Stanley Cup final: Detroit wins game 1.

The Stanley Cup final began yesterday at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. The Pittsburgh Penguins were the visitors while the Detroit Red Wings benefited of the home ice advantage.

Game one prooved that the ''old'' Red Wings were able to contain the young Penguins. The collective play of the Wings was superior during this game as they allowed only a few scoring chances to the Penguins.

After a disallowed goal during the first period, the Red Wings opened the score during the second period. Mikael Samuelsson scored his third goal of the playoffs when he went around the net and banked the puck off Marc-André Fleury's left skate. Samuelsson doubled the Wings lead during the third period on a turnover committed by Evgeni Malkin.

Dan Cleary scored the third goal for the Wings on a race for a loose puck then Henrik Zetterberg completed the score during the final minute of the game on a power play.

Final score: Detroit Red Wings 4 - Pittsburgh Penguins 0 (Detroit leads the series by 1-0)

(Picture: The Detroit Red Wings, Canadian Press.)

Monaco Grand Prix: Hamilton wins, Ferrari slips.

The Monaco Grand Prix was run today under rainy conditions and those conditions interfered with the usual course of the event. The track was very slippery and many drivers lost control of their cars during the race.

Heikki Kovalainen experienced a first failure during the pace lap. His car was stuck on the grid and he had to begin the race from pit road. Lewis Hamilton, starting third, managed to pass Kimi Raikkonen on the start. But Hamilton touched the railing only a few laps later and punctured a tire. He had to go thru pit lane to change the tire.

Fernando Alonso also touched the rail while David Coulthard and Sebastien Bourdais touched and were both forced to retire. The incident brought the safety car on the track, saving Lewis Hamilton from a disastrous track position.

Kimi Raikkonen then suffered a drive thru sanction. Ferrari installed Raikkonen's tires with under three minute to go to the start of the race which constitutes a rule violation. Ferrari's troubles continued only a few laps later, Felipe Massa lost control of his Ferrari and gave the lead to Lewis Hamilton who seemed to be on his lucky day.

But the biggest surprise of the race came from Force India's Adrian Sutil. After his final pit stop, Sutil came out in fourth place, just in front of Kimi Raikkonen. A dream position for the first year team.

But Nico Rosberg's crash transformed Force India's dream into a nightmare. The safety car was sent out on the track for a second time, regrouping the cars together with 16 laps to go. Kimi Raikkonen was right behind Adrian Sutil when the race resumed. Only a few laps later, the defending champion lost control of his car at the exit of the tunnel and slid into the Force India driven by Sutil who had to retire from the race, heartbroken.

Lewis Hamilton was not seriously challenged until the end and crossed the finish line in first place. Robert Kubica avoided trouble all race long and placed second.

Here is the top ten finish at Monaco:

Winner: Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)
2-Robert Kubica (BMW-Sauber)
3-Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
4-Mark Webber (Red Bull)
5-Sebastien Vettel (Toro Rosso)
6-Rubens Barrichello (Honda)
7-Kazuki Nakajima (Williams)
8-Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren)
9-Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
10-Fernando Alonso (Renault)

Drivers championship after 6/18 races:

1-Lewis Hamilton 38 points
2-Kimi Raikkonen 35 points
3-Felipe Massa 34 points
4-Robert Kubica 32 points
5-Nick Heidfeld 20 points
6-Heikki Kovalainen 15 points
7-Mark Webber 15 points
8-Fernando Alonso 9 points
9-Jarno Trulli 9 points
10-Nico Rosberg 8 points
11-Kazuki Nakajima 7 points
12-Sebastian Vettel 4 points
13-Jenson Button 3 points
14-Rubens Barrichello 3 points
15-Sebastien Bourdais 2 points

Constructors championship:

1-Ferrari 69 points
2-McLaren 53 points
3-BMW-Sauber 52 points
4-Williams 15 points
5-Red Bull 15 points
6-Toyota 9 points
7-Renault 9 points
8-Toro Rosso 6 points
9-Honda 6 points

(Picture: Lewis Hamilton, Getty Images.)

