Dein erstes Forum » trainer of the year for us.As much as Crawf

The Chicago Blackhawks, at 5-on-5 this season, have looked like the perennial championship contender they always do. Theyve outscored teams 16-8 thanks to their talent and depth throughout the lineup.Ask the Blackhawks to kill a penalty, however, and they look like a lottery team tanking for a top draft pick. Their 30th-ranked penalty kill, which sits at an unbelievable 46.1 percent, will try to right itself Friday night against the New Jersey Devils, who have five power-play goals in 16 chances over their past four games.The Blackhawks struggles while down a man can be indirectly credited to a lack of cohesion that has led to the team defending more, which has put them in position to take more penalties than they usually would.Our identity in the past was being fast and having the puck, Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said to the Chicago Sun-Times. Now we dont have quite the four-line rotation, or the puck enough, to get that precision we look for, that identity were accustomed to having. Were not playing as fast, because were defending a lot more than were used to.The Blackhawks (3-3-1) have also had trouble delivering consistent starts to games. They have been outshot in the first period in six of seven games, including a 14-8 deficit during a 3-2 home loss to the Calgary Flames on Monday.Is there a reason for the slow starts?No good one, thats for sure, Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews said to the Chicago Sun-Times. Weve got to get that out of our game. The penalty-kill usually translates from our effort 5-on-5, and if were not starting games well, then were getting behind (and) giving up power plays. And were not killing the penalty kills that were on. It was unfortunate to get behind again (Monday night against Calgary).The Devils (3-2-1) are off to a 3-0 start at home. All six games were started by goaltender Cory Schneider, who holds a 2.00 goals-against average and .936 save percentage but will get the night off in favor of backup goaltender Keith Kinkaid.The 27-year-old Kinkaid has yet to play a second this season but with the Devils playing Friday against the Blackhawks and Saturday against the Tampa Bay Lightning, his first test was going to be a difficult one either way. He had a .904 save percentage in 23 games last season.Im very excited, Kinkaid said to the Bergen Record. Ill finally get some game action. I just want to help the guys out.The Devils won nine of Kinkaids 20 starts last season, which included two shutouts. If the Devils are to improve on their 84 points of a season ago and become a playoff contender, Kinkaid will have to give the Devils more support and better play when giving Schneider the night off.Going back to backs, we knew all along coming into the year in those situations we wanted to play both guys, Devils coach John Hynes said to the Bergen Record. Hes played well. Hes practiced well so well give him a chance tomorrow. We want to be able to do a good job in front of him and make sure we allow him to get into the game and see the shots that he should stop and get himself re-acclimated with things. Hes been through this before. Its not like its a newer player that has to come in in a backup role. So well be confident hell be ready to go.Kyle Lowry Jersey . First off, the fans ripped the Cubbies introduction of a fuzzy new kid-friendly mascot named "Clark". Kyle Lowry Raptors Jersey . Bryant, who signed a five-year, $34 million contract as a free agent with Cleveland in March, reported symptoms on Monday morning, a team spokesman said. http://www.nbaraptorsonline.com/Authentic-Vince-Carter-Jersey/ . First off, the fans ripped the Cubbies introduction of a fuzzy new kid-friendly mascot named "Clark". Fred VanVleet Raptors Jersey . Thats not a comment on the suspension that banished the Portland Winterhawks general manager and coach from his Western Hockey League teams bench for most of the 2012-13 season. Norman Powell Raptors Jersey . The third-ranked Ivanovic, who won the event in 2008 and 10, served five aces and broke Wickmayer, also a former winner in 2009, five times. "The result looked easier than it really was," Ivanovic said.Terence Crawford had a big year in 2014, so big in fact that he was named fighter of the year by ESPN.com and the Boxing Writers Association of America, among other outlets. That is a big box to check for any aspiring boxing star and potential future Hall of Famer.During 2014, Crawford traveled to Scotland and rolled to a decision victory to win a lightweight world title from Ricky Burns and then returned home to Omaha, Nebraska, for two impressive performances in title defenses, an exciting ninth-round knockout of former unified featherweight titleholder Yuriorkis Gamboa and a near-shutout decision against veteran contender Raymundo Beltran. Now fast-forward to 2016 and Crawford is on the verge of another 3-0 year against reputable opponents and another possible fighter of the year award.He will defend his unified junior welterweight world title belts against longtime contender John Molina Jr., a determined brawler with a punch as big as his heart, on Saturday (HBO, 9:35 p.m. ET/PT) at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha.In