CALGARY -- Gilmore Junio hopes the people who follow his speedskating career in typhoon-ravaged Philippines feel their spirits lift after his recent gold medal. The Filipino-Canadian won the first World Cup gold medal of his career in the 500 metres last week in Salt Lake City, Utah. His parents Gino and Julie emigrated from the Philippines to Canada in the 1970s. Junio was born and raised in Calgary. Hundreds were killed and millions left homeless when Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines earlier this month. Junio says the disaster did not directly impact his familys relatives. He is sponsored, however, by the Philippine telecommunications company PLDT. So after winning his gold, Junio sent a message to the company acknowledging his victory, but also conveying his best wishes for anyone affected by the typhoon. "I kept it pretty brief on my success and said it was a great confidence booster going towards the Olympics, but my thoughts and prayers went out to all families," Junio said. "Maybe not a lot of Filipinos know what speedskating is, but maybe just having an athlete they hear has won a gold medal on the World Cup circuit, maybe they can kind of be excited despite the tragedy and find something to rally around for the next couple of months." The 23-year-olds gold was his second career World Cup medal after winning a silver during the 2012-13 season. Along with Edmontons Jamie Gregg, who has earned a pair of World Cup bronze in the 500 already this season, the two men are medal threats at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, in February. The Philippines is an island country in the western Pacific Ocean. No athletes from the country competed in the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and Whistler, B.C., so Philippine media coverage of the Games concentrated on Filipino-American speed skater J.R. Celski and figure skater Amanda Evora. "My dad watches a lot of the Filipino channel and those two were always on the news," Junio said. "For Filipinos to have winter athletes to rally around at Olympic time, its special for them. "Theyre really big on their sports too," he continued, pointing out that boxer Manny Pacquiao is so beloved there, he was elected to political office. Junios sponsorship deal with PLDT is a unique story on its own. Junio did it with the help of Kevin Jagger, an Vancouver investment banker so inspired by the 2010 Games he quit his job to become a speedskater. Jagger has yet to make the national team, but still attracted sponsorship to his quest with his business and marketing smarts. Jagger worked with Junio on building a sponsorship proposal. They highlighted his unique heritage in the sport with the slogan "fastest Filipino on ice." ""We basically took that story and put a deck (proposal) together saying that over 100 metres, Gil is faster than Usain Bolt," Jagger said. "We put that deck together and sent that out to PLDT. "They loved it and they loved the idea. Even though he competes for Canada, hes very proud of his Filipino heritage. Thats someone they can call their own. They have a huge employee base so we basically pitched it around an employee morale story. "It speaks to the importance of having social media and blogging and having a website where he can effectively share his story and tell it across the ocean." It isnt NHL or NBA money, but the sponsorships value is in the double digits. Thats a significant amount to athletes who often believe they cant begin to engage a companys interest without an Olympic gold medal around their necks. "Its a pretty big amount compared to what Im used to," Junio said. "Especially with the Olympics this year, you want to make sure youre doing everything right buying supplements and vitamins and paying for extras. "We have a yoga core class so paying for that and equipment just piles up. To be able to just pay for that stuff and have the financial stresses off me . . . . you kind of have no more excuses." Junio has twice travelled to the Philippines and most recently in 2011 to visit his fathers relatives. Interestingly, Jagger also helped Junio parlay his "born-and-raised Calgarian" side into attracting sponsorship from the Calgary software company Aclaro. "On the sponsorship side, you wont get far with a generic deck," Jagger said. "Each pitch has been highly customized. Its always genuine, but youre pitching different things." Junio played hockey from age seven to 13. He realized he might not be big enough to pursue the sport at a high level when the opposing team had current six-foot-eight Buffalo Sabres defenceman Tyler Myers on it. With some gentle nudging from Gino, he attended a speedskating talent identification camp at the Olympic Oval. Junior started out in short track, but broke two bones in his back just prior to the junior world championships at age 19. He switched to long track as a means of training safely during his comeback and stayed with it. Junio tied for gold in Salt Lake City with Japans Joji Kato, the Olympic bronze medallist in 2010, as the two men posted identical times. "Having the gold with one of the fastest times Ive ever skated, that in itself gives me a lot of confidence that if I execute my plan right and really hone in on that day, I could contend to bring home a medal," Junio said. "Looking to Sochi, I just have to execute on the days I compete and at the Olympic trials. The Olympic trials come first." Drew Gagnon Jersey . 