Monaco Grand Prix: Ferrari takes the first row.

The qualifying session of the Monaco Grand Prix has just ended today and both Ferrari drivers, who have been a dominating force for the last few races already, have registered the two fastest times.

The constructors championship standings has been respected during this qualifying session. Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari took the first two positions on the grid while the McLaren-Mercedes cars of Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen placed on the second row. The BMW-Sauber of Robert Kubica placed fifth.

The biggest surprize came from Nick Heidfeld who is starting to become a deception for his team this season. His qualifying performances and starting positions are costing the BMW-Sauber team some very precious points. Today, Heidfeld placed his car at the 13th place on the grid and a very difficult task awaits him tomorrow for the race.

David Coulthard registered the tenth best time but could not participate to the last part of the qualifying session. The British driver lost control of his Red Bull racing car and crashed. Coulthard is not injuried but could not improove his grid position.

Here are the top ten positions for tomorrow's race:

Pole: Felipe Massa (Ferrari) 1:15.787
2-Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) 1:15.815
3-Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) 1:15.839
4-Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren) 1:16.165
5-Robert Kubica (BMW-Sauber) 1:16.171
6-Nico Rosberg (Williams) 1:16.548
7-Fernando Alonso (Renault) 1:16.852
8-Jarno Trulli (Toyota) 1:17.203
9-Mark Webber (Red Bull) 1:17.343
10-David Coulthard (Red Bull) ---------

(Picture: Felipe Massa, Ferrari.)

2008 Stanley Cup final: Pittsburgh Penguins vs Detroit Red Wings.

The quest for the Stanley Cup began with 16 teams and three elimination rounds later, the field has been reduced to the last two.

To the opinion of the majority of hockey observers and backed by their impressive playoff records, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Detroit Red Wings represent the two big forces both in the Eastern and the Western conference.

The Penguins tied a NHL playoff record by winning their three first matches of every series along the way. The Senators, swept in four games, while the Rangers and the Flyers both managed to win a single game in their home building after falling 0-3 to the Penguins. A 12-2 record for three rounds is not common.

The offense never slowed down. Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Marian Hossa are producing on a great pace while players like Jordan Staal, Pascal Dupuis and Maxime Talbot can score big goals at critical times. Defense men Sergei Gonchar supports the offense and has valuable experience at the defense position. Another defense men worth talking about is the young Christopher Letang. This team is formed of young players like Staal, Fleury and Letang are already gaining valuable playoff experience on the way to that cup final.

In net, Marc-André Fleury was very efficient. In 14 games, the Penguins' goaltender kept a 12-2 record with three shutouts. Every time the opponents were trying to come back in the score, Fleury managed to make clutch saves to keep his team ahead on the score sheet.

The Penguins did not lose a single game at Mellon Arena during the playoffs and took the lead early in their series this year. But the Red Wings have the home ice advantage for the final and also have taken the lead early in their series.

The Detroit Red Wings is also an impressive machine that rolled over their opponents on their way to the final. They have a great mix of skilled and experienced players all around their lineup. For some of them, this final represent a last shot at the Grail.

And talking about skill, how about Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk? With their stickhandling and scoring abilities, they have the power to change games by themselves.

As for experienced and specialized players, the Red Wings have a plenty. Forwards like Tomas Holmstrom, Kirk Maltby, Dallas Drake, Johan Franzen, Dan Cleary and defense men like Brian Rafalski, Niklas Kronvall, Nicklas Lidstrom and Chris Chelios knows what their respective role is.

The first encounter is scheduled for Saturday at the Joe Louis Arena. We, as fans of this great game, expect a very disputed and exciting series. I hate too much the Red Wings to root for them so I am biased in my prediction. In this final, I would like to see the Penguins ending up victorious.

My Prediction: Pittsburgh Penguins in six games.

(Picture: Stanley Cup.)

Pittsburgh Penguins qualify for the Stanley Cup final.

