" Chicago found their equalizer at 9:22 of the third when Marian Hossa deflected Toews

“I can tell you here now: He will go right to the top, right to the very top. Hes got everything thats needed to be a top midfield player. His attitude is first class, hes got strength, he can play, he can pass it and he can score goals,” prophesized Harry Redknapp. Its fall 1996, a West Ham supporters summit and a clearly agitated Redknapp had just been taken to task for selecting then-18-year old Frank Lampard ahead of other more experienced players. Lampard had made his debut in West Hams starting XI away to Arsenal just a few months earlier. Substituted in a losing cause, Lampard would feature in only 13 matches during that 1996-97 campaign. It was a season in which he picked up more yellow cards than he scored goals. Redknapp knew full well even back then West Ham had unearthed a gem. So likely did his assistant coach and ex-teammate at West Ham, Frank Lampard Sr. Playing in an era of outrageously inflated transfer prices Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri was astute back in the summer of 2001 to pay West Ham £11m [$20m CAD] to acquire Lampards services. "Hopefully I can test myself against the best players in Europe and we can contest for trophies,” Lampard was quoted as saying at the time. Three Premier League titles, four FA Cups, a Europa League and Champions League crown later, Lampard has decided his Chelsea playing days are now behind him and on his own terms. Although still under contract until June 30, the clubs all-time leading scorer (211 goals) made the announcement to coincide with Englands arrival into Miami. Lampard wants to be fully focused on what will be his third World Cup Finals. Amassing close to 600 appearances, only two players have ever appeared more times in a Chelsea shirt. over the course of his 13 seasons Lampard is without exception one of Chelseas greatest ever players. Not wanting to name him their best ever, the tribute on the clubs web site strongly implied Lampard was their best ever midfield player. It was Lampard who scored both goals in the game against Bolton in April 2005 which handed Chelsea their first title in exactly 50 years. Breaking the club scoring record which had stood for over four decades towards the very end of the 2012-13 season Lampards most important goal for the club occurred in the second leg of the 2008 Champions League semi-final in a game against arch-rivals Liverpool, which I was very privileged to attend. Lampard was not even expected to play that day. He had recently missed a pair of Premier League games to be at the bedside of his gravely ill mother, who sadly passed away a few days after the first leg. Play though he did, the Chelsea players wore black arm bands in memory of Lampards mother. The tie was very delicately poised after the first leg at Anfield had finished 1-1. Chelsea with the away goal were slight favourites going in, but Liverpool had got the better of Chelsea twice at this stage in 2005 and 2007. Didier Drogba opened the scoring, for Fernando Torres to level it just after the hour mark. Extra time loomed, it was a very highly charged Stamford Bridge. Less than 10 minutes into extra time after Michael Ballack was bought down in the area Chelsea were awarded a penalty. Up stood Frank Lampard. Hands on his hips, he stood at the edge of the box and waited for what must have seemed like an eternity as Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina did his best to delay and distract. Lampard was having none of it. The ref blew the whistle, and with that trademarked run up to the ball he sent Reina the wrong way as he slotted the ball into the far right corner. Lampard took off for the opposite corner flag, and took with him the hearts of the 40,000 plus Chelsea supporters inside Stamford Bridge. As he got close to the corner flag he slowed down to remove his black arm band, then with his hands covering his face Lampard slumped to his knees. Joined by his teammates, there was no celebration when Lampard emerged with all emotion completely drained from his face. On running back to the halfway line Lampard looked up in the direction of where his dad and other members of his family were gathered. He waved and blew a kiss to them. The match finished 3-2 and Chelsea were off to their first Champions League Final. Away from the pitch Lampard is an all-too-rare breed when it comes to English footballers. Intelligent, staunchly working class, he attended a private high school where he was one of the more promising students. Not everyone aced Latin, Lampard did. In 2009 Chelsea conducted IQ tests on the playing squad. Although the club did not officially reveal the results it was reported Lampard scored over 150. That places him in Bill Gates territory. In March this year Lampard launched the BPLs annual childrens reading challenge held each season in conjunction with the National Literary Trust. Lampard disclosed his favorite book was a biography on U.S. President Abraham Lincoln... All 900 pages of it. Lampard the family man was also to surface shortly after 2009s highly published break-up with his fiancée, Elen Rives the mother of his two children. A London radio station talk show host openly criticized Lampard on the basis of a newspaper article which had quoted Rives. So incensed by the inaccuracy of the hosts comments Lampard called in live to the show and put the record straight in a conversation which lasted 10 minutes. I cant imagine there would be too many other BPL players who would take such initiative. Petra Cech referred to Lampard as one of