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Canadas Kevin Koe is trying his best to avoid distractions and focus on curling as he prepares for the upcoming mens world curling championship. Vapormax France . There have been a few challenges for Koe in the leadup to the competition, which opens Saturday at Beijings Capital Indoor Stadium. Chief among them is news that there are changes coming to his rink next season. Koes current lineup features second Carter Rycroft, third Pat Simmons and lead Nolan Thiessen. Rycroft, whose wife is pregnant, has already said hell be taking a year off after this season. Kevin Martin confirmed to The Canadian Press that Marc Kennedy and Ben Hebert will be leaving his rink to join Koes team next season. Koe preferred to keep his focus on the world championship and declined to comment on the coming changes. The future plans of Simmons and Thiessen were unclear. It was the first major shakeup in whats expected to be a summer of significant change on the mens curling scene now that the four-year Olympic cycle is complete. The timing is less than ideal for Koe and his teammates. Gerry Peckham, the Canadian Curling Associations high-performance director, expects Koe to be able to lock in on the immediate task before him. „Our analysis of his performance skills and performance attributes would suggest that hes an incredibly focused individual and is seldom distracted by anything external to the game at hand,“ Peckham said. „I think those teammates have looked in each other in the eye again, squared their shoulders, are shaking each others hands and are now moving on to complete this journey of a world championship.“ Koe won gold in his only previous appearance at the world championship, taking top spot at the 2010 playdowns in Cortina DAmpezzo, Italy. At this years event, Canada will be a favourite along with Scotland, Sweden, Norway and China. The 12-team field is rounded out by the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Russia, Switzerland and the United States. „Canada used to be known obviously as a big favourite going in all the time but you quickly realize how the gap is changing,“ Koe said. „Our experience in 2010 was awesome in Italy and it was a great feeling to win. But this is just as important for us. „To get to be two-time world champs would be pretty neat and kind of validate our first win.“ Koe arrived early in the week so that hed have time to adjust to the 14-hour time change. He was greeted by plenty of smog, heat and humidity. Hes also still getting used to the various culinary options in the Chinese capital. „Its a bit of a culture shock for us,“ Koe said in a recent interview. „Big difference from what were used to. Obviously a huge city but it will be a great experience.“ Koe had a strong performance at the Tim Hortons Brier and is enjoying another solid year on the World Curling Tour. Hes third on the money list and fourth in the order of merit standings behind only Olympic champ Brad Jacobs, Howard and Jeff Stoughton. The only change from the 2010 lineup is that Simmons has replaced Blake MacDonald on the Calgary-based rink. „We dont get too excited or too worked up as a team,“ Koe said. „Were pretty calm. Obviously the experience of being to one (world championship) will help for sure, especially when youre coming to a foreign country where everything is different. „At least we can rely on the experience once we actually get on the ice of knowing weve been to the worlds and we did well last time.“ Its the first World Curling Federation world championship event to be staged in China. The venue was used for volleyball competition at the 2008 Summer Olympics. The Chinese team skipped by Rui Liu is coming off a fourth-place result at the Sochi Games. Scotlands Ewan MacDonald has three world titles to his name although this is his first appearance as skip. Thomas Ulsrud, who won Olympic silver at the 2010 Games in Vancouver, will skip the Norwegian team. „We know most of these teams and theyre all pretty good,“ Koe said. „Not too many easy games out there.“ Swedens Niklas Edin is not back to defend the title he won last year in Victoria. Instead, Oskar Eriksson will skip the Swedish entry. Round-robin play will continue through Thursday evening and tiebreakers will be used if needed to determine the top four teams. The Page playoff system will be used ahead of the medal games on April 6. Koe said the ice conditions in the venue will be a huge factor. „They do have some great icemakers but its really warm here,“ he said. „Its supposedly pushing 30 (degrees Celsius) here and they had an event in the facility early in the year and there was a lot of problems. But I think theyve brought in some dehumidifiers and air conditioning to cool the arena down. „Thats the big worry here. If the ice is good, I for sure like our chances. Bad ice would be a bit of an equalizer I think. But when you have some of the best icemakers in the world, Im sure theyll get it figured out.