The Pittsburgh Penguins has completely dominated game five of their series with the Philadelphia Flyers yesterday and qualified for the Stanley Cup final with a decisive 6-0 victory.

The Penguins did not waste any time yesterday. After ten minutes of play, Ryan Malone and Evgeni Malkin gave Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead.

They have scored three other goals during the secon period to put the game out of range for the Flyers. Marian Hossa with his ninth of the playoffs then Ryan Malone with his second goal of the game and Jordan Staal with his sixth of the playoffs.

The third period was a formality but the Penguins did add another goal from the stick of Pascal Dupuis. In net, Marc-André Fleury registered his third shutout of the playoffs.

The Penguins only lost two games this far in the playoffs and have been perfect at the Mellon Arena in these 2007-2008 playoffs. The team will now benefit of a little rest until the series between the Detroit Red Wings and the Dallas Stars concludes.

(Picture: Sidney Crosby, Getty Images.)

Western conference final: Dallas extends the fun.

Yesterday, game five of the Western conference final was another opportunity for the Detroit Red Wings, who were up 3-1 in this series, to finish off the Dallas Stars and qualify to the Stanley Cup finals.

But the Dallas Stars were on a mission and had some objectives worth playing for. The disallowed goal to the Red Wings during the first period of game four gave a new life to the Stars. They went on to score the first goal of the game, to a 3-1 victory, avoiding a series sweep. Goaltender Marty Turco was still looking for a first victory at the Joe Louis Arena in career and needed his best game of the series to avoid his team's elimination.

For game five, Dallas needed to score first.

Outside the reduction of the stress and anxiety level, the feeling of playing with ''nothing to lose'' has a tendency to include. Each player feels that his tiny contribution can keep his team rolling. We had a good proof of that in game five. Halfway into the first period, Trevor Daley with his very first goal of the playoffs, opened the score.

The Red Wings did tie the score at 1 before the end of the first period. During a man-advantage, Jiri Hudler sent the puck in the net defended by Marty Turco on a great setup by defensemen Niklas Kronvall.

Then the winning goal came in the second period on a brilliant clearing by Turco. His long pass caught a skating Joel Lunqvist who went on to score on goaltender Chris Osgood. The score remained unchanged for the rest of the game as Marty Turco stopped 38 of the 39 shots he faced and played his best game of the series to finally win at the Joe Louis Arena.

Final score: Dallas Stars 2 - Detroit Red Wings 1 (Detroit leads the series by 3-2)

The Dallas Stars will now host game six of the series.

(Picture: The Dallas Stars, Getty Images.)

2008 World Hockey Championships: Medal round.

The 2008 World Hockey Championships will be completed this weekend as the final two matches of the tournament will be played at the Colisée Pepsi in Quebec city.

The two hockey super powers, Canada and Russia, will play the gold medal match on Sunday. Both teams have gone thru the whole tournament without suffering a single loss. Russia needed to go thru a shootout session twice during the tournament; once against Belarus and once as they faced the Czech Republic. But both times, the Russian team claimed the victory. Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Semin and veteran Sergei Fedorov lead Russia's offense with 10 points each.

On the Canadian side, the team went perfect all tournament long. All the games were won during regulation time even if a couple of games were very disputed. Yesterday's 5-4 victory against the Swedes in the semifinal match was everything except an easy one. Also, a surprising 2-1 result over Norway during the group phase helped raise some doubt about the team's capacity of going all the way to the gold medal match. Dany Heatley has been a hot player and leads the tournament scoring this far with 11 goals and a total of 18 points. During the group phase, Heatley surpassed Steve Yzerman for the most international competition goals scored in Canadian history.

Both teams has the ability to win Sunday and since this gold medal is awarded over the result of one match, it's pretty much anybody's medal. Cam Ward will be in goal for Canada who will at least benefit of the home ice and home crowd advantage...

The bronze medal match will oppose Finland and Sweden and will be played tomorrow at the Colisée Pepsi in Quebec city.

