appeared his ninth career Paralympic gold medal

KRASNAYA POLAYNA, Russia - Two hundred metres into the race, Brian McKeever was suddenly on his backside and it appeared his ninth career Paralympic gold medal was slipping away. But he wasnt letting it go without a fight and the Canmore, Alta., cross-country skier, led by guide Graham Nishikawa of Whitehorse, caught up to the pack to win the mens visually impaired sprint at the Sochi Paralympics on Wednesday. Its McKeevers second gold of the 2014 Games and the 12th medal of his illustrious Paralympic career. The 34-year-old also won gold in the 20-kilometre event on Monday. The two Canadians easily advanced to the final where a Russian skier stepped on McKeevers pole, causing him to crash around the 200-metre mark of the one-kilometre race. But McKeever scrambled to his feet and, with the help of Nishikawa, caught up to the rest of the pack. "It wouldnt be right for me to tell you what I said in my head, but once the cuss words were out, the only thing you can do is get back up and race," said McKeever. "I thought we were clear, but that is normal and it happens in sprinting when you are all fighting and tight. Everyone is going flat out. It is intense and everyone is at their limit. We are just fortunate it happened in the first 200 metres and not at the end so we had time to catch up." Meanwhile, alpine sit-skier Kimberly Joines of Rossland, B.C., finished second in the womens slalom although the results are still unofficial after a German skier appealed her disqualification from the first run. A decision is expected Thursday morning. Not including a medal for Joines, Canada has eight medals (two gold, two silver, four bronze) and sits third in the overall tally. Russia has a wide lead with 47 total medals while Ukraine is second with 14. Canadas goal is to finish in the top three in gold medals but is currently in fourth with McKeevers two. Ukraine is third with three while Germany is second with five and Russia leads with 16. Nishikawa admitted he felt a rush of panic when he saw McKeever go down. "It wasnt until we got back up around the Russians and had the Swedes in sight that I felt a huge relief," he said. McKeever credited Nishikawa with getting him the gold. "The snow was so heavy today," he said. "He basically towed me up that hill and ... and gave us a chance. It is not how we planned things, but that was a pretty awesome day." Swedens Zebastian Modin hung on for the silver medal, while Russias Oleg Ponomarev won bronze. Earlier this week, Nishikawa shared guiding duties with Erik Carleton to lead McKeever to his first gold of the 2014 Games. But Carletons name was on the start list so he was the only one to receive a gold medal. Nishikawas performance Wednesday has earned him a gold of his own. "It feels absolutely awesome," said Nishikawa, who races on the able-bodied World Cup circuit. "I said earlier this is a whole new world for me. Im so impressed by everything. This whole experience has been amazing and I just wanted to do whatever I could to be here and help Brian. We have been friends for a long time so this is very special." A handful of other Canadians also competed in the sprint races. Chris Klebl of Canmore qualified for the mens sit-skiing heats but did not advance to the final. Robbi Weldon of Thunder Bay, Ont., along with her guide Phil Wood of Canmore had their day come to an end in the semifinals of the womens visually impaired category, while Paralympic rookie Brittany Hudak of Prince Albert, Sask., did not advance past the womens standing semifinals. In curling, Canada improved to 6-1 and clinched a spot in the semifinals with a 10-4 victory over South Korea. 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Emmanuel Kone pulled one back in the 80th and Levadiakos missed several chances to level in the last 10 minutes.The first trade on NHL Trade Deadline Day may well be the biggest, with the defending Art Ross Trophy winner getting moved. Numbers Game examines the deal that sees Martin St. Louis and Ryan Callahan swapping places. The Rangers Get: RW Martin St. Louis. St. Louis, 38, is the highest scoring player in the league since 2009-2010, tallying 388 points (131 G, 257 A) in 351 games and led the league in scoring last season, with 60 points in 48 games. Theres no reason, despite his age, to believe that St. Louis suddenly wont be able to keep producing offensively. While St. Louis has never been an exceptional possession player, hes thrived alongside Steven Stamkos, one of the premier finishers in the game, which has resulted in a consistently high high on-ice shooting percentage. There arent a lot of players that can maintain those percentages but St. Louis has been able to produce an on-ice shooting percentage above 10% every season, including the current season, during which hes spent most of his year skating with rookies Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat. So, if St. Louis gets re-united with former Lightning linemate Brad Richards, there is a fair chance for that line -- with Carl Hagelin on the left side -- to be productive, definitely more productive than they have been with Callahan in that spot. St. Louis is under contract for one more season, at a cap hit of $5.625-million, but there is an advantage built in for the Rangers when it comes to signing him to an extension. Since New York was St. Louis preferred destination, its reasonable enough to think that the Blueshirts will be able to keep him as long as he keeps scoring. The Lightning Get: RW Ryan Callahan, a second-round pick, a 2015 first-round pick and an additional conditional pick. While Callahan, 28, is universally praised for his heart, work ethic and determination, those are qualities that are awfully difficult to put a value on and, in the Rangers case they were more inclined to deal Callahan for St. Louis more tangible benefits. This isnt to say that Callahan doesnt provide his own tangible value -- he has 120 goals since 2008-2009, which ranks 50th -- but he tends towards middling puck possession numbers, including this year even tthough hes starting a career-high 60.dddddddddddd4% shifts in the offensive zone this year. With St. Louis moving on, there are some interesting opportunities available for Lightning forwards. While Callahan is one player who could benefit, anyone that ends up with Stamkos is obviously in a good situation. Teddy Purcell, Alex Killorn, Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov are other wingers that could get a turn on Stamkos wings. Indications, leading up to this trade, were that Callahan was looking at a six-year deal worth more than $6-million per season. Its entirely understandable that the Lightning wont be inclined to pay that price to keep Callahan long-term, which would effectively make him a rental and therefore make the draft picks a more important facet of the deal. The second-round pick this year could be a first-round pick if the Rangers reach the Eastern Conference Final, the Lightning also get the Rangers first-round pick in 2015. If Callahan re-signs in Tampa Bay, the Rangers would get Tampa Bays second-round pick while sending a seventh-round pick to New York. The accumulated value of a mid-first and a second-round pick yields, on average, about a 95% chance of landing an NHL player, so its reasonable to see that the Lightning should get some long-term benefit out of St. Louis departure, but thats trying to making the most out of a bad situation, a situation that reached a breaking point when stories started to take hold that St. Louis had asked to be moved out of Tampa Bay. St. Louis is a rare talent, an elite point producer, and no matter how much depth the Lightning are accumulating throughout their organization -- and they have a great crop of young forwards -- its tough to make up for losing a player of St. Louis calibre, particularly in the short-term. If the Lightning were committed to making a run in a relatively open Eastern Conference, perhaps riding a career season from goaltender Ben Bishop, it might have made more sense to wait until summer to make this deal, but maybe the situation behind the scenes just wasnt tenable. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' '