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• Red Wings missing Franzen’s presence
• Disappointment for Canada as Russia takes gold at World Hockey Championship
• Red Wings look to finally close out Stars in Game 6 of Western final
• Krog scores hat trick as Wolves draw first blood with 4-1 win over Marlies
• Philadelphia Flyers Survive Washington, Now Head to Montreal
• Russia reaches final with 4-0 win over Finland
• Penguins LW Roberts has pneumonia
• Canada moves into world championship semifinals
• National Hockey League And The Stanley Cup
• Wild top Avs, alone in 1st in Northwest
• Penguins to play exhibition in Finland
• When Players Should Become Captains Of Sports Teams
• Should NHL Teams Relocate?
• How Can You Be Pro Ice Hockey Player
• Florida Panthers Mourning Loss of Former Player

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Red Wings missing Franzen’s presence

No one would say it in the locker room following Saturday’s 2-1 loss to the Dallas Stars, but the absence of Johan Franzen is starting to loom large for the Detroit Red Wings.

Detroit won its first two contests without the “Mule,” who has been sidelined with concussion-like symptoms, to extend its playoff winning streak to a franchise-record nine games.

But not having Franzen, the playoffs’ top goal scorer, finally may be taking a toll.

After opening a commanding three-games-to-none lead in the Western Conference finals, the Red Wings have dropped two straight straight as the Stars have proven difficult to put away.

Detroit has managed only one goal in each of the last two games, and Franzen’s absence could be a big reason why.

It’s not that the Red Wings haven’t had opportunities. They peppered Stars netminder Marty Turco with 39 shots on Saturday, but couldn’t finish.

“We had our quality chances,” Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. “We missed the net - we missed the net 19 times. We had ample opportunity, weren’t able to get it done.”

Disappointment for Canada as Russia takes gold at World Hockey Championship

The first ever IIHF World Hockey Championship to be played in Canada ended in silver for the host country after a heartbreaking 5-4 loss to Russia on Sunday in the gold-medal game.Ilya Kovalchuk’s power-play goal at 2:42 of overtime gave the Russians their first gold medal at the event since 1993.

The result left disappointed a partisan crowd of 13,338 at Le Colisee Pepsi that hoped to watch Canada become the first home nation to win the championship since the Soviet Union in 1986.

“Right now we are the champions of the world and it feels so great,” said Russian winger Alex Ovechkin. “It’s really special to win here because this is hockey and it’s a hockey-mad country.

“It just feels wonderful. It feels so great.”

 

It looked good for the Canadians through 40 minutes, when they built a 4-2 lead on a pair of goals from defenceman Brent Burns plus singles from Ryan Getzlaf and Dany Heatley.

But the Russians tied it in the third period, getting goals from Alexei Tereshchenko and Kovalchuk to force the extra period.

“You get a game into overtime, it’s flip a coin,” said Canadian head coach Ken Hitchcock. “We all know that. We’ve all been in these games before.”

Bad luck struck the Canadians just 1:55 in when forward Rick Nash accidentally shot the puck over the glass, resulting in an automatic penalty.

Red Wings look to finally close out Stars in Game 6 of Western final

The Detroit Red Wings aren’t really going to blow this - are they?Just a few days ago, the Red Wings were still in a span of being undefeated for almost a month, owning the NHL’s longest post-season winning streak in 15 years and doing it with flair. Three games into the Western Conference final, they hadn’t even trailed the Dallas Stars for a single second. All they had to do was win once more to seal a spot in the Stanley Cup final.

Then the Stars won Game 4. And Game 5.

Now Game 6 is Monday night and the Stars are feeling good, realizing they are halfway to a historic comeback.

“I think that’s crept into all of us a little bit,” Dallas captain Brenden Morrow said Sunday. “It’s building. We’re getting a little more of that feeling. None of us will be content just to make a series out of it. We want to win this thing.”

Krog scores hat trick as Wolves draw first blood with 4-1 win over Marlies

Toronto Marlies coach Greg Gilbert says his team doesn’t need any significant corrections following a 4-1 loss to the Chicago Wolves in Friday’s opener of the American Hockey League Western Conference final.He’ll settle for better execution and fewer penalties as the Marlies hope to stay competitive in what could be a gruelling best-of-seven series. And they’ll also need to find a way to stop Chicago’s Jason Krog.

