Willkommen » aight home game to open the season.---More AP college bas

TORONTO -- Sidney Crosby was at his best on one of hockeys biggest stages.Again.Crosby scored once and assisted on both of Brad Marchands goals, including the winner early the third period, to help Canada beat Russia 5-3 on Saturday night in the World Cup of Hockey semifinals.He always comes up big in the big games, Marchand said.The Canadians will face the winner of Sundays Sweden -Team Europe game in the best-of-three finals that will start Tuesday night.Were going to be measured on what happens next, said coach Mike Babcock, who has helped Canada win gold at the last two Winter Olympics.Crosby opened the scoring at 7:40 into the game on a spectacular sequence, showing he has plenty of energy despite having a brief summer between winning the Stanley Cup and competing in the World Cup.It was short, but exciting, knowing we were coming here, he said.Crosby skated hard into a corner, forcing Alexey Marchenko to give up the puck earlier than he wanted. Dmitry Kulikov ended up with the puck in the left circle, but didnt have it long because Crosby snatched it away.Crosby made the puck dance on both sides of his stick as he skated across the front of the crease and as soon as Sergei Bobrovsky went down on his left hip, he backhanded the puck into the net without a Russian player near him.I had a little bit more time than you typically get, Crosby said.Bobrovsky made 16 of his 42 saves in the first period, keeping the Russians in it.Thats why hes one of the best goalies in the world, teammate Alex Ovechkin said. He played unbelievable. When they score, its not his mistake. He gave us a chance.Nikita Kucherov made it 1-all midway through the first and Evgeny Kuznetsov put Russia ahead 2-1 with 3:36 left in the second.Crosby, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time Stanley Cup champion, made a cross-crease pass to set up Marchand for his tying goal just 1:12 after Russia went ahead.In the dressing room after two periods, Babcock delivered a brief message.Theres no chance they can keep up if we keep doing what were doing, Babcock recalled telling his team.The Russians, and perhaps any other team, may not have much of an opportunity to win against a Crosby-led team with some of the games biggest stars.With a chance to take a pivotal lead in the third, Crosby chose to give up the puck, not shoot it. He deftly dropped a pass to Marchand atop the left circle to assist on the game-winning goal 1:16 into the third.Corey Perry gave Canada a two-goal cushion at 5:48 of the third and John Tavares made it 4-2 midway through the period.Carey Price made 31 saves for the Canadians. He made some momentum-stunting saves early in the first, but backchecking forwards and poke-checking defensemen made his job relatively easy for much of the night.Russia was not in a position to come back in a game in which it gave up more than twice as many shots as it put on the Price-protected net until pulling their goalie late to add an extra skater in a nothing-to-lose attempt to get back in the game. Artemi Panarin scored with 9 seconds left, making the score look slightly more respectable.The Russians were without one of their top players, Pavel Datsyuk , because of a lower-body injury.As usual in a matchup of NHL superstars, Crosby came out on top against Ovechkin.It looked as if it might end up that way even before the puck dropped.Both captains were called the center ice for a goodwill gesture, pairing them up with young boys on skates holding flags that represented each country.While Crosby put his arm around the youngster next to him, a stone-faced Ovechkin stood with his gloves at his side.Crosby helped the host Canadians crush the Ovechkin-led Russians 7-3 in the quarterfinals of the 2010 Vancouver Games. Four years later, with a chance at redemption at the Winter Olympics in Russia, Ovechkin couldnt do enough to help his team get past the quarterfinals while Crosby and the Canadians earned gold again. Ovechkin is also left waiting and wondering if hell ever hoist the Stanley Cup.Given a chance to help his team and country get a desperately wanted win, Ovechkin didnt have a shot through two periods and finished with just two shots.Maybe he doesnt have enough of luck, Russian coach Oleg Znarok said through an interpreter.