STONEHAM, Que. . -- Maxence Parrot of Bromont, Que., hopes his first career World Cup win on Sunday is enough to put him on the Olympic team. The 19-year-old rider delivered a first place finish in the mens slopestyle event to conclude the Snowboard Jamboree. Parrot, the top qualifier on Friday, earned 94.50 points in the final. Niklas Mattsson of Sweden was second at 87.50 and Torgeir Bergrem of Norway third at 83.00. Charles Reid of Tremblant, Que., was fifth at 80.50. "There were three Canadians in the final and I absolutely had to be in the top two to better my chances to go to the Olympics," said Parrot. "I definitely had an advantage being the top qualifier. I was able to watch the others and I decided to put in my big run that I had been practising all week." Conditions were a factor on Sunday with a steady snowfall and foggy conditions on the hills north of Quebec City. "I really like riding when it snows a lot, Im able to focus better," said Parrot, now with three World Cup medals. gold silver and bronze. "Still the level of competition will be higher at the Games and Ill have to prepare for that hopefully." Reid was also delighted with his result. "Ive worked so hard to get to this point," he said. "I hope my dream becomes a reality on Tuesday." The World Cup halfpipe and slopestyle events here were the last opportunity for Canadians to reach their standards for the Sochi Olympics. Riders in those events are to be announced Tuesday. Matts Kulisek of St-Sauveur, Que., was 11th, Jonathan Versteeg of Vernon, B.C., was 18th, Darcy Sharpe of Comox, B.C., was 20th and Tyler Nicholson of North Bay, Ont., finished 26th. In womens slopestyle, Brooke Voigt of Fort McMurray, Alta., took sixth in the womens final. It was her best result this season. "I really needed to come up with a big result," she said. "Making finals is pretty good. Hopefully its enough to go to Sochi, but everything is still undecided right now." Christy Prior of New Zealand won the gold medal with 89.75 points followed by Cheryl Maas of the Netherlands at 85.25 and Austrias Anna Gasser in third at 84.25. Voigt earned 37.00 points on her second run in the final. . Four years after winning gold on home ice in Vancouver, the Canadians will get a chance to make it two in a row Sunday against Sweden after beating the United States 1-0 in the Olympic semifinals Friday at Bolshoy Ice Dome. . Both the top-seeded Djokovic and sixth-seeded Fish took relatively easy paths, with the Serb winning when opponent Jo-Wilfried Tsonga retired in the second set with a sore arm and Fish dominating Janko Tipsarevic in two quick sets. . The Brazilian heads into Saturday afternoons race coming off a close runner-up finish to Ryan Hunter-Reay in the Indianapolis 500.PORTLAND, Ore. -- Dorell Wright hadnt hit a game-winner since high school, and certainly hed never had a winner that was his only basket of the game. But on Wednesday night, Wright hit a 3-pointer with 7.9 seconds left and the Portland Trail Blazers beat the late-charging Sacramento Kings 100-99. The three points amounted to his final total. "That was pretty cool right there," the nine-year NBA veteran said after the game. "Especially since I was mad at myself for not making my shots the whole game." Ray McCallum missed a 21-foot jumper as time ran out for the Kings and Portlands Robin Lopez grabbed the rebound and held it tight for the victory. LaMarcus Aldridge had 22 points to lead the Blazers, who have won six of their past seven games. "It was an exciting way to win a game," Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. "Dorell picked a good time to make his shot." Portland, which has missed the playoffs for the past two seasons, clinched a post-season berth with a 100-94 victory over New Orleans on Sunday. The Blazers were fifth in the Western Conference with three games left. DeMarcus Cousins had 30 points and 12 rebounds for the Kings, who were without injured guard Rudy Gay. Sacramento has lost four straight and sit near the bottom of the conference in front of the Los Angeles Lakers and Utah. Sacramento trailed by as many as 15 points late in the first half, but the Kings pressured the Blazers in the second and tied it at 84 on McCallums 3-pointer with 8:17 left in the game. Damian Lillards 3-pointer put Portland up 91-86, but Cousins layup tied it again at 93 with 3:12 left. Aldridge dunked, but Travis Outlaws jumper tied it again before Cousins scored to make it 97-95 for the Kings with 1:31 left. It was Sacramentos first lead of the game. Lopez made two free throws for the Blazers to tie it at 97 with 42.3 seconds to go. Cousins made a pair of free throws to give the Kings back a 99-97 lead with 14.8 seconds left before Wright made the 3 for the win. AAfter the game, Wrights Blazers teammates nicknamed him "Little Robert Horry. . " "We didnt get a great shot, didnt get great execution on that last play, but a great opportunity for Ray to make a play," Kings coach Michael Malone said. "But he came up a little bit short." Lillard had 19 points and 10 rebounds. "We made it a lot tougher than it should have been," Lillard said. Gay also missed Tuesday nights 107-92 loss at Oklahoma City because of a lower back strain. Guard Isaiah Thomas missed his ninth straight game because of a right quad injury. Former Blazer Travis Outlaw got his fourth start of the season for the Kings. The Kings appeared worn out after playing the night before and Portland pulled away in the second quarter with a 10-0 run that made it 48-35. The Blazers extended the lead to as many as 15 points and went into the break with a 56-46 lead. But the Kings closed the gap to 68-65 on Jason Thompsons dunk midway through the third quarter. Cousins hook shot got Sacramento within 70-67. But Portland responded with a 9-0 run capped by Thomas Robinsons jumper to pull back ahead 79-67 before the quarter was over. Sacramento had a nine-point run to narrow it to 79-77 with 10:45 left. Lillard answered with a 3-pointer for the Blazers. "Were playing against great teams that are playing for something and its not like they arent giving it their all," McCallum said. "So to know that we can compete with some of these top teams should give us a lot of confidence." Notes: The Portland Trail Blazers -- as well as owner Paul Allen -- are appearing on Thursday nights episode of Portlandia on the IFC channel. All-Star forward Aldridge previously appeared on the show as Penny Marshalls boyfriend. ... Former Oregon State guard Jared Cunningham was playing the final game of a 10-day contract with the Kings, although Sacramento could keep him until the end of the regular season. ... It was Blazers rookie Alan Crabbes birthday. ' ' '
blueberryjerry » 12 дек 2016, 11:42 
