A rusty Murray returned to

[ljmei123]

They took away her ‘C, but they didnt take away her heart. Rob Housler Black Jersey . Hayley Wickenheiser, the greatest womens hockey player ever, stole the show as Canada defeated the United States 3-2 in a thrilling nail-biter preliminary game in Sochi Wednesday. Wickenheiser set up Canadas first goal of the game on a nifty pass to Meghan Agosta-Marciano and then scored her second goal of the 2014 Winter Olympics – the 18th of her Olympic career. Not only that, the 35-year-old Wickenheiser played a strong defensive game, too, shutting down Team USAs top scorers. It is no coincidence that in the dying seconds of the game, with the United States on the power play and its goalie on the bench in favour of an extra skater, Wickenheiser was one of the four Canadian skaters on the ice in pure defensive mode. The victory for Canada means it avoids a tough semifinal matchup against the pesky Finnish squad. Canada defeated Finland 3-0 earlier in the tournament, but didnt score until 9:27 of the third period. The Finns are capable of pulling off an upset in this years Olympics. Wickenheiser, a two-time Olympic MVP, had been the captain of the Canadas national team, but it was announced by Hockey Canada prior to the Olympics that Caroline Ouellette would be the captain in Sochi. Wickenheiser was named an alternate captain. There had even been some chatter leading up to the Games she might be cut from the team. Given how well she has played in Sochi, that would have been a dreadful mistake. Its a team game For Wickenheiser, it is all about the team. “Were so close,” she said of the bitter rivalry with the United States. “Sometimes it just comes down to the team that gets a break or has more energy. I liked the energy level and determination in our game [today].” On snapping the four-game losing streak to Team USA, Wickenheiser said, “Its a confidence booster. [Coach] Kevin Dineen has had some time to prepare for this game. He also needed time to get to know the players in our room; the strengths and weaknesses. We have all the confidence in him.” So, with the victory over the United States, is it advantage Canada moving into the medal round? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Bragging rights Certainly Canada has bragging rights following its win over Team USA. However, history has shown what happens leading up to the Games doesnt necessarily have anything to do with who wins the gold medal. In 2002, Team USA had beaten Canada 10 times in a row, but the Canadians shocked the Americans with a 3-2 victory in the gold-medal game at Salt Lake City. It is also worth noting prior to the last three Olympic Games, the United States won the world championship only to have Canada rebound to take gold at the Olympics. The United States certainly had a mental edge over Canada entering the game – the first time the teams had met in the preliminary round since 1998 – thanks to four straight victories over their rivals in a six-game exhibition series leading up to the Olympic Games. In 1998 in Nagano, Japan, Team USA beat Canada 7-4 in the preliminary round and 3-1 in the gold-medal game. At the very least, Canada now knows it can skate with and beat the powerful United States club. Doing it twice in a row will not be easy. “It felt so good,” said winning goalie Charline Labonte. “We have been struggling a bit the past couple of games against them. We have worked really hard to readjust and become a better team. They came out really strong, as expected, so I am really glad we came up with the win.” American scoring ace Amanda Kessel was understandably dissatisfied with the final result. "It hurts," Kessel said. "Every game matters. They didnt get to see how we can play." A lot has been made of the fact the two teams have an intense dislike for one another – as indicated by the two line brawls in the final few exhibition games leading up to the Olympics – and it was fully on display in Wednesdays preliminary match. Despite the fact bodychecking is illegal in womens hockey, players from both teams rode that fine line between handing out jarring hits, just hard and incidental enough so as not to cause Finnish referee Anna Eskola to penalize them. In that regard, Eskola did a fine job in allowing the game to be physical without getting goofy. "Both teams were aggressive," said American forward Hilary Knight. Youll get our top game when we play one another and thats a great thing. We are both good teams and we are competitive." Canada matched USAs speed and demonstrated a penchant for driving hard to the net from start to finish. If there was a concern for Canada it was the ineffectiveness of its power play. Canada entered the third period a mere 1-for-10 with the man advantage throughout the tournament. It was zero-for-three in the first 40 minutes. However, Agosta-Marciano accepted a perfectly-placed pass from Wickenheiser and scored with Americas Brianna Decker in the penalty box to tie the game 1-1 with a much-needed power-play marker. Decker had been sent off for tripping Wickenheiser. The quarter-finals will be played Saturday and Canada will play in the semifinal Monday. Mitchell Schwartz Youth Jersey . Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the Carolina Hurricanes, announced Wednesday that the team would assign Swedish forward Elias Lindholm to his nations team for the upcoming tournament. Joe Thomas Youth Jersey . -- San Francisco 49ers linebacker Ahmad Brooks was fined $15,570 by the NFL on Wednesday for his hit on Saints quarterback Drew Brees last Sunday. http://www.authenticbrownsjerseylockroom.com/AUTHENTIC-BRIAN-HARTLINE-BROWNS-JERSEY/ . - Blake Griffin had 30 points and 12 rebounds, J.Melbourne, Australia - Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer will resume their rivalry in the Australian Open semifinals after each posted four- set quarterfinal victories on Wednesday. The world No. 1 Nadal was the first to advance, claiming a 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (9-7), 6-2 triumph over 22nd-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, before Federer reached his 11th straight Aussie Open semi with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3 victory over fourth-seeded Andy Murray at Rod Laver Arena. The former No. 1 great Federer, seeded sixth at this fortnight, reached the final four of a Grand Slam for the first time since falling to the reigning Wimbledon champion Murray in the Melbourne semis last year. He was a quarterfinal loser at the French Open last spring, then suffered a stunning second-round loss at Wimbledon and a fourth-round exit at the U.S. Open. The 17-time Grand Slam champ is seeking his first Aussie crown since 2010, when he beat Murray in the final. The 26-year-old Murray is a three-time Aussie runner-up, including last year here against Novak Djokovic. After Federer took the first two sets from Murray, including a brisk 31-minute opening stanza, the Brit fought back in the third, saving two match points in the tiebreak. Federer served for the match, leading 5-4 in the third, but Murray notched his first break, on only his first break-point of the match, against the Swiss icon, who had not been broken in 50 consecutive service games. The four-time Aussie Open champion Federer opened up 5-2 and 6-4 leads in the tiebreak, but had the match points thwarted. First a forehand error and then a backhand error as Murray stayed alive. The Scot would then paint a line with a forehand winner to earn a set point and converted to force a fourth set. A resilient Murray kept the match tight in the fourth, but he gave Federer too many open chances. Finally, on his 10th break point of the set, the Swiss stepped in with a big backhand return to set up a winning point and then served things out. Federer broke Murray four times, while the Brit settled for only one break in only two break-point opportunities all night. "Andy playedd well and put the pressure on me so Im happy to get the win," a relieved Federer said in a courtside interview. Tramon Williams Youth Jersey. "I probably miss more break points than other guys but I keep my composure and keep the poker face and tonight it worked." The 32-year-old Federer is now 10-11 lifetime against Murray, including 2-1 at the Aussie. A rusty Murray returned to action just a few weeks ago after being sidelined for 3 1/2 months following minor back surgery. Meanwhile, the 2009 Aussie Open champ and 2012 runner-up Nadal dropped the first set to Dimitrov on Day 10, but the 13-time major titlist gritted through a pair of tough tiebreaks over the next two sets before running away with the final set at Melbourne Park. The bout ended in 3 hours, 37 minutes. "I was so lucky," Nadal said. "It gives me the opportunity to be in semifinals of a tournament I love so much." It will be the fourth semifinal appearance at the Aussie Open for the reigning U.S. and French Open champ. The rising star Dimitrov, who became the first Bulgarian to reach the last eight of a Grand Slam singles event, dropped to 0-4 in his career against Nadal. He smacked 16 aces in a losing effort. The left-handed Nadal improved to 4-0 lifetime against the 22-year-old Dimitrov. Nadal and Federer will meet for a 33rd time on Friday, with the Spaniard leading the all-time series, 22-10, including 8-2 in Grand Slam action. Nadal is 2-0 versus Federer at the Aussie, including a win in the 2009 finale. The high-flying Nadal has won four straight and eight of their last 10 meetings overall. The "Big Four" of Nadal, Djokovic, Murray and Federer have combined to win 34 of the last 35 Grand Slam events. The first mens semifinal will be staged on Thursday, when seventh-seeded Tomas Berdych takes on eighth seed Stanislas Wawrinka. Both men will appear in their first-ever Aussie semi. Wawrinka is 8-5 lifetime against the former Wimbledon runner-up Berdych, but the Czech captured their lone Aussie Open meeting in 2009. Wawrinka bested Berdych in the fourth round at the U.S. Open back in September. Cheap Jerseys nfl jerseys cheap authentic wholesale jerseys jerseys from china authentic Cheap Jerseys wholesale stitched jerseys ' ' '