loved hockey since the day I first put on skates when I was five years old. I have had a passion to play all these years. “I love being part of Team Canada and having the opportunity to win, and thats the main driving force now.” Nagano loss still hurts She forgot to mention that shes never been a good loser. At a team gathering on Monday evening, Wickenheiser and Hefford and assistant coach Daniel Goyette described the emptiness and hurt they felt when they finished second in 1998. “The worst thing in the world is to stand on the blue line with a silver medal around your neck,” she said. “It stays with you for a while.” There was some speculation that Wickenheiser wouldnt be around for the Sochi Games. There was some thought her game had dropped off and she was dealing with some injuries. “You battle injuries and you go through a lot of things as an athlete, but I could picture in my mind what I needed to do to get ready to play in these Games,” she said. “I guess its always a fragile existence as an athlete. Any day something can happen and your games are over, like we saw yesterday with the snowboarder (Norway slopestyle gold-medal contender Torstein Horgmo broke his collarbone during a trail run). “Im very grateful to be sitting here … and to have had the longevity Ive had.” (With files from CBC Saskatchewan) Vapormax Weiß Sale .com) - Matt Duchene picked up the deciding goal early in the third period and added an assist, as Colorado escaped with a 4-3 victory over Dallas at Pepsi Center. Nike Vapormax Billig Kaufen . LOUIS -- The St. http://www.vapormaxschuhe.de/vapormax-off-white-deutschland.html . The All-Pro left tackle agreed to a five-year contract with the Eagles on Wednesday. Peters was signed for 2014, and his new deal adds four years through 2018. Nike Vapormax Schwarz Sale .com) - One point guard will return, while another will sit when the Minnesota Timberwolves visit American Airlines Center to take on the Dallas Mavericks. Nike Vapormax Herren Fake . Chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel also accused Pistorius of tailoring his testimony to fit the evidence at the scene. Pistorius denied the accusations. Nel alleged that the Olympic runner changed his aim with his 9 mm pistol to ensure that he hit Steenkamp as she fell back against a magazine rack in a toilet cubicle.ST. LOUIS -- Mike Smith is used to facing plenty of shots, so this was nothing new. Smith made 37 saves and Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored 56 seconds into overtime to give the Phoenix Coyotes a 3-2 win over the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night. Coming into the game, Smith had seen the most shots of any NHL goalie (516). St. Louis added 39 more to that total, including 13 in the third period. "It was nice for me to play like that tonight and bail the guys out," Smith said. "Ive let in a lot of goals on nights where the guys have bailed me out, so its nice to be on the other end of the spectrum." The Coyotes made Smith a winner early in the extra session. Ekman-Larsson, who had an assist on Phoenixs first goal, took a pass from Mike Ribeiro and beat goalie Jaroslav Halak with a shot from just inside the blue line. "It was a great play there by Ribeiro," Ekman-Larsson said. "I saw (Shane) Doan was coming in from the corner so I shot it, and it was perfect." With the Blues swarming in the third period, Smith was at his best. He allowed a goal to Roman Polak that tied the game but made 12 big stops -- including an outstanding glove save on Derek Roys shot from the slot with just under 8 minutes left. "That was a great move; the puck was kind of bouncing and he was able to get it between his legs," Smith said. "It was more luck than anything. I think it just ended up in my glove. But Ill take it." By comparison, the 39 shots were a slow day at the office for Smith. He made a season-high 48 saves in a shootout win against San Jose on Nov. 2 and stopped 41 of 42 shots in a 3-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Oct. 29. "I dont love it," Smith said of the heavy workload. "Its just the way things have worked out so far. Obviously, we want to tighten that up and get those shot totals down. Right now, were just happy to get the two points.&quuot; His coach, Dave Tippett, was not entirely pleased with the Coyotes performance.dddddddddddd "There were parts of that game I liked; other parts I really didnt like," Tippett said. "We didnt have enough players competing at the speed and level we needed to, but give our goalie credit. He played very well." David Moss and Mikkel Boedker had the other Phoenix goals. Maxim Lapierre and Polak scored for the Blues. Halak made 16 saves. Alexander Steen had an assist to extend the longest active point streak in the NHL to 11 games. Steen, who has 10 goals and four assists during that stretch, has the longest scoring streak for a St. Louis player since Keith Tkachuk went 12 games in 2002-03. "We worked, we competed and we created scoring chances," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We had some people that were really, as the game wore on, became major players in the game for us. But we didnt outwork the goalie." The Blues trailed 2-1 going into the third period, but tied it at 2:49 when Steen found Polak sneaking in from the right point and hit him with a cross-ice pass. Polak beat Smith high with a shot from the circle. Lapierre gave the Blues a 1-0 advantage when he tipped home Jay Bouwmeesters shot from the point 5:53 into the game. Moss tied it 2:56 later when he beat Halak with a wrist shot from the right circle. With less than minute remaining in the first period, Blues defenceman Kevin Shattenkirk got caught pinching in, leading to a 3-on-1 break. Boedker took advantage when he converted a centring pass from Rob Klinkhammer with 31 seconds left in the period to give the Coyotes the lead. NOTES: Phoenixs Martin Hanzal, who was tied for the team lead with 14 points, was a late scratch due to an undisclosed illness and is day to day. ... Steen played his 300th game with the Blues. ... Phoenix is 8-0-0 when leading after one period. ' ' '