hockey

Wayne Gretzky played for Canada during the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano and then managed the men's hockey team for each of the next two Olympics -- Salt Lake City in 2002 and Turin in 2006.

If he were a player, you know what people would be saying.

If he were a player with a valid contract refusing to report to his team because a lawyer or an agent advised him that it was in his best interests to remain absent, scorn would pour down from all quarters.

The U.S. Open has been slamming its door on the toes of European contenders for nearly four decades.
In fact, Sunday will mark the 39th anniversary of the last European to win a U.S. Open.

Those from Detroit aren't going to like this and I'm sure my e-mail box will be full of angry letters, but some of the Red Wings (and one in particular) are coming off like a bunch of whiners over this whole Sidney Crosby-handshake thing.

Through six breathtaking laps of its hairpin turns, cliff-tracing curves, and capacious potholes deep enough to swallow nine months of earnest hockey in a single gulp, the bedrock of this so-called road to the Stanley Cup is still right there in your belief system.

Like all NHL coaches, Detroit's Mike Babcock has the perfect understanding of the significance of the first goal in a big hockey game.
"It's important if we (get) it," Babcock said. "It's not important if we don't."
That's the man's story and he's sticking to it.

Elimination games have a way of revealing the character of an NHL team. Some players relish the opportunity of playing with their backs against the wall while others self-destruct under the intense pressure of the situation.

Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma walked to the bench before Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals Thursday night on thin ice, literally, metaphorically, every which way but loose. He was wondering whether a couple of essential hockey elements that his Penguins were clearly capable of would ever turn up in real life again.

The first change of venue in the Stanley Cup final brought with it a complete inversion of the luck dynamic, and with it a virtually new series thanks largely to Max Talbot, who got the first and last goal of a stunningly unlikely 4-2 Pittsburgh Penguins victory to drag his team back to life.

Even randomly selected collections of empirical hockey evidence might strongly suggest that the Detroit Red Wings need zero help to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins in this Stanley Cup final.
No Pavel Datsyuk?
No problem.
No Kris Draper?
No problem.
A 2-0 series lead constructed in fewer than 27 hours at a work site in downtown Detroit?