LAPPEENRANTA, Finland -- Forward Brayden Point impressed head coach Kevin Dineen for the second straight exhibition game as Canadas under-18 hockey team defeated Denmark 7-2 on Monday. Point scored twice and had an assist as the Canadians tuned up for their U18 world championship opener Thursday against Sweden. "He goes to the hard places," said head coach Kevin Dineen, who recently guided the Canadian womens team to Olympic gold in Sochi. "He earns everything he gets." Point, who plays for the Western Hockey Leagues Moose Jaw Warriors, had a goal and an assist in last Fridays 3-2 loss to Finland. The five-foot-eight forward has been centring a line with Travis Konecny of the Ottawa 67s and Brendan Perlini of the Niagara IceDogs. Konecny had a goal Monday and Perlini added three assists. "For the most part that line has been very good," Dineen said. "Theyre a pretty dynamic group." Ryan Gropp of the Seattle Thunderbirds, Clark Bishop of the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, Ben Thomas of the Calgary Hitmen and Haydn Fleury of the Red Deer Rebels had the other Canadian goals. Julio Billia of the Chicoutimi Sagueneens and Mason McDonald of the Charlottetown Islanders split the goaltending duties. Billia allowed both goals as Canada outshot Denmark 46-23. Preliminary round play begins Thursday and continues through April 22 with the medal games set for April 27. Canada has won gold at this tournament on three occasions: 2003, 2008 and 2013. The defending champions havent had a lot of time together. Some players just arrived in Europe on Monday. "Were at a bit of a disadvantage ... with this quick turnaround and putting a team together," said Dineen. "But at the end of it were talking about the best 17-year-old hockey players in Canada and when you have that it may make up a little bit for lack of chemistry." Air Max Pas Cher Chine Paypal . The closer wasnt available. The road trip, a disaster to that point. Fausse Vapormax Noir . LA (SportsNetwork. http://www.outletairmaxpascher.fr/fausse...-270-homme.html. Mike Vecchione tied it at 2 with 4:01 left in the first, Saskatoon native Eli Lichtenwald gave the Dutchman the lead 57 seconds later, and Daniel Ciampini capped the spree with 2:57 to go. Nike Air Max 270 React Soldes .C. - The Panthers will be without starting defensive tackle Star Lotulelei for Saturday nights NFC divisional playoff game against Seattle after undergoing surgery Wednesday to repair a broken bone in his foot. Air Max 270 React Pas Cher Homme .com) - Devan Dubnyk stopped all 30 shots fired his way and made several big saves down the stretch for his third shutout of the season as the Minnesota Wild beat the Calgary Flames 1-0 on Tuesday.Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - There is no worse month on the baseball calendar than January. Yes, the Hall of Fame announcement comes and that is always good for some debate, but other than that ... nothing. And thats probably a good thing because with the newly formed College Football Playoff and the NFL postseason in full swing, baseball is really on the back burner in the sports pantheon. More so than usual, anyway. Regardless, it certainly makes for a boring time of the year if you are covering the sport. And while we still may be less than a month away from pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training, there are still some big questions that need to be answered. For instance ... WHERE IS MAX SCHERZER GOING TO WIND UP? This may have been the biggest question heading into the offseason and here we are on Jan. 14 and still have no idea how this is going to play out. The process was likely slowed by the notion floated from Scherzers agent, Scott Boras, that it could take up to $200 million to land the former AL Cy Young Award winner. Still and all, its probably the same teams you initially thought would be in the mix for Scherzer that are still in the running, despite statements from both the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers that they were no longer interested. Given Boras past relationship with the Washington Nationals, youd have to think they could be a factor. I thought all along he would wind up in the Bronx, but now I am not so sure. However, it is starting to sound like the Tigers could once again be a factor, which could then lead them to move David Price. And if that happens, it could be a wild few weeks. One team that may be laying in the weeds, though, is the St. Louis Cardinals. They normally dont delve into this type of contract, but it does make some sense. Scherzer is from St. Louis and the Cards have a ton of injury concerns in that rotation. Plus Jon Lester going to Chicago may have upped the ante for the Cardinals. WILL THE RED SOX ADD ANOTHER STARTER? Speaking of Lester, the Red Sox failed to re-sign him and have never really addressed the top of their rotation. And if they werent willing to go over $130 million or so for Lester, it makes zero sense to think theyd do it for Scherzer. Now the Red Sox added some depth to their rotation this winter, bringing in the likes of Rick Porcello, Wade Miley and Justin Masterson. Its a nice group of No. 3 pitchers, but theres no real ace in the mix. Should Scherzer find his way back to Detroit, dont be surprised to see the Red Sox get involved in a potential Price blockbuster. Righty James Shields is still out there, too, and likely biding his time to offer his services to the losers of the Scherzer sweepstakes. WHO IS GOING TO PLAY SHORTSTOP FOR THE METS? Since the final game of the 2014 season, the New York Mets have been linked to almost every shortstop in the league. Yet here we are almost a month away from spring training and the odds-on favorite to be the teams Opening Day shortstop is once again either Wilmer Floores or Ruben Tejada.dddddddddddd A Troy Tulowitzki deal was probably always a pipe dream, but the Mets failed to land a Jed Lowrie or Asdrubal Cabrera. The fact they were in on Ben Zobrist last week tells you, though, that they are looking to fill that spot. There are some options left for them. Rafael Furcal is still available, but at age 37, is he any better an option than what the Mets have in-house? If the Mets do truly want a shortstop, why not just give the Toronto Blue Jays a call and ask about Jose Reyes? The wear and tear from that turf is robbing him of the thing that once made him so electric. The Mets have the pieces to get a deal done. Isnt it something to explore at least? Or maybe they do actually believe in Flores? ARE THE PHILLIES DONE WHEELING AND DEALING? One of the busier teams this offseason has been the Philadelphia Phillies. They finally cut ties with longtime shortstop Jimmy Rollins and may be ready to do the same with both Cole Hamels and Ryan Howard, especially the latter. Finding a taker for Hamels shouldnt be that hard, even with the $90 million- plus still owed to him. Hamels is an ace. Any team would want him. For the Phils, its a matter of what you are getting back. Like we mentioned earlier, the Red Sox are a team that could make a move, as well as a team like San Diego. Hamels is from San Diego and despite all the other moves they have made this offseason, the Padres probably still arent a playoff team in the NL. Getting Hamels would change that. Now the Phillies unloading Howard and his $50 million is a different story. The former NL MVP may not be as feared as he once was, but he still slugged 23 home runs and drove in 95 runs last year. However, he only hit .223 and struck out 190 times. Still, there could be a market for him, provided the Phils eat a ton of that salary. IS THE GAME GOING TO SPEED UP? The owners meetings are taking place this week in Arizona, the final ones presided over by outgoing commissioner Bud Selig, and the biggest topic on the agenda is the effort to speed up these games. Its probably unlikely that a pitch clock is going to be implemented anytime soon, but there could be some tweaks to speed up the game, particularly in regards to the replay process. Far too often last season, managers would take a nice little stroll out to an umpire and stay there until he got word from his dugout if he should challenge a play. One of the changes that could be made is that once a manager leaves the dugout, that automatically triggers his challenge. Another pace of play discussion will center around the experiment MLB used in the Arizona Fall League. A hitter was required to keep one foot in the batters box at all times with exceptions for foul balls, wild pitches and timeouts. With no current major league rule to deter hitters from stepping out of the box, they are free to stroll away after every pitch. With this rule, if a player leaves the box completely, he can be penalized with a strike. Ugh. Spring training cant come soon enough. ' ' '