n on Thursday afternoon. \'I knew I had to do something for my t

TORONTO, Ontario -- Hamilton Bulldogs defenceman Greg Pateryn was in the right place at the right time, and he made the Toronto Marlies pay for it. Joique Bell Jersey . Pateryn scored from the side of the net on a rebound of Jared Tinordis point shot at 3:53 of overtime, lifting the Bulldogs to a 2-1 victory over their provincial rivals in American Hockey League action on Thursday afternoon. "I knew I had to do something for my team," said Pateryn, who was whistled for a holding-the-stick penalty late in the third period. "I saw Louis (LeBlanc) on his forehand and Jared (Tinordi) ready with the one-timer and Louis threw it to Jared and he ripped it home, a perfect shot that came out to me. I didnt really think, I just put it in the net." The win snaps a five-game losing skid for the Bulldogs, who improve to 13-14-4. "Its one of those games where youre coming back from a three-day break and we werent playing that great before, a five-game losing streak," said Bulldogs coach Stephane Lefebvre. "So to get the win today, for us its a big win." The matinee affair was played in front of an announced crowd of 16,589 fans in the Marlies third annual Boxing Day game at Air Canada Centre, home of their NHL-parent club, the Toronto Maple Leafs. "I thought we controlled the game from start to finish," said Lefebvre, who watched his team outshoot the Marlies 40-18. "We turned the puck over a couple of times, especially in the second period which led to some scoring chances for them, but overall I thought we played a good game." Joonas Nattinen scored in regulation time for Hamilton, taking advantage of a second-period miscue by Marlies goalie Drew MacIntyre, while Bulldogs netminder Dustin Tokarski made 17 saves. "Its hard sometimes when youre not getting shots and then suddenly they have a power play and shots are coming from every direction," said Pateryn about Tokarski. "Hes been good all year and just continues to bail us out." Defenceman T.J. Brennan had the lone tally for Toronto, who fall to 16-9-3 but remain in first place in the North Division. MacIntyre, with 39 saves, was sharp despite misplaying the puck on Nattinens goal. "Hes a good goalie, he always puts up a good fight," Pateryn said. "We really peppered him today and he definitely stood on his head all game." The game was tied 0-0 after the first period and the Bulldogs led 1-0 through 40 minutes. After a failed clearing attempt by MacIntyre, Nattinen opened the scoring when he pounced on a loose puck in the slot and lifted it over the sprawling Marlies goaltender at 9:59 of the second period. Brennan tied the game with a power-play marker, his team-leading 13th goal of the season, when his slapshot from the point beat a screened Tokarski at 12:20 of the third period. "We failed to clear the puck twice and it came back to haunt us, but we stuck with it and we didnt panic," Lefebvre said. "We knew we had a good chance to win because we were controlling the play." Hamilton was 0-for-7 on the power play while Toronto went 1-for-5 with the man advantage. The Marlies and Bulldogs complete their home-and-home series with a game in Hamilton on Friday. "Today was a good win, tomorrow is another big game for us against the same team," Lefebvre said. "Its a good time to get on a streak. Well take it one day at a time. Glover Quin Jersey . Watch the game on TSN at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt. The new format unveiled for the 2014 playoffs was designed to force more geographical rivalries in the first few rounds. Sam Martin Jersey . The assistants greeted Aldridge with compliments and high fives. Stotts had only one word for his high-scoring forward: "Thanks." Aldridge had 25 points and 16 rebounds in his return after missing seven games with a lower back contusion, and the Trail Blazers beat the Atlanta Hawks 100-85 on Thursday night to end a three-game losing streak.This week, I flew out to Saint John, New Brunswick to speak at the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association mens soccer championships. There are eight teams from across the country contesting the nationals, with games taking place from Wednesday to Saturday. You can watch the action live by clicking this link. While I was in Saint John, I also had the chance to speak to coaches and volunteers from the Fundy Soccer Association. We often focus our attention on the top of the pyramid in Canadian soccer - professional teams in MLS or our mens and womens national teams. While many fans are keen to follow the stories at the highest level of the game, there are also some great stories to tell about the people who are the real lifeblood of the game in Canada - the volunteers who run grassroots clubs. The Fundy Soccer Association is a great example. Their organization is full of volunteer administrators, referees and coaches, all trying their hardest to give the kids in their community a great experience with the game of soccer. It isnt about developing professional or national team players for them (although doing so would be icing on the cake); it is about ensuring that every child that comes into their club falls in love with the game, has fun, and stays involved in soccer for the rest of their life. It is about teaching them life lessons through the game of soccer. They are implementing the principles of long-term player development (LTPD) at their club because they understand the reasoning and research behind it. It isnt always an easy sell - there are parents that reject small-sided games and age-appropriate competition because it "doesnt look like real soccer" - but they continue to preach the gospel of LTPD in the hopes that it will soon become the norm. What organizations like Fundy need more than anything, is support. There are two major areas where that support would make a major difference - the first being coach education. When a club is reliant upon volunteer coaches (the vast majority of non-profit grassroots clubs in Canada would not exist if not for volunteer coaches), attracting aand retaining coaches is paramount. Eric Ebron Jersey. . That is very difficult to do when the cost of training and certifying those coaches is taken into consideration. It is one thing to ask a parent or volunteer to give up their time for their club. It is quite another to then ask them to pay for the privilege. While many clubs across the country pick up the cost of coach education (which they offset through higher registration fees or hard-earned sponsorship money that needs to be generated year after year), many of them cannot. In those situations, the cost of coach education is passed on to the volunteer coach - making it even more difficult to attract and retain coaches. Ive said it before (and Im sure Ill be saying it again in the future) but our governing bodies need to find revenue sources that completely offset the cost of coach education. Making coach education free to volunteer coaches across the country removes a massive barrier to grassroots coach education, making it far easier for organizations like Fundy to develop coaches. The second area that requires support is curriculum. Volunteer coaches often find themselves rushing home from work, collecting their kids and dashing off to practice. They keep a bag of balls, their boots and assorted coaching equipment in their cars, because they are out on the field three or sometimes four nights a week. They simply dont have time to sit down on their computers after work to look for training ideas on the internet. Shouldnt it be easier than that? Shouldnt those volunteer coaches have a document that they can use, a blueprint for the development of young soccer players they can refer to when stretched for time? Of course they should. And thats where a national curriculum comes into play. That we dont have one is a problem that the CSA needs to rectify immediately. Work is being done on that right now, but until such time as we have our own national curriculum, volunteer coaches across the country will be left to fend for themselves. The Fundy Soccer Association and those like it that exist across the country deserve better than that. ' ' '