TORONTO -- Paul Ranger really likes pizza. DJ Chark Jaguars Jersey . Not just any pizza, but the kind that he can get from the Riverside Restaurant in Cornwall, Ont., with his uncle. Now in Toronto and closer to family than he was as a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning years ago, he can spend time away from the rink debating what pizza joint is best and finding balance in life. Because of that, Ranger has begun to write the second chapter of his NHL playing career and was named the Maple Leafs Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy nominee for "perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey." Ranger learned that he was chosen for that honour Wednesday morning, 49 games into what he considers the renewal of his career more than four years after abruptly leaving the Lightning for personal reasons he still wont reveal. What the 29-year-old does say about version 2.0 of his hockey-playing life only hints at why he left and what made him come back. "What makes it easier for my second go-round is just that experience on how to handle different pressures from the outside, pressures on the ice and really just how to go about it and live your life and balance," Ranger said. "Balance is huge. It makes for a much healthier lifestyle. It makes for a much healthier, I think, mind, on the ice, as well." On the ice, the defencemans game is still rounding into form but isnt quite as good as hed like it to be. But his mind seems to be at peace with the sports importance in his life because Ranger has been able to spend time reflecting and placing value on different things. "You get away, you try different things, you do different things, you focus on other areas of your life that you love and that make you good," he said. "Too much of one good thing it can kind of become a mental battle sometimes. ... When you have that balance, everything seems to work a lot more smoothly, a lot more comfortably and positively." One of those positives is family, like being able to have his mother and father closer than they were when he was in Tampa. Friends make the support group even bigger. "Once in a while Ill get to see some of my closest friends, my high-school friends, my best friends," he said. "Everyone needs a break outside of work and outlets for different parts of life, and thats one of them for me." Outlet from what, exactly, Ranger wont say. Asked at the end of a 13-minute conversation with reporters to shed even a bit of detail on what caused him to leave the Lightning early in the 2009-10 season, he politely but firmly responded: "No. Im not willing to go there. Thank you, though." In general terms, Ranger repeatedly talked about "challenges" on and off the ice. That included playing last year for the AHLs Toronto Marlies, then signing a one-year deal with the Leafs and making the team out of training camp. "Lots of challenges, but when you overcome them, thats the coolest part of it," Ranger said. "Thats the most fun. You look at yourself in the mirror and say you did it. And thats huge, for everybody. Every person in the world goes through that kind of thing at some point in their lives, and I think its important to be able to challenge yourself and to recognize and give yourself some credit." Ranger noticed and appreciated the credit and recognition opponents around the league and former teammates have afforded him this season. He took special pride in reconnecting and building "genuine" relationships with a couple of players he spent time with in Tampa, too. Very little of Rangers time talking about his journey back to the NHL had anything to do with hockey, other than to say it has been a success. The Whitby, Ont., native said he never had any doubts about returning after such an extended absence. "No. This is the right thing for me to do," Ranger said. "This is the thing for me to do to grow and to overcome all the challenges that Ive had on and off the ice. This is the path, and Im committed to it. "I cant really put it all into words, but this is it. Its going to help me until I reach 150 (years old) and riding my Sea-Doo around somewhere and Im going to look back and smile and just say I did it." As hes in the process of doing it, hes earning respect along the way. "When a guy misses that amount of time and claws himself (onto a roster) and grabs an opportunity, youve got to take your hat off to him," Leafs coach Randy Carlyle said. "Any individual thats gone through what hes gone through, now hes playing the highest level of hockey there is in the world and hes earning his stripes." Whether earning those stripes means Ranger will be back with the Leafs next season is unclear. He insists he hasnt pondered that possibility and immediately brought the focus back to the present and what he and his teammates need to do in the final