players who tied for second place at two under, which forced a

TORONTO -- And so we begin.The first World Cup of Hockey in a dozen years is set to open to all kinds of bells and whistles Saturday in the center of Canadas hockey universe: Toronto.Eight teams, representing six countries and two continents, and the largest collection of NHL talent ever assembled in one tournament are set to try to put the World Cup of Hockey back on the international hockey radar.Consider this: Of the 184 players on the eight rosters, 169 played in the NHL last season. Two others, Team North Americas Auston Matthews and Finlands Patrik Laine, went Nos. 1 and 2 in last Junes draft and are likely to play in the NHL this season.The players in the tournament, jointly organized by the NHL and the National Hockey League Players Association, have combined to play 73,299 NHL regular-season games and have a total of 47 Stanley Cup championships to their credit.The Tampa Bay Lightning leads all NHL teams with 12 players taking part, with representatives on seven of the eight teams. It would have been 13 if Ryan Callahan?hadnt withdrawn from Team USA because of injury. Lightning head coach Jon Cooper is also an associate coach with Team North America.Speaking of Team North America, it has quickly become the darling of the tournament. Many believe the collection of highly skilled players from Canada and the United States under the age of 24 has the goods to advance to the elimination portion of the tournament.Team North America features a bevy of players who represent the future of the game, including team captain Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers and Jack Eichel?of the?Buffalo Sabres.?The duo represents the top two picks in the 2015 draft. McDavid, 19, has been hailed as the greatest young talent to join the NHL since Sidney Crosby arrived more than a decade ago.And though Team North America is young, it does boast a two-time Stanley Cup winner in Brandon Saad of the Columbus Blue Jackets, and goalie?Matt Murray, who backstopped the Pittsburgh Penguins to a Cup win in June.The tournament will start with two four-team pools in round-robin play (Canada, United States, Czech Republic and Europe make up Group A; Sweden, Finland, Russia and North America are in Group B). The top two teams from each group will advance to the semifinals, with the No. 1 teams playing the second-place teams from the opposite pool. The winners of those one-game semifinals will meet in the best-of-three finals.Pool play begins Saturday with Team USA taking on Team Europe (3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2), another hybrid team featuring players from non-competing European nations. Team Canada?opens against the Czech Republic on Saturday (8 p.m. on ESPNEWS).The preliminary round will follow standard NHL regular-season protocol. If a score is tied at the end of regulation, there will be a five-minute, 3-on-3 overtime. If nobody scores in OT, the game will be decided by a shootout. Teams will accumulate two points for a win of any kind and one point for an overtime or shootout loss. Regulation wins are favorable because they will factor into the tiebreaking process used to determine which teams advance to the elimination round in the event teams are tied in points after the three preliminary games.NHL playoff rules will come into effect in the semifinals and final, with overtime games played 5-on-5 until a resolution, regardless of how long that might take.Heading into the games, there are plenty of storylines to watch.The host Canadians will be without Jeff Carter, Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and Duncan Keith, all of whom withdrew because of injury. Guess what? It doesnt matter. The Canadians are loaded, and they are led by Pittsburghs Crosby, who is coming off his second Stanley Cup run, and Montreal Canadiens netminder Carey Price, who is attempting to return from a core body injury that cost him most of last season.The biggest decisions facing Team Canada head coach Mike Babcock might be about whom to scratch for each game because one goalie, one defenseman and one forward from each teams 23-man roster will not dress.The Swedes are as complete a team as there is in the tournament, even though they will be without Henrik Zetterberg and Alexander Steen. The Russians, led by Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin and Crosbys longtime teammate Evgeni Malkin, are explosive.Team Europe, whose players represent eight European nations not included otherwise, got off to a rocky start before rebounding to win their final pretournament game over Sweden. Europe is noteworthy for, among other things, completing the eighth father-son combination to take part in Canada Cup/World Cup of Hockey competition. Skilled Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl follows his father, Peter, who skated for Germany in the 1996 tournament.As for Team USA, its a hard-nosed, veteran group led by 2015-16 NHL scoring champion and MVP Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks. Two-time Stanley Cup champion Jonathan Quick of the Los Angeles Kings will get the start in goal. Team USA, 20 years after its seminal win over Canada in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, hopes to rebound from a disappointing showing at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.?Each team played three pretournament games. If the results tell us one thing, its that no team can be fully counted out of the running. Each squad won at least one game, and none went undefeated. Panthers Jerseys Outlet . While hell be dialed in to that tournament on a course he loves, you can forgive him if his eyes glance down the calendar just a bit, towards April. Dontari Poe Jersey . They hope to persuade the other team owners and commissioner Roger Goodell to put pressure on Redskins owner Daniel Snyder to drop the nickname they find offensive. "Given the way the meeting transpired," Ray Halbritter, an Oneida representative and leader of the "Change the Mascot Campaign," said Wednesday, "it became somewhat evident they were defending the continued use of the name. http://www.cheappanthersjerseyselite.com/?tag=cheap-quin-blanding-jersey . Their experience showed Tuesday as the No. 10 Badgers blunted a Saint Louis surge to win 63-57 and advance to face West Virginia in Wednesdays finals of the Cancun Challenge. Trai Turner Jersey . The Browns coaching search remains incomplete. Taylor Hearn Jersey . -- Eastern Kentucky thrives off creating havoc for others. Colin Montgomerie was a relieved man after qualifying for The Open for the first time since 2010 by coming through a 36-hole final qualifier at Gailes Links to secure a spot at Royal Troon.The 53-year-old former Ryder Cup captain and eight-time European Tour Order of Merit winner shot rounds of 66 and 71 to secure a third-place finish, with Swedens Oskar Arvidsson, ranked 1418 in the world, leading the way after carding 64 and 68 for 10 under par.Montgomerie had to wait for his place to be confirmed, as Jack Doherty made a late move up the leaderboard to five under with six holes to play, only for the 34-year-old Scot to bogey the 15th and miss out on the years third major championship.It means the world to me, sure it does, and I look forward to playing and am delighted to do so, Montgomerie said in an interview posted on The Opens official Twitter feed.I had an opportunity at the Senior Open when I was two ahead with eight to go and didnt win, and then of course you think you have blown the thing.But it was nice to come here with 72 players, a high-quality field and to finish third, which is all one has to do.Montgomerie, who qualified for 21 consecutive Opens from 1992-2010 and finished as a runner-up three times, will return to the Ayrshire course where his father was club secretary and he is now an honorary member.Scott Fernandez of Spain also qualified, finishing second after six birdies in a second-round 66 helped him finish second, four shots behind Arvidsson.dddddddddddd.At Woburn, Irishman Paul Dunne booked his place with rounds of 68 and 67 for nine-under par. Dunne, 23, was still an amateur when he shared the lead with Jason Day and Louis Oosthuizen going into the final round of the 2015 Open at St Andrews, only to fall out of contention following a final-day 78.Ryan Evans will also head to Troon after finishing second with two rounds of 68 for eight under, along with fellow Englishman Robert Rock, who beat Aaron Rai in a play-off after both men finished at seven under.Matthew Southgate finished six under par to win at Royal Cinque Ports.Southgate, who had surgery last year after being diagnosed with testicular cancer, finished three shots ahead of Steven Alker and James Heath.Jack Senior qualified from Hillside after coming home in 32 to finish three shots clear. There were five players who tied for second place at two under, which forced a play-o