Even without the defending Olympic champions, the proof is right there on the ice: The U.S. has become the world power in ice dance.For the second straight year, three American couples have made the Grand Prix Final, which starts Friday in Marseille, France. U.S. champions and world silver medalists Maia and Alex Shibutani; 2015 national champs Madison Chock and Evan Bates, and three-time U.S. bronze medalists Madison Hubbell and Zach Donohue make up half the field -- for a second consecutive season.That sure impresses Charlie White, who with Meryl Davis became the first Americans to win ice dance gold at the Olympics, in 2014.Im not sure theres a better way to show the dominance of U.S. ice dancing better than having three teams making the Grand Prix Final two years in a row, he said. Its been amazing to see these three teams proving themselves time and time again at these stacked Grand Prix events.The experience gained, and consistency shown by this group of U.S. dance teams will certainly help their chances at giving their best showing at an event like the Olympics.Chock and Bates and the Shibutanis already have been down that road, finishing eighth and ninth in Sochi. Since then, their performances have been on a steady upward course, with the brother and sister Maia and Alex Shibutani winning nationals this year and finishing second at worlds. Chock and Bates took the U.S. title in 2015 and finished just behind the Shibutanis at this years worlds.All of todays couples owe credit to their -- uh, foreskaters? -- for taking ice dancing from the outcast stepchild in American figure skating to the top of the world. And they know it.I think it is sort of a product of the growth of the sport in our country spearheaded by Meryl and Charlie, and before them, Tanith (Belbin) and Ben (Agosto), Peter (Tchernyshev) and Naomi (Lang), and back to Liz (Punsalan) and Jerod (Swallow), said Bates, who teamed with Chock in 2011. We have been working on this for a long time, the last few decades, really. Now, in the world of ice dancing we are recognized as the top country.Added the Shibutanis: Earlier in our career, we trained with both Meryl and Charlie, and Tanith and Ben. Their accomplishments have been inspiring and have done a lot to improve the visibility of ice dance in the U.S. They are our friends and they have always been very supportive and encouraging. We are working to continue to build on what they started.For decades, Russians dominated ice dance, in part because of the coaching available in the Soviet Union and then in Russia. Other than the brilliant Britons Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean and their mesmerizing performances in the 1980s, it was rare for anyone else to make frequent visits to the medals podium.Today, it is rare when an American couple does not win a gold, silver or bronze.I think that the U.S. has a particularly great developmental program that has created an abundance of talented athletes representing Team USA on the international circuit, Hubbell said. For ice dance in particular, U.S. Figure Skating has made huge strides in becoming one of the most competitive federations. I have had the support of U.S. Figure Skating for over 10 years now, and I grew up training and competing with Chock and Bates, and the Shibutanis. I believe it is the supportive, competitive environment that we have grown up with that has pushed us to have three teams in the Grand Prix Final for the second season consecutively.Also pushing are the coaches, some of which were trained in the Russian systems. Igor Shpilband, then Natalia Linichuk and Gennadi Karponosov, worked with Belbin and Agosto. Marina Zoueva guided Davis and Whites careers.Shpilband works with Chock and Bates, and the Shibutanis work with Zoueva.No. 1, you have to credit the coaching, said White, who also won Olympic silver in 2010 and took six straight U.S. championships with Davis. Skaters can work themselves into the ground all day every day, but unless they have the choreography and expertise of top-level coaches, that work will not pay off.But theres more to it than that, Davis insisted. When the three U.S. duos compete in the Grand Prix Final against 2010 Olympic champions and 2014 runners-up Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada -- the other surpassing ice dance couple of the last decade -- plus Frances Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron, the two-time defending world champs, the Americans will bring something else to the rink.No. 2 is the incredible hard work and dedication to the sport by the U.S. ice dance teams, White says. Coming from the history that we have in the sport internationally, I think U.S. ice dancers always feel they have something to prove. And right now they are proving themselves time and time again. Wholesale Ravens Jerseys . For the Wild it was their first win of the season and they now have a record of 1-1-2 while the Jets fall to 2-2. Jets start a six game home stand Friday with another divisional game, home to the Dallas Stars. Cheap Ravens Jerseys . Gerald Green and Miles Plumlee? 