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OTTAWA - Qualifying for Canadas Olympic Skating Team takes place this weekend at The Canadian Tire National Skating Championships in Ottawa This is not just another national championships. It is the chance of a lifetime to make the Canadian Olympic Team and its a celebration of 100 years of the Canadian Championships. Canadian skating is celebrating its past at these Championships and also its future, as based on stellar results, Canada has qualified to send the largest skating team to Sochi. This is about Canadian skaters continuing to break new ground at home and on the international stage. Patrick Chan is on the verge, he hopes, of being the first Canadian man to win Olympic Gold. He has treated us in the past to superb performances at nationals, en route to his World Championship wins. In light of his performances this season, we can expect nothing less of him here. Saving and peaking are words not in his vocabulary. He will no doubt hold nothing back as he goes after his 7th Canadian title. This is about what is believed to be a Canadian farewell to Olympic Champions and ice dance legends Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, who unless we can convince them otherwise, will leave competitive skating after the Games. They have been building throughout this season and are looking stronger and fitter, more refined and in tune each time out. They will look at their performance here as a gift to themselves to be able to perform their Olympic programs in front of their Canadian fans while in peak condition. They will likely be soaking it all in and storing it to memory so that it can be looked back on fondly down the road. So too I bet, will the audiences. This is a welcome back to the nationals for six-time Canadian Medalists Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje. Kaitlyn was injured last year in practice a month before nationals and so was unable to compete. Her injury, a broken fibula, was so severe the doctors even ruled out the possibility of competing at Worlds last March. Three months to the day after the accident and after methodically and relentlessly working through the pain of rehab, Kaitlyn and Andrew competed and finished 5th at The World Championships and once again showed us how they can grow stronger and more resilient through adversity. Injury free and at the top of their game, they hope that they will put up the kind of numbers here that are worthy of podium contention in Sochi. This is about two rival pair teams continuing the rich tradition of Canadian pairs as they duke it out once again for the Canadian title. Kirsten Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch were Canadian Champs in 2011, Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford in 2012. Last year in the closest of contests Meagan and Eric defended their title, beating Kirsten and Dylan by less than a point in the short and just over a point in the long. It was one of those events where when its over you literally sit back in your seat and think, "Wow! What a fight!" At last years World Championships, the edge once again went to Meagan and Eric who finished third and just one spot ahead of Kirsten and Dylan. Both teams have the same goals, Canadian title and Olympic medal. As teams, they cant get much closer. As a competition, it doesnt get much better. And then there are the unknowns. Kevin Reynolds, the quad king, who had a break-out season last year finishing 5th in the world, has not competed this year due to boot problems. There are seven guys going after three spots. Patricks got one of those spots and Kevin certainly has the credentials to earn the second, but he will be pressured in this, his first competition of the season. Canadian ladies champion Kaetlyn Osmond is feeling the same kind of heat as hers has been a season of untimely injuries which have cost her valuable training time. Six women fighting for two spots. Kaetlyn has posted by far the best scores to date, but she will contend with a Canadian Champion and some young and feisty up-and-comers and so will have to be on her toes, so to speak. This is about dreams coming true and bitter disappointments. About your last four years being defined by the next four minutes. About becoming a champion, a medalist, an Olympic team member or going down trying. As Roosevelt said in The Man in the Arena, "His place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." This is the 100-year anniversary of the Canadian Skating Championships. The tradition continues. STANFORD, Calif. -- Stanford squashed Oregons national championship hopes again, schooling the Ducks in power football. Florida State might want to send the Cardinal a thank you card. Tyler Gaffney ran for 157 yards and No. 6 Stanford hammered No. 2 Oregon for three quarters before holding off a furious rally by the fast-paced Ducks for a 26-20 victory Thursday night. The