VERO BEACH, Fla. Nike Air Vapormax Kpu . -- Chad Johnson made a sharp cut to free himself from a defender, and then hauled in a pass at the 53-yard line. Yes, the 53. Football is going to be a little different now for the former NFL star. The receiver who once changed his last name to Ochocinco might be hearing a lot of "O Canada" this summer, and he insists hes humbled for that opportunity. Johnson was on the field with the Montreal Alouettes of the CFL on Tuesday for the start of their three-day minicamp, and theres a very realistic chance that he will be with them when their season starts for real in June. "Its just football. Its football," Johnson said. "Its not about Montreal. Its about the opportunity to be able to play football again, something I love." Its something he lost two years ago. Johnson last appeared in an NFL game during the 2011 season with New England. He was in training camp with the Miami Dolphins -- his hometown team -- the following summer, but his contract was terminated one day after he was charged with misdemeanour domestic battery. A plea deal was eventually worked out, but after a probation violation Johnson wound up going to jail for a few days anyway after a judge objected to the way he slapped his attorney on the backside in celebration. He hasnt played since. "A horrible mistake," Johnson said. "A dream of mine since I was 4 years old was taken from me, rightfully so, by my wrongdoings and I just want to get back to doing something that I love to do, regardless of where it is. Montreal, flag football, back in the street the way I grew up . I just want to play football." The Alouettes have a history of not judging players by their checkered pasts, as evidenced by how they once gave former Nebraska running back Lawrence Phillips a chance on what became a Grey Cup-winning team in Montreal. "Its all business," Alouettes general manager Jim Popp said. "Its real. Hes in great shape. He wants to play and well see how things are." Popp shrugged off the notion that Johnsons presence is a publicity stunt. "None of you would know it was here unless it got tweeted out," Popp said. And Twitter does play quite a role in this story, since Johnson -- one of the worlds most popular athletes when it comes to social media -- used the power of his 3.6 million followers to help get the Alouettes attention. "Power of Twitter," Johnson said, grinning. The Alouettes were working out at Dodgertown, where some schoolkids were playing baseball on a nearby field. When their game ended, about a dozen of them came over to the football field to chant "Oc-ho-cin-co!" repeatedly. Some fans wearing his old Cincinnati Bengals jerseys watched, as did a couple in Patriots colours. "Like a kid again," Johnson said. He showed Tuesday that he can still run routes, and right there is why Montreal is eager to take a closer look. The CFL game is very much passing-friendly, and that can be at least partially attributed to several rule deviations from the NFL game. Teams in the CFL have only three downs to gain 10 yards instead of four. The field is 10 yards longer from goal line to goal line, is about 10 yards wider, and the end zones are 20 yards deep -- twice as long as those used in high school, college and pro play in the U.S. Montreal quarterback Troy Smith, the former Ohio State standout, said most people dont realize how much talent is in the CFL. And he believes Johnson can make an impact. "I know hes going to bring some fun and excitement to the team," Smith said. In short, even though theres 12 players on the field per team instead of 11, theres plenty of room for offences to manoeuvr. And in Canada, receivers cant be blocked or jammed unless theyre within a yard of the line of scrimmage. Of course, if Johnson heads to the CFL, he wont be exactly getting rich. The salary cap in the CFL is $4.4 million per team -- Johnson has had years where hes made about twice that much by himself. The average salary is around $85,000. "I dont even need a check," Johnson said. "Didnt I give it all away for 12 years straight? Think about it. Did I ever care about money when I played throughout my career? Still dont. I want to have fun. I want to enjoy the game. Thats it." Nike Air Max 90 Outlet Italia . The Maple Leafs will play on the road for the first time this season after dropping home contests to Montreal and Pittsburgh to begin the campaign. After losing a one-goal decision to the Canadiens on Wednesday, they were bested 5-2 on Saturday by the Penguins. Nike Air Max 90 Premium Rosa . -- Jerel Worthy and his Michigan State teammates charged across the field, holding four fingers in the air while celebrating another sweet victory over their biggest rival.SUNRISE, Fla. -- Brad Boyes return to the lineup proved timely for the Florida Panthers. Boyes scored the winning goal in a shootout to lift the Panthers over the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 on Tuesday night. Aleksander Barkov also scored in the tiebreaker for Florida, which has won three of four overall and two in a row against the Red Wings. Boyes is 4 of 5 in shootouts this season and has 35 career shootout goals, the most among active players. He returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch Sunday in a 6-2 loss at Chicago. "Its a good win. Its good to contribute, whichever way I can," Boyes said. "If shootout is the way to do it, Im happy with that." Tomas Tatar scored for Detroit in the shootout but Tim Thomas stopped shots by Daniel Alfredsson and Gustav Nyquist. Nick Bjugstad and Sean Bergenheim had the goals in regulation for Florida. Thomas made 24 saves. The Panthers also won 2-1 on Saturday in Detroit. "Beating them twice in a short period is pretty nice," Bjugstad said. "Theyve got a lot of good players, a lot of experienced players. So I think it says a lot about the guys in the locker room." Pavel Datsyuk and Todd Bertuzzi scored for the Red Wings. Jimmy Howard made 25 saves and Johan Franzen had two assists. Detroit lost for the sixth time this season when leading after two periods. The Red Wings are 0-5 in shootouts. "I tried some different guys. We didnt get it done," coach Mike Babcock said. "We got one point, we wanted two; we came up one short." Florida scored twice in the third to tie the game. Bjugstad evened it at 2 when he put the puck over Howards shoulder with 5:22 left in regulation. The Panthers cut it to 2-11 on a goal by Bergenheim exactly 5 minutes into the period. 2018 Nike Air Vapormax. Dmitry Kulikov bounced a shot from the point that Bergenheim touched on the way to the net. "All it comes down to is, we needed to go in the third period and score early, get the momentum," Panthers coach Peter Horachek said. "Its about winning 60 minutes, its not about winning the first or the second." The Red Wings took a 2-0 lead in the second on Datsyuks goal. Franzen slid a soft pass to Datsyuk to the left of the crease and he one-timed it into the net at 6:47. Franzen has 12 points in his last 10 games. Datsyuk returned to the lineup after missing seven games with a concussion sustained Nov. 23 against Ottawa. He has six goals and nine assists in 11 career games against the Panthers. "Youre up two goals on the road, youre in a good situation, and being up two, after two, we would have taken that," Howard said. "But weve got to either find a way to score the next one or have the ability to shut them down." The Red Wings went ahead 1-0 on a power-play goal by Bertuzzi in the first. Franzens shot from the left point was tipped by Datsyuk and blocked by Thomas before Bertuzzi poked in the rebound at 10:26. The Red Wings had a goal disallowed early in the first due to goaltender interference. Jonathan Ericssons slap shot from the left point found the corner of the net, but it was ruled that Daniel Cleary interfered. "That was a big win. Down 2-0 going into the third period, to come back like that, its a great thing," Thomas said. NOTES: Red Wings C Stephen Weiss returned to Florida for the first time since he signed a five-year deal with Detroit in July. Weiss spent 11 years with the Panthers from 2002-2013. ' ' '