The Wolves centre and league MVP scored a game-winning goal in the second period and added two late goals to close with a hat trick in front of 3,821 fans at suburban Allstate Arena.

“We did more things to hurt ourselves than we did to help ourselves,” said Gilbert. “Everything we talked about (doing) we didn’t do. There’s nothing to correct. It’s stuff that we’ve done since day one. We didn’t execute.”

It could have been worse. The Marlies were penalized nine times on Friday, but Chicago was only able to convert on one power play.

 

That came early in the second period as defenceman Darren Haydar broke a scoreless tie. With the teams playing four-on-four, Haydar took a feed from Krog and weaved from left to right and fired a slap shot past Marlies goalie Scott Clemmensen.

Krog made it 2-0 at the 7:15 mark when he picked up a ricochet off teammate Joe Motzko and angled a short shot by Clemmensen for a 2-0 lead.

The Marlies replied 23 seconds later as defender Patrick Wellar scooped up a rebound of his own shot and skipped the puck past Wolves goalie Ondrej Pavelec to slice the deficit in half.

Krog added two insurance goals for Chicago late in the game. The first came with 2:07 left in regulation and he added an empty-netter with 40 seconds remaining.

Philadelphia Flyers Survive Washington, Now Head to Montreal

It was an epic battle for the ages and a rare occurrence in the NHL. A game 7 that needed to be decided in overtime.

The series itself from the drop of the puck in game 1, until Lupul’s goal in OT in game 7 was hard fought by both clubs. There were moments in each game where one team seemed to dominate the other, however nowhere in any of the games was it more evident than in the third period, when Washington out played, out hit and truly owned the Flyers in every aspect of the game….except the scoreboard.

The capitals just could not get the puck by goaltender Marty Biron who had the period of a lifetime. Couple that with the NHL’s leading goal scorer making the bad decision to pass the puck as opposed to shooting it when he had a clear open shot in front of the net, and you could see the Capitals were just snake bitten. Al lot of ifs on a single play…if Ovechkin shot the puck or if Federov just saw the puck on Ovechkin’s pass, might have lead to Washington moving on. Instead they are going home waiting for next year.

As tough as the game was against the Washington Capitals, it only gets harder for the boys from Broad Street. Next up the conference leading Montreal Canadians. The Flyers are 0-4-0 against the Canadians this season and are only averaging 1.5 goals per game against them. However the Canadians, like the Flyers, are coming off a brutal series as well against the Boston Bruins, who also took their opponent to 7 games.

Every indication shows that the Canadians are a better team then the Flyers, but so did the stats against the Capitals. Montreal does not have an Ovechkin type scorer on their roster, but they hit well, play as a team, and work hard.

Sounds just like the flyers. This should be a great series!About the Author: Michael C. Podlesny is the hockey editor for http://www.hockeysimulatoronline.com An online hockey simulation game where you are the owner, GM, and manager of your own hockey franchise.

Russia reaches final with 4-0 win over Finland

Evgeny Nabokov made 23 saves for his second straight shutout, and Sergei Fedorov scored the opening goal to help Russia beat Finland 4-0 on Friday for a spot in the world hockey final.

Seeking its first world title since 1993, Russia will face Canada on Sunday after the host country eliminated Sweden 5-4.

“It seems to me that almost everything came together,” the 38-year-old Fedorov said.

Danis Zaripov, Alexei Morozov and Maxim Sushinsky also scored for Russia, a 2-1 loser to Finland last year in the semifinals in Moscow.

Nabokov hasn’t allowed a goal since Switzerland’s Romano Lemm scored at 18:25 of the third period in Russia’s final round-robin game.

“The coaching staff asked us to play a bit more defensively and the guys took pride in playing back a bit, holding onto your man,” Fedorov said. “It was a team effort.”

Russia played without Atlanta Thrashers star Ilya Kovalchuk, who served a one-game suspension for taking two game misconducts in the tournament.

