Mike Johnston feels like he is back where he belongs. Thats not a comment on the suspension that banished the Portland Winterhawks general manager and coach from his Western Hockey League teams bench for most of the 2012-13 season. Its just a statement on who he is. "(Coaching) is in your blood when the pre-season starts until it finishes at the end of the year," he said. "Its just kind of that own ownership, being able to coach, being able to compete, and you miss that when youre away from it, for sure, and its a good feeling to be back." Heading into Saturdays home game against the Kamloops Blazers, he has guided the defending WHL champions to a 3-3-1 record. Johnston was suspended last November after a league investigation determined the Winterhawks provided improper, undisclosed benefits that included free flights for players and parents. The team, which was also fined $200,000 and lost several draft picks, and league disputed the allegations publicly but Johnston ultimately accepted his punishment. He didnt get mad. He got busy, even though he was prohibited from going into the teams office or having any contact with players. "I tried to focus on what I could do rather than what I couldnt do, and I could still evaluate older players or our team for the future, and I could evaluate players who were on our list and determine if they were ready to fit into our program or were a ways away," he said from Portland in a recent phone interview. "I couldnt watch our team, but I could watch the other Western league teams." Johnston watched games online and also ventured to numerous rinks to scout Winterhawk hopefuls playing at lower levels. He also attended major coaching clinics in Burnaby, B.C., where he was a speaker and attended sessions to get insight on his profession. "Any time youre not coaching, like summer hockey, I always try and see if theres some way I can improve and try and study what other teams are doing, what other coaches are doing, take a look at our team, the organization, to see if theres any way to get an edge, to improve in what youre doing from that perspective," he said. Johnston, a Dartmouth, N.S., native who is in his early 50s, has been trying to get an edge on the bench since he stopped playing university hockey and got into coaching while in his 20s. He joined the Winterhawks after serving in the NHL for almost a decade as an assistant coach with the Vancouver Canucks and Los Angeles Kings. He has also won several medals with Canadian junior and senior-age national teams and served as an assistant with Canadas 1998 Oympic team in Nagano. His resume includes Canadian college coaching experience with the Camrose Kodiaks, a tenure with the University of New Brunswick and a stint as an assistant at the University of Calgary, where he obtained a masters degree in coaching science. He also co-authored the book, "Simply The Best -- Insights and Strategies From Great Hockey Coaches." After joining the Winterhawks early in the 2008-09 season, he guided the team to the playoffs for the first time in four years and built them into the powerhouse that won the WHL title last season. Former assistant Travis Green filled in as head coach before taking a job as head coach of the Canucks new AHL affiliate in Utica, N.Y. Although he was exiled from the club, Johnston took considerable satisfaction from the accomplishment. "Every year, we were making strides, we were taking steps and then last year we were able to break through," he said. "I was extremely proud of the coaching staff, the players and the whole team on how we handled the steps that wed been through the last four to five years -- how they progressed, how they developed and how they finally pushed over that hurdle to win a WHL championship." Now Johnston is setting his sights on a possible repeat and another berth in the MasterCard Memorial Cup tournament with the bulk of the roster that prevailed last season. The Winterhawks lost seven players to graduation and promotion to the pro ranks. Defenceman Seth Jones, the fourth overall pick in this years NHL draft, has moved on to the Nashville Predators, while winger Ty Rattie, a St. Louis Blues prospect who placed third in the WHLs scoring race with 48 goals and 62 assists, is now playing for Chicago Wolves of the AHL. Defenceman Tyler Wotherspoon is also in the AHL, toiling for Calgarys affiliate in Abbotsford, B.C. Portland still has 15 holdovers from the championship club. Among the returnees are Brendan Leipsic, who had 49 goals and 120 points last season. "Its going to be challenging, its going to be difficult," Johnston said of the effort to repeat. "But it wasnt easy to do what we did the last couple years. There are a lot of good teams in the league. Its a well-coached league, a well-run league and every season there are five or six teams that are playing at a level where anybody could win it. "This year it looks like its even more wide open than that. But weve got a good nucleus back, weve got a good core group and I believe that well have a chance to play (for a title). Well be right there." And so will Johnston. He declined to discuss his suspension in detail, and a team spokesman noted the organization is moving on from it. Johnston also declined to indicate whether the Winterhawks have reviewed or changed their recruiting procedures in wake of the suspension. But the club is treading carefully now that Johnston has been reinstated. "Were making sure that everything we do is in conjunction with what is being allowed by the league," said Johnston. "So we are making sure that (with) any grey area, any questions we have, we are checking with the league office first to make sure were in accordance with exactly how everything should be done." That way, Johnston, a self-described career coach, can focus on guiding his charges without fear of sanctions and a hiatus that, despite his efforts to keep busy, still caused obvious discomfort. "This is what I do, what I love to do," he said. "It means a lot to be back coaching." Doug Williams Redskins Jersey. As for regular Olympic spectators, theyre being warned that most travel insurance policies wont cover acts of terrorism or war. The Games in southern Russia, which run from Feb. 7-23, are being staged amid unprecedented security and under global warnings of danger. 