Dunfee said even if he subsequently appealed to the Court

Eric Staal settled with a new team that satisfied his postseason aspirations. The Minnesota Wild found the top-six forward they were seeking.Staal and the Wild agreed to terms Friday on a three-year, $10.5 million contract soon after NHL free agency began. After totaling 13 goals combined with the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Rangers last season, the lowest number since he was a rookie, Staal, 31, will take a prove-his-worth mentality into next season.I feel like Ive got a lot of hockey left, Staal said.The 45 goals and 55 assists that Staal recorded in 2005-06 while leading the Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup championship are an improbability at this point. But a potential line with Zach Parise and Charlie Coyle ought to at least put him in position to be a productive offensive player.He wanted the opportunity to be the Eric Staal that he was in the past, said Wild coach Bruce Boudreau, whose Washington teams faced Staal often with Carolina as division rivals. I told him he would definitely get that chance here.Staal spent 12 seasons with the Hurricanes until he was traded to the Rangers the day before the deadline on Feb. 29, 2016. The second overall pick in the 2003 draft, Staal has 325 goals and 456 assists in 929 career games. Since he entered the league, Jarome Iginla, Patrick Marleau and Daniel Sedin are the only others whove played in 900-plus games and totaled at least 300 goals and 400 assists.Parise reached out to Staal earlier this week with a pitch for the Wild.Im super excited. They were a team that I kind of had on my radar for a little while now, and knowing I was going to be in this position, I was kind of scouring over team rosters and looking for spots where I could be put in position to play my best hockey, Staal said. Minnesota was right up there.The Wild have qualified for the playoffs four straight times, but theyve won only two series. Still, thats a lot more action than Carolina has seen.After leading the NHL playoffs with 28 points in 25 games for the 2006 champions, Staal and the Hurricanes tasted the postseason only once more. He also had a five-game stint in the playoffs with the Rangers after the trade.As his seven-year, $55.75 million contract expired, Staal was eager to join a winner. He cited player cost-cutting around him in Carolina as a reason for his waning goals and assists totals.In the cap world and the way the game is now, you need more. You need extra help, and sometimes it felt like they werent able to do some of those things, Staal said on a conference call with Minnesota reporters. It made it difficult. It started to wear.Staal has three younger brothers who have played in the NHL: Marc, Jordan and Jared. Staal has had the chance to play with all of them, with the Hurricanes and then the Rangers. With 2,237 career regular-season games between the quartet, none of them has played for a Western Conference team until now.Minnesota is the closest NHL market and major city to their hometown of Thunder Bay, Ontario, about a six-hour drive across the border.Im sure Im going to have a lot more weekend visitors than I had in the past, Staal said.The Wild also agreed to deals to bring back left wing Chris Stewart (two years, $2.3 million) and add goalie Alex Stalock, a Minnesota native; defenseman Victor Bartley, formerly of Montreal and Nashville; and forward Pat Cannone, an AHL veteran. They provide depth on two-way contracts.Stewart had eight goals and 12 assists in 56 games for Anaheim with Boudreau last season, missing 19 games because of a broken jaw. Stewart was a March 2, 2015, trade-deadline acquisition by the Wild and played in 20 games plus eight contests in the playoffs.Stalock went 24-19-7 with a 2.37 goals against average and a .911 save percentage over parts of five seasons with San Jose. The 28-year-old product of South St. Paul High School and Minnesota Duluth will be behind Devan Dubnyk and Darcy Kuemper to start, but general manager Chuck Fletcher has acknowledged that Kuemper is under trade consideration.The fact that we didnt have to sacrifice any of our young defensemen to fill these holes is important, Fletcher said.With Staal, Mikko Koivu and Erik Haula, the Wild are confident in their depth at center. Staals arrival means Coyle and Mikael Granlund can stay on the wing, too.We have some quality players he can play with, Fletcher said. We certainly have an important role he can fill, and the most important thing about the deal is he was able to give us a cap number that works for us and will allow us to fill in some players around him as well. Luis Barrera Athletics Jersey . PETERSBURG, Fla. Mark Mulder Athletics Jersey . -- Nathan Pancel scored twice as the Sudbury Wolves defeated