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BOSTON (AP) -- An NHL-record unbeaten streak to start the lockout-shortened season. Three straight victories to clinch the title. From beginning to end, the Chicago Blackhawks skated away from the rest of the league. Bryan Bickell and Dave Bolland scored 17 seconds apart in the final minutes and the Blackhawks rallied to win Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final 3-2 on Monday night to clinch their second NHL championship in four seasons. < snip >

Blackhawks defense determined to keep east coast freepers up all night ... Bruins finally score

This shows one of the very best renditions of both the Canadian and American National Anthems. At a hockey game. In Vancouver. No mangling allowed.

Ilya Bryzgalov is at the centre of controversy after praising socialist icon Joseph Stalin. In an interview Wednesday with Russian sports website Championat, translated by Yahoo! Sports, the Philadelphia Flyers goaltender said he saw “logic” in former Soviet Union leader Stalin’s actions. Stalin is one of the most reviled leaders in history and is responsible for the killing of millions of people. Asked if there were any historical figures he’d like to talk to, Bryzgalov answered Genghis Khan, Stalin and Albert Einstein. Bryzgalov was then asked for his thoughts on Stalin. “Positive. I see logic in his action,” he said....

The family of the late Derek Boogaard has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the NHL. The former enforcer for the Minnesota Wild and New York Rangers died in May 2011 from a lethal mix of alcohol and oxycodone. He had become addicted to painkillers while dealing with concussions and other injury issues during his six-year NHL career. From the New York Times: "To distill this to one sentence," said William Gibbs, a lawyer for the Boogaards, "you take a young man, you subject him to trauma, you give him pills for that trauma, he becomes addicted to those pills,...

There was an extraordinary moment Saturday night when Boston bombing victim Jeff Bauman served as banner captain for the Boston Bruins. “Now THIS picture should be plastered all over the media,” said one post on the 27-year-old’s Facebook page. “They put up enough photos of poor Jeff in a time of distress, show him in his glory.” Bauman’s lower limbs were blown apart when bombs went off near the finish of the Boston Marathon where he had been waiting for his girlfriend to finish. “I want to thank everyone for their amazing support for me and all those injured and...

NEW YORK -- The National Hockey League today announced the dates, times and national broadcast information for the 2013 Stanley Cup Conference Quarterfinal round, which begins Tuesday, April 30th. Information on the U.S. broadcast networks for games later in the round will be released as it is determined.

Records are made to be broken. But the mark Darryl Sittler set on Feb. 7, 1976, continues to stand the test of time. On that early February night, Sittler shattered one of the most famous marks in hockey -- Maurice Richard's record of eight points in a game, a record set by "The Rocket" in December 1944 and matched only once in the next 32 years -- by Bert Olmstead in 1954. Richard had five goals and three assists; Sittler had one more of each, scoring six times and setting up four more goals as the Toronto Maple Leafs routed...

The Detroit Red Wings honored Gordie Howe on his 85th birthday Sunday as players wore jerseys with Howe's retired No. 9 during warm-ups and "Mr. Hockey" was on hand at Joe Louis Arena signing autographs. [...] Former Red Wings defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom, who won seven Norris Trophies, was in from Sweden for the occasion. Also on hand were Red Wings Hall of Famers Ted Lindsay and Alex Delvecchio...

FLAMES TRADE IGINLA TO PENGUINS FOR FIRST-ROUNDER, PROSPECTS Jarome Iginla's tenure with the Calgary Flames has come to an end. The team announced that it has dealt Iginla to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for college prospects Kenneth Agostino and Ben Hanowski as well as Pittsburgh's 2013 first-round draft pick. Iginla has scored nine goals and 13 assists in 31 games with the Flames this season. Holding team records for goals, points and games-played, Iginla's time with the Flames comes to an end in the final year of a five-year deal he signed prior to the 2008-09 season worth an...

Buffalo Sabres Trade Deadline FIRE SALE!!!!

Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend’s events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it. You know when a player who really loves his team and city gets traded, and he gives an emotional speech about how sometimes you forget hockey is a business, and that sometimes makes it unpleasant? Let this lockout be a lesson that the same goes for fans. During that 113-day ordeal, you were repeatedly condescended to, taken advantage of,...

The National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players' Association reached agreement on the framework of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement early Sunday morning. After a marathon 16-plus hour negotiating session at the Sofitel Hotel that began Saturday afternoon, the sides announced an agreement in principle shortly after 6 a.m. Sunday. The League did not announce the start date of the season or the number of games each team will play. Those details will be announced soon. The deal, agreed to at approximately 4:40 a.m., was announced jointly by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA Executive Director Donald Fehr...

We won! Though we were widely considered underdogs to the Russian and Canadian teams, the USA squad made it to the finals of the World Junior Championships in Russia and triumphed over Sweden, 3-1, to take the gold medal. Not only was it hockey—hockey still exists—it was a great American triumph, as Florida Panthers draft pick Rocco Grimaldi scored the tying and go-ahead goals after a less-than-promising start to the game. As Desi_Relaford noted in the game thread: "Nothing is more American than winning a gold medal in a sport that barely registers in the US in a tournament most...

It took 16 hours of talks in New York on Saturday, with concessions from both sides. It took 113 days. A total of 625 regular-season games were sacrificed, or over half the 2012-13 season. It took months of bitter sniping, petty politics, false hope and broken hearts.

By the margin of Dario Simion being 6-foot-2 instead 5-foot-10 like the stereotypical Swiss forward of yore, Switzerland is in the world junior championship medal round. ~snip~ Simion was trying to screen the goaltender when defenceman Samuel Guerra stepped into a slapshot. Since the deflection was unintended, it counted...

Greg Jamison says he hopes to close the purchase of the Phoenix Coyotes in January, and while the usual doubters point out this is simply the latest in a long line of such predictions, they are giving him full marks for creativity in his hunt for investors. This is due to Jamison’s novel but failed attempt to find investors through the Immigrant Investor Program of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Two sources familiar with his investment plans said Jamison, the former president of the NHL’s San Jose Sharks, tried to raise at least some of the $170-million (all currency...

The NHL could be one step away from canceling another hockey season because of a labor fight with the players. In the latest round of cancellations, the NHL on Thursday wiped out all games through Jan. 14. More than 50 percent of the schedule has been lost, and the rest is now in great danger, too. “I don’t want to characterize what today’s cancellations mean or don't mean,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told The Associated Press in an email. “I will stand on the announcement that was made.” So far, 625 regular-season games have been called off, including nearly...

Does anybody remember the film "Slap Shot?" I ran across a Trailer on UTUBE that brought back the Hockey Mania in Boston in the 60's and 70's. In those days you could always get tickets to the Celtics but the Bruins were always sold out. My cousin was a Gallery God, we always got in along with an ample supply of beer from the packy across the street. The most interesting thing I saw were the women in the crowd calling for blood during a brawl, common in the old days, reminded me of Rome. The movie reflected alot of...

DETROIT (AP) -- Budd Lynch, a veteran radio broadcaster who spent more than 60 years working for the Detroit Red Wings and became the team's public voice, died Tuesday. He was 95. [...] ''Budd Lynch was a dear member of the Detroit Red Wings family and legendary icon of our community,'' Red Wings' owner Mike Ilitch said. ''Hearing Budd's voice on the radio and over the public address at Joe Louis Arena was something that every Red Wings fan looked forward to and loved. His calm, friendly and distinguished voice was symbolic of who Budd was as a person.'' [...]