Alles Andere » Slow starts have been an issue for the Capitals

REGINA -- Calgary Stampeders kicker Rene Paredes was serenaded by Drakes "Started from the Bottom" as he headed to the stage to accept his award as the CFLs Most Outstanding Special Teams Player award. "Started from the bottom, now were here," went the refrain. For a player ignored in the draft, it was a fitting soundtrack. Paredes recalls that three kickers went in the first three rounds. "It really doesnt matter any more," he said, his trophy on a table next to him. Paredes received 47-of-50 votes by the Football Reporters of Canada and the leagues eight head coaches in winning the award Thursday night. Montreal linebacker Marc Beswick was the Eastern nominee. "Coming into this league undrafted, it was very hard and tough. All I could do was use it as motivation," Paredes said. Paredes may have got some more motivation in that his team was mistakenly etched on the trophy as the Saskatchewan Roughriders. It is slated to be fixed. The 28-year-old from Montreal was close to perfection in 2013. He was good on 54-of-57 field goals -- a success rate of 94.7 per cent -- and set a record for most consecutive field goals in the regular season with 39. The previous mark was 30 by Paul McCallum. Paredes led the league in field goals made (54), points (213) and converts (49). He also averaged 63.5 yards a kickoff. But the Stampeders 35-13 loss to Saskatchewan in the Western final still rankles. "Its still tough to swallow," he said in an earlier interview. Paredes is as close to automatic as it gets in field goal kicking. He has missed just six-of-100 attempts over the last two seasons and 129 of 145 in his three-year career. He refuses to rest on his laurels. "When theres a lot of success youve got to work harder and thats what I did in the off-season. My goal was to get better. Ill take the same approach this off-season, get better, and well see what happens next year." Asked how he follows this season, he said: "I guess go 95 per cent. And the Grey Cup. I wish I had the Grey Cup." Paredes, however, limits his actual kicking in the off-season in his Montreal home to allow his body to recover from the rigours of the season. He rests until January when he starts working out. He starts kicking in April, starting with a four- or five-day session with kicking guru Don Sweet. After that, he may kick once a week or every two weeks. "The main thing is to keep my leg strength," he said. "You dont forget how to kick. Thats what youve got training camp for. Obviously you have to kick, I cant go to training camp without kicking but I dont try to tire my leg out in the off-season." Kicking takes a toll. Paredes reckons he kicks maybe 2,000 to 3,000 balls a season. "Your leg is tired. I felt it towards the end of the season," he said. "Not really injuries but it was bothering me." A former star kicker for Concordia, Paredes arrived in Calgary after a couple of stints in Winnipegs camp. He won the job after Rob Maver went down in the first game of the 2011 season and Stamps GM-coach John Hufnagel brought in Paredes and three others as possible replacements. Paredes was the last kicker standing, making a 50-yarder in his first field-goal attempt. Born in Venezuela to Peruvian parents, Paredes moved to Miami and then Montreal. A former soccer player, he switched to football after his high school football coach asked his soccer counterpart who had the strongest leg. The CFL awards are sponsored by Gibsons Finest. Yeezy Winkel Nederland .J. Ellis have avoided arbitration, agreeing to a one-year contract. Yeezy Boost 350 V2 Korting . -- Even as Chris Paul remained evasive about his future, he did what team leaders are expected to do. http://www.yeezysnederland.com/yeezy-500-schoenen.html . Numbers Game looks into the Canadiens securing the services of Thomas Vanek in a trade with the New York Islanders. The Canadiens Get: LW Thomas Vanek and a conditional fifth-round pick. Yeezy Boost 350 Kopen . -- Phil Mickelson came to the St. Yeezy 700 Utility Black Kopen . -- Cam Newton pranced into the end zone, placed his hands over his chest and did his familiar Superman pose.CALGARY -- From the opening shift to the end of the game, it was clear the Calgary Flames were happy to be back home. Calgary scored on the first shift, and Michael Cammalleri scored twice as the Flames cruised to a 5-2 win over the Washington Capitals on Saturday. Cammalleris first goal gave Calgary a 3-1 lead 13-minute mark of the first period. "I thought it was nice for us to come out with a high energy start," said Cammalleri, who was playing in his fourth game after missing the first seven with a hand injury. "(We) just came off