BEAVER CREEK, Colo. -- The new Beaver Creek downhill course features a gliding section near the start for a skier to drop into a tuck and build speed. There are technical turns in the middle, followed by a steep part -- maybe the steepest on the World Cup circuit -- and then a giant jump at the finish. An ideal course for Lindsey Vonn -- if she were here, of course. The four-time overall World Cup champion was supposed to make her return this week from a serious right knee injury she suffered in a crash last February. But after hurting her knee again in a training mishap last week, Vonn will sit out to rest and rehab because everything she does is with an eye toward the Sochi Games, which are less than three months away. Her fellow competitors spent the morning learning the nuances of a challenging course called "Raptor" in downhill training on Tuesday, with Lara Gut of Switzerland posting the fastest time of 1 minute, 43.42 seconds. No Vonn now, but there is a chance she could be in the starting gate on Dec. 6 in Lake Louise, Alberta, a venue thats treated her so well that its playfully dubbed "Lake Lindsey." At least, U.S. womens head coach Alex Hoedlmoser remains hopeful that Vonns ailing right knee will be ready for a return to racing in time for Lake Louise. "Its all going to be determined on how her knee feels," Hoedlmoser said in an interview with The Associated Press. "Its up to her. Shes the only one who knows how her knee feels." Hoedlmoser was there the day of Vonns crash at the speed centre in Copper Mountain last Tuesday, when she tumbled going from sunshine into the shade on a tricky part of the hill. Vonn partially tore one of the reconstructed ligaments in her surgically repaired knee. The reigning Olympic downhill champion will continue to go through therapy on her knee and hasnt ruled out Lake Louise. Her good friend and rival, Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany, visited with Vonn the other day just to lift her spirits. She fully expects to see Vonn back sooner rather than later. "Shes of course sad she cant be here," said Hoefl-Riesch, who turned in the eighth-fastest training time on Tuesday, 1.01 seconds behind Gut. "But she was positive because shes not out for the season and that she maybe can come back next week already. If anybody is strong enough in the head, its her." This new course -- the site of the 2015 world championships -- appears well suited for Vonn given all the terrain changes. Heres some of the feedback on the hill from the fastest skiers on the circuit: -- "Its quick. A lot of switches are quick and a lot of technical turns -- intimidating sections. Its got a little bit of everything. Its pretty awesome," American Julia Mancuso said. -- "Its really cool. But its one of the hardest," said Austrias Anna Fenninger, who had the second-best overall time. -- "Its one of the most difficult downhills in the World Cup. I love it. Its great," Hoefl-Riesch said. -- "Every downhill in the world should be like that," Gut said. And yet the reigning World Cup downhill champion wasnt around to enjoy it. "I feel really sorry what happened to her," said Slovenias Tina Maze, who captured the overall crown last season by accumulating a record 2,414 points. "We all wish her all the best. You want healthy competitors." Especially one with the instant name recognition of Vonn, who just so happens to be dating golfer Tiger Woods as well. She was way ahead of schedule from the torn ACL she suffered during a high-speed crash at the world championships last February before wiping out again. "Lindsey for sure is very important for Alpine skiing," said Atle Skaardal, the womens race director for the International Ski Federation (FIS). "Thats very tough for everybody. These things happen. Its difficult to avoid. Its a sport where we have speed involved and, unfortunately, accidents happen even though we have a lot of different projects running to make the sport as safe as possible. Something can always happen." The timetable for Vonns return is completely up to her, Hoedlmoser said. Theres no rush for a return even with Sochi rapidly approaching. "Even if it comes down to that shes not going to be able to do much racing before (the Olympics), were for sure going to bring her to do training runs (in Sochi) and then decide from there," Hoedlmoser said. Possible for Vonn not to