They took away her ‘C, but they didnt take away her heart

They took away her ‘C, but they didnt take away her heart. Juan Agudelo 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. Bill Hamid Jersey ." Those traits were clear to the 24,071 at Olympic Stadium on Saturday as the Impact dominated the scoring chances but settled for a 2-2 draw with the New York Red Bulls in a battle of still-winless Major League Soccer teams. Timothy Weah Jersey . -- Maxence Parrot of Bromont, Que. http://www.usasoccerauthority.com/alejandro-bedoya-usa-jersey/ . -- With the Memphis Grizzlies struggling to find their offensive rhythm, O.Milwaukee, WI (SportsNetwork.com) - Hoping to recover from four consecutive losses, the Marquette Golden Eagles will entertain the 25th-ranked Butler Bulldogs in a Big East Conference showdown at the BMO Harris Bradley Center on Saturday. The recent skid - all to Big East competition - has dropped Marquette down to 2-6 in league play this season. The 10-10 Golden Eagles are coming off a recent defeat at the hands of Seton Hall, 80-70, at home, where Marquette is 8-4 on the year. Butler is on the upswing, jumping into the Top-25 earlier in the week. The Bulldogs have won two straight decisions, and four of their last five altogether. Butler took down Creighton (64-61) and Seton Hall (77-57) in the teams last two outings to improve to 5-3 in Big East play. Marquette holds the advantage in the all-time series, 16-13, as these two teams will meet one other time later this season in Indianapolis. The sides split the two-game season series a year ago. Butler faced a tough test as the team hosted the then-24th ranked Seton Hall Pirates on Sunday, but it was the Bulldogs that came out and proved why they should be the ones ranked. Butler connected on 49.1 percent of its shots from the floor, and held the Pirates to just 36.7 percent shooting, which included a 4-of-24 mark from 3-point range. Andrew Chrabascz led the charge for the Bulldogs with 16 points, while Kellen Dunham scored 15 points, Roosevelt Jones added 12 and seven rebounds, Alex Barlow tallied 11 points with eight assists and six boards, and Kelan Martin came off the bench to net 10 points to round out the impressive offensive performance for Butler. Dunham currently leads Butler and ranks fourth in the Big East in scoring, netting 16.1 ppg this season on 43.9 percent shooting from thhe floor. DeAndre Yedlin Jersey. The big man Jones has been a well-rounded surprise for the Bulldogs this season, averaging 13.2 ppg, with a team-leading 79 assists and a second-best 6.0 rpg mark. Chrabascz rounds out a trio of double-digit scorers for Butler at 10.0 ppg. Kameron Woods is the teams best rebounder, and ranks second in the Big East with 9.0 boards per outing. The Bulldogs as a unit are scoring 70.7 ppg, and are holding opponents to a league-best 60.1 ppg this season. Marquette connected on 42.4 percent of its shots from the floor in Wednesday nights contest against Seton Hall, but the Golden Eagles also watched and were seemingly powerless to stop a Pirates team that buried 13-of-26 from 3- point range, and a torrid scoring pace set by Sterling Gibbs. Matt Carlino did the best he could to keep his Eagles in the game, finishing with a team-best 16 points, adding in six rebounds and five assists. Sandy Cohen III added 11 points in the loss, while Juan Anderson and Derrick Wilson each chipped in with 10 points. Wilson dished out eight assists and had seven rebounds in the losing effort. Carlino is the only Marquette player to have started all 20 games this season for the Golden Eagles, and its clear why. The transfer guard from BYU is leading the charge in terms of scoring this season at 14.7 ppg with a team- best 68 assists and 29 steals. Duane Wilson (11.7 ppg) and Luke Fischer (10.2 ppg in 12 games played) round out a trio of double-digit scorers for Marquette this season. The Golden Eagles rank second to last, however, in the Big East in terms of scoring offense, with a 68.1 ppg clip. The team is also in the bottom portion of the league rankings in terms of scoring defense, allowing opponents to net 65.8 ppg this season. 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