on ticketholders. They finally emerged with

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The Chicago Bears cleaned house Monday morning, firing both head coach Marc Trestman and general manager Phil Emery. The team confirmed the firings via their Twitter account. Trestmans pink slip comes after a tumultuous second season with the Bears, which included benching quarterback Jay Cutler and the distraction of negative media-leaked comments by offensive coordinator Aaron Kromer. The team finished the 2014 season at 5-11, the franchises worst record since 2004. The former Montreal Alouettes head coach led the Bears to an 8-8 record in his first season, including a Week 17 loss to the Green Bay Packers that eliminated the team from playoff contention. The Bears have not made the playoffs since 2010. This was Emerys third season as general manager of the Bears. . The Canadians led for much of the game before Argentina forced overtime in the dying seconds of the fourth quarter. Canada weathered the storm after squandering a lead with a series of made shots. "Its a fantastic win for our country with 11 first-time Canadian national team members," said head coach Roy Rana. . The league announced Thursday that Tom Higgins is leaving that post effective immediately. http://www.coltsofficialstore.us/authen ... ts-jersey/. The team announced the defensive coordinator will not be offered a contract extension. . -- Kole Calhoun homered and drove in three runs, Albert Pujols also went deep and the Los Angeles Angels beat the Chicago White Sox 8-4 Friday night. . He had spent 16 days on the disabled list before being activated Thursday. He was batting just .203 when he came to bat in the 11th inning on Sunday.CHICAGO -- The Chicago Blackhawks and Los Angeles Kings have taken similar paths toward the top, hitting big in the draft and making shrewd moves after rough stretches. They find themselves trying to knock each other out in the Western Conference finals for the second straight year. The Blackhawks prevailed last year on their way to the Stanley Cup, and they have the early lead this time after taking the opener, 3-1. They will try to go up 2-0 when the best-of-seven series resumes Wednesday night in Chicago. "We felt this year were in the toughest division and conference," coach Joel Quenneville said. "We just played two real competitive series (against St. Louis and Minnesota). Every game is tight. I think finding a way to win is what its all about in todays game. Our guys are really diligent of doing the little things particularly that some nights give you an edge." Yes, the Blackhawks keep finding ways. Its why theyre eyeing their third championship in five years and are trying to become the first team to repeat since the Detroit Red Wings in 1997 and 1998. In an era with a hard salary cap where players want raises, thats simply not supposed to happen. Parity is the rule, yet the Blackhawks keep rising toward the top. The same goes for the Kings. Theyre enjoying their most successful era with three straight trips to the conference finals and a Stanley Cup two years ago after following a similar path to the Blackhawks. The Kings missed the playoffs from 2003 to 2009 and lost in the first round in 2010 and 2011 before winning their first championship in 2012. Like the Blackhawks did with Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, they hit in the draft with Anze Kopitar. They also collected a strong cast to support their core and filled in the gaps with key trades, like the one that landed Marian Gaborik from Columbus in March. "You have to be able to adjust to the game, adjust to the rules, adjust to the style," Kings coach Darryl Sutter said. "I think thats a big reason why were both in the confference finals again.dddddddddddd Whether we can adjust enough to beat the Stanley Cup champions, I dont know." The Blackhawks missed the playoffs from 2003 to 2008 and landed at rock bottom, with dwindling attendance and an alienated fan base unable to watch home games on TV because then-owner Bill Wirtz believed it would be unfair to season ticketholders. They finally emerged with a run to the conference finals in 2009, losing to Detroit. A year later, they beat Philadelphia to end a 49-year championship drought, only to have to part ways with a huge chunk of their team because of cap issues. So they reloaded. "I think management did excellent job with the team," Chicagos Marian Hossa said. "We got a great coaching staff. I think the whole organization, its top class. ... (Los Angeles) is a great organization also. They did an excellent job the last few years. They did it three times in a row. Its just amazing these two teams battling for the West again." The Kings had a few adjustments to make after losing 3-1 in Game 1. Their top line of Kopitar, Dustin Brown and Gaborik got shut down by Toews line, managing just six shots without scoring. Los Angeles will need more from a trio with 16 goals and 24 assists in the playoffs. Even when the Kings had their chances, Corey Crawford stopped most of them. He made 25 saves with several neat stops, turning back Kyle Clifford on a 2-on-1 rush and stopping Gaborik and Brown in rapid succession. So its the Blackhawks with the early lead in the series and the Kings trying to pick themselves up -- again. They did it after dropping the first three games to San Jose in the first round and then rallied from 3-2 down to knock out Anaheim in the conference semifinals. "San Jose and Anaheim had arguably the top two, three, four best home records this year. We went into those tough buildings and won," Jarrett Stoll said. "Chicago is no different. A tough building. Were going to have to figure out a way to win Game 2 and move on." ' ' '