LAKE LOUISE, Alta. -- Erik Guay posted the second-fastest time in training for Saturdays downhill at the Lake Louise Winterstart World Cup and Canadian teammate John Kucera decided to skip the race. Guay, the reigning world downhill champion, finished behind Adrien Theaux of France on Friday. The native of Mont-Tremblant, Que., was fifth in the first training run Thursday. Two fast test runs does not necessarily translate into a podium finish on race day, Guay cautioned. "The key words in that is training runs, Guay said Friday "Its almost a bit of a bad luck to have runs like this. Until theres a good result on race days, Im not setting my sights too high." Kucera was 64th on Friday. The world downhill champ of 2009 hasnt raced since breaking his leg in the downhill at Lake Louise two years ago. The Calgarians world ranking was frozen when he was injured. In order protect it, and retain the advantage of starting among the top 30 skiers, Kucera decided to delay his return. "Ranking is a big part of this," Kucera said. "To come in here and finish 50th, 40th or 35th and out of the points and to get moved out (of the top 30), theres no point. It makes more sense to go and train a little bit more." Its likely Kucera will also sit out Sundays super-G, an event he won at Lake Louise in 2006. Kucera indicated that if he didnt feel ready for the downhill after two training runs, hed feel even less prepared for super-G in which the athletes get one inspection of the course before the race. Theaux collected his second top-two finish Friday, but 27-year-old from Val-Thorens agreed with Guay on the significance of those results. "Its not the same, training. Its not the race," the Frenchman said. Conditions constantly changed Friday with sun, cloud, snow and gusting winds, so times were slower than the previous day. Theaux covered the Lake Louise track in one minute 50.25 seconds, followed by Guay in 1:50.32 and Swedens Hans Olsson in 1:50.67. "Difficult, because its very windy on the top," Theaux said. "We did one good training yesterday. It was a little bit soft but was OK. Today, (was) just for inspection." World Cup downhill and super-G champion Didier Cuche of Switzerland was almost two seconds back of Theaux, who won his first downhill last season in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. The forecast for Saturdays race is partly cloudy with a high of minus-9 and winds of 25 kilometres per hour. Guay earned his first World Cup podium at Lake Louise in 2003 with a silver in the downhill. He maintains hes a slow starter and his expectations are even lower this year at Lake Louise. Coddling a herniated disc in his back during the off-season kept him off snow. Guay also lost almost 20 pounds in muscle mass. "More encouraging is my back," the 30-year-old said. "I did have some minor flare-ups after (Fridays) race. The part Im happy with is a lot of times if my back isnt feeling that great I ski stiff. Today, I was still able to stay relaxed and work through it. "My objective is Sunday when I want to walk away from here with my back feeling pretty good. The season is really long so I want to get a platform under my feet and start building from there." Calgarys Jan Hudec didnt participate in Fridays training session after finishing seventh the previous day. Hudec, a downhill winner at Lake Louise four years ago, also missed off-season snow training because of a bad back. The 30-year-old had been pushing hard to prepare for Lake Louise. After satisfying himself that he had a handle on the track, Hudec decided to conserve his energy for Saturday. "In the past, Ive always stressed out the coaches skiing too conservative in the first training run and ending up 50th and striking fear into the coach to see if I even know how to ski anymore," Hudec said earlier. "Im trying to change my game plan a little this year and it worked pretty perfectly." Canadas skiers had their fingers pricked for blood samples following their training runs. Strength and conditioning coach Matt Price measured their lactic acid levels. "We know how hard they just worked in that period time," Price explained. "Youre always collecting information on your athletes and trying to understand how hard the course is on their body. "It could give me information as to how Im going to detail their recovery a little more accurately or warm them up better in the morning." In a field of 83, Rob Dixon of Whistler, B.C., was 37th, Ottawas Ryan Semple 47th, Louis-Pierre Helie of Berthierville, Que., 51st, Kelby Halbert of Bradford, Ont., 54th, Dustin Cook of Lac Sainte Marie, Que., 56th, Conrad Pridy of Whistler, B.C., 65th and Ben Thomsen of Invermere, Ont., 69th.
Jerseys Cheap .C. -- Andrew Svoboda won the Chiquita Classic on Sunday, beating Will MacKenzie with a par on the first hole of a playoff in the second tournament in the four-event Web.
cheapauthenticjerseys.us.com . Hudson allowed one run in six-plus innings, Stephen Drew had three hits and two RBIs, and Arizona beat the struggling Florida Marlins 5-1.
http://www.cheapauthenticjerseys.us.com/nike-nfl-jerseys-china_new-england-patriots-jersey-china/ . Maltais, from Petite-Riviere-Saint Francois, Que., led from start to finish to extend her lead in the race for the Crystal Globe. "It was a close final so I tried to focus on my own line," Maltais said.
