Campus Maximus » up plenty of tidbits from Bergeron, an

SAINT JOHN, N.B. -- Rachel Homan has confidence, home ice and hammer heading into Sundays final at the Ford Womens World Curling Championship. She intends to turn those assets into gold. Homan, third Emma Miskew, second Alison Kreviazuk and lead Lisa Weagle out of the Ottawa Curling Club will start the championship game against Switzerlands Binia Feltscher with last-rock advantage. Its Canadas reward for their 10-1 record to win the preliminary round and their 8-3 playoff win Friday over the Swiss. None of the other 11 countries at Saint Johns Harbour Station were as effective at scoring more than one point with hammer as Canada, so having it in the first end is an advantage. "Its huge," Homan said. "If you play your game properly, you can control the game." Canada last won a womens world curling title in 2008, when Winnipegs Jennifer Jones claimed it in Vernon, B.C. The wait hasnt been as long for Switzerland, as Mirjam Ott took the title two years ago in Lethbridge, Alta. With spectacular runbacks and raise takeouts, the Canadians drained Switzerlands offence Friday to win the playoff between the tournaments top two teams. That provided the host country a direct route to the gold-medal game, while Switzerland needed a 7-3 win over South Korea in Saturdays semifinal to gain a rematch. Russias Anna Sidorova and South Koreas Ji-sun Kim will play for bronze Sunday in what will be a first womens world curling medal for one of the countries. Homans team had Saturday off, so the skip watched the game in her hotel room and conducted interviews by phone in a raspy voice. "The rest will be good for me," Homan said. "Im glad the final is not today. "Its been a long week and we all need a bit of rest, so were glad that we put in the work and played really well and were able to get this bonus day off. We have some confidence we can take over into the final." Feltscher, 35, won an Olympic silver medal in 2006 playing third for Ott, but Sundays final will be the biggest game of her career as a skip. Third Irene Schori, second Franziska Kaufmann and Lead Christine Urech made their world championship debut in Saint John, so a 9-2 round-robin record and a berth in the final is a surprise. "Weve got nothing to lose tomorrow," Feltscher said via an interpreter. "It would be a great pleasure for us to put that gold medal around our necks." Switzerland was the only country to beat Canada in the round robin. Down 8-4, Homan shook hands after eight ends. Canadian Al Moore, husband of television curling commentator Linda Moore, is one of Switzerlands coaches. "I dont think their expectations were particularly high coming in," Moore said. "My goal coming in was to be in the playoffs. I really thought they could do that. The gold-medal game is a bonus." "They believe they can win. They believe if they go out and play their best, they believe they can win and really thats the difference." Jones and Brad Jacobs gave Canada double curling gold at the Winter Olympics in Sochi last month, with Jones going undefeated en route to the top step of the podium. Homan is on the verge of making it a dominant season for Canadian womens curling. "We have pressure on ourselves as well," Homan said. "You want that gold when it comes down to it. "Seeing Jones and (Brad) Jacobs bring home the gold from the Olympics, I really want to make it a clean sweep for Canada and make sure weve got gold everywhere." The average age of Homan and her teammates is just under 26, but they have big-game experience. Theyve won back-to-back Canadian titles, took bronze in their world championship debut last year in Riga, Latvia, and made it as far as the semifinal in Decembers Olympic trials. Homan was a shot away from making the final last year in Riga, but she missed a double takeout with her last throw of the semifinal to give up a steal and lose 8-7 to Scotland. The travel, time zone and arena were kinder to Homan this time. "Youre going to feel nervous and that comes with the territory and that comes with the sport," Homan said. "We love playing with the pressure and the home crowd. "A little bit different than Latvia. We had about five fans cheering us on. Theres a lot more energy this time around." Cheap Puma Sneakers . The Vancouver coach and an announced sellout crowd of 18,910 watched in dismay as the Canucks lost 7-4 to the New York Islanders on Monday night by squandering a 3-0 lead in the third period. Puma Shoes Outlet . The 24-year-old right winger has one assist in nine games this season with the Sabres. In his career, he has three goals and six assists in 43 NHL games. http://www.discountpuma.com/. -- Canadas Justin Shin shot an 8-under 64 on Thursday on PGA Wests Nicklaus Tournament Course to take the first-round lead in the Web. Cheap Puma Shoes Factroy Outlet . Team officials travelled to Los Angeles on Thursday night to meet with the free agent, a person with knowledge of the plans said. Wholesale Puma Shoes Online . Hamels threw seven sharp innings to earn his 100th career victory, Domonic Brown had a career-best five RBIs and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Cincinnati Reds 12-1 on Saturday night to end a four-game losing streak.Patrice Bergeron started