Bayern Trupp » plain and simple, again,

MONTREAL -- Sarah Koltuns Yukon rink may be paving the way for a new generation of northern curlers. The team representing the Territories lost twice at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts on Monday -- both by a score of 9-3 after eight ends -- to Team Canadas Rachel Homan in the afternoon and Quebecs Allison Ross in the evening. But theres promise in the Yukons (1-4) play. Theyre the youngest team at this years Scotties. Skip Sarah Koltun, lead Andrea Sinclair and second Patty Wallingham are all 20 years old, while third Chelsea Duncan is 21. The young women from Whitehorse have put their studies on hold for the year in order to stay in the Yukon and train for the season. "Its just something we decided was worth it in order to become more successful," said Koltun. "In the sport in general, teams are becoming more successful at a young age." They raise money year-round and receive funding from the Yukon government to offset the cost of travel expenses to tournaments. After skipping seven consecutive years at the Canadian junior championship, Koltun is now the youngest skip ever to play in this, her first Scotties. "Its been really good so far," she said. "And to have the crowd on our side is really cool. Weve been enjoying it a lot. The teams here are a lot stronger." In their evening match, Quebec Ross (1-4) broke a deadlock in the seventh end, putting up a four-spot with her last stone. "It wasnt my first instinct," Ross said of the tough shot that ultimately gave her the victory. "I was just going to draw for two. And my lead (Pamela Nugent) said, Is the double there? We went and looked. We figured it was, and that we might as well try it out." Quebec stole another two in the eighth to record their first victory of the Scotties to the delight of the hometown fans. "We made some shots that made it worth the crowd cheering for us," said Ross. "It feels really good -- finally. We played as well as we played in the other games, but it actually went our way this time. Nice change." The evening draw saw tight finishes across all other sheets. Newfoundlands Heather Strong (4-1) and P.E.I.s Kim Dolan (2-3) took a 4-4 tie into the 10th end, where Strong scored a deuce for the 6-4 victory. Nova Scotias Heather Smith (1-4) was involved in a seesaw battle with British Columbias Kesa Van Osch (2-3). Van Osch made her final rock count in the 10th end to win 9-8 after giving up the two-point lead in the ninth. Nova Scotia has given up leads in each of its four Scotties losses. "Weve had chances to win all four," said Smith. "An end or a shot, here or there, are the difference in our games so far. We just cant find a way to win. "In a week like this one, you just have to hope to get more wins than losses on those close ones." Albertas Val Sweeting (4-1) needed extra ends to beat New Brunswicks Andrea Crawford (2-3) by a score of 9-8 in the 11th. Sweeting put two points on the board in the eighth, and another two in the ninth, before Crawford tied the game with the hammer in the 10th. In afternoon matches Monday, Dolan edged Ontarios Allison Flaxey (1-3) by a count of 7-5. Flaxey scored one in the seventh end, and another in the eighth, but couldnt complete the comeback. Manitobas Chelsea Carey (3-1) scored four in the ninth against Nova Scotia, which conceded right after. The afternoon draw also saw a Saskatchewan team that could do no wrong, beating New Brunswick 9-3 after eight ends. Saskatchewan skip Stefanie Lawton (3-1) stole four in the third and another three in the fifth to seal the victory. "Theres always room for improvement," said Lawton, who called the four-point steal in the third end a game changer. "It definitely gave us an advantage and we were able to capitalize on that throughout the game. We played strong and put the pressure on." Homan scored three to take the lead over the Yukon in the third end, and never looked back. With the score 4-1 in the fourth, Koltun had a chance to reduce the deficit, but overthrew her final rock. "Unfortunately we didnt play our best, but we just need to learn from it," said Koltun. Still-unbeaten Canada (4-0) added another four in the seventh for an impressive victory. "Were playing well," said Homan. "We have to fine-tune a few things here and there. We got an early head start, and it was tough (for the Yukon) to catch up. "Were feeling good. We just need to keep rolling." Homan said she recognized a slightly younger version of herself in the Yukons skip, and suggested their styles of play were similar. Koltun couldnt agree more. "We try to play and train similarly, putting in the effort, the time, thats necessary to be successful," said Koltun, whos admired Homan since seeing her play at the 2007 Winter Canada Games in Whitehorse. "That hard work will eventually pay off." Jim McMahon Jersey . People familiar with the case told The Associated Press on Friday that arbitrator Fredric Horowitz could issue his decision this weekend. Akiem Hicks Womens Jersey . Fourteen players were suspended last summer by Major League Baseball as part of the Biogenesis drug scandal, ranging from All-Stars to also-rans. http://www.bearsrookiestore.com/Bears-Ta...hen-Jersey/.The third-seeded Murray, who won here in 2009, will face seventh-seeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa next on the indoor hard court. Anthony Miller Womens Jersey . The German has taken the pole for three straight races -- winning the first two. Hes aiming for a third consecutive win at the Yeongam circuit and, most importantly, a fourth consecutive F1 championship. Khalil Mack Youth Jersey . 