Clan-Members » eltics, a team celebrated for its constructiv

TORONTO -- Brad Marchand and Steven Stamkos scored in the first period and Canada cruised to a 3-1 win over Team Europe in Game 1 of the World Cup of Hockey finals on Tuesday night.Game 2 in the best-of-three series is Thursday night.Patrice Bergerons goal midway through the third period created a two-goal cushion.Carey Price finished with 32 saves for the Canadians, who have won two straight Olympic gold medals and 15 consecutive best-on-best hockey games since losing to the U.S. at the 2010 Vancouver Games.Slovakias Tomas Tatar scored his third goal in two games 7 minutes into the second period to get Europe within one.Jaroslav Halak, who is also from Slovakia, stopped 35 shots for the unique team made up of eight European nations outside of the continents traditional powers.The Canadians were playing at home, but didnt seem to get much of an emotional boost in the Toronto Maple Leafs arena, where there were a lot of empty seats and suites.The NHL and NHL Players Association combined to revive the event, which hasnt been held since 2004, with a twist. They created Team Europe and Team North America, a squad made up of players 23 and younger from the U.S. and Canada.The format created a highly competitive eight-team field, but as Canada coach Mike Babcock said earlier in the day, The World Cup is great. Its not the Olympics. Lets not get confused.There was no confusion about who had more talent on the ice Tuesday night, but Europe got off to a strong start and put pressure on a star-studded squad that has been behind just twice in five games and for a little more than a minute each time against the U.S. and Russia.Price had to make three saves and face a power play in the first 21 seconds of the game.Shortly after killing off the penalty, Bergeron carried the puck up the middle of the ice, faded to the right and passed across the crease to set up Marchands fourth goal of the tournament 2:33 into the game. The Boston Bruins teammates have been playing on a line with Pittsburgh Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby, and the trio rank among the top three in World Cup scoring.Another Bruin, Zdeno Chara, was careless with the puck later in the opening period and it was costly. Ryan Getzlaf snatched the puck from Chara near center ice along the boards and faked a shot at the top of the left circle, leading to a tap-in goal for Stamkos on the right side of the net.Crosbys second assist of the night and his World Cup-high ninth point helped Canada to a 3-1 lead.He shot the puck on the left side of the net, got to the carom and circled back to set up Bergeron in front of the net.The Canadians didnt relax with the lead, attacking on offense and backchecking on defense to prevent Europe from having hope of coming back even when it pulled Halak late in the game.Team Europe was without one of its key players, Marian Gaborik, who suffered a foot injury in a semifinal win over Sweden that will keep him out of the Los Angeles Kings lineup for eight weeks. Gaborik was replaced in the lineup by Mikkel Boedker, the only skater on the ice making his first appearance in the two-week tournament. Liberty Swell Bottle Uk . It just didnt show when he hit the ice. Berra made 42 saves and Kris Russell scored at 1:32 of overtime, lifting the Calgary Flames to a 3-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday night. Cheap Swell Bottles .Y. - Nelson Mandela will be honoured by the New York Yankees with a plaque in Monument Park. http://www.swellbottleuk.com/sale-swell-bottle-marble-uk.html . LOUIS -- Lance Lynn was one of the more enthusiastic participants as the St. Swell Liberty Water Bottle . Jon Montgomerys gold medal in skeleton at the Whistler Sliding Centre and his subsequent auctioning off of a pitcher of beer in the village square elevated him to folk-hero status. Swell Bottles Uk Sale .Y. -- Canadas Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse have another World Cup gold medal after winning the two-women bobsled race on Saturday in Lake Placid, N. NEW ORLEANS -- The New Orleans Pelicans were losing, as they did more often than not last season, and Anthony Davis wasnt happy about it.Davis had already been relegated to a suit and the sidelines thanks to a season-ending knee procedure and thus was unable to help save the day. Yet when a timeout was called, Tim Frazier, a point guard who had just been plucked out of the D-League to help plug the teams many holes, still looked to the superstar expectantly.AD, are you gonna say something? Frazier, by the expression on his face, seemed to be asking Davis.It caught the 23-year-old All-Star by surprise.I was like, Oh, s--- Davis said at Fridays media day, with Frazier nodding in the back of the room in agreement. I wasnt expecting to say nothin. But it shows you these guys look up and look forward to me saying stuff, because they want to follow, they want to be a part of something special. Ill always remember that. That