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PITTSBURGH -- Marc-Andre Fleury spent the better part of the Pittsburgh Penguins push to a fourth Stanley Cup watching from the bench while rookie Matt Murray backstopped the franchise to a title.Yet rather than trade the winningest goaltender in team history in the offseason, the Penguins hung onto him, confident they could find a way to make their two-goalie tandem work.Maybe theyre right.With Murray out with a broken hand, Fleury made 39 saves in regulation and overtime then stuffed Washington star Alexander Ovechkin in the fourth round of a shootout as the Penguins edged the Capitals 3-2 in the season opener on Thursday night.Fleury had a chance to end things after three rounds but let Nicklas Backstrom slip the puck past him and extend the game. Pittsburghs Phil Kessel then beat Braden Holtby with a wrist shot initially ruled no goal before being overturned on replay and Fleury stuffed Ovechkin to help the Penguins improve to 5-0 all-time against Washington in openers.I didnt finish it out, so I was a little mad, Fleury said. It was nice to see (Kessel) put that in and I had a chance to redeem myself and finish it out.Patric Hornqvist and Evgeni Malkin scored as the Penguins capped a celebratory night in which they lifted their latest Stanley Cup banner to the rafters during an electric pregame ceremony by tripping up one of their biggest rivals.It felt like a midseason game where youre in position and you pull one of those great wins off, Hornqvist said.Andre Burakovsky scored twice for Washington and Holtby made 28 stops but allowed three goals in the shootout.Obviously they have a lot of energy coming off the ceremony and weve been waiting to play some meaningful games for a while here, said Holtby, who won the Vezina Trophy as the NHLs top goaltender last season. Two good teams and it always ends up in a pretty good game against them.The Penguins began their 50th year with one final nod to their 49th, as Sidney Crosby carried the Stanley Cup onto the ice one last time and placed it on a table at center ice before joining his teammates to watch the banner slowly raised to join others the organization earned in 1991, 1992 and 2009.ddddddddddddNo team has repeated since the Detroit Red Wings did it nearly 20 years ago, and Pittsburgh will begin its second defense of the Crosby-era without their captain, who is out indefinitely while dealing with a concussion. Considering the slog the six-month, 82-game regular season provides, theres no sense of urgency for Crosby to return. The two-time MVP and Conn Smythe winner of last years playoffs he is skating with his teammates and described himself as day to day.The Capitals began the season where they ended their last following a six-game loss to Pittsburgh in the Eastern Conference semifinals. It was another bitter setback that took some of the shine off winning the Presidents Trophy for having the best record in the league.Washington stayed in its dressing room while Pittsburgh threw one last bash with the Cup and Burakovsky wasted little time providing a buzzkill to the yellow glow-stick waving crowd. He finished an end-to-end rush by taking a feed from Nicklas Backstrom and beating Fleury between the legs just 59 seconds into the game.Hornqvists power-play tip-in 8:47 into the second tied it and Malkin put the Penguins in front when a Washington giveaway and a setup pass from Conor Sheary allowed Malkin to deke his way by Holtby, the puck smacking off the post then off Holtbys left pad and into the net.Burakovskys second 6:13 into the third tied it and set up another taut finish, fitting considering five of their six playoff meetings were decided by a goal.I swear we had six chances to put the puck in the back of the net 3-on-3, so give full marks to Fleury, Washington coach Barry Trotz said.Game notes Pittsburgh improved to 95-49-18 in 162 regular-season games without Crosby in the lineup, including 53-19-9 at home. ... Pittsburgh went 1 for 2 on the power play. The Capitals were 0 for 3.UP NEXTWashington: hosts New York Islanders in home opener on Saturday.Pittsburgh: welcomes Anaheim on Saturday night. ' ' '