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TORONTO -- Former star striker Kara Lang played at the Under-20 Womens World Cup on two occasions before devoting her full attention to the Canadian womens senior team. She still remembers the massive roar of the home crowd when the Canadians walked out on the pitch before 47,784 fans at Commonwealth Stadium in 2002. Lang expects a similar reception for the Canadian team as the host nation at this years tournament, which begins Tuesday. "Nothing can compare to that -- the level of intensity, the crowd support that you get," Lang said in a recent interview. "I was 15 at the time, the rest of the team was 16, 17, 18-year-olds and to be playing in front of crowds of 50,000 people cheering for you, its unlike anything else. "Thats what this team is going to experience as well." Langs appearance at the inaugural tournament in Edmonton -- at that time it was a U-19 event -- came shortly after she made her debut with the senior team. There are several Canadian players who will be in a similar position for the 2014 tournament, which will be played Aug. 5-24 in Edmonton, Moncton, Montreal and Toronto. Midfielder Jessie Fleming has suited up for the senior team before and also played at the U-17 competition. "Its perfect because weve experienced a big tournament and we know what its like dealing with not a lot of recovery time and intense matches," she said. "I think that will help." Canada held a camp in mid-July in Mexico and will open the tournament Tuesday at BMO Field with a Group A game against Ghana. Canada will play Finland on Friday in Toronto before heading to Montreal for an Aug. 12 game against North Korea. Centre backs Kadeisha Buchanan and Rebecca Quinn, fullback Sura Yekka, midfielder Ashley Lawrence and forward Nichelle Prince are the other Canadian players with senior team experience. Defender Kinley McNicoll will serve as captain and Kailen Sheridan is the No. 1 goalie. Canada went 1-2-0 at the 2012 tournament and failed to advance out of the group stage. Andrew Olivieri is back as coach and senior team coach John Herdman is serving as high-performance director. The Canadian program has an eye on the big picture for all youth competitions and this one is no different. Olivieri wants his players to move closer to taking that next step to the senior team and hopefully achieve success along the way. "Six games at the international level is the most we can get out of this tournament," Olivieri said. "So thats going to take winning a quarter-final and thats going to remain our objective: is win a quarter-final, get into a semi and whether its a semi, a final, a third-place game, thats just what the system needs right now." Group B includes the U.S., Germany, China and Brazil. Group C is made up of England, Mexico, Nigeria and South Korea while Group D consists of Costa Rica, France, New Zealand and Paraguay. Germany and the defending champion Americans have combined to win five of the six previous U-20 tournaments while North Korea won in 2006. All three teams are expected to be strong again this year. The top two teams from each pool advance to the quarter-finals, which will be shared by the four host cities. Moncton and Montreal will host the semifinals and Montreal will stage the final and third-place match. The tournament comes a year before Canada hosts the 2015 Womens World Cup. "For a lot of these players, its kind of a warmup for them because a number of them will be playing in 2015 next summer with the full womens team," Lang said. "Next summer wont be such a shock to them if theyve gone through something like this. "It can be a bit of a shock when you walk out onto the field ... as the tournament grows, the support grows. By the time we walked out to crowds of 10 and 20,000 people (in 2002), we were floored and then it just grew as the tournament went on. In a number of ways its great preparation." Olivieri said his squad will be the youngest U-20 team Canada has ever fielded in the tournament. "Well be talented but we will be young," he said. "Its hard to tell how well stack up against other teams." Buchanan, one of the anchors of the Canadian defence, isnt lacking for confidence. "Our team is capable of dominating the opposition," she said. "Playing in their half and just getting (shots) on net." Fleming echoed those thoughts. "I think were capable of going all the way," she said. "I think its going to be tough. Its going to be tough for any team to win the tournament. We just have to take it game by game." Lang said there are always a few surprise results because it can be challenging to track the development of other national youth programs. She expects Olivieri and Herdman will have the players ready and prepared. "They have really implemented a system and a philosophy of mental toughness," she said. "It really is just based on individual players knowing their roles and focusing on that." Langs other U-20 appearance came in Thailand in 2004. She played in two World Cups -- in 2003 and 2007 -- as well as the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Her eyes still light up when she talks about that magical ride to the final in 2002. "Playing in an international tournament at home in front of Canadian fans -- you cant beat it," she said. Chuck Foreman Jersey . We wonder if the price of a Roberts rookie card has at least gone up a few cents? Tribute Tweets #Padres Tony Gwynn had 287 career plate appearances against #Braves trio of Maddux, Glavine, & Smoltz, he hit . Paul Krause Jersey . Five years ago, Nestor and Zimonjic beat the American twins to win the title. 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One of the most scary things that Ive been a part of and watched live, said Dion Phaneuf afterward. Though requiring a fine performance in goal and one unlikely hero, Toronto managed to rally in their fallen teammates absence. They scored a single point during a wild night in Denver, one that saw the Avalanche eventually emerge behind their young guns in a shootout. It was only 45 seconds into the action when Winnik was stood up at the Colorado blue-line by Jan Hejda. He fell backwards uncontrollably from the thunderous collision, his head and neck crunching violently against the ice. Laying there motionless and seemingly knocked out for an entirely uncomfortable stretch, Winnik was eventually carted off the ice on a stretcher, his eyes open and fingers moving. The bad part about it was he was out of it, said head coach, Randy Carlyle of Winnik, who played two seasons in Colorado. After reviewing it, yeah he did twist his neck, but the weight of his body seemed to roll on his shoulder more and into his back. He was lucky in that situation. Amazingly (and almost unbelievably so) Winnik is apparently okay. Hes 100 per cent fine, said Carlyle. He says theres nothing wrong