Oddly enough on the eve of these Winter

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Phil Kessels star continues to shine. One of the hottest scorers in the NHL prior to the Olympic break, Kessel has been Team USAs most dynamic player through the preliminary round scoring four goals and seven points in three games to help his team remain undefeated. Kessel scored three goals and was the first star of the game as the United States registered an easy 5-1 win over Slovenia Sunday. The Toronto Maple Leafs right-winger shot Team USA into a quick 2-0 lead scoring on his teams first shot of the game and then batting a puck out of mid-air a few minutes later. Kessel completed his hat trick at 11:05 of the second period when he popped a rebound past Slovenian goaltender Luka Gracnar. "Im just trying to help my team win; do whatever I can," Kessel said. He added it is a bonus to be playing on a line with James van Riemsdyk, his linemate in Toronto. Joe Pavelski of the San Jose Sharks in the lines centre. "It helps a lot that I play with JVR all year," Kessel said. "I played with Pav at the last Olympics and were just trying to keep going." Slovenia, coming off a thrilling 3-1 victory over Slovakia Saturday, had nothing left in the tank to face the United States. It was as though its win over Slovakia was its Stanley Cup victory and the team checked out mentally. Likewise, the Americans celebrated a monumental shootout win over the host Russians knowing they could go at half speed and not lose on this day. A goal in the final minute by Slovenia was inconsequential other than the fact it affected Team USAs goal differential. The Americans complete the round robin with a 3-0 record having outscored their opponents 15-4. The game had all the intensity of two last-place teams in a beer league hooking up late in the season. The Slovenians had a couple of decent scoring chances, but that said, they were never really in the game. The United States took the lead and then coasted to the victory. With 13 goals since Jan. 2, Pavelski has been one of the hottest scorers in the NHL in 2014. He has continued to hold a .... hand in the Olympics scoring a goal and adding three assists through three games. Ryan Miller was the hero of the 2010 Olympic Games for Team USA, leading his team to the gold medal game and earning most valuable player honors. He had a 5-1 record in Vancouver, but has been designated as the teams backup goalie in this years tournament, giving way to Jonathan Quick of the Los Angeles Kings. Miller made his first start against Slovenia. Forward Derek Stepan of the New York Rangers also saw his first action replacing Max Pacioretty in the lineup. Slovenias best player, Anze Kopitar, was late joining his team for the second period and then skipped the third period all together. No reason was given for his absence. John Carlson Capitals Jersey . Adam LaRoche will take that. "I like our position in the standings and I like how our team is playing," LaRoche said after Washington swept a day-night doubleheader from the Cubs on Saturday. Braden Holtby Jersey . LOUIS -- When Braves second baseman Tyler Pastornicky backpedaled into shallow right field to catch the popup and Jason Heyward didnt arrive fast enough to take charge, Kolten Wong got the green light. http://www.jerseyhockeycapitalsstore.com/authentic-nicklas-backstrom-capitals-jersey-sale/ .com) - Eric Fehrs goal 42 seconds into overtime lifted the Washington Capitals to a 5-4 come-from-behind victory over Columbus, halting the Blue Jackets seven-game win streak. Capitals Jersey . made a diving catch in left field for the final out in a 1-0 victory over the Miami Marlins in a regular-season finale Sunday. Zimmermann (14-5) allowed only two baserunners, finishing with 10 strikeouts and one walk in the fifth no-hitter in the majors this year. Braden Holtby Capitals Jersey .com) - There may be a debate in Philadelphia about who should be the starting quarterback of the Eagles.Baseballs Winter Meetings used to be the highlight of the off season. They still are, to a certain degree, but not nearly what they once were. Last year at Nashville, for instance, things were pretty quiet. You might say what turned out to be the biggest story was Boston signing outfielder/DH Jonny Gomes to a two-year deal worth $10 million. The biggest trade, if you can believe it, was probably Miami dealing former Jays shortstop Yunel Escobar to Tampa