CALGARY -- Canadas cross-country ski team is poised to make Olympic history next month. While Canadian women have stood on the Olympic podium in the sport, a Canadian man never has. Led by Alex Harvey of St-Ferreol-les-Neiges, Que., and Devon Kershaw of Sudbury, Ont., that drought could end on the Psekhako Ridge in Sochi, Russia. The hard goal of Canadas cross-country team is to claim at least two medals in Sochi. Its the men who have the best chance at winning them this time. "I really feel if this team doesnt get two medals Ill feel a bit of disappointment or maybe we did something wrong," Canadian head coach Justin Wadsworth said. "That doesnt mean were incapable of four or five medals. "This is an amazing team. We could do better than two medals. We could blow other teams out of the water if everything comes together." The 11 skiers wholl represent Canada in Sochi were introduced Tuesday at an elementary school with six being present for the announcement. Harvey, Kershaw, Ivan Babikov of Canmore, Alta., Daria Gaiazova of Banff, Alta., and Perianne Jones of Almonte, Ont., were in Europe and en route to a World Cup event in Poland. Chandra Crawford and Jesse Cockney of Canmore, Torontos Lenny Valjas, Graeme Killick of Fort McMurray, Alta., Heidi Widmer of Banff and Emily Nishikawa of Whitehorse will join their teammates in Italy next week for pre-Games training. Cockney, Killick, Widmer and Nishikawa claimed their Olympic berths at last weeks trials in Canmore. They, along with Valjas, will make their Olympic debuts while the rest of the team has previous Games experience. Harvey won two races and finished in the medals four times in this seasons Tour de Ski, which is a gruelling series of 10 races spread over 16 days and three countries. Harvey and Kershaw finished first and second, respectively, in the series opening race. "I feel like our team is in a really good place," Wadsworth said. "We started out slowly this year. The results werent good early and weve built and built. I feel like were in a place where were building still in confidence. We havent peaked out in any way shape or form. "I feel like the whole team is starting to rise and its how we wanted to time it." Wadsworth is married to Canadas Beckie Scott, whose bronze at the 2002 Winter Games was eventually upgraded to gold when two Russians ahead of her were disqualified for doping. Scott was the first North American woman to win an Olympic medal in cross-country skiing. Scott and Sara Renner combined for team sprint silver in 2006 before Scott retired. Canadas cross-country skiers were shut out of the medals at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and Whistler, B.C., although the men posted seven top-10 finishes. Harvey and Kershaw were fourth in the team sprint and Babikov fifth in the 30-kilometre event. Kershaw was fifth and an agonizing half a second from the podium in the 50-kilometre event. Harvey and Kershaw won world championship gold in 2011 in the team sprint. The mens sprints are fertile ground for Canada, but Babikov is also a contender in distance events. Those three and Valjas also give the Canadian squad a strong mens relay team. Medal prospects are thinner on the womens side, although Gaiazova and Jones won World Cup bronze in a team sprint in Sochi last year. Crawford, the 2006 Olympic womens sprint champion, is a wildcard. The womens sprint Feb. 11 will be a skate-ski race again as it was in 2006. The womens sprint in 2010 was a classic race and not Crawfords forte. The 30-year-old is more in her element in skating races than in classic, the striding technique requiring more finesse and less power. But Crawford has struggled first with injuries and then burnout since 2006, to the point where she cut her 2012-13 European racing season short and returned to Canmore. She trained on her own last summer instead of joining the national team at training camps. The 30-year-old isnt shouldering the same weight of expectation she did prior to 2010. "Its so different than Vancouver. Its not our Games. We have to . . . there was more of a have-to feeling," Crawford said. "Just the amount of interest was hard to process as well. "This feels like a real gift and I really appreciate the opportunity." Cockney is the first athlete of Inuit descent on the Olympic cross-country team since sisters Sharon and Shirley Firth raced in their fourth Winter Games in 1984. Cockneys father, Angus, is Inuit. Cockney was born in Yellowknife and learned to ski there before his family moved to Canmore. "Its great to have a strong connection to distinct people," the 26-year-old said. "You kind of feel a little bit more unique and for sure a different experience growing up. "My dad was a cross-country skier at a high level when he was younger and he got my sister and I involved