Looking forward to the whole stretch

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MONTREAL -- It looks like coach Michel Therrien has earned a new contract with the Montreal Canadiens. Whitey Herzog Jersey . General manager Marc Bergevin would not confirm the move, but when asked Saturday if he had made a decision on his coach he said "yes." That came a few minutes after heaping lavish praise on the 50-year-old Therrien, who Bergevin hired when he was named GM ahead of last season. It was not a popular move at the time. Therrien had guided a middling Canadiens team in the early 2000s as a rookie head coach. But he is coming off a 100-point season and has the team in the NHL Eastern Conference final for the first time since 2010. "When youre in my position, you make decisions sometimes that are not going to be popular," said Bergevin, who met with the media ahead of Game 1 of the conference final. "I cant make decisions to make people happy. "Michel Therriens a good coach today and he was six months ago and he was a good coach when we lost five in a row. Michel and I have a good (relationship). We talk a lot. We share ideas." "Am I shocked with where we are today with way he handles the team? No. But hes a really good coach and hes proving it now." Bergevin was surprised when told that his former teammate and boyhood friend Mario Lemieux, owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins, had said after GM Ray Shero was fired Friday that he hoped to use the Canadiens as a model for rebuilding his team. "Not only is he my friend, hes one of the greatest players ever to play the game," said Bergevin, a Montreal native who grew up a little more than a kilometre from the Bell Centre. "I didnt know about that. "Being a GM is tough. Youre hired to be fired. One day it will be my turn. Ray did a really good job. It didnt work out and they made a decision. "I dont have a magic recipe. Im not a genius. We have things we believe in. At times well make mistakes. No-one bats .1000, but as a group we jell well and were getting results. But say thanks (to) Mario anyway." Bergevin would not be drawn into the debate over Boston forward Milan Lucics threats toward two Canadiens during the handshake after Montreals Game 7 win on Wednesday night. "Hockey is an emotional game,"he said. "Honestly, I have a lot of respect for the Boston Bruins. (President) Cam Neely and (GM) Peter Chiarelli are good hockey men. Its a good organization." Danny Jackson Jersey . The team announced the defensive coordinator will not be offered a contract extension. Steve Balboni Jersey . Speaking on Leafs Lunch with Bryan Hayes and Jamie McLennan on Thursday, Bernier said it was "very hard" at times being entrenched behind Jonathan Quick and is now excited at the prospect of getting an opportunity to compete with Reimer for the top spot with the Leafs. https://www.cheaproyals.com/1377a-danny-duffy-jersey-royals.html . As TSN reported Thursday, the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport is under intense pressure from the federal government to focus drug testing on athletes who compete in international events representing Canada. Since funding for the tests has been frozen and the cost of testing can eclipse $1,000 per test, university athletes in a number of sports are being tested less often. AKRON, Ohio -- Sergio Garcia doesnt know anything about being in a zone. He had no trouble identifying the best round of his career. Garcia one-putted the final 11 holes and made birdies on his last seven holes Friday in the Bridgestone Invitational to tie the course record at Firestone with a 9-under 61 and take a three-shot lead into the weekend. He had a birdie putt on every hole on the back nine, missing only a 15-footer from the fringe at No. 11. Garcia shot 27 on the back nine, a course record. "Just one of those moments that you love and you enjoy, and you wish there were no end," he said. It matched the tournament record held by Tiger Woods, who shot 61 in 2000 and 2013, and Jose Maria Olazabal, who shot his 61 in 1990. Woods went on to win by 11 shots in 2000 and seven shots last year. Olazabal won by 12 in the World Series of Golf. Garcia still has work to do. He was at 11-under 129, three shots clear of Justin Rose, who had a 67. British Open champion Rory McIlroy birdied his last two holes for a 64 and joined Marc Leishman of Australia (67) four shots out of the lead. McIlroy played in the group behind Garcia, and could hear what was going on if he couldnt see it. "Every time I looked, he was putting a ball in the hole and the crowd was cheering," McIlroy said. "I knew that he was making a few birdies." Graham DeLaet (69) of Weyburn, Sask., is tied for ninth at 4-under par. Garcia was five shots out of the lead when he had to scramble to save pars on back-to-back holes to close out the front nine on what seemed to be an ordinary round. Two good swings on the 10th hole led to a 20-foot birdie putt. He hit 8-iron to 2 feet on No. 12 and 3 feet on No. 13 for the easiest birdies he had all day, and those turned out to be the start of his big run. The Spaniard finished in style, making birdie putts of 15, 25 and 20 feet on his last three holes. It reminded Garcia of the Travelers Championships earlier this summer, when Kevin Streelman closed with seven straight birdies to beat Garcia and K.J. Choi by one shot. "When I made the one on 17 I thought, This kind of looks familiar from what happened not too long ago," Garcia said. "Obviously, Sunday would be even nicer. But Ill take what I can get." His previous best score was a 62 on three oother occasions -- as a 19-year-old at the Scottish Open and Byron Nelson Classic in 1999, and at Mount Juliet in 2002 at the American Express Championship. Orlando Cepeda Jersey. Woods also shot his 61s at Firestone in the second round. He could have used something remotely close to that to stay in range of Garcia. Instead, Woods hit only four fairways off the tee and couldnt seem to make anything on the green. It added to a 71, leaving him 10 shots behind. "I didnt hit the ball well. I didnt putt well. I didnt do anything well," Woods said. "The only thing I did well was I fought hard. Grinded hard. Unfortunately, it wasnt a very good day." Starting times for the third round were moved up to Saturday morning, with threesomes off both tees, because of a forecast for storms. That figures to only keep Firestone soft, allowing players to attack the pins provided theyre in the short grass. Rose missed only two greens in posting a 67 as his momentum builds toward the final major of the year next week at the PGA Championship. He wouldnt mind adding a WGC title this week. Either way, there is a long stretch of big tournaments, and Rose is headed in the right direction. He won back-to-back starts at Congressional and Royal Aberdeen before stalling slightly at the British Open. "Im feeling good about peaking at this time of the year," Rose said. "Every week is big. You could argue a major championship in the middle of it all is the one youd really love to peak for next week. But at the same time, theres not a bad golf tournament now for about two months. Looking forward to the whole stretch." He didnt realize when he finished that Rose would have three shots to make up on Garcia starting out the third round. It didnt come entirely out of the blue for Garcia. Just two weeks ago, he challenged McIlroy briefly at Royal Liverpool until tying for second in the British Open. But this was something special, and Garcia could sense it. "It feels great to be able to ... equal the course record on a course like this. Even playing soft, its not that easy a course," Garcia said. "You have to drive the ball very, very well. You have to put the ball on the greens on the right spots because you can get some really, really fast putts. "Being in a group with Tiger and Jose Maria, it feels really good." ' ' '