LAKE LOUISE, Alta. -- With the Winter Olympics coming over the horizon, its tempting to want to wrap Canadas top athletes in bubble wrap so they stay in one piece over the next few weeks. Sorry, cant happen, says snowboarder Maelle Ricker, the reigning Olympic champion in womens snowboard cross. The start of Rickers season was delayed by a concussion, but she vows she wont back off between now and February, when the Winter Games will be held in Sochi, Russia. "You cant be hesitating or hanging back or holding things back," she said Friday at Lake Louise. "It doesnt work that way. Thats just not the way to look at it. Youve got to keep your level of riding, keep progressing and hopefully you peak in February." Ricker became the first Canadian woman to win a gold medal in a home Games when she won in 2010 in Vancouver. She says a training crash "sent me on my head" earlier this month in Austria. The 34-year-old from Squamish, B.C., returned to Canada with a mild concussion instead of racing the first World Cup of the season in Montafon, Austria. The cobwebs cleared in time for Ricker to compete at the Sportcheck Snowboard World Cup in Lake Louise, which is the closest boardercross race to home shes had since winning gold on Cypress Mountain. Ricker and Dominique Maltais of Petite-Riviere-St Francois, Que., qualified Friday for the womens quarter-finals, semifinals and finals Saturday. Calgarys Chris Robanske was first in mens qualifying. Hell be joined in Saturdays main event by teammates Rob Fagan of Squamish and Kevin Hill of Vernon, B.C. Robanske, Ricker and Maltais have already qualified for Sochi. Ricker is also the reigning world champion after winning this years title in Stoneham, Que. Maltais, 33, won the overall World Cup snowboardcross title each of the last three years and was a bronze medallist at the 2006 Winter Games. Robanskes World Cup win at Blue Mountain in Collingwood, Ont., last season was the first by a Canadian male since 2007. Maltais opened this season finishing second in Montafon. Shes been a model of consistency and her reward has been the crystal globe that goes to World Cup champions. "You have to be on it pretty much every race," Maltais said. "I love what Im doing. Im always looking to improve myself. "Everything Im eating, everything Im touching is to make me a faster, better athlete and a better person too." Maltais and Ricker make Canada a double medal threat in womens boardercross in Sochi. The two women are supportive of each other and will high-five each other even before going head-to-head in a final. "I have so much respect for Dom when were on course," Ricker said. "Shes really pushed the level the last few years. Its really made our whole girls team rise up. "When were on course, were definitely not trying to take each other out. Thats not the idea. The idea is we both get to stand on the podium." Instead of racing each other in four-boarder heats as they do Saturday, the snowboarders race alone against the clock in qualifying. The top 32 men and 16 women advance. Maltais was second and Ricker fifth among women. Robanske was the fastest man with Fagan third and Hill 16th. Lake Louise is a rare race close to home for Robanske, who learned to snowboard at Calgarys Canada Olympic Park at the age of nine. He crashed in Montafon and is racing with injured soft tissue in his right elbow. "What we do is extreme and injuries happen," Robanske said. "If anything, its kind of an advantage for me. I put less pressure on myself when I have something wrong or somethings not working. I think Im going to have a good day tomorrow." Ricker has achieved the pinnacle of her sport, but she doesnt see Sochi as a place where she cant do better than she did in Vancouver. "I dont think about that at all," she said. "If youre thinking about that then maybe youre kicking yourself in the butt. "The big thing that most of us are looking for is that feeling of the perfect run where everything comes together. I really hope its going to produce a good result, but one thing I definitely realized in Vancouver was it was the whole journey leading up to that day and thats sort of where Im at right now." Justin Verlander Jersey . Irving played 10 minutes Sunday night before going to the locker room. He had two points and four assists, missing all five of his shots. The All-Star game MVP is the top scorer among Eastern Conference point guards with 21. Nick Castellanos Jersey . Lynn was tied for 16th entering the fourth round, six shots behind leader Paul Waring. He started with two birdies and added three more on his last five holes at the Oceanico Victoria course for an 18-under total of 266. www.baseballtigersproshop.com/anibal-sanchez-tigers-jersey/. The stress, the waiting, the