Cheap Jerseys China . Mathieu, who was injured throughout 2011, edged the key points with the third-seeded Wawrinka converting just two of nine break chances in the second-round match. A former top-20 player, Mathieu is ranked No.
http://www.cheapauthenticjerseys.us.com/nike-nfl-jerseys-china_seattle-seahawks-jersey-china/ . "We cant go on like this. I cant go on like this," said the Jamaican international, sitting hunched on a mat in the team gym. "Its eating me up inside. CALGARY -- Sean Monahan scores. Calgary Flames win. Repeat. In whats quickly becoming a familiar script, the 18-year-old rookie sensation was at it again Friday night scoring the game-winner with 2:43 left in the third period to lead Calgary to a 3-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils. The sixth overall pick in the 2013 NHL draft, Monahan has had a dream start to his pro career with goals in four straight games. "Thats the biggest one yet," said Monahan, who turns 19 on Saturday. "It won us the game there and thats huge. We want to win as many games as we can right now, we want to have a good start and thats really big for our team right now." Monahan also has a five-game points streak (four goals, two assists), which is the longest for a Flames rookie since 31-year-old Sergei Makarov had points in seven straight games to begin his NHL career in 1989-90, which was before the league re-wrote the rules around rookie eligibility. "Ive got to give a lot of credit to my linemates and the players Im playing with," said Monahan, who is still eligible to return to OHLs Ottawa 67s although the likeliness of that happening seems to decrease with every passing game. "Theyre making it easy on me, putting the pucks right on my tape and in good position and fortunately enough, Im putting them in the back of the net." The game-winner was a prime example of that. Sven Baertschi made a hit along the side boards, grabbed the loose puck and zipped a perfect pass to Monahan, who steered it behind Marty Brodeur. The 41-year-old Devils goaltender already had 29 NHL wins when Monahan was born. "As soon as I got the puck, I was looking towards the net. I saw Jiri (Hudler) but then I saw (Monahan) back door," said Baertschi. "We were just looking at each other and I was like OK, theres only one thing I have to do, get that puck right to him and there was only one stick in the way, so I passed it as hard as I could." It is the first time since the Flames moved to Calgary in 1980 that the team has taken at least one point in each of its first five games. "We feel good but there are no stats right now that allows us to sit on those five games. We have 82 to play. There is still lots of hockey to be played," said Flames coach Bob Hartley. Dennis Wideman and Mark Giordano also scored for Calgary (3-0-2). Hudler had two assists to extend his points streak to five games. The Flames now depart on a five-game road trip that begins Wednesday in Anaheim. "We have to have a big road trip. Were playing some of the best teams in the league," said Giordano.dddddddddddd"Youre not going to beat those teams if you dont play the right way. Were looking forward to it but weve got to bring the juice." Adam Henrique and Dainius Zubrus scored for New Jersey (0-2-3). The Devils are 0-1-2 with two stops to go on their five-game road trip. They visit Winnipeg on Sunday. On the heels of a stretch that included two shootout losses and an overtime loss, it was another tough defeat. "Obviously we want to get wins and were not getting them, but the last thing we need to do is really get frustrated or over-analyze it," said Devils captain Bryce Salvador. Jaromir Jagr said they just have to keep their chins up and keep going. "We just made some mistakes and it cost us," said Jagr. "We had the lead every game except the first game against the Penguins. Weve got to learn to play with the lead." New Jersey poured on the pressure in one stretch in the third when the game was tied 2-2. But despite Joey MacDonald losing his stick, the Devils were unable to score with Flames bodies diving in front of shots all over. "We had it for a minute and a half but they were able to block everything," said Jagr. Despite his frustration, Jagr still managed to mix in some humour as he reflected on the chances that got away in that one frenzied scramble. "Theyre smart, huh. Theyre tired so they laid down," Jagr said. "Everybody does it, so do you. When youre tired, you go sleep. They went down but we couldnt lift the puck up. We had so many chances." Already ahead 2-1 late in the second period, New Jersey appeared to have scored again when Ryan Clowes slapshot off the wing bounced up in the air off MacDonald and into the net. However, the goal was waved off and Devils winger Michael Ryder, who had gone hard to the net for the rebound, was sent off for goalie interference. Calgary had its best prolonged pressure of the game on the ensuing power play, controlling the puck in the Devils zone for the entire man advantage. After several close changes, Giordano eventually poked a backhand into the net to tie it 2-2. Notes: Calgarys Lee Stempniak had his four-game points streaks snapped. ... David Jones (upper body) did not play. He has been placed on injured reserve and is considered week-to-week. Tim Jackman made his season debut in his place. ... Monahan turns 19 on Saturday. ... New Jerseys Jacob Josefson made his season debut after being a healthy scratch the first four games. He was inserted for Andrei Loktionov.
cheap jerseys
wholesale jerseys ' ' '