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MENDOTA HEIGHTS, Minn. -- The former captain of Team USAs Olympic hockey team and the current face of the Minnesota Wild has wires connecting him to portable electronic monitoring equipment after another offseason workout at St. Thomas Ice Arena in suburban Minneapolis-St. Paul.Theres good-natured banter about whether the device is actually a lie detector and who should be hooked up to the machine, Zach Parise or his visitor.There is a lightheartedness that permeates the conversation that speaks to a corner turned and rediscovered optimism borne out of loss and disappointment, and a significant amount of pain.It wasnt all that long ago that Parise could not sit on the floor to play with his ever-growing twins -- these days, 2?-year-olds Jaxson and Emelia are singing songs and speaking in small but alarmingly coherent sentences, and Jax is in the midst of potty education -- but had to lay flat to minimize the pain from a bulging disc that had gone from annoying his nerves to strangling them.Parise, newly turned 32, has gone from not being able to pull on socks or drive a car, let alone playing in a playoff game, to talking with enthusiasm about putting the disappointment of the Sochi Olympics behind him with a strong showing at the World Cup of Hockey in Toronto next month -- and using that as a springboard to a successful, injury-free season with a Wild team that has struggled to meet high expectations since Parises splashy arrival in the summer of 2012.Parise shakes his head in wonder at the swift, relentless passage of time.I know, its crazy, he said.When he signed his 13-year, $98 million deal along with pal Ryan Suter on July 4, 2012, he had no way of knowing his father, former NHLer J.P. Parise, would in early 2014 be diagnosed with cancer and die a year later. He could not know that a year and a half after signing his contract, he would become a father to twins. Nor could he know that signing on to play for his hometown Wild would mean four straight playoff berths -- but that he and the team would also be forced to endure dramatic swings in levels of play and serious injuries that would most recently cost Parise an opportunity to play in the 2016 playoffs while the Wild were dispatched in the first round by the Dallas Stars.Theres been a lot of really great times and a lot of really low times, he said. Just a lot of different things have happened in life away from the rink. Again, at times its been incredible and at other times its been really, really bad.Still, there is nothing about Parise that speaks of regret. The opposite is true.Backing up to 2012, not knowing the way things were going to turn out or even knowing it, I wouldnt have done anything different, he said. I was able to get to spend more time close to my dad, which I wouldnt have gotten somewhere else. Which was a blessing. And being here and having him be around the kids, which he wouldnt have been able to do. So those things, I wouldnt trade those for the world.The Wild will begin the season with their third coach in the past year after Mike Yeo was fired midseason and interim coach John Torchetti wasnt retained after the Wilds first-round ouster. Bruce Boudreau, one of the most successful regular-season coaches of his generation, has been tapped to put the Wild on a more even arc, and Parise is already giddy with excitement at the prospect of playing for him. Early indications are that Parise will be starting on a line with Charlie Coyle and former Carolina Hurricanes captain Eric Staal.Longtime NHLer Mike Rupp played with Parise early in Parises career with the New Jersey Devils, where Parise would eventually become captain and lead the Devils to an unexpected trip to the 2012 Stanley Cup finals a few weeks before signing his long-term deal with the Wild.Rupp would then reunite with Parise in Minnesota before Rupp retired and became a national broadcast analyst.Hes probably my favorite teammate that I got to play with in my career, Rupp said. Hes got this kind of humbleness and innocence to him. Hes just hockey through and through.The joke used to be that Parise was a fourth-line grinder with first-line talent. Its a distinction that has often been made of another top player named Sidney Crosby.Rupp, who still recalls Parises ability to dislodge pucks from opponents (and teammates during practice) with a quick, rigid one-handed flick of the stick, says he feels that Parise doesnt get nearly enough credit for his two-way game and should be considered a Frank J. Selke Trophy candidate.Of course, there has been additional pressure returning home to Minnesota, but Rupp said Parise works so hard that there hardly has been room to criticize his role in the teams significant ups and downs.The way he plays every night, youre not really going to have the finger pointed at you, Rupp said.San Jose Sharks defenseman Paul Martin, like Parise, is from Minnesota and the two played against each other in college before becoming teammates with the Devils. In New Jersey, the two would ride to the rink together. Martin said he always has been struck by Parises work ethic.Hes competitive, Martin said. He wants to win no matter what it is. Hes a hard worker; always has been.Parise takes a lot of pressure on his shoulders as a leader, added Martin, who was also a member of the 2014 Team USA Olympic team in Sochi, although he was injured and did not play in back-to-back shutout losses to Canada and Finland to close out the tournament.He takes things to heart, Martin said. Hes definitely someone who cares, which you need for a team to be successful.Parise acknowledges that leaving Sochi the way Team USA did was a bitter pill to swallow. And the fact he wore the C as the teams captain made the departure even more difficult.Having been the captain of that team, of course you accept some of that responsibility, or a lot of that responsibility, he said. Your job was, one of your jobs, was to get your team ready to play. And, again, just for those two games we didnt have our best games but I think, from my standpoint, you know thats where you need a guy like myself or someone else to really make a play, to make a big play, to be like the guy weve got to get going here, and it just didnt happen.Parise eschewed surgery on his back in favor of a slower but ultimately more certain rehabilitation that has seen him return to what he figures to be 90 percent health. The strength has returned, and with it the excitement and indeed nervousness of returning to the international stage with Team USA. Beyond that is a new chapter in his journey with the Wild.I think our team has made a lot of improvements and were growing, and I think this will be a really big year for us, Parise said. Im not one of the pessimists around. Im optimistic. I like our team.No need to check the lie detector on that. Timothy Fosu-Mensah Jersey . He said Tuesday thats a big reason why he is now the new coach of the Tennessee Titans. 