Edmonton Journal from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada • 27

SPORTS EDMONTON JOURNAL D3 TUESDAY, JULY 17, 2001 11 Sportsnet' will air 48 Oil games A AN 'Riders tried but couldn't fool Hardy 1 1 thing front side. He didn't and tried to throw backside and I stopped. He overthrew his receiver again. He was throwing the ball high all night and I was the beneficiary of it" Hardy, who had a pair of two-interception games last year, said he now has a better understanding of what the quarterback wants to do and what pass routes the opponent is likely to run. "The first coupleofyears, everything seemed so fast you're just seeing blurs," he said.

"Things don't seem to be as fast anymore. "Now, Tm seeing plays develop a Little better, plus the guys in the secondary are doing great jobs," he added. "They're jamming inside receivers into me so they can't get too far wide so that I can't cover them, and the corners are doing a great job, so there's a lot of variables." One of those variables is the de-fensive line. If the front line players get in the quarterback's face real quickly, he can be forced into making a bad pass. Or, if the defensive backs can put some doubt in the quarterback's mind, then any hesitation ofasecond or two may mean a sack.

"In the big scheme of things, thafswhat we want Hardy said. The Edmonton native isn't known as a big hitter over the middle like his predecessor, Trent Brown, but he's starting to make a name for himself by picking off opponents' passes. He had six interceptions last year and wants to reach double figures this season more than any player had in the CFL last season. "You set your goals high," said Hardy. "I want to be the outstanding Canadian in the Grey Cup.

I want to be the MVP in the Grey Cup. It's going to take a few lucky breaks here and there, but Esks' defender was Saskatchewan's 1)est receiver NORM COWLEY journal Football Writer EDMONTON Chris Hardy was one of the Saskatchewan Roughriders' busiest receivers Friday night at Commonwealth Stadium. The Edmonton Eskimos safety caught three of Roughie quarterback Marvin Graves' passes. "I really didn'thave to make too much of an effort on a couple of them," said the fifth-year CFL veteran defensive back. "Just being in the right spot is half the job, so I'm happy with that" Unfortunately, two of Hardy's potential team record-tying three interceptions were nullified by Edmonton penalties.

Tm not too concerned about that," he shrugged Monday. "Regardless of the penalties, it just shows that I was there and we made the plays on defence. "On the first one, I saw a crossing route and didn't really move," he explained. "I just dropped back, he overthrew the guy and hit me in the chest That one was a nice gift "We knew all week they were going to go to (slotback Curtis) Marshonbigplays. Itwas second down on the second one.

I saw where Marsh was lined up. If (Graves) would have looked at me, he probably would have stopped and thrown back the otherwaybecauseljust took off. But he looked at Marsh the whole way and threw a rainbow and I was there to fair-catch it "He was rolling out on the third one and thought he had some I 4ii is 1 and dunking. By going downtown, it opens up a lot more." Anderson iffy Defensive lineman Steve Anderson is questionable for Friday's game against Calgary at Commonwealth Stadium. Anderson sat out the second half of last Friday's game.

'The pain shot all theway down to my fingers," he said about a first-quarter hitwith his shoulder. "It stayed that way for pretty much the whole first half until they told me not to play any more. I just thought itwas aburn-er. "It had happened the week before in B.C. and it was the exact same hit Ididn'tthinkitwas abig deal but they wanted to take a further look at it" 5 After three picks against Saskatchewan on Friday (two were nullified by Chris Hardy has his eyes on the ultimate prize.

Hardy has aspirations to it's not out of reach. '1 want to make sure that teams ued. 1 realize if you're going to throw "I want to make them throw it the ball deep between the hash- outside because if they want to es, there's a good chance it's go- throw outside routes, no team is Airing it out no offence for Nealon and Esks' receivers if i RICK MacWILLIAM, THE JOURNAL penalties), Eskimos defensive back be the MVP in the Grey Cup game. going to beat us. 'TntheCFIifateamdorninates you by passing in the middle of the field, there's a good chance they're going to win." Anderson, who said any feedback so far "has been positive," is hoping the injury is "maybe a little muscle strain." If he can't play Friday, rookie Dario Romero will come off the one-game injured list or rookie Andre Reed will be activated off the practice roster.

