CALGARY -- John Kuceras career was shorter than he wanted but he leaves alpine ski racing knowing he achieved two firsts for Canada. The first Canadian man to win a world downhill championship and the Canadian skier to stand atop the World Cup podium in Lake Louise, Alta., announced his retirement from ski racing Thursday. Kucera won the mens downhill title in Val-dIsere, France, in 2009. He earned three career World Cup medals in super-G, including gold in Lake Louise in 2006. "Im just really proud I managed to take a very short career and do big things with it," the 29-year-old Calgarian said at Alpine Canadas headquarters in his hometown. "It was a great ride. It really was. "I did some things in this country that I was the first to do and Im really proud of that." Kuceras first four years on the national team were successful and promising. But a broken leg followed by a frustrating inner ear condition sidelined him for four of the last five seasons and also kept him from competing in two Winter Olympics. Vestibular neuritis -- an inner ear condition causing dizziness and nausea -- struck during a training camp in Chile last September and made it impossible to race through gates at 130 kilometres per hour. Kucera wasnt able to get back on skis to race at the Winter Games in Sochi in February. The symptoms still linger and the uncertainty over how long theyll remain, combined with an opportunity to join the coaching staff of the national development team, steered Kucera towards retirement. "Truth be told, Im not 100 per cent yet," he said. "I think my body just told me it was time to start doing something else. "This vestibular neuritis is tough because there is no time line. I could be good by July, but I could be good by next July and really, nobody can give me that answer. Who wouldve thought the thing that would have finally took me out was waking up dizzy one morning?" Super giant slalom, or super-G, is shorter than downhill but there are more gates on the course. The discipline requires a combination of speed and technical ability. At five foot nine and 185 pounds, Kucera wasnt as beefy as the top downhill racers early in his career, so he excelled in super-G. But on Feb. 7, 2009, he bested such heavyweights as Hermann Maier of Austria, Didier Cuche of Switzerland, Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway and American Bode Miller to win on Val-dIseres difficult slope. "Val-dIsere was a course that obviously played into a lot of my strengths, very technical, very steep," Kucera recalled. "That being said, I felt like every year I was becoming a better and better downhiller. "I just hit the right track, the right conditions and the right time of my career to become a champion there." Kucera was the first Canadian to win in 26 years of World Cup racing at Lake Louise when he captured super-G gold in 2006. He drew the No. 1 start bib, so after crossing the finish line, the 22-year-old stood nervously in front of television cameras watching as skier after skier came down the mountain. "I remember being really cold. I think it was -35 C that day," Kucera said. "Coming down, having that great run, freezing, watching a lot of the people I looked up to growing up and me beating them, it was pretty exciting." Kucera dedicated that victory to his former coach and friend, Jason Lapierre, who was hit by a car while biking and died earlier that year. Kuceras successes coincided with those of teammates Erik Guay, Manny Osborne-Paradis and Jan Hudec. The "Canadian Cowboys" have given the national mens downhill team depth it hasnt had since Steve Podborski and Ken Read headlined the "Crazy Canucks" of the 1980s. Guay won the mens downhill title again for Canada in 2011, while Hudec took silver in 2007. Guay passed Podborski as Canadas most decorated World Cup racer with 22 career medals. Guay also won the overall super-G title in 2010. Osborne-Paradis collected nine World Cup medals, including three gold, between 2006 and 2010. Hudec tied for third and won Olympic bronze in super-G in Sochi. "As a group, now with Jans medal at the Olympics, weve really done it all," Kucera said. "The only thing I guess you could say we havent done is we dont have an Olympic champion yet. "As a group, we pulled off some special things. Weve kind of superceded the Crazy Canuck era and did something great. Weve set the bar pretty high for the next group coming up, but I think thats where it needs to be." Kucera won two World Cup medals at Lake Louise -- he took silver there in 2008 -- but the mountain was disastrous for him in the first race of 2009-10. He badly broke his left leg in the super-G and erased his chance to race in Whistler, B.C., at the 2010 Winter Games. Rehabilitation and subsequent setbacks kept him off his race skis for the next three seasons. "Obviously the last four years hadnt gone exactly gone the way I would have liked them to, but that being said, I felt the time was right to step away now," Kucera said. "Ive had a good run as an athlete. "Im walking away relatively healthy. Thats a good thing. Im excited and passionate about the next group, the guys Im going to be working with because Im going to be working with a pretty exciting group of 17- to 19-year-olds." Kuceras parents, Jan and Zdena, emigrated to Canada from the former Czechoslovakia in the early 1980s before John was born. Jan worked with the ski patrol at nearby Nakiska. John and his brother James began skiing at an early age. Devin Hester Jersey . The 24-year-old Pruneau played his CIS football with the Montreal Carabins. The six-foot, 200-pound