Handel » Calgary tied the game 3:28 into the third period wh

INDIANAPOLIS -- Jacques Villeneuve is ready to make an IndyCar comeback. Schmidt Peterson Motorsports said Wednesday it has hired Villeneuve to race in this years Indianapolis 500, 19 years after the Canadian driver first drank the milk in Victory Lane. "IndyCar is growing again and thats why last year when I started watching races again, every time I watched I felt almost angry I wasnt there," the 1995 race winner said on a satellite hookup from France during a news conference held at the teams Indy headquarters. At age 42, Villeneuve seemed content being a television analyst, musician and RallyCross driver. But when Schmidt and co-owner Rick Peterson, also from Canada, made a serious offer, he couldnt refuse. The 500 is scheduled for May 25. Villeneuve certainly has a compelling resume. As an Indy rookie in 1994, he qualified fourth and finished second to Al Unser Jr., and was named the races rookie of the year. The next season, the reigning CART rookie of the year was even better. He qualified fifth at Indy, forced Scott Goodyear into a costly mistake on the final restart and eventually held off Christian Fittipaldi to become the first and only Canadian winner of the race. Villeneuve completed all 400 laps at Indy in those two starts and won the 1995 CART title, too. But after starting 33 races, winning six poles and five races in two IndyCar seasons, Villeneuve had a chance to become an international star. So he headed to Europe and joined Formula One -- the series that made his late father, Gilles, a household name. Like his dad, who died in a 1982 F1 qualifying crash, Villeneuve excelled on the world stage. In 163 career starts between 1996 and 2006, the younger Villeneuve reached the podium 23 times, won 11 races, 13 poles and claimed the 1997 world championship. At that point, American open-wheel racing wasnt even on the radar. His journey back to North America began in 2007 when Villeneuve made the move to American stock cars. Over the next seven seasons, he dabbled in Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Le Mans series as well as sports cars. Villeneuve regained interest in IndyCars last season as he watched how close and competitive the races had become. To him, it reminded him of the series he left almost two decades earlier. Suddenly, he was interested in making a return -- if he could find the right car and the right team. "To get this opportunity is a gift," Villeneuve said. "A lot of people say when you have kids, you slow down. I want my kids to see me race." Schmidt is the winningest team owner in Indy Lights history and already employs two full-time drivers in the better-known IndyCar series -- Russias Mikhail Aleshin and Frances Simon Pageland. In previous years, Schmidt has always found a way to compete at Indy. Getting Villeneuve might be the biggest coup of all for his low-budget team. "Indy is a special place. We go there not to exist but to win the race," Schmidt said. "To see a guy that finished second and finished first there, I dont think hes going to have any problem going back." Villeneuve becomes the fifth 500 winner on this years entry list. The others are three-time winner Helio Castroneves of Brazil, two-time winner Scott Dixon of New Zealand, 2000 winner Juan Pablo Montoya of Colombia and Brazils Tony Kanaan, the defending champ. Another trip to Victory Lane would give Villeneuve two more milestones. He would break Al Unsers record for the longest gap between first and last victories. Unser went 17 years between his first Indy crown in 1970 and his record-tying fourth win in 1987. Villeneuve also would break Gordon Johncocks record for the longest gap between first and second wins at Indy, 1973 and 1982. Villeneuve isnt motivated by records. He wants to win. "Im a racer," he said, explaining he does not plan to retire anytime soon. "Ive got to find ways to get better and better and better, and Im going there with a team thats very experienced and has been very successful as well." Clearance Nike Shoes From China . Joining him in this years class were Switzerlands Patrick Huerlimann and Norways Eigil Ramsfjell. The announcement was made at the world mens curling championship at Capital Indoor Stadium in China. Cheap Nike Shoes From China . PAUL, Minn. https://www.nikeshoeschina.us/ . The Yankees made the moves before Tuesdays game against Baltimore. Robertson was listed retroactive to Monday. Robertson posted two saves in three games as the replacement for retired Yankees closer Mariano Rivera before getting hurt. Discount Nike Shoes From China . Head coach Randy Carlyle confirmed the news after the Leafs morning skate on Monday. Kozun was hurt during Friday nights home game against the Red Wings and did not