News

Jaromir Jagr knew it would be quite a challenge to say goodbye to the NHL and breathe life into a new league that has visions of becoming the world’s best collection of hockey talent.

As the NHL season reaches its midway point, the biggest surprises so far can be found in the Eastern Conference standings.Few would have guessed the Boston Bruins would be leading the way and no one was predicting that the last two Eastern representatives in the Stanley Cup – Pittsburgh and Ottawa – would be outside the playoff picture.

FUSSEN, Germany - Canada booked a place in the final of the women’s world under-18 hockey championship for the second year in a row by beating Sweden 6-1 in the semifinals Friday.

BOSTON – Boston Bruins centre Patrice Bergeron, recovering from his second concussion in 14 months, said Friday he is symptom-free and vowed to return to the ice this season.

TORONTO – Now that Kevyn Adams has decided to move on from the NHL, he figures the toughest moments of his professional hockey career will end up being the most valuable.

TORONTO – Mikhail Grabovski of the Toronto Maple Leafs has received an automatic three-game suspension for shoving an official.The incident occurred during Thursday’s game in Montreal, when the Maple Leafs winger pushed linesman Scott Cherrey at the end of a melee in the third period.

PITTSBURGH – The Pittsburgh Penguins say forward Ruslan Fedotenko will miss four-to-six weeks with a broken right hand.Fedotenko injured his hand less than two minutes into Tuesday night’s game against the Atlanta Thrashers in a one-punch fight against former Penguin Colby Armstrong.

Toronto Maple Leafs rookie Mikhail Grabovski has been issued a three-game suspension from the NHL for pushing linesman Scott Cherrey who was keeping Grabovski away from Montreal’s Sergei Kostitsyn after tempers had flared.

NEW YORK – Steve Mason has earned a pretty tough assignment for the NHL’s YoungStars Game.He’ll be in goal for the rookie team against a sophomore squad that has plenty of scoring talent.

LONDON, Ont. – John Taveres says his heart will always be in Oshawa, but he won’t be finishing his stellar Ontario Hockey League career there.

Results Thursday:AHL Toronto 3 Milwaukee 2 (SO)ECHL Gwinnett 5 South Carolina 4 (SO)Stockton 8 Phoenix 2IHL Flint 2 Kalamazoo 0Central Bossier-Shreveport 4 Corpus Christi 1QMJHL No Games Scheduled.

Scoring summaries from Thursday’s NHL games:Maple Leafs 2 at Canadiens 6First period1. Montreal, S. Kostitsyn 7 (Brisebois, A. Kostitsyn) 2:35 (pp)2.

LOS ANGELES – Alexander Frolov scored the go-ahead goal for Los Angeles on a power play after Anaheim rookie Bobby Ryan tied it with three consecutive goals, and the Kings beat the Ducks 4-3 on Thursday night.

Movements in the world of hockey Thursday:National Hockey LeagueCALGARY FLAMES-Added F Mikael Backlund to the roster.COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS-Placed G Pascal Leclaire on injured reserve.

MONTREAL – The long and storied rivalry between the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs has added another chapter.Fellow Belarussians Mikhail Grabovski of the Leafs and Sergei Kostitsyn of the Canadiens tried for a second game in a row to get at each others throats near the end of Montreal’s 6-2 win at the Bell Centre on Thursday night.

CALGARY – Daymond Langkow scored his 15th goal and added two assists Thursday night to lead the Calgary Flames to a 5-2 victory over the struggling New York Islanders.

MILWAUKEE – Bates Battaglia scored in shootout to go with a goal and an assist in regulation as the Toronto Marlies edged the Milwaukee Admirals 3-2 in AHL action on Thursday night.

DENVER – Wojtek Wolski’s goal with 6:59 remaining broke a tie, and Andrew Raycroft stopped 43 shots, including a late flurry, in the Colorado Avalanche’ 2-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night.

GLENDALE, Ariz. – Kyle Turris vowed the Phoenix Coyotes would score Thursday night after consecutive shutouts.Thanks to his late goal, they not only scored but won.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Ryan Suter’s power-play goal at 9:04 of the third period broke tie, and the Nashville Predators beat the slumping Pittsburgh Penguins 5-3 on Thursday night to snap a five-game losing streak.