HAMILTON, Ont. Elite Brian Quick Womens White Jersey . -- Another second-period collapse by the Hamilton Bulldogs ensured they would leave the weekend without a point in three games and their already faint playoff hopes made nearly impossible. David van der Gulik scored twice in just over three minutes of the second period as the Lake Erie Monsters handed the Bulldogs their third loss in as many days, 4-1 in the American Hockey League on Sunday. Hamilton head coach Sylvain Lefebvre was honest when asked to assess his teams situation. "At this point of the season, if you dont compete and you dont do it with desperate energy, you dont deserve to make the playoffs," he said. "Right now, weve dug ourselves a pretty big hole, and if weve stopped believing and weve quit, no ones going to benefit from that." Van der Gulik had three points, and Chad Hunwick and Michael Schumacher also scored for the Monsters (25-27-6). Calvin Pickard made 24 saves. Christian Thomas had the lone goal for the Bulldogs (25-28-5), who fell to last place in the AHLs Western Conference standings. They sit 11 points out of a playoff spot with just 18 games to play. Hamiltons Devan Dubnyk stopped 21 shots. Lefebvre sent a bold message to his players after losses on both Friday and Saturday, making captain and leading point scorer Martin St. Pierre a healthy scratch. "Im not happy with (St. Pierres) game," he said. "Ive been talking with him and sending him messages here and there. "Sometimes, as a coach, you have ways to get guys going, and hopefully he can rebound and get playing the way that he can." Two fighters who had met earlier this season renewed hostilities to open the game, as Hamiltons Nick Tarnasky and Lake Eries Guillaume Desbiens took part in a staged fight at the faceoff. Dubnyk looked confident in the early stages, twice denying the Monsters in close after giveaways by defender Morgan Ellis. His efforts kept Lake Erie off the scoreboard in the first period, and Hamilton nearly opened the scoring just over 10 minutes in when Sven Andrighetto eluded coverage to slip into the low slot, but neither he nor Maxime Macenauer could get wrist shots past Pickard. Hamilton finally opened the scoring at 15:55 of the first when Andrighetto slipped a pass into the high slot that set up Thomas for a crushing slapshot over Pickards shoulder. The goal was a welcome sight for the rookie, who admitted that his production of just 19 points in 39 games has not met his expectations. "It was big, because I havent scored in a while," he said. "Ive been having a slow season so far, but hopefully that gives me some confidence for the rest of it." The Bulldogs looked to build on their lead in the second when they were awarded a penalty shot when a broken stick was used to interrupt play. Andrighetto was selected to take it, but he couldnt solve Pickard. The missed opportunity proved costly when Lake Erie went to a power play, and van der Gulik scored his first of the period to level the game at a goal apiece at 16:06. He scored again just 3:06 later, when Andrew Agozzino sent a centring pass into the high slot, and van der Gulik connected with a low, one-time shot that clipped inside Dubnyks far post. Lefebvre singled out Andrighettos missed penalty shot as a turning point in yet another discouraging second period for the Bulldogs. "Our second periods have been nowhere to be found this year," he said. "We gain momentum in the first period and then we come out in the second and were flat." The Monsters added insurance with second power-play goal as van der Gulik threaded a pass from the point to Hunwick at the left circle. He had plenty of time to work with, and beat Dubnyk with a wrist shot over the shoulder at 9:11 of the third period. Schumacher added a fourth Lake Erie goal when he stole the puck from a Hamilton defender and shot through Dubnyks pads at 13:45 of the third. Tavon Austin . Amid lusty boos from a modest crowd on a rainy, 46-degree night, Cano began his first game in the Bronx since joining Seattle this winter for $240 million with a wink -- at Yankees starter CC Sabathia (3-3). Torry Holt Jersey . - The Colorado Rapids say theyve received a first-round 2015 MLS SuperDraft pick, allocation money and a contract buyout from FC Dallas as compensation for coach Oscar Parejas leaving to take the same job with his former club.Ski jumpers will have to don better helmets and could be required to wear body armour as part of a determined bid by authorities to make the sport as safe as possible, a top official said. "Its an outdoor sport, its a risky sport. We were able over the years to make it safer... we could make it (even) safer," said Walter Hofer, the ski jumping race director at the International Ski Federation (FIS). Spectacular crashes are fairly common in jumping. Three-times Olympic gold medallist Thomas Morgenstern of Austria has ended up in hospital twice in the last two months after crashes where he suffered a broken finger as well as face and head injuries. "The next goal must be to make safer helmets with higher standards. Maybe we can do something for the protection of the body," Hofer told reporters high up on the normal hill late on Monday night as women jumpers whistled by at 90 kph (60 mph) at the Sochi Olympics. "Whatever is available on the market we will try." Hofer noted that Alpine ski officials had spent a long time studying jackets that contain small air bags to help cushion the impact of falls. "When they get something up there we will use it. At the moment I am preparing to use some protection for certain parts of our body, mostly the backbone," he said. Tougher helmets will be introduced into Alpine skiing and ski jumping authorities want to adopt the same standards. In recent years the FIS has taken a series of sometimes unpopular steps it says will make the sport fairer and safer. The federation imposes minimum body mass index requirements to weed out jumpers which it says are too light. Jumpers have to wear body tight suits with low aerodynamics, much to the irritation of athletes such as four-times Olympic gold medallist Simon Ammann of Switzerland. New hills have been redesigned to make the in-run smoother, a development which some jumpers say make takeoffs harder. A complex new system to compensate skiers for wind conditions will be used at the Sochi Games for the first time. Hofer, who has been at FIS for 22 years, said he began trying to make the spoort safer some 20 years ago after he saw a series of bad falls. Brian Quick Authentic Jersey. "I started to talk to experts and they told me Are you crazy? If you make ski jumping safer nobody will watch. It isnt right," said the ebullient Austrian. "I would like to attract parents to deliver their children to our beloved sport in a way they know it is a sport where athletes are cared for." As well as improving safety, Hofer - who notes that "when you release an athlete at 100 km/h from the takeoff, you cant take him back - is particularly keen to address rapidly changing wind conditions that have wrecked many a competition. Headwinds help athletes soar further but if they are too strong they can produce dangerously long jumps. Conversely, tail winds cut flying distances. In the past, officials would either scrap competitions altogether or restart them halfway through to take into account changing winds, which Hofer said frustrated spectators. Jumpers used to be judged on distance and style. Under the new system, they now can also gain or be docked points to take wind conditions into account. The calculations are made by a series of computers linked to seven sensors along the in-run. "The athletes performance is removed from the influence of external conditions," said Hofer, pointing to a screen which showed the wind strength and direction from each sensor. The challenge for audiences is that the athlete who jumps the furthest does not always win. Alexander Pointner, head coach of the Austrian team, told Reuters that spectators should not have "to think What is this, that guy jumped so far but hes only fourth, whats that? Our sport should not be so difficult". Hofer has no intention of changing his mind. "Whatever makes ski jumping safer and fairer is worth it, even if sometimes you have to take something (away) from the transparency. People will understand sooner or later," he said. FIS is looking at whether it would be possible to shine a blue laser line on the snow to show the public exactly where a jumper has to land to take the lead, he added. ' ' '
