LOS ANGELES – It’s been less than a week since Randy Carlyle was fired, but it’s evident already that Peter Horachek is doing things quite a bit differently from his predecessor. Communication. System. Deployment of personnel. Horachek has quickly engineered a few tweaks to the way the Maple Leafs are run, those changes a contrast to the manner in which things were done for nearly three seasons under Carlyle. “The guys are responding pretty well,” Horachek said after practice in El Segundo, California, about 20 minutes from where the Leafs will meet the Kings at the Staples Center on Monday night. “We’ve been positive and they’re in a good frame of mind right now.” The shift in communication between players and the head coach is stark. Carlyle ran the ship his way. Horachek, conversely, is looking to achieve much more of a two-way street. He’s not simply dictating to the group, but requesting their feedback and opinion. “I encourage them to voice their opinion and open up because most of the players were kind of quiet and they weren’t talking a lot [previously.] And I wanted to encourage them to speak and to be heard,” Horachek said. He’s also decided to have weekly meetings with Toronto’s leadership group, a collective that includes Dion Phaneuf, the three to four designated alternate captains and Jonathan Bernier. The plan is to address the events of the previous week, look ahead to the seven days that follow and even address the schedule and what time, for instance, to hold practice on the road. The idea behind the meetings is to institute ownership and make the players feel like they’re part of the decision-making process. Horachek remembers doing the same thing with Barry Trotz in Nashville and then again in Florida last season when he served as the teams interim head coach for 66 games. “I think he wants us to be involved and take charge,” Bernier said. Beyond the push for better communication are structural changes that actually affect events on the ice. Tyler Bozak observed that Horachek was pushing for more “puck possession” and the earliest results speak to that. Amongst the worst puck-possessing teams in the league under Carlyle, Toronto won possession fights with Washington and Columbus, holding both under the 30-shot plateau. The Blue Jackets, in fact, were limited to just 20 shots, rarely finding threatening positions to beat Bernier. The sample size of six periods isn’t much to go on, but given how frequently the Leafs leaned upon Bernier under Carlyle’s direction, how little they possessed the puck and how much they broke defensively, the two games are obviously an encouraging start. “I think we’re doing a lot more of the little things,” Phil Kessel said. “We’re playing [a] better two-way game, we’re not giving up as many shots and as many chances and when you do that, you’re going to win a lot of games.” Horachek wouldn’t deny his hurried attempts to change the product, pushing for less “cheating” toward offence and more structure in positioning in all three zones. Hes talked often already about a 5-5-5 approach, all five guys working cohesively together. Structure was evident in a thorough 5-2 win over the Blue Jackets, just the third victory in 11 games for the Leafs. “No, it’s different,” he said of systemic adjustments. “There’s some differences and there’s a difference in how we approach it and a difference in positioning. We want to keep focused on doing it together. It doesn’t matter what system you do, you can do any system you want, [but] if you don’t do it together it won’t work. If you do it together, it can work.” One adjustment has seen the Leafs alter their approach to defensive zone exits, an acknowledged aid in limiting opponents to fewer than 30 shots in four of the past five games. “We’re bumping pucks to the middle more than rimming it around the wall and it’s letting us get out of our zone cleaner,” Bozak said. Cleaner exits means less time spent hemmed in the defensive zone. Bernier, meanwhile, observed a push to have a tighter presence around the net. He noted how the wingers were playing lower in the defensive zone, not jumping out as far at opposing defenceman. “They want them to be really tight to the net, so I think it helps us to break the puck out easier,” he said. Systems aside, Carlyle never could achieve the necessary defensive commitment of the group. That was especially true of Kessel and some of the team’s top offensive weaponry, who sacrificed defence in the name of offence. Horachek dismissed the idea that those players were incapable of playing to a tighter brand. “Every guy in the world’s capable of doing that,” he said. “It’s all about how much you want to do that. We’re trying to pull everybody into the circle and everybody wants to be in the circle.” The chessboard has also been rearranged under his leadership. He’s replaced James van Riemsdyk with a safer element in Daniel Winnik on the team’s top line, keeping apart a threesome (Kessel and Tyler Bozak being the other two components) that was snowed under for most of the season. Richard Panik, who struck offensively in limited minutes, was pushed up from the fourth line and onto a unit with Nazem Kadri and James van Riemsdyk. And mostly sheltered under Carlyle’s direction, Morgan Rielly has seen his opportunity climb higher. The 20-year-old played a career-high of nearly 24 minutes in Horacheks debut, leading the team in even-strength ice-time versus Columbus. Change, simply put, has come quick with different leadership. And that was an expressed purpose of firing Carlyle. Brendan Shanahan said he wanted to get a look at the roster under a different coach and see if the results changed. Those results are still yet to be determined. The change? Well, that’s come quickly enough. “I think he’s been great for our group so far,” Kessel said of Horachek. “Obviously I think