COLUMBUS, Georgia - Shannon Szabados made 27 saves in her mens professional hockey league debut Saturday, although her Columbus Cottonmouths fell 4-3 to the Knoxville Ice Bears. Szabados joined the Southern Professional Hockey League team last week. The 27-year-old goaltender from Edmonton backstopped the Canadian womens hockey team to Olympic gold Feb. 20. Columbus led 2-1 after the opening period, but Knoxville scored three unanswered goals in the second before the Cottonmouths scored again in the third. “It was fun,” Szabados told the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer. “I saw a few Szabados shirts out there. It was definitely a great moment.” Szabados made 27 saves in Canadas 3-2 thrilling overtime win over the U.S. to defend the gold in Sochi. She posted a 28-save shutout over the Americans in the womens Olympic hockey final in 2010. Szabados has spent much of her career in mens leagues. She played for Sherwood Park, Bonneyville and Fort Saskatchewan during her four years in the Alberta Junior Hockey League. She then spent five years in Alberta mens college hockey with Grant MacEwen and then NAIT. Saturdays game was her first since the Olympic womens final, although she practised with the NHLs Edmonton Oilers when they were short a backup goaltender March 5. No woman has ever played in an NHL regular-season game. Goaltender Manon Rheaume became the first to play in an exhibition game with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 1992. Canadian womens hockey team forward star Hayley Wickenheiser has played in mens leagues in Finland and Sweden during her career. The Cottonmouths are 25-25-3 in the 10-team SPHL and have secured a berth in the playoffs. Originals Stan Smith NZ . -- Michael Bennett gambled last off-season that playing on a one-year deal in Seattle would pay off in the future with the long-term contract he always wanted. Buy NMD NZ . Re-signed by the club to a one-year, two-way (NHL/AHL) contract on July 5, Bass appeared in three preseason games with Columbus prior to breaking a bone in his hand on Sept. http://www.nmdshoesnz.com/adidas-x-plr-cheap-nz.html. - A late-game interception by defensive back Malcolm Butler saved the Super Bowl for the New England Patriots. Y-3 Shoes NZ .Chanathip Songkrasin opened the scoring in the sixth minute before Kroekrit found the target twice in the 57th and four minutes from fulltime.Vietnam and Malaysia play their second leg on Thursday. Vietnam won the first leg 2-1. NMD R2 Sale Womens . Adam Lind provided the power and rookie starter Marcus Stroman had the best start of his young career as the Blue Jays dumped the Yankees 8-3 at Rogers Centre. Stroman, making his fifth start for Toronto, allowed one earned run and three hits over a career-high eight innings.ENGLEWOOD, Colo. - The Denver Broncos havent missed tight end Julius Thomas — until they reach the red zone.The Broncos (9-3) have scored just six touchdowns on 15 trips inside the opponents 20-yard line since Thomas sprained his left ankle in the first quarter at St. Louis three weeks ago.That 40 per cent red zone efficiency pales in comparison to the 77 per cent success rate (24 for 31) they had before Thomas got hurt.Julius is one of our top players and when you have one of your top players go out, you are going to miss him, Peyton Manning said Wednesday. We hope to get Julius back out there. Theres no question when hes out there he makes a difference, he makes a lot of plays for us.Thomas leads the league with a dozen TD catches even though he hasnt scored since Nov. 9. He was limited at practice Wednesday and hopes to return to action this weekend against the Buffalo Bills (7-5).Last week at Kansas City, the Broncos settled for five field goals from Connor Barth after stalling at Kansas Citys 4, 6, 11, 14 and 19.Im looking forward to getting back, Thomas said, so maybe my presence can have us kicking a little bit less field goals.Manning called it unfair to blame Denvers red zone woes solely on the absence of Thomas.I cant point it there, said Manning, who lamented his missed connections with Demaryius Thomas and Jacob Tamme last week when the Broncos scored on just one of six trips inside the 20 before a game-ending kneel-down at the 7.Every red zone opportunity has its own story, Manning said. Nobody wants to hear it. They just want to see if you got a touchdown or a field goal. Some way, weve got to find a way — Ive got to find a way — to help us get into the end zone with Julius or without him.Thomas return would add an intriguing challenge not only for the Bills but for the Broncos, who have had success emphasizing the run in Thomas absence.Behind an O-line thats jelling after a midseason shake-up, the insertion of third tackle Paul Cornick and the return of physical tight end Virgil Greeen, C.ddddddddddddJ. Anderson has run for 335 yards in back-to-back wins over Miami and Kansas City.C.J. has been awesome the past couple of weeks and its been awesome to watch, Manning said.If Thomas returns to the lineup, I dont really know how its going to change them, Bills coach Doug Marrone said. Obviously, theyve got another great player coming back. They can do so many things. They can hurt you so many ways. Thats a challenge and you have to be careful. If you try to take someone out or you try to take someone away, they have so much talent on that offence that theyll exploit whatever weakness you have whether its by putting too many guys in the box or putting too many in coverage.The Broncos want Thomas on the field but they dont want to take Green out — he was sorely missed in all three of Denvers losses. The game plan was built around him as a fullback and a second tight end at Seattle in Week 3, but he sustained a concussion on the first drive. His calf injury sidelined him at New England and St. Louis.With Green back in the lineup, Denver has piled up 415 yards rushing the last two weeks.Thomas said his return to action wouldnt necessarily mean the Broncos will go back to throwing the ball more. Were going to go with whatevers working well, and for us, weve been able to run that ball consistently well, and if thats the case, well continue to do that when I get back, he said.Green said he cant venture a guess as to what happens upon Thomas return, but he knows one thing: Hes a red zone nightmare.Notes: WR Demaryius Thomas (foot) and C Will Montgomery (knee) were limited Wednesday. ... Bills QB Kyle Orton didnt want to reminisce about his time in Denver. Asked at the end of a five-minute conference call what comes to mind when he thinks about Denver, he replied, The mountains, then added See ya, and hung up.___AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL___Follow AP Pro Football Writer Arnie Melendrez Stapleton on Twitter: http://twitter.com/arniestapleton ' ' '