(Picture: Team Canada, Getty images.)

Eastern conference final: Flyers avoid the sweep.

The Philadelphia Flyers avoided the elimination yesterday in their series with the Pittsburgh Penguins. With a productive first period, the ''Broad Street Bullies'' were finally able to establish their physical presence in this series.

The Flyers were solid early on and it was good for three unanswered goals from the 9th to the 18th minute the first period. First Joffrey Lupul at even strenght, then Daniel Briere and Jeff Carter each during a man-advantage.

With the lead, the Flyers did focused on Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Marian Hossa. The constant bodychecks managed to get under the Penguins stars players' skin. There were many retaliations from Crosby during the second part of the game.

Only Jordan Staal managed to beat Martin Biron yesterday. But he did in fact managed to beat him twice during the third period. So with just under six minutes to go the Penguins were only one goal behind. A quiet and anxious crowd started wondering if their team could hold on.

But the Flyers managed to hold on to their reduced lead, mostly because the Penguins never really organized themselves to produce some kind of pressure on the Flyers. Joffrey Lupul scored in the empty net. The last minute of the game was full of retaliations and utter frustration scrums.

Final score: Philadelphia Flyers 4 - Pittsburgh Penguins 2 (Pittsburgh leads the series by 3-1)

Both teams have a date with each other Sunday afternoon in Pittsburgh for game five of the series.

(Picture: Mike Richards and Joffrey Lupul, Getty Images.)

Western conference final: Awful refereeing gives Dallas a new life.

Tonight, game four of the Western conference final was presented and the Dallas Stars were down 0-3 in this series and were facing elimination. But the story of the game was the discussable quality of the referees.

For many reasons, the Detroit Red Wings have all the rights to blame the referees for their contribution to the Stars victory. During the first period, Dallas benefited of three straight man-advantages but were not able to convert on either of them. Then later in the period, a goal from Pavel Datsyuk was disallowed because the referee judged that Tomas Holmstrom was standing in the goaltender's crease. But it was clear on the replay that Holmstrom was not inside the blue paint.

Then late into the second period, after the referees equalized the penalties stats by calling three straight infractions to the home team, the Dallas Stars opened the score with a goal from Loui Eriksson.

The Red Wings tied the game at 1-1 during the first minute of the third period when Henrik Zetterberg scored his tenth goal of the playoffs. But Mike Modano scored the game-winner during a penalty to Brian Rafalski five minutes into the period. Brenden Morrow scored the insurance goal ten minutes later with his ninth goal of the playoffs.

Final score: Dallas Stars 3 - Detroit Red Wings 1 (Detroit leads the series by 3-1)

The ''first star of the game'' could be awarded to the referees. Their judgement was simply awful during the whole course of this game and their pitiful work should be the main topic tomorrow in Detroit.

Game five will be played at the Joe Louis Arena, Stars' goaltender Marty Turco is still looking for his first career victory in Detroit.

(Picture: Getty Images.)

Eastern conference final: Penguins ties NHL playoff record.

Game three of the Eastern conference final was presented tonight at the Wachovia center in Philadelphia and the Flyers were in a must-win situation as they were down 0-2 in the series.

But with the injuries to Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn, the Philadelphia Flyers' defensive corp could not stave off the Penguins offense.

Very early into the first period, a shot from Ray Whitney was deflected into Martin Biron's net. Then only two minutes later, Marian Hossa has scored his seventh goal of the playoffs on a shot that the Flyers goaltender would like to see again.

R.J. Umberger did reduce the Penguins lead to a single goal before the first period was over but it was the only Flyers goal of the game. Philadelphia's first offensive line was invisible all evening long. Daniel Briere and Vaclav Prospal who are considered to be the top offensive players for the Flyers did not register a shot on net in this one.

During the third period, the Penguins extended their lead with goals from Ryan Malone and the second goal of the night from Marian Hossa.

