Tweet Larry Courville has a chance this season to bring closure to some unfinished business.
Official Hakeem Nicks Jersey. And maybe start sleeping at nights again as well. The Royals recently announced that Courville will return in 2010-11 for his second full season as head coach. The last time Courville and his team were on the ice they slunk off it after blowing a 3-0 series lead to Cincinnati in the American Conference finals. "Theres only so many chances you get to win a championship. We let one slip," Courville said. "There hasnt been a day thats gone by when I havent thought about that series, especially at night, when youre trying to sleep. You always think as a coach, what could you have done better?" Until the series against the Cyclones, the answer was not much. Courville led the Royals to a team-record 47 wins and Reading then won more playoff games (10) than any team in the franchises nine-year history. ECHL Report Cameron is turning Jackals into champs Lindsay Kramer - NHL.com Correspondent The new coach of ECHL Elmira, Malcolm Cameron, is all too familiar to the organization as the coach who ousted it from the 2010 playoffs. READ MORE Rookie goalie Mayer seeing the sights, earning wins Kushniruk provides renewable energy for Idaho Van Guilder driven to succeed for Cincinnati "There was a lot of positives, and some negatives," said Courville, 35. "Sure, you can see a lot of success during the season, but the goal is to win. Until we win (a championship), I wont be satisfied." That makes for a restless offseason. Courville said hes been focusing his early scouting efforts on adding some defensive toughness to round out the fancy offense-oriented squad that crashed in the playoffs. "That was probably the biggest learning curve for me, making sure we are better defensively next year," he said. "I think Ill be a little more prepared. It starts in the summer by recruiting players who you think will fit in your system. To make you a better coach, you want to correct the things that went wrong. Theres definitely some work to be done." Glass back at it for Hartford -- For the second straight season, Hartford is taking it on faith that defenseman Trevor Glass can contribute to the organization. The Wolf Pack has picked up the option year on the AHL pact it gave Glass last year, when he joined the team from Spokane of the WHL. The typically routine move carried an added uncertainty because Glass missed the entire 2009-10 season with a stress fracture in his back. "It was definitely on my mind for what was going to happen next year," said Glass, 22. "I never got a chance to prove myself as a player. I wasnt too sure what was going to happen for this year. It makes all that training and rehab easier." Any little motivation will help. Glass hasnt been on the ice since January, when he decided that pushing to hurry back from the injury was too risky and that he should take off the whole season. He isnt sure what caused the ailment, but it initially started bugging him in Hartford and then became worse when he was sent down to Charlotte of the ECHL. "As it progressed it was hard to do laundry or carry groceries," he said. The good news is that a recent scan of the problem area seemed to indicate that the fracture has mended. "Once the bone is all healed, its back to 100 percent," said Glass, who won a Memorial Cup with the Chiefs in 2007-08. "Im taking things slow now. You are so used to skating all the time. When you get shut down for that many months, its a different lifestyle for you." ECHL influencing AHL -- The ECHL has left a bigger handprint on the AHLs Calder Cup than ever before. Seventeen of the 28 players who skated for champion Hershey have ECHL experience. That surpasses the 15 players from the ECHL who played for the Bears in their title season of 2009-10. Sixteen of the 24 players on runner-up Texas had ECHL experience. There have been 58 former ECHL players on the last four AHL winners and 76 former ECHL players on the last six champions. "Theres only so many chances you get to win a championship. We let one slip. There hasnt been a day thats gone by when I havent thought about that series, especially at night, when youre trying to sleep. You always think as a coach, what could you have done better?" -- Larry Courville Hershey coach Mark French is a former ECHL assistant and Bears assistant Troy Mann is an ex-ECHL player. Former Las Vegas head coach Glen Gulutzan, who was named ECHL Coach of the Year in 2006 and led the Wranglers to the 2008 Kelly Cup Finals, is in his first season as the Stars’ head coach. French is the sixth ECHL coaching alum to win the Calder Cup, joining Peter Laviolette (Providence, 1999), Jim Playfair (Saint John, 2001), Claude Noel (Milwaukee, 2004), Bruce Boudreau (Hershey, 2006) and Bob Woods (Hershey, 2009). Staying together -- Manitoba and Victoria have kept their marriage of convenience and mutual benefit going by extending their affiliation for the 2010-11 season. It will be the fifth year of partnership between the organizations. Among the players Manitoba has loaned to the Salmon Kings throughout the affiliation are Dylan Yeo, Matt Kelly, Olivier Labelle, Scott Howes, Adam Keefe, Travis Ramsey and Todd Ford. "I never thought of making a change," said Salmon Kings head coach and GM Mark Morrison. "Manitoba has been especially good here. Theyve shown us how to be a professional hockey club here in all sorts of ways, on the ice, off the ice. How we treat the players, just little things, just to be a classy organization."
