Giants capture their first

EDMONTON -- There werent many familiar name playing for the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night, but one continues to stand out in the pre-season. Veteran Owen Nolan started the scoring before Mike Duco scored the winner on a second-period short-handed goal as a relatively no-name Canucks squad showed up a largely veteran Edmonton Oilers team 2-1 in NHL exhibition play. It was Nolans second point in two exhibition games for the Canucks (2-1-0) as he attempts to return to the NHL ranks following a year abroad in Switzerland. "Im still getting back to the timing and the pace here but I definitely feel that I can keep up," said the 39-year-old, who picked up 26 points in 24 games with Zurich after spending the previous two seasons with the Minnesota Wild. "I have to earn it. I know there are spots, but they are not just going to give me one. Im trying to work hard and show what Ive got." Vancouver head coach Alain Vigneault said Nolan has looked pretty solid to this point after coming to the team on a professional try-out camp contract. "The first thing you see is the professionalism he brings every day to the rink," he said. "He knows the game and goes out there and is quick to help out the younger guys. Its just a matter of whether or not he can keep up with the pace. The hands are still there. Its the beginning of camp, but I am very happy with what I have seen so far. There are some spots available right now." Jordan Eberle replied for the Oilers (1-2-0), who had roughly 70 per cent of what should be their starting regular season lineup in the game. The Canucks, meanwhile, iced a roster made up largely from their American Hockey League affiliate, the Chicago Wolves, plus a few veterans on try-out contracts. "That wasnt our best, obviously," said captain Shawn Horcoff. "We just couldnt find any chemistry." Oilers head coach Tom Renney shrugged it off for what it was, a pre-season game. "We werent very inspired in the first half of the game," he said. "That was a tough lineup to coach against. But I thought we found our legs a little bit better in the second half of the second and were pretty good in the third. Playing how I think we have to, to have some success. "It almost would have been easier to play (the Canucks regular season team) than what we saw tonight," he added. "More organized play might suit us better. It was kind of a free-for-all tonight." The game got off to a rough and tumble start with a couple of fights in the first three minutes as Edmontons Theo Peckham squared off with Aaron Volpatti and Canuck Todd Fedoruk dropped the gloves with Darcy Hordichuk. Vancouver struck first, 13 minutes into the first period on a power play with Edmontons Tom Gilbert in the penalty box. Finishing a nice three-way passing play, Nolan beat Edmonton goalie Devan Dubnyk. Edmontons Taylor Hall was just coming back into the play after serving a penalty of his own. Vancouver had 13 first-period shots while Edmonton only put six on Eddie Lack in the Canucks end. Both teams changed goalies midway through the second, with Manny Legace coming in for the Canucks and Yann Danis for the Oilers. After nearly 40 minutes with very few chances, goals were scored just 17 seconds apart in the final minute of the second. The Canucks went up 2-0 with 53 seconds left in the second as defender Jeff Petry got caught pinching on the power play and Duco raced up ice on a two-on-one. He elected to shoot it himself and knocked his own rebound through Danis legs for a short-handed goal. Edmonton responded on the same power play as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins chipped the puck ahead to Eberle, who scored his second of the pre-season on a backhand shot. The Oilers had a chance to draw even on a late third-period power play but Ryan Smyth was unable to bat a hard pass into a wide-open net. Both teams return to the ice on Saturday as the Oilers remain at home to face the Calgary Flames, while the Canucks continue the pre-season at home against Anaheim. Notes: Vancouvers squad barely qualified for league restrictions on sitting veteran players in exhibition games. League rules state you have to dress a minimum of nine veterans with 100 games played and/or former first-round draft picks. The Canucks were able to meet the standard due to the presence of six players in the match who are attending their camp on professional try-outs; Legace, Nolan, Anders Eriksson, Steve Begin, Fedoruk and Niko Dimitrakos... The Canucks signed 2011 first-round pick Nicklas Jensen on Thursday. Jensen was taken 29th overall by Vancouver after scoring 29 goals and 29 assists last year for Oshawa in the OHL... Edmonton had a pair of veteran players making their first pre-season appearances after lengthy absences, extending back to March. Captain Shawn Horcoff had not played since suffering a left ankle fracture and fellow centre Sam Gagner returned for the first time since a tendon was sliced in his left hand by a teammates skate... Gagner spent much of his off-season working on his skating skills with former two-time Canadian Olympian pairs figure skater, Barbara Underhill. MLB Jerseys China . Finally, the horn sounded. That first victory as an NBA head coach was his. Al Horford had 22 points and 16 rebounds, three other Atlanta starters scored in double figures and the Hawks won their home opener, defeating the Toronto Raptors 102-95 on Friday to give Budenholzer a night to remember. Wholesale MLB Jerseys . Evans was released by the Edmonton Rush earlier this week.  