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CALGARY - Sam Edney was the calm eye of the storm in becoming the first Canadian man to win World Cup gold in luge.He led after Saturdays first heat, which was nullified by race officials because of track conditions.With Canadian team officials agitated at the finishing dock below, Edney put on the helmet designed especially for him and the race.He laid down an even faster time in the second heat to win on his home track at Canada Olympic Park.The helmet depicting a snarling bear and raking claws had been presented to him a day earlier by 19-year-old artist Richard Flamenco, who has a rare incurable skin disease that causes painful blisters on fragile skin.Flamenco stood with Edney at the finish line. Together, they watched as the remaining sliders fell short of Edneys time of 46.146 seconds.There was a sense of calmness today with this helmet, Edney said. Its hard to explain, but as soon as I put that helmet on, it felt like I had all this confidence and all this strength and I felt like I could put down two really good runs.It was both Edneys first victory and World Cup medal of the Calgarians career. The three-time Olympians previous best result was fifth.World Cup leader Felix Locht of Germany, who was fourth in the first cancelled run, finished second in 46.255. American Chris Mazdzer was third in 46.263.Edneys victory gave the host country four medals in the Viessman Luge World Cup Calgary across the three disciplines of mens and womens singles and mens doubles.Calgarys Alex Gough and Arianne Jones took silver and bronze in womens singles the previous evening. The doubles team of Tristan Walker of Cochrane, Alta., and Justin Snith of Calgary also earned bronze Friday.The Federation Internationale de Luge (FIL) introduced new sprint races this season in mens and womens singles and doubles. The clock starts lower down the track and the fastest to the finish wins.The worlds governing body of the sport is testing the event, but is awarding World Cup points in it. The second sprint was held in Calgary with Gough winning the womens race Saturday. Edney was third in the mens sprint.Gough made history in 2011 when she became the first Canadian to win gold at COP. Prior to that, the only Canadian medal there was Tyler Seitzs bronze in 2002.So in addition to Edney making history in mens singles, it was the most successful World Cup ever for a Canadian luge team.The performance lifted the cloud of Sochi hanging over the Canadians. They just missed winning the countrys first Olympic medal in luge three times with fourth-place finishes.The Olympics was a tough thing for us, Edney acknowledged. We knew we went in there the best weve ever been and I think we really wanted to prove to Canada that we are up there to compete with the best and we carried that through the summer.There were tough days out there, going to the gym and telling yourself youre wanting to continue to push to be the best. I think all that hard work weve put in over the years is finally paying off.The plan was to auction the helmet off on www.Helmets4Heroes.com with the proceeds going to the Alberta Childrens Hospital. Edney might have a hard time giving up his lucky head protection now.To see my helmet on Sam and going down this luge was a miracle, Flamenco said. I was just so happy to see my helmet on a big screen. Canadian head coach Wolfgang Staudinger thought Edneys mental resiliency Saturday stemmed from Olympic experience.That comes back to the Olympic hangover, Staudinger said. The way I look at it, we went through so much disappointment in Sochi by missing out by very little. I think this hardens you mentally.I think thats where this comes from, that he knows he has to do a job first before he starts celebrating and he did the job and he ended up where he ended up now. A great day.Rain changed to snow during the mens first run. No country protested the results of the first heat but race director Steve Jepson of Canada and three technical delegates made the decision to nullify the first heat.We had to annul the first run due to weather conditions and track conditions, said FILs sport director Marie-Louisa Rainer. We were in the middle of the race and it began to snow. We had weather changing all over the place, one snow, one rain and it was definitely not fair to the sport, to the athletes.Edney may have been calm about the alteration. Staudinger, Luge Canada executive director Tim Farstad and Seitz, now manager of the Calgary track, were stressed out after the cancelled first run.Staudinger had only 10 minutes after the final racer to launch a protest, but he was at the top of the track working on sleds at that time. Edneys victory dispelled the building tension.Between the runs it was a lot of confusion and disbelief and not understanding why we came up with the decision of cancelling the first run, Staudinger said. Now Im happy.Calgarians Mitchel Malyk was ninth and John Fennell 19th.Canada was shut out of the medals in the first two World Cups this season, which Edney and Gough didnt race. Gough was focused on her engineering studies and Edney was managing a nagging sports hernia.Both will