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  • December 26, 2019
    GLASGOW -- Kate Gillis says it was difficult to block out the noise. [b]Michael Green Jersey Online[/b] . The energetic 24-year-old is the captain and inspirational leader of Canadas womens field hockey team at the Commonwealth Games. Shes also the daughter of former Vancouver Canucks president and general manager Mike Gillis, who was fired in April after the team missed the playoffs for the first time in six years. Gillis and soon-to-be ousted head coach John Tortorella took most of the criticism for the Canucks struggles as media and fans alike dissected what had gone so horribly wrong for a team that came within a game of winning the 2011 Stanley Cup. Having your feet held to the fire is part of being an executive in professional sports, but that doesnt make it any easier for the families. Its something the younger Gillis learned first-hand this spring. "I think its always hard for people to say those things about your father. With the Internet these days, you can just have a free-for-all," she said this week. "Its tough to kind of differentiate between the truth and the fiction, but I just keep my head down. He definitely doesnt let us get affected, but in the long run its hard. "Its your dad." Kate Gillis grew up in Kingston, Ont., but moved to Vancouver after being scouted by the national team when she was still a teenager. That cross-country adventure was coincidentally part of the reason Mike Gillis, an NHL player agent at the time, was hired by the Canucks in the first place. "I was 17, finishing high school by correspondence and my parents didnt feel quite comfortable with me living out there by myself," said Gillis. "They moved just for the year until I went back to school, but ended up staying because my dad got a job." Despite all of the heartache in recent months, she said one of the positives of her father losing that job is that he can spend more time following her career. "It was definitely tough, but weve been able to spend so much more time together as a family," said Gillis, who has two brothers. "I actually just celebrated my 100th cap in England, which is a huge milestone, and my dad was able to be there. "He will be here for the whole tournament, and that normally doesnt happen because its (NHL) free agency, or the draft or pre-season or something. It was a very difficult circumstance when it happened but now were seeing him more relaxed, he has more time, and hes able to capitalize on these sort of events." Canadas womens field hockey team has not made the Olympics since 1992 and is using the Commonwealth Games in Scotland as a measuring stick ahead of next summers Pan American Games in Toronto, which will serve as the qualifying event for Rio 2016. "Were a young team. Weve made lots of progress over 12 months and the opportunity to play in a tournament like this definitely gives us an idea of where were at," said Canadian head coach Ian Rutledge. "We want to make sure we give this event the respect it deserves. Were obviously looking to do our best and play as well as we can and finish as high as we can -- thats the objective. But thinking longer term its also an opportunity to gauge where were at ahead of Toronto 2015." Canada currently ranks 22nd in the world and has lost its two opening matches at the Glasgow National Hockey Centre, 4-2 to No. 13 India on Thursday and 2-0 to No. 11 South Africa on Friday. Next up is No. 31 Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday, and the biggest test of the group stage on Wednesday against fourth-ranked New Zealand. Meanwhile, the 16th-ranked Canadian men lost their opener 3-1 to No. 6 New Zealand on the first day of competition and will tackle No. 13 Malaysia on Saturday, No. 29 Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday and No. 5 England on Thursday. Rutledge said Gillis sets the tone for the countrys womens team with her passion and dedication to a sport that she hadnt even heard of until making her varsity team in Grade 9. "Her work rate is immense -- one of the best Ive seen from any athlete in the world," he said. "But more importantly its the quality she brings off the field. Shes a natural leader. Shes very aware of whats going on around the team and in the team. She backs up what she says. Her actions often speak louder than her words. "Shes the hardest trainer, the most committed, the most dedicated, and I think the rest of the team finds that inspiring. She sets standards. Its easy to talk a good game, but she shows what a good game looks like. Shes a fantastic role model." Gillis said she and her teammates want to help