Pinnwand » th a penalty after Daryl Janmaat handled

WINNIPEG -- Head coach Paul Maurice has been given a four-year extention to guide the Winnipeg Jets, and he and general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff appear to be of one mind on some of the teams upcoming issues. One of them is keeping Ondrej Pavelec as the teams starting goaltender. Cheveldayoff said it was disappointing not to make the playoffs but he didnt suggest hes deviating in any big way from his draft-and-develop philosophy and that includes sticking with his 26-year-old starting netminder. "Ondrej Pavelec is the No. 1 goaltender going into next season," the general manager insisted. "Hes relatively a young goaltender when it comes to being a starting goaltender and when you give those young players those opportunities to excel theres going to be some bumps along the way." With a save percentage of .901 (70th among all goalies in the NHL) and a goals against average of 3.01 (69th) Pavelec is a frequent target of criticism. Maurice says he wouldnt have a lot to say about who plays for the team, which is a general managers job, but he had no problem at all with Pavelec as his starting netminder. "Were at a stage in our franchise where weve got three or four potentially critical pieces through our lineup that are here that weve got to make better. Weve got to put them in a position to be better then they have to be better. ... "And I think Evander Kane falls into that hole, really good young talented players that need to develop, that need to get better and I think they will get better ... In my mind, with Ondrej Pavelec, we have to do everything we can as a team to give our goaltending the best chance to win us games and that hasnt happened yet." Kane finished with only 19 goals this season, a far cry from the 30 the forward scored in 2011-12, although this season he missed 19 games -- 18 due to injuries and another as a healthy scratch, reportedly for missing a team meeting. Maurice came in as Claude Noels replacement in January and impressed Jets management as well as the players with his skills. "Hes an impressive hockey coach but hes an impressive person as well," Cheveldayoff said. "He walked in and he made a tremendous impact from the moment he walked in and we believe that were just scratching the surface on the impact he can make on this franchise moving forward." Maurice, 47, said on the phone from his current home in Ohio that he made the decision fairly early on that he wanted to stay in Winnipeg. The deal was done Tuesday and he immediately flew home to talk about it with his family and they supported him. "It didnt take much time, I called Kevin and said were in and put a sign on the front steps today," he said. Maurice guided the team to an 18-12-5 record over 35 games after Noels firing, a decision that Cheveldayoff said hurt him to the core. "Claude Noel is a tremendous coach and an even better person," he said. Noel had only part of one season as an NHL head coach on his resume when he was handed the reins of the Jets in 2011. His replacement has a career coaching record of 478-469-172 over 1,119 NHL games with the Jets, Toronto Maple Leafs and Carolina Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers franchise. Maurice, who also said Wednesday he has accepted an offer to join Team Canada as an assistant coach for the world championship, says the Jets are further along and have a better balance of youth and experience than some of the other teams hes coach in the NHL. He says that means their development should be faster. Whether the goal of making the playoffs can be achieved next year, the answer seems to be maybe, but not initially as a Stanley Cup contender. "Were trying to move to the middle of the pack, I mean the end goal here is to be a contending team, and I think there are six of those teams right now in the Western Conference, I think theres two in the Eastern Conference. . . then theres the other eight teams that are in the playoffs," he said. Winnipeg finished with a 37-35-10 record on the season and settled for an 11th-place finish in the Western Conference with 84 points. It was exactly the same record they managed in their first year in their new home in 2011-12, although the Jets were in the Eastern Conference until this season. It was also the third straight season they have missed the playoffs since relocating to Winnipeg from Atlanta. The former Atlanta Thrashers made the playoffs only once, in 2007. The Jets have a fairly long list of restricted and unrestricted free agents this season but the only one Cheveldayoff mentioned Wednesday as a player they want to keep for sure was forward and restricted free agent Michael Frolik. He finished with 42 points and met or exceeded the expectations the Jets had when they acquired him from Chicago last year. But the general manager also didnt rule out looking outside the Jets for the right unrestricted free agent or making a trade to strengthen their core group, particularly at forward. He hasnt made a lot of trades since taking on the job three years ago (only 13) and the only two that would even come close to involving higher profile players would be Frolik and Devin Setoguchi. They were also his last, in the summer of 2013. "Some of it might have to come from a trade," he said of his