meeting on Jan. 29 when Ben Scrivens recorded

The Toronto Maple Leafs "stumbled on" Connor Brown a few years ago and are pleased with their discovery. The Erie Otters captain was named the Ontario Hockey Leagues most outstanding player for 2013-14 on Tuesday. Brown led the league in scoring and set a franchise record with 45 goals and 83 assists in 68 games. Chosen near the bottom of both his OHL and NHL drafts, the 20-year-old Toronto forward has played himself into a strong pro prospect. He was the 251st pick out of 301 players four years ago in the OHL draft. The Leafs chose him in the sixth round, 156th overall, in 2012. His buddy Matt Finn, captain of the Guelph Storm and a fellow Leafs prospect, recently said "With Connor, its always been about proving people wrong." But Brown says his motivation is more about the pursuit of his dream than spite. "I definitely dont think much has come easy, being late picks in both drafts," he acknowledged during a conference call. "Its just more incentive to work hard. "I think I wanted to work hard not to prove people wrong, but I know I needed to work harder to have a shot at signing an NHL contract and having a shot at making the NHL one day." Brown has signed a three-year, entry level contract with the Leafs. He caught their eye in 2011 when scouts went to Erie, Pa., to evaluate Leafs prospect Sondre Olden. "Each time we went down to watch this Maple Leaf pick, wed stumble on Connor Brown," Leafs director of player Jim Hughes said. "Erie was having a difficult year and the scores, the deficits, never changed Connors desire, never changed his moods during the course of the game. "He was always focused and it didnt matter if he was winning 5-1 or losing 5-1, his personality never changed. He always played for the love of the game. He always played with passion. We obviously have big plans for Connor moving forward." Brown led Erie to the best season in its 18-year history with 52 wins and 106 points. The Otters lost this years Western Conference final to Guelph in five games. Brown had eight goals and 10 assists in 14 playoff games. The five-foot-11 170-pound right-winger is currently practising with Torontos American Hockey League team -- the Marlies -- at the MasterCard Centre. He intends to spend most of the summer there building strength and working on his skating skills with former Canadian pairs figure skater Barb Underhill. Hughes says Brown needs time to develop "man-strength." "Come September, I think my game and my physical state, I think Ill be ready to play with better and stronger players," Brown said. Brown is the first Otter to win the OHL scoring title and the second to earn the Red Tilson Trophy as league MVP after Brad Boyes in both 2001 and 2002. The trophy is named in honour of Albert (Red) Tilson, who was a former Oshawa General killed in action during the Second World War. Brown led the league in power-play points with 54 and carried a plus-minus of plus-44 through the regular season. In a poll of Western Conference coaches, he was voted the best in a shootout, second in penalty killing and third in the smartest player category. "Whoever is preparing to play hockey anywhere, will not outwork Connor Brown and his will to prepare," Otters general manager Sherry Bassin said. "Whatever work ethic is necessary, whatever that measurement is, hell do more." Media members vote on the award and Brown was the clear winner with 321 points tabulated from 80 ballots. Oshawa Generals centre Scott Laughton was the runner-up with 120 points and top NHL draft prospect Sam Bennett of the Kingston Frontenacs was third with 68. Previous winners include New York Islanders forward John Tavares (Oshawa, 2007), Nashville Predators defenceman Ryan Ellis (Windsor, 2011) and Florida Panthers defenceman Brian Campbell (Ottawa, 1999). Vincent Trochek, the centre who won the award last year with the Plymouth Whalers, split this past season between the Panthers and their AHL team in San Antonio, Texas. Brown is the OHLs candidate for the Canadian Hockey Leagues player of the year. Hell be up against Sam Reinhart of the Western Hockey Leagues Kootenay Ice and Anthony Mantha of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey Leagues Val-dOr Foreurs. The winner will be announced May 24 during the MasterCard Memorial Cup in London, Ont. Zach Cunningham Jersey .J. -- Fabian Johnson scored his first international goal and Clint Dempsey doubled the lead after a defensive lapse as the United States beat Turkey 2-1 Sunday in the second of three World Cup warm-up matches for the Americans before they head to Brazil. Benardrick McKinney Jersey . Various media outlets, including the Detroit Free Press, indicate a deal is close, while USA Today cited an unidentified person directly involved with the negotiations as saying the pact is for two years. http://www.thetexansfootballpro.us/texans-johnathan-joseph-super-bowl-jersey-authentic/ . A-Rod is also disqualified from any post-season play. So at the tender age of 38, he will miss all of next season. As a result of missing the coming season, hes also out $25 million (which coincidentally is my hourly rate). Alfred Blue Jersey .5 million. The 25-year-old Varlamov is thriving under first-year coach and Hall of Fame goaltender Patrick Roy, posting a 26-9-5 record with a 2. Bruce Ellington Jersey . - Chelseas 1-0 win at the Etihad, spoiling Manchester Citys perfect home record continues to be the talking point of the week.EDMONTON -- The San Jose Sharks may not have been all that sharp to start after playing the night before, but that changed once the puck dropped for the second period. Trailing by a goal after 20 minutes of play, Joe Pavelski responded with three goals and an assist as the Sharks snapped a two-game losing skid with a 5-2 victory over the struggling Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday. "I think after back-to-back nights and not having a morning skate and things like that, youre probably going to be a little sluggish," said Sharks captain Joe Thornton, who had two assists on the night. "We continued to get better and better and it was a good way to