rd touchdown to make it 21-13. Game Notes Green Bay snapped a four-game losing streak to Dallas in the postseason ... The Cowboys appeared in their 60th postseason game, extending their NFL

TORONTO – Change was on the mind, but Brendan Shanahan wasnt looking explicitly for a new assistant general manager. Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic . The Maple Leafs president was combing the hockey world, trying to pick out the innovative thinkers, the rising stars, the great minds. One name kept coming up: Kyle Dubas, formerly the 28-year-old general manager of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and now assistant general manager to Dave Nonis in Toronto. Such was the latest shift in direction of the newly minted Shanahan era, one that has seen a coaching staff plundered, a roster reconstructed, a July 1st pass quietly (and prudently) by, and now a management team altered – Dave Poulin and Claude Loiselle fired Tuesday. “I like to surround myself with people that challenge ideas, that think differently,” Shanahan said. “The more I got to know Kyle the more I realized that this was somebody that obviously was an extreme talent.” Through extensive conversations with Dubas over the past few weeks, Shanahan, who accumulated nearly 700 goals and three Stanley Cups as a player, kept coming away with fresh thoughts and perspectives about the game. In Dubas, he appears to have found someone willing to think differently, a rising front office prodigy known for his openness to new ideas, including analytics. “I just found him intriguing,” said Shanahan, standing alongside Dubas at an introductory press conference from the Air Canada Centre. “I was learning things I didnt know and just wanted to learn more.” “Ive got the impression in talking to Brendan and talking to Dave that theyre certainly open to any and all ideas. That was one of the things that was most enticing about the situation here for me,” said Dubas, particularly enthused to work alongside Nonis, himself once a young assistant general manager in Vancouver. In just three short years in Sault Ste. Marie, Dubas – hired at age 25, mind you – helped steer the Greyhounds from the playoff wilderness to a West division title. He was once a teenage scout for his hometown junior team and later the youngest player agent to be certified by the NHLPA. Rising fast through the hockey ranks, he is known to be thoughtful, respectful and innovative in his thinking, a breath of fresh air to a game thats often remained engrained in old habits. Though not an all-out stats guru as portrayed in some corners, hes shown a willingness to consider the merits of analytics, employing them where suitable to help his team in the Sault. The Maple Leafs, previously led by noted analytics opponent Brian Burke, have been slow to adjust to the “Money-Puck revolution,” which has crept louder and louder into the game in recent years. And if not a voice for that community, Dubas should, at the very least, open up Nonis, Randy Carlyle and the entire group in Toronto to some different ideas. “Its really about learning as much as I can and getting as much information as I can,” Dubas said. “I havent run the team in Sault St. Marie based solely on statistics, its been a good size part of what weve integrated in, but the rest of it is just hockey. Its evaluating players, scouting reports, dealing with the personalities on the team, trying to hire the best scouts and people. And certainly the analytics, Ive found it to be a major help to me personally in the way that I view the game and just create a better level of certainty to decisions.” “Information is power,” Shanahan added. “Its about eliminating some of the noise and seeing what information works best for you, your team, and the direction you and your team want to go with. “Hes obviously got a great appreciation and understanding of analytics, but hes also married that to the complexities and instincts you have to have when youre putting a product on the ice. Hes not just talked about it, but hes done it.” Todd Reynolds, formerly a colleague in the agent business, says Dubas is not some analytics guru, but rather a well-rounded hockey mind on the rise. “I dont think its all about analytics like people have wanted to make it out to be today,” he told TSN.ca. “Hes not a computer nerd. Hes not sitting there crunching numbers and bringing sheets of paper into the GMs office with recommendations. Hes much more complete than that.” Reynolds firm, Uptown Sports Management, hired Dubas fresh out of the Brock University sports management program. They had known him to be “mature beyond his years” from past dealings with the Greyhounds organization. Dubas, they believed, was sensible, trustworthy and related well to people senior to him. “It really wasnt as much of a stretch or a leap of faith on our part as people thought it was at the time,” Reynolds said. “He held his own. [His age] was used against him at times – as you can imagine our business is competitive, the industry is – and people would say ‘Really, youre thinking about going with