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Barcelona also left injured defenders Carles Puyol, Javier Mascherano and Jordi Alba out of its squad for the trip to Glasgow. That means that Marc Bartra will probably start again in the centre of the defence alongside Gerard Pique.PITTSBURGH -- Fred Couples watched Kenny Perry relentlessly sprint up the leaderboard Saturday in the Senior Players Championship and figured it was time for his putter to start co-operating. Three birdies over the final five holes restored some order as Couples took a step closer to his first victory of the season. The Hall of Famer finished with a 3-under 67 and was at 15-under 195 at rain-soaked and toothless Fox Chapel, two strokes clear of the hard-charging Perry. Couples already has three runner-up finishes this season. He has no plans to make it four. "If I go out and play well, I have a great shot at winning," Couples said. "Im certainly not going to be thinking about second place." It appeared thats all the rest of the field was playing for after Couples ripped off seven birdies in 11 holes of the second round Friday before a midafternoon downpour halted play for the day. The deluge cooled off Couples a bit. He two-putted from 60 feet on the par-3 third when he returned to the course Saturday morning, then made five straight pars before finishing his round off with a birdie on the par-4 ninth for an 8-under 62. Tying the record for the lowest score ever in a major on the Champions Tour should have provided Couples with some breathing room. Instead, Perry made it close. Perry began the day as speck in Couples rearview mirror before the Kentucky player made three birdies and an eagle over the final six holes of the second round for a 7-under 63. He backed it up six hours later with another flawless 63, using his length off the tee and a new putter to chase down the frontrunning Couples. After a lethargic 71 in the first round left him frustrated, Perry switched putters to one with more loft hoping it would help keep the ball online on the soggy and cleat-marked greens. The decision paid off handsomely as Perry set a tournament record for the lowest score in consecutive rounds. The combined 14-under 126 Perry posted in the second and third rounds is two better than the 128 Jack Nicklaus shot in 1990 when the tournament was held in Dearborn, Mich. Perry joked he was inspired by the Pittsburgh Pirates. He watched from the second row on Friday night as Pittsburgh crushed the Milwaukee Brewers 10-3 to move to 49-30 on the season, the best record in baseball. "It was pretty awesome," Perry said. So were most of the scores at the rolling course about 10 miles up the Allegheny River from PNC Park. The rain during the week forced officials to allow players to lift, clean and place their golf balls in the fairways. The quick, treacherous test the players endured during their last visit to Fox Chapel a year agoo instead looked like a pitch and putt for longer players like Perry and Couples.dddddddddddd "We played ball-in-hand for three days," Perry said. "You know, you just see the scores go way down when you let the guys get ball in hand." Duffy Waldorf birdied his final two holes for a 66 to remain in striking distance at 11 under. First-round leader John Huston briefly tied Couples for the lead but faltered on the back nine, bogeying the last two holes to shoot 68 and finish five shots back of Couples. Mike Goodes had a 65 to match Huston at 10 under. Perry didnt falter, briefly creating a three-way logjam with Couples and Huston when Perry birdied the 12th and Couples three-putted the 10th green for bogey. The missed opportunity seemed to wake Couples up. Frustrated he wasnt taking advantage of the soft conditions that led to Perrys assault on the par-70 layout, Couples birdied Nos. 14 and 15, then capped his round with a splendid pitch from in front of the left bunker on the par-5 18th, allowing him to roll in a birdie. Not bad for a guy who insists he was "outplayed" by Huston for most of the day by Huston before the final five holes. Now Couples heads into Sunday searching for his third major title since joining the Champions Tour in 2010. He won the Senior Players in 2011 at Westchester Country Club in New York and the Senior British Open last year. He was in position to capture the Regions Tradition earlier this month but fell one shot short in a showdown with points leader David Frost. This time it appears the duel will be with Perry, who is pain-free after dealing with knee problems earlier in the season. Perry, who has undergone surgery on both knees during his career and takes medicine to deal with arthritis in the joints, called his recovery over the last two weeks "a miracle." He took a cortisone shot in his left knee recently and has had fluid drained out of the joint, freeing him up to walk the course with relative ease. "If you have had a need this long stuck in your knee with a big syringe sucking all that junk out of you, thats not very pleasant," Perry said. "But once they do it, immediately it gives you relief. The pressures off and you can actually bend your knee, you can actually walk." Perry will walk alongside Couples on Sunday as Perry looks for the first major title of his 31-year professional career. "Youre going to see still a lot of good scores tomorrow," Perry said. "So the guys that are near the lead, at the lead are going to have to play a good round of golf. Somebodys going to have to shoot a good round tomorrow." ' ' '