with him. That may be hard to believe, but encouragingly given how devastating the injury appeared, Winnik was even up and walking around the dressing room during the first intermission. He offered his team a rallying cry in the process. Finish the game hard, he said. That was a relief because we were pretty bothered as a team when you have a teammate like that get hurt, Phaneuf said. That was a boost for us when we came in and saw him after the first. They rallied around his presence. Even on the scoreboard after that nervous opening period, the Leafs traded goals with the Avalanche in the middle frame, tying it up one more time in the final moments of regulation on an unlikely marker from the previously little-used, Richard Panik. They needed more than a few heroics from Jonathan Bernier to even get to that point, the 26-year-old making his first start in nearly a week. Carlyle called it a reckless game, one that saw chances galore from a pair of shaky defensive squads. Im sure it was exciting for the fans, but its never exciting for coaches, he said. Given the circumstance – Jake Gardiner was also lost to injury early leaving the visitors with 16 skaters – the Leafs were happy to snatch a point, though its clear they have much to improve upon after dropping both games of a brief stint on the road. We definitely deserved that point, Bernier said, and probably more. Five Points 1. Statement in Goal Bernier wasnt too thrilled not to get the start Tuesday in Phoenix – that was the original plan – and he responded with another fine effort. If not for him the Leafs likely get nothing in Denver. There were the back-to-back stops on Matt Duchene during a wave of Avs domination in the first. There was the glove snatch of Jamie McGinns point-blank attempt in the middle frame. There was the two-pad stack on Tanguay all alone in front early in the third. I think Im seeing the puck well, he said. Im fighting to see it as well. Obviously you want to make at least one save in the shootout, you had a chance to get more [points], but thats the way it goes sometimes. Bernier owns a .925 save percentage in his last five starts. 2. First Periods Much like a year ago, first periods have been a dud for the Leafs this fall. Outscoring opponents in both the second and third, Toronto has managed eight first period goals to 14 for the opposition. The trend continued Thursday night. Colorado struck on the very shift of the game on a goal from Nick Holden – ending the period with 19 shots. Carlyle has taken measures to fix the wobbly starts, intent on easing the tension before puck-drop. Those measures even include the odd hula-hoop contest, yes, hula-hoop. Ive found that it always works, Carlyle said of playing games and contests before puck-dropp.dddddddddddd It lightens your group up and it eases the pressure that comes with it. Despite another troubled start that saw Colorado outshooting them 12-4 at one point, the Leafs did rebound in the back half of the first, evening the score on the seventh this season for Phil Kessel. (Kessel missed the first six minutes of the third with an undisclosed ailment, but managed to return for the remainder of the game.) Toronto was one of the worst starters in the league last season, outscored 76-56 in first periods – those 76 goals against the fifth-most of any team. 3. Scoring First Inextricably linked to those first periods has been the matter of scoring first. Like most teams, the Leafs arent faring well at all when they fail to score the first goal. And they gave up the first one for the eighth time in 13 games against the Avalanche. I guess you could say that everybody would love to score the first goal, Carlyle said before the game. If you look at the statistics and the league historically…the team that scores the first goal I think their winning percentage is over 70 per cent. I guess everybody would want to score the first goal. The Leafs are now 1-5-2 when theyre forced to come from behind, 5-0-0 when they score first. 4. Young D Jake Gardiner was sporting a mean limp in the Toronto dressing room after the shootout loss. Gardiner was stung on the left knee by a Jarome Iginla shot early in the first, wobbling around for the remainder of what was a troubled 50-second shift. He tested the knee during a TV timeout, but clearly felt some discomfort. X-rays revealed no break, but a deep bone bruise. Hit him in a spot where no equipment was, Carlyle said. Morgan Rielly, meanwhile, sat as a healthy scratch for the first time all season – replaced by Stuart Percy. He and Carlyle had a brief exchange at the morning skate. We felt that Morgan needed to improve in some areas of his game, Carlyle said. We think theres more for Morgan to give. Morgans got to use his skating ability to play the game to a higher level. 5. Suspended Carter Ashtons NHL career was dealt a harsh blow Thursday. The 23-year-old, still searching for his first goal in the league, was suspended 20 games, without pay, for violating the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program. Ashton claims the detection came from an inhaler (not his own) he used during a pair of asthma attacks before the start of the regular season. Unfortunately, I incorrectly assumed that there were no problems associated with the use of this inhaler and I used it without checking to see whether its contents were permissible under the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program, Ashton said in a statement, recognizing Clenbuterol as the offending substance. However, at no time was I seeking to gain an athletic advantage or to knowingly violate the terms of the program. Ashton will forfeit $169,185 as a result of the suspension. Already on the fringes of the Leafs roster and just starting to play recently – he was a healthy scratch in the first nine games – this was not what Ashton needed, a mistake that could trouble his chances of getting back in the lineup. A lot can change in the more than six weeks hell miss and given his limited track record he is by no means guaranteed a spot when he becomes eligible to return on Dec. 20 when the Leafs host the Flyers. Stats-Pack 5 games – Point streak for Phil Kessel, who has three goals and 10 points in that span. 1-5-2 – Leafs record when failing to score first this season. 14-8 – Mark by which Toronto has been outscored in first periods this season. 2 – Points for Richard Panik on Thursday, his first multi-point effort as a Leaf. 31:07 – Ice-time for Dion Phaneuf against the Avalanche, his highest of the season. Special Teams Capsule PP: 1-2 Season: 20.4% PK: 3-3 Season: 83.7% Quote of the Night One of the most scary things that Ive been a part of and watched live. -Dion Phaneuf, on the Daniel Winnik incident. Up Next The Leafs return home to host the Rangers on Saturday. 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