earning acclaim for his defensive game four seasons ago when he was a legitimate Selke Trophy candidate for the first time. It has taken longer for Bergeron to be appreciated as one of the best all-around players in the NHL. Maybe it started during the Boston Bruins 2011 Stanley Cup run or last years trip to the final, but after playing a major role in Team Canadas gold-medal performance at the Sochi Olympics, the 28-year-old is surely considered among hockeys elite centres. "I think what hes done is he opened a lot of peoples eyes," Boston coach Claude Julien said. "I know at his first Olympics he didnt have, whether it was the opportunity, to do what he did. The last one I think people realized how good he is." Statistically, Bergeron had just two assists in six games, but the Quebec City native shifted from a fourth-line centre role to right-wing alongside Sidney Crosby and never missed a beat. His nearly flawless play wasnt a revelation as much as it underscored his growth from the 2010 Games in Vancouver, where he was the 13th forward. In that tournament, as defenceman Chris Pronger told CBC Sports recently, Bergeron had a smaller role that was "probably a little unfair to him." "Patrice would sit on the bench for long periods of time and then wed get a penalty and turn to him and say, OK, go out and kill it," Pronger told CBC. "Thats a pretty tough, but important, job." Its also an important job to play with Crosby, whose unique talent level and menatal acuity are often difficult to match. Bergeron said during the Olympics that the challenge is to be at his best when on Crosbys wing. "Its about trying to find him when hes open but also its getting open for yourself, not just trying to feed him," Bergeron said of Crosby. "You give him the puck in your zone and he does his thing." Bergeron said playing with not just Crosby but everyone on that deep, talented Team Canada made him better. "I think it helped me with the confidence being there, and the pace and the level of the game down there, it definitely helped me coming back here," Bergeron said last week in Detroit before the Bruins finished off the Red Wings to set up a showdown with the Montreal Canadiens that begins Thursday. Sochi gave Bergeron an international showcase to show his stuff, but he has been a key cog for the Bruins for a number of years. He has played 70-plus games in eight of nine full NHL seasons since entering the league in 2003 and had 20 points in 23 games when Boston won the Cup in 2011. This season, though, he was downright dominant at times. With 62 points in 80 games, a league-best plus-38 rating and a 58.6 per centt success rate in the faceoff circle, Bergeron was the Bruins most important forward as they won the Presidents Trophy.dddddddddddd. "I didnt think a guy thats already played eight or nine years can get better each and every year, but he is," winger Brad Marchand said in Toronto late in the regular season. "Hes the reason why weve won this many games this year and why we won the Cup. Hes a phenomenal player, a great leader, and every night hes on the ice hes a guy you want to follow." At one time Bergeron was the player doing the following. Even though he was taught defensive responsibility while growing up in hockey, Bergeron looked to Ted Donato and others who were winning faceoffs and playing in their own end. Now a veteran on the verge of beginning his US$52-million, eight-year contract signed last summer, Bergeron is now in the position of instilling those principles in younger teammates. "I mean its how I play so Im always trying to talk about that, talk about making sure we come back on the backcheck and we do the right thing defensively to create some offence," Bergeron said. Bergeron doesnt just help Bruins players. Red Wings centre Riley Sheahan, who was a key piece of their run to the playoffs, said he studies Bergerons game to improve his own. Even players at other positions appreciate what Bergeron brings to the ice. Detroit defenceman Brendan Smith has noticed Bergerons game even more now that brother Reilly is his teammate in Boston. "He reminds me of (Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg) because hes so good defensively, hes so good offensively," Smith said. "Hes above the play. He makes good decisions. Hes a second quick. Hes strong on the puck. He makes good reads. You go through the list about a player like Bergeron." Brendan Smith said Reilly has picked up plenty of tidbits from Bergeron, and according to Julien hes far from the only one who can say that. "Anybody that plays with him and sees his work ethic doesnt have a choice but to follow this guy," Julien said. "That just makes those players better. If we see a player that has skill and some potential, we know playing with Bergie that the other parts of his game will improve. That certainly is something weve always looked at." Forget about younger players. Even as Bergeron is a well-established pro, hes trying to tweak elements of his game that arent quite perfect. "Youre always trying to work on things," Bergeron said. "Coaches are doing a great job of showing me some videos with my stick in the right position on the PK or whatnot. So I think you definitely improve every time you put some work into it." ' ' '