SOCHI, Russia – It was late August at the Olympic orientation camp in Calgary, more than five months from the official start of the Sochi Olympics, and Canadian head coach Mike Babcock delivered a message for those players not invited to take part. “Do something about it,” Babcock said defiantly. “The great thing about life is you get to control what happens to you the majority of the time. Do something about it if youre not here.” Jamie Benn was not among the 25 forwards selected to participate in that late summer camp, but it was the 24-year-old from Victoria B.C. who managed to emerge in Canadas tournament-opening win over Norway. Though he played just under nine minutes in his first Olympic game – a team-low – Benn turned in the eventual game-winner and made himself a noticeable presence alongside John Tavares and Patrice Bergeron on an energetic Canadian fourth line. He beat out 12 of the aforementioned forwards for the opportunity in Sochi, including the impressive likes of Claude Giroux, James Neal, and Eric Staal. “It was just motivation,” Benn said of not being selected to the orientation camp, which saw 47 players gather in Alberta for a brief three-day meet-and-greet. “Obviously Canada can put some pretty good teams together and every guy that went to the orientation camp deserved to be there. It just gave me a little bit more motivation coming into this year.” The first-year captain of the Dallas Stars, Benn totaled 22 goals and 51 points in the first half, his tantalizing combination of size, speed, grit and skill too appealing for Steve Yzerman and the Hockey Canada brass to pass up. “I just went out there in the first half and focused on the Dallas Stars and what I had to do to win hockey games over there,” said Benn, a fifth round steal in the 2007 draft. “I didnt change anything. I didnt try to impress.” Upon arrival in Sochi, Babcock stressed that opportunity and ice-time would be earned amongst his 14 forwards. And though Benn didnt play a lot against Norway he did more than enough to get noticed, most notably in a dominant second frame of Canadas 3-1 win. It was Benn who drew a penalty in the offensive zone just moments before Shea Weber scored the first Canadian goal, a blast that eased some tension from a jittery first frame. And then it was Benn just a few minutes later – he was nearly rocked by Ole-Kristian Tollefsen moments earlier – making no mistake on a terrific cross-ice feed from the intuitive Bergeron. “Benn can skate and hes hard, shoots the puck,” said Babcock, who raved about Benn, Bergeron, Tavares and Martin St. Louis, the bottom group of Canadian forwards on this night. “It was a key for us to win our shift each and every time we went out there,” Benn said. “Its taking a hit or getting a hit to get in it and I think thats what happened in the second there.” One of eight Canadians making their debut on the Olympic stage on Thursday, Benn said whatever nerves may have been there in the furious buildup to a hard-fought match against the Norwegians disappeared quickly. And by nights end there was sweet redemption for a player who fought his way onto the team. “Its great to be a part of, represent your country,” he said. “It was exciting to get it going today.” David Bakhtiari Super Bowl Jersey . 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Clay Matthews Super Bowl Jersey . -- The Denver Broncos locked up a shutdown cornerback, only his name wasnt Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie.TORONTO, Ontario -- Captain Greg Westlake stressed the importance of not allowing success get to their head following Canadas 3-1 sledge hockey victory over the United States Saturday. The win gives Canada its fifth title at the World Sledge Hockey Challenge. "Weve got to keep pushing," said Westlake, who led Canada with five goals in the tournament. "The second you let off the pedal, everyone catches up." Canada got goals from Adam Dixon, Billy Bridges and Westlake to open a 3-0 after 20 minutes and never looked back. Josh Pauls scored for the U.S. in the second. Canada got out to an early 2-0 lead in Thursdays semi final victory over South Korea and held on for a win, an experience they learned from entering the gold medal game. "There were lessons that we learned during the week, said Canadian head coach, Mike Mondin. "We put that all into practice today so it was good to see that the team learned from their mistakes." Added Westlake: "It was a lot more complete effort tonight. We won a couple games this week that we couldve lost. We won a couple games that felt like losses." Canada previously won the event twice in 2011, in 2008 and in 2007. Canada claimed silver at the 2009 and 2012 events. The Americans have won three bronze medals at the World Sledge Hockey Challenge, to go along with gold in 2012 and in 2009. The U.S. won silver in November 2011. "We played Canada twice, I thought we played with them four of the six periods," said American head coach, Jeff Sauer. "We played a poor first period against them (Wednesday) night and we played a poor first period tonight.dddddddddddd "Other than that, I thought we were pretty even." Dixon opened the scoring at 9:03 of the first period when his point shot deflected off an American and beat Steve Cash for his third goal. Canada then scored twice in a 32 second span to take a 3-0 lead. Bridges made it 2-0 with a wrist shot, which beat Cash top corner, for his third of the tournament at 12:23. Then at 12:55, Westlake tipped in a Brad Bowden shot. Pauls got the Americans on the board at 5:51 of the second with his fourth of the tournament. Cash made six saves in the loss while Corbin Watson stopped 11 American shots. Canada finished first in the preliminary round going 3-0 including wins over South Korea (5-2), Russia (5-3) and the U.S. (4-1). The Americans were second following preliminary round action, with wins over Russia (2-1) and South Korea (5-0), their lone loss coming to the Canadians Wednesday night. The World Sledge Hockey Challenge, which has been played in Canada since 2007, marks the final international tournament prior to the 2014 Paralympics in Sochi, Russia. Canada and the U.S. will play a three-game exhibition in January in North Carolina as a final tune-up for the Paralympics. Russia captured bronze at the World Sledge Hockey Challenge with a 4-2 win over South Korea on Saturday afternoon. Evgeny Petrov scored the winner with 1:11 remaining in the third. Dmitriy Lisov had a pair of goals and Alexey Amosov added the other for Russia Yong-Min Lee and Young-Sung Kim scored for South Korea, which finished winless in its first World Sledge Hockey Challenge appearance. ' ' '