Don't feel sorry The Stampeders are winless af-ter their first two games and have been outscored by a total of 46 points. "The scores are not indicative of the games," said Higgins. They've got some talented people on that football team Please don't think we're feeling sorry for Calgary coming inhere. Theybet-ter strap it on because we will be physical." world championships. Lindley, who won the Toronto World Cup triathlon 10 days ago, wasn't one of the six women named to the U.S.

team because she wasn't among the top six fin-ishers at the US. qualifying event A foot injury suffered in Rennes, France, in May left her unable to complete the run portion of the U.S. qualification. USA Triathlon rules say an athlete must finish in the top six to qualify for their world team. BJ-a I Journal Staff Set aside the remote control, the Edmonton Oilers have settled on a channel.

Sportsnet West will broadcast 48 of the Edmonton Oilers this season year 1 of their new three-year deal. Last season, 20 games were aired on Sportsnet while A-Channel, the Oilers' broadcast partner since 1997, carried 28. This spring, the club elected not to renew its with A-Channel. "Our television games will now be consolidated on one carrier' said president Patrick LaForge. "We believe it's very important Oiler fans know that Oilers hockey has one television home." More importantly, when Shatf Communications finishes realigning the channels, Sportsnet willbe included in theregular cable package.

1 "We wanted to make sure the games are being delivered on bg-sic cable," said Allen Watt, the team's vice-president of marketing. "That was really important to both of us us and Sportsnet We're reallypleased with the way this turned out" Former Oiler Craig Simpsoft will return to the broadcast booth but his linemates may change. There had been talk Bruoe Buchanan, the longtime voice of the Oilers, may not be hired back to handle the play-by-play. Oilers sign six more OILERS Continued from Dl In the meantime, the Oilers have reeled in Finnish goaltender Jussi Markkanea Selected in the fifth round of this year's entry draft, a 26-year-old netminder with Tappara Tampere, has been pegged as a possible understudy behind Tommy Salo. Kari Haakana, a 27-year-old dfr-fenceman who played 58 garnet with Jokerit last season, is also under contract and the club an; nouncedthatithas come to terms with Czech defenceman Ales Pisa.

All three have one-year cos. tracts. The signing of these three placers adds depth in two areas that we felt needed to be addressed," said Kevin Prendergast, the vicg; president of hockey operations. "We have seen overage picks step right in with other teams around theNationalHockey League and we feel these three maybe able to achieve that level of success." In addition, the Oilers have worked out deals with: Centre GregLeeb, a Red Deer native who has been in the Dallas Stars system; Defenceman Jan Benda; and Russian blue-liner Alexander Ljubimov. Lessing; Fortunately, there are 12 ITU wild cards available for such circumstances.

Although each country is limited to six men and six women in the elite category, the ITU wild card isn't included in the total. "There is the provision for die (TTU) technical committee to increase the allocation," said executive director Loreen Barnett "We will do that for Siri. She's No; 2 in the worid and we need her in the race." The wild cards are usually awarded to countries unable to qualify an athlete so the ITU can increase the country participa-tionmthe worid (hampiorishipi "Another is an athlete returning from some sort of absence," said Barnett "For example, we gave a wild card to Spencer SmitH (Great Britain), who took a year off to try his hand at cycling and do some other things. He's a former worU champion (1993) but he's low-ranked so he was award-ed a wild card." And Emma Carney's position on the Australian team was uncertain after she was forced to withdraw wimacalf injury from trie Toronto Triathlon, a race that doubled as the final selection race for the Australian team. The Australian selectors were able to place the two-time workl champion on the team after a look at the rules.

NORM COWLEY Journal Football Writer EDMONTON Tom Higgins Wants the Edmonton Eskimos to go downtown more often this season. "We feel it is absolutely critical that we throw the football down the field," said the Eskimos head coach. "We have some speed, we have people whocanturndefen-sive backs around and we have to be able to air it out "It'sashame we didn't complete as many passes as we wanted to (against the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Friday), but what it does is sets the precedent for the people who are going to defend against us," Higgins continued. "They can't be squatting at 10 and 15 yards and think they can defend this football team. "Please don't think we re feeling sorry for Calgary coming in here.