him? The kids 20-year-old. So it was used against him successfully at times, at other times he overcame it. “We encouraged him ‘just continue doing what youre doing and people wont talk about your age theyll talk about your track record.” And so they werent surprised at the Burlington headquarters of Uptown Sports to learn a few years down the road that Dubas had earned the GM job in hockey-mad Sault Ste. Marie – as one of the youngest GMs in OHL history – nor taken aback on this day when he rose to the NHL. “We all knew this was coming,” Reynolds said. Shanahan claims he never set out to hire an assistant general manager, but planned on assessing the various levels of the organization over the offseason and instilling change from there. He expected more hires to the management team, likely needing a replacement for Loiselle as it pertained to contract negotiations, the CBA, and the cap, and someone to assume Poulins duties, which included management of the Marlies. Tuesdays proceedings were ultimately another step in the remaking of the Leafs in Shanahans vision. That vision started to take shape with the early May firings of the coaching staff and the retaining of Carlyle. It continued with the selection of William Nylander at the draft, varied roster pursuits in and around July 1st – quiet for Toronto standards – and a pair of new hires (and voices) to surround Carlyle, including the youthful Steve Spott. In Dubas meanwhile, Shahanan will look for a different voice, a fresher perspective that may have been lacking. “Im just an assistant GM,” said Dubas. “Ill do what Im asked and go from there.” Wholesale Jerseys Free Shipping . Canada will host the second stop on the circuit, the 2014 Skate Canada International in Kelowna, British Columbia from October 31 - November 2, 2014 at Prospera Place. Supply NFL Jerseys . -- Jake Paterson made 39 saves as the Saginaw Spirit halted the Guelph Storms seven-game win streak with a 6-3 victory on Sunday in Ontario Hockey League action. http://www.chinajerseysauthenticnflwholesale.com/ . All of 46 seconds into the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 victory over Alex Ovechkins struggling Washington Capitals, Crosby assisted on Chris Kunitzs goal.Green Bay, WI (SportsNetwork.com) - Aaron Rodgers led the Green Bay Packers into the NFC title game with two near-flawless drives. As for Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys? Their season is over after a replay reversal near the end of the game took away a Dez Bryant catch at the goal line. Rodgers completed 11 of 14 passes for 173 yards on two touchdown drives in the third and fourth quarter and Green Bay scored 13 unanswered points for a 26-21 win over the Cowboys in a divisional playoff game on Sunday at Lambeau Field. Green Bay took its first lead since 7-0 when Rodgers zipped a pass through two defenders and hit tight end Richard Rodgers for a 13-yard touchdown with 9:10 remaining. Then, on 4th-and-2, Bryant went up for Romos deep pass down the left sideline and was ruled to have made a 31-yard catch at the Green Bay 1 after snatching the ball out of the air above cornerback Sam Shields. The Packers challenged the call and officials eventually said Bryant, who was cupping the ball against his left forearm as it hit the field and popped up into the air, didnt complete the catch. Clearly they didnt see it the way I saw it, Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. It looked to me like he had three feet down and (in) what they describe to us all the time as a move common to the game Dez reached out for the goal line like hes done so many times. Its a signature play for him and he maintained possession throughout in my opinion. The ruling came a week after officials picked up a pass interference flag on a controversial non-call that helped Dallas beat Detroit in the wild-card round. All I know is I had possession, Bryant said. Garret said the game wasnt about officiating. We had 60 minutes with an opportunity to come up here and win a ballgame and we didnt get the job done, he said. That play was big in the game but there were plenty of other plays. The Packers will play in the NFC championship game for the first time since beating Chicago after the 2010 season on the way to their fourth Super Bowl title. They will travel to Seattle to play the reigning Super Bowl-champion Seahawks next Sunday in a meeting of the top two seeds in the conference. Playing on an injured left calf, Rodgers passed for 316 yards and three scores and Eddie Lacy rushed 19 times for 101 yards for the NFC North champs. Romo threw for 191 yards and two touchdowns for the NFC East-champion Cowboys and NFL rushing leader DeMarco Murray had 25 carries for 123 yards and a touchdown. It was the first postseason game between the teams at Lambeau Field since the Packers won the 1966 NFL championship game, known as the Ice Bowl because it was played in sub-zero temperatures. Rodgers go-ahead throw was a frozen rope to the tight end Rodgers, who made the catch in the back of the end zone between defensive backs Sterling Moore and