Final score: Pittsburgh Penguins 4 - Philadelphia Flyers 1 (Pittsburgh leads the series by 3-0)

The Penguins tied a NHL playoff record as they have won the first three games of every series they participated this far. The Penguins have only lost a single game during the second round to the New-York Rangers. Pittsburgh shows an impressive 11-1 playoff record.

Game four of the series will be played thursday.

(Picture: Canadian Press.)

Western conference final: Datsuk scores three, Wings up three.

The Detroit Red Wings crushed the Dallas Stars hopes of coming back into the series tonight with the help of Pavel Datsuk who registered his first career playoff hatrick.

After ten minutes of play, the hero of the night, Pavel Datsuk, opened the score for the Wings. Then the Dallas Stars tied the game up at 1-1 with the first playoff goal from defensemen Niklas Grossman. But Datsuk replied only 37 seconds later and gave a 2-1 lead to the Wings.

Brad Richards tied the game at 2-2 and gave hope to the home crowd early into the second period. But once again, the Wings pulled ahead thru Jiri Hudler, this time, the Wings never allowed a tying goal from their opponents.

The third period was all in favor of the Red Wings. The killer goal came very early in the third period when Henrik Zetterberg scored while his team was shorthanded. Pavel Datsuk completed his hatrick with three minutes to go in the contest.

Final score: Detroit Red Wings 5 - Dallas Stars 2 (Detroit leads the series by 3-0)

Thursday could mark the end of the Stars season as they are now facing elimination.

(Picture: Pavel Datsuk, Canadian Press.)

A first victory since 1997 for Villeneuve.

Jacques Villeneuve ended an eleven year drought yesterday when his team finished in first place of the Le Mans Series endurance race presented at Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium.

The team composed of the French Nicolas Minassian, the Spaniard Marc Gené and Canadian Jacques Villeneuve on board of a Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP crossed the finish line in first place of the 1000 km race.

Jacques Villeneuve said to the press immediately after the podium ceremonies that this win felt very good after waiting for a victory for such a long time. In fact, Villeneuve's last victory was registered in September of 1997 at the Nurburgring. At this time, Villeneuve was driving for the Williams Formula One racing team as he was on his way to the drivers championship.

The team of Minassian-Gené-Villeneuve will be kept intact for the legendary 24 hours of Le Mans endurance race that will be run on June 14th and 15th. Villeneuve will be trying to conquer the only triple crown racing jewel missing in his resume as he already conquered the Indianapolis 500 and the formula One drivers championship.

The only driver to ever conquer the three racing jewels which are the Indianapolis 500, the 24 hours of Le Mans and the Formula One drivers championship is Graham Hill. The British driver won the Monaco Grand Prix in 1963, 1964, 1965, 1968 and 1969; the Formula One World Championship in 1962 and 1968; the Indianapolis 500 in 1966 and finally the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1972.

(Picture: Jacques Villeneuve, Getty Images.)

Eastern conference final: The Penguins win again.

Game two of the Eastern conference final was played tonight and the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Philadelphia Flyers by the score of 4-2 for a second time in a row to take a 2-0 series lead.

Despite a better overall performance from the Flyers, the Penguins managed to get big goals at important moments in the game. Both teams managed to get scoring from their special team units.

First, at the halfway point of the first period, Sidney Crosby's shot was deflected by Lasse Kukkonen's skate and went past goaltender Martin Biron.

The Flyers tied the game with Jeff Carter's fifth goal of the playoffs during another man advantage. Then Marian Hossa gave a 2-1 lead to the Penguins on yet another man advantage. But just seconds before the end of the second period, Mike Richards tied the game while being shorthanded when he went all alone with goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. The goal from Richards could've turn this series around should the Flyers scored the following goal.

But the winning goal for Pittsburgh was registered by Maxime Talbot halfway into the third period. Talbot who missed the last three games with a foot injury was impatient to return in action and tipped the balance in the Penguins favor. Jordan Staal completed the scoring in an empty net during the final minute of the game.

The Penguins will travel to Philadelphia for game three on tuesday. Pittsburgh leads the Eastern conference final by 2-0.