Penguins LW Roberts has pneumonia

Pittsburgh Penguins left wing Gary Roberts has a case of pneumonia and will miss Game Four of the Eastern Conference finals against the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday.

The veteran told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Thursday morning that he has “a minor case” of pneumonia - an illness he has dealt on two other occassions during the past two years.

The 41-year-old Roberts, who has three points and 16 penalty minutes in six games this postseason, said he hopes to be able to resume training within a few days.

The Penguins lead the best-of-seven series with the Flyers three-games-to-none and are on the verge of their first appearance the Stanley Cup Finals since the 1991-92 season.

Canada moves into world championship semifinals

Ken Hitchcock knew he was leaving Halifax. He just didn’t know what mode of transportation he’d be taking.The Canadian coach went through some nervous moments during an 8-2 quarter-final win over Norway at the IIHF World Hockey Championship on Wednesday. The victory earned his team a semifinal game with Sweden a few hours away in Quebec City.

“When it was 2-2, I was wondering if that ferry had a direct route to Columbus,” Hitchcock said before boarding a plane to Quebec instead. “The players play and they don’t worry about things. We sweated all day today as a coaching staff.

“These are defining moments for you as a coach because if you lose this game, you all (the media) are writing about us and me tomorrow. And it’s not going to be pleasant.”

National Hockey League And The Stanley Cup

Each team in the NHL plays 82 regular season games, 41 games at home and 41 on the road. Teams used to play all other teams in the league at least once, but this will no longer be the case following implementation of post-lockout changes. Teams will now play 10 inter-conference (that is, not in their own conference) games throughout the entire season, 1 game against each team in two of the three divisions in the opposite conference. Teams will also play 40 games against non-divisional, conference opponents (4 games against each), and 32 games within their division (8 games against each). Two points are awarded for wins, one point for losing in overtime or a shootout, and zero points for a loss in regulation time. At the end of the regular season, the team that finishes with the most points in each division is crowned the division champion. Each Conference consists of three divisions, so these three division champions and five more teams fill out each Conference’s playoff field. In total, 16 teams (3 division champions and 5 additional teams, for a total of 8 from each Conference) qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Stanley Cup Playoffs is an elimination tournament, where two teams battle to win a best-of-seven series in order to advance to the next round. If the score is tied at the end of the third period an overtime period is played. If the score is tied at the end of an overtime period, additional overtime periods are played until a winner is determined. Overtimes are also full periods of twenty minutes (of five-on-five hockey), rather than the five minutes (of four-on-four hockey, followed by a shootout,) in the regular season. The overtime is played with golden goal rule (sudden death) so the game ends as soon as either team scores a goal. The higher-ranked team is said to be the team with the home-ice advantage. Four of the seven games are played at this team’s home venue - the first and second, and, where necessary, the fifth and seventh, with the other games played at the lower-ranked team’s home venue.

One playoff that was contested in the NHL used the following format: the division winners were seeded one through three, and then the next five teams with the best records in the conference were seeded four through eight. However, the league has yet to announce the playoff format for the 2005-06 seasons, and with the new scheduling format that emphasizes division play, the league is reportedly exploring placing greater emphasis on division standings by taking the top 2 teams in each division, along with the teams with the next two best records for each Conference’s playoff field. In the event of a tie in points in the standings, ties are broken first by amount of wins, and then by record against the team that is tied (disregarding the first game played at the arena of the team that hosted more games than the other during the season series, if applicable). Next, the tied team with the better positive differential between goals scored for and against is given preference, and in the rare circumstance these tiebreakers are insufficient, the Commissioner has the authority to devise some other means of breaking the tie. The first round of the playoffs, or Conference Quarterfinals, consists of the first seed playing the eighth seed, the second playing the seventh, third playing the sixth, and the fourth playing the fifth. In the Conference Semifinals, the top remaining Conference seed plays against the fourth remaining seed, and the second remaining seed plays the third remaining seed. In the next round, the Conference Finals, the two remaining teams in each conference play each other, with the Conference champions proceeding to the Stanley Cup Finals.