Milestones for 2011

April 5th Washington Capitals Alex Ovechkin scores his 300th NHL career goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs.  Ovechkin is the 7th fastest player to reach 300 goals in NHL history.

April 6th Corey Perry nets a hat trick and his 50th goal of the season and putting him in the lead over Steven Stamkos for the Richard Trophy for the goal scoring leader.   

Perry is the third Ducks player in franchise history to score 50 goals in a season, the other 2 were Teemu Selanne and Paul Kariya.

NHL Plays of the Night 4/6/11

The 2011 President's Trophy

The President's Trophy, which is presented by the NHL to the team that has the most points during the regular season, was awarded to the 2010-2011 Vancouver Canucks.  This is the first President's Trophy for the Canucks which are celebrating their 40th year in the NHL.

This is the 3rd straight year that it was a first time winner of the trophy with 2008-09 winner the San Jose Sharks, 2009-10 going to the Washington Capitals.

This is the 25th anniversary of the President's Trophy, the first being given after the 1985-86 season which was won by the Edmonton Oilers.

The most trophies, 6, have been won by the Detroit Red Wings (1995,1996,2002,2004,2006 and 2008)

Best of the Week

2001 NHL All Star Game

The 2001 NHL All Star game was the 51st in NHL history.  Held at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado it is the all star game that holds the record for most goals scored with 26.  It was North America vs  The World and the North American team prevailed 14-12.

The game also saw the return of Mario Lemieux, who came out of a 3 and half year retirement to be selected to his 9 All star squad.  Super Mario had a goal and assist in the game giving him 12 goals and 10 assist for 22 points in his All star career, trailing only Wayne Gretzky (13-12-25) for most goals, assist and points.

The MVP of the game was from the North American team, Bill Guerin (then of the Boston Bruins) had a hat trick and 2 assist. 
Guerin, with linemates Tony Amonte and Doug Weight accounted for 6 goals and 7 assist in leading the North American team to victory.

2011 Frozen Four

With all the excitement over the NCAA men's basketball Final Four, lets not forget the Men's Hockey NCAA Frozen Four in St Paul Minnesota this week. 

The national semifinals will be held Thursday night April 7th.  The first game will be Notre Dame Fighting Irish against the Minnesota- Duluth Bulldogs at 500pm eastern.   

The second game will see the Michigan Wolverines face off against the North Dakota  Fighting Sioux.  The Wolverines are led by legendary head coach Red Berenson while the Sioux have former Indianapolis Ice/Chicago Blackhawk Dave Hakstol behind the bench.

2 teams from last year's Frozen Four in Detroit made the Regional round of the tournament this year, last year's National Champion Boston College and Miami (OH) which lost last year to BC in the semi final.  The other 2 schools were Wisconsin and RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology).

This years overall #1 seed were the Yale Bulldogs, which have made 3 consecutive trips to the Regionals and their 2009 Regional trip was the the first for the Bulldogs since 1952.   That year the Tournament consisted of 4 teams and Yale lost to eventual runner up Colorado College.

The 2012 Frozen Four will be held in Tampa Fl, followed by Pittsburgh in 2013 at the new Consol Energy Center and in 2014 at the Wells Fargo Arena in Philadelphia.

NHL Plays of the Night 3/30/11