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WASHINGTON -- John Tortorella stood in the middle of the ice and bellowed at the top of his lungs: Too slow! Were too slow. Move the puck and skate.Tortorella was imploring Team USA to practice the way he wants them to play at the World Cup of Hockey. The U.S. was built to be big, strong and physical in hopes of beating up a favorite like, say Canada. But to win the tournament, the Americans will need to mix speed, skill and scoring with the old-school Tortorella hockey principles of grinding it out and blocking shots.The teams identity is in-your-face aggressive, while NHL MVP Patrick Kane and talented winger Zach Parise and others will bring the flash and flair as the Americans attempt to avenge a disappointing finish at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.I think a big part of our team and our makeup is our willingness and our physicality, but we also have some skill, Tortorella said. Theres going to be some fast teams here and we do have speed. I think people have kind of got locked in because the way weve gone with our team, yeah, we have some grind to it, but we still have a very quick hockey club here and that has to play into it.Tortorella earned acclaim in 2004 when he coached the Tampa Bay Lightning to the Stanley Cup with the mantra of safe is death. In subsequent stops with the New York Rangers, Vancouver Canucks and now the Columbus Blue Jackets, the firebrand coach has tried to win by clogging up the middle and demanding players sacrifice their bodies to get in front of pucks.In a best-on-best tournament with star players, Tortorella still wants a buy-in, a commitment to team hockey. The U.S. goal is to be difficult to play against by dictating tempo up the ice and cashing in on the scoring ability of Kane, Pavelski, Max Pacioretty and captain Joe Pavelski.Pavelski believes playing on NHL-size ice in Toronto benefits the U.S., which could get lost on the outside of a wider international rink. It also makes speed imperative.You cant just play a gritty game, said Kane, the Hart Trophy winner with a league-best 106 points last season. With the team in here, the players we have, we want to play a little bit more a physical brand and make it harder on teams to have the puck and when they dont have it, keep it from them and make it harder to get it back. We feel we have all those ingredients in here.U.S. general manager Dean Lombardi didnt want to make an all-star team, either. He wanted to recapture the magic of the 1996 World Cup champions, who beat Canada to win that tournament 20 years ago. He chose gritty players like Detroit Red Wings winger Justin Abdelkader at the expense of better scorers.Like legendary coach Herb Brooks said at the 1980 Olympics, the U.S. doesnt have enough talent to win on talent alone. But it has more than most NHL teams, which presents a challenge on how to handle a group of stars.Tortorella has to manage how much rope he gives those guys, said forward Brandon Dubinsky, who has played for him in New York and Columbus. Kaners not going to play (Tortorellas) type of crash-and-bang game, and he goes out and plays 100 points a year. Youve just got to let that guy play. ... Its just finding a balance but at the same time trying to have an identity as a whole of guys that are just going to go out there and grind away.Even if Jonathan Quick, who will start in goal in the opening game Saturday against Team Europe, is at his best, the Americans need to produce goals. Theyll look to Kane, Parise, Pavelski and Sochi shootout hero T.J Oshie for that but also muck and grind and try to dredge up offense.Theres a time and a place for all of that and establishing ourselves early in games of our physical presence and getting in on the forecheck and our territorial game, center David Backes said. Once we do that, you can let the skill take place when were in the zone and occupying for extended periods of time.