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BOSTON - The Boston Bruins end the season as losers. Phil Rizzuto Jersey . Rubbing salt in the wound, Bruins winger Milan Lucic has been labelled a sore loser in some quarters. The hulking Bruin didnt abandon his prickly game when the best-of-seven series ended in a 3-1 victory for Montreal in Wednesdays Game 7 at the TD Garden. Lucic had words with several Canadiens during the traditional post-series handshake on the ice. The 25-year-old from Vancouver aggressively shook hands and had words with fourth-liner Dale Weise and defenceman Alexei Emelin. #WhatLucicToldWeise was trending on Twitter in Canada on Thursday. An animated Lucic held onto Weises hand as he had his say and then had words with Emelin. Montreal forward David Desharnais, who was behind the defenceman, put his hands on Emelins elbow during the exchange, as if to guide him past. "Milan Lucic had a few things to say to a couple of guys," said Weise, who declined to go into specifics. "You look at a guy like Shawn Thornton who has been around the league and he plays hard and he plays that role and he had good things to say to everybody. He won with class and Milan Lucic just couldnt do that. Well, I wont get into what he said, its just a poor, its just a poor way to lose.” The Bruin reportedly said: "Im going to kill you next year," with an F-Bomb thrown in for good measure. Lucic, clearly still feeling the emotion of the loss, was unrepentant in the locker-room. "Its said on the ice so itll stay on the ice. So If he (Weise) wants to be a baby about it - he can make it public." Asked about allegations by some Habs of Boston disrespect during the series, Lucic was agog. "Disrespect? I dont know what theyre talking about. Disrespect? Having a goal celebration, what kind of disrespect is that? Im not going to say anything. Ive got nothing to say about that." Lucics behaviour during hockeys time-honoured handshake line, seen as a mark of respect, drew a quick response. "All he can do now, though, is apologize for his error in judgment," Adam Kaufman wrote in boston.com. "Or hell be known as another guy who disrespected arguably the greatest tradition in all of sports." "Milan Lucic probably wont be up for Sportsman of the Year," tweeted Sports Illustrated in the link to its story. Others were more forgiving. But Lucic wasnt the only one talking tough after the game. "Great to see a Canadian team finally take out the Bruins in a game 7," tweeted Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The Bruins beat the Vancouver Canucks in seven games to win the Stanley Cup in 2011. Boston has also taken out both Toronto and Montreal in Game 7s in recent years. C.C. Sabathia Jersey . Louis is going to get a chance to represent his country at the Winter Olympics after all.Reggie Jackson Jersey . Olivieri, at city hall to help kick off ticket sales for the Aug. 5-24 event to be held in four Canadian cities, said Wednesday that Canada has a new generation of talent on the rise that can make its name just as Sinclair did at the same event in 2002 in Edmonton.TORONTO -- Roger Federer walked out of the tunnel for his opening match at the Rogers Cup, and the sight of Canadian flags reminded him of what he was dealing with against hometown boy Peter Polansky. Red-and-white "Go Canada Go" signs filled the crowd at Rexall Centre on a day four Canadian mens players took the court. By the end of the night, they all left the tournament. Vasek Pospisil lost to Richard Gasquet, Frank Dancevic fell to Donald Young, Brayden Schnur was defeated by Andreas Seppi, and Polansky was blown out by Federer. With Eugenie Bouchard losing to American qualifier Shelby Rogers in Montreal, it was a dark day for Canadian tennis that left Milos Raonic as the countrys only hope. On the mens side in Toronto, Pospisils loss was the most surprising. Only two days after losing to Raonic in the Citi Open final, the Vancouver native was hampered by a right leg injury and fell 7-5, 7-5 to Gasquet in a rematch from last week. "I think Im just a little bit tired mentally, maybe," Pospisil said. "Just been on the road a lot of weeks. You need to be a 100 per cent at this level if youre playing against Richard. I wasnt feeling 100 per cent today." Adding injury to insult on a rough day for Canadian tennis, Pospisil was set to have an MRI on an abductor injury, which seized up at 5-all in the first set. It also forced him to withdraw from doubles action, where he was set to team up with regular partner Jack Sock of the United States. Pospisil said he had been bothered by the "strange feeling" in his leg off and on for a few weeks but didnt think it would be a long-term problem that would keep him out of last nexts event in Cincinnati or the U.S. Open. As a home-country fan favourite, the crowd was understandably behind Pospisil as he gutted through the injury. "He has an extra motivation because its being home," Gasquet said. "Its the same when Im playing