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(2014-09-20 01:23:41) 下一个
CALGARY -- The dream scenario for the host city of a Grey Cup is having the home team in it. Rob Ninkovich Jersey . The Saskatchewan Roughriders made the Regina organizing committee and their fans happy Sunday with a 35-13 upset of the Calgary Stampeders in the West Division final. Chants of "Henry, Henry" rang out in the visitors locker room at McMahon Stadium. Saskatchewan will face the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and quarterback Henry Burris in next Sundays Grey Cup at Mosaic Stadium. The Roughriders will attempt to become the third host team in a row to win the CFLs championship trophy. The Argonauts beat Calgary in Toronto last year to take the Cup and the B.C. Lions won it in Vancouver in 2011. "Thats another part of the storyline, but for us, its about having a Grey Cup at home," Roughrider quarterback Darian Durant said. "We know how hard it is to come to Mosaic for opposing teams. To have forty or forty-five thousand Rider fans, its going to be great." The Ticats punched their ticket to this years championship game with a 36-24 win over the Argonauts in the East Division final earlier Sunday. This years Grey Cup features teams that finished second in their respective divisions and needed to win division semifinals and finals to get there. "We know Rider Nation is fired up," Durant said. "They deserve it and its going to be a fun week." Saskatchewan last played in the Grey Cup in 2009 and 2010 and lost to the Montreal Alouettes in both games. Calgary boasted the best regular-season record in the CFL at 14-4, but could not hang onto the ball Sunday. The No. 1 offence in the regular season turned the football over seven times and had possession of it for just eight minutes and 43 seconds in the first half. "Its hard to explain," Calgary head coach John Hufnagel said. "Obviously were a little bit in shock the way the game unfolded. Having that many turnovers to ruin the game (and) to have that type of tackling by our team, its hard to explain." Trailing 22-6 at halftime, Hufnagel replaced starting quarterback Kevin Glenn with Drew Tate, but the Stampeders managed just one touchdown in the second. Durant completed 24-of-30 passes for 280 yards with touchdown passes to Rob Bagg, Weston Dressler and Chris Getzlaf. Running back Kory Sheets scored on a one-yard touchdown plunge. Kicker Chris Milo made two field goals in the fourth quarter after his first of the game was blocked. Calgarys Rene Paredes made both of his field-goal attempts. Tate threw a touchdown pass to Joe West. Glenn completed 7-of-13 passes for 180 yards and was intercepted twice. Tate was 5 for 11 for 90 yards. Calgary was minus-4 in rushing yards in the first half. Stampeder running back Jon Cornish, the CFLs leading rusher this season, mustered 67 yards in the game. Sheets finished second in rushing to Cornish, but romped for 177 yards Sunday. "Tonight was just about the team winning and team goals," Sheets said. "There was nothing individual, nothing personal." Calgary was without starting defensive tackles Micah Johnson and Demonte Bolden because of knee injuries suffered in the final game of the regular season. The Roughriders keyed on replacements Junior Turner and Freddie Bishop III. "They were missing their two big plugs inside and we knew that going in," Durant said. "We wanted to exploit that, especially with two guys that havent played all year. We knew they werent in the type of shape they needed to be to stop the run." The Roughriders lost both games at McMahon during the regular season, but their most recent Oct. 26 was by just four points. "The games where we played them earlier this season, we felt like we gave them the games," Durant said. "All along, we felt like we were the better team." Calgary had set a franchise record for the fewest turnovers in a season with 27, which was also the second-lowest in league history. But receivers Mo Price, Jeff Fuller and Brad Sinopoli each fumbled after the catch and turned the ball over. With just over four minutes remaining in the game, returner Larry Taylor lost control of a Roughrider punt. Paul Woldu knocked it out of bounds to give the visitors the ball on Calgarys 32-yard line and Saskatchewan converted the turnover to a field goal. Glenn was intercepted twice and also had an attempted touchdown throw to the end zone knocked down in the first half. Calgary also turned the ball over on downs once. "You go from the highest high to the lowest low," Glenn said. "Right now, its pretty low. Saskatchewan had a banner season in takeways with 53 --their second-highest in 17 seasons -- and they made the most of Calgarys errors. Roughrider defensive back Dwight Anderson, who screamed "Calgary sucks" into media microphones after the loss Oct. 26, thought that Stampeders receiver shouldnt have worn long sleeves. "It was a cold-weather game. The ball was going to be slippery," Anderson said. "Guys were wearing sleeves out there so the ball wont sit well on the sleeves. We just had to go after the ball." Kickoff was under a sunny sky and a temperature of minus-8 with an announced 33,174 in the stadium. A light south wind made it feel more like minus-14 and the temperatures dropped as the sun lowered. Saskatchewan beat the Lions in a cold division semifinal at Mosaic last week. Durant felt that battle-hardened his team well for the West final. "I heard the weather was nice here for the past couple weeks and they werent used to playing in this weather," Durant said. "Going out there and practising in Regina and playing against B.C. in basically minus-20, we were ready for this. "We think the weather played a factor in their ball security." Shane Vereen Womens Jersey .S. Olympic team, the teams general manager David Poile offered a public apology to the Ottawa Senators forward, who was left off the team. "Im trying right now to apologize to Bobby Ryan," said Poile during a conference call on Friday. Rob Ninkovich Elite Jersey . 