when we were quite young. We had ski trails behind our house when we lived in Yellowknife all the way to the nordic centre. "A lot of dark, cold days in Yellowknife, cross-country skiing in the middle of winter, but that hardened us up and made us stronger." Killick beat decorated Paralympian Brian McKeever out for a spot on the Olympic squad by winning the 30-kilometre event and finishing second to McKeever in the 15k at trials. McKeever was eighth in the 30k. McKeever, from Canmore, is a legally blind skier and winner of 10 Paralympic medals who qualified for Canadas 2010 Olympic team. He was poised to become the first Paralympian to compete in a Winter Olympics, but the teams coaches decided to enter four other skiers in the 50k and not McKeever. The 2014 Olympic cross-country ski competition opens Feb. 8 with the womens 15k race. Shea Weber Jersey . -- The Detroit Lions made it crystal clear to Golden Tate that he was their top target in free agency. Mike Reilly Jersey . 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The major league leader with 40 homers during the regular season, Cruz added an RBI single to his early blast off Max Scherzer.The legend of Jose Abreu continues to grow, but the enormous early achievements for the rookie have yet to translate into an overall level of success for his Chicago White Sox. Abreu his and teammates shoot for back-to-back wins for just the second time since June 11 on Saturday as they battle the Toronto Blue Jays in the third of a four-game set. Trying to slow down Abreu for the Jays is rookie hurler Marcus Stroman, a product of Duke. The right-hander, making his first-ever appearance against Chicago, managed to break a minor two-game slide on Monday as he allowed just a single run on three hits, striking out seven, over eight innings against the New York Yankees at home. Stroman has appeared in four day games this season already, but the results have been somewhat hard to swallow, even though he has a record of 1-1 in such games. He is also carrying a lofty 5.65 ERA in those 14 1/3 innings. Chicago, which is alone in last place in the AL Central, has the second- highest team ERA in the league at 4.40 and is the only club yet to register a shutout on the campaign. Conversely, Toronto is second in the AL with 10 shutouts, although the Jays are 11th in overall ERA with a 4.09 mark. Chicagos first baseman posted two more home runs on Friday as the Sox slipped by Toronto in a 5-4 decision. The victory snapped a brief two-game slide for a Chicago club that is 10 games below .500 (16-26) on the road. Abreu, though, now has four multi-homer games through his first 67 contests, becoming the first player since Atlantas Bob Horner in 1978 to achieve such a feat. Abreu is also tied with Torontos Edwin Encarnacion and Nelson Cruz of Baltimore for the Major League lead in home runs with 25. "Im glad hes on my team," said White Sox starter John Danks, who picked up his seventh win of the campaign. "t;Im glad I dont have to face him.dddddddddddd" Danks made it through six innings, allowing two runs on five hits, two of those being home runs. A host of relievers handed the game to Jake Petricka who picked up his second save of the season by recording just a pair of outs in the ninth. Former Cy Young winner R.A. Dickey was saddled with the loss as he was hammered for four home runs, five runs overall on just five hits. The knuckleballer did strike out nine and walk only one through six innings, but it just wasnt enough. "I felt very good with it, tonight was a very bizarre outing," Dickey said. "I dont know how else to explain it, to give up five hits and four of them being home runs. To walk one guy and strikeout nine and leave the game after six innings giving up five runs, thats a bizarre outing." Encarnacion, who is second in the league in RBI with 65, delivered on his 25th home run, a solo effort, while Colby Rasmus and Dioner Navarro also went deep for a Toronto team which is still holding down first place in the AL East, 1 1/2 games ahead of Baltimore entering play today. After missing almost the entire month of March, Chris Sale is now aiming to come up with his seventh win in eight decisions as he heads to the mound for the White Sox this afternoon. The left-hander pitched on Monday against Baltimore on the road but failed to earn a decision as Chicago was handed a 6-4 loss. Sale made it through just six innings for the second game in a row, permitting a mere two runs as he scattered a season-high 11 hits and struck out three. Now in his fifth season in the majors, Sale has pitched against Toronto four times previously but is still awaiting his first favorable outcome (0-2), although he has been credited with a save in one of those contests. 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