in France. But yeah he had big expectations on him, especially here in Toronto." The loss drops Pospisil out of the top 40 of the ATP rankings. He had been 27th, just short of his career-best ranking of 25th. "He has no weaknesses," Gasquet said of Pospisil. "He has a very big forehand, very big serve, so its always tough for me to play against these kind of players. ... I know its a difficult opponent for me, but I played a good match." Polansky getting out-classed by Federer was the least shocking result of the day. But after beating 2013 Wimbledon finalist Jerzy Janowicz on Monday night, Polansky was happy to get an opportunity to face the 17-time Grand Slam champion. "Even though I lost 2 and 0, still really enjoyable, had a lot of good points," Polansky said. "Obviously that was my first time playing someone of that level. But, yeah, I thought it was a good match overall." Federer said hes normally not heartless when facing an overmatched opponent but knew he needed to block that out. "You never know when it can shift," said Federer, who needed all of 53 minutes to polish off Polansky. "You feel a little bit and then you end up losing the match." Raonic is the last Canadian standing in singles play at the Rogers Cup, after the four mens losses in Toronto and defeats by Bouchard, Aleksandra Wozniak and Francoise Abanda on the womens side in Montreal. Raonic plays his first Rogers Cup match Wednesday night against Sock, who beat Austrian Jurgen Melzer 6-1,, 6-3. Roger Maris Jersey. Raonic beat Sock, a Nebraska native, in straight sets at Wimbledon and then again last week at the Citi Open in Washington. "Im definitely excited for tomorrow," Sock said of facing Raonic. "The juices will be flowing. He got me in my home country last week, so Im going to try to maybe get some revenge." Plenty of juices were flowing for Canadians in afternoon play in Toronto, but that wasnt enough. On the grandstand, the wheels fell off in the second set for Dancevic in a 5-7, 6-0, 6-3 defeat to American Donald Young. Dancevic said Young did a good job of adapting to his game. "He just started reading my serve in the second and third set," Dancevic said. "I couldnt get any more free points on my serve, my serve percentage dropped down a little bit and he just started playing better and better as the match went on. ... I felt like it was difficult to find answers for him." Similarly, Schnur had no answers for Seppi, losing 6-3, 6-3 in his ATP World Tour debut. "He was just a little bit better at everything, really, than me," the 19-year-old Pickering, Ont., native said. "He kept the balls deeper at the end of the court, pushed me back, made a lot more balls that Im not used to seeing come back, and didnt let me attack so often, thats for sure, took away my weapons." Schnur and Seppi waited out a rain delay of more than two hours before beginning their match on the grandstand court at Rexall Centre. Schnur said that didnt help his fatigue, but he acknowledged it being part of his learning process. "Nerves are always in my system," Schnur said. "It slowly tires you out going in and out, in and out, warming up, having to cool down. But its something that Im learning to get used to." Schnur got used to being the fan favourite during his qualifying matches over the weekend. Fans encouraged him with shouts of, "Come on, Brayden," against Seppi, but the home-country advantage wasnt enough against the Italian veteran. "Obviously at important moments, he missed a few important shots," said Seppi, who advances to face Ivan Dodig, who upset 10th-seeded John Isner. "I knew (Schnur) could serve pretty well, and I think he didnt have so good percentage on the first serve, otherwise it would be for sure tougher. I think he can for sure play pretty well, especially on the hard courts. It was his first match, so I think he handled it really well." Schnur plans to play a futures event in Calgary next week before returning to school at the University of North Carolina. He considered these few days in Toronto a benefit for his career. "Its good to see what I can improve on," Schnur said. "I gained a lot of confidence in my game. I think I played a lot better, even though I lost." In other play, fast-rising star Nick Kyrgios beat Santiago Giraldo, 7-6 (3), 7-5 to set up a match with No. 8 seed Andy Murray, No. 11 seed Ernests Gulbis beat Joao Sousa 6-3, 6-4, No. 16 seed Fabio Fognini beat Mikhail Youzhny 6-4, 6-3, No. 17 seed Tommy Robredo beat Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 7-6 (3), Ivo Karlovic beat Bernard Tomic 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6(6), Gael Monfils beat Radek Stepanek 6-3, 7-5, Malek Jaziri beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-4, 7-6 (6), Gilles Simon beat Dominic Thiem 3-6, 6-4, 6-0, Yen-Hsun Lu beat Marcel Granollers 7-6 (6), 7-5 and third-seeded Stan Wawrinka defeated Benoit Paire 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (2). wholesale jerseys cheap jerseys ' ' ' |
