CHICAGO -- The Pittsburgh Penguins were wrapping up practice Friday when Tanner Glass grabbed an iPad mini and skated around the temporary rink in the middle of Soldier Field. The 30-year-old Canadian forward smiled as he captured the chilly scene, which took him all the way back to when he first learned to skate at his grandparents farm. "As I grew up, there was an outdoor rink right beside by the main rink," said Glass, a native of Regina, Saskatchewan. "So even tournaments, wed have our real game inside and then wed all just take half our gear off and run across to the outdoor rink and play all day. It reminds me of that and kind of the good old days." Yup, these outdoor games still have an allure for NHL players, especially when they involve two of the best teams in the league. The league gets a marquee prime-time finish for its successful Stadium Series when Sidney Crosby and the Penguins take on Jonathan Toews and the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night at the home of the NFLs Chicago Bears. "Youve got two pretty fast, skilled hockey teams and if the ice can kind of agree with everyone I think that would make for a pretty good product out there," Crosby said. The forecast calls for light snow and temperatures in the teens, but each team has some experience with the pratfalls of playing outside. Chicago lost 6-4 to rival Detroit in the 2009 Winter Classic at Wrigley Field. Crosby had the winning shootout goal when visiting Pittsburgh beat Buffalo 2-1 in the first Winter Classic in 2008, but the Penguins lost 3-1 to Washington when they hosted the 2011 game at Heinz Field. Now the Blackhawks and Penguins return to the great outdoors for their first meeting since Pittsburghs 3-2 victory on Dec. 20, 2011. Its their first game in Chicago since Patrick Kane had the only shootout goal in the Blackhawks 3-2 win on Feb. 20 of that year. While scheduling and the leagues most recent labour dispute have kept the teams apart, the players are plenty familiar with one another. Team captains Crosby and Toews face off for the first time in an NHL regular-season game after leading Canada to the gold medal in the Sochi Olympics last weekend. Crosby, Toews and Penguins forward Chris Kunitz scored in their countrys 3-0 victory in the final against Sweden, which included Marcus Kruger, Johnny Oduya and Niklas Hjalmarsson of the Blackhawks. Penguins coach Dan Bylsma got a chance to see Kane up close when he was behind the bench for Team USA in Russia. "Ive learned quite a bit about his competitiveness," Bylsma said. "You kind of see the smile. Its certainly a ton of skill how he plays the game, but I was impressed by it and learned just the competitiveness that he has and brings to the game. Skill-wise you see it live." The first NHL game at Soldier Field also features two teams in need of a win. The Penguins are coming off a 6-5 shootout loss to Montreal, while the Blackhawks lost 2-1 at the New York Rangers on Thursday night. Chicago, which almost tied the game against the Rangers in the final seconds, is playing its first game in the Windy City since Jan. 26. "Everybody is excited for Saturday," centre Peter Regin, who scored the only goal against New York, said Thursday night. "Obviously we were hoping to get a different outcome tonight, but we play in two days. That is the good thing about the NHL, you play every second night, so its not so long before you can redeem yourself." Cheap NHL Jerseys .C. at the helm of the top team in the Eastern Conference. His tenure as the GM in Vancouver was all too brief. Though he led the Canucks to what was then a franchise record-shattering campaign in just his second season, Nonis was gone and replaced one year later. Cheap NFL Jerseys . "Jeff is a hard worker who was an important special-teams contributor for us last season," said Stamps GM John Hufnagel. http://www.cheapjerseysnet.us.com/ . -- Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Alrdridge were again the go-to duo for the Trail Blazers against the Kings. Wholesale Jerseys . The Nashville Predators were glad their captain was still on their side. Weber had a goal and two assists, and Roman Josi scored the shootout winner to lift the Predators to a 4-3 win over the Flyers on Thursday night. Cheap NBA Jerseys . Carey Price didnt, but he still came out on top against one of his rivals for the No. 1 job at the Sochi Games. The Anahim Lake, B.C., native was stellar in making 39 saves in his home province and Lars Eller got credit for a bizarre short-handed winner as the Canadiens defeated the Canucks 