make the return trip to Detroit for Saturdays game. Fake Nike Shoes . LOUIS -- The Atlanta Braves used a two-run rally in the ninth to end their road trip with a win. CALGARY -- After a 7-0 shellacking the night before in Edmonton, Columbus coach Todd Richards challenged his team to do better. It worked. Defenceman Nikita Nikitin scored his first goal of the season 2:25 into overtime Wednesday night to give the Columbus Blue Jackets a 2-1 victory over the Calgary Flames. "As a coach, you go in and challenge your group," said Richards. "There were some questions I had coming out of the Edmonton game. To me, they responded the right way." With a delayed penalty coming to the Flames forward Jiri Hudler for goaltender interference, Columbus carried the puck back up ice and poured on the pressure as Sergei Bobrovsky skated to the bench for an extra skater. After Artem Anisimov was stopped by Calgary goalie Reto Berra, the puck came to David Savard, who had a shot blocked by Mikael Backlund. However, the puck caromed out to Nikitin who had an empty net with Berra down and out. "Nikita, as far as the way he played, it might have been his best game," said Richards, who was pleased with the entire teams performance. "They came out and they played hard. Ran out of gas a little bit towards the end. I thought we battled. We got the win. They way they are playing out on the ice, I think the attitude is real positive." After the game-winning goal went in, the Flames first-year goaltender repeatedly pounded his glove into the ice. "It was great how we came back, but at the end it was bad luck," said Berra, who had 16 saves in falling to 2-4-2. Nick Foligno also scored for Columbus (8-11-3). The Blue Jackets are 2-1-0 with two stops left on a five-game road trip. They play in Vancouver on Friday. "We just had too many mental lapses last night and it cost us," said Blue Jackets centre Ryan Johansen. "Its nice to be able to forget about that now. Coming in here tonight and doing all those little things right in our defensive zone." Joe Colborne scored the lone goal for Calgary (7-11-4). Coming off an emotional 5-4 shootout victory in Winnipeg on Monday night, the Flames have lost three straight at home and are winless in their last six (0-5-1) at the Scotiabank Saddledome. "I dont think it was the most exciting game, especially when they scored early. I think they would have been happy to go home with a 1-0 road win ...," said Flames coach Bob Hartlley.dddddddddddd "The bottom line is its pretty tough to win when you only have one line going. Matt Stajans line was by far our best line and we didnt get enough from the other three." Besides the trio of Stajan, Michael Cammalleri and Lee Stempniak, the other notable highlight for the Flames was Berras spectacular first period save off Jack Johnson. Johnson looked like he had all sorts of open net to shoot at but Berra came across and, using his entire six-foot-four frame, stretched out and spectacularly kicked the puck out of the air like a bicycle kick in soccer. Before the game had ended, the video of it was already up on the NHLs website with the headline "Save of the year?" "I was too far out. I thought (Johansen) was going to shoot, then he passed it," Berra said. "So I was way too late and I had nothing else that I could do. I just tried to bring something from my body there and it hits me right on my skate. That was for sure luck, too." Berra made his eighth start in his last nine games for the Flames. He made 16 stops to fall to 2-5-1. Columbus opened the scoring shortly after when Folignos slapshot deflected off the leg of Flames defenceman TJ Brodie, the sudden change in direction sending it into the top corner behind Berra. The game remained that way until Calgary tied the game 3:28 into the third period when Colborne got behind Johnson and on a breakaway tucked a backhand over the shoulder of Bobrovsky. It was the only shot that got past Bobrovsky of the 24 he faced on the night. "To have have a chance to play right away, to reset, its good," said Bobrovsky, who was pulled against Edmonton after the fourth goal. "You dont think about the game before. It was a bad game. You have a chance to win and you get that good feeling again." After winning the Vezina Trophy last year as the NHLs best goalie, Bobrovsky has not had nearly the same success this season with a 7-9-2 record. Notes: The Blue Jackets were without Brandon Dubinsky, who suffered a bruised foot against Edmonton. Recently recalled Jack Skille took his spot ... Columbus LW Matt Calvert (lower body) is back practising and he could return Friday. Hes missed 19 games ... Bobrovsky has given up four-or-more goals six times this season. That happened only five times all of last year ... Calgary is 6-3-4 in one-goal games. ' ' '