---Follow Stephen Whyno on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/SWhyno Wholesale China Jerseys . PETERSBURG, Fla. MLB Jerseys China . Zvonareva, who won the tournament in 2009 and 10, couldnt handle her opponents big groundstrokes in only her third event back after 17 months out with a shoulder injury. Zvonareva made her comeback in January in Shenzhen and played in the Australian Open but lost her first matches at both tournaments. http://www.nflwholesalejerseys.net/ . PETERSBURG, Fla. Cheap Baseball Jerseys . - Levi Browns tenure at left tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers is over before it even began. Jerseys NFL Wholesale . This should be celebrated because it will not always be this way. With the amount of money given to players by their clubs these days, it is a wonder that so many of those teams allow the sport to continue to take away many of their assets so they can play for a different team in the middle of their season. Terry Flanagan knows something about the courage it took Orlando Cruz to become the first active professional boxer to announce he is gay.Cruz (25-4-1, 13 KOs), who came out in 2012, challenges Flanagan for his WBO world lightweight title on Saturday and will become the first openly gay boxing world champion if he wins at the at the Matchpoint Arena in Cardiff.Boxing this year has seen two of the sports biggest global stars -- Manny Pacquiao and Tyson Fury -- make homophobic remarks.But Flanagan (31-0, 12 KOs) only has admiration for Cruz after seeing his sister Chelsea also announce she was gay.To come out in such a sport like boxing which is a macho combat sport, you have to admire it, Flanagan told ESPN.It takes bravery and courage. It doesnt affect me at all as my sister Chelsea is openly gay.I remember well when she came out and what it was like. Shes had it hard, she came out in her teens and shes a better person for it now.Shes a footballer herself [for Sheffield FC in the Womens Super League] and there are a few girls in womens football who have come out. But there arent any in the mens game.There are more and more people coming out so people dont look at it as a bad thing and its good for boxing what Orlando has done.Puerto Rican Cruz, who married his partner Jose Manuel Colon earlier this year, was knocked out by Orlando Salido in a shot at the WBO world featherweight title in 2013.The 35-year-old has won his last five fights -- the last four were at super-featherweight -- and he will be Briton Flanagans challenger for the WBO belt he won in 2015.He looks quite classy, he can punch, and hes got a few knockouts, Flanagan said.He uses his short height to an advantage and looks a bit tricky. He lost to Salido, but Salido is a great fighter who has a win over [Vasyl] Lomachenko.Cruz is arguably Flanagans highest profile opponent yet, but the Briton is still yearning for a big fight.Flanagan, 227, had hoped to face fellow Manchester-based boxer Anthony Crolla (31-5-3, 13 KOs), who lost his WBA version of the world title on points to Jorge Linares (41-3, 27 KOs) in September.ddddddddddddFlanagan now hopes victory over Cruz sets up a mandatory defence against Puerto Ricos dangerous Felix Verdejo (22-0, 15 KOs) or a unification fight.Verdejo is my mandatory and hes boxing after Christmas and then I will be looking at defending my title against him in March, or maybe it will be a unification fight, Flanagan said.?Ive heard there will be a rematch between Linares and Crolla so I wont be fighting either of them in the near future. Ive got my mandatory due in March so its maybe at least two fights away.Linares got offered the fight against me and took less money to fight Crolla again than he would against me, so he chose the safer option in fighting Crolla.I thought [WBC champion] Dejan Zlaticanin had accepted an offer to come over here and fight this month but then we heard he was fighting Mikey Garcia next instead. I thought it was done but was only a verbal agreement. Hopefully we can make it in the future.I just hope one of these big fights comes off for me in 2017.Flanagan says he would consider stepping up to light-welterweight and challenging for the vacant WBO world title, if American Terence Crawford relinquishes the belt to move up to welterweight.I would jump at the chance of fighting for the world title at the next weight, Flanagan said. If Terence Crawford is stepping up to welterweight then I would happily jump up.Crawford went from being WBO lightweight champion to fighting for the WBO light-welterweight title and Ive heard there are rumours that he will step up again if the fight is right. I would go straight into a world title fight if I stepped up. Cheap Authentic Jerseys Discount NFL Jerseys Wholesale NFL Camo Jerseys Cheap NFL Autographed Jerseys China Jerseys Wholesale Wholesale Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Store China Jerseys Wholesale Wholesale Throwback Jerseys Cheap Stitched Jerseys China NFL Hoodies Cheap Authentic Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys China Camo China NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China ' ' '