“ Canada has won gold three of the last four years at this event. Stoughton was victorious in 2011 at Regina and Howard won at Basel, Switzerland in 2012. The Canadians are scheduled to open against Denmarks Rasmus Stjerne on Saturday. „You have four very solid, confident, resolved individuals (who are) mentally tough,“ said Peckham. „I think they realize the significance and the importance of this world championship to themselves individually and as a collective, and then of course representing this curling nation of Canada. „So I think theyve gone out the door with their game face on.“ The world championship will return to Canada next year as Halifax plays host. Fausse Air Max 95 Pas Cher .ca. In Sundays Blackhawks-Penguins game, Pittsburgh defenceman Brooks Orpik laid a huge hit on Chicagos Jonathan Toews. Now in my view, Orpik can be clearly seen leaving his feet while delivering a moderately high hit. Basket Nike Pas Cher . Marc-Andre Fleury made 27 saves to backstop the Penguins to a 2-1 victory over the Flames, handing Calgary its team record sixth consecutive home regulation loss.Melbourne, Australia (SportsNetwork.com) – Former champion Maria Sharapova and third seed Simona Halep notched wins, while former runner-up Ana Ivanovic was a stunning opening-round loser on Day 1 at the Australian Open. The second-seeded former world No. 1 Sharapova eased past Croat Petra Martic 6-4, 6-1. The reigning French Open champion titled here in 2008 and was an Aussie runner-up in 2007 and 2012. Sharapova opened her 2015 season with a title in Brisbane two weeks ago. Her second-round opponent on Wednesday will be fellow Russian Alexandra Panova. Last years French Open runner-up to Sharapova, Halep, handled Italian Karin Knapp 6-3, 6-2 at Melbourne Park. Halep opened her latest season with her ninth career title in Shenzhen, China, two weeks ago. Shell meet Aussie Jarmila Gajdosova on Day 3 this week. Meanwhile, Czech Lucie Hradecka sent shockwaves by ousting fifth-seeded Ivanovic 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 at Rod Laver Arena. The Serbian Ivanovic, who was the Aussie runner-up to Sharapova in 2008, suffered her earliest exit at a Grand Slam event since the French Open in 2011. She was a quarterfinalist in Melbourne last year. I think the whole match I didnt really feel like myself out there, Ivanovic said. It was really tough for me to find a rhythm a little bit. In the third set, I really felt like she raised her level. Hradecka, playing her first Grand Slam main draw since last years Aussie Open, lost in qualifying at the other three majors in 2014. The doubles specialist entered the week ranked 142nd in singles play. She has 18 doubles titles, but none in singles. In the first set I was so nervous, Hradecka said. I couldnt hit any balls in the court. When I went outside, I started to serve in the second set, I thought, Okay, it cannot be the worst. Lets play every point and lets see what will happen. Its the earliest exit by a top-5 seed since 2003, when then No. 3 Jennifer Capriati was ousted by Marlene Weingartner. Seventh-seeded Canadian star Eugenie Bouchard doused German Anna-Lena Friedsam 6-2, 6-4, while another upset saw Irina-Camelia Beggu of Romania beat No. Yeezy 350 v2 Fausse. . 9 seed Angelique Kerber of Germany, 6-4, 0-6, 6-1. Bouchard was the only woman to appear in three Grand Slam semifinals last year. Bouchards second-round opponent will be Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens. In other action involving top-16 seeds, No. 10 Russian Ekaterina Makarova whipped Belgian An-Sophie Mestach 6-2, 6-2, No. 14 former Roland Garros runner-up Sara Errani drilled American Grace Min 6-1, 6-0 and Kazakhstans Yaroslava Shvedova upended No. 16 Czech Lucie Safarova 6-4, 2-6, 8-6. In other play involving seeds, German Carina Witthoeft took out No. 17 Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro 6-3, 6-1; No. 21 Peng Shuai of China beat Germanys Tatjana Maria 6-4, 7-5; No. 22 Czech Karolina Pliskova defeated Russian Evgeniya Rodina 7-5, 6-1; Belgiums Yanina Wickmayer downed No. 23 Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 4-6, 6-3, 6-3; Frances Caroline Garcia upset No. 27 Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 6-4, 6-2; Frances Kristina Mladenovic doused No. 28 Sabine Lisicki of Germany 4-6, 6-4, 6-2; No. 31 Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan overcame Pole Urszula Radwanska 3-6, 6-4, 6-2; and Germanys Julia Goerges vanquished No. 32 Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 6-2, 6-1. Several other women moved on, including Americans Christina McHale and Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Puerto Rican Monica Puig and Italian veteran Roberta Vinci. On Tuesday, top seed Serena Williams will meet Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck and fourth-seeded Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova will face Dutchwoman Richel Hogenkamp. The reigning U.S. Open champion Williams owns 18 career Grand Slam titles, including a whopping five Aussie crowns. Also slated for opening-round action on Day 2 are sixth-seeded former Wimbledon finalist Agnieszka Radwanska, eighth-seeded former No. 1 and 2014 U.S. Open runner-up Caroline Wozniacki, 11th-seeded 2014 Aussie Open runner-up Dominika Cibulkova, 18th-seeded former top-ranked star and former Aussie finalist Venus Williams, and unseeded two-time Aussie champ Victoria Azarenka, who will battle American Sloane Stephens. ‚ ‚ ‚