www.ipera.com

(SportsNetwork.com) - The Chicago Blackhawks will try to record a point for the 13th time in their last 14 games on Tuesday night when they take on the visiting Winnipeg Jets. Chicago won for the third time in its past four games on Sunday despite hitting the ice with heavy hearts. Having returned from a shootout loss in Columbus the previous night, the Blackhawks learned that 34-year-old assistant equipment manager Clint Reif had passed away sometime Sunday morning. The Hawks held a moment of silence for Reif prior to the game and then managed a 4-0 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. Antti Raanta made 31 saves for his third career shutout, while Patrick Kane had a goal and two assists. David Rundblad, Jonathan Toews and Kris Versteeg lit the lamp as well, improving the Blackhawks to 11-1-1 in their past 13 games. Its really tough to describe, something that still hasnt really sunk in for most of us, but we were definitely playing with heavy hearts out there, said Toews. Added Patrick Sharp, who had three assists, Normally when the game starts, you can kind of turn off whatever issues you have going on in your personal life, but tonight, I dont think anybody was able to do that. It was very quiet on the bench, very quiet in the locker room and we wanted to make sure we had a good game for Clint and his family. The Blackhawks are likely to start Corey Crawford for the second time since he returned from an eight-game absence caused by a lower-body injury. He made 17 saves on 19 shots in the loss to the Blue Jackets, his first action since Nov. 29, and is 3-2-0 in his career versus the Jets with a 1.61 goals against average and .936 save percentage. Center Brad Richards is questionable after missing Sundays game with an upper-body injury. The Jets come to the United Center off the heels of a 2-1-1 homestand, capping the residency with a disappointing 4-3 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. Winnipeg led 3-1 at one point, but the Flyers scored twice in the third frame and then netted the winning goal 10 seconds into overtime. Dustin Byfuglien was one of three goal-scorers for the Jets, but he also lost the puck behind his own net early in OT that led to Philadelphias goal. Matt Halischuk ended a 27-game span without a goal and Mathieu Perreault also lit the lamp to give him three goals and four assists over a seven-game point streak. Ondrej Pavelec made 19 saves in the loss, one that dropped the Jets to 7-1-4 in their last 12. We stopped making simple plays. Its not that we couldnt make simple plays, we stopped trying to make simple plays and opted for a safe option, Jets coach Paul Maurice said. Maurice may continue his goaltender rotation tonight and give Michael Hutchinson the start. He has won three of his past four games and is 7-2-2 on the season with a 1.73 GAA and .940 save percentage in 12 games (10 starts). That includes a 33-save shutout in his only career start versus the Blackhawks, which came on Nov. 2 in Chicago. The Jets have won two straight over the Hawks, both in Chicago, and Novembers victory came in the first of five meetings this season. Yeezy For Sale . Cincinnati has lost back-to-back games in overtime, wasting a chance to take a commanding lead in their division. Cheap Yeezy . And rest hardly led to rust for the two-time defending NBA champions. https://www.wholesaleyeezyauthentic.com/yeezy-700-outlet-130u/ .The Dallas Cowboys released Sam from the practice squad Tuesday, dropping the rush end as they prepare for several potential reinforcements to return to the defensive line. Replica Yeezy . His absence against the Celtics comes a day after he scored 43 points in the Heats 100-96 win at Cleveland. Fake Yeezy . The No. 5 Aztecs held Burton, the Mountain Wests leading scorer, to 11 points, 10 below his average, in beating the Wolf Pack 73-58 on Saturday night.NEW YORK -- Despite seven months of international outcry, Russias law restricting gay-rights activity remains in place. Yet the eclectic protest campaign has heartened activists in Russia and caught the attention of its targets -- including organizers and sponsors of the Sochi Olympics that open on Feb. 7. Over the past two weeks, two major sponsors, Coca-Cola and McDonalds, have seen some of their Sochi-related social media campaigns commandeered by gay-rights supporters who want the companies to condemn the law. Several activists plan to travel to Sochi, hoping to team up with sympathetic athletes to protest the law while in the Olympic spotlight. And on Friday, a coalition of 40 human-rights and gay-rights groups from the U.S., Western Europe and Russia -- including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Human Rights Campaign -- released an open letter to the 10 biggest Olympic sponsors, urging them to denounce the law and run ads promoting equality for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people. "LGBT people must not be targeted with violence or deprived of their ability to advocate for their own equality," the letter said. "As all eyes turn toward Sochi, we ask you to stand with us." The law, signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in July, bans pro-gay "propaganda" that could be accessible to minors -- a measure viewed by activists as forbidding almost any public expression of gay-rights sentiment. The law cleared parliament virtually unopposed and has extensive public support in Russia. Since July, when they launched a boycott of Russian vodka, activists have pressed the International Olympic Committee and Olympic sponsors to call for the laws repeal. Instead, the IOC and top sponsors have expressed general opposition to discrimination and pledged to ensure that athletes, spectators and others gathering for the Games would not be affected by the law. Putin has given similar assurances in regard to Sochi, but remains committed to the laws broader purposes. IOC President Thomas Bach has warned Olympic athletes that they are barred from political gestures while on medal podiums or in other official venues, but says they are free to make political statements at news conferences. One Olympian likely to speak out is gay Australian snowboarder Belle Brockhoff, who told Australias Courier-Mail newspaper that she plans to lambaste Putin. "After I compete, Im willing to rip on his ass," she told the newspaper. "Im not happy and theres a bunch of other Olympians who are not happy either." Brockhoff is one of several Olympians promising to display the logo P6 -- a reference to Principle Six of the Olympic Charter that says any form of discrimination "is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement." Hudson Taylor of Athlete Ally, an organizer of the P6 campaign, is among the activists going to Sochi. He hopes that some athletes, even if wary of wearing P6 symbols, will promote them via social media. Also heading to Sochi is Shawn Gaylord, advocacy counsel for Human Rights First. "We wont be looking to violate the law," he said. "But we think its important that human rights not get lost in the mix." President Barack Obama, who has criticized the Russian law, is skipping the Olympics and named a U.S. delegation that includes tennis great Billie Jean King and two other openly gay athletes. "The only way you break down barriers is by being there and meeting people and getting these issues out on the table -- doing it in an appropriate and diplomatic way," King told The Associated Press.dddddddddddd In the U.S., recent protest initiatives have focused on Sochi sponsors, notably Coca-Cola and McDonalds. In McDonalds case, the companys #CheersToSochi Twitter hashtag has been used by activists in tweets condemning the Russian law and assailing McDonalds for not speaking out forcibly against it. Similarly, activists made use of an online "Id like to share a Coke with..." promotion to circulate images of Coke cans with labels such as "Gaybashers" and "Haters." The gay-rights group Queer Nation posted a video online interspersing images of embattled Russian gay-rights demonstrators into Cokes 1970s TV ad featuring the song, "Id Like to Teach the World to Sing." Coke then posted a clip of the original ad on its Facebook page, drawing a flood of negative comments from gay-rights supporters. Coke has responded with declarations of support for diversity and inclusiveness, which are themes of Cokes new Super Bowl advertising. A Coca-Cola spokeswoman, Ann Moore, said the company remained committed to the Olympics despite criticism from gay-rights activists. "We share these groups belief in human rights, equality, diversity and dignity for all, and we respect their right to protest peacefully," Moore said in an email. "We firmly believe, however, that supporting the Olympics focuses the world on the ideals that everyone strives for during the Games -- excellence, friendship and respect." Becca Hary, a McDonalds spokeswoman, made similar points. "Social media is all about conversation. Understandably, the LGBT community is focusing its conversation on the Russian legislation," she said in an email. "McDonalds is proud to be a top sponsor of the Olympics; our sponsorship dollars literally help the men and women who are working to achieve their Olympic dreams." Hary and Moore said their companies were conferring with the IOC about human rights. "We expect our ongoing engagement to include discussions on long-term, sustainable means for addressing human rights in the context of the Olympic Games," Moore wrote. Minky Worden, director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch, predicted that sponsors would henceforth insist that the IOC make human rights a more important factor in selection of host cities. "There will be a reckoning after the Games," Worden said. "Olympic sponsorship is supposed to be the goose that lays the golden eggs, but this goose is not laying golden eggs. Its laying stinky, rotten eggs." The international gay-rights group All Out plans to target Olympic sponsors in demonstrations next Wednesday in several cities, including New York, London, Rio de Janeiro and St. Petersburg, Russia. Even if the Russian law endures, All Out executive director Andrew Banks considers the overall protest campaign a success. "Weve been able to elevate the voices and stories of Russian LGBT people ... and show there are people all over the world willing to stand behind them," he said. While expressing appreciation for the allies abroad, prominent Russian activist Anastasia Smirnova said she feared that "dangerous self-censorship" might deter some Olympians in Sochi from taking stands against the law. In an email Friday, she also worried about a possible backlash against Russian gays once the Olympic spotlight fades. ' ' '