When I was young, they kept feeding me fairy tales. You may have a similar story. But maybe... Just maybe... This is one time when make believe should make you believe. How long does Cinderella stay at the dance? Sometimes, the carriage doesnt turn into a pumpkin. Right now, Whitby, Ontarios DyShawn Pierre, small forward for the No. 11 seed Dayton Flyers of the Atlantic-10 Conference, is living the fairy tale during March Madness. After defeating in-state rival The Ohio State University Buckeyes, then to go on to edge a team who spent much of the regular season as the No. 1 team in the country in the Syracuse Orange, led by Brampton, Ontarios Tyler Ennis, Pierre and his mates kept the dream alive by slaying another dragon in the Stanford Cardinal, a solid team led by two other Canadians, Dwight Powell and Stefan Nastic. DyShawn and his teammates have pushed forward to take the Flyers back to a place they havent been in 30 years, The Elite Eight. Standing in the path to the yellow brick road of the Final Four is an extremely tough, senior-laden, defensive-minded University of Florida Gators squad. With a coach in Archie Miller, who implicitly trusts every player on the Dayton Flyer roster, from the first man to the 12th, DyShawn Pierre is set to lead his team further on their quest for the ultimate brass ring: The NCAA Mens Basketball Championship. I sat down with DyShawn Pierre to find out if the soft-spoken sophomore is really a lion disguised as a lamb. Who is DyShawn Pierre? Oooh! I never really thought about that before, but... in terms of basketball, Id say Im a total team guy. Outside of that, Im just a guy whos truly concerned about others... God, family, friends... those things are important to me. In three words, how would your teammates and friends describe you? Ummm... Passionate. Aggressive. Can I get back to you on the third one? In three words, would your coaches describe you in the same way? I hope they see me as a player who can help make the game better for me and my teammates, who just plays the game hard and competes. But Id say... Ummm... Coachable. Humble. Quiet. How heavy is the Dayton Flyers bandwagon now that you guys slayed a couple huge dragons in The Ohio State University and Syracuse? (Laughs) I dont know about that. We do know we have a lot of people behind us, but what these guys in the locker room... what we do together with the help of the coaches and of course the fans is a blessing. We just want to take it as far as we can. Describe your mindset once you knew your team would be facing OSU. It was very exciting. Playing in March Madness is an honour. Playing with a guy who transferred from Ohio State gave it some other elements, but we just see it as another opportunity to prove ourselves. Was there a lot of personal, in-state rivalry talk and emotion involved? No, it wasnt really personal. I mean, we have Jordan Sibert, who transferred from OSU and guys from Ohio, but all we wanted to do is compete and get the win, no matter who was in front of us. Now that youve beaten Stanford, how do you think you guys match up against Florida? Honestly, I havent been watching too much, really. Floridas very good. They were No. 1 in the country...the No. 1 seed in the entire tournament. Its going to be a tough matchup. But were here for a reason, too. Whats the best thing about this March Madness experience for you? Anything can happen. People dont believe in the Dayton Flyers. We do. We stick together. We believe. With so many Canadians affecting the outcomes of games in a major way in March Madness, what do you think this means for the future of the Canadian National Team? Our national team has a very bright future. Steve Nash, Jay Triano and Rowan Barrett have done a great job in developing the program. The coaching is excellent. I would love to play if I were invited to compete. With so many other great young players in the program, Id love to go back to compete and contribute. Weve seen players have big March Madness performances in the past and turn that into a high NBA draft status. Has this been something youve thought about seriously at all? Not really. I mean, its a dream. But right now, Im very focused on what were trying to achieve here at Dayton. Its a special group of guys and I love how together we are and what I think we can accomplish. Youre climbing up the list of most famous people from Whitby, Ontario. Theres former two-time Stanley Cup champ and Olympic Gold Medalist NHLer Adam Foote, the late WWE wrestler Test (Andrew Martin), the rapper/musician k-os... and you! Do you climb that list with every March Madness win? (Laughs) I guess so. I didnt even know there was a list like that. Whatever happens, my team and I have gotten a lot of support from fans, friends and family. While I cant respond to each and every one personally, I am grateful... very thankful to everyone. This whole experience has been awesome. I wont forget it. If DyShawn Pierre had to walk away from basketball forever after Dayton wins the National Championship, what would he do with the rest of his life? What? NOOO! I really couldnt see my life without basketball. I