---Follow Larry Lage at www.twitter.com/larrylage and follow his work at www.bigstory.ap.org/content/larry-lage Dennis Byrd Jersey . MLS Commissioner Don Garber and Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez also will attend the session, which was announced Monday. The league has discussed placing its next two expansion teams in Miami and Atlanta. Joe Klecko Jersey . The Barrie Colts defenceman, who impressed many with his play for Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championship, is the top-ranked skater in the February rankings. He has 19 goals and 24 assists for 43 points in 45 games with the Colts this season. http://www.cheapnewyorkjetsjerseysauthentic.com/ .com) - Following a late-game loss to the reigning NBA champs, the Toronto Raptors will look to sustain their recent high-level play as they travel to Indiana to take on the Pacers. Curtis Martin Jersey . -- About a third of the way through the regular season, the Washington Wizards are at . Mark Gastineau Jersey . The Olympic champion curler and TSN curling analyst immediately went online to look at the Halls long list of honoured members. Thats when the enormity of the honour sunk in. SALT LAKE CITY -- Chris Holtmann knew he had learned a lot about his Butler team during a week-long, three game road trip -- for better or worse. The ride back to Indianapolis will be a pleasant one for the third-year coach after a clean sweep.Kelan Martin scored 18 points as No. 18 Butler remained undefeated with a 68-59 victory over Utah on Monday night. The loss was the first of the season for the Utes.Its been a long week, but a full week and a really good week, Holtmann said. Id have had a different look on my face if we had been 0-3 on this stretch, but either way we were going to learn a lot of stuff.The experience of playing on (at Utah) and in a road environment and what comes out of that that you learn -- moving on to the next possession and playing with poise under duress. Those were the things we were going to hope came out of it, and it did.Butler controlled the game from the opening tip and trailed just once at 20-19. The Bulldogs responded to that with a 14-3 run to take a 10-point lead.A 13-4 run early in the second half, highlighted by a deep 3-pointer from Tyler Lewis, put Utah away. Butler did what its done all season -- shoot well from the field, play stingy defense and limit turnovers. The Bulldogs shot 52.8 percent and held the Utes to 36.5 percent.Tyler Wideman chipped in 15 points for Butler, which moved into the Top 25 earlier Monday.Kyle Kuzma led Utah with 21 points and 10 rebounds while Lorenzo Bonam finished with 17 points.Butler took a 33-27 lead into halftime after a clunky first half in which both teams struggled in its own way. The Bulldogs were efficient from the field, shooting 56.0 percent, and played stout defense. That defense, however, fouled so often Utah was able to remain in the game.The Utes missed open shots, layups and turned over the ball repeatedly. They shot just 30.8 percent in the first half, including 2 for 13 from behind the arc, but outrebounded the Bulldogs by nine and hit eight more free throws. That balanced the 10 turnovers and the 17 points Butler scored off them.I dont think Ive been involved with a college basketball game (before now) where the other team scored 23 points off our turnovers.dddddddddddd Its damn near impossible to do, Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak said. You cant defend turnovers and we basically turned it over to the point where they scored right away.This was the first test for us, really, if you look at our schedule. The timing was about right after a handful of games and we didnt do a good job with the test. But we cant learn unless were put in a position where theres a little adversity.BIG PICTUREButler: The Bulldogs are rolling after a road trip that included wins over Utah, No. 16 Arizona and Vanderbilt. Butler has a strong chance of an 11-0 start heading into the Crossroads Classic against No. 13 Indiana.UTAH: The Utes were tested for the first time after beginning the season against two Division II teams and two lower non-Power 5 teams. The team clearly awaits the availability of point guard Sedrick Barefield and power forward David Collette, who will be eligible against Prairie View A&M on Dec. 17 after transferring in last year.POLL IMPLICATIONSButler just entered the Top 25 this week and dont look to be going anywhere soon. Monday should be considered the fourth quality win of the season and with just a home game against Central Arkansas remaining this week, the Bulldogs are unlikely to drop.ALMOST THEREKrystkowiak remains at 99 wins wearing the red and white. He currently sits at 99-74 in his sixth season. Krystkowiak had a 42-20 record in two seasons at Montana from 2004-06.QUOTABLEHonestly, I dont think they did a lot, Kuzma said. Im not saying that just because we lost. A lot of credit to them. We had a lot of blatant turnovers that we shouldnt have had and that affected a lot of things we did today.UP NEXTButler: The Bulldogs return from a three-game road trip to host Central Arkansas on Saturday.Utah: The Utes host Montana State on Thursday in their sixth straight home game to open the season.---More AP college basketball: www.collegebasketball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25.