ed on while a young and exciting squad has been

TORONTO -- And so we begin.The first World Cup of Hockey in a dozen years is set to open to all kinds of bells and whistles Saturday in the center of Canadas hockey universe: Toronto.Eight teams, representing six countries and two continents, and the largest collection of NHL talent ever assembled in one tournament are set to try to put the World Cup of Hockey back on the international hockey radar.Consider this: Of the 184 players on the eight rosters, 169 played in the NHL last season. Two others, Team North Americas Auston Matthews and Finlands Patrik Laine, went Nos. 1 and 2 in last Junes draft and are likely to play in the NHL this season.The players in the tournament, jointly organized by the NHL and the National Hockey League Players Association, have combined to play 73,299 NHL regular-season games and have a total of 47 Stanley Cup championships to their credit.The Tampa Bay Lightning leads all NHL teams with 12 players taking part, with representatives on seven of the eight teams. It would have been 13 if Ryan Callahan?hadnt withdrawn from Team USA because of injury. Lightning head coach Jon Cooper is also an associate coach with Team North America.Speaking of Team North America, it has quickly become the darling of the tournament. Many believe the collection of highly skilled players from Canada and the United States under the age of 24 has the goods to advance to the elimination portion of the tournament.Team North America features a bevy of players who represent the future of the game, including team captain Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers and Jack Eichel?of the?Buffalo Sabres.?The duo represents the top two picks in the 2015 draft. McDavid, 19, has been hailed as the greatest young talent to join the NHL since Sidney Crosby arrived more than a decade ago.And though Team North America is young, it does boast a two-time Stanley Cup winner in Brandon Saad of the Columbus Blue Jackets, and goalie?Matt Murray, who backstopped the Pittsburgh Penguins to a Cup win in June.The tournament will start with two four-team pools in round-robin play (Canada, United States, Czech Republic and Europe make up Group A; Sweden, Finland, Russia and North America are in Group B). The top two teams from each group will advance to the semifinals, with the No. 1 teams playing the second-place teams from the opposite pool. The winners of those one-game semifinals will meet in the best-of-three finals.Pool play begins Saturday with Team USA taking on Team Europe (3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2), another hybrid team featuring players from non-competing European nations. Team Canada?opens against the Czech Republic on Saturday (8 p.m. on ESPNEWS).The preliminary round will follow standard NHL regular-season protocol. If a score is tied at the end of regulation, there will be a five-minute, 3-on-3 overtime. If nobody scores in OT, the game will be decided by a shootout. Teams will accumulate two points for a win of any kind and one point for an overtime or shootout loss. Regulation wins are favorable because they will factor into the tiebreaking process used to determine which teams advance to the elimination round in the event teams are tied in points after the three preliminary games.NHL playoff rules will come into effect in the semifinals and final, with overtime games played 5-on-5 until a resolution, regardless of how long that might take.Heading into the games, there are plenty of storylines to watch.The host Canadians will be without Jeff Carter, Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and Duncan Keith, all of whom withdrew because of injury. Guess what? It doesnt matter. The Canadians are loaded, and they are led by Pittsburghs Crosby, who is coming off his second Stanley Cup run, and Montreal Canadiens netminder Carey Price, who is attempting to return from a core body injury that cost him most of last season.The biggest decisions facing Team Canada head coach Mike Babcock might be about whom to scratch for each game because one goalie, one defenseman and one forward from each teams 23-man roster will not dress.The Swedes are as complete a team as there is in the tournament, even though they will be without Henrik Zetterberg and Alexander Steen. The Russians, led by Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin and Crosbys longtime teammate Evgeni Malkin, are explosive.Team Europe, whose players represent eight European nations not included otherwise, got off to a rocky start before rebounding to win their final pretournament game over Sweden. Europe is noteworthy for, among other things, completing the eighth father-son combination to take part in Canada Cup/World Cup of Hockey competition. Skilled Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl follows his father, Peter, who skated for Germany in the 1996 tournament.As for Team USA, its a hard-nosed, veteran group led by 2015-16 NHL scoring champion and MVP Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks. Two-time Stanley Cup champion Jonathan Quick of the Los Angeles Kings will get the start in goal. Team USA, 20 years after its seminal win over Canada in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, hopes to rebound from a disappointing showing at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.?Each team played three pretournament games. If the results tell us one thing, its that no team can be fully counted out of the running. Each squad won at least one game, and none went undefeated. Juan Guillermo Cuadrado Jersey . Belfort (24-10) needed just 77 seconds to down Henderson in the headlining bout of Saturdays "UFC Fight Night: Belfort vs. Henderson" event at Goiania Arena in Goiania, Brazil. The fight served as a rematch of the pairs 2006 meeting, which Henderson won by decision. Andres Felipe Roa Jersey . LOUIS -- Cardinals cleanup hitter Allen Craig says hes recovered from a foot injury and ready to be put on St. http://www.nationalcolombiafootball.com/felipe-aguilar-colombia-jersey/ .B. - Sebastien Auger made 44 saves as the Saint John Sea Dogs edged the visiting Acadie-Bathurst Titan 2-1 on Saturday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action. Colombia Soccer Jerseys . -- Adam Snyder returned to the San Francisco 49ers this season because the offensive lineman thought it was his best opportunity to win a championship. David Ospina Colombia Jersey . - The Washington Redskins have cut defensive lineman Adam Carriker and punter Sav Rocca. Gary Gold has stepped down from his position in charge of the Sharks and will be replaced by Robert du Preez.Gold has been in charge of the Durban franchise for two years but leaves to pursue another exciting avenue in his rugby career.Gary Teichmann, The Sharks CEO, stated: We respect Garys decision to move closer to home to pursue this opportunity and we thank him for his positive contribution and efforts during a period of transition with The Sharks.During this time there have been some Sharks stalwarts who moved on while a young and exciting squad has been assembled, opening up a new phase in our history.In his role as director of rugby, there were many systems implemented that will aid our growth in the coming years. I would like to take this opportunity to wish him and his family the very best moving forward.Gold added: I have had an unbelievably enjoyable two years in Durban, with many highs and a few lows.There is an exciting group of yyoungsters that are currently in the system, who have great futures ahead of them.ddddddddddddI look forward to the next challenge in my career and I would like to thank everyone at The Sharks for the great memories and the wonderful opportunity I was given to be at the helm of a fantastic team,.Teichmann also announced that former Natal and Springbok scrum-half and current Sharks Currie Cup head coach Du Preez,will take charge of the Sharks 2017 Super Rugby campaign.Robert is a true son of KZN (KwaZulu Natal) and is a passionate Sharks man, added Teichmann. Having played here, he understands the culture we want to create and our vision moving forward.We extend our best wishes to Robert and his coaching team as they commence their pre-season training programme on Monday, ahead of the start of next years tournament. ' ' '