Month: June 2009

MINNEAPOLIS – Todd Richards is the latest piece of the Minnesota Wild’s off-season makeover.Richards was hired Monday as the team’s head coach, according to a person with knowledge of the decision who spoke on condition of anonymity because an official announcement had not been made

TORONTO – The deciding game of the Stanley Cup was a ratings hit on both sides of the border.CBC said Monday that Friday’s Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final between the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins drew an average of 3

DETROIT – Henrik Zetterberg called Sidney Crosby’s actions disrespectful. Nicklas Lidstrom said the Pittsburgh Penguins’ young captain would learn from his mistake

OTTAWA – The Ottawa Senators are making some front-office changes.President and CEO Roy Mlakar will leave the job when his contract expires at the end of the month, Senators owner Eugene Melnyk announced Monday

BOSTON – The Boston Bruins have signed general manager Peter Chiarelli to a contract extension, rewarding the architect who built the team with the second-best record in the NHL last season

PHILADELPHIA – Derian Hatcher’s tenure as an NHL defencemen ended Monday – right around the time his coaching career began.Hatcher announced his retirement – ending a 17-year playing career – and was immediately named player development coach with Philadelphia, where he spent the past four years

ZURICH – Ice hockey’s European club championship has been cancelled next season because of financial problems.The International Ice Hockey Federation said Monday that the Champions Hockey League would not be played but could return in 2010, backed by the NHL

RALEIGH, N.C. – The Carolina Hurricanes will keep their coaching staff together after their run to the Eastern Conference final.The team says it has agreed to terms with coach Paul Maurice on a multi-year contract

PITTSBURGH – Pittsburgh Penguins fans have been lining up along the Stanley Cup victory parade route since dawn and police say they’re prepared even if the crowd is as big as the one that turned out for a Super Bowl victory parade in February

PITTSBURGH – Pittsburgh Penguins defenceman Sergei Gonchar played the final two rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs with a partially torn right medial collateral ligament, a major injury that can sideline an athlete for months

PITTSBURGH – Sidney Crosby isn’t apologizing for unintentionally failing to shake hands with some Detroit players after Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals, saying he didn’t realize the Red Wings were leaving the ice before he joined the handshake line

PITTSBURGH – The Pittsburgh Penguins spent a last few hours together Sunday, cleaning out their lockers, showing off the Stanley Cup at a Pirates game and wondering what could possibly top beating the Detroit Red Wings in a road Game 7

DETROIT – General manager Ken Holland says Detroit Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom missed the last two games of the conference final because of surgery

HARBOUR GRACE, N.L. – The mayor of Harbour Grace, N.L., says he intends to honour a Stanley Cup bet struck with his counterpart in Halifax.Harbour Grace is the home of Detroit Red Wings forward Dan Cleary, while Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby hails from Cole Harbour, just outside of Halifax

FRISCO, Texas – Mike Modano was caught off guard when the Dallas Stars fired coach Dave Tippett this week.Yet, the surprising move by former teammate and new Stars general manager Joe Nieuwendyk isn’t changing Modano’s mind

PITTSBURGH – Oh, those kids.Jordan Staal is 20, Sidney Crosby is 21, Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin are 22, Marc-Andre Fleury is 24. In another sport, they’d be called prospects

Muhammad Ali was at Joe Louis Arena, perhaps waiting for a fight to break out. One did in Game 7 of the NHL championships, but not in the traditional hockey sense

DETROIT – This was the rare sequel that outdid the original.Few gave the Pittsburgh Penguins much chance to dethrone the Detroit Red Wings in the first Stanley Cup finals rematch in 25 years