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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.

This summer, hair weaves are taking a turn for the kinky, the curly and the wavy. Why is this news? When black women first started sewing hair onto their scalps during the 1990s en masse, the resulting shoulder-length bobs were as much about achieving a smooth texture as it was about having length. Fabulous hair was defined as long and straight. However, as more black women have come to terms with their natural curl pattern, store-bought tresses are trending toward the fuzzy rather than the flat-ironed.

THIS YEAR'S CONCERT SEASON, called the "Essence of Entertainment," will run from July 7 to Aug. 25. The 2011 Dell summer concert series is as follows: July 7: Angie Stone and Joe July 14: Stephanie Mills and Keith Washington July 21: The Delfonics, Jerry Butler, Jean Carne, the Jones Girls, Russell Thompkins and the Stylistics July 28: Ginuwine, Tank and Avant Aug. 4: Fred Hammond and Martha Munizzi Aug.11: Jeffrey...

LOS ANGELES - If the Oscars need a host, Billy Crystal is ready to talk. That was the message that came across over the weekend when Crystal, who hosted the show eight times between 1990 and 2004, answered a fan who asked an Academy Awards question after a 20th anniversary screening of City Slickers in Santa Monica, Calif. Crystal, from the stage of the Aero Theatre, admitted that he got "itchy" after last year's cameo on the Oscars and that he'd be ready to talk about a return to the global stage of the gala.

The Union will host Barclays English Premier League club Aston Villa on Wednesday, July 18 at 7:30 p.m. at PPL Park, the team announced. One of the oldest clubs in England, Aston Villa has won the FA Cup and First Division Championship seven times. Included on the roster are Brad Guzan, Eric Lichaj, Emilie Heskey and Darren Bent, although it is unknown whom will be available for the game at this point. The game is included in the Union full season ticket package at no additional cost.

Drexel will host the 2013 NCAA men's lacrosse championships at Lincoln Financial Field and the 2012 quarterfinals at PPL Park. The 2006 championships were held at the Linc.

Philadelphia will be an NIT kind of town on Wednesday, with St. Joseph's, Drexel, and La Salle all hosting National Invitation Tournament games that night in the consolation tournament. Drexel (27-6) hosts Central Florida (22-10) at the Daskalakis Center at 7:15 p.m., and St. Joe's (20-13) hosts Northern Iowa (19-13) at Hagan Arena at the same time, with both games being streamed on ESPN3. La Salle (21-12) hosts Minnesota (19-14) at Tom Gola Arena at 7 p.m., to be shown on ESPN2. In the College Basketball Invitational, Penn (19-12)

The Oct. 30 Philadelphia debate among the eight Democratic presidential candidates will take place at Drexel University. Philip Terranova, the university's vice president for university relations, made the announcement Friday morning. Such details as the availability of tickets were not immediately available. The debate, which has been officially sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee, will be produced by NBC News and televised on MSNBC.  

All signs are pointing toward the Union's playing host to international soccer power Real Madrid this summer. A formal announcement could come later this week, but a soccer source indicated that the two are expected to meet July 23 at Lincoln Financial Field. The two sides were reportedly tying up some final details. Union officials were unavailable for comment. If the game happens, it would be the second consecutive year that the Union hosted an international soccer power.

IT HAPPENS every May: The broadcast networks announce their schedules for the following season and it's as if we're seeing double. It usually takes three to declare a trend, but TV seasons tend to get filled like Noah's Ark, with new (or recycled) ideas arriving in pairs. A year ago, it was '60s dramas — NBC's "Playboy Club" and ABC's "Pan Am" — and shows in which fairy tales turned out to be true — NBC's "Grimm" and ABC's "Once Upon a Time. " If there was any surprise, it wasn't that the "Mad Men" wannabes didn't make it to Season 2, but that the other two did. (And that CBS ordered its own '60s drama, "Vegas," for this fall.)

BETHESDA, Md. - To Tiger Woods' way of thinking, people have short memories, as illustrated by the guy who asked him at Monday's AT&T National media day: "How will you know when you're back?" "Well, I won a tournament already," Woods said, sparking laughter from the audience at Congressional Country Club as he referred to his victory in March at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. Woods' win - his seventh at Bay Hill - broke a PGA Tour drought that had stretched back to September of 2009, or shortly before the time his life started to unravel with revelations about his marital infidelity.

