miaowang123: It needs no help from an ancient alphabet. But, as

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VANCOUVER -- After a frustrating season which saw his team miss the playoffs, Vancouver head coach John Tortorella was rather blunt Monday in his assessment of what the Canucks must change if they hope to return to the NHLs elite. Yoenis Cespedes Jersey . While Tortorella took some of the blame, he also didnt pull any punches. He said the Canucks are getting old, the core group has become complacent and the team needs to get younger. "I felt from day one that its stale," said Tortorella. "Thats not their fault. This is a group that has been together for a long time. "It needs youth. It needs a change. The team needs to be retooled. Its a young mans game. Its certainly not a criticism of (the veterans). We need to surround them with some enthusiasm." After a promising start under Tortorella, the Canucks finished the year with a 36-35-11 record for 83 points. Vancouver managed just 13 wins in 41 games since Jan. 1 and settled for a 25th-place finish in the overall standings. The poor showing has already cost Mike Gillis his job as president and general manager. New president Trevor Linden -- the Canucks former captain -- still must decide Tortorellas fate. The two were scheduled to meet later Monday. Centre Ryan Kesler, who was the subject of trade rumours this year, said the players have to take responsibility for the season. "Were all flabbergasted right now," said Kesler, who led Vancouver with 25 goals. "Going into this year I would never think we would be sitting here in this situation." The Canucks ended their season with a 5-1 win over the Calgary Flames last Sunday but the victory was soured by an ugly incident late in the second period. Daniel Sedin was taken off the ice on a stretcher after being hit from behind by Calgarys Paul Byron. Sedin was taken to hospital and later released. After the hit, Sedin lay crumpled on the ice and couldnt raise his head. "I was scared," he said at Mondays season-ending news conference. "I tried to lift my head at first and couldnt get it off the ice. "The only thing I thought was lay still. I tried to move my hands and it felt good. I went to the hospital and everything looks good. I feel OK today." Tortorella said fans and management cant keep reminiscing about the Canucks loss in Game 7 of the 2011 Stanley Cup final, but instead must concentrate on making the team better again. "Were not in 2011," said the man hired last year to replace the fired Alain Vigneault. "We have to stop talking about 2011. "The core needs to change." Canucks captain Henrik Sedin said the team was "really good" until halfway through the season when injuries became a problem. Both Sedins, Alex Burrows and defenceman Chris Tanev all missed a significant number of games with injuries. "You never want to use injuries (as an excuse but) we had a tough year," said Henrik. "We had guys playing out of position. We had guys playing more minutes than they were used to. "We had to play a different way and we werent able to win playing that way." Tortorella said during this period he made a coaching mistake by giving the room to the players. "I didnt get back in the room and continue to teach the details," he said. "I didnt stay on top of it. "I needed to be pounding away at the details. I think that hurt us in situational play. I think that hurt us in trying to understand how you change momentum. Thats not the team, thats me. Thats my biggest regret." A lack of scoring haunted Vancouver all season. The Canucks managed just 196 goals, leaving them tied for second fewest in the league. For the first time in a non-lockout season, Vancouver had just one 20-goal scorer in Kesler. Daniel Sedin finished the year with 16 goals and went through a stretch of 23 games without scoring. Henrik Sedin had just 11 goals. Burrows, who hadnt scored less than 25 goals in the last four full seasons, had just five. "People talk about we are playing too much defence," said Daniel. "Honestly we played as aggressively as we have been. "That has nothing to do with why our production is down. Its up to us to play like we can." Defenceman Alex Edler, who begins a US$30-million, six-year contract next season, finished the season at -39, the worst plus-minus in the NHL. "There was a lot of changes this year (in how we played in own end) and a lot of new things to get used to," said Edler. "I think I didnt have the year I should have had but I know I am a good player." The Canucks have had several distractions to deal with over the last year. Tortorellas hiring was a surprise. Goaltender Cory Schneider was traded