Vorstellung » limited him to only four games,

SAITAMA, Japan -- Canadas Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford won a pairs bronze medal at the world figure skating championships Thursday while Mao Asada of Japan set a world record to finish first in the womens short program. Duhamel, from Lively, Ont., and Radford, from Balmertown, Ont., were third with 210.84 points. Teammates Kirsten Moore-Towers of St. Catharines, Ont., and Dylan Moscovitch of Toronto were fourth. Duhamel and Radford, who were seventh at the Sochi Olympics, also won bronze at last years world championships in London, Ont. "In some ways I think that this bronze medal feels even better than the last one," Radford said. "This season was just a lot more difficult and we had a lot more downs than we did last season. Especially after the Olympics, with our sort of disappointing result, we had to really pull ourselves together and to shift our point of view to just go out here and do it for ourselves. "And then to go out there and to actually do it and be back on the podium, its a huge thing for us. We are just so proud of ourselves." Germanys Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy won the gold, claiming their fifth title in the event they have dominated since 2008. Skating to Chopins Nocturne, Asada hit her trademark triple Axel at the start of her routine and completed all her remaining jumps to finish with 78.66 points, surpassing the previous record of 78.50 set by Yuna Kim at the Vancouver Olympics. "As the last competition of this season, I am happy to skate the best short program," said Asada, a two-time world champion. "My mission here is to perform both programs perfect so already half is done and tomorrow I want to focus on showing everything I have practised." Carolina Kostner of Italy was second with 77.24 points followed by Julia Lipnitskaia of Russia, who had 74.54 points. Kim, the defending champion, has retired and Olympic gold medallist Adelina Sotnikova of Russia isnt competing at the worlds. Kaetlyn Osmond of Marystown, N.L., was eighth and Gabrielle Daleman of Newmarket, Ont., was 14th. Skating to music from the "Alice in Wonderland" soundtrack, Duhamel fell on a triple Salchow in what was supposed to be a three-jump combination for the Canadian pairs team. It was an otherwise clean performance. "When you make a mistake as a figure skater, you need to put that mistake behind you as quickly as possible and continue skating as if you were skating cleanly. And weve been able to do that before, but at the Olympics after we made one mistake, things started to unravel a little bit," Duhamel said. "So we were really aware, as soon as I fell, that was not going to take away from our performance, that we were still going to go strong right until the end." Savchenko and Szolkowy were solid on all their elements in their program to "The Nutcracker," and earned 224.88 points to beat Russias Olympic silver medallists Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov, who had 215.92 points. "A fifth title is quite amazing," Szolkowy said. "We did and very good performance yesterday and were very good today." Savchenko and Szolkowy, who won the Olympic bronze in 2010 and 2014, have been together since August of 2003 and will split up after the world championships. "I can hardly believe it is over now. It feels very strange," Savchenko said. "To be honest, it felt like I was skating in an exhibition gala." Duhamel and Radford, in only their fourth year together, will continue competing next season. "I think that we have just learned a lot about where skating fits into our lives and the way that we approach our competitions. We spent the beginning of the season trying so hard to get every other point, and to really please the judges," Radford said. "Weve realized that if we go out and just skate the way that we want, we tend to skate better and we get better points. "Knowing that, we will take a very different approach going into next season. I think we will have a lot more streamlined programs, maybe a little bit simpler, just to create as much flow as possible and in turn we will perform more relaxed." Paige Lawrence of Kennedy, Sask., and Rudi Swiegers of Kipling, Sask., were 12th overall out of 16 pairs. In womens singles, Osmond pulled off all three of triple flip, triple toe and triple Lutz in the short program for the first time in competition. "I was really excited with the program," said Osmond. "It meant a lot to me to be able to do that here at worlds." Salomon Baratas Chinas . Although the deal cannot be made official until the free agent moratorium period is lifted on July 10, Patterson has agreed to a three-year, $18 million extension to remain in Toronto, sources confirm to TSN. Salomon Baratas Chinas Online . The ninth-seeded Safarova doused Swede Johanna Larsson 6-2, 6-3 on the green clay at Family Circle Tennis Center. The Czech player was a finalist here two years ago and captured back-to-back