SAINT JOHN, N. Giovani Bernard Bengals Jersey .B. -- The skips voice rasped and there was fatigue in her face. Rachel Homan and her Ottawa Curling Club team were ready to put their feet up for an evening and a morning at the Ford World Womens Curling Championship after three straight wins, one of them a white-knuckler. "Oh my god, so ready. I cant wait to not curl for 24 hours," Homan said Wednesday. "I feel like its midnight, so it will be nice to get a break." The Canadians arrived at a break in the schedule tied atop the standings with Switzerlands Binia Feltscher at 8-1. The Canadians reverted to their custom of both taking the lead and finishing a game early in a 10-3 win over South Koreas Ji-sun Kim, who shook hands after eight ends. But Canada went the distance in the morning draw. They stole three points over the final two ends to rescue a 7-5 win over Germanys Imogen Oona Lehmann. That was the first time Homan threw her final stone at the world championship and just the second time Canada played a 10th end in Saint John. Theyd beaten Scotland the previous evening and were back on the Harbour Station ice in the morning. "It was a long haul, three games in a row on not much sleep and a big grind this morning against Germany," Homan said. Homan, third Emma Miskew, second Alison Kreviazuk and lead Lisa Weagle headed to dinner with family members feeling confident about their position. Canada concludes the round robin Thursday against China and Sweden. "Two great teams," Miskew said. Swedens Margaretha Sigfridsson and Russias Anna Sidorova were both 7-2 followed by Chinas Liu Sijia and South Korea tied at 6-3 and Allison Pottinger of the U.S. at 5-4. Scotlands Kerry Barr and Anna Kubeskova of the Czech Republic were 2-7 with Germany, Latvias Evita Regza and Denmarks Madeleine Dupont at 1-8. The top four teams in the preliminary round advance to the Page playoff. Ties for fourth will be solved by tie-breaker games. The countries with the two best records meet in one playoff game Friday with the winner advancing directly to Sundays gold-medal game. The loser drops to Saturday afternoons semifinal to meet the winner of a morning playoff between the third and fourth seeds. "We have our fate in our own hands," Homan said. "Weve got to win out and see what happens with everybody else." The Canadians, all 28 years old or younger, couldnt hide their pleasure at the prospect of sleeping in Thursday morning. They intended to stop in at the tournament party room before bed Wednesday "because theres a band there Signal Hill that we like," Miskew said. "Theyve come to Ottawa and we usually go and watch them in Ottawa." Canada scored three points in the fourth and stole three in the eighth versus South Korea. Pyeongchang, South Korea, is the host city of the 2018 Winter Olympics. Kim is among the countrys female curlers getting fast-tracked to compete. The 26-year-old skipped South Korea to fourth at the 2012 world championship in Lethbridge, Alta. She beat Canadas Heather Nedohin in a playoff game, but lost the semifinal and lost the bronze-medal rematch to Nedohin. Kim threw third stones against Homan with Un-chi Gim, her lead in Lethbridge, throwing fourth stones. With the score tied 2-2, the South Koreans played conservatively in the fourth end by putting up guards early on a counter on the button. But Miskews well-executed draw around a guard forced them to chase. South Koreas poorly-placed draws opened the door for Canada to plant more counters around the button. Homan had an easy tap for three points and a 5-2 lead in front of 1,726 at Harbour Station. "Not good," Kim said. "We were a little nervous." Canada recovered from errors against Germany to grind out a win. The Germans led 5-4 heading into the ninth, when Homan and Lehmann shifted momentum back and forth with misses. Lehmann overthrew an attempted double takeout with hammer to leave Canada shot rock for a steal of one. Miskew put guards in front of a Kreviazuk draw to the button in 10th and German third Corinna Scholz missed an attempted hit and roll behind cover. Homan struggled with draws in the earlier ends, but she had it solved by the 10th as she drew in to stack two Canadian counters on the button. Lehmann cleared just one and Homan buried a draw behind a guard to lie two again. The German skips attempt to follow her didnt curl enough. "Youve got to be confident and believe you can steal because theres no other way, theres no other option," Homan said. "It was just tough out there. We werent quite reading things right. There were a lot of uncharacteristic misses. We just tried to figure out our rocks and our lines. We just had to keep playing a little bit better each end and hope for a few lucky breaks and we made it out in the end."A.J. Green . 