4 jersey of former defenseman Rob Blake this coming season. The ceremony will take place prior to the Kings January 17 game against Anaheim.ST. LOUIS - T.J. Oshie hasnt seen anything like this before in his seven seasons with the St. Louis Blues.Oshie and the Blues continued their blistering scoring binge against the visiting San Jose Sharks with seven players scoring goals in a 7-2 win on Thursday night.Not since Ive been here, no, I havent, Oshie said of the offensive outburst. But without scoring the goals, if a couple of those go off the post and out, were still playing great hockey, were still getting pucks deep, were still working for each other. Well take the goals, but I think thats what well take out of these games.Oshie, Alexander Steen, Jay Bouwmeester, Paul Stastny, Jori Lehtera, Patrik Berglund and David Backes all scored for the Blues (25-13-3), who have 20 goals during a three-game win streak.Really unselfish hockey is what is evident to me right now in a lot of things were doing, St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock said. When you are unselfish, you come off the ice at the right time, you change at the right time, you leave your teammate in a good spot, youre going to have success. To me, the goals are a result of the way were playing. Were playing the right way and its having a big impact on keeping the group together.Jaden Schwartz added three assists. Brian Elliott made 24 saves.Were all playing good hockey, from the goalie to the defence to the forwards, Schwartz said. Everybodys doing their job. Tonight you saw they were pretty tired on the back end by the end of the game and thats what we wanted to do from the start.The Blues beat the Sharks 7-2 on Saturday in San Jose and then defeated the Coyotes 6-0 on Tuesday in Arizona. St. Louis now has at least six goals in three consecutive games for the first time since December 2000.Thursdays game was the start of a seven-game homestand for St. Louis, which had played 16 of its previous 23 games on the road. The Blues improved to 14-4-1 at home.The Sharks (22-15-5), who rebounded from the loss to the Blues with road wins against the Jets on Monday and the Wild on Tuesday, got goals from Logan Couture and Melker Karlsson.Thats as good as Ive seen a team play two games against us, San Jose coach Todd McLellan said. They had the puck the whole night, they protected iit, they roamed around and if you just looked at the shot totals you would say San Jose was in the game.dddddddddddd We werent. . Right now, I dont know what else is going on around the league, but it would be hard to find a team better than that.St. Louis struck first with a power-play goal from Steen, his 11th of the season and third in four games, and then a goal from Bouwmeester.San Jose answered with a short-handed goal from Couture, his 15th, with 1:33 remaining in the first period after Joe Pavelski took a double-minor for high-sticking.Stastny helped the Blues capitalize on the Pavelski penalty with a power-play goal, his ninth of the season, assisted by Oshie and Kevin Shattenkirk with 54 seconds left in the period.The Sharks scored just 29 seconds into the second period with a wrister from Karlsson, his fourth in four games, to make it 3-2.The Blues scored four straight goals from that point, with two in the second period and two more in the third.Lehtera scored his ninth of the season in the second, followed by Oshies 11th on a rebound of Alexander Steens shot to chase San Jose goalie Antti Niemi from the game.Berglund made it 6-2 with a wraparound goal with 10:55 left in the third period. Then Backes, who had four goals in the win in Arizona, scored his 14th of the season with 8:01 left.You can sit here and make every single excuse in the book, but to lose 7-2 is unacceptable with this team that we have, Couture said. We just got beat plain and simple, again, by that team. Were better than what weve shown. To go out and play that team two games and get spanked like that. We havent been good in front of our goalies against these guys.NOTES: San Jose C Joe Thornton missed his fourth consecutive game with a shoulder injury. He had played 319 straight games before suffering the injury on Dec. 31. . The Blues attendance of 19,220 was their sixth sellout of the season. . The Backes-Steen-Oshie line has now accounted for 35 points in the Blues past seven games. . The Blues entered Thursdays game leading the NHL in power-play percentage (25.7 per cent). St. Louis has scored seven power-play goals during its three-game win streak and eight over the last four games. ' ' '