Hockey News

PITTSBURGH - Win or lose, taking his team to the Stanley Cup final has been big for 20-year-old Sidney Crosby.

The Cole Harbour, N.S., native has been a leader on and off the ice for the young, talent-stacked Pittsburgh Penguins, even while struggling to score early in the best-of-seven final against the Detroit Red Wings.

“It’s pretty much everything I expected,” Crosby said hours before Wednesday’s Game 3 of his first experience in the final. “I tried not to think about it coming in and just tried to prepare the same way.

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PITTSBURGH - Henrik Zetterberg was a little sheepish when asked about some extended shifts he worked in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup final.

“Sometimes if you’ve been out there 30 seconds and you have a chance to go for another rush, it’s hard to go to the bench,” the Detroit Red Wings star said Thursday. “Sometimes you want to create some more offence.

“And sometimes, you get caught out there and you pay for it in the end.”

Detroit coach Mike Babcock blamed himself for over-using Zetterberg and linemates Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Holmstrom in a 3-2 loss Wednesday that put the Pittsburgh Penguins back into a series the Red Wings had been dominating.

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Games 3, 4 and 5 of the Calder Cup Finals between the Chicago Wolves and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., will be held at 6:30 p.m., not at 6 p.m., as previously announced. The full schedule for the remainder of the Championship series is as follows:

Game 2 (Home M) Allstate Arena Sun., June 1 3 p.m. CST

Game 3 Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza Wed., June 4 6:30 p.m. CST

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With the Chicago Wolves playing the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins in the American Hockey League’s 2008 Calder Cup Finals, the 2007 Calder Cup Champion Hamilton Bulldogs are preparing to celebrate the one-year anniversary of their first AHL Championship.

On Thursday, June 7th, 2007, Hamilton topped Hershey 2-1 in game five of the Calder Cup Finals. With the triumph, the Bulldogs won their best-of-seven series with the Bears four games to one and captured the franchise’s first AHL championship and the first-ever professional hockey championship for the City of Hamilton. To celebrate this accomplishment and the one-year anniversary of the Dogs first title, Cable 14 will be airing, in its entirety, Game Five of the AHL’s 2007 Calder Cup Finals between the Hamilton Bulldogs and the Hershey Bears on Saturday, June 7th, 2008 beginning at 7:00 p.m. Hamilton Bulldogs Director of Broadcasting and Communications / Play-By-Play Announcer Derek Wills will host the encore presentation. Providing coverage of the game will be the Cable 14 AHL Live broadcast crew of play-by-play announcer Todd Crocker, colour commentator Norm Miller and host Laura Leigh Groppo.

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BINGHAMTON, N.Y. - The Binghamton Senators Hockey Club proudly announced that they helped raise $135,515 for various non-profit and charitable organizations in the Greater Binghamton region during the 2007-08 American Hockey League season. The fundraising total is $30,000 more than last season’s total and a new franchise record.

Some of the notable efforts from this past season were:

* The third annual Binghamton Senators Charity Golf Classic raised $20,984.00 for the Family Enrichment network.

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SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League announced today that Games 1 and 2 of the 2008 Calder Cup Finals series between the Chicago Wolves and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins will be televised live on NHL Network in the United States and Canada.

The AHL’s 72nd championship series begins tonight at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill. The Wolves are the top affiliate of the National Hockey League’s Atlanta Thrashers, and the Penguins are the top affiliate of the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins.

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Name Yrs GP A

Wayne Gretzky, Edm-LA-StL-NYR 16 208 260

Mark Messier, Edm-NYR-Van-NYR 17 236 186

Ray Bourque, Bos-Col 21 214 139

Paul Coffey, Edm-Pit-LA-Det-Phi-Car-Bos 16 194 137

Doug Gilmour, StL-Cal-Tor-NJ-Chi-Mon-Tor 17 182 128

Jari Kurri, Edm-LA-NYR-Ana-Col 15 200 127

Al MacInnis, Cal-StL 19 177 121

Glenn Anderson, Edm-Tor-NYR-StL 15 225 121

x-Sergei Fedorov, Det-Ana-Was 14 169 117

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PITTSBURGH - It took Sidney Crosby at the top of his game to put the Pittsburgh Penguins back in the hunt for the Stanley Cup.

Crosby scored Pittsburgh’s first two goals of the series and Adam Hall got the game-winner as the Penguins came alive with a 3-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup final on Wednesday night. The Red Wings, who shut out Pittsburgh in consecutive games in Detroit, lead the best-of-seven series 2-1 with Game 4 set for Saturday night at Mellon Arena.

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PITTSBURGH (AP) -Maybe the Pittsburgh Penguins should start showing more perspiration and less frustration.

The Penguins, shut out in the first two games of the Stanley Cup finals by Detroit, showed their exasperation at the end of Monday’s 3-0 loss in Game 2 with some borderline cheap shots on several Red Wings players.

Most prominent was Gary Roberts’ not well-disguised punch to the face of Johan Franzen, who was returning from a six-game layoff with concussion-like symptoms. Pavel Datsyuk also absorbed some punishment, no doubt sent by the Penguins to show they have some physicality to go with their so far invisible scoring talent.

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DETROIT - NHL history suggests that the Detroit Red Wings are shoo-ins to win the Stanley Cup now.

Brad Stuart, Tomas Holmstrom and Valtteri Filppula scored the goals and Chris Osgood blanked the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second straight game, 3-0 on the heels of a 4-0 rout in the opener, as the Red Wings took a stranglehold on the championship series Monday night.

“I don’t like bragging about myself very much,” said the modest Osgood, who is looking more and more like a playoff MVP. “I’ve played some good games in my career and I feel pretty good about myself right now.”

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