Dein erstes Forum » A. The team started off with a promising

The Saskatoon Blades entered this season believing they were capable of winning the Memorial Cup on home ice. Despite a first-round exit from the Western Hockey League playoffs, the Blades still have a chance to prove they belong in the 2013 Canadian Hockey League championship. The host Blades will have been idle for 51 days when they open the tournament Friday against the Ontario Hockey Leagues London Knights. Saskatoon experienced an up-and-down season -- including a rocky start, an 18-game winning streak and a television crew filming their every move -- before a stunning sweep at the hands of the Medicine Hat Tigers. Blades head coach and general manager Lorne Molleken says the pressure of hosting major junior hockeys premier tournament hung over his players all season. "It was a different year simply because of the highs and the lows," said Molleken, whose club finished the regular season 44-22-6. "Every time we lost a game it almost seemed like people around us thought it was the end of the world. "The talk at the start of the year, everything was about the Memorial Cup and maybe our focus wasnt where it should have been." As hosts of the tournament, the Blades were followed by a television crew. Molleken says it was an adjustment at first, but adds the presence of the cameras had nothing to do with the teams short run in the playoffs. "In the early going our players just didnt know how to react because there was a camera in the locker-room at all times," he said in a recent phone interview. "But I think when I look back at it and as the season went on, they became a part of our team and they did a tremendous job with it. "I think for the players, it was a real learning experience for them and a positive experience for them." Blades captain Brenden Walker joined Saskatoon prior to the season after three campaigns with the Brandon Wheat Kings. He says having the cameras around was a unique situation. "It was pretty cool for us and a pretty cool experience to be involved in, and a great memory of this year that we can show in the future," Walker said before adding, "with the cameras theyre looking for ups and downs and that kind of stuff ... it was difficult sometimes for sure." The Blades, who automatically earned a bye into the Memorial Cup as the host team, have been swept out of the playoffs in the last three seasons. Despite this years stumble, Molleken still believes his team has what it takes to win the Memorial Cup on home ice. "We felt we built a team here that could win a championship but for whatever reason we didnt compete as hard as we needed to against a team that was playing extremely well in Medicine Hat," he said. "They did a great job against us." Added Walker: "Maybe we thought it was going to be easy or we werent prepared for it but now weve got to put that behind us and really not worry about that and instead worry about our readiness for the Memorial Cup." The Blades are led offensively by Josh Nichols (47 goals, 38 assists) and Matej Stransky (40 goals, 45 assists). Walker was next on the scoring list with 33 goals and 43 assists, while Russian world junior goalie Andrey Makarov will be counted on at the other end after posting a 2.62 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage. Following a two-week break after their March 27 elimination, Molleken put the Blades through more than a month of hard training. He says theyre in the best shape theyve been all the season. Walker says the players can see the light at the end of the tunnel. "Its been a long journey here for the last little bit but were just chipping at it and its going to be a great thing when the puck drops," Walker said. "(Losing in the first round) was a tough way to go but thats behind us and were just moving forward and weve got a bigger goal ahead of us. Weve just to make sure were ready to go." The Blades are drawing inspiration from last seasons hosts, the Shawinigan Cataracts. The club crashed out of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoffs but managed to win the Memorial Cup after a long layoff. Saskatoon will be looking to capture its first CHL title, but the club also knows that there will be detractors. "We are healthy and were anxious to get the puck dropped on the 17th and we know were going to be playing against three league champions that have proven theyre worthy of that," said Molleken, whose team rolls four lines and six defencemen. "Were going to have to take our game to a new level and our players have worked extremely hard at that." The Blades know all they can do is control what happens on the ice going forward. "You never want to think