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Brignac hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Philadelphia Phillies to a 3-0 victory over the San Diego Padres on Wednesday night.NEW YORK -- Marin Cilic was barred from last years U.S. Open during a doping suspension he still says was unjust. Unable to compete, he watched the tournament on TV from his home in Croatia, while using the forced time away from the tour to improve under the tutelage of new coach Goran Ivanisevic. Now, 12 months later, look at Cilic. Seems completely unreal, he said, to be called Grand Slam champion. The 14th-seeded Cilic won his first major final Monday, beating 10th-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 at the U.S. Open by using 17 aces and the rebuilt game and confidence instilled by Ivanisevic. This is a second chance he got, Ivanisevic said, referring to Cilics four-month ban in 2013, and now he can just go forward and forward. Cilic earned a $3 million winners check and will rise to No. 9 from his pre-U.S. Open ranking of No. 16, which made him the first man from outside the top 10 to win a Grand Slam title in a decade. This, Cilic said, is (from) all the hard work in these last several years -- and especially this last year. He prevented Nishikori from becoming the first man from Asia to win a major singles championship. Tennis has not been our biggest sport in Japan, Nishikori said. Hopefully I can win next time. There hadnt been a matchup between players making their Grand Slam final debuts at the U.S. Open since 1997. Lopsided and lasting less than two hours, this hardly qualified as a classic. It had been 40 years since a U.S. Open mens runner-up failed to win at least four games in any set of the final. Both of us were pretty nervous in the first set, especially, Cilic acknowledged. Cilic won the last 10 sets he played in the tournament, including three against 17-time major champion Roger Federer in the semifinals, and three against 2010 Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych in the quarterfinals. Nishikori stunned No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the semifinals, so this was the first Grand Slam final since the 2005 Australian Open without Djokovic, Federer or Rafael Nadal, who won the U.S. Open in 2013 but is sidelined now by a wrist injury. That trio had won 34 of the past 38 major titles, but this was the second of this season that eluded them. Some, including Cilic, had seen Stan Wawrinkas victory at the Australian Open in January as an indication that the next tier -- Cilic calls them the guys from second line -- was about to get a crack at the hardware. Cilic tested positive for a stimulant at a tournament in Germany in May 20113.ddddddddddddThe International Tennis Federation initially sought a two-year punishment; Cilic wound up with a much shorter suspension on appeal. He said he ingested the substance unintentionally via a glucose tablet bought at a pharmacy and says the process that led to his penalty wouldnt be fair to any tennis player. But he looks on the bright side. I just used the positive parts, which, you know, made me tougher, Cilic said. Plus, it was last September that he connected with the only other man from Croatia to win a major, 2001 Wimbledon champion Ivanisevic. Any Croatian knows where he was at that time, said Cilic, who was 12 and at summer camp. Ivanisevic insisted the biggest change for Cilic is being more relaxed on court. He didnt learn how to play tennis in this year, Ivanisevic said. He always knew how to play tennis. The 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Cilic, who is 25, and the 5-10 (1.78-meter) Nishikori, 24, each works with a guy with a major championship: Michael Chang is one of Nishikoris two coaches. The Arthur Ashe Stadium artificial lights were on and the stands were mostly empty when the players walked out to the court at 5 p.m. -- which was 6 a.m. in Japan, but did not prevent folks there from gathering to watch on TV. There wasnt much to cheer for. Cilic won 19 of his last 20 service points in the opening set. The biggest problem for Nishikori, really, was there were not many extended groundstroke exchanges -- and when there were, he tended to lose them. He was off, whether because of the wind, the accumulated fatigue from a pair of four-hour-plus victories over No. 3 Wawrinka and No. 5 Milos Raonic, or perhaps knowing what was at stake for him, his country and his continent. Nishikori admitted feeling jitters early and getting a little bit lazy. Cilic wound up with twice as many winners, 38-19. I guess Kei didnt feel it today, said Dante Bottini, who helps Chang coach Nishikori. Nishikori only broke once, in the second set, and Cilic broke right back. In the third set, trailing 4-2, Nishikori had three other break points. But one was erased by an ace and on the others, Nishikori slapped second-serve returns into the net -- an escape Cilic termed lucky. Soon enough, Cilic was kissing his shiny silver trophy. Later, he cradled that cup as he walked into his news conference, which was interrupted by his constantly ringing phone. I feel, he said of his career-defining moment, its going to definitely change my life. cheap nfl jerseys? cheap jerseys?cheap jerseys?cheap jerseys cheap nfl jerseys wholesale jerseys ' ' '