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TORONTO -- Milos Raonic entered uncharted territory for a Canadian mens tennis player this year, reaching the top 10 in the world singles rankings and leading the Davis Cup team to unprecedented heights. He also won two tournaments in 2013 and thrilled Canadian fans by reaching the final of the Rogers Cup last summer. He capped his impressive year Thursday by winning the Lionel Conacher Award as the 2013 Canadian Press male athlete of the year. Raonic made some big strides this year despite going through some early-season struggles and a coaching change. "The fact that I was performing under those circumstances when things werent the best leading into those events, its really great for me," he said. "Its what Im most proud of." The Conacher award is named after the multi-sport athlete who was chosen Canadas athlete of the first half-century. The winner of the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award as Canadas female athlete of the year will be announced Friday and the team of the year will be named Saturday. Raonic finished with 45 per cent of the vote in balloting of sports editors and broadcasters across the country. Calgary Stampeders running back Jon Cornish was well back at 22 per cent, followed by golfer Graham DeLaet (13 per cent) and figure skater Patrick Chan (eight per cent). "Raonic had the most successful year in the history of Canadian tennis and his outstanding performance in the Davis Cup played a leading role in the countrys semifinal appearance," said Yahoo Canadas Steve McAllister. "Raonics climb up the ATP Tour rankings happens in an era that features more depth than ever before." Raonic finished second in last years voting behind cyclist Ryder Hesjedal. Hes the first mens tennis player to win the award, which dates back to 1932. "To have them vote (for) me and tell my story back home and being so positive about it, its really great to see," Raonic said when reached after a training session in Monte Carlo. "To (be) recognized through an award like this means a lot to me." A number of womens tennis players have won the Rosenfeld Award over the years. Aleksandra Wozniak was the last to do so, taking the honour in 2009. Raonic won indoor hardcourt tournaments in Bangkok and San Jose and finished with a 45-21 singles record this season, picking up more than US$1.72 million in prize money along the way. Known for his booming serve, the six-foot-five Raonic showed improvement in other facets of his game in 2013. His ground strokes, backhand and net play were stronger and that helped him to some big victories. Raonic was ranked 15th at the start of the year and hovered in the teens for most of the season. He rose to a career-high No. 10 in early August before falling to No. 11, where he has remained since. He won the San Jose title for the third straight year last February after beating Tommy Haas in the final. Raonic also helped the Davis Cup team to wins over Spain and Italy as he endured a stretch of middling results on tour. The Canadians power game has always been most effective on hardcourts but Raonic enjoyed some success on clay this season as well, reaching the semifinals at Barcelona in April before falling to Rafael Nadal. However, he struggled on the grass courts and made a second-round exit at Wimbledon. Raonic managed an injury-free season for the first time since joining the tour and was able to fight through that early-season inconsistency. "I learned for the first time in the first three years of my career how to deal with the tough moments," he said. "Not any moments disrupted by injury or anything, just like a little bit of a slump, lets say. It gave me a lot of experience and its helped me grow a lot. "Its great from the educational side, but then also the way I turned around the second half of the year and really gave myself an opportunity to achieve my goal." Raonic made a coaching change in the spring with Ivan Ljubicic replacing Galo Blanco, who spent more than two years in the position. An adjustment phase followed before Raonic really got the countrys attention with an impressive performance at the Rogers Cup. With Ljubicic pushing him to play a more aggressive, higher-risk game, Raonic responded with wins over Juan Martin del Potro and Davis Cup teammate Vasek Pospisil before losing to Nadal in the final. It was a rare run of homegrown success at the countrys biggest tennis event as Raonic became the first Canadian to reach the championship match in more than 50 years. He lists qualifying for the final in Montreal -- his first Masters 1000 final appearance -- and reaching the Davis Cup semifinal as his standout moments. "The fact that I was able to execute and bring my level up in those moments and to do well, its important to me," Raonic said. The Canadian made it to the fourth round of the U.S. Open in September and pushed Richard Gasquet the distance before falling in a four-hour 40-minute marathon. A trip to Serbia soon followed as Canada continued its historic run in the Davis Cup World Group with its first-ever semifinal appearance. Raonic, who was 5-1 at the international team event in 2013, got by Janko Tipsarevic before losing to top-ranked Novak Djokovic, and the host side later won the deciding match. "Its really been great what we put together this year," Raonic said. "Doing it in tight moments, doing it at home in Canada and playing well. So really its special for us to share this moment as a team considering how individual of a sport we are. "To see four, five, six Canadians doing well, its a lot more motivating for a country than just to see one." After the Serbia loss, Raonic came out gunning at his next tour event in Bangkok. He avenged the Gasquet loss and then beat Tomas Berdych for his second tournament win of the year. Raonic is still trying to break through against the sports elite. He has won two of three career meetings against Andy Murray but is a combined 0-13 against Nadal, Djokovic, David Ferrer and Roger Federer. However, Raonic -- who turns 23 on Friday -- has age on his side. Hes the first player born in the 1990s and the first Canadian to crack the top 10 in the mens singles world rankings. "Hes one of the most focused guys on tour," said Davis Cup teammate Daniel Nestor. "Someone who is (turning) 23, I think his maturity is far beyond his years. "Hes really impressive with his positive attitude and real focus and drive to be a champion." Raonic, from