onsecutive home playoff defeats over the last two season

At the end of the regular season, we asked 10 writers to grade players from across the country on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the best performance possible. The Florida State Seminoles?landed three players on our top-50 list:8. Dalvin Cook, RB20. DeMarcus Walker, DE39. Tarvarus McFadden, DB#CFBRank: 1-50 Christian Okoye Super Bowl Jersey . Durant finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds, Jackson matched his career high with 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting and Lamb scored 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting, lifting the Thunder to a 94-88 win over San Antonio and snapping the Spurs 11-game winning streak. Jordan Lucas Super Bowl Jersey . -- The Magic have their first victory of the new year. http://www.officialkcchiefspro.com/Daniel-sorensen-chiefs-jersey/ . All of the scoring came in the final 20:04. Lucic scored on a power play at 15:46 of the third period, when he tipped a shot over Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen for a 3-1 lead. Chad Henne Super Bowl Jersey . Brad Jacobs and his Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., team took control of the game early. Frank Clark Super Bowl Jersey .Y. -- The Buffalo Sabres have placed centre Cody Hodgson on injured reserve and recalled two players from their AHL affiliate in Rochester.SHERBROOKE, Que. - Meet Dan Hawkins - hes loud and friendly. "Ma fee ahh aushway!" he shouts happily following the fourth day of Montreal Alouettes training camp. Its some kind of French, and the man from Idaho wouldve bellowed it as loud on any corner along Rue Sainte-Catherine if he could. "Accouchée," says Alouettes communications director Charles Rooke, quietly. "Accouchée!" Hawkins says quickly. "OK, Im getting there, Im trying to work on it" A long time ago, Vince Lombardi said: "Confidence is contagious, so is lack of confidence." Hawkins is not like the austere, granite-faced Green Bay Packers head coach. He has a bright, oval face, and ostensibly two expressions: smiling and smiling wider. And he hasnt won two Super Bowls. "Ma...fille... a...accouchée" Hawkins says slowly, acting as if he cant hear Rooke take him gently through each syllable. "Yeah, Im a grandpa. I had another grandchild today. "Big news of the day." What you need to know, less than a week into his professional and CFL head coaching career, is that Dan Hawkins is an uncomplicated man, who shares Lombardis fondness for uncomplicated creeds. "Quit trying to win, just be a winner," is what Hawkins is telling the Alouettes — his team — now. Montreal general manager Jim Popp has always recruited from unconventional places. Hawkins helped make Boise State relevant in NCAA football a decade ago, then wasnt as successful at Colorado State. His record as a college head coach is 112-61-1. His record as a professional head coach is 0-0-0. That number will be scrutinized far more intensely than Anthony Calvillos age — hell be 41 in August — because Marc Trestman refined NFL quarterbacks — Bernie Kosar, Jake Plummer and Rich Gannon — before leading the Alouettes to back-to-back Grey Cups. Hes parlayed those accomplishments into the top job with the Chicago Bears. The last few years Hawkins worked as a college football analyst for ESPN. So, what has he learned halfway through his first week as a professional head coach? "Youre a professional, right?" Hawkins says, narrowing his eyes, but without a hint of agitation. "So would your boss or your supervisor treat you any different — I would hope not — if you were an intern or you were getting paid? "I mean, these coaches are professional, so Im coaching coaches as well. Youre always picking things up. I think the biggest thing — for me and these guys — you certainly know things about [players] on film, but all I told them is all we know is what we know." That sounds like coach-speak — all cleverly tied words. Dont talk about leading, coach, just lead. And in the middle of the central Quebec countryside — something off J. E. H. MacDonalds easel — Hawkins breaks the green calmness with a bit of West Coast volume. "Here we go, here we go, here we go!" he shouts as he runs here and there. The sound cuts through the wind and rolls over the hills. Blink and the man in the red cap is behind the quarterbacks near the far end zone. Blink again, hes there pacing around the running backs. Blink, there he is, this time between the tackles before a special teams drill. He shouts and moves his arms, and his players follow. Give this man the football. It is the kind of energy Edmonton head coach Kavis Reed has too, but it has been sharpened over nearly 20 years in the CFL. Conversely, if Hawkinss energy and passion is undressed and transparent; he just wants his players to reveal the same.dddddddddddd "Until you see a guy play and perform consistently out here and do it, you build that trust of Yeah OK, youre that player and see him turn it on and turn it off successfully," the coach says. "Then youre going OK he is that player...and you do the same thing in college really." One of the few times Hawkins stands still is when scuffles flare. Rookie defensive back Michael Parker takes exception to a tackle from slotback Jamel Richardson, and all fall silent as the two broad men curse and grab at one another. They are separated quickly, but the intensity bubbles over. Teammates sneer and hoot at each other. Bodies slam together, harder and harder. Running back Brandon Whitaker says someone pulled him from behind during a scrimmage, sticking his right knee in the turf, irritating the scar tissue of his surgically repaired right knee. "I know it is a long season, and I told the guys, Im not stupid, Im really not, and you cant do this everyday, you cant. It is ludicrous, Hawkins says. "But when we go, we have to be able to go, that is what I asked of them, and they did it. I think nothing good happens without passion." "He just loves what he is doing and you love playing for a guy like that," Whitaker says. "He is the boss." Hawkins has to be. Decisions in September and October are hard to prepare for in June, but there is one challenge that might be unavoidable: What if there comes a situation where he has to pull Calvillo – still, and forevermore, the most important Alouette — out of a game, because... "Because, what?" Hawkins asks. Fill in the blank. "[Calvillo] is going to be smart with us, whether it is his play or his body or the plays or the people and all that kind of thing. Who knows? Maybe hell again outlast another coach." Maybe...but Hawkins is not a promise-maker, not a dreamer, not a planner; hes apparently climbed mountains, ran with bulls, swam with sharks. The tangible is what matters. Consecutive home playoff defeats over the last two seasons, and perhaps an increasing reliance on a thoroughly prepared playbook, have diminished some of aura of dominance that has emanated from the Alouettes for over a decade. Remember: "Quit trying to win, just be a winner." In the opening nights of training camp, Hawkins showed Calvillo and other players footage of 11-team NBA Champion Bill Russell. "You say, OK quit trying to win, just be a winner, Well who are the winners? What do they do? You can study the losers as well because you can learn from them, but what do the great ones [do]? That is why I dont read a lot of fiction, because Im trying to go: What did [an actual person] do? And what can I learn from him? And what can I pass on to the guys? To me, that is how I put together that whole game plan." Maybe what the Alouettes need now is a man of action. The rookie pro learning drill to drill, too, running around the field, missing only his own pads and cleats. If he had a tether in his hand, he wouldve pulled 80-odd, massive men with him. "I dont know the exact word to put for it, but it is definitely exciting," says Whitaker. "When we sit in meetings we get excited. We see the ball going down the field, the runs...it is just little details that weve got to continue to work on." Its infectious isnt it? "It definitely is, and it rubs off on everybody. Everybody is excited about it." ' ' '