Pirate Galaxy » over trying to perform at this level, but

CHICAGO -- Paul MacLean didnt want to take too much credit when accepting the Jack Adams Award as the NHLs coach of the year. He called himself a "representative" of a lot of other peoples hard work around the Ottawa Senators. But amid injuries to Norris Trophy-winning defenceman Erik Karlsson, centre Jason Spezza and goaltender Craig Anderson, it was MacLean who held it all together as the Senators managed to make the playoffs. "For me it was important that I continue to set the expectations of the team at a high level but also be realistic about those expectations," MacLean said. "We had Erik Karlsson injured, we had Jason Spezza injured. We didnt have those two players playing in Binghamton. For us to expect someone to come up and be able to be those two players is not realistic and its not fair to the players. "We try to stay as real as we could game-by-game and give the players realistic expectations and a realistic way to play the game to have success." Despite losing Spezza for all but five games and Karlsson for all but 17, the Senators had success in the form of a 56-point season. MacLean credited captain Daniel Alfredsson, the winner of the Mark Messier Leadership Award, along with Chris Phillips, Sergei Gonchar and Chris Neil, for providing a veteran presence given plenty of adversity. When the injury bug started to become an epidemic for the Senators, MacLean first wondered, "Whos next?" Then, the 55-year-old did some impressive coaching. "Thats what good teams do is find a way to win," he said. "So we were challenged early in the season to find ways to win and I think our leadership group accepted that, and the quality of our young players that we were able to bring up accepted that." Ottawa won with Kyle Turris as its leading scorer and players like defenceman Patrick Wiercioch and forward Mika Zibanejad playing major roles. MacLean also credited Anderson for his impressive season, along with young goalies Robin Lehner and Ben Bishop. The Chicago Blackhawks didnt have to deal with as much adversity this season in large part to the play of captain Jonathan Toews, who captured the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the leagues top defensive forward. "It means the world," Toews said. "Its a tremendous feeling, I think, first of all, when youre mentioned in the same sentence after a full NHL season as guys like Pavel Datsyuk and Patrice Bergeron. To be able to go head-to-head with guys like that in the playoffs and to know them from the past, you understand how much they mean to their teams and how much they contribute offensively and defensively." Toews narrowly beat Bergeron of the Boston Bruins to win his first Selke Trophy, after a season in which he won 59.9 per cent of his faceoffs and had a plus-28 rating. The 25-year-old centre pointed to his time at Shattuck-St. Marys under coach Tom Ward as the point when he became a strong two-way player. "I really understood the importance of playing good hockey on both ends of the rink," Toews said. "Since then I really worked on every little part of my game that I could." Beat by Toews for Selke, Bergeron still got an award Friday, given the King Clancy for his humanitarian work. Tampa Bay Lightning right-winger Marty St. Louis won his third Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct. St. Louis already won the Art Ross Trophy by finishing the 48-game season with an NHL-best 60 points. Ray Shero of the Pittsburgh Penguins was named general manager of the year, and Minnesota Wild goaltender Josh Harding, who battled back after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the off-season, got the Bill Masterton Memorial trophy for perseverance. On a much different scale, MacLean showed plenty of perseverance in getting the job as Senators coach. The long-time assistant wondered if he had passed the expiration date for becoming an NHL head coach. But experience kept MacLean from being "overwhelmed" by anything this season, and a berth in the playoffs provided validation that was only furthered by being coach of the year. "I just think that sticking to it and still believing in what I did as an assistant coach has helped me now that I get the opportunity to be the head coach," MacLean said. "This kind of gives us credibility that all those times when I was thinking that I could do this that now this kind of gives me the credibility that I was right, I could coach in the league." Cheap Jordan 1 Shoes For Sale . Pierce was ejected in the third quarter of Indianas 103-86 win Monday. George Hill stole a bad pass and was going in for a layup, and Pierce hustled back and appeared to be trying to wrap him up. Wholesale Jordan 4 For Sale . PETERSBURG, Fla. http://www.wholesalejordan11.com/ .com) - The game was all punts and field goals before Kodi Whitfields catch. Jordan 11 On Sale Authentic . Kozun faked to the forehand and beat Monsters starter, Calvin Pickard, pad side in the second round for the winner. Spencer Abbott also scored in the shootout for the Marlies (25-13-4). Cheap Jordan Retro 4 Mens . "I wrote 36 on my sheet at the beginning of the game," the Cincinnati coach said, referring the yard line the ball would need to be snapped from. LOUDON, N.H. -- Kevin Harvick had his 4-year-old son on his lap two hours prior to the race as he listened to instructions from NASCAR in the drivers meeting.Harvick needed the distraction of having his son with him, but he got a little bit more than he bargained for as his son squirmed in his lap. Apparently Harvick was in prime position to suffer the effects of the first accident of the day.He was bouncing around, and Im like, Man, Im going to have to send him out of the drivers meeting to go pee, Harvick said. Hes like, Dad, Ive got to go. Im like, Youre going to have to wait. We dont want to start at the back [for missing