KRASNAYA POLAYNA, Russia - Two hundred metres into the race, Brian
McKeever was suddenly on his backside and it appeared his ninth career
Paralympic gold medal was slipping away.
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But he wasnt letting it go without a fight and the Canmore, Alta.,
cross-country skier, led by guide Graham Nishikawa of Whitehorse, caught
up to the pack to win the mens visually impaired sprint at the Sochi
Paralympics on Wednesday.
Its McKeevers second gold of the 2014 Games and the 12th medal of his
illustrious Paralympic career. The 34-year-old also won gold in the
20-kilometre event on Monday.
The two Canadians easily advanced to the final where a Russian skier
stepped on McKeevers pole, causing him to crash around the 200-metre
mark of the one-kilometre race.
But McKeever scrambled to his feet and, with the help of Nishikawa,
caught up to the rest of the pack.
"It wouldnt be right for me to tell you what I said in my head, but once
the cuss words were out, the only thing you can do is get back up and
race," said McKeever. "I thought we were clear, but that is normal and
it happens in sprinting when you are all fighting and tight. Everyone is
going flat out. It is intense and everyone is at their limit. We are
just fortunate it happened in the first 200 metres and not at the end so
we had time to catch up."
Meanwhile, alpine sit-skier Kimberly Joines of Rossland, B.C., finished
second in the womens slalom although the results are still unofficial
after a German skier appealed her disqualification from the first run. A
decision is expected Thursday morning.
Not including a medal for Joines, Canada has eight medals (two gold, two
silver, four bronze) and sits third in the overall tally. Russia has a
wide lead with 47 total medals while Ukraine is second with 14. Canadas
goal is to finish in the top three in gold medals but is currently in
fourth with McKeevers two. Ukraine is third with three while Germany is
second with five and Russia leads with 16.
Nishikawa admitted he felt a rush of panic when he saw McKeever go down.
"It wasnt until we got back up around the Russians and had the Swedes in
sight that I felt a huge relief," he said.
McKeever credited Nishikawa with getting him the gold.
"The snow was so heavy today," he said. "He basically towed me up that
hill and ... and gave us a chance. It is not how we planned things, but
that was a pretty awesome day."
Swedens Zebastian Modin hung on for the silver medal, while Russias Oleg
Ponomarev won bronze.
Earlier this week, Nishikawa shared guiding duties with Erik Carleton to
lead McKeever to his first gold of the 2014 Games. But Carletons name
was on the start list so he was the only one to receive a gold medal.
Nishikawas performance Wednesday has earned him a gold of his own.
"It feels absolutely awesome," said Nishikawa, who races on the
able-bodied World Cup circuit. "I said earlier this is a whole new world
for me. Im so impressed by everything. This whole experience has been
amazing and I just wanted to do whatever I could to be here and help
Brian. We have been friends for a long time so this is very special."
A handful of other Canadians also competed in the sprint races. Chris
Klebl of Canmore qualified for the mens sit-skiing heats but did not
advance to the final. Robbi Weldon of Thunder Bay, Ont., along with her
guide Phil Wood of Canmore had their day come to an end in the
semifinals of the womens visually impaired category, while Paralympic
rookie Brittany Hudak of Prince Albert, Sask., did not advance past the
womens standing semifinals.
In curling, Canada improved to 6-1 and clinched a spot in the semifinals
with a 10-4 victory over South Korea.
Akeem Dent Texans Jersey . -- Kelly Scott became the first curler to advance to the Page
playoffs of the 2013 Capital One Road to the Roar Olympic pre-trial
tournament with an 8-5 win over Renee Sonnenberg in the womens A-event
final on Thursday. John Simon Texans Jersey .
"We need to make sure that were bulletproof," Rosberg said after Daniel
Ricciardo passed the hobbled Silver Arrow with two laps to go to win the
Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday.
"Having lost the win, thats very, very disappointing, definitely, and
also disappointing for us as a team.ST. JOHNS, N.L. -- Ben Chiarot
doesnt expect much offence out of his team.
So it wasnt a surprise for the defenceman that the IceCaps won -- he
just didnt expect it to be so easy.
"We dont usually score that many goals, our games are usually
tight-checking games," said Chiarot. "To get five is good. Its nice."
Chiarot scored and Eddie Pasquale made 24 saves as St. Johns beat the
Hershey Bears 5-1 in American Hockey League action on Friday.
Ben Chiarot, John Albert, Jason Jaffray, Austen Brassard and JC Lipon
scored for the IceCaps (2-2-1). For Albert, Brassard and Jaffray, the
goals marked their first of the season.
Hershey forward Jeff Taffe scored for the Bears (0-2-1), while David
Leggio made 35 saves.
It was actually the second time this season St. Johns scored five goals
after they did it in a 5-1 win over Providence on Oct. 5.
"We are happy to get the two points and get some success," said IceCaps
head coach Keith McCambridge. "We know they will be coming hard
tomorrow, so we have to enjoy it for two minutes and then shift gears
and get ready for tomorrow."
McCambridge was happy with the teams offensive output, as well as their
penalty-killing prowess in holding the Bears to just one power-play goal
on six opportunities.
"Offensively, we were pretty creative and for the most ppart we were
able to not get too buried and not lose too much momentum when killing
off penalties," he said. Ryan Griffin Jersey.
Taffe opened the scoring with a wraparound power-play goal, sliding the
puck under a sprawling Pasquale at the 12:31 mark of the first period.
The IceCaps tied the game 28 seconds into the second, when a
cross-crease pass found Lipon who hit a one timer on the doorstep into a
wide-open net on the power play.
At the 8:59 into the third, Chiarot put the home team in the lead on a
shot through traffic, getting a deflection from a Hershey player on the
way.
"(Eric) ODell won the puck back from the faceoff and when I looked up I
saw their guy was coming out pretty hard, so I just tried to get the
puck by him," said Chiarot. "Their D-man tried to stop it and it
deflected off his stick and went up and over their goalies shoulder. It
was a bit of a lucky break, but we will take it."
Jaffray doubled the lead for the IceCaps with a slapshot coming in over
the blue-line at 10:13 in the third period.
IceCaps forward Carl Klingberg then carried the puck over the blue-line,
beating a defender wide and playing a pass across the crease for a
wide-open Albert to finish.
Brassard added more salt to the wound, breaking in the zone and beating
Leggio high glove with 1:06 left in the game.
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