Heres what I have learned about Sarah Burke. She was a pioneer. She did things on skis that made the birds take notice. Sarah Burke was a crusader. For years she fought to get womens halfpipe recognized as a sport. She was a dreamer too. Her mom, Jan Phelan, told me that even as a little kid she wanted to ski in the Olympics. Jan still lives and makes art only a few blocks away from her daughters house in Squamish, B.C. A few weeks before the Sochi Olympics I went to meet her to talk about her daughters legacy. She told me about how when Sarah took up halfpipe as a teenager, as the only woman in the sport, she competed against men. “So she said , Okay, I will compete against the senior men. And so she came fourth, and landed the first 1080 in a competition. And so of all of these men, many of whom were on the world cup circuit, Sarah, this little kid came fourth. Isnt that something?" Thats how Sarah Burke first put womens halfpipe on the map. But she didnt stop there. Jan remembers proofreading the emails Sarah wrote when she was 14 to the X Games asking them why women couldnt compete. At events Sarah tracked down officials and demanded women be given a chance. For years she was turned down. “She would be crying in her goggles and venting her frustration and then she would say, Okay, I am going to go back and talk to them again. I could just imagine the tears filling up her goggles because she was so mad. And she had worked so hard at it.” Some super sad times I met Sarahs husband, Rory Bushfield, on his driveway. And in a matter of moments he had conviced me to put his bike in our little CBC rental car and shuttle him up a mountain so he could go for a ride. We obliged. “Its been two years since Sarah passed and I have gone through some super sad times but everything about Sarah is easy to smile about. She did it with grace, and she did it with class, pushed herself in the right places, skied half pipe like a champion, did so many first tricks for women that had never been done, you know, continued to push and continued to push.” Finally, in 2005, Sarah broke through. Her work paid off. Womens halfpipe got a spot in the world championships. Sarah won gold, and in her post-run interview she kept on pushing: “I am keeping my fingers crossed for the Olympics, we are only get better and I am hoping to get it in there.” But Sarah would never make it to the Olympics. On Jan. 19, 2012, Sarah Burke died after a crash while training in Utah. But in a way she won her fight. She got her sport into the Olympics. And so in Sochi, when the women drop into the halfpipe for the first time, Sarahs dream will have come true. Canadian slopestyle Spencer OBrien was a close friend of Burkes, and after her qualifying runs she showed me the little tape banner that still hangs on her board two years after Sarah died. Jan Phelan is making the long trip from Squamish to Sochi. She wants to stand near the halfpipe as the women compete and witness her daughters legacy. “If you had asked me, before this happened, what was the worst thing in my life would be, it would be to lose a child. To lose Sarah. I now know that there is one thing worse and that is to never have had her at all. Right. So what that tells me is to look at all these wonderful things she did accomplish and to enjoy them, let them bring you happiness.” Authentic Jakub Vrana Jersey .com) - Semyon Varlamov more than earned his third shutout of the season as he made a career-high 54 saves to lift the Colorado Avalanche to a 2-0 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday. Authentic Michal Kempny Jersey . Appearing on TSN 690 Monday afternoon, Mike Babcock said he had conversations with both P.K. Subban and Carey Price about those on-ice traits during Hockey Canadas summer orientation camp. Mike Babcock: McGill experience, P. http://www.cheapcapitalsjerseysauthentic.com/?tag=authentic-pheonix-copley-jersey . -- With his team down 16 points in the second quarter and headed for another blowout loss at home, Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson yelled out to his players to keep shooting and keep fighting on defence. Authentic Dmitrij Jaskin Jersey . The three Calgary natives will compete after the sport was skipped by the Vancouver Games in 2010 but later included on the program for Sochi, Russia. The fight to include womens ski jumping prior to Vancouver went to the courts only to have the Supreme Court of Canada rule against the athletes appeal in 2009. Authentic Chandler Stephenson Jersey . -- The Los Angeles Clippers chose not to speak publicly about owner Donald Sterling before they faced the Golden State Warriors for Game 4 of their first-round series Sunday.TORONTO -- Jerry DAmigo has watched the Toronto Maple Leafs seven-game losing streak from the nearby Marlies of the AHL. In a hockey market like this, its impossible to avoid hearing all about it. Now DAmigo will likely be thrust into the lineup against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night to try to do his part -- however small it might be -- to end the skid and save the Leafs playoff hopes. "Im not trying to solve the whole thing here," DAmigo said. "Im just going to put in my best effort and give the guys some energy here. Hopefully (raise) them up a little bit." Unless DAmigo manages to score or create a big goal, itll take much more than a fourth-line energy guy to make the Leafs rise up and find a consistent level of play that has been lacking of late, even against a banged-up opponent. If theres any time to find that extra gear, its against a Red Wings team the Leafs are tied with at 80 points. "Obviously weve been fighting it of late," winger Mason Raymond said. "But this is a team we are battling with for a playoff spot. Theyve been doing well of late so we have quite the test ahead of us." Figuring 92 points as a legitimate target to make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference, a loss to the Red Wings at Air Canada Centre would just about force the Leafs to win out in their final six games. A victory and some help from the Carolina Hurricanes and Boston Bruins against the Columbus Blue Jackets and Wasshington Capitals puts Toronto right back into it.dddddddddddd Coach Randy Carlyle knows this is a difficult spot but doesnt find it difficult to remain positive when speaking with his players. "This isnt a fun place to be right now, Ill tell you that, and theres pressure being applied in different areas, but the No. 1 thing that we have to do is we have to focus on self-improvement by a certain amount, and that will help the team grow," Carlyle said. The Red Wings havent been in a tailspin like the Leafs, but theyve been in the thick of this playoff race long enough to know what to expect Saturday night. "They need a win and we need a win and thats been the case each night weve played probably for 20 games," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "So were used to the environment were in. It should be a lot of fun here tonight. They need a win and we need a win, its just that simple." NOTES -- Jonathan Bernier is expected to be in goal for the Leafs, which would mark the first time this season he starts on back-to-back days. Jimmy Howard starts for Detroit. ... Toronto is 6-9 in the second half of back-to-back games, including losses in the last two of those situations. ... Defenceman Paul Ranger (neck) is "an option" for the Leafs, according to Carlyle. If Ranger plays, it could mean going back to 11 forwards and seven defencemen, though it was not clear which forward would come out of the lineup. 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