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Not many outside the International team room are giving the squad from the rest of the world much of a chance in this years Presidents Cup and looking at the records of the 24 players involved, you can understand that stance. On paper, it looks a little like Andre the Giant taking on a midget wrestler. It has all the makings of a rout with the Americans adding an eighth win in nine outings of this biennial event. The Yanks have eight players in the top 15 in the world while the Internationals have just one. Every golfer wearing a U.S. uniform is inside the top 30 while only six of the Rest Of The Worlders are there. The International team also has seven first timers while only one American golfer – Jordan Spieth – hasnt been on either a Ryder or Presidents Cup team. Maybe its finally time to bring in the handicap system to professional golf. You know, put some saddle bags on Tiger Woods or perhaps let the Internationals play it forward. "I mean, I understand that and how it looks on paper," said Adam Scott, the highest-ranked International player. "Its hard to write off guys who are the Top 60 in the world, because on any given day, anyone can beat anyone and weve seen that a million times, especially in 18-hole match play. Yeah, I see how that looks. I also see seven guys here for the first time pumped up and ready to go, and I think thats giving me a great feeling about a new experience in The Presidents Cup after having a run of really, some big defeats. The atmosphere in our room is great this year." The Americans can, in some ways, sympathize. They have been regular punching bags of the Europeans at the Ryder Cup of late, including a humiliating Sunday loss last year in Chicago. But theyre not about to roll over just so this tournament can get some legs. "Regardless of what past results have been," said Phil Mickelson, "its a tournament we very much want to win, we very much want to play well in, and we want to represent the United States with class and pride in a way that everybody can be proud. So we want to play well, and past performance has nothing to do with it." "I think everybody on our team realizes weve got a tough test in front of us," said Brandt Snedeker, who will partner with Hunter Mahan to take on Canadas Graham DeLaet and Jason Day. "I think we realize all these guys except for probably Matsuyama is probably the guy we know the least about. The rest of the guys we play on a regular basis. We see them a lot and realize how good theyre playing, and these guys are by no means the underdogs theyre trying to make themselves out to be." Captain Nick Price isnt as worried about winning the Cup as he is in making it close, something that hasnt happened lately. Of course hed like to win and to do that, hell need to find a way to keep things from getting out of reach before the Sunday singles. "I think more important than anything else, this Presidents Cup needs to be very competitive," said Price. "Because in the past, the last four Presidents Cups, you can argue either way, but I honestly believe they have not been that competitive." Not competitive? The Internationals havent just been losing, theyve been getting hammered. Since they tied in South Africa in 2003, theyve lost by three points, five points, five points and four points. Not exactly nail-biting stuff. For the Internationals to make a game of this, theyll need to rely on the naivety of their rookies who, as Graham DeLaet pointed out this week, dont know what they dont know, and some exceptional play from the veterans such as Scott and Ernie Els. You never say never in a game like golf, but certainly this would be an upset of monumental proportions. While the odds may be long, the upside of a win would be ever-so sweet. In sports, theres nothing like kicking a little U.S. butt. Cheap Nike Shoes Free Shipping .com) - Its fair to call Mike McCarthy one of the best coaches in the NFL but its also more than objective to point out that the veteran mentor bookended the Green Bay Packers season with two, truly awful game plans in Seattle. Nike Clearance Store . Plata blasted a rising shot to the upper left corner for his team-leading seventh goal of the season. He got the kick after referee Allen Chapman ruled Chris Tierney fouled John Stertzer in the penalty area. http://www.clearancenikeshoes.com/ . Inter moved five points behind fourth-place Fiorentina and eight points behind third-place Napoli, which visits relegation-threatened Sassuolo on Sunday. Wholesale Nike Shoes . A broadcast source said the deal is for five years. The agreement calls for a minimum of 17 regular-season games as well as the East and West Division finals being broadcast annually on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNEWS. Discount Nike Shoes . Ryan Getzlaf certainly got them started in the second. Getzlaf scored the first two goals in the second, and Teemu Selanne scored the go-ahead goal late in the period as the Anaheim Ducks beat the Nashville Predators 4-3 Thursday night. CALGARY -- Martin Jones made a habit of winning big games at the Scotiabank Saddledome during his Western Hockey League career. Four years after guiding the Calgary Hitmen to a WHL championship and a berth in the 2010 Memorial Cup, Jones made a triumphant return to the Saddledome with the Los Angeles Kings. "I was excited to play here for sure," said Jones, who made 24 saves to backstop the Kings to a 3-2 win over the Calgary Flames