Hockey

A dream had carried the boys so far from home, some 5,000 miles across the ocean to a cramped and dingy apartment in Philadelphia: a hope that ice hockey could change their lives. Ivan Pravilov could fulfill that dream, they were told. He could take them from the daily grind of post-communist Ukraine to the gleaming ice of the NHL. He'd done it before. He'd done if for Andrei Zyuzin, who went on to play for six NHL teams. He'd done it for Konstantin Kalmikov, a third-round draft pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1996.

SANDY Burdsall writes that she has learned "to put up with" the Phillies, Eagles and Sixers getting news coverage before the Flyers. She must realize that those are real sports played by real athletes. Hockey is just something for Canadians to do during the winter. If not for the NHL, hockey players would be in some beer league playing softball. Joseph Hammell Lewisville, Texas

Audio webcasts of the three Pennsylvania Cup championship scholastic hockey games to be played today will be available by connecting to two Web sites, according to the Flyers. The Class A championship game between Flyers Cup champion Radnor and Penguins Cup champion Serra Catholic at noon can be heard on www.nsnsports.com. The Class AA championship game between Flyers Cup champion Archbishop Carroll and Penguins Cup champion Peters Township at 2:30 can be heard on www.wjpa.

Hockey may still lack the necessary popular apppeal to get a network television contract, but the game between the Boston Bruins and the New Jersey Devils Sunday night had no trouble making the network news. This was thanks mainly to a complex low comedy that started with the alleged assault of an official by the Devils' coach. It eventually involved everyone from a New Jersey Superior Court judge to three hastily rounded-up game officials, who initially skated onto the ice in what appeared to be green-and-yellow clown suits.

Comly Auctioneers on Wednesday will handle a bankruptcy auction that will enrich the lives of hockey fans, on and off the ice. "This will be a sale of quantity and quality, the liquidation of all new equipment, obtained through a store now in bankruptcy," said Dan Comly Jr. "Some lots are so arranged to appeal to dealers, like bundles of sticks or helmets by the dozen," Comly said. "But other lots are small enough to attract the attention of individuals like parents, the non-dealer buyers.

Joe Paul played ice hockey in the Wintersports organization and for La Salle High School 17 years ago, but even all that did not quench his thirst for participation. So Paul, a resident of Warminster, decided to help the resurrected team at William Tennent High School by taking on the coaching job. "I've been involved with hockey since I was 8 years old," Paul said. "I like the opportunities that sports give the kids to compete and I love the sport of hockey itself. I'll do almost anything I can to help the kids.

Webster's defines superstition as "a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance or a false conception of causation. " That makes it sound as if superstitions are ridiculous rituals that we perform only because we don't know how else to affect events or other people. Balderdash! Is wearing the same underwear every time you play H-O-R-S-E silly just because you wore them the first time you shut out your fourth-grade son in the driveway?

GOING into last night's Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals, the Flyers' critical playoff statistics included: 14 wins. 73 goals scored. 195 points. 622 shots on goal. But the most stunning was the number of fights: One. The Flyers are brawling less and winning more. And while I'm not arguing cause-and-effect, I believe the caliber of the game gets better with less fighting. Go ahead and call me a middle-aged wimp. And yes, I was here in the early 1970s.

Dwight Maetche's first love may be lacrosse, but it's his second love that has enabled the Philadelphia Wings' goalie to be named "All-World" three times during his nine-year career in Canadian box lacrosse. "Hockey has done a lot for me," said Maetche. "I grew up in Edmonton. When the lacrosse season was over (in July), there wasn't much else to do but hockey. The puck moves faster, but it is actually less accurate than a lacrosse ball. " Maetche, 29, will start in the nets during tomorrow's 2 p.m. Spectrum matinee, when the Wings (2-0)

The battle for North American supremacy will be held tonight on a patch of ice in Vancouver. Sadly, the Mexicans will have no say in the matter. A stadium full of hockey- mad - and possibly well-lubricated - patriots from both sides of the border will gather to watch the clash between the United States and Canada. It's a big deal for puck devotees and Olympics lovers alike, though the true gravity of the game is ultimately owed to the fact that casual fans have expressed an interest in the evening's affair.