really love the game. Somehow, someway, I would want to be a part of something basketball-related. More than anything, though, Id just like to enjoy life. Its been a humbling experience so far. I cant wait to see what the future holds. Philadelphia 76ers Shirts . -- Lindsey Vonn squeezed in a little freeskiing on Thanksgiving morning, a step in the right direction for a return to racing after reinjuring her right knee in a recent training crash. Philadelphia 76ers Pro Shop . But defending champion Elena Vesnina of Russia held off a strong challenge to beat Shuai Peng of China 6-3, 6-4, and there was another hard-fought victory for 2012 runner-up Angelique Kerber of Germany, who defeated Alison Riske of the United States 7-6 (6), 6-4. https://www.cheap76ers.com/.? It was his second straight start for the Jets; he suffered a 1-0 loss against Minnesota Monday. So this season Hutchinson has now won games in the ECHL, AHL and NHL. He was perfect three- for-three in the shootout to nail down the win. 76ers Jerseys 2019 . -- Antoine Bibeau bought the Val-dOr Foreurs valuable time at the Memorial Cup with his 51-save shutout Friday. Fake 76ers Jerseys . Strasburg (1-1) got 14 consecutive outs in one stretch and allowed only three hits, including Marcell Ozunas homer in the seventh. The right-handers lone walk was to the last batter he faced. Washingtons starter Wednesday, Jordan Zimmermann, left after a career-low 1 2-3 innings, leaving the bullpen "taxed," as manager Matt Williams put it.The Minnesota Wild try to avoid their first losing streak of January tonight as they continue a three-game homestand versus the Edmonton Oilers, who juggled their roster a day ahead of this matchup. After dropping their final six games of December, the Wild opened the new calendar year with four consecutive wins. Following a loss to Colorado on Saturday, Minnesota rebounded the following night to blank Nashville 4-0, but then had the tables turned on them Tuesday. Beginning their three-game stay at home, the Wild were shut out 3-0 by the Ottawa Senators behind Robin Lehners 27 saves. Darcy Kuemper made 23 saves versus the Predators to record his first NHL shutout in his sixth career start, but yielded all three goals on 32 shots faced against the Senators. "Execution just wasnt really there all night long," Minnesota head coach Mike Yeo admitted. "We werent really moving our feet, werent attacking, werent crisp with our passing." Minnesota was blanked for just the third time this season and for the first time at home. If past history is a factor, Yeo may go with Niklas Backstrom in net tonight. The 35-year-old Finn is an outstanding 25-4-1 with a 1.91 goals against average and four shutouts in 32 career starts versus the Oilers. The Wild have won 13 of their last 16 versus the Oilers, though Edmonton did notch a 6-1 victory in Minnesota to conclude last seasons series on April 26. It was just the Oilers second victory in their past 21 in Minnesota. Edmonton pulled off a pair of trades on Wednesday, both involving goaltenders. The Oilers first sent netminder Devan Dubnyk to the Nashville Predators in exchange for forward Matt Hendricks, then shipped a 2014 third-round pick to the Los Angeles Kings for goalie Ben Scrivens. Dubnyk struggled to an .894 save percentage and 3.36 GAA in 32 games for the Oilers this season, incluuding 29 starts.dddddddddddd He also began to lose playing time when Ilya Bryzgalov was signed in November. "Its been an unfortunate season and the team wanted to go in a different direction," Dubnyk said. Scrivens posted a .931 save percentage and 1.97 GAA in 19 games for the Kings this season, while the veteran Hendricks had two goals and four points in 44 games with the Predators. "It gives us an opportunity to bring in another goaltender, Ben Scrivens, whos had statistically a very good season so far," Oilers general manager Craig MacTavish told his teams website. "It gives us an opportunity to have a pretty good look at him going forward to see where he could possibly fit in on a longer-term goaltending plan." Scrivens does get to be reunited with Edmonton coach Dallas Eakins, who coached the goaltender in the minors with the Toronto Marlies. Scrivens gets the call between the pipes this evening. The Oilers will try to avoid a third consecutive loss tonight having been bested 5-2 by the Dallas Stars on Tuesday. The Stars scored 14 seconds into the game and led 3-1 after the first period. "Its the same old story; we cant put a full 60 minutes together for some reason," Edmonton defenseman Justin Schultz said. "We played well at the end, we were skating and using our speed and we had a lot of chances, but weve got to find a way to do that for all 60 (minutes)." Schultz and Sam Gagner had the goals, both assisted by Taylor Hall, and Bryzgalov made 25 saves in Edmontons seventh loss in nine games overall and fifth in a row on the road. It is unknown if the Oilers Ales Hemsky will be able to play tonight after sitting out the third period on Tuesday with an ankle injury. Bryzgalov is 7-8-0 with a 2.64 GAA in 16 career meetings with the Wild, all but one of those starts. ' ' '