J.J. Wilcox. Once we opened things up and he was able to get into a rhythm and move around, he played like Aaron Rodgers, said Packers coach Mike McCarthy. Just an incredible game for Aaron, especially after what hes been through the last two weeks. Bryant, who has three inches on the 5-foot-11 Shields, used every bit of his height advantage to make a sensational leaping grab that appeared -- if only for several minutes -- to have potentially saved the Cowboys season. Bryant was stunned when the call was reversed, putting his hands on the side of his head. It mirrored a call that negated a winning touchdown catch for Detroits Calvin Johnson in the 2010 season opener against Chicago. Both players were ruled to not have maintained possession through the end of the play. We know the feeling, the Lions tweeted after the game, linking to a video of the Johnson play. Everyone knows the Calvin Johnson rule, Rodgers, the Packers quarterback, said. I remember sitting at home wondering how the heck that isnt a catch. But its been a few years now. According to Rule 8, Section 1, Article 3 of the NFL rulebook, If a player goes to the ground in the acct of catching a pass (with or without contact by an opponent), he must maintain control of the ball throughout the process of contacting the ground, whether in the field of play or the end zone. Cheap Dallas Cowboys Jerseys. . If he loses control of the ball, and the ball touches the ground before he regains control, the pass is incomplete. If he regains control prior to the ball touching the ground, the pass is complete. Referee Gene Steratore said it was the judgement of the officials -- both at the game and in New York -- that Bryant maintained possession but continued to fall and never had another act common to the game. Bryant re-secured the football as he slid on his back into the end zone, but Steratore said it didnt matter because it was already an incompletion. There were a couple of angles that show the ball actually hitting the ground and then the receiver losing possession of it, Steratore said. Green Bay picked up two first downs on the ensuing drive to kill the rest of the clock, including a diving 12-yard grab by Randall Cobb on 3rd-and-11 on a pass that was tipped at the line. McCarthy said he thought officials made the right call on the Bryant play. I thought it was an incredible -- I dont want to say catch -- but an incredible play by Dez Bryant on Sam Shields, the Packers coach said. Rodgers also completed touchdown passes to Andrew Quarless for a 7-0 lead in the first quarter and to Davante Adams, who slipped past Moore and Wilcox for a 46-yard catch-and-run near the end of the third quarter to get Green Bay within 21-20. The Packers are 8-1 in their last nine games and finished 9-0 at home this season. The third-seeded Cowboys, who made the playoffs for the first time since 2009, lost for the first time in nine road games this season. They were trying to make the NFC title game for the first time since beating the Packers 38-27 in January 1996 on the way to winning the last of their five Super Bowl titles. Bryant, the NFLs leader in touchdown receptions during the regular season, was quiet for much of the game and ended with three receptions for 38 yards. Of the controversial reversal, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said, In my view, we made the play. Weve had a lot of re-looks at things around the league, said Jones. Sometimes they go for you, and sometimes they dont. Romo had touchdown throws to fullback Tyler Clutts and Terrance Williams in the first half, helping Dallas take a 14-10 lead into intermission. Clutts scored his first career touchdown after a pass interference penalty took the Cowboys to the 1-yard line, and Williams scored for the third time in the playoffs on a 38-yard reception that came after Rodgers fumbled on a hit by defensive end Jeremy Mincey. Packers linebacker Julius Peppers might have saved a Dallas touchdown when he reached out to strip Murray near midfield early in the third quarter, giving Green Bay the ball near midfield. But the Packers settled for Mason Crosbys 30-yard field goal after lineman T.J. Lang was penalized for unnecessary roughness for shoving Nick Hayden at the end of a play, which sparked a scuffle between the teams. Romo came up limping after a hit by Packers safety Micah Hyde in the third quarter and appeared to be favoring his left knee. Dallas scored on the drive, with Murrays 26-yard run setting up his 1-yard touchdown to make it 21-13. Game Notes Green Bay snapped a four-game losing streak to Dallas in the postseason ... The Cowboys appeared in their 60th postseason game, extending their NFL record. They have a league-record 34 wins ... The Packers improved to 31-19 in the postseason ... Clutts has just 10 career receptions in 56 career regular season games ... Cowboys linebacker Rolando McClain left the game in the first half and didnt return because of concussion-like symptoms ... It was the first playoff game in NFL history with a team that went 8-0 at home hosting a team that went 8-0 on the road. ' ' '