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SOCHI — Hayley Wickenheiser not only will carry the Canadian flag in the opening ceremonies on Friday, the hockey legend also carries high hopes for a fourth-consecutive Olympic gold medal and for the womens game as a whole. But before her work on the ice begins, shes going to savour a special moment at Sochis Fisht Olympic stadium on Friday. "Just going to enjoy it and take it all in and, you know, honour the fact that I have this opportunity and that my family is going to be in the building," said Wickenheiser, who hails from Shaunavon, Sask. "So its going to be a fun night, said the Olympic veteran," who will have 11 family members in Sochi. The 35-year-old Wickenheiser is well aware that if the womens tournament evolves as presumed with a Canada-United States gold-medal final on Feb. 20, the scrutiny will continue as to whether womens hockey belongs in the Olympics. But shes been around the international game for two decades, when she cracked the Canadian roster as a 15 year old in 1994, and she sees progress. Womens game in good shape “I always worry about the future of womens hockey, mainly because of the fact that most of the world pays attention to womens hockey only for two weeks out of every four years,” Wickenheiser said. “I dont worry about the womens game when I look at every game and what goes on internationally. “I look at Team Japan and what [current coach and former Canadian player] Carla MacLeod has been able to do to get that team to an Olympic Games, which is a huge accomplishment for a country. You look at Finland and how they centralize their under-18 and national teams. You look at Sweden and you look at Russia what Alexei Yashin [the teams general manager] has been able to do with his team.” Still, the Russians, Swedes, Finns and Swiss need to exhibit that they have closed the gap. But that wont be easy because Canada and the U.S. continue to elevate its level of play. “This is a dilemma womens hockey is always going to face. But the reality is were so much further ahead in this time span than say where mens hockey was in [after the first five Olympics]. I think the [womens] game has really come a long way in five Olympics.” Will this be Wickenheisers final Olympics? She wont decide on whether to continue or conclude her decorated career, that includes three Olympic gold medals, seven world championships and playing pro mens hockey in Finland and Sweden, until after the final buzzer sounds in Sochi. So what keeps Wickenheisers competitive clock ticking? “The No. 1 thing is a love of sport,” said the six-time Olympian said, who also competed for Canada in softball at the 2000 Sydney Games. “Ive loved hockey since the day I first put on skates when I was five years old. I have had a passion to play all these years. “I love being part of Team Canada and having the opportunity to win, and thats the main driving force now.” Nagano loss still hurts She forgot to mention that shes never been a good loser. At a team gathering on Monday evening, Wickenheiser and Hefford and assistant coach Daniel Goyette described the emptiness and hurt they felt when they finished second in 1998. “The worst thing in the world is to stand on the blue line with a silver medal around your neck,” she said. “It stays with you for a while.” There was some speculation that Wickenheiser wouldnt be around for the Sochi Games. There was some thought her game had dropped off and she was dealing with some injuries. “You battle injuries and you go through a lot of things as an athlete, but I could picture in my mind what I needed to do to get ready to play in these Games,” she said. “I guess its always a fragile existence as an athlete. Any day something can happen and your games are over, like we saw yesterday with the snowboarder (Norway slopestyle gold-medal contender Torstein Horgmo broke his collarbone during a trail run). “Im very grateful to be sitting here … and to have had the longevity Ive had.” (With files from CBC Saskatchewan) Fake Vans Cheap .com) - Graeme McDowell opened up with a first- round, 5-under 67 on Thursday and he holds a 2-shot lead at the WGC - HSBC Champions. Fake Vans . Huntelaar also had a penalty saved by Wolfsburg goalkeeper Diego Benaglio. The two goals brought Huntelaars total for the season to 18, level with Bayern Munichs Mario Gomez for most in the league. https://www.vansfake.com/. Right-hander Todd Redmond took the loss. Jose Bautista hit his second home run of the spring. Here are a handful of tidbits from around camp: Hutchison impressive The Blue Jays are being cautious when talking about their young arms but