They better strap it on because we will be physical." Eskimos coach Tom Higgins thrown down the field. "Sometimes you can go into a comfort zone and keep dinking TRIATHLON CHAMPIONSHIPS Worlds finds itself minus four-time champion "They've got to know that, at any point in time, we can go downtown. Nealon (Greene) has the am to throw it, we've got the receivers who can get down the field and, sometimes, you don't necessarily catch it but there could be a flag thrown because you're battling for the ball" A 29-yard pass to Donnie Ashley down the left sideline led to the Eskimos' first field goal Friday, while Rick Walters' nine-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter was made deep in the right comer of the end zone. Too often, Greene has been content with a short passing game. "Sometimes, you call a play for aquartErbackwruchrequireshim to throw it downtown but he chooses not to," said Higgins.

"We put a little more pressure on him to force the ball to be JASON SCOn. THE JOURNAL, FILE Simon Lessing easily won last year's World Cup triathlon event in Edmonton. month. The withdrawals ofLess-ing and, to a lesser degree, Marceau, came as somewhat ofa last Friday's oonfir-mation by Lessing, since he had won two qualifying races in the last month, including the ETU European Cup the previous weekend, beating 1999 world champion Dmitri Gaag of Kazakhstan and Olympic bronze medallisrJanRehula of the Czech Republic "After the Olympics he took some time off and then went into very serious training in South Africa," Bamett said of Lessing. "Unfortunately he developed some sort of chronic injury.

He tooktime off and healed, but over the last few weeks he has, according to bis coach Graeme 1 mi- 1 By Mi a ---i WORLD i l-M J. V- 1 Maw, made a valiant effort to get his performance level back." Said Maw: "Simon isn't ready to race at a world championship level He was behind schedule throughout April and May, putting him a month behind his plan to win the title." Unable to shake an Achilles tendon injury, Lessing decided his performance level isn't good enough to properly compete at the world championships. "He's not interested in jogging Instead, Lessing is expected to race in London on Aug. 26 and at the Goodwill Games in Brisbane on Sept 2. Marceau hadn't competed much this year, racing only three times, most recently June 10 when he did not finish an event in Beavais, France.

Tm still training but just to make myself feel good, and I don't have the level of fitness to come and defend a world tide," he toldlnside TrariZonlastweek. "It was difficult not to return to defend my tide, but after such a tough last year, I need to have a break. I spent so much time far away from home and I gave so much of myself during 2000 if I want to last four years more (to the 2004 Athens Olympics) I need to rest for a while." The Edmonton field will include virtually everyone else who's anyone in triathlon, including Olympic gold medallist Simon Whirfkld of Victoria and Brit not yet fully recovered from Achilles injury JOHN KOROBAMK Journal Sports Writer EDMONTON Maybe it was the Australian water, perhaps it was stress, possibly it was the thrill of being in the Olympic Games for the first time. Whatever it was, the sport of triathlon is now suffering from a post-Olympic fallout that will rob the Edmonton 2001 World Triathlon Championships of three of its bigger names. Four-time men's world champion Simon Lessing of Britain, defending champion Olivier Marceau of France and reigning Olympic women's champion BrlgitteMcMahontf Switzerland are all absent this week, at least partly because of a common joy new babies.

Lessing, Marceau, McMahon plus Nancy Kempt-Arendt ofLux-embourg, 10th in the Sydney Olympics, are all proud new parents. 1 want to know what went on after the Olympic Games," Union, said with a chuckle on Monday. It's incredible." The absence of McMahon and Kempt-Arendt was expected since they both gave birth last LARRY WONG, THE JOURNAL American triathlete Siri Lindley trains for this weekend's Worlds at the Kinsmen Centre on Monday. women'ssflver medallist Michel-lie Jones of Australia. Siri Lindley needs wild card to qualify Siri Lindley is the top-ranked American woman in the ITU rankings behind only Australian Loretta I larrop but it took a wild-card exception from nImerriationalTriaihkinUrjion to her get into this weekend's.