during the summer, meaning Roberto Luongo was the Vancouver starter after believing he was gone. Luongo was eventually traded to Florida. Tortorella missed six games after being suspended for trying to get into the Calgary locker-room following a line brawl to open a Jan. 18 game against the Flames. The Canucks were 2-4-0 during that period, then 2-7-1 when Tortorella returned. "When you lose a head coach its never good," said Henrik Sedin. "I dont think it was specifically that incident that made us start losing." Norichika Aoki Jersey . Terrance Broadway threw for 227 yards and Hunter Stover kicked three field goals as the Ragin Cajuns won an unprecedented fourth straight New Orleans Bowl with a 16-3 triumph over Nevada. Matt Harvey Jersey .com) -  The Toronto Maple Leafs will try to play spoiler as the Los Angeles Kings will try to match their longest winning streak in over four years in Thursdays battle at Staples Center.Each week, The Reporters put their thumbs out to the good and the bad in the world of sports. This week, they discuss the NCAAs revenue sharing, Don Zimmer, soccer language and Super Bowl 50. Dave Naylor, TSN Radio 1050: My thumb is down to world of big-time American college sports, which reminded us again this week there is no end to hypocrisy when it comes to sharing wealth with its players. This week Alabama football coach Nick Saban and Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari were rewarded with contracts worth more than $50 million each. This comes just as the NCAA is about to begin defending its right not to share revenues with players; in the lawsuit filed by former UCLA basketball star Ed OBannon, which starts on Monday.  How the NCAA can argue theres not enough money in the system to compensate players when coaches like Saban and Calapari can earn more than $6 million a year should be interesting. But we just know theyll find a way to do it. Dave Feschuk, Toronto Star: My thumb is up to baseball characters. May they live forever in our memory, even as they leave us. The game lost an unforgettable one this week with the passing of Don Zimmer. In a sport built on stories, his was a pure classic. Zimmer met Babe Ruth as a boy, got married to his high-school sweetheart at home plate of a minor-league park, played with Jackie Robinson and won a World Series with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Hell probably be remembered best for charging Pedro Martinez back in 2003, when Zimmer was in his 70s at the time. As he said later, "I sure wasnt going over there to kiss him." Baseballs heroes arent always so easy to embrace. So often today we focus on money and moneyball. Zimmers life was about finding a love and fighting to keep it. He loved basebaall so much, it nearly killed him. Lenny Dykstra Jersey. As a player, he survived two fastballs to the head. One put him in a coma, another caved in his face. He kept playing after both. He got fired four times as a manager, but he never retired. Nobody ever wanted him to. For characters as unique as Zimmer, there are no replacements. Michael Farber, Sports Illustrated: As I said four years ago, and plan to say again in 2018, my thumb is down to anybody in this country who plans to speak world cup soccer English for the next month. I dont want anyone saying a goalkeeper had a clean sheet. Clean sheets are in your linen closet.  He had a shutout. The score, maybe, was one nothing, not one nil. And please dont tell me the United States needs a result against Ghana. A loss is a result, not a good result, but a result. And just so were clear, its not football here, its soccer. Alright, now carry on and keep calm. Dave Hodge, TSN: My thumb is up, though not for long, to the National Football League for deciding to ditch the Roman numeral "l" for super bowl 50, to be played in February of 2016. The use of Roman numerals began with super bowl 5, sorry, "v", and it has proved to be very successful - in creating confusion. Now that couldnt have been its intention, but what else, pray tell, was it supposed to do? Make the event seem bigger than it is? It needs no help from an ancient alphabet. But, as I said, the NFL is praised here only briefly, because it will return to Roman numerals for super bowl 51 - LI - and theres no end in sight, unless its super bowl 59, which will read LIX, and maybe the NFL wont be fond of Super Bowl licks, which come to think of it, was last seasons super bowl - Denver taking its licks from Seattle. Stitched Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping Wholesale Jerseys 2020 Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Cheap Jerseys 2019 Cheap Jerseys Wholesale Cheap Jerseys ' ' '