internally, excitement is building over the way Drew Hutchison is looking and performing this spring. Fake Vans For Sale . After seven wins in a row, they have to do it one more time to get into the playoffs. Fake Vans From China . - New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis says the club has an agreement to bring back outside linebacker Parys Haralson on a one-year deal.DENVER - Andrew Wiggins was sick and tired. Not of losing — although it has been a trying season — but from a bug he cant shake and fatigue that carried over from logging big minutes the night before.No matter. Hes young and resilient, and easily shook all that off to turn in his best performance.Wiggins scored a career-high 31 points and Robbie Hummel had two big tip-in baskets in the fourth quarter, helping the Minnesota Timberwolves hold off the Denver Nuggets 113-105 on Saturday night.The dynamic rookie out of Kansas was 11 of 17 from the floor, including four 3-pointers. The top pick in last years draft has scored 20 or more points in eight of his last 10 games.Wiggins improvement this season has been so noticeable that even an official on the court made a comment to Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders.He said, Wiggins, how much hes improved in a month is almost astonishing, recounted Saunders, whose team is 4-16 on the road and 3-16 at home. He continues to get better and amaze, do everything.Wiggins big night also included nine rebounds, four assists and three blocked shots. Asked which number stood out to him, he smirked and responded, The win. Definitely.We got the win, played hard, executed down the stretch, added Wiggins, whose previous high was 29 points against Sacramento on Nov. 22. Nothing feels better than that.This recent stretch is exactly what the Timberwolves were expecting from Wiggins when they traded for him, leading Saunders to say, hes probably ahead of what anyone anticipated what he would be.Hummel finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds, while Thaddeus Young added 22 points.The Timberwolves hardly looked weary down the stretch in the thin air of the Mile High City despite losing the night before in Phoenix. Theyre now 2-7 on the second night of a back-to-back.Ty Lawson had 22 points for the Nuggets, who lost the night before in Dallas, snapping a five-game win streak.Jameer Nelson had 16 points in his home debut for Denver. The diminutive guard was acquired Tuesday in a deal that sent Nate Robinson to Boston.When you lose you think you can do a lot of things better, Nelsson said.dddddddddddd Ill be kicking myself in the butt thinking about what I could have done better.Hummels work around the rim propelled the Timberwolves down the stretch. His second tap-in off a miss by Young gave the Timberwolves a 96-95 lead with 5:25 remaining. Mo Williams kept the lead intact by hitting basket after basket each time the Nuggets made a run.Wilson Chandler was fouled after hitting a 3-pointer. He missed the free throw, and Kenneth Faried tapped it in to make it 108-105 with 1:41 remaining. But Williams hit a long shot to quiet the rally.We didnt do a good job of taking that punch. We delivered that punch and they got hot, Nelson said.Even though Wiggins had a splendid all-around game, Williams wasnt about praise him too much. Wiggins is, after all, only a rookie.A lot of strides he can continue to make, Williams said. Rookies run into a wall right now, but hes hitting his stride, which is good. Its tough to log a lot of minutes in this league, do it consistently every day. Have to go out and produce. ... I think hes handling it pretty well.___TIP-INSTimberwolves: Saunders said guard Ricky Rubio still has soreness in the left ankle he sprained Nov. 7 at Orlando. Are we being cautious? Yeah. We just signed the guy to a $55 million contract, Saunders said. When hes ready to go and the doctors say that hes ready to really go, thats when hell go. ... G Kevin Martin (broken right wrist) and centre Nikola Pekovic (ankle, wrist) are both nearing a return. Asked if they might play Monday, Saunders responded, Well see. ... F Shabazz Muhammad (strained oblique) missed a fourth straight game.Nuggets: Lawson has struggled at the free throw line lately. His teammates haven taken to calling him Ty Rondo — a reference to Dallas guard Rajon Rondo, whos shooting 30 per cent from the line. Hopefully that will light his fire a little bit at the free throw line, coach Brian Shaw said. ... G Randy Foye returned after missing 26 games with a right quadriceps injury. He was 0 for 3 from the field.UP NEXTMinnesota plays at Charlotte on Monday.Denver plays at Golden State on Monday. ' ' '