The 31-year old Peterborough, Ontario native has posted a pair of 40-goal seasons during this eight-year NLL career with stops in Rochester and Edmonton. http://www.salejerseyswholesale.com/Mlb-jerseys.html . "Todd had a three-month interview," Blue Jackets general manager Scott Howson said. "He passed it with flying colours." The Blue Jackets announced Monday that they were removing the word "interim" from Richards job title and had offered him a two-year contract to continue what he started in an upbeat second half of the 2011-12 season.SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Buster Posey squatted into a catchers crouch for his first spring training bullpen session and began receiving pitches from ace Tim Lincecum, then Matt Cain. He practised springing up to throw after catching the ball, with no hesitation or signs that he had ever been seriously hurt. Posey showed he has plenty of pop in his bat, too. He cleared the fences a couple of times in his first round of batting practice at Scottsdale Stadium on Sunday, Day 1 for Giants pitchers and catchers. After bench coach Ron Wotus surrendered those home run balls, Posey quipped: "Four-seamer coming at 55 (m.p.h.), I tend to square that one up." Clearly, San Franciscos cleanup hitter is loose, good-natured and in a positive frame of mind. "It was special for me because Ive put in a lot of work to get back to this point and this is just another step," Posey said. "Theres still some work to do but I was very happy with today." More than 50 fans lined the fences throughout the ballpark trying to catch a glimpse of Posey getting back to work with the team at last. "For him, its an important day," reliever Santiago Casilla said. "Hes waited a long time to play. Hell be OK. Hes been working hard. Everybody wants to watch him." The 2010 NL Rookie of the Year made his highly anticipated return to the field in a formal setting after a season-ending leg injury last year. He tore three ligaments in his left ankle and broke a bone in his lower leg in a frightening home-plate collision with Floridas Scott Cousins on May 25. Posey is one of a handful of key major leaguers working back from injuries this spring -- including Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright, Colorados Jorge de la Rosa and reliever Joba Chamberlain of the Yankees. Through his entire ordeal, Posey has been able to reflect on his baseball career. Yes, he wants to keep catching for years to come, though changing positions did cross his mind a few times. He refuses to get involved in speaking out about the need for any rules changes when it comes to making contact with the catcher (manager Bruce Bochy is handling that campaign). Posey wants to do everything he can to stay in the lineup as a regular. "I think its just a greater appreciation for doing what I do, just enjoying this, being out here today catching a couple of pens and maybe some of the not-so-glamorous stuff of a catchers job," he said. "Enjoying that stuff a little bit more and just knowing that it can be gone quick." General manager Brian Sabean, Bochy and the brass kept a watchful eye on Posey in the bullpen. It was a monumental moment for Posey, whose long road to recovery included having screws removed from his surgically repaired left ankle in July and pushing himself around on a makeshift scooter to keep weight off the injured leg. Everybody is encouraged seeing Posey in uniform. "I threw to him Friday," left-hander Madison Bumgarner said. "He looked normal to me, ready to go, like he hadnt missed a beat." The Giants have a plan in place to keep Posey from overdoing it now -- and he understands that.ddddddddddddHe will do all he can to avoid another injury that could derail his plan and force him to become a full-time first baseman. It would mean a lot to Posey to play in the first Cactus League game March 3 against defending NL West champion Arizona, and Bochy believes thats possible. For a while, Bochy will check in with the medical staff after each of Poseys games in which he catches five or six innings. Posey wont catch bullpens Monday but is expected to participate in other baseball activities. "Thats our decision, not his," Bochy said. Sabean watched Posey during the fall as he began catching again. "He thinks everything is fine," Sabean said. "Hes ready to get out here. Itll be us holding him back." These days, Posey said he consciously thinks about picking up his six-month-old twins -- daughter Addison and son Lee -- by squatting down first as to not aggravate anything. Its all of these little things he has learned through what became a painful blow to the Giants, who missed the playoffs a year after winning the World Series. After Lincecums session, the right-hander greeted his catcher with a friendly handshake and thumbs-up. "It just kind of picked up where we left off," Lincecum said. "Its nice having a chance to do that down here and just kind of having a clean slate and a new season to work with. Hes got a new season to work with. I dont think hes thinking about the injury too much." Posey has distanced himself from the collision -- though he has watched it multiple times -- and the emotional aftermath. Cousins has expressed how sorry he is the injury happened but called it an aggressive baseball play. Posey said Sunday he accepts that Cousins does care, even if they havent spoken despite efforts by the Marlins outfielder. "The biggest thing for me back then and now is looking forward and being positive and trying to get ready for another season," Posey said. Posey has regained his rhythm at the plate in a hurry. Even when he first started hitting last fall after about five months off, the swing came back fairly quickly. "Im blessed in a sense. I enjoy this game," he said. Poseys presence was missed every day last year. In 2010, he wasnt even called up from triple-A Fresno until late May but still batted .305 with 18 home runs and 67 RBIs in 108 games to help the Giants capture their first NL West crown since 2003. This is the player San Francisco gave US$6.2 million when he signed in August 2008 as the fifth overall pick out of Florida State, the richest deal ever for a Giants amateur. "I know theyre glad to have him back," Bochy said. "Hes very popular in the clubhouse and they know how long a road he had to endure in his rehab. Thats a tough road. The talent he brings makes us a better club." Not to mention all the other intangibles. "Busters the core of this team just because hes on both sides, offence and defence. Hes our leader," left-hander Barry Zito said. "Its good for the morale of the team. We feel like were a full unit again." wholesale authentic nfl jerseys ' ' '