Off Topic » . The time off didnt slow them down.

TORONTO -- She has successfully defended her Olympic gold medal and plans to compete in the 2018 Games, but Kaillie Humphries still has her sights set on achieving yet another goal in bobsleigh: having women take part in the four-man competition. Humphries said she plans to make a proposal this summer to her sports international governing body. The Calgary athlete hopes to help lead the charge by seeking to train and compete with men as the pilot of a four-person sled. "Women dont have four-man -- yet," Humphries said in an interview Friday, sporting her gold medals from the Vancouver and Sochi Olympics. "Were in a situation where women for a lot of years in our sport have always been told that were not as good a pilot, or were not as strong. And I think were at a point where women are proving now that we are just as good.... Were competing on the same level. And so its got to start somewhere. "Were still very much an all-boys club, and were still fairly new," she added, noting that women first competed in Olympic bobsleigh at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. "But at the same time, youve got the chicken and the egg. Youre not going to get more girls coming in unless you have more events. At the same time, theyre saying you cant have more events until you have more girls." Humphries said if women arent allowed to start competing in four-man bobsleigh, then maybe she can "join the guys." "Ill definitely have to have three men behind me in order to be competitive at all, but I feel like that could be a start and a step in a right direction towards encouraging women to come out to the sport, which will hopefully raise the profile a little bit more. And from there, we can hopefully get four-man started (for women)." The 28-year-old acknowledged that it will be an uphill climb, saying shell have to attend driving school and qualify "just like any other mens team would," adhering to both the Canadian system and international rules. "It will be a long process, it will be a hard one, one that I know Im going to get a few battles over and slack over for sure -- but one that Im willing to face. "I feel like Im a great person to at least get the ball rolling. Whether itll happen while Im still in sport, I dont know -- but its got to start somewhere." So could Humphries foreseeably see herself piloting both two-man and four-man sleds in the future? "I wouldnt go forward with it if I wasnt super passionate about it and didnt see it happening," she said. "Its just whether the federation and everybody else is ready for that to take flight yet. So thats what Ive got to do my best to convince people of." Humphries is still revelling in the golden glow of earning back-to-back Olympic titles with brakeman Heather Moyse of Summerside, P.E.I. The duo capped off their victory with yet another honour: being chosen as Canadas flag bearers for the closing ceremony. Humphries mom, Cheryl Simundson, was able to attend the Games as part of the "Thank You, Mom" program spearheaded by Procter & Gamble Co., which sponsors the bobsleigh champion. The program honours the role mothers play in helping children achieve their dreams. Simundson became emotional recalling the nail-biting two-minute wait to see Americans Elana Meyers and Lauryn Williams complete their run following the Canadian team. In the end, Humphries and Moyse eked out a victory by a tenth of a second. "We knew that it was close. We knew that they had finished their fourth run and that it was possible, that it was up to Elana to take it or lose it," Simundson recalled, as her eyes began to fill with tears. "It was all about consistency. At that moment, we knew that they had done their best." Humphries admitted the pressures were greater heading into the Sochi Games, but said she couldnt approach the event any differently than other competitions. "I try and keep all my races as simple as possible," she said. "I push as hard as I can and I drive that track the very best that I can, and all my energy and focus goes into that. "If I think about it as the Olympics and your life is built up to this, four years is about this moment its too much." As has become customary, the heavily tattooed athlete plans to add new ink in commemoration of her Sochi victory just as she did after Vancouver. She plans to have a design of her newest medal tattooed with art from Sochi blended into one piece. Despite thriving under the intense spotlight of competition, Humphries admitted carrying Canadas flag with Moyse at the closing ceremony was fraught with a fresh set of jitters. While no one offered any guidance on how to carry the colours, she recalled a tip she received from British flag bearer Lizzy Yarnold that didnt quite work out as planned. "She said: I think you wave it like a figure eight. So I started doing that as I walked out, and I started hitting other peoples flags and I was like: This is an epic fail. OK, dont do that. Thanks, Lizzy," Humphries recalled, laughing. Still, the moment in Fisht Stadium was one to remember. "To know that we had our whole country behind us that just completely supported us and to hear it and to feel it from back home ... it was unbelievable." Humphries said while her biggest goal now is "just trying to live in the moment," her plan is to compete at the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, with hopes of once again piloting to victory -- and the top of the podium. "Of course, if Im going in, Im going all in, 100 per cent. It will be sights set on another gold medal. "I cant do things halfway because I know its going to be that much harder. I mean, two is hard, but three, its really unbelievable, and again, never been done." Hydro Flask Wide Mouth Sverige .C. Lions 35-14, was named the CFLs offensive player of the week Tuesday. Sheets recorded his ninth 100-yard rushing performance of the season to tie the Riders club record. Hydro Flask Återförsäljare . 