the meeting].Harvick, if he had to, probably could have started from the back and won the Sprint Cup race Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He had a fast car to feel, well, good enough to be No. 1. And when it turned out he had to go, he went.On a restart with six laps remaining, Harvick got by race leader Matt Kenseth and cruised to the victory, vaulting him into the Chase for the Sprint Cup quarterfinal round instead of sitting 11th in the points and on the bubble to be among the 12 cars to make it following next weeks race at Dover.Call it a win by distraction.Harvick had already put last weeks race at Chicago behind him, a race in which he started in the rear because of unapproved adjustments prior to the race and then got caught a lap down when the caution came out while he was on pit road. He never got the lap back and finished 20th.But that wasnt his only distraction to overcome. What Harvick appeared to have more trouble getting over was NASCARs decision Wednesday to not penalize two of his Chase competitors, Martin Truex Jr. and Jimmie Johnson, for failing postrace measurements after Chicagoland. NASCAR determined the 10-point penalties would not have been equitable because Truex had won the race, advancing him to the next round, so NASCAR opted to penalize no one and wipe out its two lowest-tier out-of-tolerance ranges of the rulebook for the rest of the season.I was just absolutely irate all week about everything that went on, Harvick said, not specifying anything that caused the anger. But by the time we had got here, I think we had all calmed back down and just tried to focus on racing the cars. ... It really took me until Saturday morning to get over the fact of just not, just wanting to tear somebodys head off because of everything that went on last week and the way that it all worked out because I just didnt 100 percent agree with it.Harvick admitted he wouldnt have been able to do that early in his career.I was having a tough time gathering that one up, he said. I had to put it aside and we had to move on and we had to focus and just worry about what we were going to do, and I think its kind of like we talk about the Chase and performing well in situations.I havent been good about this my whole life, but over the past several years I think Ive become a lot better at letting things go. You can hold a lot in and frustrate yourself and youre just not going to perform at the level that you need to perform and communicate with your team and the people around you.Harvick performed all day but needed nearly all the 300 laps to get to the front after qualifying 19th. Kenseth led 105 laps and had a spirited battled with Truex, who leed 141 laps, for parts of the final 100 laps.ddddddddddddThat battle wore out Kenseths tires, and he spun them on the pivotal restart.I felt great about my positioning, felt good about my chances on that last restart, and I just totally didnt get it done, which is disappointing, Kenseth said.Kenseth admitted that NASCAR had gotten in his head a little bit on that final restart after it warned him on an earlier one to make sure he kept proper speed heading into the restart zone.But mainly Kenseth said he just blew it, leaving too early in the restart zone instead of waiting until the end of the box after seeing how Harvick was positioned. Harvick executed when he had to, something the 2014 Sprint Cup champion has pretty much done in the first two elimination-style Chase seasons.He was first the first year and second the second year, so Im thinking hes a pretty big threat [for the title], Kenseth said.Harvick had nothing to lose on that final restart. And the Stewart-Haas Racing driver apparently had a clear head after having the distraction at the drivers meeting at a time when most drivers already have their game face well in position.Its better for me to not think about racing honestly, because we think about it ... all week, and we have meetings and we have things that go on about racing all week, so any time I can get away from it is better for me, Harvick said.So [having Keelan] kind of adds a diversion, and he likes it. He likes to be in the drivers meeting, and he thinks its cool because theres really no other kids in there. He likes clapping for everybody [as dignitaries are introduced].After answering the question, Harvick gave Keelan a fist-bump. They smiled. It was probably a much different reaction after the race a week earlier when Harvick refused to answer reporters questions, taking swigs of water as they walked beside him trying to get something about his awful Chicagoland day.I get frustrated and mad because I care, Harvick said. I want to do the best for my team and the people around me. But youre going to go through some highs and youre going to go through some lows, and the lows suck.But thats just kind of the nature of the game that youre in.Its the nature of the game that Harvicks fun meter was at its lowest point seven days earlier and at one of its highest points Sunday night.The last two years weve kind of just worn ourselves out and really stressed out over trying to perform at this level, but we already perform at that level, Harvick said. Weve just got to keep performing at that level.Maybe Harvicks key to performing at that level from behind the wheel is creating distractions for himself. Expect Keelan at most drivers meetings the rest of the year. Or maybe Harvick brings him only after a bad race at a time when he needs to perform in the clutch.A lot of times you can talk yourself into being so amped up that you can talk yourself into making mistakes or doing things wrong, and this team has done a great job, Harvick said.But when you get in these situations, its fun to be able to succeed. Its kind of like an addiction. You just love the rush of being able to be behind and be able to perform and make that happen. ' ' '