COLUMBUS, Ohio - John Davidson has travelled the world playing, talking about and scouting professional hockey. Wholesale Soccer Jerseys .He says his current outpost is a great place that few know about.Columbus, to me, in some ways, is a very well-kept secret, said Davidson, the director of hockey operations for the NHLs Blue Jackets.That might change this weekend. The city and the Blue Jackets have a busy, busy few days in the spotlight.Ohios capital city will be the venue for this weekends NHL All-Star game, including the player draft on Friday night, a skills competition on Saturday and the game itself on Sunday at downtowns Nationwide Arena. There are many other related events, drawing thousands of visitors and television viewers.Meanwhile Ohio State, with its sprawling campus just a couple of miles from downtown, will celebrate its national championship in college football at massive Ohio Stadium on Saturday morning. Coach Urban Meyer and his players will speak to whats expected to be a huge crowd while accepting trophies for their 14-1 run to the title.Gene Smith, the athletic director at Ohio State, considers it an embarrassment of riches.When you think about our city and all the great things that have happened here over the years, this is probably one of those exemplar moments, he said. The NHL All-Star game and weekend activities, just by itself, is phenomenal. But then to be able to showcase the national championship, all the media attention for both of those events for our city, its going to be unreal.By Thursday morning, a sledding hill had been built on two lanes of the brick thoroughfare next to the hockey arena downtown, topped by tons of snow that had been trucked in. There was a line of dozens of kids waiting to slide and glide down the bumpy slope.Nearby, just behind an old stone arch that is one of the citys symbols, a large ice rink sits outside. There are free skates for the general public and the occasional hockey game. The skaters can warm up with coffee and hot chocolate at one of the nearby heated tents.Months of planning has gone into the All-Star festivities. Columbus was originally picked in January 2012 to host the event the following year. But managements lockout of the players disrupted that plan. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, however, made good on a promise to have Columbus host the game as soon as possible, awarding the city this years event.Columbus is also one of the finalists to host the 2016 Democratic National Convention.Mayor Michael B. Coleman looks at all thats going on this weekend and sees it as a trial run.This is one of the best opportunities to showcase our city to an international audience, Coleman said. They can see how Columbus pulls off big events, and they can get a better idea of who we are as a city.Of course, not much wiggle room was permitted for the plans for Ohio States national championship celebration. The title wasnt decided until Jan. 12 in Arlington, Texas, when the Buckeyes beat Oregon, 42-20.Even though the football teams big day will be held outside in temperatures in the 30s, it wouldnt be a major surprise if Buckeye fans flooded the place. After all, more than 90,000 once showed up for a spring practice game at Ohio Stadium.Smith says Ohio State officials have been working with those from the Blue Jackets. During the national championship celebration, some of the events associated with the All-Star game will be mentioned on the video monitors.Cabs, hotel rooms and seats in restaurants and bars will come at a premium on such a busy sports weekend.The Blue Jackets and the Buckeyes are happy to share top billing.The more the merrier, Davidson said, laughing.___Follow Rusty Miller on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/RustyMillerAP Fake Soccer Jerseys . He is nigh unstoppable against the leagues worst. The 31-year-old dangerman set up two goals and scored two himself as Toronto FC rallied from a 2-0 deficit to defeat the slumping Houston Dynamo 4-2 on Saturday night. Soccer Jerseys Black Friday . Toronto (11-12) gave up leads in 10-8 and 11-4 losses to the Baltimore Orioles this week. It was never close Friday as the Boston Red Sox got to Mark Buehrle early en route to an 8-1 win. https://www.fakesoccerjerseys.com/ . The underachieving franchise finished 17th in the 19-team league with a 6-17-11 record this season. "Our soccer team is absolutely in complete disarray," said Leiweke, drawing laughs during an Empire Club luncheon speech about the future of MLSE teams and plans to improve them.The New York Rangers put forth their best effort of the Eastern Conference second round to take Game 5 and stave off elimination. The Blueshirts hope to stay alive once again when they host the Pittsburgh Penguins in Sundays Game 6 battle at Madison Square Garden. New York recorded a 5-1 victory Friday evening in Pittsburgh to cut its series deficit to 3-2. It was the first win for the Rangers since they claimed Game 1 in the Steel City by a 3-2 score in overtime. In order to extend this best-of-seven set to a decisive seventh game, however, New York will have to pick up its first home victory of the series. The Rangers lost Games 3 and 4 at MSG to the Pens and were outscored by a combined 6-2 margin in those contests. New York is 3-3 on home ice in this postseason, but has won its last five games at the Garden when facing elimination. The Rangers are 8-2 over their last 10 elimination games overall. The Rangers hope to build off Fridays emotional victory in Pittsburgh. Perhaps drawing additional inspiration from the presence of forward Martin St. Louis, who returned to the team one day after his mother, France, suddenly passed away in his native Quebec, the Rangers sense of urgency was evident right from the start in Game 5. St. Louis registered just one shot on goal in 16-plus minutes of ice time, but his participation in the game was enough to inspire his teammates. "We played for Marty and his family," said Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. "Thats the thing we had going for us." It expects to be another emotional night on Sunday, as St. Louis sister and father expect to be in attendance at MSG. New York outshot the Penguins 10-3 over the games opening 10 minutes and peppered Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury with 17 chances while jumping out to a 2-0 lead at the end of the first period. After mustering a mere two goals over three straight losses in their Eastern Conference semifinal series, the Rangers scored four over the first two periods en route to the blowout victory. Derick Brassard led the charge with a pair of goals and an assist, with Mats Zuccarello lending three helpers to supporrt a 31-save effort from Lundqvist. Wholesale Soccer Jerseys Authentic. Ryan McDonagh and Chris Kreider each added a goal and an assist, while Kevin Klein tacked on an empty-net tally to finish off the rout. "We needed to step up tonight," said Brassard. "I dont think the last two games ... we were OK. We didnt play bad but we were nothing special. We just tried to play hard today. We had some lucky bounces and we made some plays." Kreider, playing for just the second time in this postseason after missing time with a broken hand, began New Yorks outburst by putting home a long rebound of a McDonagh shot with the Rangers on the power play midway through the first period. The goal snapped an 0-for-36 drought with the man advantage for New York, tied with the 2007 Anaheim Ducks for the longest in NHL playoff history. The Rangers finished the night 2-for-3 on the power play and is 5-for-47 with the man advantage in this postseason. "I think weve been doing some things well on the power play," Kreider said. "Its hard when you see that looming statistic. But its nice when you finally get one. I think it was huge. I think it was a really important goal." Evgeni Malkin had the lone goal for Pittsburgh, which is trying to go 5-0 all- time in playoff series against the Rangers. Fleury, who helped Pittsburgh build a 3-1 series lead by recording shutouts in Games 2 and 3, stopped just 30-of-34 shots on Friday. "They came really hard, really aggressive down the walls," Pittsburgh head coach Dan Bylsma said of the Rangers. "We turned over a few pucks as a result, let to their offensive-zone time. In addition to that we had some unforced errors." Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik did not play after sustaining an undisclosed injury in Wednesdays Game 4 win. Robert Bortuzzo filled in for Orpik in Game 5 and will likely do so again on Sunday. Pittsburgh is 9-2 all-time in series when holding a 3-1 lead. The last time the Penguins blew a 3-1 lead was in the 2011 Eastern Conference quarterfinals against Tampa Bay when both Sidney Crosby and Malkin were injured and missed the series. ' ' '