desire to add a winger or a centre. The Jets are still focusing on young players throughout the organization and the role they can play. At the end of the season, for example, they brought in goalie Michael Hutchinson from the AHLs St. Johns IceCaps and he won two of the three final games he played. Cheveldayoff says the core group the Jets have signed to long-term contracts continues to perform. "We like what we have in a lot of different areas here. . . Guys like Blake Wheeler had a tremendous year, Bryan Little had a tremendous year, Andrew Ladd had a tremendous year. . . We havent even touched on (Mark) Scheifele and (Jacob) Trouba." He said Scheifele and Trouba had a big impact and the two rookies are only going to get better. Bryan Trottier Jersey . Sociedad remained in sixth place with Villarreal a point behind in seventh, both in Europa League spots and in striking distance of fourth place and the final Champions League berth. Sociedad forward Carlos Vela chipped goalkeeper Jaime Jimenez after receiving an equally exquisite lobbed pass from Ruben Pardo to set him up in the 23rd minute at Anoeta Stadium. Denis Potvin Jersey . Ben Street scored twice for the Heat (17-5-1), who won their fourth game in a row and 13th in their last 14 outings. Brett Bulmer scored the lone goal for the Wild (6-11-0), who dropped their sixth straight contest. http://www.islanderssale.com/customized/.J. -- The New York Jets have promoted Tony Sparano Jr. John Tavares Jersey . The 18-year-old centre was the Senators first-round pick (17th overall) in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. The six-foot 196-pound native of Salmon Arm, B. Billy Smith Jersey .ca presents its latest weekly power rankings for the 2013-14 Barclays Premier League season.PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil -- The Netherlands is on the verge of qualifying for the World Cup knockout rounds after fending off a belligerent Australia 3-2 on Wednesday to follow up its opening 5-1 rout of defending champion Spain. Memphis Depay scored the clincher in the 68th minute, seconds after Australia missed a chance to go ahead again. Arjen Robben and Robin Van Persie, who each scored twice against Spain, added to their tournament tallies before and after Australias goals, which included a stunning volley from Cahill that levelled the score at 1-1 in the 21st. Australia is almost certainly out of contention following consecutive defeats, and Cahill will be missing in its last match against Spain after picking up his second yellow card of the tournament. Van Persie will miss the Netherlands last group match against Chile for the same reason. "They just kept running. They actually scored well. The second half we went to our own system, what were used to," Van Persie said. "But everyone did well. Im really happy with the result." After a quiet start, the game burst into life in the 20th minute when Robben collected the ball near halfway, sped through a gaping hole in the Australian midfield and shot powerfully past the outstretched left foot of Maty Ryan. Another rout seemed in the works, but only for only a matter seconds. Australia equalized with Ryan McGowan sending a long, looping pass from the midfield to Cahill, who volleyed over Jasper Cillessen onto the underside of the bar in one of the best goals of the tournament so far. Australia, the lowest-ranked team in the tournament, kept pressuring Netherlands, with Mark Bresciano and Matthew Spiranovic missing chances that could have given the Socceroos a halftime lead. Just before the interval, Cahill needlesslyy clattered into the back of Bruno Martins Indi and was given a yellow card.dddddddddddd He was also booked in Australias opening 3-1 loss to Chile, meaning the veteran Socceroos star may have played his last World Cup game. Martins Indi was helped off the field, replaced by Depay to start the second half, and later taken to a hospital with a suspected concussion. At the start of the second half, Netherlands changed from a 5-3-2 system that worked so well against Spain to a more traditional Dutch 4-3-3 style to incorporate Depay, but it was Australia which took the surprise lead with a penalty after Daryl Janmaat handled the ball in the area. Mile Jedinak converted from the spot in the 54th to make it 2-1 but Van Persie levelled again four minutes later, collecting the ball in space on the edge of the penalty area and firing into the roof of the net. In the 68th minute, Tommy Oar had a shooting opportunity down on the left hand side of goal but chose to cross to Mathew Leckie, who couldnt beat the keeper. It proved costly on the next attacking play when Depay fired a swerving low shot from around 25 yards that beat the keepers outstretched right hand,. Australia coach Ange Postecoglou said he was "heartbroken" by the loss. "Bitterly disappointing," he said. "Just for the players, they were magnificent. They took it to a world-class team. Full credit to them, but I just feel bitterly disappointed they werent able to get some reward out of it today." Postecoglou said his team had proved some critics wrong with two gallant games. "We came to this World Cup and were playing against three of the best nations in the world," he said. "People were saying we wouldnt score a goal. In both games weve taken it to the opposition." ' ' '