m a gold of his own. "It feels absolutely awesome,"

BARCELONA, Spain -- Former Barcelona player Luis Enrique promised a new start for the Catalan club after signing a two-year contract to become coach on Wednesday. Luis Enrique signed the deal with club president Josep Bartomeu two days after it was announced by the club. That was two days after coach Gerardo Martino stepped down when Barcelona finished its first season without a major trophy in six years. "We believe that this is the beginning of a new Barcelona, a Barcelona that will excite again," Luis Enrique said. "When I left Barca the club told me that it was a see you later and they have kept their word. I cant wait to hear the hymn of Barcelona in the Camp Nou." The 44-year-old Luis Enrique won two league titles as a Barcelona player from 1996-2004 and coached its B team from 2008-11. He also coached at Roma, and led Celta Vigo to a respectable ninth-place finish this season after installing an attractive passing attack on the Barcelona model. Luis Enriques hiring continues a recent tradition of in-house coaches recently represented in Pep Guardiola and Tito Vilanova. That string was broken when Martino was hastily brought in last year after Vilanova resigned to focus on his battle with throat cancer that he eventually lost last month. Luis Enrique is the clubs eighth former captain to coach the club, joining such greats as Laszlo Kubala, Cesar Rodriguez, Johan Cruyff and Guardiola. Although Luis Enrique was never in the same class as them, he will be only the second former captain to coach the clubs B side and first team. Guardiola is the other. Luis Enrique asked not to be compared with Guardiola, and said his best quality as a coach was being a leader, not as an expert in tactics, despite his insider knowledge of Barcelonas ball-control approach. "I dont rely too heavily on tactical knowhow, instead I focus on managing a group, managing egos," he said. "There is work that goes on during the week, work based on knowing each player. I try to be everything a leader is." Luis Enriques immediate goal is to work with sports director Andoni Zubizarreta and rebuild a squad that has experienced a slow slide over the past two years. "He is a coach that knows our way of playing, our philosophy. We believe that we have put the squad that we are going to build for next season in good hands," said Zubizarreta, who also recalled that Enrique had "put a goal or two" past the former Barcelona goalkeeper when Enrique played for Real Madrid. Under Luis Enrique, Barcelona will be expected to bring in reinforcements to help Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Neymar. And he wont be measured -- at least not immediately -- against Guardiola, who won an unprecedented six titles in his first season and 14 of a possible 19 in four years. Luis Enrique acknowledged his other challenge is helping Messi rediscover the competitive spirit that the clubs all-time leading scorer appeared to lack during some matches after recovering from nagging muscle injuries last season. "I am thrilled to have the best player in the world on my team," Enrique said. "Its obvious that Messis output this season wasnt as incredible as in past years ... I hope that with me he can find his best version, but not only him, also Iniesta and Neymar and the rest." Luis Enrique can draw on links with three generations of players, having played alongside veteran Xavi Hernandez, coached former B team player Sergio Busquets, and taken rising talent Rafina Alcantara from Barcelona to Celta on loan and now back. Luis Enrique is one of the few players to have enjoyed successful stints at both Barcelona and Madrid. He occupies a special place among Barcelonas faithful as the one recent player to have left Madrid for Barcelona, in contrast to a group of former stars who left for the Spanish capital, including Luis Figo, Bernd Schuster and Michael Laudrup. Ultra Boost Outlet .J. -- Jaromir Jagr has hit so many NHL milestones this season for the New Jersey Devils that he is starting to downplay them. Adidas Nmd Herren Deutschland .com) - Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki was named the National League Player of the Month for April. http://www.nmdschuhesale.de/nmd-r2-schuhe-deutschland.html .J. -- Omar Cummings helped the Houston Dynamo advance to the MLS Eastern Conference finals. Adidas Nmd Cs2 Damen .J. - Henrik Lundqvist has done more than set a couple of franchise records for the New York Rangers this week. Adidas Nmd Xr1 Deutschland . Catch all the action on TSN starting at 10:30pm et/7:30pm pt. Toronto won at Denver and Utah, but lost in Portland and Sacramento. The Kings loss was the most recent game for the Raptors.KRASNAYA POLAYNA, Russia - Two hundred metres into the race, Brian McKeever was suddenly on his backside and it appeared his ninth career Paralympic gold medal was slipping away. But he wasnt letting it go without a fight and the Canmore, Alta., cross-country skier, led by guide Graham Nishikawa of Whitehorse, caught up to the pack to win the mens visually impaired sprint at the Sochi Paralympics on Wednesday. Its McKeevers second gold of the 2014 Games and the 12th medal of his illustrious Paralympic career. The 34-year-old also won gold in the 20-kilometre event on Monday. The two Canadians easily advanced to the final where a Russian skier stepped on McKeevers pole, causing him to crash around the 200-metre mark of the one-kilometre race. But McKeever scrambled to his feet and, with the help of Nishikawa, caught up to the rest of the pack. "It wouldnt be right for me to tell you what I said in my head, but once the cuss words were out, the only thing you can do is get back up and race," said McKeever. "I thought we were clear, but that is normal and it happens in sprinting when you are all fighting and tight. Everyone is going flat out. It is intense and everyone is at their limit. We are just fortunate it happened in the first 200 metres and not at the end so we had time to catch up." Meanwhile, alpine sit-skier Kimberly Joines of Rossland, B.C., finished second in the womens slalom although the results are still unofficial after a German skier appealed her disqualification from the first run. A decision is expected Thursday morning. Not including a medal for Joines, Canada has eight medals (two gold, two silver, four bronze) and sits third in the overall tally. Russia has a wide lead with 47 total medals while Ukraine is second with 14. Canadas goal is to finish in the top three in gold medals but is currently in fourth withh McKeevers two.dddddddddddd Ukraine is third with three while Germany is second with five and Russia leads with 16. Nishikawa admitted he felt a rush of panic when he saw McKeever go down. "It wasnt until we got back up around the Russians and had the Swedes in sight that I felt a huge relief," he said. McKeever credited Nishikawa with getting him the gold. "The snow was so heavy today," he said. "He basically towed me up that hill and ... and gave us a chance. It is not how we planned things, but that was a pretty awesome day." Swedens Zebastian Modin hung on for the silver medal, while Russias Oleg Ponomarev won bronze. Earlier this week, Nishikawa shared guiding duties with Erik Carleton to lead McKeever to his first gold of the 2014 Games. But Carletons name was on the start list so he was the only one to receive a gold medal. Nishikawas performance Wednesday has earned him a gold of his own. "It feels absolutely awesome," said Nishikawa, who races on the able-bodied World Cup circuit. "I said earlier this is a whole new world for me. Im so impressed by everything. This whole experience has been amazing and I just wanted to do whatever I could to be here and help Brian. We have been friends for a long time so this is very special." A handful of other Canadians also competed in the sprint races. Chris Klebl of Canmore qualified for the mens sit-skiing heats but did not advance to the final. Robbi Weldon of Thunder Bay, Ont., along with her guide Phil Wood of Canmore had their day come to an end in the semifinals of the womens visually impaired category, while Paralympic rookie Brittany Hudak of Prince Albert, Sask., did not advance past the womens standing semifinals. In curling, Canada improved to 6-1 and clinched a spot in the semifinals with a 10-4 victory over South Korea. ' ' '