FLIMS, Switzerland -- The Canadian women are off to a strong start at the world junior curling championships, but the men are struggling early on. Albertas Kelsey Rocque won both her games Wednesday on the first day of the round robin. Rocque and her Edmonton team of Keely Brown, Taylor McDonald and Claire Tully stole four ends, including a single in an extra end, to score a 7-6 victory over Czech Republic in the first draw. Later Wednesday they fell behind Italys Veronica Zappone 5-3 after the Italians stole a point in the seventh, but rallied for three points in the eighth and went on to win 8-6. "It was rough, I struggled a bit," said Rocque about the first five ends against Italy. "We just werent curling like we could." She felt the three points in the seventh gave the Canadians some momentum. "We started making some shots. You could see a change in our attitudes," Rocque said. "We started curling a little better and we had some confidence back." On the mens side, the Winnipeg team of Braden Calvert, Kyle Kurz, Lucas Van Den Bosch and Brendan Wilson lost two close games on the first day of competition. The Canadians lost their first game 8-6 to the 2013 silver medallists from Russia. Canada was leading 6-5 after nine ends, but Russias Sergey Glukhov was able to score three for the 8-6 victory. Calvert followed with a 6-5 loss to Sweden. Calvert stole one in the ninth end to lead 5-4, but Swedens Fredrik Nyman took a deuce in the 10th. "We were just on the wrong side of the inch all day, and we werent as sharp as we needed to be today," said Calvert after the match. "Were just going to sharpen up and have a good practice on the sheet well play tomorrow and well be good." Tony Gonzalez Jersey . As for regular Olympic spectators, theyre being warned that most travel insurance policies wont cover acts of terrorism or war. The Games in southern Russia, which run from Feb. 7-23, are being staged amid unprecedented security and under global warnings of danger. Gary Spani Jersey . After two months of mediocrity, perhaps the Washington Nationals have turned the page. Strasburg struck out 11 in seven innings Wednesday night and the Nationals kept the Philadelphia Phillies bats quiet yet again in an 8-4, rain-interrupted win. http://www.customchiefsjersey.com/custom...-1636n.html.com) - Jahlil Okafor erupted for 25 points and 20 rebounds as No. Laurent Duvernay-Tardif Jersey . -- Kansas City Royals right-hander Luke Hochevar will have Tommy John surgery that will sideline the pitcher for the season. Ed Budde Jersey .Mack, a reserve guard who came in averaging 3.8 points, made all six of his 3-pointers as the Hawks went 16 for 28 from behind the arc.Trailing 50-38 midway through the second quarter, Atlanta outscored Cleveland 89-48 the rest of the way and sent the Cavaliers to their largest loss of the season.Villanova, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - The Temple Owls play their final Big 5 game of the season, as they head out to the suburbs to tangle with the seventh-ranked Villanova Wildcats at the Pavilion on Sunday afternoon. Temple has won twice as many games as it has lost, and the team is seeking its third straight win here after knocking off La Salle (58-57) and Towson (76-64) in the last week. The Owls will be on the road for their next clash as well, visiting Delaware on Thursday, before returning to Philadelphia to battle nationally-ranked Kansas on Dec. 22. Villanova has taken down all comers here in the first month of the season, including formidable opponents in VCU, Michigan and Illinois. The win over the Fighting Illini was the teams most recent, as it claimed a 73-59 decision in last Tuesdays matchup in New York City as part of the Jimmy V Classic. The Wildcats will take on former Big East Conference rival Syracuse next Saturday in the second leg of their current four-game homestand. Temple leads the all-time series with Villanova, 44-42, and the teams have split the last four meetings. The Owls won the most recent matchup at the Pavilion back in 2012. Will Cummings used a near-perfect 15-of-17 effort at the free-throw line to tally a game-high 22 points in helping Temple top Towson the last time out. Quenton DeCosey added 16 points in going 9-of-11 at the charity stripe, while Daniel Dingle and Jaylen Bond chipped in with 11 and 10 points, respectively. The Owls shot just 40 percent from the field, but held the Tigers to onnly 31.dddddddddddd7 percent, despite the visitors draining 9-of-19 3-point tries. TU was beaten on the boards, 50-38, but committed only six turnovers. Cummings and DeCosey are averaging 14.9 and 14.3 ppg, respectively, as the only players averaging double figures at the moment. As a team, Temple is putting up only 62.4 ppg, but allowing just 60.6 ppg. Although they are coming up just shy of the break-even point in terms of rebounding margin, they goad the opposition into 12.4 turnovers per outing. Villanova used a blistering 61.5 percent shooting effort in the second half to push its way past Illinois earlier in the week. Dylan Ennis hit 7-of-10 field goal attempts to score 18 points, while Daniel Ochefu and Darrun Hilliard pitched in with a dozen each, and Josh Hart came off the bench to tally 10 points to go with his team-high seven rebounds. The Illini were limited to 31.3 percent shooting from 3-point range, and they were outscored at the foul line, 11-4. Ennis (12.9 ppg) and Hilliard (10.7 ppg) are the only two players averaging double digits in the scoring column for coach Jay Wrights club, which utilizes a more balanced approach toward achieving its solid scoring average of 75.1 ppg. The Wildcats have also excelled on defense, yielding a mere 56.1 ppg with foes shooting just 39 percent from the floor, which includes a 26 percent showing from beyond the arc. Add favorable margins in both rebounding (+3.8) and turnovers (+5.4) and its not difficult to see why Villanova is off to such a tremendous start. ' ' '