HAMBURG, Germany -- Fifth-seeded Gilles Simon beat No. . 1 Gael Monfils 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 in an all-French showdown on Friday to reach the semifinals of the German Open. Simon will next play fourth-seeded Mikhail Youzhny of Russia. Youzhny saved two match points before rallying to beat No. 12 Marin Cilic of Croatia 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6). The Russian was down 6-4 in the tiebreaker, but won the next four points to clinch the match after three hours. Youzhny squandered a 3-1 lead in the final set and led 4-1 in the tiebreaker before having to fight from behind. Third-seeded Nicolas Almagro edged sixth-seeded Florian Mayer of Germany 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3) and will next play fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, who ousted second-seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. [url=http://www.packersofficialteamstore.com/autographed-bart-starr-jersey-yl-81... Starr Jersey . The last time the Los Angeles Kings advanced to the Stanley Cup Final was in 1993, and in the deciding game of the Western Conference Final, there was a rather famous non-call on their captain. . There were bright spots during Indys 31-24 loss at New England on Sunday. Dan Orlovsky passed for 353 yards and two touchdowns. [url=http://www.packersofficialteamstore.com/autographed-aaron-rodgers-jersey-xl... . Tapp, a third-year arts student from Calgary, was named the most valuable player of the CIS womens hockey championship held at the University of Alberta in Edmonton after she helped the third-seeded Dinos capture the first national title in program history. [url=http://www.packersofficialteamstore.com/autographed-ray-nitschke-jersey-wb-... Nitschke Jersey . -- The Los Angeles Lakers signed seven-foot Canadian centre Robert Sacre on Friday. . Two days after picking up his architectural design degree from Stanford, the No. 1 overall draft pick returned to Indianapolis to work on football and make his first big steps into the community at a Play 60 camp downtown.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry Fraser wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca! Hi Kerry, I enjoy your analysis on TSN almost daily and I have a question regarding the instigator penalty. During the most recent game between the Flames and Canucks (Tuesday), it seems to me that Tim Jackman instigated a fight with Dale Weise with less than a minute to go in the third period. The score was 5-0 Canucks at the time (no reason for Weise to fight, and perhaps sour grapes by Jackman) and there was no instigator penalty called. Furthermore, the fight occurred within the last five minutes of the game, which can often lead to a suspension. Now I know that in general terms, refs do not like to make calls that will determine the outcome of a game but as a result of this non-call, the Canucks did not get a power play. The Flames subsequently scored, ruining Luongos shutout bid and Jackman was not suspended for his next game. In your expert opinion, do you think the instigator penalty should have been called and can you clarify the rules that determine whether or not the instigator should be applied? Thank you for your time!Chris - Abbotsford, B.C. Chris:Thank you for being an almost daily visitor with me. I promise to try harder so you will jump on board every day, Monday through Friday. By the way I love your City of Abbotsford. I was on tour with the Hanson Brothers of Slap Shot fame in September and we brought a game of Old Time Hockey to your beautiful town. Heres the expert opinion and clarification you asked for. An instigator of an altercation shall be a player, who by his actions or demeanor, demonstrates any/some of the following criteria: distance traveled; gloves off first; first punch thrown; menacing attitude or posture; verbal instigation or threats; conduct in retaliation to a prior game (or season) incident; obvious retribution for a previous incident in the game or season. The only criteria Im not sure applied to Tim Jackman as the clear instigator of the fight with Dale Weise was if it were done in retaliation or retribution to a previous incident. Based on the fact that neither Jackman nor Dale Weise had received a penalty in the game prior to the fight, I have to believe the 5-0 spanking the Canucks were administering to the Flames was the primary reason for Jackman to go on the hunt with less than a minute tto play. [url=http://www.packersofficialteamstore.com/autographed-evan-dietrich-smith-jer... Dietrich-Smith Jersey. Jackman not only avoided a Canuck power play but suspension as well. A hand pass stopped play with 58 seconds remaining in the game and Jackman came onto the ice for the ensuing face-off outside the Canucks blue line on the players bench side of the ice. It was obvious that Jackmans objective was not to tie or win the game on this final shift of the night! After gaining possession from the draw, Vancouver started a rush up ice on the bench side. Jackman curled back to the opposite side of the ice and hooked onto his check, Dale Weise at the Vancouver blue line (distance traveled). Jackman can be seen demonstrating a menacing attitude and posture as he appears to be verbally threatening Weise. The Vancouver forward continued to skate up ice in an attempt to catch the play and avoid Jackmans invitation. Why would Weise even bother to fight at this point with the score 5-0? Jackman persists and eventually throws his left glove off at the opposite blue line (more distance travelled), turns Weise and then throws the first punch. Weise is forced to drop his gloves and defend himself. Pretty much covers the criteria to define an instigator as I listed above from rule 46.11, dont you think? So why was no instigator penalty assessed, given the severity of punishment a player identified as the instigator of a fight in the final five minutes of regulation time or at any time in overtime (in addition to penalties assessed) is also suspended for one game pending a review of the incident? When the one-game suspension is imposed, the coach shall be fined $10,000.00 - a fine that will double for each subsequent incident. Given the consequences associated with this judgment, every referee wants to make sure that the player really earns his suspension and can therefore be more lenient in the assessment. All I can suggest to you Chris, is that perhaps the trailing referee on that side of the ice didnt think that Jackmans actions were clear-cut enough to violate rule 46.11 - Instigator with less than five minutes remaining in regulation time. As much as I like Jackman along with his coach Brent Sutter, I would not have been so generous. Jackman was the hands down – gloves off clear-cut instigator of the altercation and should have been penalized as such in an effort to deter this type of senseless conduct in the future. The chips would have surely fallen on the Sutter Farm. ' ' '