the most influential players of all time in the Premier League. Make that on and off the pitch. Hell be dearly missed at Chelsea. When he met the press ahead of Englands World Cup tune-up on Wednesday he said he would return to Stamford Bridge to attend matches. Lampard lives within walking distance to the ground. Abramovich has offered to keep a job open for him. On June 20 Lampard will turn 36. Having already played Italy and Uruguay by then, Englands fate in the group stage may already have been decided. Lampard will walk away from the international arena at the conclusion of Englands World Cup. Chelsea, and Englands loss will be MLS gain. Noel Butler can be reached at: Noel.Butler@BellMedia.ca Twitter: @TheSoccerNoel TSN Radio is an official licensed radio broadcaster of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil. Action gets underway Thursday, June 12 with Brazil vs. Croatia. Kick Off is at 4pm et /1pm pt. Lester Hayes Jersey . 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Hes holding on to the heartache to stoke his competitive fire. SAN JOSE, Calif. -- After erasing Anaheims 13-point lead in the standings the past two months, a one-goal deficit in the third period was only a minor speed bump for Brent Burns and the San Jose Sharks. Burns scored the game-winning goal with 3:59 to play after assisting on the tying goal earlier in the third to help the Sharks take sole possession of first place in the Pacific Division for the first time in more than three months with a 3-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday night. "He is a wrecking ball," coach Todd McLellan said. "Hes a one-man wrecking crew out there when he plays that way." Joe Thornton tied the game earlier in the third and got his second assist on the game-winner for the Sharks, who have won seven of eight to move two points ahead of Anaheim although the Ducks have a game in hand. The Sharks, who trailed by 13 points after games on Jan. 15, have not been alone in first since Dec. 6. "This was something weve had our eye on for a while," forward Tommy Wingels said. "Now that weve got a grasp of it, we cant look back. Weve got to keep the pedal down and try to pull away. We worked this hard to get here, we cant give it up now." Patrick Marleau also scored and Antti Niemi made 26 saves for San Jose. Teemu Selanne and Mathieu Perreault scored for the Ducks, who have lost six of their last eight. Frederik Andersen made 25 saves. "It was a tough game but thats what happens when two good teams go at it and fight tooth and nail," Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. "Everybody knew the importance of this game. Both teams looked focused and played to the end." Burns, who assisted on Thorntons goal, was on the receiving end on the game-winner when he crashed the net and deflected Thorntons centring pass from the boards past Andersen. "He made a good play, shot to the middle there for me and I was lucky to get a stick on it and put it in," Burns said. Burns put together a personal highlight reel in the third period, getting the assist on Thorntons goal on a 2-on-1 and then flattening Corey Perry with a hit with his backside that energized the Sharks and their loud crowd a few shifts before his game-winner. "Hes just a beast out there," Thornton said. "Nobody can handle his size and his speed. It just forces you to try to keep up with him because hes going so fast.dddddddddddd Its great to watch." Selanne gave the Ducks the lead early in the third shortly after Anaheim killed off a San Jose power play. He started the play with an aggressive forecheck and Ryan Getzlaf took the puck away from Marty Havlat along the boards. Perry got the loose puck and his quick shot deflected off Selanne and into the net to make it 2-1. But the lead was short-lived as the Thornton line got the best of their matchup against Getzlaf, Perry and Selanne. "It was two breakdowns on us," Perry said. "They are a team that capitalizes on those things." The game had a playoff-type atmosphere as the fans at the Shark Tank were loud and on edge from the start, breaking into derogatory chants about the Ducks right after the opening faceoff. Neither team gave the opposition much space to operate in early in the game with only 10 combined shots in a tightly played first period that ended with the Sharks up 1-0. The Sharks capitalized on their one power-play chance when Luca Sbisa was sent off for roughing Tommy Wingels. Sbisa got away with one questionable hit on Wingels before shoving Wingels to the ice a second time, leading to the penalty. Thornton then sent a pass from behind the net to Marleau, who beat Andersen with a one-timer for his 29th goal. That was just the fifth power-play goal for San Jose in the past 21 games and the first point on the man advantage for Thornton in exactly two months. Anaheims struggling power-play unit struck in the second, getting the teams third man-advantage goal in the past 15 games. Selanne drew a pair of penalties from Logan Couture and Marc-Edouard Vlasic to give the Ducks a two-man advantage for 6 seconds. Perreault won a faceoff from Thornton and then got in position to one-time a rebound of Perrys shot for his 15th goal just seconds after Couture left the penalty box. NOTES: Selanne, who played two-plus seasons with the Sharks, got a warm ovation following a video tribute on his last scheduled trip to San Jose. ... The Ducks were without D Cam Fowler (left knee), C Nick Bonino (foot), F Matt Beleskey (illness) and F Kyle Palmieri (undisclosed). Fs Emerson Etem and Rickard Rakell were called up from the minors and dressed. ' ' '