MINSK, Belarus -- Before Mark Scheifele got injured in early March, the Winnipeg Jets sat one point out of a playoff spot. Cam Atkinson Jersey . A sprained right knee derailed any hope of making a run. Now Scheifele is healthy, and Team Canada heads into the playoff round at the world hockey championship with legitimate medal aspirations thanks in part to his progression. "Every game hes got better and better," coach Dave Tippett said. "Hes been good in the faceoff dot, puck control. ... Were going to need everybody to be a good team in the quarter-final, and Scheif, his game has improved every game we played." Scheifele assisted on Ryan Elliss overtime winner against Sweden, scored against Norway and is making use of his increased ice time. Along with the Toronto Maple Leafs Morgan Rielly and Nazem Kadri and the Calgary Flames Sean Monahan, the 21-year-old Jets centre is making big strides in Minsk. "You just gain experience," Scheifele said. "You play against different kinds of hockey. Its just kind of a matter of learning how to adapt to who youre playing against, what kind of competition youre coming against. Obviously just playing with and against the best players in the world helps." Each game is a new test for the young Canadian team, but Scheifeles journey to the world championships showed Paul Maurice something. Maurice, his coach in Winnipeg and an assistant to Tippett at this tournament, was impressed by how hard Scheifele worked to recover from a sprained MCL to be ready. At first, the coaching staff saw a player who hadnt experienced game action in more than two months. Then Maurice saw the player who was so vital to the Jets when healthy. "Hes responded like Mark does: He just got better," Maurice said. "He didnt play a lot in the (first) few games and kept working hard in practice and hed get his handful of shifts one night and show you something in each shift. Dave Tippett is really strong at recognizing that in players during games, so hes gotten more and more opportunity." Scheifele, who is expected to again centre the fourth line in Thursdays quarter-final game against Finland, had a leg up on Monahan going in because he had a little more experience. But he wasnt quite himself. That made Scheifele the 13th forward and his ice time dropped. The Kitchener, Ont., native played just 2:20 in the second game against Slovakia and then 2:34 the next one against the Czech Republic. A leg injury to Alex Burrows -- who practised Wednesday and is set to return against Finland after a two-game absence -- gave Scheifele another chance. His patience set up arguably Canadas biggest goal of the tournament, and he scored another to help ensure first place in the group. "I think every game I kind of get a little more ice, a little more comfortable," Scheifele said. "Every game, just getting my legs under me, and thats the biggest thing. I feel more comfortable every game, and I just got to continue that." The tests are just beginning for the world championship rookies, including 20-year-old Flames prospect Johnny Gaudreau, whose U.S. team faces the Czech Republic on Thursday for the right to face the winner of Canada-Finland. "Playing with NHL players and playing against NHL players obviously will help me in my game and help me develop as a player," Gaudreau said. "Playing college the last three years I felt this would be the best opportunity to help me become a better pro." Olli Jokinen, a teammate of Scheifeles with the Jets and captain of Finland, agrees wholeheartedly. "Everybodys goal is to make the playoffs and have a long run. At the same time with the younger players coming here, I think for them understanding the games like this. Its like a Game 7 in the playoffs," Jokinen said. "Having experience like that, its going to help you to get even better. And at the same time, for the younger guys, its an eye-opener, probably, too, how tough this tournament actually is." Tippett likes that his younger players get an opportunity to play in "real competitive, playoff-style games." Rielly considers it beneficial to work with three different coaches he didnt know before and thinks that itll help him learn quicker in the future. "You get a chance to kind of learn new breakouts, new power-play things," the 20-year-old Leafs defenceman said. "I think if youre trying to keep learning like that, thats always helpful. I think Ill be able to carry that back to Toronto with me." Scheifele and Maurice will be able to carry something back to Winnipeg, as well. The tournament is just another chance for the coach who signed a four-year deal and the Jets franchise forward to get better accustomed to each other after just half a season together. Maurice said hes still learning about Scheifele, but he has a lot to be proud of over the past couple of months. "What I really like is how hes handled the adversity of the injury," Maurice said. "When something doesnt go his way, he doesnt quit. He digs in and works harder and competes and then I also recognize that this is a learning experience for him. Over the course of his career hes going to have some adversity. "The question is how do you learn to handle it, and hes learned to handle it here with some pretty high-level hockey where he wasnt handed ice time and he fought his way through it and became a real important part of the team here." According to Jokinen, Scheifele followed the same path in his first full NHL season as he has at the world championships. As a result, he has a chance to be a major contributor for Canada now that every game is an elimination game. "It took him a little bit