doubles titles in 2012 and last year. http://www.baratassalomon.es/ .com) - Markus Granlund scored the game-winning goal as the Calgary Flames used an early offensive flurry to defeat the Los Angeles Kings, 2-1, on Monday. Zapatillas Salomon Baratas España .Y. -- Mark Steenhuis scored four goals and added two assists to lead the Buffalo Bandits over the Toronto Rock 12-10 in National Lacrosse League action on Saturday. Comprar Salomon Baratas . Cleary also had two assists and Patrick Eaves added two goals for the Red Wings, who also ousted Phoenix in seven games during the first round of the 2010 postseason. Todd Bertuzzi had a goal and an assist for Detroit, which got a goal apiece from Tomas Holmstrom and Niklas Kronwall and suffered no shortage of offense despite the absences of Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen.More of the same from the Tank, countering multi-point efforts of Martin St. Louis and Derick Brassard for the Rangers, lineup news, Fantasy tips and more in Scott Cullen’s Statistically Speaking. HEROES Vladimir Tarasenko – This is becoming a regular honour for Tarasenko, who now has five goals and eight points in the past four games, including a highlight-reel goal and an assist, then the shootout winner, against the Rangers Monday. With 13 points in 11 games, Tarasenko is tied for 12th in scoring and his 4.45 shots on goal per game ranks fifth. He has emerged as a game-breaking talent on an otherwise solid, but not necessarily spectacular, Blues team that is now riding a five-game winning streak. Martin St. Louis – The Rangers winger was off to something of a slow start, with one goal in 10 games, but buried a pair against the Blues. It is worth tracking St. Louis’ production, though, as the 39-year-old is averaging 1.82 shots on goal per game, his lowest rate since 2001-2002. Derick Brassard – With Derek Stepan sidelined, Brassard has filled a void down the middle for the rangers, playing a career-high 18:23 per game, and he contributed a couple of assists against the Blues. His current nine points in 11 games (0.82 points per game) is the best rate of his career. ZEROES Ryan Reaves – The Blues’ enforcer had a heavyweight scrap with Rangers D Dylan McIlrath, but wasn’t on for a single shot attempt for, and 12 against, during 5-on-5 play. Jaden Schwartz – It might come as expected that an enforcer gets stuck on the wrong end of the possession game, especially on the road, but skilled winger Schwartz also had a rough go against the Blueshirts, with eight shot attempts for and 24 against (25.0%), notably getting dominated in a few head-to-head shifts against the Rangers’ line of LW Chris Kreider, C Kevin Hayes and RW Lee Stempniak. SHORT SHIFTS Rangers LW Chris Kreider scored a goal and had 11 shot attempts (5 SOG)…RW Rick Nash had an assist and 10 shot attempts (5 SOG). LINEUP NEED TO KNOW In the wake of injuries to Ryan McDonagh and Kevin Klein, as well as a suspension to John Moore, the Rangers inserted rookies Conor Allen and Dylan McIlrath onto their blueline.ddddddddddddMcIlrath only played 8:02, while sitting for nine minutes in the penalty box but, when he played, McIlrath was on the ice for 11 shot attempts for and 6 against (64.7%). D Matt Hunwick played 24:51 for the Rangers, his second straight game over 24 minutes on the depleted Rangers blueline. Rangers LW Mats Zuccarello missed the game with an undisclosed injury, so recently-waived LW Ryan Malone still had a spot in the lineup on the Blueshirts’ fourth line. FANTASY FOCUS Some players in action tonight that should have increasing Fantasy value: Nick Bjugstad – Though the towering Panthers’ centre has just one point in nine games, keep tabs on the the second-year pivot, who is generating 3.11 shots on goal per game and has strong possession stats, carrying 61.9% of the play at 5-on-5. Vincent Lecavalier – Injuries have limited him to only four games, but Lecavalier has returned to the Flyers’ lineup and while we’re looking at a very small sample, he does have four points and 3.25 shots on goal per game. Playing with Wayne Simmonds and R.J. Umberger last game, Lecavalier has an opportunity to produce offensively. Evgeny Kuznetsov – With points in the past three games, Kuznetsov has been bumped up to Washington’s second line, with Marcus Johansson and Troy Brouwer. After starting the year on the fourth line, this is a chance for Kuznetsov to live up to some of the preseason hype. Jason Zucker – Another player that started the year on the fourth line, Zucker was productive right out of the gate and has been moved up the depth chart, to skate with Mikko Koivu and Charlie Coyle. Playing more than 18 minutes in each of the last two games is a chance for Zucker to build on his strong start (five goals, seven points in 10 games). Much of the data included comes from www.war-on-ice.com, www.puckalytics.com, www.hockeystats.ca and www.naturalstattrick.com Scott Cullen can be reached at scott.cullen@bellmedia.ca ' ' '