Cardinal made it two in a row against the Ducks, who havent lost to any other team in the last two seasons. "If you control the line of scrimmage on either side of the ball you can beat these guys," Stanford coach David Shaw said. "Were a big, physical football team that plays well together." Kevin Hogan ran for a touchdown and played a mistake-free game at quarterback for Stanford (8-1, 6-1 Pac-12) as the Cardinal put on a clinic in how to play keep away from a team that was averaging 55.6 points. Stanford ran 66 times for 274 yards -- sometimes behind as many as nine offensive linemen -- and held the ball for 42 1/2 minutes. Heisman Trophy contender Marcus Mariota, who said he was playing on a left knee that was a "little banged up," was inaccurate and under pressure much of the night. He finished 20 of 34 for 250 yards with a fumble, but threw two fourth-quarter touchdown passes, sandwiched around a blocked field goal return for a score by Rodney Hardrick, to pull the Ducks (8-1, 5-1) to 26-20 with 2:12 left. Oregon recovered one onside kick, but couldnt do it twice, and Stanford ran out the clock. "We dont hold the cards anymore," first-year Ducks coach Mark Helfrich said. Those belong to No. 3 Florida State now. The Seminoles dont have to worry about the Ducks nudging them out of second place in the BCS standings behind Alabama. FSU was in danger of slipping to third in the BCS if Oregon could have registered a big road victory against a quality opponent. Now, the Seminoles face a manageable remaining schedule with a good chance to win their way to the BCS championship game at the Rose Bowl in January. Unbeaten Baylor and Ohio State have to be happy, too, with one less hurdle to clear. As for Stanford, it gets first place in the Pac-12 North and the inside track to another league title game and Rose Bowl. And maybe if things get really weird, the Cardinal can get back in the national title hunt. Stanford won a three-point game in overtime at Oregon last year to deny the Ducks a chance to play for the national championship, but it didnt look as if there would be much drama in the return bout on the Farm. Stanford led 17-0 at halftime and added three more fieldd goals by Jordan Williamson in the second half.dddddddddddd Oregon looked like dead Ducks, down 26-0 early in the fourth with Stanford hammering away behind Gaffney, who set a school record with 45 carries. "I feel like I just played a football game," Gaffney said with a smile. Even after Oregon finally broke the seal with a 23-yard touchdown pass from Mariota to Daryle Hawkins, the Cardinal went on another time consuming drive and attempted a long field goal that would have sealed it. Instead, the Ducks blocked it, Hardrick scooped and scored from 65 yards out with 5:08 left and suddenly it was interesting. Only 5 seconds later it got even more interesting when the Ducks recovered an onside kick. They quickly moved inside the Stanford 5, but got pushed back to a fourth-and-goal from the 12. Mariota threw a touchdown pass to Pharaoh Brown with 2:12 remaining, but the time it took the Ducks to get in while burning a timeout was key. Stanford grabbed the next onside kick and Oregon was powerless to stop the clock. Stanford put Oregon in a 14-0 hole, the Ducks largest deficit of the season, with a power football clinic that started when the Cardinal came up with a fourth-and-goal stop from the 4 in the first quarter. Stanford followed with a punishing 96-yard drive that included one long strike from Hogan to Michael Rector. Gaffneys 2-yard plunge made it 7-0. With a little help from a pass interference call that wiped out an Oregon interception, Stanford made it 14-0 on Hogans option keeper from 11 yards out with 11:26 left in the second quarter. And just when it looked as though Oregon was about to get back in it, Stanford linebacker Shayne Skov ripped the ball away from DeAnthony Thomas at the Stanford 2. Stanford followed that with another 96-yard drive, this one on 20 plays that ended with Williamson kicking a 19-yard field goal to end the half 17-0. It was the first time Oregon had been shut out in the first half since Oct. 10, 2009, against UCLA, and a lot of people had to be left wondering how Stanford lost to Utah last month. At halftime, Stanford retired John Elways No. 7 jersey and the Hall of Fame quarterback concluded the ceremony by imploring the fans to stay into the game and the Cardinal to keep kicking Duck ... tail. They obliged, and Oregon is again on the outside looking in at the national title race. "It is tough and it is hard because a lot of these guys have really worked hard," Mariota said. "It aint over. It happens. Were going to come back stronger than ever and were just going to take it in stride." Cheap China Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China China NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys China ' ' '
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