whispers about whether he doped during his stellar cycling career, all of it ended when - after nearly two years - federal prosecutors closed an investigation of him last week without bringing any charges. Miguel Cabrera Jersey .Boston beat the Nashville Predators 5-3 on Tuesday night and celebrated consecutive wins for the first time in more than a month. Victor Martinez Tigers Jersey . The 10-year deal the league and players agreed to that ended the 2011 lockout gave either side the right to opt out after six years. With the league projecting financial growth, there has been speculation that players will take that option in three years, especially since a new national TV contract will be in place by then. INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana Pacers had to wait a little longer than usual to pull away for yet another victory. Kyrie Irving and the Cleveland Cavaliers were left fretting over an MRI on the stars left knee. Paul George scored 21 points, Roy Hibbert added 19 and the Pacers used a dominant fourth quarter to blow out the Cavaliers 91-76 on Tuesday The Pacers (25-5) have won eight in a row over Cleveland, their longest active streak against any opponent. Instead of opening up a nice lead in the third quarter, as is their tendency, they limited the Cavs to 3-of-16 shooting and forced seven turnovers in the final period to seize control. Cleveland (10-21) dropped its sixth straight but hopes Irving was not lost, too. After missing a fast-break layup late in the third quarter, Irving went down and clutched his knee. Seconds later, a foul led to a timeout and Irving struggled to leave the court. Cavs coach Mike Brown hustled over to check on Irving when the third-year point guard sat around midcourt. "I thought the worst happened," Irving said. "I felt something pop in my knee. I was falling down around all over the place. It was a painful experience." Irving was helped to the locker room with 4:01 remaining in the period, but returned with 9:27 left in the game. Still, he said the knee "didnt feel right" after that and an MRI was scheduled for Wednesday. Anderson Varejao led Cleveland with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Irving was a limited factor even before the injury, finishing with 10 points, five rebounds and five assists. The Cavs shot 36.2 per cent from the field and committed 15 turnovers. George Hill had 13 points and six rebounds for the Pacers, who have won five in a row and sent the Cavs to their eighth straight loss in Indianapolis. Indiana won the fourth quarter by a 26-10 margin. "We played better defence, played smart and hit the open man," said Lance Stephenson, who had a game-high eight assists. "We were protecting the rim. Everybody was in their gaps and G-Hill did a great job on Kyrie Irving." Cleveland had six turnovers in the first 6 minutes of the quarter, including giveaways on three straight possessions by reserve centre Tyler Zeller.dddddddddddd "You have to give credit to Indiana for turning it up a couple notches and taking us out of whatever we were trying to execute," Brown said. "For three quarters we played the game the right way. Turnovers hurt us in a low-scoring game. Thats very frustrating." For most of the afternoon, it was anybodys game. The Cavaliers led 17-9 on Earl Clarks midrange shot with 4:22 left in the first quarter. But the Pacers reserves dominated their Cleveland counterparts in a 10-3 surge that put Indiana ahead 35-34 on Danny Grangers finger-roll with 4:57 left in the half. Granger matched a season-high with 12 points, including eight in the second quarter when the benches were matched against one another. Hibberts jumper with 3:22 left in the half gave the Pacers a 39-37 edge, before the Cavaliers settled down and rallied. Dion Waiters driving layup with 26 seconds to play gave Cleveland a 44-41 halftime lead. George hit a 3 to tie the game at 63 late in the third. Indiana made 11 of 21 shots in the period but trailed 66-65 entering the fourth. To that point there were eight ties and 15 lead changes. The tenor of the game changed drastically from there. "What happened tonight was a credit to what the Cavs did," George said. "They played with a lot of energy. They played a good game." The Pacers put together a 15-6 run to take an 80-72 lead on Hills layup with just under 7 minutes left. Cleveland never got closer than six the rest of the way. Georges emphatic dunk put Indiana ahead 91-74 with 2:41 to play. "That was probably the easiest basket of the night," George said. NOTES: Indiana began a 10-game stretch in which it plays nine teams with losing records. The Cavaliers have just two road victories, tied for the fewest in the league. 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