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Premier Ahmad Bradshaw Jersey. He might as well have been holding up a sign that read, Now I have proof. "This is what matters to me right here," Luongo told NHL.LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Dolphus Morrison is a racing purist: The Kentucky Derby is for the boys; the Kentucky Oaks is for the girls. You wont hear any of the Derby owners complaining. Morrisons spectacular filly Rachel Alexandra crushed the field by a record 20 1/4 lengths in the $500,000 Oaks on Friday at Churchill Downs, perhaps stamping herself as the best three-year-old horse in the world, boy or girl. "If she stays sound, shell be the next Secretariat," jockey Calvin Borel said. She certainly put on a performance that harkened back to the legendary Triple Crown winner. Rachel Alexandra eased past Gabbys Golden Gal on the far turn then poured it on as she entered the stretch, extending the lead as 100,000 spectators roared with every stride of her eye-popping victory in the filly version of the Kentucky Derby. Borel blew a kiss and tapped her on the neck as they crossed the finish line for her fifth straight win, all by convincing margins. "Ive never been on a horse that good, to tell you the truth," said Borel, who won the 2007 Kentucky Derby aboard Street Sense. Stone Legacy was a distant second, with Flying Spur third. Trainer D. Wayne Lukas joked during the week that his three entries -- Stone Legacy, Be Fair and Tweeter -- would have a better chance against Rachel Alexandra if they decided to turn the 1 1/8 mile Oaks into a relay race while the bay filly went it alone. That probably wouldnt have worked, either. "There is no disgrace to get beat by the winner," Lukas said. "Once Rachel Alexandra took off, the front-runner was of no consequence." Rachel Alexandra took her time, loping along behind Gabbys Golden Gal down the backstretch before Borel nudged her to the outside as they entered the far turn. A couple of quick strides put her in front and Borel knew it was over. "I just let her cruise, let her do her thing," Borel said. "She loves to do what she does. When I stood up, I didnt know she had won by that far." The win was so dominant it did litttle to quell speculation that she could more than hold her own against the boys in Saturdays Run for the Roses.
Hakeem Nicks Jersey Morrison, however, said there was never any serious discussion about running Rachel Alexandra in the Derby even though she ripped off four straight victories after teaming up with Borel last fall. "I dont think a stallion should be messed up by the occasional really, really outstanding filly," Morrison said. "They should run on their own." The way she looked as she zoomed down the stretch, ears pricking, hardly exerting herself as she steadily pulled away, the guys should consider themselves lucky shes not heading to the post on Saturday. The scary part? Borel still hasnt needed to ask her to really run. That loving pat on the neck as they hit the wire was the only time he touched her all day. "As fast as you want to go, you can go," Borel said. Justwhistledixie appeared to have the best shot at pulling the upset, but was scratched hours before the race due to a hot spot in her left front foot. The decision sent Rachel Alexandra off as the overwhelming 1-5 favourite. She covered the distance in 1:48.87 and was well into her gallop out before the rest of the field hit the line. "If Id have reached and grabbed her by the 16th pole, shed have went a lot farther and broke the track record," Borel said. Morrison isnt sure whats next. It may be hard to find enough fillies to take her on. Walking back to the barn, she didnt look like a horse who had just put together the race of her life. "Shes the epitome of race cool," Morrison said. Jockey Corey Nakatani, a distant speck in Rachel Alexandras rearview mirror while finishing fifth aboard Nan, isnt quite sure theres a horse out there that can hang with racings leading lady. "Wed have been all right if Id have had a rocket," he said. "What can you say? She just ran away and hid." Nan, the only Canadian horse in the field, is owned by J. Paul Reddam of Windsor, Ont. ' ' '