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VANCOUVER -- Jordan Harvey didnt quite know what to make of the Vancouver Whitecaps coming into the 2014 campaign. Air Max Plus Saldi . After a tumultuous off-season that included the teams head coach getting fired -- as well as its best player forcing his way out of town -- the defender wasnt alone. "I had a lot of questions," Harvey said this week. "It was a young team and everything, but we acquired some really quality players. We had that first game (a 4-1 home victory over the New York Red Bulls) and the expectations were huge, but we also saw how high we could reach and the bar was set. "I think we have the consistency, the depth to maintain that." Nearly a third of the way through the season, those characteristics will be put to the test on Saturday when the Whitecaps (4-2-4) host the top team in Major League Soccer at B.C. Place Stadium as the Seattle Sounders (8-3-1) travel north to face their bitter geographic rivals. Watch the game live on TSN2 and TSN GO at 7pm et/4pm pt. "Arguably theyre the best team in Major League Soccer at the moment. The league table doesnt lie," said Whitecaps head coach Carl Robinson. "Its a good test for us to see where we are. Its a test that Im looking forward to as a coach, and I know my players certainly are. "Theyre a very a good team, but let me tell you, so are we." The Whitecaps enter Saturday with 16 points through 10 games, but just one of their four wins have come against Western Conference opponents -- a trend from last season that Vancouver will have to shake if it wants to return to the playoffs after missing out in 2013. "Its vitally important. Winning any game of football is good, but obviously every time you dont win against a Western team youre losing points and theyre gaining points," said Robinson. "Its very important and we need to make sure that we compete with the Western teams and beat the Western teams. Thats a big focus for us this year because we didnt do it enough last year." The Sounders have 25 points from their 12 games, but will be without midfielder Clint Dempsey, who is away with the U.S. national team as it prepares for the World Cup in Brazil. "Its a test for us because Seattle are where they are," said Robinson. "Weve had a very positive start. Weve still got a lot of work to do, a lot of improving to do, and well continue to do that, whatever the result on Saturday. Its just a marker for us to see where we are." The Sounders have won five of six and are coming off a 1-0 win over the San Jose Earthquakes last weekend, while the Whitecaps will have had 10 days off since bowing out of the Amway Canadian Championship semifinals to Toronto FC on May 14. "I think its going to be a game thats going to be a bit open," Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid told the clubs official website. "Theyre a team that likes to counter attack and get forward, so it might open up at certain times during the game." Theres no doubt the Whitecaps have turned heads around MLS ten games into the schedule after a tricky off-season. Robinson was promoted from an assistants role to replace former head coach Martin Rennie in December after a prolonged search, with the Welshman taking over just in time to watch star striker Camilo Sanvezzo refuse to honour the final year of his contract. Undaunted by that setback, Robinson brought in talented fresh faces, including Matias Laba and Pedro Morales and the roster has gelled quickly. "I think weve surprised a lot of people. I dont think weve surprised the dressing room, though," said Vancouver captain Jay DeMerit. "I think the manager has kept the squad that he wants here because he believes that we can be capable of the things weve been doing the first 10 games. "Its up to us to make sure we go beyond that." The veteran defender has been with the Whitecaps since the club joined MLS in 2011 and knows the importance of beating the top teams in the West -- something Vancouver did twice last season against Seattle. "It has to come from us," said DeMerit. "It has to come from the fact that we believe in it and we believe we can do it and do it consistently." While the Sounders will be without Dempsey on Saturday, the Whitecaps will have to be wary of Seattle striker Obafemi Martins, who has five goals and six assists. "Hes a top player. Hes a world-class footballer," said Robinson. "Hes someone who scores goals and thats why hes paid big money. Weve got to make sure we eliminate the service into him and eliminate him on the ball because hes a fantastic player." Apart from its importance in the standings, the game is also Vancouvers first of the season in the regional Cascadia Cup -- a mini-tournament played between the Whitecaps, Sounders and the Portland Timbers. The team with the most points in the games played amongst the three clubs at the end of the season takes the title, which Vancouver did in 2013. "Its like a playoff atmosphere," said Harvey. "You can feel the support, the energy from the fans and its always one that we want to win for them. The Cascadia Cup -- thats some hardware that we want to keep." DeMerit likens the atmosphere to the local derbies he was a part of during his time playing in England. "You get that full atmosphere, that constant hum of chants, that full intensity that comes with that rivalry and that only rivalry games seem to create," said the 34-year-old. "Both sets of fans are very passionate about their clubs and thats what we want. Thats what were trying to build here in North America and in MLS and theres no better example than the Cascadia rivalry." Notes: The Whitecaps are 3-1-1 at home so far this season, while the Sounders have the same record on the road. ... Seattle and Portland tied the only other Cascadia game played so far this season 4-4. Each team plays six games in the competition. The Whitecaps visit the Timbers on June 1. ... Vancouver announced Thursday that striker Darren Mattocks has obtained a green card in the U.S., freeing up an international roster spot. ... Harvey and DeMerit, who are both American, said they were surprised that Los Angeles Galaxy star Landon Donovan was left off the U.S. World Cup team. Said Harvey: "Thats a crazy decision. Im really shocked by it. Hes a quality player -- best U.S. player in history." Air Max Plus Saldi Sconti . However, it wasnt a problem on Monday night. Evgeni Nabokov made 23 saves for his 56th career shutout in