men a side as Niklas Jensen fed a wide-open Edler in the slot and he

GENEVA - Three men remain in contention to challenge Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency.FIFAs election oversight panel confirmed Monday that Blatter and three rivals — Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, Michael van Praag of the Netherlands and former Portugal great Luis Figo — are now being vetted to become formal candidates after the close of nominations.A potential fifth contender, former FIFA official Jerome Champagne, failed to secure the required five nominations. He said only three of FIFAs 209 member federations nominated him by last Thursdays deadline.The four contenders will now undergo integrity checks by FIFAs ethics committee, and have their nomination papers scrutinized by the oversight panel.The election panel expects to formally admit and declare the candidates who are eligible for the office of FIFA President in about two weeks.The election will be held May 29 at FIFAs congress in Zurich.Blatter, who will turn 79 before election day, is seeking a fifth term in office to extend his 17-year reign.The veteran Swiss official, who has worked for FIFA since 1975, is strongly favoured to win. UEFA, which has 53 voting members, is the only one among six continental bodies actively opposing Blatter.The campaign kicks off largely as Blatter vs. European interests.Prince Ali and Figo have been encouraged to run by UEFA and its president, Michel Platini, while Van Praag is a member of UEFAs executive committee.Champagne criticized Platini, who decided last August not to run against former mentor Blatter.The script of the next few weeks and months calls for proxy candidates to wage the battles that others did not have the courage to fight, said Champagne, whose departure as FIFA international relations director in 2010 was forced in part by Platini.Of the four contenders, only Van Praag has so far set out specific ideas.The 67-year-old Dutch federation president has called for expanding the 32-team World Cup to include more non-European teams, and has promised to serve just a single four-year term to modernize FIFA.Van Praag has asked Blatter to step aside and has offered him an advisory role, including running a charitable foundation to give less privileged children opportunities in football.Dutch great Johan Cruyff on Monday described former Ajax president Van Praag as somebody you can count on.In his column Monday in top-selling Dutch daily De Telegraaf, Cruyff wrote he is watching the FIFA presidential campaign from the sidelines, but if Van Praag asks for my support, hell get it.Four years ago, Blatter suggested Cruyff join a proposed council of FIFA advisers alongside Henry Kissinger and Placido Domingo. The idea was dropped.Prince Ali, the FIFA vice-president for Asia, is uncertain of widespread support in his home region. The Asian Football Confederation has long stated its support for Blatter.The prince is scheduled to host a campaign launch in London on Tuesday. Discount NFL Jerseys . 1 and reigning champion Caroline Wozniacki was among Thursdays third-round winners, while second- seeded Victoria Azarenka pulled out of the draw at the $4. Cheap Stitched NFL Jerseys .ca has you covered for whos in, whos out and what to expect from all 30 teams. http://www.wholesalechinanflcheapjerseys.com/ .C. -- Gleason Fournier scored the shootout winner as the Grand Rapids Griffins defeated the Abbotsford Heat 4-3 Friday in American Hockey League action. Wholesale Jerseys .com) - The Vancouver Canucks recovered from a fluke goal early last time out to knock off one of the top teams in the league. Wholesale Jerseys China .A. remained bitter for Henrik Lundqvist and the Rangers on the long flight back home to New York.EDMONTON -- The Vancouver Canucks may have brought in goalie Ryan Miller in the off-season, but Eddie Lack isnt ready to hand over the starting goalie reins just yet. Lack had 21 saves and Alexander Edler had a goal and an assist as the Canucks came away with a 2-1 road win over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night. Nick Bonino also scored for Vancouver, who improved to 4-2-0 in pre-season play. Teddy Purcells goal was the only one Lack has allowed in just over two full games worth of pre-season play, stopping 57 of 58 shots faced. However, the 26-year-old Swedish goalie was the first to admit that stats from before the regular season can be misleading. Its just the pre-season, so you cant read too much into it, said Lack. I think I let in five goals every game in the last pre-season. Im just trying to focus on what I can do here. Im just looking forward to the regular season now. Canucks coach Willie Desjardins said Thursdays game was more competitive than the ones that preceded it, offering a welcome test for his team with the regular season on the horizon. I thought there was bit more intensity out there, said Desjardins. I know we wanted to play with more intensity. I thought our battle level was a little higher, which was good to see. Purcell was the lone scorer for the Oilers, who dropped to 4-3-0 in exhibition action. It started off intense right off the bat, Purcell said. I learned pretty quick that this is a heated rivalry. Its good to show some emotion in pre-season, both teams are still trying to get the rust off and learn the systems and stuff, but it was good to see that emotion early. You can tell there is a strong dislike there. Edmonton took a 1-0 lead with 1:19 left in the first period. Jesse Joensuu followed up on a two-goal night against Arizona the night before by showing some solid hustle to fight off two defenders in a race to the puck along the boards. Joensuu fed it to Purcell, who scored his first goal as an Oiler since coming over in a trade with Tampa Bay this summer. Purcell beat Canucks goalie Eddie Lack with a backhand in tight. Lack was shaken up by a collision on the play, but was able to continue in net. I made a save and I kind of got stuck and he ran me over, Lack said. It wwas just black and all of a sudden the puck was in the net.dddddddddddd I think I was more scared than anything. I am fine now. Joensuu also looked strong in the pre-season last year when he had three goals and an assist in three games, but a back injury was at least partially to blame in a poor regular season where he had just five points in 42 games. To be honest, Im happy for every healthy day, that was my focus this summer, he said. I feel like Ive performed well and Ive enjoyed playing tones and playing more minutes than maybe what Ive played last season. Its been fun and Im happy. It was a feisty affair with several fights, punctuated by a brief stretch early in the second that saw Cal OReilly drag down Edmontons Nikita Nikitin, forcing him from the game with an ankle injury. Vancouvers Tim Sestito then took a run at Oilers goalie Viktor Fasth, earning the ire of rookie defenceman Darnell Nurse and later a fight with Kevin Westgarth. Vancouver tied the game 11 minutes into the second period with a short-handed goal as Edler made a long feed to Bonino and he beat Fasth with a quick shot. The Canucks went up 2-1 with five minutes left in the second while the teams were playing four men a side as Niklas Jensen fed a wide-open Edler in the slot and he blasted it into the Edmonton net. There was no scoring in a largely uneventful third period. The two teams will close out the pre-season with a rematch in Vancouver on Saturday night. Notes: Canucks forward Bo Horvat left the game in the first period with an upper body injury and did not return?? Vancouver and Edmonton met five times in the regular season last year, with the Canucks winning three of the five outings?? The Canucks iced a largely veteran lineup, however their top line remained at home as the Sedins and linemate Radim Vrbata did not play. Also unavailable due to injuries were Brad Richardson, Frank Corrado and Zach Kassian?? The Oilers re-assigned goalie Laurent Brossoit and defenceman David Musil to Oklahoma City earlier in the day, but still had 32 players in camp heading into Thursdays game?? Out with what are reported to be minor injuries for the Oilers at the moment are defencemen Andrew Ference and Jeff Petry and forward David Perron. ' ' '