Brielle Morichetti pitched her fourth no-hitter of the season and Ariel Schuck batted 3 for 3, including a pair of triples, with four RBIs and four runs scored as host Burlington City buried Palmyra, 15-0, on Monday in Burlington County League softball. Cape-Atlantic. Kelly Lupton (9 strikeouts) carried a shutout into the seventh inning, and Dana Cafone singled twice, stole a base and drove in a run to help Absegami edge host Millville, 3-1. Olympic. Lindsey Manera belted the go-ahead home run, allowing host Lenape to hold off Paul VI, 7-6.

The Moorestown and Haddonfield boys' tennis teams continued their postseason dominance and added to their trophy cases on Friday with a pair of South Jersey championships. Moorestown, which has won a sectional crown in every year except one since 1984, took home the Group 3 title by handing No. 2 seed Delsea its first loss of the season, 5-0. In the match at Eastern, the top-seeded Quakers saw Ryan Dickerson and Pierce Cooper cruise to identical 6-0, 6-1 wins, and Tyler Blessing take third singles from Nick McBride, 6-0, 6-7 (4-7)

The top seeds held form in the South Jersey boys' tennis tournament Wednesday, as Pitman, Haddonfield, Moorestown, and Atlantic City each claimed semifinal wins. Zac Castagna battled past Jack Peterson, 6-1, 0-6, 6-4, at first singles to help Pitman oust Schalick, 5-0, in Group 1, and Haddonfield lost a total of six games in blanking Woodstown, 5-0, in Group 2. Moorestown hammered Hammonton in Group 3, 5-0, with Dan Schafhauser and Zach Morrow pulling out a 6-0, 6-7 (4-7)

OLYMPIC LEGEND Carl Lewis enjoys serving as an ambassador for the Hershey's Track and Field Games because he remembers when he was an aspiring young runner himself. Youngsters ages 9 to 14 are invited to participate in a qualifying meet at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Northeast High School, with a chance to earn an expenses-paid trip to compete in the 2012 North American Final Meet in Hershey. "Years ago, I ran a track meet where the winners qualified to go to San Francisco," said Lewis, who grew up in Willingboro, N.J. "At that track meet I met this old runner named Jesse Owens.

Garnet Valley's Robert Raucci scored with 5 seconds left in overtime as the Jaguars upset host Pennsbury, 6-5, on Thursday in the second round of the District 1 lacrosse playoffs. Ryan Guittare found Raucci for the game-winner. It was the junior attack's fourth goal of the game. His brother, Jule, scored with 51 seconds left in regulation to tie the score at 5. Mitch Rose played solid in goal en route to seven saves. Garnet Valley is the tournament's 11th seed and Pennsbury is No. 6. Also in the second round, Tyler Haines scored five times as No. 20 Great Valley upset host No. 4 Ridley, 8-7. Ryan Ambler assisted three goals and recovered eight ground balls to pace host Abington over West Chester Henderson, 13-6.

WASHINGTON - More than two dozen world leaders will join President Obama in an extraordinary weekend of back-to-back summits to tackle Europe's mounting economic woes and solidify plans for winding down the decade-long war in Afghanistan. The Group of Eight economic summit and the national security-focused NATO meeting will be infused with politics from every angle. For Obama, the summits are a unique election-year opportunity to show leadership on the world stage without having to leave the United States.

The husband of April Kauffman, a South Jersey radio personality and advocate for veterans' causes who was found fatally shot in her master bedroom last week in Atlantic County, has hired a well-known defense attorney, who said his client had "cooperated fully" with authorities. James Kauffman, an endocrinologist, has retained Edwin Jacobs, the Atlantic City lawyer said in an interview Tuesday. "He met the county prosecutor's investigators and answered all their questions," Jacobs said.

Sarah Yannes scored the first two goals of the game and Holy Cross bolted to an early 7-1 lead on Tuesday, opening the NJSIAA South Jersey Group 1 girls' lacrosse tournament with a 19-8 win over visiting Robbinsville. The balanced Lancers got goals from 11 players, led by Grace Steel with five and Anna Baranowski with three. Yannes finished with two goals. Bishop Eustace also cruised through its first-round game, bouncing visiting Moorestown Friends, 23-8. Kristen Kelbon poured in eight goals, Mikaela Gekas-Robinson had four, Morgan Wright contributed three goals and four assists, and Erin Logue posted two goals and four assists for the Crusaders.