there’s a different feel. There’s obviously always a different feel when there’s a coaching change.” Cheap Chargers Jerseys . No surprise there. Kershaw, who also earned the title after throwing his first career no-hitter in June, had a 1. Philip Rivers Jersey . -- Jim Furyk was 10 shots worse and right where he wanted to be Saturday in the BMW Championship. http://www.cheapchargersjerseysauthentic.com/?tag=authentic-lance-alworth-jersey .com) - Guard Greivis Vasquez and forward Patrick Patterson, two key pieces to the Toronto Raptors run to an Atlantic Division title in 2013-14, were both given qualifying offers by the team on Saturday. Antonio Gates Jersey . Louis Cardinals pitcher Jaime Garcia will have surgery on his left shoulder this week and is expected to miss the rest of the season. Wholesale Chargers Jerseys China .com) - The Carolina Hurricanes hope to remain perfect at home in January on Friday night as they welcome the Vancouver Canucks to PNC Arena. OTTAWA -- The Ottawa Gee-Gees were the only team in Canada to beat Carleton this season. The Ravens werent about to let it happen again. Carleton picked up its fourth straight national mens basketball title, and 10th in the last 12 years, with a 79-67 victory over its crosstown rival on Sunday. "Ottawa is a good team, you have to give them credit," said Carletons Tyson Hinz, who was named the tournaments most valuable player. "Thats by far the best team Ive played in my five years here." The Gee-Gees upset the Ravens last week in the Ontario University Association final. That just riled up the most successful CIS basketball team of the last 12 years. "It was pretty easy to get motivated after a loss," said Hinz, who led all scorers with 30 points. "Im so happy for the guys. Im happy we got the win." In addition to Hinz, the Ravens had solid contributions from Thomas and Philip Scrubb who had 20 and 16 points respectively. "The fact that they beat us was really motivating," said Philip Scrubb. "We just tried to focus on our team and what we had to do to win." Ravens head coach Dave Smart has been at the helm for all ten championships and has created one of Canadas greatest basketball legacies. "Every year its a different group of guys," said Smart. "These guys are special kids. Its been a long year. You guys see the wins and losses, but theres been a lot of ups and downs." Smart is known as a brilliant coach and many wonder how long before he chooses to expand his horizons, but the Ravens coach says hes happy where he is. "Even if someone offered me ridiculous money it would be a family decision," said Smart. "I know I would go into a situation coaching wise and program wise that would be worse. I have a great situation here and you have to look at it professionally, but you also have to look at your family. The point of me saying that was I aint leaving." The win was the Ravens fourth consecutive championship, but it didnt come easily. The Ottawa Gee-Gees came into the tournament as the No. 1 seed and advanced to the final for the first time in program history. The final score was hardly indicative of the battle that was fought all afternoon. The Ravens led by two, 16-14, after the first quarter, but the early half of the second belonged to the Gee-Gees as they pulled away with a six-point lead. The Ravens regained control on the back of Hinz, who had 13 points in the firrst half.dddddddddddd The Ravens again led by two at the half, 37-35, but as so often has been the case this season the third quarter was where Carleton was at its best, jumping out to a 58-49 lead. "It was a tough third quarter for us," said Ottawa head coach James Derouin. "Carleton is sort of known for their quarter and coming out of halftime. We made a couple shots early in the quarter and I thought we had sort of sustained it, but the O-glass ended up killing us in the end. I think 29 second chance points and you just cant give a team this good that many second chance opportunities." The Gee-Gees made a valiant effort through the fourth, but the Ravens experience came through and they made the most of their opportunities at the free throw line. Carleton was 21-for-25 from the free throw line, while Ottawa was 8-for-11 which left the Gee-Gees coaching staff questioning a number of calls. Despite the loss, the Gee-Gees say they will look to grow from this experience and will use it as motivation for next season. "I just told them how proud I am of them," said Derouin. "They should be proud of the season they had. Our goal is to be back here next year. We were bronze last year, silver this year and hopefully that leads to a gold medal next year." Fourth-year forward Johnny Berhanemeskel led the Gee-Gees with 19 points. In the bronze medal game the University of Alberta Golden Bears defeated the No. 4 Victoria Vikes 61-53 Sunday morning. It was a quick turnaround for the Canada West rivals, who both lost in Saturday nights semifinals and also lost an hour of sleep thanks to daylight savings time. "I dont think either team was excited about playing with the time change in the bronze medal game," said Golden Bears head coach Barnaby Craddock, whose troops defeated Victoria 82-77 in the conference final last weekend. Alberta took control early on jumping out to a 25-4 lead after the first quarter. Victorias offence rebounded in the second quarter as they outscored Alberta 17-15, but it wasnt enough as Alberta led 40-21 at the half. The Vikes outscored the Golden Bears for the entire second half, but were unable to erase the advantage Alberta built up in the early going. Golden Bears star graduating forward Jordan Baker led his team with 16 points and eight assists in his final CIS game. Victorias fifth-year guard Terrell Evans finished his career leading the Vikes with a game-high 16 rebounds and 18 points. 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