Die Planung » aivers by Winnipeg two months later, the turning poin

NICE, France -- Second-seeded Ernests Gulbis will meet Federico Delbonis in the Open de Nice final after brushing aside defending champion Albert Montanes on Friday. Gulbis of Latvia dropped just one point on his first serve on his way to a 6-0, 6-3 victory over the Spaniard. "He allowed me to play," Gulbis said. "I felt confident from the first rally on. I had good timing. The first set was one of the best sets I have played." The seventh-seeded Delbonis ousted fourth-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-2, 6-4. Gulbis has won all five of his previous finals on the ATP tour, and triumphed in Marseille in February. Delbonis, who beat top-seeded John Isner in the quarterfinals, is 1-1 in his previous tour finals. The 23-year-old Argentine lifted his first title in Sao Paolo in March, after losing in Hamburg last year. "It was a pretty good match," Delbonis said. "Gilles always fights and he showed it in the second set when he broke me. But I took control again. 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Ashton scored a hat trick -- giving him 13 goals in 16 AHL games this season -- to power the Toronto Marlies to a 5-2 victory over the visiting Lake Erie Monsters in AHL action on Sunday. Sean Taylor Jersey .com) - The Toronto Blue Jays will look to snap a three-game skid Friday night when they continue their road trip in the opener of a three-game set against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park.TORONTO – It’s summer time. Mike Santorelli and Morgan Rielly, offseason training partners in their native B.C., have already been to the gym, been to the rink, gone through their full skate, and even done some drills afterward at Santorelli’s insistence. “Santo,” Rielly asks afterward, perhaps thinking the two can grab a quick pop, “what are you doing tonight?” “I’m just going to go home and shoot some pucks,” Santorelli responds directly, “stickhandle a little bit.” New to the Maple Leafs this season, Santorelli is known to be serious about his craft, so serious, in fact, that teammates have come to give him grief about it. The 28-year-old never lets up and after nearly veering out of the league it’s easy to understand why. “For me I just think I’ve got to work hard and if I’m not working hard I’m not doing anything,” he says. “In order for me to succeed I’ve got to bring that work ethic.” Santorelli, who signed for one year at $1.25 million this past summer, is among the low-cost, low-risk bets that have worked out well for the Leafs so far (Daniel Winnik being the other). He’s tied for sixth in team scoring through 21 games – his 10 points just ahead of Nazem Kadri, Peter Holland and David Clarkson – a versatile puck hawk who’s paired favourably with Leo Komarov all season. It was only two years earlier that he was trending in a very different direction. Then two seasons removed from a 20-goal campaign with Florida, Santorelli was tumbling out of the league, demoted to the Panthers’ AHL affiliate in San Antonio just a couple weeks into the lockout-shortened season. He was claimed off of waivers by Winnipeg two months later, the turning point in some ways toward reviving his career. The game, he says, had gotten away from him. “Yeah I think it did for sure,” said Santorelli. “And at the same time, there [were] lots of holes in my game that I didn’t know that I needed to get better until I finally realized it, you know what I mean?” He signed a one-year, two-way deal the following summer with his hometown Canucks, becoming a harder player to contend with under beleaguered former head coach, John Tortorella. A skillful talent coming out of the Vernon Vipers of the BCHL and after that, the U.S. college system, Santorelli evolved. He killed penalties and matched up against opposing top lines, also compiling 10 goals and 28 points in only 49 games. He learned through it all just how difficult the league was, “that you’ve got to come out every night and battle and work hard. That was the area of my game I think I needed to improve on the most.” And so it’s understandable why he’s bordering on obsessive in his diligence to the game. It’s why he’s doings drills daily with Leafs assistant coach, Chris Dennis, drills to protect the puck and avoid checks, the same drill every day after each and every skate. “He really takes it serious,” says David Booth, teammates wiith Santorelli for the third time in Toronto and his linemate during that 20-goal season in Florida.dddddddddddd “He will do anything to improve his game. Sometimes he goes overboard with just being really strict in his routine.” That’s where the good ribbing comes in from teammates. Santorelli is just so serious about it all – even obsessive, Booth says, in his eating habits. “He’s fun to have around because you can get under his skin pretty easily,” Booth says with a grin. “I think he’s just so serious. You just razz him a little bit he thinks it’s the end of the world. Guys are picking up on that here. [But] I think he’s starting to relax a little bit.” Just 20 and only in his second NHL season, Rielly knows that persona well. The two have been training buddies since Rielly was only 14. He says Santorelli’s seriousness keeps him on track in the off-season. “He’s quite focused,” Rielly said recently. “He knows what he wants to do and he knows how he wants to do it and he works hard for it.” Santorelli has typically been a late-bloomer. It’s why he opted for Northern Michigan University, more than 2,000 miles away from B.C., after he was drafted by Nashville in the sixth round of the 2004 draft. Peter Horachek sees a vastly different player from the one who first entered the league with those Predators. Horachek, then an assistant coach in Music City, recalls a dangerous offensive talent, one who produced at the pace of a point-per-game in the AHL (70 points in 70 games), but one who had to evolve. “He was learning how to be an NHL player. And he learned how to change his game and adapt his game,” Horachek said. “He became better defensively and better down-low and competed harder. He’s adapting and changing his game all the time. But he’s been pretty consistent [in Toronto] in doing what he has to do.” A natural centre, Santorelli can also play right wing and has offered versatility to the coaching staff in doing so recently. His presence with Komarov has been mostly positive for possession, the two combining with a rotating cast of linemates – Nazem Kadri currently – for sustained stretches in the offensive zone, slogging pucks in the corners and along the walls – in the same manner, mind you, that he practices daily with Dennis. He can kill penalties, which he’s done from time to time and he’s offered some offence despite hardly any time on the power-play. In short, Santorelli has been a good value for the Leafs at the quarter-mark this season – the kind of value the organization could use more of. Booth chuckles at how diligently his teammate goes about his business, how he won’t even have dessert let it affect his performance on the ice. “Really I’ve never seen anything like it,” Booth says. “But he’s dedicated to his profession which is good … He works on his game harder than anyone I know so with that will come improvement.” And so it has. ' ' '