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And oh how the enigmatic goaltender shines in the spotlight, much to the chagrin of the league. Kam Chancellor Seahawks Jersey . Bryzgalov is just what the NHL hates: unique, outspoken, not from Red Deer. The embattled and well-traveled goaltender is the antithesis of the typical NHLer. His idiosyncrasies, strange even for a goalie, rankle the entire NHL establishment, from players to management to media to that guy who lives in the apartment below yours with his mother who has a "prominent Predators blog." And as Bryz adds some animation to the typically lifeless NHL discourse in his return to centre scrum, its interesting to consider why hockey hates him so. [Getty Images] For much of his career, Bryzgalov and his delightfully absurd aloofness was left to the bliss of the uncovered hinterland of the NHL. He was allowed to ply his trade in Anaheim and Phoenix with relatively little attention paid. But, in league circles, his oddities were well known, and even celebrated when the media required moments of levity. But upon his arrival in hockey hotbed, and noted goalie-killer Philadelphia, the affection the league had for Bryzgalov turned quickly to venom. His play certainly didnt help, but many an average NHLer with a slight sense of humour has been left to his own devices. But Bryzgalovs appalling strangeness in the eyes of the hockey establishment, a sinister outfit run by old white men housed in a secret lair below the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, made him a pariah, and nearly led to the end of his career. And by "end of career" I mean playing in Edmonton. Perhaps no player has incurred the wrath of the NHL like the man the Wild acquired as insurance, and who is now their last hope to extend the season. But why? Unfortunately, hockey lacks Bryzgalovs. Of the four major sports leagues, it by far eschews personality and flavour more than all others. Hell, out of any sport it certainly boasts the most boring membership. No interview is less interesting than conversations with hockey players. Vanilla mocks the rabid blandness of NHLers. And those in NHL circles who do have personalities, like Sean Avery, Ted Nolan, or P.K. Subban, find themselves ostracized from the community, or like Subban unfairly labeled as troublesome on and off the ice. One would think a league that has struggled to find a market against its more successful sports brethren would embrace personality, but thats not the hockey way. Bryzgalov is more than a goalie, more than a hockey player. Hes a genuinely interesting and interested person. He has big questions. Like, "Im very into the universe, you know like how was created, you know, like, what is it, you know? Solar system is so humongous big, right? But if you see like our solar system and our galaxy on the side, you know, like, were so small you can never see it. Our galaxy is like huge, but if you see the big picture our galaxy (is) like a small tiny-like dot in the universe." Bryz is the opposite of boring. [HBO] But hockey is a factory of boring. The sport grabs youngsters at an early age, sends them to cosmopolitan metropoli like Chicoutimi, Lethbridge, and North Bay, and where representatives of the old boys club teach them to lack in colour and dissenting opinion. There must be courses in stock answers and cliché given to aspiring NHLers, lest they find some horrific off-ice personality. One can imagine a factory churning out 62 defencemen and gritty fourth line centres somewhere outside of Medicine Hat whose only answers are limited to: • Gotta play all three periods and go hard into the boards. • Its the coachs decision. • I enjoy CBCs Heartland. Unfortunately, this formulaic tendency has corrupted on-ice play as well. In the past quarter century weve seen the game become more systems-based, removing individuality and scoring from the game. (Lets call this Lou Lamoriellos fault.)Hockey enjoys being the definition of innocuous. What it finds funny, or interesting, is in the Jeremy Roenicks of its world, a sort of low brow, low risk comedy that makes Canadian sitcoms look like the bastard children of Louis CK and Sarah Silverman. And that affection for the benign has lowered scoring, homogenized the product, and made beat reporters quest for an interesting quote an exercise in futility. Bryzgalov is the kind of guy you like to keep in your pocket and take out at parties. He was the star of HBOs24/7, an ambitious show that tries to find intrigue in NHL locker rooms.His personality is as endearing as it playful. Hes intelligent, well read, and happy to speak on any subject. And the NHL hates him for it. This is a man who when asked if he feared the powerhouse Pittsburgh Penguins before a playoff matchup with his Flyers responded, "Im not afraid of anything – except bear. But bear in the forest." Whats not to love? The pundits cited his personality as one of the reasons he failed in Philly, despite the fact that the Flyers organization is a wasteland for goalies whose failures have been the result of a flawed organizational concept as opposed to a Russian who enjoys tea and literature. Whats most painfully difficult to entertain in this NHL with a hatred of the entertaining is the notion that there arent more personalities like Bryzgalov. The difference with Bryz is that he shares his self with the world. I cant even describe the weird that my peers tend towards in the privacy of dark corners of Montreal bars, so one cant be naïve enough to believe that similarly intriguing oddity doesnt exist in NHL locker rooms. NHLers are only permitted to show their game face, or as Bryz puts it, "You know, I have many faces … masks. In home, I have one face. Public, I have other face. Uh … ahhhh, on ice I have different face. Day off I have four face. With you [media] I have fifth face." The tradition of the league has implemented a gag order upon its membership, which limits both its on- and off-ice products. The marketing of contemporary sport is about personality. Its what makes the moments between on-field greatness interesting. Chad Johnson, Dennis Rodman, or Steve Lyons would never be allowed to exist in the NHL. From a young age, their