Blue Tongues Clutch Victory

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With a huge win over The Bears in their season home opener, the pressure was on the Blue Tongues to once again prevail over the league leaders. Having been introduced to the smaller rink and hard checking style of play produced by Gold Coast, The Bears were expected to hit back, and fast, against the Blue Tongues in their second game of the double header.

The Bears did not disappoint, coming at the Blue Tongues early in the game and changing their tactics to not only start playing a physical game, but also stamping their authority over the control of the game. Both teams seemed to lack the energy they had during Saturday’s game, and some simple rookie errors caused a line change for the Gold Coast team, starting to run two lines instead of three. Despite The Bears claiming control of the puck for majority of the first period however, it was Dave Upton of the Blue Tongues who netted the only goal of the first.

Tempers flared in the second, with roughing calls on both teams, and it was clear that neither team were giving up on their race to be the next to pot a goal. Both Sydney’s goaltender John Daugulis and Gold Coast’s Simo Mustonen had their work cut out for them in net as each team made shot after shot on goal. However, once again the Blue Tongues made some silly mistakes, costing them dearly on the penalty kill. It was The Bears that led going into the third, winning the period 3 goals to the Gold Coast’s lone goal, ending the period 3-2.

Excitement ruled the third, as the Blue Tongues tied up the scores on 3 a piece, before The Bears took advantage of a lapse in concentration and took the lead once more at 4-3 with little more than 8 minutes left in the game. The Blue Tongues never gave up, and with just under 2 minutes left, tied the game 4-4.

Anticipation was high in the stands as the teams took to the face off after a penalty was called on The Bears, giving the Blue Tongues a powerplay with a minute left in the third. Their fans behind them, Gold Coast focused on the job at hand and with 46 seconds left in the game, defenseman Ross Howell netted the game winning goal. The Bears failed to even up the scores in the dying seconds of the game, giving the Blue Tongues their third victory in the last three games.

The first star of the game was Blue Tongues Captain and centre, Billy Crumm. Second star of the game was Blue Tongues Defenseman, Don Burke and third star of the game was Bears’ Roberto Franchini.

Next weekend, the Blue Tongues face the Newcastle North Stars on June 21 & 22 at Gold Coast Iceland, Bundall. Games start at 3.30pm.

Article Source: Gold Coast Blue Tongues

Tags: IceHockey, AIHL, Blue Tongues, Gold Coast, Brisbane, Sydney Bears, Gaetan Royer, Brian Lachance

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NHL - Detroit Red Wings/Pittsburgh Penguins Box Score Wednesday June 4, 2008 - Yahoo! Sports

NHL - Detroit Red Wings/Pittsburgh Penguins Box Score Wednesday June 4, 2008 - Yahoo! Sports

Detroit Red Wings - 2008 Stanley Cup Winners!

Goal 3 for the Red Wings came off an error by M.A. Fleury after he fell back and pushed the puck into his own net.  The goal was awarded to Henrik Zetterberg.

Sergei Gonchar made it a one shot game with a minute and change to play, but it wasn’t enough. 

Congratuations to the Detroit Red Wings.

Tags: A., back, blog, cam, Change, com, cup, D, day, Detroit, detroit red wings, error, fleury, Game, goal, Henrik Zetterberg, June, min, minute, Net, New, NHL, one, OWN, Penguins, Pittsburgh, pittsburgh penguins, play, puck, push, rd, Red, red wings, right, row, score, Sergei, Sergei Gonchar, shot, size, Sport, Sports, Stanley, Stanley Cup, style, th, Title, Ward, wasn, Wednesday, win, Wings, winner, www, yahoo, Zetterberg

The Final Period - Game 6

NHL - Detroit Red Wings/Pittsburgh Penguins Box Score Wednesday June 4, 2008 - Yahoo! Sports

We’re down to the wire now.  Detroit lead the game 2-1 going into the second break, but the Penguins have momentum after Malkin scored on the powerplay. 

Brian Rafalski and Valtteri Filppula both scored for Detroit.

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Game 6 Preview - Red Wings @ Penguins

NHL - Detroit Red Wings/Pittsburgh Penguins Box Score Wednesday June 4, 2008 - Yahoo! Sports

Just 5 minutes until puck drop in game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals.  The Detroit Red Wings are looking for the win that will give them the Cup.  The Penguins trying to force a series deciding game 7.

Keys to the game:

• M.A. Fleury repeating his stellar performance that helped win game 6.  If he can, the Penguins can make a game of this.
• Pittsburgh need to shut down the Red Wings top line. If Zetterberg and Datsyuk are free to skate on open ice they will do damage. The Penguins need to shut that line down.
• Evgeni Malkin.  He was quiet in most games of this series, but got the assist on Sykoras game winner in game 6.  If Malkin can get on a roll, he could be the difference maker.

Game on!

Tags: detroitred wings, pittsburgh penguins, nhl, stanley cup, game 7, zetterberg, datsyuk, crosby, malkin, igloo

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Cinderella Teams

As we head towards the NHL Playoffs we start to hear phrases like underdogs, rental players or cinderella stories.  The trade deadline is where these phrases really start to be thrown around.  Teams battling for 7th and 8th spot on the ladders start looking to bolster their lineups with trades, often picking up players they know they will only keep until the end of the season. ie. rental players.

The most recent cinderella story team was the Edmonton Oilers who 2 years back went into the playoffs in 8th spot in the West and battled hard to make it right to the NHL Stanley Cup Finals, only to be beaten by the Carolina Hurricanes.

While the cinderella story teams are fantastic to watch, the fact is, the chance of them actually winning the cup is minimal.  30% of the time, top 3 teams have won the Cup.  80% of the time, teams in the top 5 have ended up hoisting the cup.  In fact in recent years i believe only 1 team who started the playoffs in 8th place have won the cup.

But in a world of battlers, doing it hard and fighting to the end, there will always be that spark of belief that says the underdog, the great Cinderella team will once again be victors come June/July.

Tags: belief, carolina hurricanes, chance, cinderella, cup, Deadline, Edmonton, end, fact, fight, Finals, hoisting, July, June, NHL, place, playoffs, right, season, spark, spot, Stanley Cup, story, Team, time, trade, underdog, west, World