the New York Islanders 3-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Monday night. Air Max Shop Online Italia . I kind of got a taste of being able to pick a suit with the draft lottery, I went with the bow tie. http://www.airmaxshoponlineitalia.it/scontate-max-95-outlet.html . - All-Pro quarterback Aaron Rodgers looked spry enough in pregame warmups Sunday for Green Bays divisional playoff game against Dallas.It really didnt come as a surprise that the Florida Panthers fired head coach Kevin Dineen Friday, but its not like a change in the coaching staff is going to magically cure what ails this team. Any time a team fails to meet expectations, coaches end up on the chopping block, but that leads to the question: why would there have been expectations put upon the Florida Panthers for the 2013-2014 season? Go back to the 2011-2012 season, when the Panthers won the Southeast Division, with 94 points in 82 games, despite recording 32 regulation and overtime wins, a total that tied non-playoff teams Buffalo, Carolina (who finished last in the Southeast Division) and Colorado for 20th in the league. The Panthers also had a minus-24 goal differential, so anything beyond the point total in the standings suggested they were not really a playoff-calibre team. Consider them a prime example of a team not being what its record is. Then the Panthers proceeded to lose in double-overtime of Game Seven (after losing in overtime in Game Six) in the first round of the playoffs against the eventual Eastern-Conference-Champion New Jersey Devils, making it easy to sell the idea that the Panthers were "this close" to competing with the top teams in the league. It needs to be noted, however, that the Panthers overachieved in 2011-2012, to even generate mediocre results disguised as playoff-worthy. Florida needed to spend a lot of money in the summer of the 2011 season just to get above the salary floor and, as a result, cobbled together a make-shift roster, handing out some contracts that had surprisingly long-term implications. Sure, Florida signed Tomas Fleischmann (four years, $18-million), and he scored a career-high 61 points in 2011-2012, and has generally been a productive scorer since. C Marcel Goc (three years, $5.19-million) has been okay and G Jose Theodore (two years, $3-million) was a low-risk move, but the Panthers also inked RW Scottie Upshall (four years, $14-million), D Ed Jovanovski (four years, $16.5-million) and LW Sean Bergenheim (four years, $11-million), none of whom has provided a decent return on investment. (Injuries have admittedly played a part in their lack of production.) The Panthers also dipped into GM Dale Tallons past and traded for some former Chicago Blackhawks: D Brian Campbell, RW Kris Versteeg and RW Tomas Kopecky. That roster didnt have any business harbouring playoff expectations yet, with Dineen taking over for Peter DeBoer behind the bench, the Panthers defied the odds and reached the postseason, thanks in large part to Fleischmann, Versteeg and Stephen Weiss, their top line that combined for 70 goals and 172 points. Campbell added 53 points while playing nearly 27 minutes per game. That quartet made up the entire list of Florida Panthers to record more than 33 points that season, so there wasnt a lot coming from the supporting cast. The 2013 season brought much worse results, particularly when injuries limited Weiss and Versteeg to a total of 27 games and the goaltending went from decent, ranking 11th with a .914 save percentage, to a league-worst . Nike Vapormax Scontate. 887 save percentage in the lockout-shortened 2013 season. Those injuries, and subpar goaltending, over a small-sample season may have been what led Tallon to still harbour expectations for this team coming into the 2013-2014 season. Or maybe its because there is a new owner calling the shots that the Panthers couldnt simply see the 2013-2014 season as one for development of their young talent. After all, the Panthers have added some promising young players including LW Jonathan Huberdeau, C Aleksander Barkov and C Nick Bjugstad, who are all playing significant minutes. D Erik Gudbranson, the third overall pick in 2010, and D Dmitry Kulikov, the 14th pick in 2009 are still works in progress, but young enough to be part of what the Panthers are trying to build. G Jacob Markstrom is supposed to be the goaltender of the future, even if the 23-year-old has struggled this year. Forwards Vincent Trocheck and Drew Shore and defencemen Alex Petrovic and Colby Robak have been in the AHL, playing for new head coach Peter Horacheck. Trocheck, who has 11 points in 11 games as a first-year pro and nearly made the Panthers out of training camp, could get his opportunity soon. In the summer of 2013, the Panthers didnt spend big money, but brought in a lot of veterans on low-money deals. Defencemen Tom Gilbert has been a bargain as a top-four defenceman while Matt Gilroy and checking forward Jesse Winchester have been decent. Veteran forwards Brad Boyes and Scott Gomez along with blueliner Ryan Whitney have not been effective and goaltender Tim Thomas hasnt been able to stay healthy in his attempt to return to action after a year off. As a result, the Panthers have the leagues 28th-ranked goal differential (minus-1.36 per game), ahead of only the Edmonton Oilers and Buffalo Sabres. Unfortunately, the goaltending hasnt gotten any better this season, ranking 28th with an .885 save percentage, and no team can win with goaltending of that calibre, let alone a team that isnt scoring at the other end of the ice and the Panthers rank 29th in 5-on-5 shooting percentage when the score is close. The good news, according to the probabilities of advanced stats, is that the Panthers arent likely to maintain such terrible shooting and save percentages all season, so they are due to get some better results; a little "puck luck" as it were. Of course, being better than their current 3-9-4 record doesnt mean all that much. When those young players start to control play more consistently and the Panthers start getting adequate goaltending, they may turn the corner, but thats going to require patience and the expectations placed on this team dont necessarily allow for patience. Trouble is, when a general manager makes moves that appear to reveal a lack of patience, its fair to start wondering if the next one on the chopping block will be the GM. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' '