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CALGARY -- Jarome Iginlas first skate of training camp lasted less than half an hour. nfl jerseys china . The Calgary Flames captain left the ice after feeling his back spasm and did not return Saturday. "Unfortunately, after Id started a little bit, I had a little bit of a spasm there," Iginla said later. "Its nothing I havent had before. Ive had them during the season at different times. "I thought it was better to be safe than keep aggravating it." At 34, Iginla is more cautious about aches and pains than he once was. "When youre younger, youd push through it a little bit and Id push and you learn it probably causes more problems and lasts longer," he said. Iginla, Calgarys captain since the 2003-04 season, is the franchise player, so even a minor injury long before the regular season starts creates ripples of concern in Flames Nation. The six-foot-one, 204-pound right-winger is the definition of hockeys power forward. Iginla uses his strength and power to break through checks and create space for his considerable playmaking and scoring skills. Hes the Flames all-time leading scorer and one of just 10 NHL players to score 30 goals or more 10 consecutive seasons. His off-season fitness and training goals have changed over the 15 years hes prepared for training camps. When it became clear after the lockout of 2004-05 the game required faster skaters, Iginla dropped bulk to get lighter and quicker. Now, with the miles of 1,106 career games on him, Iginla didnt make dramatic changes in the off-season and concentrated on smaller goals. "Over the summer, most of my training was more geared towards skating and puck skills, just to keep trying to improve in those areas and be a more efficient skater, not really so much to be necessarily bigger or stronger," he explained. "Also to try to use a little bit of camp and work on being ready to go when the games start as opposed to necessarily the first day of training camp. "I feel great. It sounds kind of funny when you skate the first day and dont finish it, but I do." The Edmonton native says he doesnt have trouble getting motivated for training camp, even though this is his 15th with the same NHL team. Before his back forced him off the ice, however, Iginla started daydreaming while watching coaches explain a drill on the rinkside whiteboard. "He actually asked me what we had to do in the drill," rookie left-winger Sven Baertschi said, looking pleased. "I dont know where my mind went," Iginla said with a grin. "Then it was like OK, go. I usually am a little rusty, but I definitely had no clue and if he didnt help me out, it would have been a re-do." This is an important year for the Flames captain as he tries to lead his team back to the playoffs after a two-year absence. Its become predictable that when the Flames struggle, the trade-Iginla talk and rumours start to circulate. Iginla is entering the fourth season of his five-year, US$35-million contract that contains a no-movement clause. Iginla will ultimately decide if he remains a Flame for the remainder of his contract. Hes optimistic, as every NHL player is on the first day of training camp, about his teams chances in 2011-12. Calgary fell three points short of the playoffs last season despite a 25-11-9 record after Dec. 28. Calgary couldnt figure out what kind of team they were for the first three months of the season until they realized a team could play an aggressive, smart defence and still score goals. They also improved special teams that ranked in the bottom third of the league in the early weeks of the season. Iginla believes the re-signing of linemates Alex Tanguay and Brendan Morrison, winger Curtis Glencross and defenceman Anton Babchuk in the summer gives the Flames the continuity they need to pick up where they left off. "Were going to fine-tune some things and go as opposed to re-learn," he said. Meanwhile, defenceman Cory Sarich and Morrison skated Saturday wearing yellow jerseys meaning no-contact. Morrison had off-season knee surgery and Sarich spent the summer treating a nagging pelvic injury from last season. Calgary returned goaltender Laurent Brossoit (Edmonton) and defencemen Dallas Ehrhardt (Moose Jaw), Reid Jackson (Lethbridge), Peter Kosterman (Calgary), Tyler Wotherspoon (Portland) to their respective junior teams Saturday and released goaltender Andrew Engelage. Calgarys first pre-season game Tuesday is a split-squad matchup with the Vancouver Canucks. The Flames open the regular season Oct. 8 versus Pittsburgh. wholesale jerseys . -- All talk and no major changes didnt make this a dull NHL general managers meeting. cheap jerseys from china . UEFA said its disciplinary panel found Wenger guilty of "improper conduct," and fined him C40,000 ($53,000). The French coach will serve his third UEFA ban within a year if Arsenal qualifies to play in next seasons Champions League or Europa League.NEW YORK -- The "laughingstocks" won in a laugher. The Knicks resembled the division champions of a season ago rather than the biggest losers in New York, outplaying and even outtalking the Brooklyn Nets, who look like the real Big Apple busts. Carmelo Anthony had 19 points and 10 rebounds, Iman Shumpert scored a season-high 17 points, and the Knicks ended a nine-game losing streak with 113-83 romp Thursday night in the first meeting of the season between the city rivals. "I think everybody looked like they had that feeling that we were tired of losing," Anthony said. "It showed from the tipoff." The Knicks (4-13) snapped a tie with the Nets (5-14) for most losses in New York, winning the game and the crowd with a dominant second half that had Spike Lee and the rest of the fans wearing blue and orange cheering perhaps the Knicks most complete performance of the season. Andrea Bargnani scored 16 before he was ejected in the fourth quarter, Knicks fans roaring in support of him standing up to Kevin Garnett. Brook Lopez had 24 points and nine rebounds for the Nets, who again played without Paul Pierce, Deron Williams, or much passion in the second half. "Were struggling but were going to come out of this, man, thats the only way to think," Garnett said. "Im not going to think anything else." The game was nationally televised, as all four matchups are this season, but neither team had been giving fans much reason to watch. Nets coach Jason Kidd said Tuesday that both teams "stink," and Anthony not only agreed but added that the Knicks were the "laughingstock" of the league. Nobody was laughing at the Knicks on this night. New York made a season-high 16 3-pointers in 27 attempts (59 per cent), rediscovering a stroke that has been missing all season after it set an NBA record for makes in 2012-13, and led by as many as 34 points. Shumpert, who has been the subject of trade rumours and has struggled, hit five 3s and added six rebounds. The Nets hung in while the Knicks made 16 of their first 21 shots overall and trailed by only seven at halftime "Youve got to give the Knicks credit. They came (for) the season shooting around 32 per cent. Tonight they looked like the team of last year where they made a lot of 3s," said Kidd, who played for the Knicks last seaason. cheap nfl jerseys. "When they started the game off it didnt seem as if they were going to miss. But we stayed the course." Until the third quarter, that is, when their season-long woes in that period returned and the Knicks outscored them 34-16. When the public address announcer urged fans to stand and cheer before the fourth, they responded by booing, clearly sick of watching Brooklyn get hammered over the previous 12 minutes yet again. Tensions rose a couple of times, chiefly in the fourth quarter when Bargnani and Garnett became tangled as Bargnani fell to the court while trying to box out. Both players, along with Amare Stoudemire, were called for technical fouls, and Bargnani was hit with a second and thrown out shortly after when he appeared to say something toward Garnett after making a jumper. Garnett wouldnt discuss the incident, saying "I dont understand Italian" -- though Bargnani insisted whatever he said was in English. He also downplayed the exchange. "The most important thing is that we won the game, we played a great game and weve really got to start to build on this," Bargnani said. There were also double technicals and words exchanged after Andray Blatche set a hard pick on Shumpert in the first half, but that was about all the fight the Nets showed on the way to their sixth straight home loss. Both teams were booed during the introduction of starting lineups by split fan bases who are united in their early season disgust. The Nets believed they were a championship contender after acquiring Garnett and Pierce from Boston, the centerpieces of a roster that will cost more than $180 million in salary and luxury taxes. The Knicks are second to the Nets in payroll but had never gotten going after losing Tyson Chandler to a broken leg in their fourth game of the season. But they were the better team right from the tip. The Knicks made 12 of their first 14 shots and were ahead 30-15 after Anthonys 3-pointer with 2:36 remaining in the opening quarter. NOTES: There was a moment of silence before the game for Nelson Mandela, South Africas first black president, who died Thursday at 95. Commissioner David Stern called Mandela "one of the most powerful and inspirational leaders in the world and a great friend of the NBA." ... The Knicks will try to end their seven-game home skid Friday against Orlando. ' ' ' |
