Canadas Kevin Koe is trying his best to avoid distractions and focus on curling as he prepares for the upcoming mens world curling championship.
[b]Quinndary Weatherspoon Jersey[/b] . There have been a few challenges for Koe in the leadup to the competition, which opens Saturday at Beijings Capital Indoor Stadium. Chief among them is news that there are changes coming to his rink next season. Koes current lineup features second Carter Rycroft, third Pat Simmons and lead Nolan Thiessen. Rycroft, whose wife is pregnant, has already said hell be taking a year off after this season. Kevin Martin confirmed to The Canadian Press that Marc Kennedy and Ben Hebert will be leaving his rink to join Koes team next season. Koe preferred to keep his focus on the world championship and declined to comment on the coming changes. The future plans of Simmons and Thiessen were unclear. It was the first major shakeup in whats expected to be a summer of significant change on the mens curling scene now that the four-year Olympic cycle is complete. The timing is less than ideal for Koe and his teammates. Gerry Peckham, the Canadian Curling Associations high-performance director, expects Koe to be able to lock in on the immediate task before him. "Our analysis of his performance skills and performance attributes would suggest that hes an incredibly focused individual and is seldom distracted by anything external to the game at hand," Peckham said. "I think those teammates have looked in each other in the eye again, squared their shoulders, are shaking each others hands and are now moving on to complete this journey of a world championship." Koe won gold in his only previous appearance at the world championship, taking top spot at the 2010 playdowns in Cortina DAmpezzo, Italy. At this years event, Canada will be a favourite along with Scotland, Sweden, Norway and China. The 12-team field is rounded out by the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Russia, Switzerland and the United States. "Canada used to be known obviously as a big favourite going in all the time but you quickly realize how the gap is changing," Koe said. "Our experience in 2010 was awesome in Italy and it was a great feeling to win. But this is just as important for us. "To get to be two-time world champs would be pretty neat and kind of validate our first win." Koe arrived early in the week so that hed have time to adjust to the 14-hour time change. He was greeted by plenty of smog, heat and humidity. Hes also still getting used to the various culinary options in the Chinese capital. "Its a bit of a culture shock for us," Koe said in a recent interview. "Big difference from what were used to. Obviously a huge city but it will be a great experience." Koe had a strong performance at the Tim Hortons Brier and is enjoying another solid year on the World Curling Tour. Hes third on the money list and fourth in the order of merit standings behind only Olympic champ Brad Jacobs, Howard and Jeff Stoughton. The only change from the 2010 lineup is that Simmons has replaced Blake MacDonald on the Calgary-based rink. "We dont get too excited or too worked up as a team," Koe said. "Were pretty calm. Obviously the experience of being to one (world championship) will help for sure, especially when youre coming to a foreign country where everything is different. "At least we can rely on the experience once we actually get on the ice of knowing weve been to the worlds and we did well last time." Its the first World Curling Federation world championship event to be staged in China. The venue was used for volleyball competition at the 2008 Summer Olympics. The Chinese team skipped by Rui Liu is coming off a fourth-place result at the Sochi Games. Scotlands Ewan MacDonald has three world titles to his name although this is his first appearance as skip. Thomas Ulsrud, who won Olympic silver at the 2010 Games in Vancouver, will skip the Norwegian team. "We know most of these teams and theyre all pretty good," Koe said. "Not too many easy games out there." Swedens Niklas Edin is not back to defend the title he won last year in Victoria. Instead, Oskar Eriksson will skip the Swedish entry. Round-robin play will continue through Thursday evening and tiebreakers will be used if needed to determine the top four teams. The Page playoff system will be used ahead of the medal games on April 6. Koe said the ice conditions in the venue will be a huge factor. "They do have some great icemakers but its really warm here," he said. "Its supposedly pushing 30 (degrees Celsius) here and they had an event in the facility early in the year and there was a lot of problems. But I think theyve brought in some dehumidifiers and air conditioning to cool the arena down. "Thats the big worry here. If the ice is good, I for sure like our chances. Bad ice would be a bit of an equalizer I think. But when you have some of the best icemakers in the world, Im sure theyll get it figured out." Canada has won gold three of the last four years at this event. Stoughton was victorious in 2011 at Regina and Howard won at Basel, Switzerland in 2012. The Canadians are scheduled to open against Denmarks Rasmus Stjerne on Saturday. "You have four very solid, confident, resolved individuals (who are) mentally tough," said Peckham. "I think they realize the significance and the importance of this world championship to themselves individually and as a collective, and then of course representing this curling nation of Canada. "So I think theyve gone out the door with their game face on." The world championship will return to Canada next year as Halifax plays host.
