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MONTREAL -- Charles Hamelin took another step toward the overall world championship title, but the bad luck goes on for Canadas relay team. Zach Strief Saints Jersey . Hamelin overcame a weak start to win bronze in the 500-metre race behind winner Wu Dajing of China and American J.R. Celski on Saturday at the world short track speed skating championship. The Ste-Julie, Que., skater cut to the outside in a desperate bid for the win and came close to catching Celski at the finish line with the large crowd at the Maruice Richard Arena in a frenzy. "The four guys in that final were the four best 500-metre skaters in the world, so it was tough," said Hamelin, who was coming off a win in the 1,500-metre event on Friday. "I made a little mistake at the beginning. "I got passed by the Russian (Victor An) and was back in fourth place. I had a lot of speed. I went outside. It was my last option. I tried my best and was almost second." The 29-year-old, who has twice been runner-up for the overall title but never won it, leads the standings heading into the final two individual events -- the 1,000 and 3,000 metres -- on Sunday. An, a five-time overall world champion formerly known as Ahn Hyun-Soo, finished fourth. Park Seung-Hi of South Korea won the womens 500-metres ahead of Elise Christie of Britain and Fan Kexin of China. Disaster struck for the Canadian team in the mens relay semifinals when veteran Olivier Jean got caught in traffic and missed an exchange with Hamelin with only eight laps to go. The mishap dropped Canada from second to last place among the four teams and they couldnt catch up. Only the top two, Russia and Britain, earned a spot in Sundays relay final. "We got passed by the Chinese guy on the corner where we exchanged and it got mixed up.," said Michael Gilday of Yellowknife. "We didnt get our exchange in until a lap later and the other teams had already launched away. "Olivier was supposed to exchange with Charles on the corner where he got pushed out. There were a bunch of skaters and they couldnt tag together. It was a mess." At the Sochi Olympics three weeks ago, Canadas favoured relay team was eliminated in the semifinals when Francois Hamelin stepped on a marker disc and fell. "Thats short track," said Gilday. "It sucks. Clearly we havent had the breaks this year." South Korea and the Netherlands will also contest the mens relay final. Canada will have a team in the womens final. Jean opted not to talk to the media. The Lachanie, Que. skater, who was celebrating his 30th birthday, had been eliminated in the 500-metre quarter-finals along with Charle Cournoyer of Boucherville, Que., the bronze medallist in the event in Sochi. Marianne St-Gelais of St. Felicien, Que., and Marie-Eve Drolet of Laterriere, Que., were both ousted in the womens semifinals. "Im pretty happy, actually, because its not my best distance," said Drolet, who will have a better shot at a medal in the 1,000-metre race. "Im not a great sprinter, so it was super-fun to see that I could be fast and do a good race." St-Gelais said she may have psyched herself out before her semifinal because of an outside starting position. "I think I got scared at the (starting) line," she said. "I was thinking I would be squished behind two girls. Usually I dont think about those kinds of things, but that idea crossed my mind just before the start. I knew my race was done at that point." It was a happier day for Christie, who was shut out of the medals in Sochi after being penalized three times. The Scottish skater shot out to the lead off the start, only to be passed on the next-to-last lap by Park. It looked like the two might collide, but Christie said she backed off of any contact. "I probably could have won, but in the back of my head I was thinking about the fact that I got penalties, so when Park came through I let her go," said Christie. "I didnt try to get past because I just didnt want to get another penalty, to be honest." Christie came to the world championship seeking to redeem the Sochi setback and now is looking forward to her best event, the 1,000-metres. "It is my beat distance, but again, Ill be racing quite withdrawn," she said. "Im trying to stay out of fights and stuff, so that could play to my disadvantage. But maybe now that Ive got a medal, I might just go for it." Park won bronze in the 1,500-metres on Friday. She was a gold medallist in the 1,000-metre and the womens relay and got bronze in the 500-metres in Sochi. The Olympic 500-metre champion, Li Jiarrou of China, is not competing at the world championship. Erik Lorig Saints Jersey . Announcing the ruling to uphold the 10-match ban, the Court of Arbitration for Sport said it unanimously rejected Simunics arguments and dismissed his appeal against the FIFA sanction. Simunics ban will start when Croatia opens the World Cup against host Brazil in Sao Paulo on June 12. Parys Haralson Saints Jersey . Santiago batted .260 with 11 doubles, five home runs and 30 RBI in 101 games for the Tigers last season. For his career, the 32-year-old has a .SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Brent Burns and Patrick Marleau scored goals 49 seconds apart in the first period to lead the San Jose Sharks to their fifth win in six games, 5-1 over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night. Bracken Kearns and Logan Couture added goals 1:27 apart in the second period to give each scores in three straight games as the Sharks beat the Oilers for the sixth straight time. Joe Pavelski added a goal and an assist and Antti Niemi made 23 saves for San Jose. Nail Yakupov scored the lone goal for the last-place Oilers, who looked flat to open the new year in the front end of a difficult back-to-back. The Oilers play Friday night at the first-place Anaheim Ducks, who have not lost at home in regulation all season. The Sharks have been nearly as tough at home so far, losing just once in regulation. San Jose needed to go to a shootout in five of its previous eight home games before dispatching the Oilers easily by scoring twice in each of the first two periods against Devan Dubnyk. The Sharks got off to a fast start once again, breaking out to a 2-0 lead in the first period for the 15th time in 41 games this season. San Jose squandered a pair of early power-play chances and needed Niemi to make two pad stops on Sam Gagner on one of them to keep the game scoreless. The Sharks then used great puck movement on their first goal and a takeaway for their second to take the 2-0 lead. Justin Braun got a shot on net from the poiint and Pavelski sent the rebound to Burns, who knocked it in the short side of the net for his 13th goal. Will Herring Saints Jersey. Less than a minute later, Marleau took the puck from Yakupov near the boards and skated to the high slot, where he beat Dubnyk with a wrister for his team-leading 18th goal of the season. San Jose broke it open with the two goals in the second. Kearns, who scored his first career goal at age 32 on Sunday, struck for the third time in as many games when he took a pass from Andrew Desjardins in the slot and one-timed it past an unsuspecting Dubnyk. Couture then took a break out pass from John McCarthy and beat Dubnyk on a breakaway to make it 4-0 and give him 200 career points. Yakupov scored his second goal of the season against the Sharks later in the second and gave an emphatic fist pump that drew boos from the sellout crowd. Those turned to cheers and chants of "U-S-A! U-S-A!" in the third when Pavelski one-timed a shot past Dubnyk just one day after being picked for his second U.S. Olympic team. NOTES: Marleau tied former Shark Owen Nolan for 73rd place all-time with his 422nd career goal. ... McCarthy recorded his first point in 22 games this season. ... F Tyler Kennedy was scratched for San Jose after posting a minus-3 rating Tuesday in Anaheim. ... F Tommy Wingels missed his second straight game with an upper-body injury. ... Yakupov returned for Edmonton after being a healthy scratch Tuesday in Phoenix. ' ' ' |