personalities would never be given the chance to blossom into anything other than milquetoast. Bryzgalov once said, "OK, they fire the puck from the blue line. Chief usually yelling block the shot at the defensemen. They doesnt have the goalie gear, but they have to block the shot. So who is more crazy, me or the defencemen? Who is more weird?" No one, Bryz. No one. And thats a shame. For both the sport and its fans. This is likely his last few weeks as an NHL goaltender. And then exit Bryzgalov, pursued by bear. Luke Willson Jersey . -- Neymar scored in the 83rd minute to give Brazil a 1-0 victory over Colombia on Friday night in an exhibition game before 73,429 fans at Sun Life Stadium. Paul Richardson Jersey . PAUL, Minn.LAKE LOUISE, Alta. - Lindsey Vonn raised her arms in the air, let out a whoop and fell flat on her back in celebration of an emotional World Cup downhill win Saturday.The ski star led an American sweep of the podium in Lake Louise, Alta., with Stacey Cook second and Julia Mancuso third. Canadas Larisa Yurkiw came the closest to spoiling the U.S. party by finishing a career-best fourth.Vonn claimed the 15th World Cup victory of her career at the Alberta ski resort, but this one was different. Since sweeping both downhills and super-G in 2012, Vonn underwent a pair of knee surgeries that limited her to less than a handful of races in the last year and a half.When she arrived in Lake Louise this week, Vonn hadnt raced in almost a year.The 30-year-old sobbed into the shoulder of her father Alan Kildow and other people on her support team when it was clear her time would hold up for the victory Saturday.Today was just an enormously happy day and also a big relief to know that Im back and I still have the capability of winning, Vonn said.Yurkiws celebration was similar to Vonns, minus the back flop in the finish area. After finishing 22nd in Fridays first downhill, the 26-year-old from Owen Sound, Ont., crossed the finish line less than two-tenths of a second from the podium.Its just such a validation to what I believe in my gut, Yurkiw said. Ive chosen to believe in myself and built a career around it. Im really lucky that its working.Vonns time was one minute 50.48 seconds. Cook was second in 1:50.97, Mancuso third in 1:51.05 and Yurkiw fourth in 1:51.22. Overall World Cup leader Tina Maze of Slovenia was eighth after winning Fridays downhill.There were four American women in the top-10, but none on the podium in Fridays first downhill of the season. They swept the medals Saturday and put four in the top six with Edmonton-born Laurenne Ross finishing sixth. The Audi World Cup Lake Louise concludes with Sundays super-G.Mancuso says the chemistry on the team works well when Vonn is on her game.We missed having someone so dominant around because you can always count on her to put in a good performance, Mancuso said.The rest of us on a good day, were definitely contending for the podium, but Lindseys proved that every day shes contending for the podium. Its nice to have that sort of energy and intensity. Its like OK Lindsey has her game face on so we need to put our game-face on.Cook also returned to the podium in Lake Louise after finishing second in a pair of downhills two years ago.For North Americans, its kind of the one spot where we have an advantage over the Europeans, she said. That comes from Lake Louise being so supportive of junior racing. TThey host the Nor-Ams and for a junior racer to get on a World Cup track, its the only place in North America that happens. Steven Hauschka Seahawks Jersey. We have a lot of experience here. We have a lot of runs on this hill. You learn whats fast and experience counts big time.Yurkiws catastrophic knee injury in 2009 kept her from racing for almost two years. She lost her spot on the Canadian ski team for the 2013-14 season, so Yurkiw raised money via sponsorships and raced solo to qualify for the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.She regained her place on the national team as the lone downhiller for this season, but turned down financial support from Alpine Canada. The organization runs the womens national team as a combination of speed and technical — slalom and giant slalom — racers. Yurkiw didnt want to join a program where downhill was not a priority.Yurkiws previous best results — a sixth and a seventh in downhills — came last year when she was on her own. Her expectations for Lake Louise this year were low. Yurkiws return to snow in the fall was delayed because of a pair of off-season knee surgeries.Im a racer so I come out and hope to be the fastest every day and sometimes you are and most of the time youre not, so Im really happy with todays result, Yurkiw said.This is much beyond anything we could have hoped for this weekend. My coach was almost crying yesterday and hes like a mans man, so kind of awkward, but I think were surpassing our goals. It opens up the season for an anything-is-possible year.Vonn tore a pair of ligaments and broke a bone in her right leg racing super-G at the 2013 world alpine ski championships.Her attempted comeback for the Winter Olympics stalled out when she tore one the reconstructed ligaments and then sprained a ligament last season. Vonn underwent a second knee surgery in January and did not defend her Olympic womens downhill title.Lake Louise is a place where the four-time overall World Cup champion has dominated in the past. It delivered a welcome dose of confidence Saturday.It was a really long way, you know from being injured and two operations and coming back and coming back again and not quite knowing if I would get to be where I was before, she said. You know I always believed in myself. I never gave up that belief but at the same time, its hard not knowing.With 60 career World Cup victories, Vonn is two away from matching the womens record of 62 held by Annemarie Moser-Proell of Austria. Vonn denied that was on her mind Saturday.No, I just have to focus on the skiing, she said. Every day has gotten better. I just have to keep building my confidence and keep working and everything will eventually come. cheap nfl jerseys cheap jerseys cheap jerseys cheap jerseys cheap nfl jerseys wholesale jerseys ' ' '