headed for a waiting gold cart to shuttle her back to the familys ca

TORONTO -- International Ice Hockey Federation President Rene Fasel feels better about the chances of having NHL players compete at the 2018 Olympics in South Korea than he did earlier this year. The league doesnt sound nearly as confident and may be looking six years ahead to China instead.In May at the IIHF world championship, Fasel said he thought there was a 60 percent chance the NHL and NHL Players Association would pass on the opportunity to participate in a sixth straight Olympics. Whether the best hockey players in the world go to South Korea in about 16 months is up to the league and union, though Russian star Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals has said he will go no matter what .I think it is 50-50 chance, Fasel told The Associated Press on Tuesday ahead of Game 1 of the World Cup of Hockey final.NHL officials, however, sounded an ominous tone.Time is very short to make a decision and Im not sure there has been a lot of progress made in the past six months, and Im not sure theres any prospect for progress being made, Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said. On the basis on that, Im more negative today than I was two weeks ago.Money is a big factor in the deliberations.NHL players have not and will not get paid for participating in the Olympics, but their travel expenses and insurance have been covered in the past. The International Olympic Committee is not expected to pay for travel and insurance costs to get NHL players to the previous five Olympics.The IOCs position, obviously, didnt make it any easier, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said.The IOC spent about $14 million to cover travel and insurance costs for NHL players for the 2014 Olympics. Fasel expects the bill would be about $10 million for the next Olympics because he said it wont be necessary to charter planes to South Korea as it was to get players to Sochi, Russia.While the league doesnt sound eager about going to South Korea, it does sound very interested in tapping into Chinas huge market in 2022.When the IOC awarded the Beijing Games, it certainly created a bigger opportunity than we thought existed potentially before, Daly said. But it is also possible that you dont go to one Olympics and you do go to the other. I dont think anybody has ruled that out as a possibility.Fasel, saying he is simply at fan at the World Cup of Hockey in Toronto, intends to beg for $10 million to cover expenses for NHL players to be at the 2018 Olympics.He hopes to persuade national Olympic committees and hockey federations to donate the funds to keep the games best players on the biggest stage in sports. To make up the shortfall, Fasel acknowledged the IIHF could possibly use some of the $40 million it gets from the IOC every four years and make cuts from its development programs for boys and girls.Our job at the IIHF is find solution, Fasel said. I will go everywhere and anywhere to beg for the money. That is my job.Fasel said he had Olympic-related discussions with Bettman and NHLPA Executive Director Don Fehr on Sept. 19 in Toronto, and plans to meet with them again in November.Gary would like to make decision before end of the year, Fasel said.Mike Babcock, who has led Canada to gold at the last two Olympics and is hoping to add a World Cup of Hockey title to his collection of accomplishments this week, made his preference clear before the puck dropped Tuesday night.The World Cup is great. Its not the Olympics, Babcock said in an unsolicited comparison of the two events. Lets not get confused.---Follow Larry Lage at www.twitter.com/larrylage and follow his work at www.bigstory.ap.org/content/larry-lage NMD XR1 NZ . Anthony Calvillo, through 20 CFL seasons, was frequently invincible and largely stoic in the heat of competition. But underneath the professional exterior he was, and is, compellingly human. Superstar NZ Cheap . "Hes going to have hip surgery on Jan. 7, and hell be expected to rehabilitate for four to six months beyond that," Canucks general manager Mike Gillis said Friday in an interview. http://www.nmdshoesnz.com/adidas-nmd-r1-cheap-nz.html . -- Brandon Jennings made the most of his first game with the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night. NMD Shoes NZ . A statement from the worlds top-ranked player says all checks "were satisfactory and showed positive evolution" regarding the injury, which contributed to his loss to Stanislas Wawrinka in the final in Melbourne. Adidas NMD NZ Sale . Dusautoir, the former World Player of the Year, sustained a torn bicep playing for Toulouse in the Heineken Cup on Saturday. The flanker, who has played 65 times for France, is expected to be out for up to four months. CHICAGO -- The T-shirt in the window of a shop on Damen Avenue elicited plenty of nervous laughs from Cubs fans before Game 4.It read: If We Lose, Its Rigged.While its unlikely that line from GOP candidate Donald Trumps stump speech will catch on in a deep-blue, Democratic stronghold like Chicago, Clevelands 7-2 win Saturday night left more than a few of those fans were grasping at straws.How could a team that had five starters picked and seven players total at the All-Star game find itself on the brink of elimination? How could a team that won a major league-leading 103 times in the regular season turn around and hit .204 -- 50 points lower -- in the biggest games?Heres how: Third baseman Kris Bryant, last seasons Rookie of the Year and the front-runner for the NLs Most Valuable Player Award this season, is batting just .071. Shortstop Addison Russell, who collected 21 home runs and 95 RBI in the regular season, has two total bases in the four games. Javier Baez, who tore through the Giants and Dodgers pitching staffs in both the division and championship series, is at .118.Small wonder the Indians have won as many World Series games in two nights at Wrigley as the Cubs have in total since the ballpark opened more than a century ago.Its just been abnormal in some ways, Chicago manager Joe Maddon said afterward. But theyve been pitching great. ...We just need that offensive epiphany somehow to get us pushing in the right direction. And if we do that, he added a moment later, based on what they have left pitching-wise, I kind of like our chances.Try telling that to fans whove waited 71 years just to see a World Series game in their hometown, never mind the 108 years since their beloved Cubbies actually won it all. Then again, plenty of them believe they saw it coming.Behind the old ballpark on Waveland Avenue, the limousines and town cars were lined up and idling in the bottom of the eighth. It didnt help that Cub fans were again done in by one of their own. Just an inning earlier, Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis, who grew up in suburban Northbrook -- and went to the same high school as Steve Bartman -- put the game out of reach with a three-run home run, then pointed to his family in the stands.I did, I knew where they weree sitting and I saw the red towel, Kipnis said, nearly blushing, so I knew where to look.ddddddddddddendors, meanwhile, were fast changing their pitch. One selling Cubs-themed floppy hats had already begin hawking them as warm-weather gear instead of historic souvenirs. Stay warm, look cool, wear them for Halloween, he yelled.If you want to scare Cubs fans, sure.Anne Riecken, 92, was being wheeled out of the park by her daughter trying to beat the rush. She stopped long enough to register her displeasure.I dont know why I though this year was going to be different, she said. But I guess its enough we finally made it back.She thought about it, then added quickly, Last night I was so mad about the way they were hitting I would have kicked some of them in the shins.Considering the lack of success most of the moves Maddon has made have registered in that department, it might have been as good a suggestion as any. As she headed for a waiting gold cart to shuttle her back to the familys car, Riecken was asked whether shed lost faith in the teams unofficial motto, Wait `Til Next Year.I dont think Im going to be around next year, she replied with smile and a rueful laugh.But John Hurley, with his 5-year-old son in tow, vowed to return if the Cubs made it back. Both wore Cubs caps and matching oversized, black-rimmed glasses, a style made popular around town by the late Harry Caray, the teams legendary announcer. John Hurley grew up here, but lives in California now.Just another year of being a Cub fan, I guess, Hurley said. But dont call me `disappointed. This is progress and its historic. And if they get back, and this team is more than good enough to do it, well definitely come back.Of course, he starts kindergarten next year so Im not sure well be able to do this for a whole week again. Or maybe well just pull him out of school, he laughed. I guess well cross that bridge when we get there.Right now, he said, brightening, were just concentrating on tomorrow night.Theyre not alone.---Jim Litke is a sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jlitke(at)ap.org and https://Twitter.com/JimLitke . ' ' '