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SOCHI, Russia – If not quite the underdog, Drew Doughty believes, at the very least, that the Canadians are being overlooked, doubted and probably even overly dissected heading into Fridays semifinal matchup with the Americans. "I think a lot of people are counting us out," said Doughty. "If everyone wants to count us out, were going to use that as motivation." Doughty wouldnt go quite so far as to label Team Canada as the underdog, but its clear that the overwhelming degree of scrutiny has some members of the squad feeling as though theyve been doubted just a little too much. "We dont see ourselves as the underdog," Doughty said, the defender leading the Canadians with four goals. "I think both teams are really evenly matched. I dont know who Id give the upper hand to at this point. Im obviously more confident in my team than I am in theirs..." Like the Americans, Canada has yet to lose in these Olympics, but unlike their rivals to the south, they failed to exactly dominate in victory, scratching out close wins over the Norwegians (3-1), Finns (2-1 overtime) and Latvians (2-1), the last of which saw the two teams tied for most of the first 53 minutes of regulation. Head coach Mike Babcock has stressed that his team simply improves each and every day of the two-week tournament, pointing to Wednesdays struggle with the Latvians as a needed bit of adversity. Its evident, however, that the best of this Canadian team has yet to emerge. Whether it will in time for the 2010 gold medal game rematch remains in question. "Yeah were close," said Jonathan Toews after the quarterfinal win over Latvia, "not quite there yet though. Next game." Scoring concerns up front remain the most pressing issue. The Canadian forward contingent has combined for just six goals - or one more than Phil Kessel has all by himself here in Sochi - despite an overwhelming level of offensive talent. Wednesdays quarterfinal could be construed as a step in the right direction. Though they snuck just two by Kristers Gudlevskis, they managed nearly 60 shots and had numerous opportunities. Sidney Crosby, who had a breakaway in the opening minute, remains the most notable Canadian forward yet to score, but hes joined by Jonathan Toews, Corey Perry, Rick Nash, Patrick Marleau, Chris Kunitz, Martin St. Louis, Matt Duchene, and Patrice Bergeron – essentially everyone but Jeff Carter, Jamie Benn, Ryan Getzlaf and Patrick Sharp. Symmetry appears to finally be forming though. Unlike the previous four games, which saw the lines differ just about every night, Babcock will keep his forward combinations intact for the tilt against the Americans – save for the injured John Tavares (leg) – hopeful that theyll translate into actual production with elimination on the line. "You can talk scoring chances till youre blue in the face, who cares? The score is on the board, and so weve just got to find a way to keep doing what were doing," said Babcock. "I think we like the fact that were getting a lot of chances in and around the net," said Crosby, who remains alongside Kunitz and Bergeron. "We trust theyre going to go in a little bit more if we keep getting those. I think we just try to stay the course and make sure that we focus on burying those." Theyll have to do so against the seemingly unflappable Jonathan Quick. A rock for the L.A. Kings in the postseason – he has a .940 save percentage combined in the past two springs – Quick has stopped 72 of 77 shots in three starts for Team USA, fronted by an offence thats managed 20 goals in four games. "When he gets hot, when he makes some big saves early, he seems to become unbeatable, said Doughty, who captured the Cup with Quick in 2012. "And thats why weve got to get one early on him. The only way were going to score on him is weve got to get pucks up high and weve got to get screens in front and tips." Countering Quick will be Carey Price – who has stopped 48 of 51 shots – and a stiff defensive Canadian unit thats yielded just two even-strength goals all tournament and average of fewer than 19 shots against. If theres been an obvious strength to Canadas game on the bigger Olympic ice, its been the ability to defend and defend by controlling the possession of the puck. Continuing that against an American attack fronted by Kessel, who leads the tournament with eight points, will be a new and far more difficult challenge. Crosby was among the group of Canadian players who took in the Americans classic tilt with Russia in the preliminary round and was struck, above all else, with just how fast they were as a group. He and his teammates believe theyre ready for such a fight though even if others arent quite so sure. "At this point whether we beat three favourites or zero, nobodys going to really think about that or talk about that if we get the result we want [Friday] and win the game," he said. "Our groups real confident," Babcock added. "We like what weve done. We like how our team is. We think were set up good right now. And that, to me, is the most important thing." Custom Cleveland Indians Jerseys . 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Hamilton signed offensive linemen Mike Filer, Joel Reinders, Landon Rice and Carson Rockhill.The San Antonio Spurs return home for Wednesdays Game 5 of their Western Conference quarterfinals series with the Dallas Mavericks tied 2-2. San Antonio knotted the series with its Texas rival on Monday night with a 93-89 road victory at American Airlines Center. The two squads head back to AT&T Center Wednesday night, a place the Mavericks won Game 2 handily and shouldve won Game 1. "In the playoffs, I dont think teams are ever too satisfied with wins, or ever too depressed with losses," said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. "You just dont have time for it and doesnt do you any good." In Game 3, Dallas Vince Carter hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to win the contest. On Monday, the Spurs put the clamps on the Mavericks late in the game. With the game tied at 87-apiece late in the fourth quarter, Boris Diaw nailed a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 32.9 seconds left to give the Spurs the lead. Monta Ellis missed a trey for the tie at the other end, but Dirk Nowitzki corralled the offensive rebound and put it back in, cutting the deficit to one. Manu Ginobili then split a pair of free throws with 10.4 seconds left to make it a two-point game. Coming out of a timeout, Ellis drove the lane and tried banking in the layup to tie, but his attempt clanked off the rim and Tim Duncan grabbed the rebound with 1.9 seconds left. Ginobili hit a pair of free throws to seal it and send the series back to San Antonio all knotted up.dddddddddddd "Boris hit a shot and we couldnt come back at the other end and hit a shot like we should," said Ellis. "I had a good look at the end but it didnt go down." Ginobili paced the Spurs with 23 points off the bench, while Diaw netted 17 points in a reserve role. Patty Mills chipped in 10 as those three accounted for 50 second-unit points. "The bench did a fine job in what weve been used to for the season," said Popovich. "It was a big help for us tonight. Holding them to 89 is a lot better than 109 and thats what has to happen." Duncan tallied 14 points with 10 rebounds and Tiago Splitter notched 10 points with 12 boards in the win. Tony Parker finished with 10, but suffered an ankle injury. "He has a Grade 1 sprain and hell be day-to-day," Popovich said of Parker. Ellis led the Mavs with 20 points despite shooting 6-of-20 from the floor. Nowitzki, who made 7-of-19 attempts from the field, finished with 19 points and Samuel Dalembert pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds in the setback. One player who Dallas coach Rick Carlisle wont have available for Wednesday night is DeJuan Blair. The big man was suspended for Game 5 by the NBA after an incident in Game 4 when he kicked Splitter in the head while the two were tangled on the floor. Game 6 will be Friday night in Dallas. ' ' '