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TORONTO -- When Bob Nicholson woke up Friday morning, he turned to the business section of the newspaper and noticed a good omen hours before announcing his resignation as Hockey Canada president and CEO. "I saw that gold had just gone up, so I thought it was the right time to make this announcement," Nicholson joked. Nicholsons tenure will be remembered for 44 gold medals in mens, womens and sledge hockey at various levels in the past 15-plus years. He knows his legacy will revolve around the strength of Hockey Canada, but he really wants to be remembered for his impact on people. "I want it to be about kids, kids playing the game," Nicholson said. "If we have a lot of kids playing the game, were going to win gold medals." Nicholson, 60, has a chance to add a couple more before leaving June 1, but after that the job will fall to someone else. Jim Hornell, chairman of Hockey Canadas board of directors, said hell put together a "blue-ribbon selection committee comprised of many stakeholders in the game to identify and appoint a new president and CEO." Whether Nicholson has any input on that decision is up to Hornell, Nicholson said. In the meantime, hell take some time to relax. "Im going to go out to Penticton, Ive got a spot in Mexico, Im going to go sit up there in a hammock and read a book and just enjoy life for a bit," said Nicholson, who also plans to travel to Minsk, Belarus, in May for the mens world championship. Nicholson said he started to consider resigning just after the Sochi Olympics, when Canada won mens and womens gold yet again. "I have known Bob since I was 15 and he has done so much for my career and for hockey in Canada," said Hayley Wickenheiser, who helped lead the womens team to gold. "No one is more passionate about winning and developing hockey than Bob. He has been a big supporter of womens hockey and is a big reason behind our success." Hornell took time in his remarks at Fridays news conference to point out that Nicholson made major personal sacrifices for Hockey Canada, that the Penticton, B.C., native "has put hockey ahead of so many people and groups competing for his attention." The only time Nicholson got emotional during Fridays remarks was when he talked about sister Lois, wife Lorna and their kids, Mandi, Marijean and Grant. "Lorna, youve done an unbelievable job," he said, choking up. In saying goodbye to an organization he has been a part of since 1990, when it was the Canadian Hockey Association, Nicholson shared stories about his past and hopes for the future. One came from a long conversation with Wayne Gretzky. "We were having a laugh and he says, Bob, I remember when you started and wed go out for dinner and I wanted to order dessert and you said, Hey Wayne, we cant afford that. And Id sign a jersey and wed get dinner paid for," Nicholson recalled. "Weve come a long ways." Chief operating officer Scott Smith, who has been mentioned as a replacement for Nicholson, said the organization had 23 employees when Nicholson started and just under 120 now. Nicholson said he had to get introduced to some of the staff recently because the group had grown so big. Managing and building that will be someone elses job. As for what Nicholson does next, he said he doesnt quite know yet. "Im going to see if I can get my old job back in Penticton on the golf range picking up golf balls for the summer," he joked. "But seriously Im going to stay here till June 1 and Im going to take some time. Ive been at this, I dont know how to go half-speed and Im going to enjoy some time in Penticton, see my mom, see my kids. Im sure Im going to do something, but theres certainly nothing in the immediate future." Nicholson will stay on as vice-president of the International Ice Hockey Federation, where he can represent Canadas interests on that world stage. At some point an NHL team could come calling, but he brushed that off for now as speculation. Asked what advice hed give to his successor, Nicholson again brought it back to the people, not the medals. "Care about the game, make sure its safe, make sure that youre in Flin Flon and all the small (towns with) minor hockey across the country," he said. "Talk about sledge hockey, talk about womens hockey. The other stuff will come." That includes more gold medals. Under Nicholson, Canadas men snapped a 50-year Olympic drought at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, won on home soil in Vancouver in 2010 and again in Sochi in February. But the career highlight he pointed to was something different. "Maybe in Torino, going and watching our sledge team win for the very first time," Nicholson said. "Seeing the commitment that they had to do to win that gold medal was special. But you can never take away Salt Lake City, Vancouver -- theyre all 1As." . Villarreals victory in Valencia kept it in fourth place and in control of Spains last Champions League spot. Uche broke free in the area in the 10th minute and was brought down by goalkeeper Keylor Navas, who was shown a direct red card. . During halftime, Love told The Associated Press he would receive treatment Saturday night and hoped to play Monday night against Houston. "I knew that my quad was bothering me pretty bad so I went out there and tried to move around a little bit and it just wasnt quite right," Love said. http://www.celticssale.com/kids-red-aue ... cs-jersey/. The motion to expand the stadiums capacity passed through by a count of 39-3, with Toronto mayor Rob Ford being among those in opposition. . Sections of the British media reported Friday that Brooklyn Beckham, the son of United great David, was invited to a training session at the club on Thursday. . The Spanish champions decision not to sign a defender during the January transfer window may have backfired after Valencia took advantage of a lethargic, uninspired effort by its hosts at the Camp Nou, where former Spain coach Luis Aragones -- who previously coached the Catalan side -- was honoured after his death on Saturday.SAO PAULO - Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari is worried the street protests that are planned during the World Cup could hurt his teams chances of winning the title. Scolari says that although Brazilians have the right to complain about the government and demand improvements, perhaps the protests wont be coming at the "right time." He said the protests "could, big-time" affect his players performance during the World Cup, although he will not prohibit them from talking about the subject during the tournament. In an interview with Globo TV late Sunday, Scolari also said Brazil should have done a better job in its preparations for the World Cup, and said he has already made up his mind on 21 of the 23 players of his squad. Violent anti-government protests erupted across Brazil last year as people took to the streets calling for better services and questioning the billions being spent on hosting the World Cup and the 2016 Rio Olympics. The protests have since diminished in size, but they are widely expected again in the run-up to this years football tournament. "I think the protests can happen," Scolari said. "If they are peaceful, then thats democracy. Everyone has the right to protest. But I dont know if its the right time." The coach had already tried to distance the national team from the protests during last years Confederations Cup, when the largest public demonstrations in a generation broke out at the start of the warm-up tournament. Protests happenned in all six host cities at the time, although matches and teams were not directly affected as Brazil went on to win the title.dddddddddddd The players openly talked about the protests last year and the coach said they will be allowed to do it again during the World Cup. "They are national team players and they are on a mission," he said. "They can express themselves and say look, I also want a better Brazil, but I dont want it to be something that causes problems to our environment." Scolari also criticized Brazils preparations for the World Cup, saying that the country wasted time and should have done more to get things ready more quickly. "We could have done a better job to take advantage of these seven years that we had to prepare everything that was going to be needed, from airports to roads to education," he said. "But we lost time and we now we are out of time." Scolari last week confirmed nine players who will make Brazils squad — David Luiz, Oscar, Ramires, Willian, Paulinho, Julio Cesar, Thiago Silva, Fred and Neymar — and on Sunday he said there are only two spots remaining in the team. "We are still making observations, there are a lot of things we are still looking at," he said. Scolari will announce the official 23-man squad on May 7. Seven possible alternates will be announced later. Brazil will play friendlies against Panama and Serbia just before the World Cup opener against Croatia on June 12. ' ' '[code][/code]