Used to be the greatest rivalry in hockey was Canada vs. Russia. When the best players from both countries hooked up for an eight-game series in 1972, a heated rivalry was born. Canada won the famous Summit Series, but the Russians taught them a thing or two about conditioning and team play. Then, in 1980, things changed again when a bunch of school kids did the unimaginable and beat the Russians in the semifinal of the Olympic Games – the Miracle On Ice. Even though that victory wasnt for the gold medal, it is widely regarded as the greatest hockey game ever played and put the American right into the thick of things in terms of world dominance in the sport of hockey. Since then, Canada and Russia has waged a bitter ice war and now, with the Olympic Games being played in Russia, the host country desperate wants to win the gold medal. Thats what makes Saturdays match-up against the United States such an interesting one (7:30 a.m. ET, streaming at cbc.ca/olympics). Team USA lost the gold medal by a goal in 2010 in Vancouver and thoroughly dominated its opening game in Sochi, crushing Slovakia 7-1. Russia, meanwhile, beat Slovenia 5-2, but was not overly impressive. The Americans – pros this time – are influenced by the legend of the Miracle On Ice. Not only that, Team USA star defenceman Ryan Suter is the son of Bob Suter who was a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team. Ryan was born five years after the stunning win over the best team in the world. On the other side of the ice, Viktor Tikhonov, 25, is the grandson of legendary Russian coach who goes by the same name. The elder Tikhonov is 83 years old. All guns firing The Russians boast a high-power offence featuring the likes of superstars Alexander Ovechkin, Ilya Kovalchuk and Evgeni Malkin. All three scored goals in the opening victory against Slovenia. Team USA has a few snipers of its own starting with Phil Kessel of the Toronto Maple Leafs. In NHL action this season only Ovechkin, with 40 goals, has scored more often than Kessel who has 30. The speedy right-winger had a goal and three points in Team USAs win over Slovakia. Team USA coach Dan Bylsma has indicated he will stick with Jonathan Quick in goal. Quick, who led the Los Angeles Kings to the Stanley Cup two years ago, got the start ahead of Ryan Miller of the Buffalo Sabres. Miller almost singlehandedly led the United States to a gold medal in 2010. He was the tournaments most valuable player despite losing the final to Canada in overtime. . The 41-year-old Northern Irishman has proved a perfect fit at Liverpool since taking over from Kenny Dalglish in the summer of 2012 and steered the team to an unexpected title challenge in the Premier League last season. . The 26-year-old Regina native teamed up with Denny Morrison and Mathieu Giroux to win gold in 2010. Makowsky also was 13th in the 5,000 metres and 19th in the 1,500m in Vancouver. He also represented Canada at the 2014 Games in Sochi, helping the pursuit team finish fourth and finishing 28th in the 1,500.
http://www.cheapjetsjerseyssale.com/.S. routed Sweden 7-0 Sunday to win its fourth straight title and seventh overall under-18 world championship. Olson earned his third shutout of the tournament and the Americans allowed only four goals in six games to set an International Ice Hockey Federation under-18 record. . Auld made 37 saves in a 5-3 loss to the Boston Bruins on Saturday. It was Ottawas first game without starter Anderson, who is out indefinitely after cutting his hand Wednesday night, and it was evident the team wasnt sure how to deal with the change in goal. . The Canadiens captain, who underwent surgery on his injured biceps in the off-season, had been skating with the team in a non-contact capacity since last week.Novak Djokovic won Indian Wells but Andy Murray endured a disappointing tournament, so what have we learned? While the world No 1 cruised to a final victory over Milos Raonic this weekend, Murray was licking his wounds from a shock elimination. Hell have an immediate chance to put things right at the Miami Open, live on Sky Sports from Wednesday.Here are five talking points from Indian Wells. Murrays struggles nothing to be concerned about Andy Murray admits he failed to deal with Indian Wells conditions For reasons that even Andy Murray struggles to grasp, he can never find his rhythm playing at Indian Wells. Life in the desert is just too far from home for the Dunblane boy, who historically doesnt performs well in the dry, California air.So a shock loss against Federico Delbonis isnt a disaster, by any means. Murray is now has a 25-11 record at