They took away her ‘C, but they didnt take away her heart. New England Patriots Jerseys Outlet . 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. Authentic New England Patriots Jerseys . -- When Steve Blake checked in at the scorers table with 5:25 remaining in the third quarter, Stephen Curry shook his head and shouted across the court, asking Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson not to take him out. Stitched New England Patriots Jerseys . Everton Preview West Ham manager Sam Allardyce has been around the game long enough to not get too high when things are going well and not get too low when they arent. http://www.cheappatriots.com/ . Groves signed with Cleveland as an unrestricted free agent last year after a season with Arizona. He was in the linebacker rotation and had a sack in the season opener against Miami.BOSTON - As a Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster, Nomar Garciaparra watched Clayton Kershaw become the dominant pitcher in the National League, winning three of the last four NL Cy Young Awards — the last one unanimously.But when fans ask if hes ever witnessed anyone as good as the L.A. left-hander, Garciaparra stops them cold.Hang on, he says, I got to play with Pedro Martinez.The former Red Sox shortstop was already in Boston when the reigning NL Cy Young winner arrived from the Montreal Expos in 1997. And he saw the Dominican right-hander win the AL award twice with the Red Sox, in back-to-back seasons in 1999-2000 that established him as one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball history.In that two-year period — in the middle of a golden age of hitting — Martinez went 41-10 with a 1.90 ERA and 597 strikeouts. After that, all he did was anchor the staff that helped the Red Sox earn their cathartic World Series victory in 2004, ending an eight-decade drought.Martinez went on to pitch four seasons with the New York Mets, three of them injury-plagued, and returned to the World Series with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2009 before retiring. Five years later, he is eligible for the baseball Hall of Fame and likely to be among the inductees announced Tuesday.Like Randy Johnson, who is also making his first appearance on the ballot, Martinez is a virtual certainty to be enshrined in July; each has a chance to break Tom Seavers record of 98.84 per cent of the ballots cast.Also like Johnson, Martinez was an imposing presence on the mound. But while the 6-foot-10 left-hander could intimidate with his size, Martinez accomplished as much with control that allowed him to use all parts of the plate — including the inside.When he came out of the bullpen in relief for the finale of a 1999 AL Division Series game against Cleveland, the Indians batters were visibly deflated. Martinez, who had left Game 1 with a back strain, pitched six innings of no-hit relief to finish off the series.I wanted to make my presence be felt, Martinez said this summer when he returned to Boston for induction into the franchise Hall of Fame. Every time I went out there, I wanted to make sure that you knew, that you were aware, that I wasnt kidding out there. That this was my job. That Im here and Im going to be responsible for it.In all, Martinez finished with a 219-100 record and a 2.93 ERA. He struck out 3,154 batters and walked 760 in 2,827 innings. Custom Patriots Jerseys. He twice won 20 games, twice struck out more than 300 batters and twice posted an ERA below 2.00. He was an eight-time all-star, and five times he led the major leagues in ERA.In 1999, he went 23-4 with 313 strikeouts and a 2.07 ERA. He started the All-Star Game at Fenway park and struck out five of the six batters he faced, including fellow Hall of Fame candidates Larry Walker, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and Jeff Bagwell, as well as Barry Larkin, who was inducted in 2012.On Sept. 10 of that season, he fanned 17 New York Yankees — no ones ever done that before or since — during a one-hitter in which he faced one batter over the minimum. (Martinez does not have an official no-hitter, though he did pitch nine perfect innings for Montreal in 1995 before giving up a double to lead off the 10th.)After dispatching the Indians in the first round of the 99 playoffs, Martinez pitched seven shutout innings in Game 3 of the ALCS to beat Roger Clemens and the rival Yankees. After the season, he was a unanimous choice as the leagues top pitcher and missed adding the AL MVP because two voters left him off their ballots entirely.He won his third Cy Young award the next year, going 18-6 with a 1.74 ERA that was half of the next-best mark in the AL, Clemens 3.70. Martinez allowed 0.74 walks and hits per inning pitched — the fewest for a full season in baseball history.But his pitching was perhaps secondary to the electricity he brought to Fenway, adding a multicultural flavour to a ballpark that had been famously colorless — the Red Sox were the last major-league team to integrate — in a city resistant to all forms of change.On days he pitched, Dominican flags fluttered in the stands and fans chanted his name while banging drums to a Latin beat. The Boston Globe began running its baseball stories in Spanish alongside the English ones.Martinez himself wasnt above partaking in the festivities — when he wasnt pitching. His antics during one game were so distracting that Garciaparra tied him to a dugout pole with athletic tape — saving the last piece to cover Martinezs mouth.I wanted to be loose on the days I dont pitch. In the same way, I wanted to keep my teammate loose, said Martinez, who is now a special assistant to Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington. The season is really long. If you dont have fun, especially on the days youre not performing, its going to be a long season out there. 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