It was officially rock bottom. The Toronto Argonauts had their best half of the season last Saturday in Calgary. They were leading the Stampeders, arguably the leagues best team, by a 29-3 lead late in the second quarter. Then everything that went right in the opening 30 minutes started to go wrong. The lead evaporated as quickly as a shallow puddle on a hot desert highway with the Stamps rallying for a 40-33 victory. After a nearly flawless first half, the team imploded. The offence reverted to its ineffective old self. Couple that with the usual suspects - turnovers, penalties and an inability to stop the run - and the reason for the collapse was apparent. How bad was the loss? Even head coach Scott Milanovich admitted it hurt more than usual. "I would say for the first day or so after the game, it was tough to take," confided the coach. "I thought the guys really did a nice job of licking their wounds and then getting over it. We really had a great week." That doesnt mean the early part of the week wasnt easy. "Shoot, I know the coaches freakin lips were on the ground for two days," admitted Milanovich. "You lose one like that and it takes a while, but I thought our guys did a nice job." Quarterback Ricky Rays statistics could be used as Exhibit A as to why the game turned out as it did. He threw for four touchdowns and over 200 yards in the first half, before basically being held in check over the final two quarters. He looks at the game as a major opportunity lost. "Weve been struggling and that could have been the game that got our season going," said Ray. "To give that one back makes it tough, but its football and everyone deals with losses and disappointment throughout the year." There are losses and then there are losses, but this one was literally of historic proportion. Since the CFL was founded, the Argonauts had never lost a regular-season game when they had led by more than 20 points - until Saturday. In fact, the 26-point blown lead was just one point shy of the league record. Ray tried to spin it as best as he could. "We played the best team in the league and played very well against them," said the QB. "Even though we didnt win the game - and that was heart breaking - we can take a lot of confidence from that game knowing that, when we are out there doing things the way we need to do them, we can play some good football." Milanovich had an eerily similar message. "I do think they took something from the fact that they went toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the league on the road and felt like we should have won the game." But they didnt. Chad Owens did not play in the game, recovering from a knee injury. The receiver watched the game on TSN from his home, but suffice it to say, distance didnt make the loss any easier to take. "I was depressed," admitted the receiver. "I went from being on an extreme high to an extreme depression." "It almost didnt make sense," said Owens. "Im not taking anything away from Calgary, but that first half, thats what were about. Thats what were capable of doing." "I hate the word potential," continued the Honolulu native. "I hate that word because, if you have the potential, why arent you out there doing it day in, day out, week in, week out?" Owens will return to the line-up Friday night. He is hesitant to talk about himself, but when asked point blank by TSN.ca what his return means to the offence he relented. "I believe I have play-making ability," said Owens, stating the obvious. "If I get a double team, that means someone else is wide open." "Im looking forward to making some plays (against the Lions)." he added. "Thats what Im going to do." Hes going to have to do that if the Argos are to win in Vancouver, something they havent done since 2002. Los Angeles Lakers Gear . His brother — Red Lake chiropractor Richard Radford — is en route to Sochi to cheer on his younger brother. "Ive been getting texts from Eric and he just says the atmosphere is amazing, its special,” he said. Los Angeles Lakers Store .C. -- The Carolina Hurricanes used a strong third period to extend their winning streak to three games. https://www.lakersjerseycheap.com/.The other side of the Bruins special teams unit delivered in the end.Gregory Campbell netted the game-winner with less than 10 minutes remaining and the Bruins fended off a late four-minute San Jose power play to earn a wild 5-3 win over the Sharks. Los Angeles Lakers Shirts . Schaub will start for an injured Case Keenum and try to help the Texans end a 12-game skid. Schaubs last action in Houston came when he took over late in a game against Oakland on Nov. 17 as Keenum was struggling. Los Angeles Lakers Pro Shop . "We were left with the overall impression that the team wasnt trending toward being able to compete for a Stanley Cup," Capitals owner Ted Leonsis said in a news conference at the clubs arena. "And that was just a clear signal and why it was time to make those changes.DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Defending champion Novak Djokovic needed less than an hour to advance at the Dubai Championships on Wednesday, while Roger Federer faced a struggle to seal his place in the quarterfinals. Top-seeded Djokovic swept to a 6-1, 6-3 win over 51st-ranked Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain in just 57 minutes, but fourth-seeded Federer had to see off a serious challenge from 48th-ranked Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic before coming through 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-3. "I have done really well today from the first to the last point," Djokovic said. "There was no major ups and downs, especially with the serve that helped me to win comfortably my service games, a lot of free points." In the first set, Djokovic raced to a 5-0 lead before Bautista Agut held serve to win his only game in the set. The only hiccup Djokovic had in the second set was when serving for the match at 5-2. He dropped his serve in that game but broke serve in the next to close out the match. Djokovic will play sixth-seeded Mikhail Youzhny, who beat British wildcard recipient James Ward 6-1, 7-6 (3). Federer came into his two hour, eight minute match with a 12-2 winning record over Stepanek. Hes now won their last nine meetings dating back to the 2008 Rome quarterfinals. "I got broken four times which is difficult, but its good to win those type of matches," said Federer, who faced eight break points against his serve. "Im happy to get through. "It didnt look good there for a while, but I got it done." Federer handled the first set with confidence, but started to falter as Stepanek became more aggressive in the second set. Federer managed to rebound from 4-2 down in the second set to force a tiebreaker -- where Stepanekk raced into a 6-2 and a first set point when Federer double faulted.ddddddddddddStepanek won the set on his third set point when Federer netted a forehand. Stepanek also took an early 2-0 lead in the third set, but Federer rebounded to go ahead 5-2 to serve for the match. Federers serve was broken when he double faulted in the eighth game. Stepanek, however, surrendered his serve in the next game to allow Federer to move into the quarterfinals. Hell now face another Czech player in Lukas Rosol, who upset eighth-seeded Dmitry Tursunov of Russia 6-4, 7-6 (4). "Today was quite frustrating," Federer said. "I had momentum on my side at the beginning, but it was tough to keep it going. "After the first set I was under pressure the entire match." Like Djokovic, third-seeded Tomas Berdych had an easy path to the quarterfinals with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine. Berdych, who will face fifth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarterfinals, has won his last eight matches. Despite Berdych having trouble with his first serve -- his percentage was a ghastly 37 per cent -- he controlled the match. He lost his serve once, and won 12 of the last 14 points. "I was working a little more on my return stats than on my service stats," Berdych said. "The main focus really for the next days is to get my percentage of the first serve back and really find a nice and sweet rhythm for my serve." Tsonga won his second-round match by walkover when his opponent, Nikolay Davydenko, withdrew with a rib injury. Seventh-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber was a 6-3, 6-3 winner over Andrea Seppi of Italy. Kohlschreiber will play Tunisian wild card Malek Jaziri, who beat Somdev Devvarman of India 6-3, 7-5. ' ' '