end the night. As long as were moving around, moving the puck around, were going to be successful." Patrick Marleau and Marty Havlat also scored for the Sharks (47-18-9), who moved four points up on idle Anaheim for the Pacific Division lead and remained two points back of St. Louis for first in the Western Conference. San Jose clinched a playoff spot in a 2-1 shootout loss to Calgary on Monday. The Sharks power play came into the game ranked just 23rd in the league and had gone just three-for-35 in its last 10 games. They were 3-for-3 against the Oilers, a major factor in the victory. "The numbers arent that important, its when they come and how they come," said Sharks head coach Todd McLellan. "Weve had nights like this and it just hasnt gone in. When you look at the power play standings and the numbers and that type of stuff, you panic over it outside the room, but not inside the room. We finally got a reward for playing basically the same way that we have." "I think weve been bad for a long time and in the last few games weve created a little bit of momentum on it," said Pavelski, who had two of the power play goals for his club. "It hasnt been one game and then take a couple of games off, weve been consistent on our opportunities and tonight it just finally went in for us." David Perron and Taylor Hall responded for the second-to-last place Oilers (25-39-9), who have lost three in a row, including a humbling 8-1 loss to the rival Calgary Flames on Sunday on the heels of a 3-1 defeat to the last-place Buffalo Sabres. "We wanted to come back and play solid after our last couple games and get back to the stuff that we had been having some success with," said Oilers captain Andrew Ference. "The power play chances they got, they jumped on and put us behind the eight ball. I think our five-on-five hockey was light years better than our last game. That wasnt too tough to beat, though." Edmonton head coach Dallas Eakins said his team left far too many missed opportunities on the table. "We have to find a way to bury the chances that we have, and there were some that were just laying there in front of their net," he said. "You just have to find a way to put those in." Oilers goalie Ben Scrivens said the team remains very much a work in progress. "We need to show to ourselves that we can play the right way," he said. "I dont know what it is that we refuse to buy in completely. Its not one guy, a line, a defence pairing. Its just kind of waves throughout the team. Its not wanting to do what we have to do. We had some tough bounces tonight that probably added to the scoring differential. You cant give a team like that the chances on the power play because they have skilled guys who will make you pay and they did tonight.dddddddddddd." The Oilers started the scoring just over four minutes into the first period as Perron danced around Shark Tyler Kennedy before picking a perfect spot on a shot past San Jose goalie Antti Niemi. It was Perrons team-leading 26th goal of the season. The first period shots narrowly favoured the Sharks, who had 11 on Edmonton starter Scrivens to the Oilers 10 in the opening period. San Jose tied the game on the power play six-and-a-half-minutes into the second period. Scrivens made the initial stop on a shot from the slot by Marleau, but the rebound angled to Pavelski at the side of the net with a wide-open cage to put in his 35th of the year. Another power-play goal midway through the second period gave San Jose a 2-1 lead, as Pavelski chopped a puck to Marleau at the top of the opposite circle and the Sharks assistant captains lighting-quick release led to a goal before Scrivens could get across. It was Marleaus 31st goal of the year. The Sharks took a two-goal lead with 30 seconds left to play in the middle period as Edmonton defender Jeff Petry overskated a puck at his own blue-line, allowing Havlat to come in and send a wrist shot that beat Scrivens stick-side. San Jose scored their third man-advantage goal of the game just over a minute into the third period. Pavelski got the puck with space in the front of the net, waited for defender Andrew Ference to go down, and then beat Scrivens over the blocker to make it 4-1. Pavelski earned his third hat trick of the season with seven minutes left in the third as he took a shot that hit the stick of Edmontons Matt Hendricks and deflected into the Oilers net. Pavelskis four-point night gave him 71 points on the season. Edmonton made it look a little better with five minutes left to play as Hall picked up a rebound in front and hooked a diving backhand shot into the net for this 25th to make it 5-2. The Oilers have been outscored 16-4 in their last three home games. The Sharks return home to face the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday. The Oilers play the fifth game of a six-game homestand on Friday against the Anaheim Ducks. Notes: It was the fourth of five games this season between the two teams this season. The Sharks won the first two games before the Oilers got one back in the most recent meeting on Jan. 29 when Ben Scrivens recorded a record-setting 59 saves in a 3-0 shutout win in Edmontona Both teams were coming off of losses to the Calgary Flames, although of vastly different degrees. The Oilers were embarrassed 8-1 by the provincial rival Flames at home on Sunday, while the Sharks lost a 2-1 game in Calgary on Monday in a shootouta Laurent Brossoit was called up from the AHL for the game to serve as the Oilers backup goalie after Viktor Fasth was injured in a collision in practice on Wednesdaya Oilers forward Nail Yakupov missed his fourth straight game with an ankle injurya Sharks forward Logan Couture was unable to play after he suffered a lower-body injury while blocking a shot in Wednesdays game in Calgary. Also out for the Sharks were forwards Tomas Hertl (knee) and Raffi Torres, both out with knee injuries. Defenceman Brad Stuart played his second game back since missing 13 games with an upper-body injurya Sharks winger Adam Burish left the game in the second period after taking a hard shot to his hand. Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '