TORONTO -- Greatest hockey team ever?Let the argument begin.With apologies to the great Soviet national teams of yesteryear that were simply outstanding but didnt get to regularly test themselves against NHL players, Team Canada circa 2014-16 might go down as the most dominating squad to ever hit the ice in the modern era.A perfect 12-0-0 between the 2014 Sochi Olympics and the World Cup of Hockey?-- with Thursday nights thrilling 2-1 victory over Europe at Air Canada Centre as the finishing touch -- is a stretch of hockey we wont soon forget.Its pretty special, said World Cup MVP Sidney Crosby. Its not easy to do, and for a good chunk of us, a lot of us were together there in Russia.Everyone understands playing for Team Canada, youre willing to do anything to win.And with three straight wins in best-on-best hockey when including Canadas gold at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, its first time thats happened since Canada took home three straight Canada Cups in 1984, 1987 and 1991.And again, the Soviet national teams from the 1950 to 1990 won a million world championships and Olympic gold medals but didnt have to play the very best of the NHL in those tournaments.What stands out in this 12-0-0 run by Team Canada, in which it outscored the opposition 41-11, is that it has come against the very best players in the world, and at no time in either tournament did anyone feel like the result was in doubt.Its impressive to see how dominant Canada have been in the last two big tournaments, the great Nicklas Lidstrom, an adviser to Sweden, said via email on Thursday. Theyve been able to win games even when they havent played their best, and that really shows how strong of a team they have been in these best-on-best tournaments.And thats just it. They won ugly in Game 1 of the World Cup finals and needed a late rally to finish the job Thursday night over a plucky Europe squad. But find a way to win, no matter how they play, is what this Team Canada has done.The 1-0 semifinals win over Team USA in Sochi was close in score only. Canada owned the puck all game long.Team Canada played keep-away with the puck on the bigger ice in Sochi, outscoring the opposition 17-3. Here on the smaller NHL ice at the World Cup, Canada played its more natural game -- a smothering, four-line attack that forced turnovers and created all kinds of zone time and scoring chances en route to outscoring teams 24-8.Its a good group of players right now; just look at the names they leave off. and then [coach] Mike [Babcock] just does a really, really good job of preparing them and getting them ready, and no matter how much each guy is playing, everyone is buying in, Steve Yzerman, architect of the 2010 and 2014 Canadian Olympic teams and now looking on from the outside, said on Thursday. You also have to really credit Hockey Canada from the top on down and how they do things.We wanted to talk ourselves into thinking Sweden or Team USA had a chance to dethrone the champs. But really? Team Canada is a team with the best player in the world in World Cup MVP Sidney Crosby, the two best two-way forwards in the world in Jonathan Toews and Patrice Bergeron, arguably the best defenseman in the world in Drew Doughty (Erik Karlsson might have a say in that) and certainly the best goalie in the world in Carey Price.Isnt that just the kicker with this team, right? When the opposition finally gets a hold of the puck for the odd scoring chance, whether that was in Sochi or here at the World Cup, the last guy standing in its way is Price, whose demeanor is perfect for this team.He gives your group confidence and an aura of calm like no one Ive ever been around, Babcock said of Price.And what of Babcock, arguably the best coach in the game? He has been behind the bench for two Olympic gold medals and now a World Cup championship. He has sold a game plan. And once again, he got a complete buy-in from some of the very best players in the world. Zero pushback. Thats the respect and trust he has built up with these studs.Team Canada had pretournament injury withdrawals from Duncan Keith, Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and Jeff Carter ... and didnt blink.Enter Jay Bouwmeester, Logan Couture, Ryan OReilly and Corey Perry.The next time Team Canada laces up for a best-on-best tournament, whether thats the 2018 South Korea Olympics or the next World Cup, Connor McDavid will be front and center. So its not as though Team Canada as a powerhouse is going away.Its such a good group of players, that whole age group, and theres more young ones coming along now that should keep it going for a while, said Yzerman.But one day, this unbelievable stretch will end. Canada will actually lose a game in best-on-best hockey. It will lose a tournament. Team USAs next generation of stars is at hand, a rival of equal footing perhaps soon enough.So to my fellow Canadians, make sure to fully absorb what has happened here during this era. It wont always be this way. Dont take this for granted.This was, by any measure, an unparalleled era of success. Kurt Rambis Jersey . After a replay, the winner will meet Sunderland in the quarterfinals. Sagbo did well to control Sone Alukos right cross and fire past Brighton goalkeeper Peter Brezovan. Aluko was making his first start in four months after recovering from an Achilles injury. Anthony Davis Lakers Jersey . The 29-year-old from Port Colborne, Ont., has nothing but good things to say about former U.S. marine Liz (Girlrilla) Carmouche ahead of their co-main event Wednesday on the UFCs "Fight for the Troops" televised card in Fort Campbell, Ky. http://www.lakersbasketballshop.com/Derek-Fisher-Jersey/ . Datsyuk will miss Tuesdays game against New Jersey and could be sidelined longer, while Cleary will likely miss at least the next three games. Its been an injury-plagued season for Datsyuk, who has suited up for just 39 games. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Lakers Jersey . Numbers Game looks into the Canadiens securing the services of Thomas Vanek in a trade with the New York Islanders. The Canadiens Get: LW Thomas Vanek and a conditional fifth-round pick. Michael Cooper Lakers Jersey . A lawyer for MLB, Matthew Menchel, confirmed Wednesday the league dropped its case against Biogenesis of America, its owner Anthony Bosch and several other individuals. The lawsuit had accused Biogenesis and Bosch of conspiring with players to violate their contracts by providing them with banned performance-enhancing substances. TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Speaking about a former teammate who had just ended her season Sunday, Monica Abbott described Chicago Bandits veteran Danielle Zymkowitz as a rallier.As in, one who rallies those around her.The qualities Abbott was talking about make the longest-serving player on the Chicago roster -- now in her sixth season in a league when making it half that long makes a player grizzled -- an important part of the culture of a franchise that annually punches above its supposed weight.She has been there before. The Bandits have been there before.And it is a franchise that is at it again after its 11-5 win against the top-seeded USSSA Pride leveled the best-of-three National Pro Fastpitch championship series and set up a winner-take-all finale in a softball rivalry every bit as special as that between the United States and Japan or Arizona and UCLA.What Zymkowitz began with a bloop single over the head of the shortstop in the bottom of the fourth inning, veteran teammate Brittany Cervantes completed with a much longer but no less arcing home run off the light pole in left field in the sixth inning. From the brink of elimination, the Bandits won by scoring more runs than any team scored against the Pride this season.The Bandits finished the regular season with a losing record, a rarity for them. They werent supposed to win a semifinal series against the ScrapYard Dawgs, the team that signed away Abbott this spring. But here the Bandits are on level footing with the Pride with one game left in the season, the same two teams left to settle a championship for the sixth time in the past seven years.You asked who would we rather face, the Prides Megan Wiggins said. In all honesty I would have rather faced ScrapYard because I know the type of team [the Bandits] are. It doesnt matter the opponent that theyre playing, it doesnt matter the pitcher that theyre facing.She should know. She was the thorn in the Prides side when she played for the Bandits.For the fourth time in as many postseason games, the Bandits scored first. With one out in the bottom of the third inning, Taylor Edwards drilled a pitch deep into the Tuscaloosa night for a home run. If the lead was familiar territory to the Bandits, it was unfamiliar to the Pride, their first deficit of the playoffs. It didnt seem to bother the best lineup in the league. The Pride rallied for two runs in the top of the fourth to take the lead.But instead of the beginning of the end for the team that presumably needed every break to fall its way, the Bandits made it the beginning of the fun. They answered the Prides runs with five of their own in the bottom of the fourth inning, Zymkowitzs bloop preceding, in due time, Jill Barretts three-run home run that pushed the lead to 6-2.The Pride answered again in the top of the fifth inning to