the North Bay Battalion 4-2 on Saturday in Ontario Hockey League action. https://www.cheapathleticsonline.com/2445m-josh-phegley-jersey-athletics.html . Nine days before the opening ceremony, organizing committee chief Dmitry Chernyshenko said Wednesday that Sochi is "fully ready" and will deliver safe, friendly and well-run games that defy the grim reports that have overshadowed preparations. Chad Pinder Athletics Jersey . Fernandez, coached in Toronto by former two-time Olympic silver medallist Brian Orser, scored 267.11 points and is the first champion to successfully defend since Russias Evgeny Plushenko in 2005 and 2006. Yusmeiro Petit Jersey . They were putting most of their energy into a record-setting offensive display. RIO DE JANEIRO -- Message to Russia from race walkings new Olympic champion: Youd be welcomed back, but dope-free.After victory in the longest athletics event at the Rio Games, the mens 50-kilometer race walk, Matej Toth of Slovakia said Russia deserved the ban that kept all its track and field athletes, bar a long jumper who failed to medal, out of the Olympics because of systematic, state-sanctioned doping.But Slovakias first ever medalist of any color in athletics also said he hopes Russia will earn its way back into the sports graces very soon. Russias walkers could be very good without doping, Toth said, The only question is when they will be able to realize it -- that we can do it without doping.Now its up to Russian athletics, its up to race walkers, to change their mind, said Toth, who added the Olympic gold to his 2015 world title.With a late surge, Toth pushed Jared Tallent into the silver-medal spot. The Australians consolation was that at least this time he wasnt second behind a Russian dope cheat, as was the case at the 2012 London Olympics -- a stolen gold medal subsequently redistributed to Tallent nearly four years late.Unwelcome this time, the Russians werent missed on Friday. Race walking was among the most tainted of Russian sports.They deserved this punishment, especially in race walking, there (are) many, many athletes with positive tests, Toth said.He blew a kiss at the camera and picked up a Slovakian flag from a bystander to drape across his shoulders before crossing the line in 3 hours, 40:58 minutes.As in London, Tallent wont get to experience the glory of standing atop the Olympic medal podium. Last time, he was deprived of that pleasure by Russian doper Sergei Kirdyapkin, subsequently disqualified. This time, Tallent said he has no qualms.Were going to have a clean podium again, Tallent said. Very different to London; theres no suspicions this time around.He finished in 3:41:16 for his fourth Olympic medal -- one gold, now two silvers and one bronze -- from three games.Behind them, Hirooki Arai of Japan crossed the line in third place aheead of Evan Dunfee.ddddddddddddDunfee was initially bumped to bronze after Arai was disqualified for elbowing the Canadian when overtaking him. But Arais appeal was successful and the bronze was reinstated.Dunfee said even if he subsequently appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and was successful he would not have been able to receive that medal with a clear conscience.Contact is part of our event, whether written or unwritten and is quite common, and I dont believe that this was malicious or done with intent, Dunfee said in a statement.World record holder Yohann Diniz of France initially undulated to what looked like a commanding lead.But the high school sports coach was then stricken by stomach problems, even keeling over at one point in the heat and scorching sun before continuing, his legs wobbling like cooked spaghetti at times. He persevered to a gritty seventh place.With 10K remaining, Tallent had a narrow lead and looked comfortable. A karmic victory seemed within reach, payback after the bitterness of London and other races where drug cheats have beaten him and following his repeated calls for a ban of Russias dope-riddled walking team.But he faded in the final kilometers and couldnt respond when Toth strode past him, all hips and elbows.I just pushed, Toth said. It was all from my body, from my heart, from my brain, from my head.Tallent said that in his eagerness to make amends for London, he expended too much energy, too soon. He only received his Olympic gold from 2012 this June -- 1,405 days late -- in a ceremony in drizzly rain in front of the Old Treasury Building in Melbourne -- a far cry from being crowned in London.I thought I had it. I probably got a bit too excited. I was feeling really good. I was patient all throughout the race and just when I needed to be a little bit more patient, I went for it.I just ran out of legs with about 4K to go, he added. I wanted to be Olympic champion for more than a few months. ' ' '