Bay for shortstop prospect Derek Dietrich. Alex Anthopoulos has presided over four Winter Meetings and has made just two trades of note over that span. In 2010, he dealt right-hander Shaun Marcum to Milwaukee and in 2011 he shipped pitching prospect Nestor Molina to the Chicago White Sox for reliever, maybe future closer, Sergio Santos. To be fair to Alex, he did most of his heavy lifting last year before the meetings; including that mammoth 12-player deal with the Marlins. If you dig a little deeper over the past four years, some of the biggest moves have backfired on the teams that appeared at the time to be striking gold. In 2010, the Red Sox pulled off a four-player deal with San Diego to get Adrian Gonzalez and then signed Carl Crawford to the largest deal ever given to a position player who had never hit 20 home runs in a season; Crawford leaving Tampa Bay to sign a seven-year, $142 million deal with the Bosox. Less than two years later, on August 25, 2012, Boston packaged Gonzalez and Crawford into an eight-player deal with the Dodgers that in the long run helped change the fortunes of both clubs. In 2011 at Dallas, the Angels stole the show with a couple of major free agent signings, getting Albert Pujols on a 10-year, $240 million deal and left-handed starter C. J Wilson on a five-year pact worth $77.5 million. Pujols had a decent first years with the Angels but then had his second year cut short by a foot injury and only hit 17 homers in 99 games. Some questioned whether he will ever return to the "superstar" form of his St. Louis days; especially when he will be 34 next season. Wilson has pitching pretty well for the Angels, racking up a 30-17 record with a 3.60 ERA, but the Angels havent come close to making the playoffs since these two arrived on the scene. The Halos only compounded their troubles by signing Rangers free agent left fielder Josh Hamilton to a five year, $125 million deal on December 13 of last year. Hamilton only hit .250 with 21 homerrs and 79 runs batted in.dddddddddddd. So in the last four Winter Meetings, there seems to have been more questionable moves than good. In 2009 at Indianapolis, the biggest news might have involved the media. Baseball print and broadcast legend Peter Gammons left ESPN to join MLB.com, the MLB Network and NESN. Oddly enough on the eve of these Winter Meetings in Orlando, ESPN announced Curt Schilling would be moving into the both on Sunday Night Baseball with Dan Shulman and John Kruk; Schilling replacing Orel Hershiser, who is heading for the Dodgers new network. After all that happened last week, including Robby Cano signing with Seattle and Carlos Beltran joining the Yankees, you have to wonder if this is going to be a relatively quiet week in Orlando. For the fans sake, I hope it isnt. I mentioned in my last article that the new executive director of the Players Association, Tony Clark, once hit three homers in a game against the Blue Jays. Well, I researched it a little further. The game was at Rogers Centre on August 28, 2004. Clark had started the game going 0-for-2, and then in the 6th inning he slugged a three-run homer off lefty Ted Lilly. In the 8th inning, he added a solo shot off Jason Frasor and in the 9th another bases empty blast off Kerry Ligtenberg. So Clark wound up going 3-for-5 with five runs batted in, in an 18-6 Yankees blowout win. That, however, wasnt the most unusual aspect of that game. The Blue Jays scored two runs in the bottom of the 8th and actually shaved the Yanks lead to 9-6. Things were getting dicey, so skipper Joe Torre brought in Mariano Rivera with two out in the 8th. Rivera did his job retiring all four men he faced. The Yankees, though, scored nine runs in the top of the 9th to turn it into a laugher. Nevertheless, Rivera got his 45th save in a 12-run victory. I would doubt that ever happened before or since. Its ..... the stuff you can discover on Baseball Almanac. Roy Halladay, whos battled through shoulder issues the last two years, is going to retire. In fact, he is going to call it a career as a Blue Jay. He will sign a one-day contract with the Jays before officially retiring. That would lead you to believe that if Roy makes it to the Hall of Fame one day he will go in as a Blue Jay. Also quite the coincidence that Halladay would retire in the same off-season as his good friend and former Jays teammate Chris Carpenter. The game will miss them both. Wholesale NFL Jerseys ' ' '