ens luge champion Armin Zoeggeler, and Spain will hand its flag to f

ST. Yeezy 350 Offerte . PAUL, Minn. - Minnesota is hardly a marquee place in major professional sports, a midsized market in the middle of the country best known on the coasts for the length and extremity of its winters.In the NHL, though, theres evidence mounting to the contrary. Thomas Vanek was the latest free agent to pick the Wild, two summers after Zach Parise and Ryan Suter jolted the league by coming as a package deal.Its a good city to live in and play in, so I dont see why this wouldnt be a destination of choice, said Jason Pominville, who was traded to the Wild last year and liked the surroundings enough to sign a new contract.After advancing to the Western Conference semifinals last season, the Wild have returned with a roster to match the hockey-maven populace and quality-of-life features in the Twin Cities area. Winning, of course, is the ultimate sell.Good players want to play with good players. Hopefully that trend is going to continue, Parise said.Vanek was the one, ironically, who first encouraged Pominville to embrace this place when he was traded by Buffalo. Vanek and Pominville were teammates with the Sabres for eight years and neighbours, too, and the Montreal-area native wasnt familiar with Minnesota.He loved Buffalo a lot, which I did too, Vanek said. But I told him, Youll like it there. Theres a lot of good fans. And after a week or so, he called me and said, You know what? Youre right. I do like it here a lot.Pominville signed a five-year, $28 million deal a few days before last season, and that has now kicked in. Vanek signed for three years and $19.5 million. Two seasons ago, Parise and Suter each signed 13-year, $98 million contracts.People recognize the talent that you have. So were getting better, general manager Chuck Fletcher said.Another factor in the Wilds favour has been the cultivation of prospects who have begun to contribute. With Mikael Granlund, Charlie Coyle and Jonas Brodin the standouts, the Wild will likely send a 20-man lineup to the ice for the season opener Thursday against Colorado that includes 11 players age 24 or younger.The 14-year-old Wild dont have much on an original six franchise and the Twin Cities area is dwarfed by New York or Los Angeles in glamour and density, but Minnesota has produced more NHL players than any other state. Canada will always be king, but the land of frequently frozen lakes is a legitimate landing spot for many of this sports best.Vanek was raised in Austria but played at the University of Minnesota, winning an NCAA championship in 2003. Parise grew up in the Twin Cities area, the son of a former NHL star. Suters roots are across the border in Wisconsin, but his wife is from Bloomington, where the North Stars used to play before moving to Dallas and creating the void filled by the Wild.Stephon Marbury once infamously swore off a long-term NBA career with the Timberwolves because of Minnesotas cold weather, but for players in this league the climate during the season feels no different than western Canada or northern Europe. Good schools for the kids and postcard-quality summer days help, too, and the depth, history and passion of the fan base is a plus.With the Suter-Parise signings as the impetus, the season-ticket base for 2014-15 is the highest in owner Craig Leipolds nearly seven years running the team.Weve got the total package here and I think we need to continue to push that, Leipold said. We have a really great product to sell, and thats one reason we know that Thomas Vanek was interested. Anybody who has ever played in Minnesota wants to come back.Vanek has kept an off-season home in the Twin Cities area, so he had opportunity to settle his family. He wasnt going to pick the Wild, though, if they hadnt shown the same promise on the ice.I liked the team, I liked the depth, I liked the veteran players that we have, I like the young guys, Vanek said, and overall I think its a good mix. Air Max 95 Offerte . -- Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-Jin Ryu will be the Dodgers starting pitchers in their two-game season-opening series in Australia against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Saucony Offerte .ca. The NHL Play of the Year showdown kicks off with some slick moves going head-to-head with a combination of soft hands and endless patience. http://www.yeezyscarpeitaliaoutlet.it/scontate-balenciaga-online.html . Venable and Jeremy Hermida drove in three runs apiece, and the Padres beat the Colorado Rockies 7-2 on Sunday to snap a nine-game losing streak.Alexandre Bilodeau captured Canadas first gold medal at the 2010 Olympics, while Charles Hamelin was the Canadian teams only multi gold medallist in Vancouver. Erik Guay narrowly missed the Olympic podium four years ago, but hes Canadas most decorated World Cup alpine skier. The next honour one of them could add to an already illustrious career is Canadas flag-bearer for