on Monday. "I had four great years here. It was a good road win. It wasnt pretty." Anze Kopitar had a goal and an assist for the Kings (38-22-6), who have reeled off eight straight wins. "Definitely we didnt want to make it as interesting as it was, but yeah I guess it was pretty big," said Kopitar of his third-period goal that put the Kings up 3-0 and eventually stood up as the game winner. "It wasnt the prettiest win tonight, but at the end of the day we got the two points." Kopitar commended Jones for his play in between the pipes for the Kings. "He put on a really nice show tonight," Kopitar said. "Hes been stellar for us. Every time hes been in the net, hes been really good for us." Justin Williams and Trevor Lewis also scored for the Kings. Mike Cammalleri and Brian McGrattan scored for the Flames (25-33-7), who lost for just the second time in their past nine games at the Saddledome. Coincidentally, it was the Kings who last beat the Flames at home on Feb. 27. "The way we played the last seven-eight minutes of the game, if we had played the whole game like that, the outcome might have been different," said McGrattan, who has goals in back-to-back contests after going 29 games without scoring. "We hung around the whole game. We came on at the end. We didnt give up." Playing in his fourth straight game, rookie Calgary goalie Joni Ortio made 20 saves in a losing cause. With the win, Jones improved his record in his rookie season with the Kings to 10-4. "Its a totally different animal being here and at this level and in this dressing room, on this side of the ice," said Jones, who played his entire WHL career with the Hitmen. "I just wanted to make sure I stayed focused. I was excited to be here but wanted to make sure I was focused on the task at hand here." Never drafted by an NHL team, Jones was invited to L.A.s training camp in 2008 and subsequently signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Kings. With Jonathan Quick out of L.A.s lineup due to a groin injury earlier this season, Jones was called up by the Kings and promptly won his first eight NHL starts, three of them shutout victories. He lost his next four decisions before making 25 saves in L.A.s 6-4 road win over the Colorado Avalanche on Feb. 26. Quick played the next five games in net for the Kings, all wins, before L.A. coach Darryl Sutter decided to give Jones the start against the Flames. "He was really solid," Sutter said. "To be quite honest, when we came back from the Olympics we started in Colorado and he won that game also.dddddddddddd. We were down 4-2 and he hung on and he won that game also. He did a good job in there tonight." The Kings scored on their first shot on goal at 4:05 of the first when Williams redirected a pass from Anze Kopitar past Ortio. Williams drove hard to the net and attempted to get his stick on the pass from Kopitar, but the puck instead bounced off his shin and into the net behind Ortio. "Theyre a bigger, more physical team than us and I thought they imposed their rhythm right from the start," said Calgary coach Bob Hartley. "They got that early goal and that kind of put us on our heels." The Kings then went up by a pair at the 10-minute mark of the first when Lewis tipped Slava Voynovs point shot into the top corner behind Ortio, who lost his stick on the play when his own defenceman Kris Russell accidentally knocked it out of his hands. The Flames had a great chance to pull within one in the dying moments of the first, but Jones made a shoulder save to stop a shot fired his way by former Hitmen teammate T.J. Galiardi before sticking out his left pad to stop a backhand attempt by McGrattan. Jones also had to be sharp early in the second period as he stood his ground to turn aside back-to-back shots of the stick of Calgary forward Paul Byron. Early in the third period, Jones made a shoulder save to stop Calgary forward Mikael Backlund from scoring on a partial breakaway with the Kings on a power play. Kopitar added an insurance marker for the Kings at 7:01 of the third when he tipped Drew Doughtys point shot past Ortio. A short time later, Jones lunged forward to stop a point blank shot by Cammalleri to keep the Flames off the scoresheet. With Mike Richards serving a delay of game penalty, Cammalleri finally scored at 15:29 of the third to break Joness shutout bid. Cammalleris shot appeared to deflect off Voynov before trickling through Joness legs. McGrattan made things interesting by scoring with 2:22 remaining in regulation when he spun around and fired a slapshot from the slot past Jones. Notes: Injury woes for the Flames continued as a pair of rookies were forced to leave the game. Markus Granlund played just 12 seconds early in the first period before taking a hit from L.A. forward Jarret Stoll, forcing him to leave the game with an upper-body injury. Defenceman Tyler Wotherspoon also sustained an upper-body injury in the third period and didnt return. a The Kings played without forward Jordan Nolan, who was assessed a one-game suspension for sucker punching Edmonton Oilers forward Jesse Joensuu on Sunday. Tanner Pearson drew into the lineup in place of Nolan. a After being acquired by the Kings from the Columbus Blue Jackets at the NHL trade deadline last Wednesday, forward Marian Gaborik is still looking for his first point with the Kings. Gaborik played on a line with Kopitar and Williams. a The Kings improved their record when leading after two periods this season to a perfect 21-0. ' ' '