travel with the luge team Dec. 26 to Europe for the next World Cup race in Koenigssee, Germany.Canadas luge team once took a back seat to the more successful sliding sports of bobsleigh and skeleton, but has a evolved into an international contender in a sport dominated by Germany.I was part of the team in those dark days when we werent travelling with a physio and had one coach and were sleeping in vans, Edney said.We made the right decisions over the years. Weve put in the hard work and this team has got a really good thing going for it. Brandon Roy Blazers Jersey . Four years after winning gold on home ice in Vancouver, the Canadians will get a chance to make it two in a row Sunday against Sweden after beating the United States 1-0 in the Olympic semifinals Friday at Bolshoy Ice Dome. Clyde Drexler Blazers Jersey .com) - Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer were among the third-round winners Friday at the French Open. http://www.blazersteamofficial.com/Anfernee-Simons-Blazers-Jersey/ . A better question yet may be this: How many times has the same player been involved in both? Morneau hit a two-run homer in the 10th inning and helped the Colorado Rockies turn the third triple play in team history as they beat the San Diego Padres 8-6 on Sunday. Terry Porter Jersey . Jonathan Crompton led the team to a 40-9 win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Crompton threw three touchdown passes - two to Duron Carter and one to Brandon London - and Sean Whyte connected on four field goals to power the Alouettes to the win. Terry Porter Blazers Jersey . -- C.J. Cron hit an RBI single on the first pitch he saw in the major leagues, doubled his second time up and hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the sixth inning to lead the Los Angeles Angels to a 5-3 victory over the Texas Rangers on Saturday night.HOMESTEAD, Fla. - NASCAR chairman Brian France said Friday no disciplinary action will be taken against Kurt Busch while police in Delaware investigate a claim of domestic assault made by the drivers former girlfriend.Patricia Driscoll has filed court documents asking a judge to order Busch to stay away from her and not contact her, and she claims Busch verbally and physically abused her, smashing her head against a wall three times. The allegations involve an incident inside his motorhome at a race at Dover International Speedway in September a week after the couple broke up.Busch has not been charged and has continued to drive for Stewart-Haas Racing. He qualified second for Sundays season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Busch did not take questions Friday night about the assault claim.We are watching that case carefully, France said. Its under review by law enforcement and others, and they have not made a decision on that regarding Kurt. So until they make some judgments on that investigation, it wouldnt be right of us to just intervene before theyve even gotten the investigation completed. So thats our position. Well respect their process. Its in their hands.Stewart-Haas executive vice-president Joe Custer said the team was also awaiting word from the authorities.We have spoken to Kurt in depth regarding this matter and he has vehemently denied that it happened and assures us there is no truth to it whatsoever, Custer said. At this point in time we are taking Kurt at his word and his status with the team is unchanged.France said he was sensitive to the focus on domestic violence in a year in which the NFL in pparticular has been under scrutiny for its handling of cases involving former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice and other players.dddddddddddd The NFL has toughened its policy on domestic violence, requiring a six-game suspension without pay for a first offence.U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier of California sent a letter to NASCAR President Mike Helton and Stewart-Haas asking for Buschs suspension. She also called for a NASCAR policy of suspending drivers accused of domestic violence until criminal proceedings end or there is a clear lack of evidence.Your response to these serious allegations has been totally inadequate, Speier wrote.France said there are no changes planned to NASCARs domestic dispute policy.If charges are filed, that will change our equation, and we will look at that, France said. We realize the heightened awareness of this important topic, and our policies will reflect that as we go down. Theyll reflect how serious it is.Speier also took aim at the handling of driver Travis Kvapils arrest last year. Kvapil continued to race after he was arrested on charges of misdemeanour assault and false imprisonment against his wife.Unfortunately, NASCAR was equally passive in handling Kvapils arrest, she wrote.NASCAR did not take disciplinary action against Tony Stewart while a grand jury considered and ultimately decided against charges for the Aug. 9 accident that killed sprint car driver Kevin Ward Jr.We dont think, for an event that wasnt even ours, that we would somehow come out and extract punishment from him, for something that authorities investigated very carefully, by the way, France said. ' ' '