Articles by Doug Stolhand

VOORHEES, N.J. – Kimmo Timonen’s return from injury suddenly seems much closer than that of Philadelphia Flyers defence partner Braydon Coburn.

QUEBEC – Veteran Sergei Fedorov got the opening goal as Russia used its quick-strike attack to down Finland 4-0 on Friday and advance to the final of the IIHF world hockey championship.

DETROIT – Tomas Holmstrom would rather go on a soup diet than stop crashing NHL creases.He doesn’t appear to need to drop any pounds. There is little fat on the six-foot, 203-pound Swede’s body, but the feisty forward will do anything to help the Detroit Red Wings win the Stanley Cup.

PITTSBURGH – The Pittsburgh Penguins have only lost two games in the NHL playoffs so there’s hardly any hand-wringing going on after a Game 4 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference final.

SUNRISE, Fla. – The Florida Panthers are locking up general manager Jacques Martin to a long-term deal.The NHL team announced Friday the two sides have reached an agreement for Martin to remain as GM through the 2011-12 season.

TORONTO – Canadian teams may be out of the Stanley Cup playoffs, but that hasn’t kept Ottawa singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards from creating her own bit of NHL fun.

Results Thursday:IIHF Men’s World ChampionshipAt Halifax and Quebec No Games Scheduled.2008 Memorial CupAt Kitchener, Ont.Round-robin begins Friday.

Scoring summary from Thursday’s NHL game:Penguins 2 at Flyers 4First Period1. Philadelphia, Lupul 3 (Hartnell, Parent) 8:272. Philadelphia, Briere 9 (Jones, Hartnell) 11:48 (pp)3.

Movements in the world of hockey Thursday:National Hockey LeagueCAROLINA HURRICANES-Agreed to terms with D Brett Bellemore on a three-year contract.

QUEBEC CITY – Would-be NHL owner Jim Balsillie said Thursday night he enjoys pursuing what he believes in and he made it abundantly clear that he firmly believes Canada should have at least one more NHL team.

PHILADELPHIA – The Pittsburgh Penguins will have to wait at least a few more days to make their travel plans for the Stanley Cup final.
Jeff Carter, Daniel Briere and Joffrey Lupul scored first-period goals and the Philadelphia Flyers refused to die in front of their home fans, hanging on for a 4-2 win Thursday night and forcing a fifth game in the Eastern Conference final.

PHILADELPHIA – Players always say they don’t read newspapers but yet the Philadelphia Flyers admit they were more than a little perturbed at all the talk of a Pittsburgh-Detroit Stanley Cup final.

PHILADELPHIA – The Pittsburgh Penguins will have to wait at least a few more days to make their travel plans for the Stanley Cup final.Jeff Carter, Daniel Briere and Joffrey Lupul scored first-period goals and the Philadelphia Flyers refused to die in front of their home fans, hanging on for a 4-2 win Thursday night and forcing a fifth game in the Eastern Conference final.

QUEBEC – Canada and Sweden haven’t had a chance to develop much of a rivalry at this year’s IIHF World Hockey Championship.The two teams were separated by 1,000 kilometres for the first two weeks of the tournament and could only find nice things to say about each other after finally skating on the same ice surface here Thursday.

DETROIT – Marty Turco has quite an opportunity in front of him.The Dallas goalie is 0-9-2 in the NHL at Joe Louis Arena, where he will have a chance to stop nagging questions and extend the Western Conference final against the Detroit Red Wings.

QUEBEC – As Russia and Finland got ready on Thursday for their second semifinal meeting in as many years at the IIHF World Hockey Championship, most of the talk was about a skater who won’t even play.

PHILADELPHIA – Wayne Gretzky never got to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Mario Lemieux never skated for the Montreal Canadiens. Jarome Iginla ended up on the enemy side of his childhood Alberta heroes.

TORONTO – Murray Henderson has created numerous paintings over the years that combined his passion for hockey and aiding charities, including the NHL’s Hockey Fights Cancer campaign.

VOORHEES, N.J. – Philadelphia Flyers defenceman Brandon Coburn was ruled out Thursday for a second straight game after his swollen left eye didn’t show enough improvement.

DETROIT – Detroit centre Johan Franzen will miss his fourth straight game when the Red Wings face Dallas in Game 5 of the Western Conference final Saturday.