3. Trevor Ariza left them talkin about 40. Ariza made eight 3-pointers and scored a career-high 40 points to help the Washington Wizards win their sixth straight game, 122-103 over Philadelphia on Saturday night. http://www.hydroflasksverige.se/hydro-fl...outh/40-oz.html. The Gatineau Olympiques head coach will lead Canada in its quest to end its gold medal drought at the 2015 world junior hockey championship held in Montreal and Toronto at the end of this year. Hydro Flask Vattenflaska . 1. Did the Senators trade the wrong goalie? Lets make one thing clear: The Ottawa Senators acquired Ben Bishop from the St. Louis Blues for one reason and one reason alone. Hydro Flask Kaffe . The time off didnt slow them down. Tyler Zeller scored a season-high 18 points and grabbed a career-best 15 rebounds, Kyrie Irving added 14 points and the Cavaliers pushed their winning streak to five games Tuesday night with a 114-85 victory over the skidding Philadelphia 76ers. SANDY, Utah -- Thrust into an underdog role once again, Real Salt Lake kept its season alive after receiving help from unlikely sources. Sebastian Velasquez scored his first MLS goal in the first half, Chris Schuler added the winning goal in the first overtime and Salt Lake advanced to the Western Conference finals with a 2-0 victory over the Los Angeles Galaxy on Thursday night. RSL won the series 2-1 on aggregate, reaching a conference final for the third time in five years and ending the Galaxys bid for a third consecutive MLS Cup. They will host Portland in the first leg of the conference finals on Sunday. The Timbers advanced with a 5-3 aggregate win over Seattle in Thursday nights late game. "11 players defended," RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando said. "Thats the big key. The way we play in our system, we need everybody to pitch in and defend and give the effort. Tonight, we did that. (Coach) Jason (Kreis) said we needed to do that and challenged a lot of us. The result today shows the challenge was met." Salt Lake allowed just three shots on goal through 120 minutes and kept Los Angeles from mounting a serious scoring challenge for the bulk of the match. "We all knew they were going to focus on Robbie (Keane) and myself, so it was incumbent upon the other guys to make some plays," Galaxy forward Landon Donovan said. "Robbie and I couldnt pull a rabbit out of a hat tonight, so we needed some other guys to step up and make plays. Unfortunately, it didnt happen so it made it difficult for everyone." Salt Lake started out strong on the offensive end in the first half, mixing several nice passes with good ball movement to break down the Los Angeles defence. The Galaxy made it easier for Salt Lake to create some scoring chances by struggling to possess the ball and clear it. RSLs efforts paid off in the 35th minute when Velasquezs goal tied it 1-1 on the aggregate. Chris Wingertt sent a cross into Velasquez, who was unmarked just outside the top of the 6-yard box.dddddddddddd Velasquez quickly made the Galaxy pay, sending a snap-header past goalkeeper Jaime Penedo for his first goal in an RSL uniform. Velasquez earned the start in place of injured midfielder Ned Grabavoy, who sat out with a left hamstring strain. "Hes an extremely hungry player that has some real gifts," Kreis said. "Sometimes its difficult to get some of those gifts to come out of him. Tonight, he took a major step forward." Los Angeles had no answer on the other end. The Galaxy created eight shots before halftime, but did not put any on the frame. RSL had three shots on goal out of a total of six shots. "The conditions were tough," Galaxy coach Bruce Arena said. "But both teams have to play under those conditions. They played better than we did. They were very direct. They just played the ball behind us and put our backs under pressure and scrapped a lot." Salt Lake stepped up its pressure after halftime. Schuler sent a header into the crossbar in the 74th minute after Javier Morales crossed it to him off a corner kick. Then Alavro Saborio collected the ball outside the box in the 78th minute and blasted it to the left side, hitting the post. RSL had its most painful near-miss during the 84th minute. Morales scored an apparent go-ahead goal when he sent a through ball on a free kick into the back of the net. A foul in the box away from the ball negated the scoring play. Schuler came through in overtime. Latching onto a cross from Morales on a free kick in the 102nd minute, Schuler corralled the ball on a run to the back post and tapped it home just inside the post for his first MLS goal this season. Salt Lake improved to 2-2-2 in second-leg matches in the MLS playoffs. RSLs previous second leg win came against Columbus in the 2009 Eastern Conference semifinals. ' ' '