NEWS » organ State, the Black Knights would ha

SUNRISE, Fla. -- For Shawn Thornton, the moment will be bittersweet.The Florida Panthers will unveil their Atlantic Division championship banner on Thursday night, the last official piece of last seasons business before this new season opens at home against the New Jersey Devils.For fans, itll be a nice moment. For players, maybe not so much.Its cool that theres a banner going up, Thornton said. But in my opinion, theres only one banner that counts.Theres still no Stanley Cup in the Panthers collection, a void the team thinks it has a legitimate shot at filling this season. Boasting a mix of veterans -- Jaromir Jagr is 44 and led the team in scoring last season, Thornton is likely going into his last season at 39, goalie Roberto Luongo is 37 and still seeking his first touch of hockeys chalice -- and a talented young core, expectations are probably higher around Florida than ever.Luongo thinks even the division banner will serve as a motivator.I think more than anything its going to remind everybody of the work that you need to put in to be successful in the regular season, Luongo said. Its a long year. Its a grind. Its not something that just happens. You have to put in the work. You have to sacrifice.Luongo even being on the ice for opening night shows that he put in plenty of work.He had hip surgery in May and the Panthers were far from convinced this summer that their No. 1 goalie would be ready to go when the games started counting for real. They even made certain deals this offseason with the belief that Luongo might be sidelined for the early portion of the regular season, doing so out of an abundance of caution.But Luongo went through an aggressive rehab program and got back on the ice in plenty of time for camp and the season.I wouldnt have known exactly what to expect, Luongo said, when asked if he would have guessed in May that he would be ready in October. But its here and were excited. I think as a group, we want to get it going and start off on the right foot. Its like a kid on Christmas Eve.Panthers coach Gerard Gallant wasnt surprised that Luongo was ready this soon.I know Louie works hard in the offseason and works hard with his therapy, Gallant said. So no, I was expecting him to be ready.Florida is coming off the best regular season in franchise history -- with club records for wins (47), points (103) and a 12-game winning streak in there as well.Even though the postseason ended in the first round, the Panthers know they arent looked upon as doormats any more.Everybody knows were a good team, Gallant said. Were not going to sneak up on anybody. The last two years results were positive results and anybody that comes in here knows that they have to play well to beat us. Nike Scarpe Italia Outlet . -- Matt Ryan needed one of the best games of his career to lead the Falcons and their depleted offence out of their three-game losing streak last week. Scarpe Nike Online Prezzi Bassi . Uniteds eighth defeat of a wretched campaign means Liverpool, which currently occupies the fourth and final Champions League place, could go nine points clear of its fierce rival by beating West Bromwich Albion on Sunday. Charlie Adam scored both of Stokes goals at Britannia Stadium either side of Robin van Persies equalizer, with a miserable day for seventh-place United capped by first-half injuries to centre halves Jonny Evans and Phil Jones that forced them off. http://www.nikescarpescontate.it/ . Halifax beat the Saint John Sea Dogs 7-5 on the strength of two goals apiece from Nikolaj Ehlers, Matt Murphy and Brent Andrews. Jonathan Drouin also scored and had three assists while Zachary Fucale made 17 saves for the Mooseheads (16-8-0), who led 6-1 after two periods. Vendita Scarpe Nike Online . The Dutchmans tenure got off to a poor start when referee Guido Winkmann awarded a penalty within two minutes for Niklas Starks clumsy challenge on Alexandru Maxim. Scarpe Nike Scontate Online . The 17-year-old native of Marystown, N.L., pulled out of Skate Canada International last month in Saint John, N.B., with the same problem. Eastern Michigan reached a major milestone in its remarkable turnaround.The Eagles are bowl eligible for the first time since 1995 after a 48-41 victory over Ball State on Tuesday night. The last time EMU actually played in a bowl was in the 1987 California Bowl.There are now 58 teams bowl eligible, with 80 slots available. There are 32 teams that cant finish .500 and thus cant go to a bowl unless sub-.500 teams are needed to fill open spots.Oregon (3-7) is one of those teams that cant finish .500 after a loss to Stanford. The Ducks havent missed a bowl since 2004.EMU (6-4) went 1-11 last season, and in April, a student and faculty report called on the school to consider dropping football altogether -- or perhaps stop playing it in Division I. The Eagles were one of a couple noteworthy teams to become bowl eligible this past week. Central Florida (6-4) also did -- a significant achievement after UCF went 0-12 last season.Army (5-5) can still finish two games above .500 but is in a complicated spot. The Black Knights have two games against FCS opponents on their schedule -- a win over Lafayette on Oct. 15 and next weekends matchup with Morgan State. Team spokesman Matt Faulkner said only the Morgan State game can count for the purpose of bowl eligibility.Armys regular-season finale against Navy will likely be moot in terms of Armys bbowl prospects, since it takes place Dec.dddddddddddd. 10, after bowl matchups will likely be set. Faulkner said if Army beats Morgan State, the Black Knights would have to wait and see if there are any open spots -- a situation similar to what 5-7 teams will face.Here are the 37 teams (not counting Army) that are still on the bubble. These teams arent bowl eligible yet, but they can still finish .500 or better and move into the bowl picture:Akron (5-6)Arizona State (5-5)Arkansas State (5-4)Ball State (4-6)Boston College (4-6)California (4-6)Central Michigan (5-5)Charlotte (4-6)Cincinnati (4-6)Colorado State (5-5)Duke (4-6)Georgia Southern (4-6)Indiana (5-5)Kansas State (5-4)Kentucky (5-5)Louisiana-Lafayette (4-5)Louisiana-Monroe (4-6)Maryland (5-5)Miami, Ohio (5-6)Mississippi (5-5)Mississippi State (4-6)North Carolina State (5-5)North Texas (4-6)Northwestern (5-5)Notre Dame (4-6)South Alabama (4-5)South Carolina (5-5)Southern Methodist (5-5)Southern Mississippi (5-5)Syracuse (4-6)TCU (5-4)Texas (5-5)Texas Tech (4-6)UCLA (4-6)UNLV (4-6)UTSA (5-5)Vanderbilt (4-6)---For more college football: http://collegefootball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25---Follow Noah Trister at www.Twitter.com/noahtrister ' ' '