Montreal native had 41 tackles, 3. Richard Dent Jersey . David Perron had a career high four-point night with two goals and two assists as the Oilers experienced an offensive explosion, blasting the Columbus Blue Jackets 7-0 to record a rare home win for their second victory in a row. http://www.officialchicagobearspro.com/Dick-butkus-bears-jersey/ . That time around, the cage is as much a part of baseballs daily routine as a beer and a hotdog is to a fan in the stands. Coaches, scouts, broadcasters and other media hover, tossing verbal barbs, telling stories and sharing laughs. Occasionally, especially in spring when the atmosphere is relatively laid back, the list of invited guests expands and on this day, Gibbons welcomed two men strongly influential in his life. William Perry Jersey . Top-ranked Rafael Nadal was also taken to three sets but emerged with a 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-3 win over Tobias Kamke of Germany, while second-seeded David Ferrer joined Murray in making an early exit after a 6-4, 7-5 loss to Daniel Brands of Germany. Gale Sayers Jersey . Fans can also watch the game on the newly launched TSN GO (currently available to Bell TV and Rogers customers), which gives TSN subscribers the freedom to live stream the networks programming from their smartphones, tablets, and computers at no additional charge – just as they would watch Canadas Sports Leader on TV at home. The following week, MLS ON TSN is at BMO Field in Toronto to deliver live coverage of TFCs home opener vs. D.C. United on Saturday, March 22 at 4:30 p.DENVER -- Dee Gordon got his team off to a quick start. The rest of the Los Angeles Dodgers followed his lead. Gordon tripled twice among his three hits and drove in three runs as the Dodgers beat Colorado 7-2 on Friday night, handing the Rockies their eighth straight defeat. The three RBIs were a career high for Gordon, who also stole his major league-leading 36th base while tying a career best for hits in a game. "It was just fun getting on base," Gordon said. "Thats it, getting on base, giving us a chance to win." Gordon became the fifth major leaguer to have two triples in a game this season and the first Dodgers player to accomplish the feat since Rafael Furcal did it Sept. 28, 2010, also at Coors Field. Hanley Ramirez had two hits and stole two bases, and Justin Turner also had two of Los Angeles 12 hits. "Our at-bats were good. Dee got us going early," manager Don Mattingly said. "This is a pretty good offensive field. Its good for everybody." The Dodgers had lost six of eight but got healthy against the struggling Rockies. Hyun-Jin Ryu cruised through the first five innings before Drew Stubbs hit a solo homer with one out in the sixth. Ryu (7-2) allowed two runs and eight hits over six innings in winning his fourth straight start. "I could tell right away why a lot of pitchers dont like throwing here," Ryu said. "It was a difficult outing out there. All aspects of gripping the ball was tough today. I just tried to keep the ball low the entire game." Stubbs and Troy Tulowitzki had two hits each for the slumping Rockies, who lost again in starter Eddie Butlers major league debut. Butler was impressive at times, touching 96 mph with his fastball and getting ahead of batters early by staying around the plate. "Opposing hitters were firing early because he was around the zone," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. "Hes got the ability to be efficient and get quick outs." Colorado had hoped Butler (0-1) could stop the slide, but he struggled riight from the start.dddddddddddd Gordon ripped Butlers second major league pitch down the right-field line for a leadoff triple and scored on a groundout by Ramirez. Drew Buteras RBI double in the second made it 2-0. Butler then settled down until the fifth, when the Dodgers stretched the lead. After Ryu led off with a double, Gordon tripled again and Ramirez singled to make it 4-0. "Its easy when you have a guy like Dee who can get into scoring position," Ramirez said. "Hes just trying to make it easy for us. I just want to win, I dont care about anything else." Gordon made it 6-0 in the sixth with a two-run single off Butler, who left after issuing a one-out walk to Ramirez. Butler, called up from Double-A Tulsa to take lefty Franklin Morales spot in the rotation, allowed six runs and 10 hits in 5 1-3 innings and learned how tough big league hitters are. "You cant pitch over the middle of the plate. Obviously, Gordon got me pretty good today," Butler said. "Ill just pull different things out of it to learn from." The Rockies didnt generate much against Ryu before the sixth. Their first two batters reached in the fourth but Ryu retired the next three to keep Colorado off the scoreboard. Stubbs fourth homer made it 6-1. Michael McKenry doubled and Charlie Culberson followed with a triple to make it 6-2. Ryu got pinch-hitter Brandon Barnes to fly out to end the inning. Yasiel Puig singled and scored in the ninth to extend his streak of reaching base to 37 consecutive games. That ties Torontos Jose Bautista for the longest in the majors this season. NOTES: Tulowitzki was ejected in the ninth by plate umpire Dan Iassogna for arguing balls and strikes. ... The Dodgers selected the contract of infielder Miguel Rojas from Triple-A Albuquerque and optioned infielder Erisbel Arruebarrena to the Isotopes. Rojas replaced Ramirez at shortstop in the eighth and made an error on his first chance. ... Rockies OF Michael Cuddyer was out of the lineup with a sore left shoulder. 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