that you get a free bye into the Memorial Cup and instead just come right through the front door," Walker said. "Now this is our last kick at the cat." The Portland Winterhawks and the Halifax Mooseheads round out the field for the MasterCard Memorial Cup, which runs through May 26. Buy Shoes Australia .B. - Sebastien Auger made 44 saves as the Saint John Sea Dogs edged the visiting Acadie-Bathurst Titan 2-1 on Saturday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action. Wholesale Shoes Australia . According to a report from the Vancouver Province, the Lions are expected to replace former DC Rich Stubler with defensive backs coach Mark Washington. https://www.shoesaustraliaonline.com/ . Takahashi, who had a 10-point lead after the short program, received 268.31 points after the free skate to finish 15 points ahead of second-place Nobunari Oda. Cheap Shoes Australia Free Shipping . "It doesnt get any better than that," Giambi said. "Im speechless." The Indians are roaring toward October. Giambi belted a two-run, pinch-hit homer with two outs in the ninth inning to give Cleveland a shocking 5-4 win over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night, keeping the Indians up with the lead pack in the AL wild-card race. Cheap Nike Shoes Australia . The Vancouver coach and an announced sellout crowd of 18,910 watched in dismay as the Canucks lost 7-4 to the New York Islanders on Monday night by squandering a 3-0 lead in the third period. Cloud9s return to Halo is not only a story of redemption for the organization, but a story of redemption for its players. Cloud9 recently picked up Renegades former lineup of Tyler Ninja Blevins, Hamza Commonly Abbaali, Cameron Victory X Thorlakson, Zane Penguin Hearon, and coach Kory Symbolic Arruda, players who seemed to always be on the verge of catching fire and taking the scene by storm.A brief overviewNinja, well-known among the community for his propensity to make flashy highlight plays, has been playing Halo competitively since Halo 3, but his rise to prominence did not occur until Halo: Reach. He was a part of the Cloud9 lineup in 2014, and after a few stints on other teams, hes making a return to the lineup. Boasting an impressive record, Ninja has not placed out of the Top 8 since his finish at the Major League Gaming Winter Championships in 2012.On the other hand, Halo veteran Victory X has been playing since 2005, and brings a different kind of utility to the newly minted roster: maturity and experience. He teamed up with Ninja throughout the entirety of Halo 5: Guardians and has been nothing but consistent all season.Commonly was picked up after the Halo World Championships at the end of the season when Evil Geniuses announced that it would be releasing him. A gold medal winner at the X-Games in Aspen, Commonly will look to provide stability to a roster that is largely influenced by its emotions.Penguin had the highest K/D (kill/death ratio) out of any player present at the HWC, and will aim to repeat his success at the Summer Finals.Journey to the Summer FinalsUnder its former organization Renegades, a different iteration of this roster perfformed at the Halo World Championships early this year in March.dddddddddddd It made it through the group stage looking strong and it faced off against Team Allegiance in the first round of bracket play, amassing a 2-0 lead. But because of its tendency to play emotionally, the team was eliminated in a shocking reverse sweep.The roster qualified for the inaugural Halo Pro League after placing second in its group at the qualifiers held in Burbank, CA. The team started off with a promising 2-0 record by taking down Enigma 6 and Team Allegiance, then went through a rough patch in the middle of the season. It was later revealed that Commonly, one of the new additions to the roster, was fasting through those weeks, which had a negative effect on his performance. Luckily, Commonly and the rest of the team bounced back in Week 6 with another 2-0 performance, then had a nightmare final week that nearly cost it a trip to the Summer Finals.In the final weeks of the HCS Pro league, in a manner eerily similar to its performance at the Halo World Championships, the team lost the games that mattered the most. It went 0-2 in Week 7 and left its fate in the hands of Evil Geniuses and Counter Logic Gaming. Luckily, CLG swept EG, and in doing so, secured the fourth seed in the Summer Finals for the team.Cloud9 now faces the daunting task of playing CLG, one of the best teams in the world, in the first round of the Summer Finals and will attempt to get the bitter taste of defeat out of its mouth from the last major tournament the roster attended. ' ' '