(Picture: The Pittsburgh Penguins, Getty images.)

Turkish Grand Prix: Massa, imperator of Istanbul.

The fifth leg of the Formula One championship was run today in Istanbul and Felipe Massa registered his third consecutive pole-victory combination on this circuit.

A very exciting race was offered to racing fans today mainly because the configuration of the circuit allows many overtaking chances to the pilots. We saw many position changes and battle throughout the field today.

Starting from the third position on the grid, Lewis Hamilton was on a three pit stops strategy while the Ferrari cars were on a two stop strategy. Being lighter than his opponents, Hamilton managed to overtake Felipe Massa before his first stop.

In the end, McLaren's strategy allowed the british driver to gain one position overall. The other McLaren driver, Heikki Kovalainen, experienced a front tire puncture after a contact with Kimi Raikkonen's car during the start. The puncture costed Kovalainen dearly as he did not score any points today as he finished in 12th position.

But nobody managed to keep Felipe Massa's pace who finally ended up winning his third consecutive race at Istanbul. Massa is the first pilot to win three races in a row at the same circuit since Michael Schumacher.

The BMW-Sauber cars did manage to recover a bit from their qualifying problems and placed in fourth and fifth place. Despite an ordinary performance, BMW is still second among constructors.

The Formula One championship will resume next week with the presentation of the Monaco Grand Prix.

Turkish Grand Prix top ten finish:

Winner: Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
2-Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)
3-Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
4-Robert Kubica (BMW-Sauber)
5-Nick Heidfeld (BMW-Sauber)
6-Fernando Alonso (Renault)
7-Mark Webber (Red Bull)
8-Nico Rosberg (Williams)
9-David Coulthard (Red Bull)
10-Jarno Trulli (Toyota)

Drivers championship after 5/18 races:

1-Kimi Raikkonen 35 points
2-Felipe Massa 28 points
3-Lewis Hamilton 28 points
4-Robert Kubica 24 points
5-Nick Heidfeld 20 points
6-Heikki Kovalainen 14 points
7-Mark Webber 10 points
8-Fernando Alonso 9 points
9-Jarno Trulli 9 points
10-Nico Rosberg 8 points
11-Kazuki Nakajima 5 points
12-Jenson Button 3 points
13-Sebastien Bourdais 2 points

Constructors championship:

1-Ferrari 63 points
2-BMW-Sauber 44 points
3-McLaren-Mercedes 42 points
4-Williams 13 points
5-Red Bull 10 points
6-Toyota 9 points
7-Renault 9 points
8-Honda 3 points
9-Toro Rosso 2 points

(Picture: Felipe Massa, Getty Images.)

Western conference final: Wings puts pressure on the Stars.

Game two of the Western conference final was played tonight at the Joe Louis Arena. The Detroit Red Wings has been nearly perfect thus far in this series as they only allowed two goals to the Dallas Stars this far in the series.

The first period produced all the scoring in tonight's game. The Wings opened the score with Darren Helm who registered his first playoff goal. The Dallas Stars replied four minutes later when the shot from Stephane Robidas went past a partially screened Chris Osgood. Henrik Zetterberg scored the game-winner with five minutes to go to the first period.

The Wings shutted the door on Dallas and protected the one goal lead during the rest of the game. A little boring for the hockey fans present in attendance but it proved to be an effective strategy.

The game ended in some kind of chaos when Wings goaltender Chris Osgood touched Dallas Stars' forward Mike Ribeiro in the face with his stick. Ribeiro retaliated to Osgood with a slash of his own and a crowd formed besides the Wings net. The referees did a good job of containing the players before some more disgusting actions were committed.

Final score: Detroit Red Wings 2 - Dallas Stars 1 (Detroit leads the series by 2-0)

The drought of Stars' goaltender Marty Turco continues as he still never won a game inside the Joe Louis Arena in his career. The series will resume Monday evening in Dallas.

(Picture: Getty Images.)