SOCHI, Russia – It was late August at the Olympic orientation camp in Calgary, more than five months from the official start of the Sochi Olympics, and Canadian head coach Mike Babcock delivered a message for those players not invited to take part. Sammy Watkins Womens Jersey . “Do something about it,” Babcock said defiantly. “The great thing about life is you get to control what happens to you the majority of the time. Do something about it if youre not here.” Jamie Benn was not among the 25 forwards selected to participate in that late summer camp, but it was the 24-year-old from Victoria B.C. who managed to emerge in Canadas tournament-opening win over Norway. Though he played just under nine minutes in his first Olympic game – a team-low – Benn turned in the eventual game-winner and made himself a noticeable presence alongside John Tavares and Patrice Bergeron on an energetic Canadian fourth line. He beat out 12 of the aforementioned forwards for the opportunity in Sochi, including the impressive likes of Claude Giroux, James Neal, and Eric Staal. “It was just motivation,” Benn said of not being selected to the orientation camp, which saw 47 players gather in Alberta for a brief three-day meet-and-greet. “Obviously Canada can put some pretty good teams together and every guy that went to the orientation camp deserved to be there. It just gave me a little bit more motivation coming into this year.” The first-year captain of the Dallas Stars, Benn totaled 22 goals and 51 points in the first half, his tantalizing combination of size, speed, grit and skill too appealing for Steve Yzerman and the Hockey Canada brass to pass up. “I just went out there in the first half and focused on the Dallas Stars and what I had to do to win hockey games over there,” said Benn, a fifth round steal in the 2007 draft. “I didnt change anything. I didnt try to impress.” Upon arrival in Sochi, Babcock stressed that opportunity and ice-time would be earned amongst his 14 forwards. And though Benn didnt play a lot against Norway he did more than enough to get noticed, most notably in a dominant second frame of Canadas 3-1 win. It was Benn who drew a penalty in the offensive zone just moments before Shea Weber scored the first Canadian goal, a blast that eased some tension from a jittery first frame. And then it was Benn just a few minutes later – he was nearly rocked by Ole-Kristian Tollefsen moments earlier – making no mistake on a terrific cross-ice feed from the intuitive Bergeron. “Benn can skate and hes hard, shoots the puck,” said Babcock, who raved about Benn, Bergeron, Tavares and Martin St. Louis, the bottom group of Canadian forwards on this night. “It was a key for us to win our shift each and every time we went out there,” Benn said. “Its taking a hit or getting a hit to get in it and I think thats what happened in the second there.” One of eight Canadians making their debut on the Olympic stage on Thursday, Benn said whatever nerves may have been there in the furious buildup to a hard-fought match against the Norwegians disappeared quickly. And by nights end there was sweet redemption for a player who fought his way onto the team. “Its great to be a part of, represent your country,” he said. “It was exciting to get it going today.” Sammy Watkins Youth Jersey .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. Andre Reed Jersey . They did take one chance on a free agent-to-be however, and it didnt pay off. Rory Kohlert, selected by the Redblacks in the expansion draft from Winnipeg, has signed as a free agent with the Blue Bombers.Toronto, ON - With time ticking away in the 2014 regular season, the Edmonton Eskimos and Toronto Argonauts both find themselves in the hunt for postseason invitations as they get together this afternoon in Toronto. Catch all the action beginning at 3:30pm et/12:30pm pt on TSN1, TSN3, TSN4 and TSN5. Both teams are coming off victories in their most recent outings, Edmonton topping Saskatchewan last week by a score of 24-0 and the Argos crushing British Columbia on Sept. 19 on the road, 40-23. In the case of Toronto, the triumph served to snap a four-game slide and kept the club within striking distance of first place in the East Division where it has eight points and trails both Hamilton and Montreal by only two points. Against the Lions during Week 13 action, Chad Owens returned to action and proceeded to show why he is one of the most exciting players in the league. Owens caught eight passes for 117 yards and a score and added another 30 yards on punt returns. Toronto quarterback Ricky Ray converted 24-of-33 passes for 284 yards and two touchdowns, surviving three sacks for the visitors. Running backs Curtis Steele and Steve Slaton both found the end zone on the ground in the second half as well. Defensively, Toronto did surrender 415 yards to BC, but at the same time the Lions shot themselves in the foot by committing 13 penalties for a loss of 131 yards. While Toronto was enjoying last week off, Edmonton was thrashing the Roughriders at home, recording the first shutout of the campaign for the Esks. In picking up the second win in the last three outings, Edmonton forced the visitors to use a pair of quarterbacks, limiting the duo of Seth Doege and Tino Sunseri to a mere 114 yards through the air, while picking off each one time and producing six sacks overall. Mike Reilly headed the Edmonton offensive attack as he connected on 14-of-25 passes for 124 yards and a score, not to mention picking up another 106 yardds on 10 rushing attempts. Chris Hogan Womens Jersey. But as strong as Reilly was with his legs, he actually finished behind John White who tallied a career-high 192 yards rushing on 17 attempts. Thanks to the efforts of Reilly and White, the latter being named the CFL Offensive Player of the Week, the Eskimos survived 12 penalties that amounted to 105 yards. Despite missing more than a month due to injury, White has come back with a vengeance and is now sixth in the league in rushing with 526 yards on just 68 attempts. Averaging a hefty 7.7 yards per carry, you would think that White would also have more than just a couple of TDs on the ground, but thats not the case. Hopefully the return of White means Reilly will not have to put himself in harms way as often moving forward. Nevertheless, Reilly is still the leading ground gainer among quarterbacks and ranks eighth in the league overall with 488 yards on 59 attempts, an average of more than eight yards per carry. The signal caller is in the middle of the pack when it comes to passing yards at this stage of the season, throwing for 2,309 yards, as he completes 64.1 percent of his opportunities. Over on the other side Ray, who is facing off against his former team yet again, is second in the CFL with 3,206 yards with an amazing 68.2 percent level of accuracy., Just as important is Rays league-best 22 touchdowns, against 11 INTs, which has him showing a very successful 96.3 efficiency rating. Able to spread the wealth quite easily, Ray and the Argonauts dont have a single receiver in the top-five in terms of yardage. Instead, it is Owens who checks in with 548 yards on 43 receptions, his total ranking him eighth in the CFL heading into Week 15. Edmonton leads the all-time, regular-season series by a count of 46-40-1, thanks in part to a 41-27 victory in the most recent meeting in late August at home. The Esks have taken six of the last eight battles with the Argos. Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys Cheap NFL JerseysCheap Jerseys China Cheap MLS Soccer Jerseys ' ' '