4-1.TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- It was a sputtering, inconsistent, and rather mundane performance for No. 1 Alabama. Or at least, thats how it seemed a week after a big-game roller coaster ride. AJ McCarron passed for 258 yards and threw a 30-yard touchdown to DeAndrew White in the fourth quarter to lift Alabama to a 31-6 victory over Colorado State on Saturday night. Two fourth-quarter touchdowns, one on special teams and another on fourth down, helped keep the final score from being close for the Tide (3-0). "I felt like as a whole, we didnt really execute to our full abilities," Alabama linebacker C.J. Mosley said. "Thats not an SEC opponent that we just played and the win really wasnt what it should have been. So I felt like we kind of got away with a win. We didnt dominate that win." Offensive lineman Kellen Williams described the postgame mood as "pretty sombre," even after the 25-point win. Kenyan Drake set up one touchdown with a blocked punt returned 15 yards by Dillon Lee and scored on a 3-yard touchdown run for the Tide, which led just 17-6 heading to the fourth. Alabama managed only one offensive touchdown and no third-down conversions in the first three quarters a week after winning a 49-42 shootout over Texas A&M. Coached by former Tide offensive co-ordinator Jim McElwain, the Rams (1-3) nursed hopes for a monumental upset into the fourth quarter before allowing two touchdowns. Trey DePriest stripped the ball from quarterback Garrett Grayson and recovered the fumble early in the quarter. "We challenged our guys to come in here and go toe-to-toe," said McElwain, who was part of two Tide national championship teams from 2008-11. "I think the guys on the other sideline have earned some respect for Colorado State Rams and how hard we played the game." The next play after the fumble, McCarron laced a perfect strike to White in the end zone and restless Alabama fans had something to cheer about. The Tide was without several key players, including receivers Amari Cooper (toe) and Kevin Norwood, guard Anthony Steen (headache), cornerback Deion Belue (turf toe) and safety Jarrick Williams (eye). This was a sandwich game between Southeastern Conference showdowns, and the nearly 40-point favourites played like it offensively.dddddddddddd No. 21 Mississippi visits Bryant-Denny Stadium next week. McCarron completed 20 of 26 passes but also was intercepted on an ill-advised throw. T.J. Yeldon ran seven times for 49 yards while Christion Jones caught nine passes for 90 yards. Yeldon was held out of the first quarter after getting flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct against Texas A&M. He apologized in a statement Monday for making the "money" and double throat slash gestures after a touchdown. He had a 38-yard run on his first carry midway through the second quarter but the running game produced only 66 yards on 21 carries. That was the fewest rushing yards by the Tide since South Carolina held them to 36 yards on Oct. 9, 2010. "Offensively, we couldnt run the ball with any consistency or effectiveness," Alabama coach Nick Saban said. "Even though we did a pretty good job passing, it had to be four or five times that we moved the ball down the field and got just outside the red zone, and we had something happen like throw an interception, miss a field goal, make a field goal, get sacked. Just too many negative plays." Greyson completed 24 of 38 passes for 228 yards for the Rams, who managed just 51 yards on the ground. Rashard Higgins had seven catches for 71 yards and Joe Hansley gained 82 on six receptions. Alabama failed on all six third-down attempts through three quarters and finished 2 of 10. The Tide outgained Colorado State 338-279 in total yards after running up 568 yards a week ago. Alabama continued to find other ways to score. Lees return early in the second quarter was the Tides fifth non-offensive touchdown. Alabama backup quarterback Blake Sims hit Chris Black for a 14-yard touchdown pass to add to the lead with 1:13 left. It was Blacks first career catch. McCarron was in for most of the series against a team led by his former position coach and Saban assistant. McElwains Rams didnt reach Alabama territory until midway through the third quarter and then did it two straight drives. The Tide defence did come up with stops both times. Jared Roberts kicked field goals of 45 and 31 yards to cut the Tides lead to 17-6. Landon Collins pulled Grayson down on a keeper on third down to force the second kick. cheap nfl jerseys cheap jerseys cheap jerseys cheap jerseys [