BOSTON — Patrick Marleau, Milan Michalek and former Boston captain Joe Thornton scored in a 6:16 span of the third period to rally the San Jose Sharks to a 5-2 victory over the Boston Bruins in a matchup of the NHL’s top two teams on Tuesday night.
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP)—Jason Lawrence scored a power-play goal with 14.4
seconds left, and Boston University advanced to the Frozen Four for the first
time in 12 years, beating New Hampshire 2-1 on Sunday in the Northeast Regional
final.
Crosby scored the go-ahead goal with 10:04 remaining, his 15th straight game
with a point, to help the Penguins to a 4-3 victory over the New York Rangers on
Saturday, Pittsburgh’s fifth win in six games.
Americans have always been enamored with labels when it comes to sports. Nicknames are popular for individual players, groups of players and teams. And until NASCAR crashed the party and Tiger Woods made golf a rising phenomenon, the world of professional sports was usually boiled down to the “Big Four.” Football, Baseball, Basketball and Hockey were the dominant forces when it came to popularity, patronage and participation.
CALGARY, Alberta — Matthew Lombardi and Dustin Boyd scored short-handed goals Monday night to propel the Calgary Flames to a 6-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.
(CSTV U-WIRE) SOUTH BEND, Ind.—With four CCHA teams in this year’s NCAA Tournament, Notre Dame and its conference mates are one of the most dangerous groups in this year’s postseason.
(CSTV U-WIRE) SOUTH BEND, Ind.—With four CCHA teams in this year’s NCAA Tournament, Notre Dame and its conference mates are one of the most dangerous groups in this year’s postseason.
(CSTV U-WIRE) SOUTH BEND, Ind.—With four CCHA teams in this year’s NCAA Tournament, Notre Dame and its conference mates are one of the most dangerous groups in this year’s postseason.
Tanguay had two goals and three assists and Montreal snapped a five-game
losing streak with a 6-3 win over the Atlanta Thrashers on Tuesday night.
On paper it looked like Alexander Ovechkin was up to his old tricks last night against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Great 8 had a goal and a pair of assists to help pace his Washington Capitals to a 5-2 win. However, for those watching the game, Ovechkin pulled out a surprise that no one would have anticipated.
In the first period, after scoring the goal, his 50th of the season, Ovechkin proceeded to execute a clumsy-looking choreographed celebration in the style of NFL players like Terrell Owens or Ocho Cinco, dropping his stick and then pretending to be unable to pick it up due to the heat radiating off it. The celebration was intended to be funny, but came off looking goofy, and too premeditated.
Ovechkin has been criticized in recent weeks by Hockey Night in Canada’s Don Cherry, and some speculate this particular 50th goal celebration was done deliberately to provoke the ornery star of Coach’s Corner. Cherry is almost certain to have a reaction to this come Saturday, and the CBC might want to send Ovechkin a thank you gift basket, as ratings for the segment should be through the roof as hockey fans tune in to see Cherry’s reaction.
However, it isn’t just Cherry who Ovechkin has offended this time around. Tampa Bay Lightning coach Rick Tocchet was unimpressed by Ovechkin’s “show”, suggesting that if it had occurred in the Philadelphia Spectrum during his playing days the first period might have dragged on for about 3 hours.
Ovechkin is a character, and the vanilla NHL needs personalities like his to help promote their sport in the United States. However, he needs to keep his actions within the boundaries of sportsmanship and good taste, rather than lowering himself to the standards set by guys like Sean Avery.
Ultimately I don’t think this will hurt Ovechkin’s popularity a great deal. He is still young, and is far and away the most exciting player in the NHL. However, he needs to be careful if he is going to retain that popularity. There is a thin line between a character and a clown.
