Jeff Stoughtons 11th Canadian mens curling championship is a bit of a homecoming. Trevor Wood Jersey . Kamloops, B.C., the host city of this years Tim Hortons Brier, is where he won his first Canadian mens curling crown in 1996. He has won twice since -- the last in 2011 -- and is a two-time world champion. "Its kind of special being able to come back after so many years to a place with some great memories," he said in an interview. "Its pretty cool and the team is really looking forward to getting on with the week." The Brier starts Saturday and runs to March 9. Last year Stoughton lost the Brier final in Edmonton 11-4 to Brad Jacobs and his Northern Ontario rink. Stoughton had a disappointing 3-4 finish at the Olympic Curling Trials in December, as Jacobs went undefeated in claiming the right to wear Canadas colours in Sochi. Stoughton had lots of company. No one could slow the juggernaut from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.. "There was only one happy team coming out of those trials and that was obviously Jacobs," said Stoughton. "We just sort of decompressed for a few weeks and then got right back at it, had a great Skins Game, great fun Continental Cup with the guys, and then just carried right through to the Safeway championship in Winnipeg." In this years Brier field -- with both Jacobs and Alberta veteran Kevin Martin absent -- Stoughton and Albertas Kevin Koe are favourites. Manitoba has a record 27 wins at the Brier, followed closely by Alberta with 25. Koe is representing Alberta this year for the third time, after beating Martin 7-5 to take the provincial title. Koe won the Brier in 2010, his first appearance, and went on to win a world championship. Just getting out of Alberta is tough for Koe, who curls out of Calgary. "Youve got to get through one of the top teams in the world in Kevin Martin and its definitely not realistic to think you can do that every year," he said. He recognizes hes going to be one of the favourites along with Stoughton but says thats no different than any other year and the rest of the field may be deeper than some suspect. "Theres quite a few teams that a lot of people dont know about that I think will do pretty good, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, maybe even the Territories. I think its a pretty tough field actually." Theres maybe a little family pride creeping in there. For the third time in five years, hell be joined at the Brier by brother Jamie, who skips the Northwest Territories-Yukon entry. Jamie Koe is making his eighth appearance. In 2012, the brothers met in the 3 vs. 4 Page playoff. Kevin won and Jamie later lost to Manitobas Rob Fowler in the bronze-medal match but it was still a strong finish for a Territories team. Saskatchewan is led by 2003 World Junior champ Steve Laycock, back for his second appearance as skip at the Canadian championship with a new team of Kirk Muyres, Colton Flasch and Dallan Muryes. Jean-Michel Menard is back for his eighth try after becoming just the second skip from Quebec to win the championship in 2006. His lineup consists of Martin Crete, Eric Sylvain and brother Philippe Menard. One of the only new faces this year is Ontarios Greg Balsdon, who stopped Glenn Howard from making his ninth straight appearance at the Brier. "I dont want to say we lucked out because weve had good games but theyve obviously beaten us more than weve beaten them," Balsdon said of the final, that saw Howard miss with his last rock and give up the winning point. Balsdon is new to the Canadian mens championship. He was part of the Cory Heggestad-led team that won the 2013 Canadian Mixed, but he says this feels bigger. "It feels just amazing. I dont think well truly appreciate it until were there," he said. Another team that has the chops to run with the best is also the hometown favourite -- John Morris and his B.C. rink, that features former skip and Kamloops native Jim Cotter at third. "Its exciting," says Cotter. "I think back 18 years ago when it was in Kamloops and Barry McPhee was the hometown team and I remember watching in the crowd there and I was pretty excited for those guys. . . Here we are 18 years later and Ive got the same opportunity." They made it all the way to the final against Jacobs at the Olympic Trials by beating Martin. After a disappointing loss, they took a few weeks off during the holidays to regroup but Cotter says they took good things out of the trials into the provincial finals in B.C. The addition of the veteran Morris, now curling for his third province, has made a huge difference, Cotter says. "We really have clicked. Johns