SAN FRANCISCO -- Frank Gore has never reached the post-season. Nike Air Max 90 Heren Wit . Same goes for Alex Smith and Patrick Willis. Vernon Davis, too. Some of San Franciscos biggest stars are on the cusp of getting there at last. A win Sunday against St. Louis -- or losses by Seattle and Arizona -- would wrap up the Niners first NFC West crown and playoff berth since 2002. Needless to say, this is one week when the word playoffs is not off limits as a talking point for coach Jim Harbaughs focused bunch. And in this case, it doesnt go against Harbaughs credo regarding looking too far ahead. "Absolutely, were talking about it," Smith said. "For anyone whos only been here, obviously this is new territory for us," the quarterback said. "Something weve talked about every year and now all of a sudden to have it in our hands and the chance to clinch, its great. No question, this is what you work so hard for. Weve put ourselves in a good situation and now we just need to go out on Sunday and finish it." Harbaugh is using it as motivation for the first-place Niners (9-2), who were eager to return to work after a 16-6 Thanksgiving night loss at Baltimore to Harbaughs big brother, John. "Its my seventh year here. To be in a position like this is great," Gore said. Beating the Rams will lock up the spot San Francisco has known it will have for weeks. The 49ers are playing for post-season positioning, too. If they stay on task over the seasons final month, San Francisco will secure a first-round bye. "Whenever you have the opportunity to close something out, youve got to do it as soon as possible," said centre Jonathan Goodwin, who won a ring with the Saints two years ago. "As long as theres still hope for other teams, they still have a chance. Its important to close things out right away. You never know what can happen in this league. As soon as you get the opportunity to finish something, you need to." Gore could be headed for a double dose of celebration Sunday. The two-time Pro Bowl running back has 7,323 career yards rushing and needs only 22 to pass the late Hall of Famer Joe Perry (7,344) for most in franchise history. Harbaugh is all for his players gearing up for the Rams (2-9) by thinking about their next step: playoffs in January. Only long-snapper Brian Jennings was part of the last 49ers post-season team in 2002. "Sure, not just allow it but encourage it. How do you know where youre going to get to if you dont know what the goal is or where you stand?" Harbaugh said. Before the season, St. Louis was widely considered a contender to win a division known as the NFC Worst last year -- when Seattle won at 7-9, the first division winner with a losing record. Quarterback Sam Bradford has taken his lumps. He has fumbled 10 times and lost a league-leading seven, five on sacks. "Ive never had a season like this before where things dont go your way so many weeks in a row," Bradford said. "But no matter what happens, especially with the quarterback position, you cant lose confidence. I still have all the confidence in the world in myself and my teammates. Every week when we install the game plan on Tuesday night and Im with (offensive co-ordinator) Josh (McDaniels), I look at it and Im like, Gosh weve got some good stuff and were going to tear it up this week." St. Louis will have two shots at playing spoiler against San Francisco: The teams place twice over the final five games, including in the season finale Jan. 1 at the Edward Jones Dome. Coach Steve Spagnuolo isnt about to go back and point to every single thing that has gone wrong for his Rams, from all the injuries to missed chances and mistakes. He would rather not see the 49ers win the division this week. Its that simple. No analysis needed at this stage. "Im not a crystal ball guy. I know we have a game against the 49ers this weekend. The rest of it Im not wrapping myself in," Spagnuolo said. "Were just trying to find a way to win a football game." The 49ers have had ample prep time for the Rams. Players had last weekend off after a quick turnaround from a win against Arizona on Nov. 20 to flying cross-country to face the Ravens four days later. Harbaugh would join George Seifert (1989) and Steve Mariucci (1997) as the only rookie head coaches in franchise history to win the NFC West in their first year. While many expected Harbaughs influence to revitalize the franchise, San Francisco has exceeded expectations. Spagnuolo knows Harbaugh has been the difference for a team that is unbeaten in its last nine home games against division opponents. "A lot of the personnels the same. I know I counted up a lot of guys, same guys we played in the second-to-the-last game of the season last