Tampa Bay Lightning forward Steven Stamkos continued towards his potential return on Friday, taking part in practice drills with light contact. While the 23-year-olds progress had some teammates saying he was looking pretty good, Stamkos offered a more tempered approach to his return. "I dont feel where I need to be in order to play a game yet, but its getting there," he told reporters after practice at the Bell Centre in Montreal. "Its nice to hear that the guys are saying that. Today I was in the corners a little more and getting bumped around (but) by no means was it full contact." Stamkos fractured the tibia in his right leg in a Nov. 11 game against the Boston Bruins and underwent surgery the following day. He returned to practice earlier than expected, leading each days progress to be closely monitored by Lightning fans as well as Canadians. Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman named Stamkos to Canadas 25-man roster for the coming Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, but with Canadas first game just two weeks away, the clock is ticking on his hopes to be healthy in time. "You just have to listen to your body," Stamkos said. "Were talking a lot about the Olympics and my goal is to try to be ready for those Games, but your body doesnt lie. If youre doing certain movements and you feel pain then thats an indicator that maybe its not quite ready. "It is tough mentally as well, going in there knowing that youre a little hesitant in certain areas. Ive said that before that thats what you dont want so you just try to overcome that as you progress and you take more contact in practice and hopefully that goes away." Stamkos scored 14 goals and 23 points in 17 for the Lightning this season prior to his injury. However, opportunities to get into game action before the Olympics are dwindling for the sniper. The Lightning have four games remaining before the NHL goes on break for the Games with the teams final game coming Feb. 8 against the Detroit Red Wings. While the Brampton, Ontario native wouldnt commit to a timeline, he acknowledged his progress thus far and expressed hope for it to continue over the next two weeks. "It has gotten better," he said. "Theres less and less pain every time I get on the ice but there is still a little discomfort. "Im hoping in the next week and a half, two weeks, that that feels a lot better and I can do certain movements without having that pain or at least with some pain thats manageable. Right now its still a little sharp in certain areas so thats what Im trying to improve." Ronnie Harrison Jersey . Sterling was banned for life and fined US$2.5 million by the NBA on Tuesday for racist comments the league says he made in a recorded conversation. Nash, who plays for the rival L.A. 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There will be no Down Under four-peat for Djokovic, as the eighth-seeded Swiss slugger Wawrinka outlasted the second seed 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 9-7 at Melbourne Parks Rod Laver Arena in yet another five-set thriller in their burgeoning rivalry.MINNEAPOLIS - The Minnesota Vikings were just getting started, with a rookie quarterback and a first-time head coach in Mike Zimmer so eager to maintain momentum he told the players to report to practice in a few days.The Chicago Bears played again as if they were ready for this season to be over.Teddy Bridgewater threw the go-ahead 44-yard touchdown pass to Adam Thielen in the third quarter, guiding the Vikings to a 13-9 victory on Sunday to slap one more blemish on a forgettable year for the Bears.I dont want to stop. I want to keep going, Zimmer said, joking that he gave the players a day off on Monday. They countered that theyd see him in April instead.Bears coach Marc Trestman might not make it until Tuesday.I expect to be back. I couldnt look at it any other way or with any other kind of focus, Trestman said.Blair Walsh kicked two field goals, linebacker Audie Cole had 11 tackles, three assists and a pass breakup in his first start of the season and the Vikings (7-9) ended Zimmers first season on a winning note. Bridgewater was so thrilled by Zimmers first NFC North win that he gave him the ball from the last snap of the game.I was so excited and so caught up in how well the guys played today. We showed a lot of character, said Bridgewater, who went 17 for 25 for 209 yards to finish 6-6 as a starter in his first year.Jay Cutler returned from a one-game benching with 172 yards on 23-for-36 passing without a fumble or an interception, but he rarely threw long and the offence was off all afternoon with a series of unforced errors. The Bears (5-11) finished with their worst record in 10 years.I dont think anyone knows whats going to happen, said Cutler, acknowledging his own uncertain status. No one knows what direction were going. But Im pretty confident that well know relatively soon.After the Vikings drove to the 3, Matt Asiata was stuffed for no gain on the same play on third-and-1 and fourth-and-1 to give Cutler and the Bears one last opportunity with 2:53 left and a four-point deficit.They bungled it, metaphorically for this mess of a season. Three penalties, including two false starts, plus an incompletion doomed the drive.Just boneheaded mistakes sometimes, and it happens to all off us, said Matt Forte, whose eight receptions gave him an NFL-running-back-record 102 for the season.dddddddddddd.From players to coaches on up to general manager Phil Emery, just about every key figure entered the off-season on a tenuous note as the Bears missed the playoffs for the fourth straight year after reaching the NFC championship game following the 2010 season.Alshon Jeffery had only two catches for 34 yards after totalling 23 receptions, 384 yards and three touchdowns over the past two games against the Vikings. Without Brandon Marshall to attract attention elsewhere, the Vikings led by cornerback Xavier Rhodes had Jeffery well under control.Kyle Fuller intercepted a short pass by Bridgewater that was behind Cordarrelle Patterson but bounced off both of the wide receivers hands. Fuller reached the end zone with his return, but the replay revealed his knee was down at the 9-yard line.That was the second of three touchdowns, two by the Bears, overruled by an official review. The Bears had to settle for the second of three field goals by Jay Feely, who later missed a 43-yard try.Bridgewater responded with a bang, connecting with Thielen for 22 yards and finding him wide open for the score on the ensuing play for a 10-6 lead when Fuller and safety Brock Vereen blew the coverage.Its huge for our confidence going into next year. We had a good team, and we just had a lot of close games that we lost, Thielen said. We want to be in the playoffs.NOTES: Forte took the record from Larry Centers, who had 101 catches for Arizona in 1995. Forte also topped 1,000-yard rushing mark for the fifth time in seven years. ... Asiata had 91 yards on 19 carries, including a season-long 19-yard run, to finish with a team-leading 570 yards rushing. He had 10 touchdowns and 882 yards from scrimmage. ... Cole had an interception negated by an offside penalty on Corey Wootton, but Cutler finished turnover-free for only the third time in 15 games this season. ... Bridgewater finished with a 64.4 completion rate, the third-highest by a rookie in NFL history behind Ben Roethlisberger (66.4) and Robert Griffin III (65.6).___AP NFL websites: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL Cheap NFL Jerseys Throwback Cheap Jerseys Discount NFL Jerseys Wholesale Authentic Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Discount Jerseys Wholesale Stitched Jerseys ' ' '