cut the lead to 6-5. And again the Bandits answered in kind. Zymkowitz lined a double in the bottom of the inning that was the first step toward two more runs and an 8-5 lead. This time the see-saw never budged. The Pride went quietly in the top of the sixth inning, and Cervantes three-run home run in the bottom of that inning provided the exclamation mark.The Pride lineup Monday night included hitters ranked first, sixth, eighth and 15th in NCAA career home runs. That list didnt even include former Olympian Kelly Kretschman, the NPF MVP this season. Or Wiggins, a former MVP and an all-league selection the past six seasons who made the rich richer when she moved.In Zymkowitz and Cervantes, the Bandits lineup had at its heart two veterans who went undrafted and made the team by way of open tryouts in 2011 and 2012, respectively. Coach Michael Steuerwald said 45 players might show up for those annual tryouts, more than half of them former Division I players. Out of that mass, the team miight find one or two who could help.ddddddddddddNo team more consistently finds talent that others overlooked, Zymkowitz and Cervantes the descendants of former finds like Amber Patton and Tammy Williams. And the former pair may, in turn, hand over that mantle to the likes of Megan Blank, the former Iowa standout who signed with the Bandits out of a tryout a year ago and had two hits and an RBI in Mondays game.I think everyone knows the level of talent across the country is incredible, Steuerwald said. Theres girls that arent playing in this league that could be and should be. And hopefully they have more opportunities as years come along. But for us, its a huge thing. We look at players that might not be drafted. For Cerv, [Kentucky] sent up film of her and we said Hey, can we get her to tryouts. The story isnt always exactly the same -- rookie pitcher Shelby Turnier, so poised in relief in both this game and the elimination game a day earlier against ScrapYard, was a prized second-round pick, as was starting pitcher Michelle Gascoigne in 2014. Barrett was a fourth-round find, but it was Akron that found her. The Bandits paid a first-round price to acquire her last fall.But the essence of the Bandits is in stories like those of Cervantes and Zymkowitz. Always in the shadow of the Pride, the Bandits perpetually play with something to prove. The entire first round that was selected in the 2012 draft is now out of the league. Cervantes has another game to play Tuesday.Cervantes played sparingly as a rookie in 2012. She recorded just 50 at-bats and eight hits for the summer. But the talent that made her one of the best run producers in the SEC matured in the professional game. She was the NPF offensive player of the year a season ago and ranks fourth in the league in on-base percentage this season. She is one of the best hitters in the world and has looked the part here with eight hits in five postseason games.After our final game [at Kentucky], I knew I wasnt done yet, Cervantes said. Even though I knew I wasnt playing [as an NPF rookie], I knew I was getting better, just by watching the people above me, like Vicky Galindo, Tammy, Amber, Shannon [Doepking] and Monica. Everybody was still helping me become a better player. Its fun to see the hard work kind of pay off.She and the Bandits manage a difficult balancing act, playing with a chip on their shoulders without seeming churlish. She used the word fun, and that genuinely seems to describe them. Steuerwald said this particular group was the most fun he has been around in Chicago -- even when it wasnt winning or playing particularly well early this year.But there is also an edge to them. Cervantes said the bat flip that followed a Wiggins home run in the opening game of the title series wasnt a source of motivation, but she made clear that there was some extra motivation stoking a rivalry that already burned hot.So often, too often and too easily, the lament is offered about womens sports that there arent enough upsets, there isnt enough parity. It is too often Serena Williams or the Connecticut womens basketball team marching to titles.The naysayers should take the time to watch the finale in Tuscaloosa on Tuesday night.There will be a great team that should win. There will be another team that believes it will win.And which team does is anyones guess. Like any real rivalry.Some of our vets have played in three, four championship series now, so theyre not scared of the situation, Steuerwald said. But at the same time, I think if you asked everyone in the softball world should we be going to Game 3 against the Pride tomorrow night, you probably would have won a lot of money in Vegas. ' ' '