year, and yet I think theyve been very, very productive," Spagnuolo said. "They find ways to control the football. Weve got a lot of respect for them." Aside from finally getting back to the playoffs, that 25-17 loss at St. Louis in Week 16 last year is still plenty fresh. It was after that defeat when the 49ers fired Mike Singletary. Defensive line coach Jim Tomsula took over as interim coach for the final game -- a win against the Seahawks -- and then Harbaugh came aboard in early January in a high-profile hiring from nearby Stanford. Smith, sacked nine times against the Ravens, didnt start that must-win game with the Rams last Dec. 26 as Singletary went with now-departed Troy Smith. Considering the roll these Niners are on, that all seems so long ago. Yet linebacker Parys Haralson can find some parallels when it comes to bouncing back. "You never want to lose but it also makes you tighten out on things you probably got lazy on, or see some things," he said. "Any time after a loss you dont like that feeling, so youre eager to go into the next week and try to improve and try to get a win. Thats what I think this team will do." Nike Air Max 90 Dames Wit . Kansas centre Joel Embiid worked out Wednesday for the Cavs, who are trying to decide what to do with the No. Nike Air Max 90 Bloemen .C. - Jaedon Descheneau scored a hat trick as the Kootenay Ice beat the Medicine Hat Tigers 7-4 to take a 3-1 lead in their Western Hockey League playoff series Thursday. LAPEENRANTA, Finland -- Canada will have to play for bronze at the world under-18 hockey championship. David Kase scored at 6:17 of overtime to give the Czech Republic a 4-3 semifinal win over Canada on Saturday. Kase converted a turnover in the Canadian zone to move the Czechs into the tournament final against the United States on Sunday. The Americans advanced with a 4-1 semifinal victory over Sweden. Canada, the defending champion who erased an early 3-0 deficit, will play the Swedes for the bronze medal on Sunday. "Its not easy," Canadian head coach Kevin Dineen said. "You just dont walk by this, you feel the sting of it and understand its going to be a tough game for both teams. "But it has to be something that we understand about playing for your country. Theres opportunity to finish strong and weve got to come out and show some respect for our country by playing extremely hard." The Czechs dominated overtime, outshooting Canada 5-1 in the extra frame and forcing goalie Mason McDonald to come up big. But the Canadians had a glorious chance to earn the victory when they went on the power play after David Pastrnak was called for hooking Travis Konecny at 2:07, but couldnt come up with the winner. Dineen said that was indeed a lost opportunity for his squad. "Absolutely," he said. "They were able to clear two pucks out and unfortunately for us we didnt have a net presence there. "We had some real skill and some ability to shoot it but nobody standing in front of the net, which was a real issue for us. We needed to capitalize there and I think when you get one of those in overtime you like to think that youve got a real advantage and unfortunately we couldnt get the thing to go in. Nike Air Max 90 Wit Dames. " The Canadians forced overtime with third-period goals by Joe Hicketts and Daniel Audette and Dineen said the effort his team had to expend to erase its early deficit came back to haunt it later on. "Yeah, it did," said Dineen, who led Canadas national womens team to Olympic gold in Sochi, Russia. "These players are used to logging a lot of icetime with their respective junior teams but I dont think theyre used to logging such hard minutes like they had to tonight. "That certainly played into it, fatigue at the end." Jiri Smejkal, Jakub Vrana and Michael Spacek scored in regulation for the Czech Republic, which outshot the Canadians 33-30. Mathew Barzal also scored for Canada. The Czechs wasted no time opening the scoring, with Spaceks goal coming just 1:15 into the contest. Vrana made it 2-0 at 7:37 of the second before Smejkal converted on a two-on-one break at 12:57. Barzal cut Canadas deficit to 3-1 with a power-play goal at 14:51. The Canadians came close moments after, with Ryan Gropp having a great scoring chance off a two-on-one, but couldnt beat Czech goalie Vtek Vanecek. Queeneville also had a glorious opportunity to make it a one-goal game with just over two minutes remaining. Hicketts pulled Canada to within 3-2 when his wrist shot from the point beat a screened Vanecek at 5:02 of the third before Audette scored off a goal-mouth scramble in front of Vanecek at 12:21. Cheap JerseysWholesale Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys China Wholesale Jerseys ' ' '