[b]Luka Samanic Spurs Jersey[/b] . -- All-Pro tight end Jimmy Graham and the New Orleans Saints met Tuesday for arbitration on his contract.
[b]Sean Elliott Spurs Jersey[/b] .com) - Ryan Johansens creative moves and hometown appeal highlighted Team Folignos successful night at the NHL All- Star Skills Competition.Defending champion Sevilla rescued a 2-2 draw at Rijeka in the Europa League, while Everton also snatched a point at impressive Russian side Krasnodar on Thursday.Substitute Stephane Mbia levelled in stoppage time after Zoran Kvrzics deflected shot appeared to have given the Croatian side the win.Iago Aspas gave Sevilla the lead in the 26th minute but the match was turned on its head shortly after halftime when Timothee Kolodziejczak was sent off for fouling Rijeka forward Andrej Kramaric, who fired in the spot kick.Sevilla tops Group G by a point from Feyenoord, which beat Standard Liege 2-1. Liege was tied on points with Feyenoord.In Group H, Everton has two more points than Krasnodar and Lille, after the French side drew 1-1 at Wolfsburg.Krasnodar went close to taking all three points before Samuel Etoo equalized with seven minutes remaining, guiding home Leighton Baines cross from close range to spare Everton blushes.Everton defended poorly and gifted Krasnodar the lead shortly before halftime. Phil Jagielka attempted to clear Odil Ahmedovs pass but succeeded only in flicking the ball to Ari, who calmly slotted it past Tim Howard.Krasnodar, which was founded only six years ago, could have doubled its lead after a fantastic run by another Brazilian, Wanderson, but he hit the crossbar.In Germany, a stunning long-range volley from Kevin De Bruyne handed Wolfsburg a share of the spoils. Lilles Divock Origi broke the deadlock from the penalty spot five minutes earlier following a Ricardo Rodriguez handball.There was disappointment for anotheer English Premier League side as a late penalty saw Tottenham held to 1-1 at home by Besitkas.
[b]Rudy Gay Spurs Jersey[/b]. Tottenham appeared to be on course for its first group win after Harry Kane scored against the run of play, but Demba Ba stroked home a penalty in the final minute following a handball from Vlad Chiriches, who struggled all match.Greek side Asteras Tripolis leads Group C after a 2-0 win over Partizan Belgrade.Marek Hamsik scored against his old club and set up another to help Napoli to a 2-0 win at Slovan Bratislava. Substitute Gonzalo Higuain headed in the second less than a minute after going on to see Napoli move to the top of Group I, as Sparta Prague beat Young Boys 3-1.Fiorentina was also three points clear in its group following a comfortable 3-0 win at Dinamo Minsk. Guingamp secured a surprise 2-0 win over PAOK.Inter Milan recovered from a 4-1 mauling in the Italian league to beat Azerbaijani club Qarabag 2-0. Inter survived a couple of scares, and was jeered off at halftime, 1-0 up, before Mauro Icardi sealed the victory with a powerful diagonal shot five minutes from time.Walter Mazzarris side has maximum points in Group F, four more than second-place Saint-Etienne, which was held to a draw by Dnipro.Elsewhere, Gerard Moreno and Javier Espinosa scored twice as Villarreal routed Apollon 4-0 to leapfrog above its opponent to the top of Group A. Zurich drew 1-1 at home to Borussia Moenchengladbach.Celtic moved level with Salzburg at the top of its group after beating Dinamo Zagreb 1-0. Salzburg won 2-1 at Astra. ' ' '
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