TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Ice dancers Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Toronto posted their best result this season with a silver medal on Thursday at the ISU Four Continents Championships figure skating competition.
Dalvin Cook Womens Jersey . Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue of the U.S., took the gold with 158.25 points. Gilles and Poirier, the leaders after the short dance, followed at 153.71 and Alexandra Aldridge and Daniel Eaton of the U.S., were third at 144.95. Gilles and Poirier impressed with a stationary lift and two rotational lifts, but lost a few points on a straight line lift and the diagonal steps. The Canadians earned a season-best of 91.33 points for the free dance. "Weve had a seasons best in both programs. Thats definitely more than we can ask for," said Poirier. "I think today the performance was a bit tight, compared to the times weve done it in the past, but there were some positive things to take out of this. Were going to take this competition with us, because it taught us a lot about resilience and about being able to come back so quickly after nationals." Poirier suffered a serious ankle injury last spring in training that required surgery. They were fifth and sixth on the Grand Prix circuit this season and were fourth at the Canadian championships two weeks ago to fall short for a berth on the Olympic team. Kharis Ralph of Toronto and Asher Hill of Pickering, Ont., were fourth at 137.03 and Nicole Orford of Burnaby, B.C., and Thomas Williams of Okotoks, Alta., fifth at 133.42. In womens competition, Kanako Murakami gracefully executed a double triple toe jump and a triple flip jump that put her at the top of a tightly contested race with 64.73 points, just ahead of Li Zijun of China on 62.84 and fellow Japanese Haruka Imai at 62.72. Murakami was on her way to her first Winter Olympics and said the Four Continents was building her confidence and refining her program. "I didnt want to come to the Four Continents but now Im glad I came here," she said. "Of course there are things that can be improved." Amelie Lacoste of Delson, Que., was 10th, Veronik Mallet of Sept-Iles, Que., 11th and Alaine Chartrand of Prescott, Ont., 15th. The free skate is on Sunday.
Dru Samia Vikings Jersey . Brooks replaces right-hander Yordano Ventura, who left his last outing with a sore elbow. Ventura is expected to miss one start. Brooks has made one relief appearance for the Royals this season, allowing six runs in two innings in a May 3 loss to Detroit.
Brett Favre Jersey . Cavaliers shooting guard Craig Ehlo makes a solid play on the ball, but still Jordan hits the amazing shot.(SportsNetwork.com) - The Edmonton Oilers will seek to cool off the red-hot New York Rangers on Thursday night when they visit Madison Square Garden. The Oilers, who currently are in last place in the West, have won four of their last five games and recently posted a 3-2 regulation decision in Buffalo. After losing 4-0 in Boston on Saturday to begin its four-game road trip, a swing that will carry the club into the Olympic break, the Oilers bounced back with Mondays win over the Sabres. Matt Hendricks scored the winner in the third period to help Edmonton edge Buffalo at First Niagara Center. Jeff Petry and Justin Schultz also scored for the Oilers, while Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 42 shots in the win. "He played great because we put him behind the eight ball a lot with all the penalties we took and shots we gave up," said Schultz of Bryzgalov. "He really came up big several times tonight." The Oilers went 0-for-5 on the power play, but killed off five of Buffalos six chances with the extra man. Ben Scrivens is expected to be back between the pipes for the Oilers on Thursday. Scrivens is 2-3-0 with a 2.21 goals against average and .944 save percentage in five games with Edmonton since coming over last month in a trade with Los Angeles. The 27-year-old netminder set an NHL record for saves in a regular-season shutout with 59 stops in a 3-0 win over San Jose on Jan. 29, but he yielded four goals on 41 shots in Saturdays setback in Boston. Edmonton improved to 9-19-4 as the visiting team this season. The Oilers will close their pre-Olympic schedule with Fridays game in New Jersey. The Oilers have won three of the last five meetings in the series with the Rangers overall, but New York has taken two of three and six of the last eight encounters in the Big Apple. The last time Edmonton visited MSG was on Nov. 14, 2010, when the Rangers picked up a victory with an 8-2 rout. The Rangers have earned four straight victories and the current winning streak gives New York wins in seven of nine and 10 of its past 13 games.
Dalvin Cook Jersey. The Blueshirts have won three of the four tilts during their recent hot streak by three or more goals and are outscoring the opposition by an 18-6 margin during that span. New York hasnt won five in a row since the 2011-12 season when it went 5-0 from Dec. 30-Jan. 10 of that campaign. Despite their recent hot play, the second-place Rangers still find themselves 17 points behind Pittsburgh for the Metropolitan Division lead. New York is three points in front of Columbus for the divisions second spot and also three clear of the eighth and final playoff spot in the East. Ryan Callahan played a standout role for the Rangers in their most recent win, as the team captain shook off recent trade rumors to score a pair of first- period goals that set the tone in Tuesdays 5-1 home rout of the Colorado Avalanche. Callahan, mentioned as a possible candidate to be moved prior to the upcoming trade deadline due to his unrestricted free agent status at seasons end, also added an assist on Brad Richards late tally to help the Rangers record their longest win streak of the season. Richards and Derick Brassard each posted a goal and assist and Anton Stralman also lit the lamp for New York. Henrik Lundqvist did his part as well between the pipes, turning back 27-of-28 shots in the triumph. "We had a real strong start," Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault remarked. "Obviously we were meeting a team that was tired and we were fresh. It was their third game in four nights, but we came out the way I thought we needed to come out and that was a determining factor tonight." The Rangers, who are 14-13-3 at MSG this season, will try to complete a three- game homestand tonight with a perfect record. New York will play its final tilt before the Olympic break Friday night in Pittsburgh. ' ' '