was eye-opening.With Chris Paul long gone by the time he was drafted in 2012 after his freshman season at Kentucky, Davis was immediately anointed the face of the franchise. The instantaneous burden, he admits now, was a difficult adjustment.I think when I first got here, guys were like, All right. Youre the guy, Davis said. Im only 19 years old as a rookie. It was tough.Even last season, Davis, the youngest player on the roster during his first four seasons in New Orleans, would often lean on Kendrick Perkins, a 13-year veteran with title experience who was signed in large part to serve as the budding stars on-court mentor.Now entering his fifth season -- and facing the very real possibility of being left outside of the postseason field for a fourth time -- teammates and Pelicans brass agree Davis is embracing the role as team leader like never before.I think he realizes more so than anything now that this is his team and that hes the leader of this team, New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry said. All the players accept him as that. I told everyone last year that youre talking about a 23-year-old kid that you want to be the leader of the team, but hes grown so much over the summer. I think that hes more of a vocal leader now. We have conversations all the time, and we text back and forth all the time this summer, from a standpoint of, leadership-wise, what he should do and how he should advance in that area right there, especially with the new guys.Davis said he gave his input over the summer on potential free agents when asked, but he really sprang into action once the retooled roster had officially been assembled, including helping to set up unofficial team workouts in Los Angeles.For being as young as he is, its crazy to see him reach out as much as he does, said Solomon Hill, who signed a four-year, $48 million deal in the offseason. Like when we were in L.A., he had things set up. He had things for us available to do. Even here now, hes getting the team together. Thats something different for being a young guy. You see that from most older guys in the league that say something like, Coach told me to do this.ddddddddddddA flair for logistics and management will come in handy this season. While Pelicans general manager Dell Demps reiterated his satisfaction with the teams free-agent face lift -- which focused primarily on swapping high-profile scorers such as?Ryan Anderson for self-made grinders like Hill to finally fix a defense that has been in the bottom 10 throughout Davis tenure -- expectations were strikingly tempered. Unlike last years media day, when New Orleans strutted into training camp as the NBAs new chic outpost, the message this time centered around an attention to detail.Demps, consciously or not, even evoked Sam Hinkie by turning to the deposed?Philadelphia 76ers?GMs now-infamous refrain.All teams in the Western Conference right now are setting goals to get to the playoffs, Demps said. I think right now what were going to focus on is the process. And that process is our daily work, focusing on our defense, making sure were doing the right things. Were playing hard, were playing smart and were playing the right way.Gentrys list of team priorities -- the top three, in order: playing blue-collar desperate; being the best-conditioned team; and playing unselfishly -- had a decidedly back-to-basics feel. Davis admitted a need to find ways to overcome a lack of talent.Its not about having the most talent -- this guy averaged this or that, Davis said. Its about what he can bring to the table to help our team. And all these guys bring something to the table. We want to be kind of like how Boston was last year: not having a lot of talent, but them guys play hard. Thats how they were able to win games. Thats what we want. Thats what we brought it and thats what we look forward to.With the Pelicans pushing the process to the forefront, it is an encouraging sign for a franchise that in the past has prioritized quick results. But the teams immediate future, and whether or not this current regime gets to reap the benefits of a long-term approach, likely rests not on playing like the?Celtics, a team celebrated for its constructive ecosystem, but what the Celtics have worked?tireless over the past years to acquire: a superstar in the prime of his career.Such a predicament is a tall task, even for a 6-foot-10 condor who can drain jump shots. But at least from the outset, Davis, who is locked in for at least four more seasons in New Orleans, appears to be fully embracing all the expectations and burdens that come with his station.I love it here, Davis said. I dont plan on leaving. I guess I fit into that old-school category where I try to win it here where I start my career. Thats always been a goal of mine. Ive never thought about leaving here. People have their own opinions and their own decisions and reasons why theyre making decisions. And I have mine. I love it here. My goal is to bring a championship here. ' ' '