a nine or 10-day road trip, quite a lot of travel and I thought it was a testament to the groups will to win the way that we were able to get going off the start." The Flames surprised by starting the season 3-0-2. But things didnt go as well on a difficult five-game road trip in which they were able to pick up just a single win. "We ended with two losses and that didnt feel good for anybody but at the same time, you regroup, youre excited to come home, excited to play in front of our fans and know that if we can put some wins together were right back where we want to be," said Cammalleri, who also had an assist and has five points (three goals, two assists) on the season. The Flames big achievement was holding Capitals star Alex Ovechkin to no points for the first time in eight career games against Calgary. In the first seven, he amassed eight goals and seven assists. "The start, we werent ready for it. They jumped on us right away, scored first shift. They had momentum and we kept making mistakes in our zone," said Ovechkin. Slow starts have been an issue for the Capitals all season. Theyve been outscored 12-6 in the first period. "I dont think we jump in right away. Something has to be happening. We have to score or there needs to be a big play by a goalie," said Ovechkin. "We were a little sleepy out there tonight." Not only did Ovechkin, the NHLs third leading scorer, get shutout, but so did the Capitals No. 2 ranked power play, which went 0 for 4 against a Calgary penalty kill that entered the night ranked 29th. "The plan was to not allow (Ovechkin) to get the puck. The only place in the game where it was pretty tough was on the power play. Hes so skilled and playing on the far side, he is basically impossible to cover," said Flames coach Bob Hartley. "Karri Ramo had a couple of big saves on him and I thought that 5-on-5, the Stajan line and whoever was playing on D against Ovie did quite a job." Also scoring for Calgary (5-4-2) was Kris Russell, Jiri Hudler and Curtis Glencross, with Russell and Dennis Wideman finishing plus-five. Calgary, which has yet to lose in regulation at the Saddledome (3-0-1), continues its three-game homestand Wednesday night with the Toronto Maple Leafs in town.dddddddddddd Jason Chimera and Aaron Volpatti scored for Washington (5-6-0), which saw its three-game winning streak come to an end. The Capitals have two stops left in a five-game road trip, the in Vancouver on Monday. It was the second and final meeting of the season between the two teams and for Holtby, the night went similar to the first meeting, when he was pulled 16:22 into the first after three goals on 11 shots and the Capitals down 3-0. On this night, it was three goals in 12:50 and a 3-1 deficit. Calgary got off to a fast start, jumping out to a 1-0 lead on a superb opening shift by the line of Cammalleri with Calgary kids Joe Colborne and TJ Galiardi. The trio hemmed the Capitals in their end nearly the entire time and the persistent pressure led to Russells first goal as a Flame at 1:04. "We werent happy with the way we had come out to start the previous games. We knew that we were behind the 8-ball and we didnt want to have it happen, especially to a team like this," Russell said. "We did a good job of really making sure we were focused from the start and ready for that first shift." The shot onslaught continued and was up to 11-2 in Calgarys favour at 7:24 after red-hot Hudler converted Sean Monahans rebound. Hudler leads the Flames with 13 points and has points in 10 of Calgarys first 11 games. "Were going to have to realize as a group that we have to do something before the game to make sure were prepared because the majority of the games were losing, its because of the first period," said Holtby. "Its nothing to do with systems, its nothing to do with what the coaching staff can do, its what we do as professional athletes, professional hockey plays. You prepare yourself and were not doing a good enough job in here." Ramo finished with 27 saves to even his record at 2-2-1. Holtby suffered the loss and is 4-5-0. Notes: Calgary was without Lee Stempniak. Riding a five-game scoring streak (three goals, two assists), Stempniak was out with a lower-body injury. Already on the sidelines for the Flames and missing his third game was captain Mark Giordano (lower body) ... Derek Smith, who played Friday night with Abbotsford (AHL), caught an early flight and played his first game of the year ... Nate Schmidt picked up his first point with an assist on Volpattis goal ... In a Budweiser promotion, 3,000 red helmets with red lights on the top were given out to fans sitting behind the nets. They turned on the lights for Flames goals. ' ' '