of time to get used to it," Jokinen said. "But once he started feeling comfortable, he was really good for us. Hes a highly skilled player, he can be the difference-maker every time when he steps on the ice." NOTES -- Tippett would not reveal which goaltender, Ben Scrivens or James Reimer, would start Thursday against Finland, which has no such dilemma thanks to the presence of a healthy Pekka Rinne. ... Defenceman Tyler Myers missed Wednesdays practice because of the flu bug thats going around the team. Tippett expects him to be OK to play in the quarter-finals. Sonny Milano Jersey . FLIP SAUNDERS (Timberwolves): Im not the least bit surprised that he appointed himself as head coach after his search concluded. Sergei Bobrovsky Jersey . After Andrew Romine served up two monster home runs in the inning, Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said he thought Romine was one of the bright spots on the night, showing just how bad the series opener against the last-place Minnesota Twins went for the Tigers. http://www.authenticbluejacketspro.com/Artemi-panarin-blue-jackets-jersey/ . Not only that, when Julian de Guzman first stepped on the pitch for Deportivo de la Coruna he became the very first Canadian to play in Spains top tier.NEW YORK -- Once Masahiro Tanaka overcame that early jolt from Jose Reyes, the Japanese rookie did just fine. Tanaka gave up a home run to Reyes on the first pitch of the game, then earned his major league-high 11th victory as the New York Yankees beat Toronto 3-1 Tuesday night for their 14th straight home win over the Blue Jays. That was the first time Tanaka could remember getting tagged so quickly and said it "threw me off my rhythm a little bit." "Overall, I think my stuff wasnt really there," he said through a translator. Even so, Tanaka (11-1) struck out 10 in six innings and left with an AL-best 1.99 ERA. The right-hander has made 14 starts this season -- hes gone at least six innings in every outing and never permitted more than three earned runs. "What hes done is remarkable," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "He wins." Brett Gardner hit a two-run homer off the right-field foul pole and the Yankees sent the AL East leaders to their seventh loss in 10 games. Tanaka made his big league debut April 4 at Toronto and Melky Cabrera hit a leadoff home run on the third pitch. Reyes provided an even faster start with a drive into the lower deck in right, and slapped his hands as he rounded first. "I made up my mind before the game that I was going to swing at the first pitch," he said. "You dont want to face Tanaka with two strikes." Said Girardi: "He just threw a pitch right down the middle and up. Reyes knew what to do." "Reyes is familiar with this ballpark," he said. "He went to the short part of the park." Cabrera followed with a liner between Tanakas legs that knocked off the pitchers glove. But Tanaka scrambled to retrieve the ball behind the mound and threw out Cabrera, and never again allowed a runner past second. Tanaka gave up five hits and walked two in moving ahead of Torontos Mark Buehrle for the most wins in the majors. Buehrle starts Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium in the middle game of the three-game series. The Blue Jays were the second team to face Tanaka twice. He blanked the Chicago Cubs for eight innings in April before they handed him his onnly loss a month later. Nick Foligno Jersey. Dellin Betances worked two innings and David Robertson closed for his 17th save in 19 tries. New York pitchers combined for 15 strikeouts and became the latest staff to slow down the Blue Jays, limited to 24 runs in their last 11 games. Pitching about 50 miles from his Long Island hometown, Blue Jays rookie Marcus Stroman (3-2) threw 98 pitches in 3 2-3 innings on a sticky night. Gardner gave him a workout right away, grounding out in a 12-pitch at-bat to lead off the first. Kelly Johnson doubled in the third for the Yankees first hit and Gardner pulled a go-ahead home run. Derek Jeter opened the fifth with his second hit of the game and scored his 1,900th run on a single by Mark Teixeira. Jeter is 10th on the career runs list, 19 behind longtime teammate Alex Rodriguez. NOTES: After the game, Toronto reinstated OF Colby Rasmus (hamstring) from the disabled list and optioned OF Anthony Gose to Triple-A Buffalo. ... The Blue Jays drought at Yankee Stadium started in August 2012, and theyve dropped 23 of their last 25 in the Bronx. The team cited the Elias Sports Bureau in saying it matched the Yankees longest such winning streak against one opponent since 1961 -- they also won 14 straight home game vs. Kansas City from 2002-06. ... Tanaka has fanned at least 10 in five starts. ... Girardi became the sixth manager to win 600 games with the Yankees. ... Reyes hit his 20th career leadoff homer, and second this year. ... Cabrera has a 17-game hitting streak vs. the Yankees, his former team. ... Toronto RHP R.A. Dickey is fine to make his next start Friday night in Cincinnati, manager John Gibbons said. The knuckleballer made an early exit Saturday in Baltimore because of groin tightness. ... Yankees 2B Brian Roberts started after missing two games with a bruised right knee. ... Yankees LHP CC Sabathia (knee) threw a bullpen session Sunday and is set for another one Tuesday. "No setbacks," he said. Sabathia had hoped to return by the All-Star break, but Girardi said theres no timeframe. ... There was a pregame moment of silence for Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn, who died Monday. 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