The Eastern finals between the New Jersey Devils and rival New York Rangers are turning out to be exactly what everyone thought. Hard-hitting. Tight-checking. Low-scoring. Indeed, as it's played under the microscope of the New York metropolitan area media, this has been hockey with an edge - but not so edgy as to cross the line. With two days off before Game 3 on Saturday in Newark, both teams elected to rest Thursday. The series is tied at one game apiece. Rangers coach John Tortorella refused to say much about his decision to bench leading scorer Marian Gaborik for almost 12 minutes in a span covering the end of the second period and the start of the third of New York's 3-2 loss in Game 2. Gaborik was on the ice when Ryan Carter scored to tie the game at 2-all.

Jesse Joensuu 's winning goal with nine seconds left lifted Finland past the United States, 3-2, on Thursday for a place in the semifinals of the hockey world championships in Helsinki. Joensuu opened the scoring at 13 minutes, 27 seconds in the second period, before the Anaheim Ducks' Kyle Palmieri scored 20 seconds later. Bobby Ryan added a goal for the U.S. early in the third period. The Minnesota Wild's Mikko Koivu tied it with 6:58 left in the third.

A dream had carried the boys so far from home, some 5,000 miles across the ocean to a cramped and dingy apartment in Philadelphia: a hope that ice hockey could change their lives. Ivan Pravilov could fulfill that dream, they were told. He could take them from the daily grind of post-communist Ukraine to the gleaming ice of the NHL. He'd done it before. He'd done if for Andrei Zyuzin, who went on to play for six NHL teams. He'd done it for Konstantin Kalmikov, a third-round draft pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1996.

Justin Faulk of the Carolina Hurricanes scored four minutes into overtime for his second goal of the game Friday, sending the United States to a 3-2 win over Kazakstan at hockey's world championships in Helsinki. The U.S. improved to 3-1-1 in Group A. Also in Group A, Canada beat defending champion Finland, 5-3. TENNIS: Top-ranked Novak Djokovic was upset by fellow Serb Janko Tipsarevic , 7-6 (2), 6-3, in the Madrid Open quarterfinals, becoming the latest top seed to lose on the new blue-clay court.

NEXT TIME regulation ends in a Stanley Cup playoff game, don't change the channel or leave your seat to get a cold refreshment. You might miss the game-winner. In the playoffs, sudden-death overtime - especially in a series-clinching scenario - is the ultimate television reality show. It's just been a fleeting moment. Through 53 games, prior to Monday night's action, 18 games (34 percent) had gone to overtime. On average, overtime in those 53 games has lasted just 8:24. Overtime in eight of those 18 games (44 percent)

Three years ago, baby-faced Claude Giroux sat down at Haircut 100, around the corner from the Flyers' practice facility in Voorhees, for a trim. There was some small talk, and when he was asked what was going on in his life, Giroux said he was a hockey player. Hairdresser: "Do you play in a junior league?" Giroux: "Uh, no. I play for the Flyers. " Hairdresser, her face turning red: "Oh. Sorry, I didn't know. " Fast-forward to the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs.

TO OREN Spiegler: You talk about the sport of hockey and the slugfest, and how any decent human beings wouldn't subject their children to that kind of environment. Well, let me tell you, I have five children (all grown now) and, yes, hockey is watched and my kids are just fine. They have great values instilled in them. They are not out in the street beating people up because of the sport. Yes, there are signs "We hate you," but look at the facts. Crosby, who we have a lot of disdain for, is one of the best players today.

In one sense, Johnny Gaudreau's freshman season at Boston College was nothing less than remarkable. In another, it was nothing more than typical. Gaudreau has been skating circles around conventional wisdom for years. He has been too short, too light, and too young at every level of ice hockey. He has dazzled and dominated them all. He did the same thing as an 8-year-old playing with the 10s, and as a 12-year-old playing with the 14s. He did the same thing at Gloucester Catholic, where he scored 48 points (21 goals, 27 assists)

Caroline Ouellette and Laura Fortino scored in the first period and Canada beat Finland, 5-1, on Friday to advance to the title game in the Women's World Hockey Championships in Burlington, Vt. Canada, seeking its 10th title and first since 2007, will face the United States-Switzerland winner Saturday in the championship game. COLLEGES: Former Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino notified the university he won't appeal his firing nor will he seek any of the $18 million buyout that was part of his contract.

IN THE CLOSING moments of "Goon," a bloody tooth spins slowly in the air as we hear the soaring notes of Puccini's "Turandot. " There is, "Goon" implies, something of classic opera in the hockey fight, the grand passions of the evening enacted and expressed by designated performers who play their roles, take their bows, and exit stage right for medical treatment. We see that there is an art to beating somebody's brains out on the ice. The rituals, the purpose, the rules of engagement at the rink are as old and as honored as they are at Carnegie Hall.