ski all season and still compete at a high level in Sochi? "Yes," Hoedlmoser said. "Because shes the best in the world." Breeland Speaks Super Bowl Jersey . In question is whether 26-year-old Matt Frattin will be on it. A a€?mediocrea€? training camp, as Carlyle put it earlier this week, has Frattin lingering nervously on the bubble at the end of the exhibition season, pushed out of a likely job by Brandon Kozun, the small, but feisty winger determined to make the NHL for the first time. Khalen Saunders Super Bowl Jersey .com)LeBron clearly likes his Italian sports cars, and thats ok with me, so up next up is the 458 Spider. http://www.officialkcchiefspro.com/Eric-...-chiefs-jersey/. - The Cleveland Indians will place centerfielder Michael Bourn on the disabled list before their opener at Oakland on March 31. Travis Kelce Super Bowl Jersey . HEROES P.K. Subban – Scored the overtime winner and assisted on Montreal’s earlier goal, both on the power play, in a 2-1 win over Nashville. Larry Johnson Super Bowl Jersey . He will play 10th-seeded Feliciano Lopez in Sundays final, after the Spanish left-hander defeated Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 7-6 (7), 6-4.IMATRA, Finland -- Canada lost more than just its final preliminary-round game at the world under-18 hockey tournament Tuesday. Kirill Pilipenko scored in the shootout to earn Russia a 3-2 win over Canada, the defending champions first defeat at the event. But the Canadians also lost forward Brayden Point to an upper-body injury in the first period thats expected to sideline him for the reminder of the tournament. Russian Danil Vovchenko drove Point head-first into the boards at 7:23 of the first. Vovchenko received a five-minute major for checking from behind and a game misconduct on the play. "Thats a huge loss for our side," Canadian team coach Kevin Dineen said. "Hes a big part of so many facets of our game. "He plays on both of our special teams and centres the top line. Hes a big loss but thats the advantage, we have other people to fill roles." Point had an assist in Canadas four preliminary-round games but the five-nine, 160-pound Calgary native recorded 36 goals and 55 assists in 72 games this season with the WHLs Moose Jaw Warriors. Pilipenko scored on Russias first shot of the shootout against Canadian goalie Mason McDonald. But it was all the offence the Russians needed as Canadas Conner Bleackley, Jared McCann and Jake Virtanen all couldnt beat goalie Alexander Trushkov. Trushkov replaced Maxim Tretiak, the grandson of legendary Soviet goaltender Vladislav Tretiak, to start the shootout. "Thats tournament hockey," Dineen said. "Obviously were disappointed it ended like that but you take a breath, look at the big picture and say our team earned points in all four games annd finished first in our side of the pool.dddddddddddd" Vladislav Kamenovs power-play goal with 35 remaining in regulation forced overtime. Mathew Barzal and Travis Konecny scored for Canada (3-0-0-1, 10 points), which still finished atop Group A despite the loss. The Canadians will resume tournament action Thursday in a quarter-final game against Switzerland. Ivan Nikolishin had the other goal for Russia (1-0-2-1, eight points), which needed a win in regulation over Canada to finish first in Group A. Konecny opened the scoring at 1:49 of the second period before Nikolishin replied just 27 seconds into the third. Barzal put Canada ahead 2-1 at 7:40 before Kamenov converted on the man advantage at 19:25. Dineen, who led the Canadian womens team to Olympic gold in Sochi, Russia, said he was pleased with his teams defensive play against Russia, especially with the man advantage. The Russians finished 1-for-5 on the power play. "I really give our guys credit . . . they came out and guys were blocking shots, making plays along the boards," Dineen said. "I give the Russians a lot of credit, they really did a good job with their possession game and created a lot of chances. "Obviously your goaltender has to be extremely large and Mason played a whale of a game for us." McDonald likely earned himself the start for the Canadians in the quarter-final game. He stopped 29 shots as Russia outshot Canada 31-25. "Mason McDonald was the player of the game," Dineen said. "I think its going to be pretty hard for us to pull away from him. "He played a heck of a game." ' ' '