the scheduled 10-round co-feature, lightweight up-and-comer Mason Menard (32-1, 24 KOs), 28, of Rayne, Louisiana, who replaced injured former unified titleholder Juan Diaz, will take on his most notable opponent in Raymundo Beltran (31-7-1, 19 KOs), 35, a Mexico native based in Phoenix.The telecast will open with same-day taped coverage of the vacant heavyweight world title bout from Vector Arena in Auckland, New Zealand, between Kiwi star Joseph Parker (21-0, 18 KOs), 24, and Andy Ruiz Jr. (29-0, 19 KOs), 27, of Imperial Valley, California, who is bidding to become the first fighter of Mexican descent to win a heavyweight title.The 29-year-old Crawford (29-0, 20 KOs), who has not done much talking in the lead-up to the fight, did manage to squeeze out a few quotes about his belief that he deserves another fighter of the year award should he polish off Molina, a heavy underdog, though he faces stiff competition from fighters such as featherweight titleholder Carl Frampton and junior lightweight titlist Vasyl Lomachenko.If I win Saturday night I should be considered fighter of the year, Crawford boasted.After Crawford defeated Beltran, he moved up to the junior welterweight division and won a world title. In February, he made his second defense and scored a fifth-round knockout of second-tier contender Hank Lundy.Crawfords next fight was the one that put him squarely in the conversation for the award. In July, he scored two knockdowns and cruised to a one-sided decision win against Viktor Postol to unify titles against the fighter considered by virtually everybody as either No. 1 or No. 2 in the weight class. It is, without question, the most significant victory of Crawfords eight-year professional career.Molina (29-6, 23 KOs), 33, of Covina, California, is coming off a strong performance in a decision win against former titlist Ruslan Provodnikov in June. Crawford is so confident of victory that he had no problem continuing to talk about the possible fighter of the year award.I did a number on Hank Lundy, the kind that nobody else was able to do, Crawford said, continuing to make his case. I unified the title against Postol, a guy everybody said was almost as good as I was.dddddddddddd I am an undefeated champion and was fighting a guy [Postol] coming off a knockout win against [Lucas] Matthysse and I totally dominated him.Now Im fighting another guy coming off an impressive win, a No. 1 contender, and a win over him should convince people that I am fighter of the year.Brian McIntyre, Crawfords career-long trainer and co-manager, is as outspoken as Crawford when it comes to the fighter of the year hardware. Hed also like get his hands on the trainer of the year trophy, which eluded him in 2014.Im not going to lie to you, we talk about it, McIntyre said of the awards. It is one of our goals to get fighter of the year and trainer of the year. Its not a priority, but it would be great to get it.McIntyre would especially like to win trainer honors and do it in the same year that his fighter gets top honors. He sounded wistful as he spoke about when then-super middleweight champion (and now unified light heavyweight titleholder) Andre Ward and longtime trainer Virgil Hunter collected the awards together in 2011.That was great for them because they did it together, McIntyre said. It would be great for us to do it as a team. It would be like getting the boxing Oscar award. Its like an actor and director getting the Oscar. It would be great for our city, great for our state and great for our gym.McIntyre agreed with Crawford that they deserve the award as long as Crawford beats Molina.Getting those awards is satisfying to a fighter or a coachs career, he said. You can only fight for so long, you can only train fighters for so long and there are not that many fighters and trainers who stick together for their whole careers. Weve been together since the beginning. Weve accomplished a lot together.We should get it this year. Theres nobody else. There are?some guys who accomplished good things out there, but [Crawford] knocked out a top fighter like Lundy, beat Postol easy after Postol came over here [from Russia] and knocked out Matthysse. Everybody had Postol first [at 140 pounds] before Terence. Those two wins were really good for us. This fight here against Molina should solidify fighter of the year and trainer of the year for us.As much as Crawford covets a second fighter of the year award in three years, he believes it is about time that McIntyre get his due from the media.Of course, he should be trainer of the year, Crawford said. How do you think I became fighter of the year? He has?been underrated for many years and he doesnt get enough credit. I think its because we fight out of a small market like Omaha.Then, in perhaps a dig at seven-time trainer of the year and International Boxing Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach, Crawford added, If we were based in Los Angeles, it would be a no-brainer that hed be trainer of the year, like when I was fighter of the year in 2014. Thats why its so important to fight in Omaha, because HBO shines a national spotlight on our town and shows that there are great boxers and trainers coming out of here also. ' ' '