grow the sport in Canada, especially with the Pan Am Games on home soil just 12 months away. "What most people dont know is field hockey is so popular almost everywhere else," she said. "Were really looking forward to bringing our sport home and letting people see what we play and how intense our game is." And despite a trying couple of months for her family, Kate Gillis can still lose herself in the sport she has grown to love -- something she learned from her father. "Once you step onto that field nothing else matters," she said. "Thats what hes taught me." [b]Carl Monroe Jersey Online[/b] . Here are some of the best from Week One and some to watch in Week Two: TOP PERFORMERS Anthony Allen, RB, Saskatchewan (176 YDS, 2 TD, 30 touches vs. Hamilton) - Powerfully-built back burst onto the scene in his CFL debut, after a couple of years in the NFL, playing 21 games with the Baltimore Ravens. [b]Cheap Jerseys[/b] . Asdrubal Cabrera had four hits and three RBIs, Michael Brantley also homered and the Indians beat the injury-riddled Minnesota Twins 9-4 Thursday for their first three-game winning streak this season.It doesn’t look like Team Canada can count on getting much, if any, NHL help for the 2015 World Junior Hockey Championship. Defenceman Aaron Ekblad is playing so well, and so much, that the Florida Panthers have already decided he’s not going anywhere. That’s not a surprise to Canada’s national junior team or anyone else, but it’s probably the one that will hurt the most as Canada’s most glaring need may be for a top-pairing, right-shooting blueliner. (Kelowna’s Madison Bowey is probably the only one fitting that description right now). Left winger Jonathan Drouin of the Tampa Bay Lightning falls into the “highly unlikely” to be loaned department. At this time, Drouin is playing, and contributing, to a winning Tampa team. He may only be on the fourth line (playing between nine and 14 minutes a night) and getting some second-unit power-play minutes now and again, but in the eyes of the Lightning, Drouin is playing, contributing and developing. Now, if in three weeks Drouin is a healthy scratch on a regular basis, then perhaps there’s a decision to be made, but that’s highly unlikely. That leaves a trio of forwards – Vancouver centre Bo Horvat, Ottawa centre/right winger Curtis Lazar and New York Ranger right winger Anthony Duclair – Team Canada will be awaiting word on. Lazar is currently nursing a minor injury, but he’s been playing and contributing well on a quasi-Kid Line with Mike Hoffman and Mark Stone. Categorize Lazar, for now, as in the doubtful (to be loaned) category. The only way that changes is if his minutes and/or level of play drops off markedly in the next three weeks. A week ago, the odds of the Rangers loaning Duclair to Team Canada looked pretty good, but his performance in the last couple of games have called that intto question, which is another way of saying it could go either way for Duclair, depending on how he’s performing, or not, at the last possible moment he can be released. [b]Cheap Jerseys Store[/b]. It may be a similar dynamic with Vancouver’s Horvat. A week ago, the general sense was the young centre could be returned to London of the Ontario Hockey League, but after last night’s three-assist performance and team president Trevor Linden’s vote of confidence, that’s not happening any time soon. Not going back to London isn’t necessarily the same as not being loaned to Team Canada, but if the player is winning faceoffs and contributing offensively, as he did last night in the big win over Chicago, he’s not going anywhere. It goes without saying, but we’ll say it anyway, that Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon won’t be on Team Canada. He’s still eligible for the tournament, but is so firmly entrenched as an NHLer that he’s never been an actual consideration. But on Horvat, Duclair and Lazar, a lot can change in three weeks, so those underage junors will be evaluated by their respective NHL teams at the last possible moment they can be loaned. That last possible moment, by the way, is December 19. That’s the day, at 11:59pm, when NHL rosters are frozen until after Christmas. If an NHL player is going to be assigned anywhere before Christmas – the minors, junior, Europe or loaned out to play in the WJHC – it must happen no later than December 19. Canada will name on December 1, next Monday, the 28 to 32 players invited to its final evaluation camp, which begins December 11 in Toronto, but the first of three pre-tourney games is not until December 19. Hockey Canada policy now does allow a player to join the team from the NHL as late as December 19. ' ' '