14-16. Coverage begins this Friday at 9pm et/6pm pt on TSN2 with the NBA Rising Stars Challenge, featuring the leagues best rookie and sophomore players – including Canadian rookie Kelly Olynyk of Kamloops, B.C. and Toronto Raptors second-year forward Jonas Valanciunas. CONCORD, N.C. -- Matt Kenseth won his only Cup title in 2003 and NASCAR immediately changed the championship rules. He always resisted the urge to take it personally despite the overwhelming evidence that his methodical but nondescript season forced NASCAR to pump some life into the system by creating the current Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. Now, eight years later, hes finally back in the title hunt. Kenseth won Saturday nights race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, passing Kyle Busch on a restart with 25 laps remaining, to grab his first victory of this Chase. It moved him two spots in the standings to third, and hes only seven points behind leader Carl Edwards at the halfway point of the Chase. "It doesnt really matter to me that much what everybody thinks," Kenseth said. "Were in it or out of it or whatever. Whats important to me is trying to win races and trying to be competitive and go do the best job we can do every week. "If somebody wants to say Im boring or whatever -- I was hired to try to go win races and try to run good and thats what I try to do every week." But the path to the championship may have become just a little clearer Saturday night. Five-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson was in a hard accident that sent him spiralling in the standings. He was running seventh with 17 laps remaining when contact with Ryan Newman sent him headfirst into the wall. The hit was so hard, his back tires briefly lifted off the track. He finished 34th and dropped to eighth in the standings. "That one stung for sure. Pretty big impact," Johnson said. Johnson, winner of last weeks race at Kansas, had started the race ranked third in points and only four points behind Edwards. He was on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week, and had dismissed the idea of falling prey to the so-called cover jinx. After notching his lowest Chase-race finish since he was 38th at Texas in 2009, he may now be wondering if the curse is credible. "This is not going to help us win a sixth championship," he admitted. Because it can change so quickly, Kenseth was more even-keeled than normal in his celebration. Its hard to look too far ahead with such a tight field and Talladega looming next week. "What happened to Jimmie Johnson is a sobering lesson for everyone," winning car owner Jack Roush said. Thats probably what Kyle Busch thought, too, after dominating the race only to come up short in his bid for his first win in a Chase race. Busch had to change his engine before the race and started last in the 43-car field. Although he was initially frustrated with his car, he rallied to leaad a race-high 111 laps and finish second, his best showing so far in the Chase. Jamie Collins Jersey. "We drove up through the field and we got in position to win the race ... just got out drove there by Kenseth there on the restart," Busch said. "He just flat out drove right past me like I was standing still. The frustration is, again, we did not finish where we wanted to, which could have been a real win, a real highlight. "The next frustration is we have yet to win a Chase race, and Im sure Ill be hearing about that for the next four years if I continue that." Edwards finished third, but leaned into Buschs car after the race to discuss what Edwards felt was aggressive driving in the closing laps. "We should definitely be racing each other hard. Its just that theres a difference between racing hard and then cutting across the guys nose," Edwards said. "I just let him know that next time that happens, Ill just stay where Im at and he can drive across my hood and wreck himself." But there was no chance in this one turning into a feud as Busch quickly diffused the situation. "There was no malicious intent involved to cause anything or to hurt his chances at finishing second or anything," Busch said. "It was just a product of what we had at the end going for everything we could, and trying to come home second." Edwards seemed to buy the explanation and the two shared the dais in the post-race news conference without incident. "He told me that he didnt mean to do it, and so I got to believe that," Edwards said. Kasey Kahne and Marcos Ambrose, two drivers not competing for the championship, finished fourth and fifth. It was the third straight top-10 finish for Ambrose, the first time in his career hes pulled that off. Kevin Harvick was sixth, and he went from one point behind Edwards to fourth. "One of the goals we wanted to achieve was to get through these first five races, with not too much damage," Harvick said. "So five points, if you would have told me we would come out of Charlotte with only a five-point deficit going into the next five races, I would be really happy." AJ Allmendinger was seventh and was followed by pole-sitter Tony Stewart, who overcame late contact with Greg Biffle to finish eighth. "We still have half of the chase races to go, a lot can happen," Stewart said. Denny Hamlin was ninth and Ryan Newman rounded out the top 10. Kurt Busch was 13th, his Penske Racing teammate Brad Keselowski finished 16th, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was 18th, Jeff Gordon was 21st and Johnson was the lowest finishing Chase driver. ' ' '
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