just a phenomenal guy on and off the ice." Jacobs, meanwhile, is still celebrating his Olympic gold-medal win. The schedule made it virtually impossible to compete for a berth in this years Brier, although starting in 2015 the previous years winner will get an automatic berth, something the women already do. With Jacobs out of the mix, 1996 Canadian junior champ Jeff Currie was able to shift the Northern Ontario title from Sault Ste. Marie to Thunder Bay with his team of Mike McCarville, Colin Koivula and Jamie Childs. Former Olympic champ Brad Gushue from Newfoundland and Labrador is still the headliner out of the Atlantic provinces and James Grattan is making his 11th appearance for New Brunswick. Eddie MacKenzie has led Prince Edward Island to the Brier for three of the last four years and Jamie Murphy is back after also representing Nova Scotia at the 2012 championship. Brier finalists each receive $40,000 in prize money, the bronze medallist gets $30,000 and the $20,000 goes to the fourth-place team. Isaiah Buggs Jersey . Abduraimova had not won a tour-level match since 2009 but was a wild-card entry in Tashkent and broke her opponent twice in each set to reach the second round. Second-seeded Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania advanced easily by beating Kateryna Kozlova of Ukraine 6-3, 6-1, while No. Matthew Wright Jersey . -- The Chicago Bears agreed Tuesday to a one-year contract with defensive lineman Israel Idonije and are bringing him back for a second stint. LOS ANGELES -- Steve Mason posted his second shutout in three games with 35 saves and Wayne Simmonds scored his 100th NHL goal, leading the Philadelphia Flyers to a 2-0 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday. It was the 22nd career shutout and third this season for Mason, who stopped 33 shots in a 5-0 win against Detroit last Tuesday after getting pulled by coach Craig Berube in two of his previous three starts. Mason got a break with less than 3 1/2 minutes left, when Justin Williams tried a wraparound and hit the left post. Claude Giroux added his 17th goal on a power play with 1:58 left, converting a cross-ice pass at the left of the crease from Scott Hartnell while Matt Greene was serving an interference penalty. The Flyers have scored a power-play goal in six straight games. The Kings have scored fewer than three goals in 16 of 20 games since their 25-8-4 start, and are 5-13-2 during that stretch with five shutout losses. They have only three goals in their past six games combined, all of them by Anze Kopitar. The Flyers had managed only five shots on net before Simmonds got his 18th goal at 7:48 of the first period. Jonathan Quick, who faced only 13 shots, overplayed Vincent Lecavalier at the right of the crease along with Kings defenceman Jake Muzzin following a turnover by the Kings in their zone, and Simmonds slammed the puck into a wide-open net. The Kings Robyn Regehr played in his 1,000th NHL regular-season gamme, becoming the 98th defenceman in NHL history to reach that plateau, and the club marked the occasion with a pregame ceremony. Joe Greene Jersey. Regehrs first game was Oct. 28, 1999, with the Calgary Flames at Ottawa. Among those taking part in Saturdays ceremony were former Calgary teammate Craig Conroy and Regehrs grandmother, who wore a Flames jersey with his old No. 28. It was the first meeting between the Kings and Flyers since Oct. 15, 2011, when Los Angeles won 3-2. Saturday also was a reunion for Kings centre Jeff Carter, whom the Flyers traded to Columbus on June 23, 2011 -- the same day they dealt Richards to Los Angeles. Eight months later, the Kings acquired Richards by sending Jack Johnson to the Blue Jackets. Carter and Richards led Los Angeles to its first Stanley Cup title in 2012, two years after helping the Flyers get to the finals. NOTES: Richards has one goal in his past 32 games, and that one came on the power play. Carter has no goals in his past six games, following a four-game goal streak. ... Kings C Colin Fraser is one of seven forwards in the league to have played 30 or more games this season without scoring a goal -- and average at least nine minutes of ice time. ... The Kings are 19-3-0 when scoring more than two goals. ... Among the numerous Kings-Flyers connections is fan favourite Ian Laperriere, who played eight-plus seasons with Los Angeles and is now an assistant coach with Philadelphia. Wholeslae Jerseys NFL Jerseys Cheap Wholesale NBA JerseysCheap NHL Jerseys Cheap MLB Jerseys Wholesale Soccer Jerseys Cheap College Jerseys Cheap Football Jerseys Cheap Basketball Jerseys Cheap Baseball Jerseys ' ' '