1 and No. 2 in womens golf at the World Ladies Championship. Park closed with a 6-under 67 for a five-shot victory over Suzann Pettersen in a Ladies European Tour event. Wallace Gilberry Bengals Jersey .53 ERA in those games. On Tuesday night, he pitched seven solid innings and finally got his first victory as the Royals beat the Houston Astros 4-2. "Im just really proud for him because that was like his fifth time hes gone for his first win and hes had an opportunity to win ballgames two or three times and we couldnt hold it for him," Royals manager Ned Yost said. VANCOUVER -- His hands are huge, not surprising for someone with an enormous body who plays a violent game. On the field B.C. Lions defensive tackle Khalif Mitchell uses those hands to help make body-bruising tackles or throw a quarterback to the ground. Away from the game, those same hands help the six-foot-five, 309-pound Mitchell relax by playing the piano. The large fingers that grab like a steel trap can lightly touch the keys, producing soothing music. "I think what it really does is allow myself to go out and express myself," Mitchell, a CFL West Division all-star, said Friday after the Lions practised at BC Place Stadium. "You can only play football and be violent for so long. "(Piano) is another tool that sedates any anger, any emotional problems, any problems I have spiritually. Its a blessed gift I have in my life, man, and Im thankful to have it." No one taught Mitchell how to play the piano. He never took a lesson. He started while playing football at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C. "I was frustrated with a lot of things in life," said the 26-year-old from Virginia Beach, Va. "I didnt play my last six games in college. I didnt have the best relationship with (coach) Skip Holtz and company. I was going through a lot of things about how the NFL works, and life works, and how everybody elses opinion can mean so much on your life." Mitchell didnt get into specifics but it wasnt a good time in his life. He discovered a piano in the lobby of his dorm and began teaching himself to play. "The piano was somebody who accepted me and was somebody who took me for what I was," he said. "All the stigma that was around me didnt mean anything when I played the piano." Mitchells favourite music is classical. He enjoys playing Beethoven and Chopin. "I stir in a little hip-hop tempo," Mitchell said with a grin. He doesnt own a piano but a couple of local hotels allow him to play in their lobby. The sight of a huge, bearded man hunched over the keyboards has raised a few eyebrows from travellers. "When they find out I play football they are really blown away," Mitchell laughed. On a trip to Regina to play the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Mitchell passed time on the piano in the team hotel. A chef liked his music so much he prepared Mitchell a special meal. B.C. linebacker Anton McKenzie has heard Mitchell play and said hes quite good. Wally Buono, the Lions coach and general manager, said people shouldnt be surprised Mitchell finds relief in music. "We forget sometiimes that players are people," said Buono, who has spent 22 years coaching in the CFL. Giovani Bernard. . "They are not numbers. "Its too easy to look at a player and make him an object. They are human beings. Once they take those uniforms off they have the same emotions everybody else does. They go through the same ups and downs." Mitchell started 13 games for the Lions this season and had six quarterback sacks. He was part of a B.C. defence that allowed a CFL-low 385 points this season and was second in sacks with 54. Mitchell joined B.C. in September 2010 after being released by the NFLs San Francisco 49ers. When Mitchell first arrived he weight 330 pounds. During the winter he lost 21 pounds, which he believes made him more effective this year. "It made a lot of difference as far as how fast I could play, how long I could play," said Mitchell. "What it really did was show my dedication and determination to my team. "It showed my teammates that I was serious about this year." Buono said Mitchell has well adapted to the CFL. "He understands the game better," he said. "He understands his role better. "The other big thing I think is hes in better shape. His weight is not as much an issue. Hes in better football shape and can carry that weight and be productive with it." After a horrible 0-5 start B.C. finished first in the West with an 11-7 record. The Lions will play the winner of Sundays game between the Edmonton Eskimos and the Calgary Stampeders in next weeks West Final at BC Place. The Grey Cup will be Nov. 27 in Vancouver. The Lions had most of this week off. Quarterback Travis Lulay said the rest helped heal a deep thigh bruise he suffered in B.C.s 43-1 whipping of the Montreal Alouettes in the final regular season game "It felt great today," said Lulay, who didnt show any affects during practice. "It will be great by game time." Most players said they didnt care who they face next week. The Lions had a 3-1 record against Edmonton and was 2-1 against Calgary. "I dont have a preference," said Lulay. "Its going to be a tough test regardless. "They are both teams we have had success against. The focus is on us and what we have to do to win the game." Buono said his coaching staff has already started working on a game plan to reach the Grey Cup. "You know you are going to play one of the two teams," he said. "You start developing your file on them. "When (Sundays) game is over you get down to specifics." ' ' '
