RALEIGH, N.
[b]https://www.greenbayfootballshop.com/90-Jersey[/b] .C. - The Carolina Hurricanes hope they now have the leadership tandem in place to turn the franchise around. Bill Peters was introduced Friday as the Hurricanes new coach, the first big hire made by new Carolina general manager Ron Francis. Now its up to Peters to prove it was shrewd move. Carolina has made three coaching changes since 2006 and has only one playoff appearance to show for it. "When I did my due diligence and went to look at rosters ... were not far off," Peters said. "I think theres lots of pieces here and its up to us and our coaching staff ... to max our group out." He replaces Kirk Muller, who was fired last month — a week into Francis tenure as GM — and went 80-80-27 in three seasons with no playoff berths. Instead of an established NHL head coach or a popular ex-player, Francis went with Peters — a 48-year-old Detroit Red Wings assistant who has never been an NHL head coach but was in demand this off-season. Peters said he interviewed for two other jobs and Francis says he spoke to 10 candidates during "a pretty extensive search," narrowing that to a three-man short list before deciding on Peters and giving him a three-year contract. "You have to take the time to go through it and make sure you get the right guy," Francis said, "and thats what we did." What dazzled Francis was Peters attention to detail: He penned a booklet breaking down the team and brought it to his first interview with them, and his second one included a PowerPoint presentation, Francis said. "Hes extremely, extremely detailed," Francis said. "Hes going to communicate with our players. Our players are going to know where he stands, and theres no little detail that (will) be overlooked." From the outside, his challenge looks daunting: Making the Hurricanes a consistent playoff team. Muller couldnt do it in three years. Neither could Paul Maurice, at least during his second stint with the team. Even Peter Laviolette — the only Carolina coach to hoist the Stanley Cup — couldnt get the Hurricanes back in the post-season. Now Peters gets his chance to try to revive a club that has missed the playoffs in seven of the eight years since the Hurricanes won their only Stanley Cup in 2006. The lone post-season berth since that Cup run came in 2009, when the Hurricanes reached the Eastern Conference final in the first year of Maurices second term as coach. Peters plan is to address three glaring problems from last season: Starting games strong, producing more on the power play and winning more often at PNC Arena. Carolina was the leagues third-worst team with the man advantage and was just 18-17-6 at home. "Weve got to become a harder team to play against here in Raleigh," Peters said. His hiring caps about two months of turbulence in the Hurricanes organization. Francis, a Hall of Fame player who has been both an assistant coach and an assistant GM with Carolina, was moved up a rung on the organizations ladder and his mentor, Jim Rutherford, stepped aside after two decades — and eventually wound up bolting to Pittsburgh to take over as the Penguins GM. Francis first big move came a week later when he fired Muller and put the players on notice that the responsibility for turning the team around is on them, too. After a 46-day search in which some recognizable names were floated, Francis plucked Peters from Mike Babcocks staff with the Red Wings. He spent the past three years working primarily with the Red Wings defencemen and penalty killers. Before joining the Red Wings staff, he coached Rockford of the AHL from 2008-11 and guiding that team to consecutive 40-win seasons. Eight of his Rockford players helped Chicago win the Cup in either 2010 or 2013, and he also coached Spokane (Washington) of the Western Hockey League for three seasons. "This is a guy that knows coaching," Francis said. ___ Follow Joedy McCreary on Twitter at
http://twitter.com/joedyap [b]https://www.greenbayfootballshop.com/94-Jersey[/b] . Belfort was originally schedule to fight Chris Weidman at UFC 173 on May 24, but a Nevada State Athletic Commission ban on testosterone replacement therapy forced the former light heavyweight champ to withdraw.
[b]https://www.greenbayfootballshop.com/28-Jersey[/b] .com) - The Toronto Raptors set their sights on a second straight victory with the Oklahoma City Thunder visiting the Air Canada Centre tonight riding a two game streak of their own.DENVER -- Jhoulys Chacin had a strong finish. It wasnt good enough to overcome a slow start against the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers. "I didnt have the movement on my fastball in the early game, I didnt have the sink," said Chacin, who allowed seven of the first nine Dodgers to reach base in the Colorado Rockies 7-4 loss Tuesday night. "I left a few balls up and they took them the other way." Chacin (13-8) allowed four runs in seven innings in losing to the Dodgers for the first time in four starts this season. He has won four of his last seven overall starts. "He wasnt his usual self early on," Colorado manager Walt Weiss said. "He settled in and gave us seven innings." Ricky Nolasco pitched six strong innings, Carl Crawford had a two-run single among three hits to spark the offence in the absence of injured catalyst Yasiel Puig, as the Dodgers won their sixth straight. The Rockies suffered through a game of mistakes including ones on the bases by Michael Cuddyer and Dexter Fowler. "Cuddy read and saw something, took off a little soon," Weiss said. "Fowler got doubled off on a line drive. .." The costliest mistake came with two outs in the Los Angeles eighth when Charlie Culberson dropped a fly ball hit by Mark Ellis that allowed three runs to score. "I was expecting to be closer to the ball," Culberson said. "I got there quicker than expected and missed it." Puig, who is batting .351 with 14 homers and 32 RBIs in 80 games in his first season in the majors, was rested a day after he aggravated a right knee strain. He remains day to day. Nolasco (12-9) allowed two runs and five hits in improving to 7-1 with a 2.27 ERA in his 11 starts since coming to the Dodgers on July 6 in a trade with Miami. He struck out five and walked one. Crawford went 3 for 5 and Nick Punto added four singles for the Dodgers. Down two runs, the Rockies pulled within one when pinch-hitter Josh Rutledge, batting for Carlos Gonzalez, led off the eighth with a drive off reliever Paco Rodriguez that reached the bleachers in left.
[b]https://www.greenbayfootballshop.com/49-Jersey[/b]. Rodriguez walked Fowler and was relieved by Ronald Belisario. After D.J. LeMahieu sacrificed, Belisario got Troy Tulowitzki to line out to short and Fowler was doubled off second when he was caught off the bag. The Dodgers came back to load the bases with two outs in the ninth against reliever Rex Brothers. Brothers appeared out of the inning, but Culberson had the ball kick off his glove to allow three unearned runs. Chris Withrow got the final out for his first save. The Dodgers opened a 3-0 lead in the second, loading the bases on Andre Ethiers double, Ellis walk and Skip Schumakers infield single. Tim Federowicz drove in the first run with a sacrifice fly and after Nolasco moved the runners up with another sacrifice, Crawford came through with a two-run single to left. Adrian Gonzalez put the Dodgers up 4-0 with a sacrifice fly in the fifth. Nolasco had allowed only one hit before Charlie Blackmon doubled with two outs in the fifth. Chacin followed with an RBI single to right. "Nolasco had a good slider," Weiss said. "He was throwing it on the outside part of the plate and our guys were having a hard time picking it up." The Rockies pulled within two after LeMahieu doubled to start the sixth, took third when left fielder Crawford bobbled LeMahieus liner for an error and scored on Tulowitzkis groundout. NOTES: The Rockies have activated Gonzalez from the DL but his availability remains limited because of lingering soreness in a joint of his right middle finger. He entered in the eighth as a defensive replacement but was lifted in the bottom of the inning for Rutledge as a precaution against hurting the finger by swinging the bat. ... With active rosters expanded, the Rockies also recalled from the minors pitchers Mitchell Boggs, Manuel Corpas and Collin McHugh and infielder/outfielder Ryan Wheeler. ... RHP Edinson Volquez (9-10) will oppose Jorge De La Rosa (15-6)of the Rockies on Wednesday. ' ' '
