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TORONTO - When Patrick Chan was feeling the pressure before making his Olympic debut, he reached out to a Canadian athlete who was shouldering perhaps the greatest pressure of all. Mithch Moreland Jersey . Chans drive to the rink four years ago in Vancouver included a phone call to Sidney Crosby. The two share a common trainer in Andy OBrien, who was in the car with Chan that day. "I told Andy I was nervous, who wouldnt be, I was really nervous about the event. Andy was like Oh Ill call Sid," said Chan, who opens his season next week at Skate Canada International. "We talked about expectations and at the end of the day, he told me Yeah, the Canadian hockey team has the most pressure out of all the events. The way he put it in perspective was that we train every day and we train every day to kind of build an automatic pilot, and in order to initiate that automatic pilot when youre playing, you have to put it in perspective. "For example, my mentality is that this isnt the end of the world, people will support me because they want me to win, and they want the best for me and they want a medal for Canada, and I accept that. But then I have to be selfish in a way and realize Im doing it for myself and that was the mistake I made in Vancouver. I wanted to win the medal for Canada, and I looked at it as a big picture instead of narrowing it down to me wanting to be there, and me wanting to compete and excited to compete, and eager to win a medal." Chan, who was 19 in Vancouver, went on to finish fifth in his first Olympics, while Crosby, of course, scored the winning goal in Canadas thrilling victory over the U.S. for gold. Four years later, the pressures have changed for Chan, who talked about his preparations for Sochi in a wide-ranging conference call Tuesday that touched on everything from the gay rights controversy in Russia to his move to Detroit. Chan, who spoken about Russias controversial gay laws before saying he plans to focus on skating, said Tuesday he believes that "everyone deserves a fair chance." "I always believed, it doesnt matter what colour, what race, what gender, or whats your opinion on gays, it doesnt matter as long as you have the talent and you work hard and you have something to show and something to prove, anyone deserves to be on the field, and especially in the Olympic Games," Chan said. "Thats my opinion. Figure skating, were full of gays, and I train with a lot of gay skaters, and some of them are my best friends, and honestly it doesnt bother me. I just honestly believe everyone deserves to be on the ice to compete." The Toronto skater said hell be fending off a different kind of pressure in Sochi, where hell come in as a three-time defending world champion. "Vancouver was a pressure because it was a thought of winning a gold medal at home, I put that pressure on myself, like Oh my god the dream of all dreams would be to win and Olympic gold medal in your home country and hearing your anthem in Canada. "Sochi is different. . . coming in as three-time world champion, you put expectations on yourself, theres a lot of talk. Is this the year that hes not going to put it together, and hes going to be dethroned? I think I have many more tools going into Sochi to overcome those pressures." Chan, who will be 23 in Sochi — his birthday is New Years Eve — has learned to shift his priorities. Hes figured out how to narrow his focus, which goes back to Crosbys call in the car ride to the rink. "If you look at the Olympics as a mountain, its like Mount Everest, its impossible. You already start beating yourself up, just like my long program. My long program is my nemesis because I look at it as a huge mountain I have to climb thats going to kill me and Im going to be out of breath and exhausted at the end. "But it doesnt seem so bad if I cut it down into portions. For Mount Everest I would focus on reaching the first base camp, then reaching the second base camp, then reaching the third, then you can get to the top. You have to look at it in stages and not try to sprint to the top." Chan said hes a much happier skater than hes been in a while, and credits his move to Detroit. Chan pulled up stakes in Colorado Springs and drove to Detroit a couple of weeks before last springs world championships. He made the move, he said, to reinvigorate his career after his motivation had seeped out of him in Colorado. Detroit has become his "comfort zone" in the months since. "Its funny, the rink in Colorado was full, like 25 people on the ice, which is insane, and that was international skaters mixed with national level skaters. There was 25 skaters yet I still felt alone on the ice," he said. "It was beyond motivation, I was not motivated, I was just more frustrated because there was so many people." In Detroit, there are usually about eight elite skaters on the ice, including U.S. team member Jeremy Abbott, and rising Canadian skater Elladj Balde. "Coming here, I was worried I was not going to be able to make friends and would be alone again. but that was totally not the case," he said. "We all get along, so we all move for each other, we all respect each other, we all push each other, we all motivate each other. And then if I have a bad day, I can get off the ice and sit in the lobby and have my lunch with Elladj and totally forget about the session and just laugh about things outside of skating. "Those little things go a long, long way. We come in every day, and it gets monotonous, it gets boring, its frustrating, so its good to have your friends around and have people who support you and make you laugh and make you forget about skating once in awhile." Russell Wilson Jersey . -- Amid stories about Jeremy Lin and the upcoming all-star game, the Detroit Pistons have quietly become one of the hottest teams in the NBA. Luis Sardinas Jersey . -- Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson is listed as probable to return to the lineup Sunday against the New Orleans Saints after missing the past three games with a high ankle sprain.NEW YORK -- The Brooklyn Nets reached an agreement in principle Wednesday with Lionel Hollins to become their coach, moving quickly after the departure of Jason Kidd. The deal with the former Memphis Grizzlies coach comes two days after the Nets made a trade with Milwaukee to allow Kidd out of his contract so the Bucks could hire him. Nets general manager Billy King and his assistants then met with Hollins on Monday night and again Tuesday before agreeing to the deal. Terms were not disclosed. "I want to thank the Nets ownership and Billy for this opportunity," Hollins said in a statement. "It has been a long process to get back into the league, and I believe that Billy and I will have a very successful working relationship. Brooklyn has firmly established itself as a franchise that is committed to winning, and I eagerly look forward to becoming part of that culture and building on the success of the past two playoff appearances." The Nets will introduce Hollins at a press conference Monday. Hollins led Memphis to 56 victories and the 2013 Western Conference finals before he and the Grizzlies parted ways. The Nets considered him last year after firing P.J. Carlesimo before hiring Kidd. He was the only known candidate the Nets interviewed this time. King said he had reached out to one other person who chose not to pursue the job. "If you look at (his) track record and what he did in Memphis, he was able to go in there and take a team, added somme veterans and they continually got better," King said Tuesday. Yu Darvish Authentic Jersey. "He developed some young guys, (Marc) Gasol, some big guys. If you look at Memphis, they got consistently got better every year. All the way to the Western Conference finals." Kidd led Brooklyn to a 44-38 record and the second round of the playoffs in his lone season but the Nets allowed him to pursue other jobs after denying his request for more power within the organization. The Bucks held Kidds welcoming press conference earlier Wednesday. Hollins is known as a strong defensive coach, with the Grizzlies holding opponents to an NBA-low 89.3 points per game in his final season. He is the franchises career leader in wins and led them to three straight playoff appearances. He takes over a veteran team in Brooklyn that could easily fit his style of play if Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce return, and Brook Lopez and Deron Williams come back healthy after surgeries. Hollins went 214-201 with the Grizzlies and improved the teams record in each of his four full seasons, from 40 wins in 2009-10 to 56-26 in his final season. Memphis upset top-seeded San Antonio in the first round of the 2011 playoffs. But the Grizzlies came under new ownership and management during his final season, and they chose not to renew Hollins contract after they were swept by the Spurs in the conference finals. He met last month with Cleveland before the Cavaliers hired David Blatt. cheap jerseys from china cheap jerseys ' ' ' |