Indian Wells, a peculiarly poor record for the world No 2. He has reached five quarter-finals and was the 2009 runner-up, but has crashed out early twice in recent years. He made a point of stringing his racquet differently and adapting his preparation but still fell short of the desired result at a tournament that has never been his friend.But the tour continues relentlessly to Miami, on the opposite coast of America. Its the city where Murray has always been based for his warm weather training and he has a far deeper understanding of the conditions, and a record at the Miami Open to match. He will fly west to east with even fewer fond memories of Indian Wells. Murray out of Indian Wells Andy Murray suffered a shock defeat against world No 53 Federico Delbonis Djokovic still peerless Novak Djokovic poses with the trophy at Indian Wells Weather, playing conditions and opponents do not seem to concern the dominant Djokovic who predictably tore through the tournament to pick up another trophy, and equal more records in the process. His 27th Masters title has equalled Rafael Nadals haul, and a fifth win at Indian Wells sends him clear of Roger Federers four.Having already collected the Australian Open this year, Djokovic will be red-hot favourite to pick up a 28th Masters title this week in Miami, live on Sky Sports. Last year, Djokovic defeated Andy Murray in the Miami final 7-6 (7-3) 4-6 6-0. It remains to be seen how any of the chasing pack, Murray included, can deal with the world No 1. Novak claims Indian Wells win Novak Djokovic won a fifth Indian Wells title against Milos Raonic French Open season brings out best in Nadal Highlights of Nadal v Nishikori in the Indian Wells quarter-finals Two months from the French Open, Rafa Nadal reminded us why he has claimed that Grand Slam an unprecedented nine times.dddddddddddd The Spaniard has struggled to find trophy-winning form in the past two years but, at Indian Wells, delivered some confidence-boosting thrashings to fellow top-10 players.Most impressively he swept aside world No 6 Kei Nishikori in straight sets with the type of athletic display associated when he was at his prime. He also edged a physically gruelling battle against Fernando Verdasco, and fended off match point against Alexander Zverev to put the prodigious teenager back in his place.There is still plenty of room for improvement - Nadal lost in the semi-finals to Djokovic, a sixth consecutive defeat to the world No 1. But the Serb has one-sided head-to-head records against all of his opponents, and a tight first set must give Nadal hope that he can still compete for the biggest prizes.Raonic fulfilling promise Highlights of Milos Raonic v David Goffin from the semi-finals of Indian Wells Milos Raonic, the Indian Wells runner-up, is enjoying a fine 2016 so far. The Canadian has long been touted as an up-and-coming player but the past two years have been stifled by niggling injuries.Raonic reached the Australian Open semi-finals before losing to Murray, and this weekend fell short in California to Djokovic - his only two defeats of a 14-2 year so far. The world No 12 always had a very tall task to topple Djokovic but that was made significantly harder by an apparent injury which hindered his serve-heavy approach. Expect that world ranking to improve if Raonic can continue in this vein of form - although he needs a high-profile victory against one of the worlds top players to signal his intention.Big guns wont have it easy Stan Wawrinka exited early along with other big names The tournament featured several upsets along the way with only Djokovic able to constantly repel inferior opposition. Fellow top players like Murray and Stan Wawrinka crashed out early as a stern reminder that their position as top five ranked players is constantly under threat.As well as Murrays loss to 25-year-old Delbonis, third seed Wawrinka was beaten in the fourth round by 15th seed David Goffin. Not content with one major scalp, Goffin also dumped out former US Open winner Marin Cilic en route to a semi-final finish. Raonic, during his run to the final, knocked out sixth seed Tomas Berdych. Heading to Miami, there are plenty of reasons for the worlds top players to be on their guard with hungry up-and-comers chasing them down.Watch the Miami Open from Wednesday, live on Sky Sports.By purchasing a Sky Sports Day Pass for £6.99 or Sky Sports Week Pass for £10.99, you can enjoy access to all seven Sky Sports channels and watch on a TV with a NOW TV Box or on a range of devices. Also See: Novak claims Indian Wells win ATP schedule Tennis on Sky Get a NOW TV pass ' ' '