games of the season. Even if the Leafs season ends without a playoff berth, thats not the end of Rangers world, though he brought up Wednesday that he has a theory on how to win a championship in a city like Toronto. Hes just not willing to reveal that quite yet, either. "I cant say Ive figured it out because it hasnt been put to the test yet," he said. "But I just know for me it works. Im in no way ready to comment on it. This is something that perhaps I would tell you after we win the championship." Will Richardson Jersey . Leave it to Matt Niskanen, the newly proclaimed Eddie Haskell of the Washington Capitals. D.J. Hayden Jaguars Jersey . The cause of his death is as of yet undetermined, but police said foul play is not suspected. http://www.footballjaguarsprostore.com/customized/ .com) - The Los Angeles Kings werent playing their best hockey before the league went on break during the Winter Olympics.BOSTON - To hear Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leylands description of Anibal Sanchez performance, youd have thought it was just another night at the ballpark. "The pitch came up a little high early and a little careful early," said Leyland. "But he got rolling pretty good and made some good pitches and gave us all we needed. And made a great pitch on Drew to get out of (the sixth) inning." Rather innocuous, move-along-theres-nothing-to-see-here type words from Leyland. Except that the opener of the American League Championship Series, won 1-0 by the Tigers, was one of the stranger games youll see. Sanchez left after six innings of no-hit baseball. Why? Well, hed thrown 116 pitches. Howd he do that? By striking out 12 Red Sox, including four in the first inning (Shane Victorino reached on a third strike wild pitch,) and by walking six Boston hitters. Oh, by the way, Sanchez became just the second pitcher in playoff history to strike four hitters out in an inning. The last, a man by the name of Orval Overall, who accomplished the feat for the Chicago Cubs in the first inning of the fifth game of the 1908 World Series. Let that marinate. The feat is rare, sure, but it hadnt happened in the post-season since the Cubs – yes, the Cubs – last won a World Series. Three more Detroit relievers – Al Alburquerque, Jose Veras and Drew Smyly – combined to erase the Red Sox in order in the seventh and eighth innings. With one out in the ninth and Tigers closer Joaquin Benoit in to protect the one-run lead, Bostons Daniel Nava grinded out a seven-pitch at-bat, culminating in a single to centre field. The Red Sox were spared the infamy of being no-hit, but couldnt advance Navas single beyond second base. The poor Cubs, now having to share Overalls record with Sanchez, also saw the Tigers become the first team to shut out thee Red Sox in a playoff game at Fenway Park since the 1918 World Series. Cody Kessler Jaguars Jersey. It was Chicagos Hippo Vaughn, with no relief help, who turned the trick that day. Move over, Hippo, youre sharing the record book with Sanchez-Alburquerque-Veras-Smyly-Benoit. Sanchez had a 26-pitch first inning, needed 25 to get through the second and another 28 to work out the sixth. In that sixth inning, he walked the bases loaded for his second multiple walk inning of the night – hed walked two hitters in the second – but managed to escape damage by striking out David Ortiz and later Stephen Drew. Meantime, the Tigers offensive hero was Jhonny Peralta, the anti-Melky Cabrera. Unlike Cabrera, who was exiled from the Giants after testing positive for performance enhancing drugs in the second half of last season, Peralta was welcomed back from his 50-game suspension this year. Peraltas two-out single in the sixth scored Miguel Cabrera for the games only run. The shortstop-turned-left fielder, remember its no easy task playing in front of the Green Monster regardless of experience, followed up his torrid series against Oakland (.417) with three of the Tigers nine hits. The pressure now falls squarely in the lap of the Red Sox, who can ill afford to lose Sunday nights second game. To lose would be to fall behind 2-0 before a trip to Detroit where Justin Verlander will be waiting. Verlander, if you havent been watching the playoffs, authored two out-of-this-world performances versus the Athletics. Clay Buchholz will start Game 2 for Boston. Twenty-one game winner Max Scherzer, the likely AL Cy Young Award winner, will get the ball for Detroit. In the meantime, Anibal Sanchez will look on from the Tigers dugout, no doubt basking in the glory of the record he now shares with a man named Orval Overall. What a strange, fun and intriguing night it was. China Jerseys Cheap Cheap Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Discount NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys 2020 Wholesale Jerseys 2020 Wholesale NFL White Jerseys ' ' '