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CNN and Gazzetta dello Sport reporter Tancredi Palmeri broke the news via Twitter Tuesday afternoon. Italian Football Association President Giancarlo Abete has also resigned, according to Palmeri. Jerry Blevins Jersey .com) - Hassan Whiteside scored 20 points with nine rebounds in the Miami Heats 83-75 win over the Boston Celtics on Sunday.MONTREAL -- The Montreal Canadiens looked to be in trouble when goaltender Carey Price got injured just after helping Canada win gold at the Sochi Olympics. But back-up Peter Budaj has put up two wins and an overtime loss while starting three games in four nights since Price went down with a suspected groin injury. Budaj was sharp when he needed to be as the Canadiens bounced back after blowing a third-period lead to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 on Max Paciorettys second goal of the game, 3:28 into overtime on Saturday night. "Hes been unbelievable" U.S. Olympian Pacioretty said of Budaj, who played for Slovakia at the Winter Games. "Hes kept us in all three games hes played and hes made key saves at key moments. "Thats probably the most important thing a goalie can do. Hes one of the hardest working goalies Ive ever seen and its good to see him get rewarded." Alex Galchenyuk scored in the first period and P.K. Subban tied the game and forced OT with a power-play goal at 10:52 of the third frame for Montreal (34-21-7), which is 7-1-2 in its last 10 games. James van Riemsdyk had two and Phil Kessel also scored for the Leafs (32-22-, who were coming off an overtime loss to the Islanders in New York in their first post-Olympic action on Thursday night. Budaj, now 4-1-0 against Toronto in his career, made 22 saves for the win after backstopping Montreal to a 6-5 OT decision Thursday in Pittsburgh and a 2-1 OT loss to Detroit on Wednesday. He may face even tougher action if he continues to get the starts as the Canadiens leave Sunday on a four-game West Coast road trip. Price is listed as day to day and may be able to return during the trip. Against the Leafs, Budaj and the Canadiens were on a roller coaster as Montreal went up 2-0, but then saw Toronto roar back to take the lead, only for Subban to tie the game. Along the way were unusual penalties, including two delay of game calls against the Leafs and one against Budaj. Paciorettys game-winner, when he beat Jonathan Bernier with a high shot from close range that gave Andrei Markov his third assist of the night, came after Bernier slid well out of his net and was called for a delay as he smothered the puck with his glove. Toronto had started overtime shorthanded when Kessel was called for flipping the puck over the glass. Leafs captain Dion Paneuf would not pin the loss on the officials. "Im not going to stand here and say the calls were right, wrong or indifferent," he said. "If you start complaininng about that, thats an excuse.dddddddddddd "We showed a lot to come back. JVR (van Riemsdyk) made an unbelievable individual effort and Phil had a great shot, but our team overall, we fought back. We got a point. Were disappointed we didnt get another one, but we did a lot of good things." There were plenty of Leafs fans at Bell Centre, but the atmosphere didnt peak until the third period. It took the Leafs until 14:38 of the first frame to get their first shot on goal, but they held Montreal to a 2-1 first period lead. Galchenyuk put a spin-around shot from the slot past Bernier 12:38 in and Pacioretty scored on a backhander at 14:02. After Joffrey Lupul hit a post, Kessel slipped a pass that van Riemsdyk deflected at the net, only to see it go in off Budaj at 17:34. The third period saw van Riemsdyk get his second goal of the game on a short-handed breakaway at 5:28. Then Tyler Bozak snuck a pass through traffic that sent Kessel in on a breakaway to beat Budaj at 7:43. "Bozak made a spin-around, behind-the-back pass and it went through two skates, a couple of sticks and ends up right on Kessels stick for a breakaway," said Pacioretty. "I was right there with Kessel but I didnt see the puck coming until the last second." Montreal coach Michel Therrien called a time out to settle his players and it seemed to work as Subban tied the game to force overtime. "We got on our heels after (Torontos) third goal, and we just needed to calm down," said Therrien. "I felt the bench was really down and I just wanted to say there was still a lot of hockey to be played." The Canadiens and Leafs have split their four meetings this season, with their last regular season game set for March 22 in Toronto. The Leafs return home to face Columbus on Monday night with their top line still hot. In their past seven games, Kessel has six goals and eight assists, while van Riemsdyk has five goals and six assists. The Leafs are 6-1-1 in their last eight games. Five of van Riemsdyks 26 goals this season have come against Montreal. Notes: Montreals Ryan White missed a second game with a flu, while Carey Price (lower body), Brandon Prust (upper body) and Michael Bournival (concussion) are sidelined. Francis Bouillon was scratched. . . The Leafs called up Peter Holland from the AHL and he centred the third line, bumping Nikolai Kulemin to the wing. Dave Bolland remains out with an ankle inury. Colton Orr, Trevor Smith and Paul Ranger didnt dress. ' ' '