Thornhill, Ont., has spent the last few weeks training for warmup events ahead of the Australian Open next month. He also has his eye on Canadas Davis Cup tie against Japan in late January. "I think its just about development," he said of the upcoming season. "Getting better day in and day out and picking up experience through matches, making sure that Im making the progress and that Im pushing myself every day, which I do already. "I think its just about time and Ive got to keep working away." Raonic wants to crack the top six in the world rankings next year, go deeper in the Grand Slam events and qualify for the eight-man ATP World Tour Finals. "Even as a junior, he was just aiming high," said Davis Cup coach Martin Laurendeau. "He wanted to be a top-10 player and even beyond that and he just believed it. It was just a matter of giving him the time and opportunities to be able to do that. "His dream is coming true. I know that hes not happy or satisfied with No. 10 or No. 11 -- he wants to go higher and I think he will." 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Francis Martes Astros Jersey . - Pierre-Maxime Poudrier scored twice and added an assist, and Antoine Bibeau made 43 saves as the Val-dOr Foreur downed the Baie-Comeau Drakkar 6-3 on Sunday to force Game 7 in their Quebec Major Junior Hockey League final series.TORONTO - Quietly, the Raptors went about their business on Tuesday, practicing in their own gym for the first time in over two weeks. Just outside the door, a few stray reporters waited for the morning session to let out as a much larger media contingent swarmed the Maple Leafs locker room four floors below. The hockey club, co-tenants with the Raptors at the Air Canada Centre, had fired their head coach hours earlier. Dwane Casey knew that he and his team were not making headlines in the city on this day. Content with just getting back to work at home after a long road trip, the Raptors coach wasted little time in reestablishing the defensive principles that have been slipping away. It started with defence, he said. Its one of those things that slips when you go for a long period of time without practice. Today was more of a training camp-type practice, which we need more of. Guys responded, had a good day of practice but weve got to carry that over to the games, he continued. And like I challenged the guys today, we should get more emphatic and more upset and [just as] teed off against the other team as we do against each other. If we compete in the games the way we compete in practice, wed be a much better defensive team. So we have to carry that over into game situations. The Raptors, a team that ranked 10th in defence last year and ninth through the first month of this season, have fallen a long way in that category. Only the lowly Knicks and Timberwolves allow more points per 100 possession since the end of November. I think its going to be the emphasis for the next couple of weeks for us with the way coach has been talking and preaching to us, Kyle Lowry said Tuesday. I think were all on the same page where we understand thats how were going to win. Seemingly, the teams improved offence has come at the expense of their defensive prowess, but Casey points to a more specific cause - the noticeable decline that coincides with DeMar DeRozans 18-game absence. Since DeMar has gone down our offensive style has changed a little bit in that were more of a running team, we play a little bit faster, Casey stated. I think that affected our defence somewhat. We had to survive and our offence stepped up and carried us in the games we won on the road trip and the games before we went on the trip, the coach went on. We had to adjust and the way we adjusted was to play a little bit faster, which, in turn, I really know affected our defence. According to NBA.com, the Raptors have actually played at a similar, and even slightly slower ppace since DeRozans injury, but theres no question his time away has shuffled the deck enough to hurt them in various areas on both ends of the floor.dddddddddddd Lowry, one of their hardest working defenders, has been overworked, evident in a pair of lopsided defeats to Golden State and Phoenix at the end of an already tiring road trip. At times during Sundays 16-point loss to the Suns, Casey hid Lowry on P.J. Tucker while combinations of Terrence Ross, Lou Williams and Greivis Vasquez handled the responsibility of guarding Phoenixs talented backcourt duo of Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe. This time home will do me good, Lowry said. Get back in our whirlpools, our treatment centres. We get a chance to be home, relax a lot more, get some good food, not eat hotel food all the time. So its good. Its going to be good for me. Although a 2-4 record is nothing to be ashamed of, given the high degree of difficulty on their recent road trip, those last two losses have left a sour taste in everyones mouth. No, Lowry said emphatically when asked if hes satisfied with the result of the trip. No, not at all. We had a losing record. If you have a losing record on a road trip or in general, its not successful. We won a couple games on the trip, but we wanted more. We wanted to win em all. Emotional, physical or whatever fatigue you have, the league doesnt feel sorry for you, Casey added. Those are the situations we faced in there but theres no excuses in this league. We got our butts whooped, now weve got to come back here and regroup, refocus, especially on the defensive end and get our act together. DeROZAN ON TRACK FOR RETURN Although DeRozan was not present at practice on Tuesday, he remains on track to return later this week. The Raptors guard had been scheduled to undergo a series of routine scans on his healing groin injury. The results of these tests will help determine when hes able to get back on the court - likely on Thursday at home to Charlotte, the teams next game, or Saturday at home to Boston. Its been nearly six weeks since DeRozan sustained his injury, tearing his left adductor longus tendon in a loss to the Mavericks on Nov. 28. Accompanying the team on their recent road trip, he was able to get in a couple full practices last week and should be back in the gym on Wednesday. Hes getting there, Lowry said of his teammate. Hes getting better. So today and tomorrow will be big days for him. I think hes going to come back aggressive whenever he comes back. We cant force feed him. We have to be patient with him. ' ' '