the Sochi Olympics. On Thursday in Ottawa, the Canadian Olympic Committee will announce who will carry the Maple Leaf into the Sochi opening ceremonies, and Bilodeau, Hamelin and Guay, all leaders in their respective sports, are all strong candidates. "Just being among those, its a great honour for me because those are great athletes and there are many more athletes that deserve to carry the flag and deserve to be in the front row when it comes to Canada and to be role models," Bilodeau told The Canadian Press in Montreal on Wednesday. "It would be a tremendous honour to do that for my country and well see (Thursday), but its definitely something very special to be flag-bearer and whomever its going to be, were going to be proud." When asked if hed been tipped to be in Ottawa, Bilodeau laughed and said "I havent been contacted yet, so if its already decided, Im not the one." Bilodeau won moguls gold on the second day of the Games, and the image of the freestyle skier celebrating with his brother Frederic is one of the most enduring of Vancouver. Hamelin claimed two of Canadas record-setting 14 gold medals, but even more remarkable is the fact the short-track speedskater, whos also an eight-time world champion, won them within half an hour of each other, winning the 500 metres before returning to the track as part of the victorious 5,000-metre relay. Guay posted a pair of fifth-place finishes in Vancouver, in the downhill and super-G, missing a medal in super-G by just three hundredths of a second. In December, he won his 21st World Cup medal, breaking the Canadian record for podium performances held by Steve Podborski. Guay will be in Kitzbuehel, Austria, on Thursday, where hes racing in a World Cup. Canadas flag-bearer traditionally generates plenty of conversation, and this time is no different, with Canadian hockey stars Sidney Crosby and Hayley Wickenheiser garnering much support. Crosby, who created one of Vancouvers golden moments when he scored the winner in the final versus the U.S., isnt expected to be in Sochi for the opening ceremonies as his Pittsburgh Penguins have a game that night versus the New York Rangers. While Bruins defenceman Zdeno Chara is missing two of Bostons NHL games to carry the flag for Slovakia, when asked about the possibility of carrying Canadas flag, Crosby said last weekend "It hasnt been brought up (by the Canadian Olympic Committee). Air Max 270 Scontate Outlet. ." Wickenheiser, meanwhile, is Canadas biggest womens star and a pioneer of the game who will make her fifth Olympic appearance. According to Hockey Canada, the womens team will march in the Feb. 7 opening ceremonies, despite playing their opening game the following night versus Switzerland. Wickenheiser, however, was a participant in the 2010 opening ceremonies -- she read the athletes oath. Plus, womens hockey player Danielle Goyette carried the flag into the opening ceremonies in 2006 in Turin, Italy. Long-track speedskater Clara Hughes carried the flag in the 2010 opening ceremonies while figure skater Joannie Rochette, who captured bronze just days after the death of her mom, was chosen to carry it out. Other favourites for Sochi include figure skaters Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, who won Canadas first ice dance gold medal in Vancouver, and three-time world champion Patrick Chan. With the new team event starting the day before the opening ceremonies, however, Virtue and Moir have said they wont march. Two-time world champion Kaillie Humphries, who teamed up with Heather Moyse in Vancouver to win Canadas first ever womens bobsled medal, is another favourite. She and Moyse will be gunning for gold again in Sochi. And long-track speedskater Christine Nesbitt also won gold in Vancouver, and is a seven-time world champion and has won a whopping 39 World Cup titles. Theres a Facebook pace supporting skier Larisa Yurkiw for flag-bearer that has over 3,500 likes. Yurkiw missed the Vancouver Games after suffering a bad knee injury in 2009, and then was forced to go pounding on doors for financial support after she was cut from the national team program. Yurkiw bounced back to qualify for Canadas Sochi-bound team. Each sport nominates an athlete as a candidate for flag-bearer. But some athletes see the responsibility as a distraction. Diver Alexandre Despatie told reporters before the 2012 London Games that he would decline any offer to carry the flag. "Its a great distraction, although it is the greatest honour an athlete can receive," the two-time Olympic silver medallist said. Moguls skier Jean-Luc Brassard finished fourth at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, and blamed his disappointing performance on the fact hed carried the flag a day earlier. Among other recent flag-bearers named recently: Japan selected womens curler Ayumi Ogasawara, Italy chose two-time Olympic mens luge champion Armin Zoeggeler, and Spain will hand its flag to figure skater Javier Fernandez. ' ' '