According to TSN, Edmonton Oilers defenceman Andy Sutton has announced his retirement at the age of 38.
Sutton, had three goals and seven assists in 2011-12 for the Oilers and then missed all of 2012-13 after undergoing knee surgery.
Sutton played 13 NHL seasons with the San Jose Sharks, Minnesota Wild, Atlanta Thrashers, New York Islanders, Ottawa Senators, Anaheim Ducks and Oilers, with 2011-12 being his only year in Edmonton.
Sutton was acquired by the Edmonton Oilers from the Anaheim Ducks for Kurtis Foster on July 1, 2011.
A native of Kingston, Ontario, considered by many a hockey hot bed, Sutton had his best seasons with the Thrashers where he had 67 points over a span of three seasons from 2003-2006. He was also a +5 on the Thrashers blueline during that time, impressive when one can recall that the Atlanta/Winnipeg Jets franchise has only made the playoffs once (2007).
Henrik Zetterberg (Dan Nicholas, Wikimedia Commons)
The Detroit Red Wings are off to the Western Conference semi-finals, making them the third original six team to win yesterday.
On Sunday night in Anaheim, the Red Wings beat the Ducks 3-2 to win the best out of seven series 4-3. This was the only series in the four Western Conference quarterfinals in the 2013 NHL playoffs that went to a game seven.
Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg and Valtteri Filppula led Detroit in scoring with a goal and an assist each, while Justin Abdelkader scored a huge shorthanded goal on the breakaway in the first period.
Abdelkader’s goal was sweet for him as he was suspended two games earlier in the series for his hit on Ducks’ defenceman Toni Lydman.
The Red Wings will now play the Chicago Blackhawks and the San Jose Sharks will play the Los Angeles Kings in the Western Conference semi-finals.
Henrik Zetterberg (Dan Nicholas, Wikimedia Commons)
One of the most exciting times in the world of sports is simply game seven. That’s what we’ll have Sunday night in southern California as the Anaheim Ducks host the Detroit Red Wings.
Last night, Red Wings’ captain Henrik Zetterberg scored at 1:04 of overtime to give the Red Wings a 4-3 win over the Ducks to tie their Western Conference quarterfinal series at three games apiece.
The Red Wings might have a strong core of veterans, but after all these years are still getting it done. Goaltender Jimmy Howard is playing at an elite level as Detroit will look to move on during their last year in the Western Conference. How dangerous will Detrot be next year in the East? The answer is very. The game will be seen Sunday night on TSN at 8:00 p.m.
Here are the other events I’ll be watching this weekend:
Saturday & Sunday– PGA–Players Championship–NBC–12 p.m.– Spain’s Sergio Garcia, probably one of the best golfers in the world to have never won a major, currently leads Tiger Woods by a stroke after shooting a -11 at Sawgrass over the first two days of competition. Garcia and Woods have won the Players Championship once before– Woods in 2001 and Garcia in 2008. As for the first round leader, American Roberto Castro, he went from -9 to -3 and 1st to 30th after shooting a 78 on Friday.
The Boston Bruins are in the driver’s seat in the Eastern Conference quarterfinal. On Wednesday evening in Toronto, David Krejci recorded a hat trick, including the overtime winner as Boston beat Toronto 4-3 to take a 3-1 series lead.
The biggest story however has come the Leafs’ significant others, where actress Elisha Cuthbert (fiancee of captain Dion Phaneuf) gave an uncomfortable glance toward April Reimer (wife of James Reimer). It was Phaneuf who gave the puck up to Krejci on his own blueline.
In other action, two other games went to overtime. Slava Voynov scored in overtime to give the Los Angeles Kings a 3-2 win and a 3-2 series lead in their Western Conference quarterfinal series against the St. Louis Blues. While in Anaheim, the Ducks got an overtime winner from Nick Bonino in a 3-2 win to take a 3-2 series lead over the Detroit Red Wings.
Just when you seem to think the Detroit Red Wings were showing their age and looked vulnerable on defense, they got right back into their Western Conference quarterfinal series with the Anaheim Ducks on Monday.
Damien Brunner scored at 15:10 of overtime last night to give Detroit a 3-2 win over Anaheim to tie their best out of seven series at 2-2.
Brunner scored on the rebound after Ducks goaltender Jonas Hiller made a huge save on Gustav Nyquist.
There will be great excitement at the Air Canada Centre this evening as the Toronto Maple Leafs are heading home for game three of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal Series against the Boston Bruins.
On the weekend the Maple Leafs shocked the hockey world with a convincing 4-2 win over Boston. Former Edmonton Oiler Joffrey Lupul of Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta notched two goals in Toronto’s victory.
However even though the Maple Leafs are the underdogs. I don’t hear many Canadians cheering for them unless they have strong familial connections to southern Ontario, or they took a gamble by loading up with Maple Leafs in their hockey pool.
There are players that are simply best suited for the playoffs over the regular season. One of those players is Detroit Red Wings’ left winger Johan Franzen.
On Thursday evening in Anaheim, Franzen scored twice as the Red Wings evened their series with the Anaheim Ducks at one with a 5-4 overtime win. Franzen now has 38 playoff goals in 88 games, a much better goal to game ratio than he has in the regular season, where he has 164 goals in 513 career games.
The Red Wings also got production by another Swede. This time Gustav Nyquist, who scored his first career playoff goal on Thursday. It happened to be in overtime.
In other action, Craig Anderson made 48 saves as Ottawa beat Montreal 4-2 to take a 1-0 series lead, Braden Holltby made 35 saves as Washington beat the New York Rangers 3-1 to take a 1-0 series lead as well, and Barret Jackman scored with 51 seconds left as St. Louis beat Los Angeles 2-1 to take a 2-0 series lead.
In the Senators/Canadiens series, Lars Eller of the Canadiens got injured after being hit in the head area by Eric Gryba of the Senators at his own blueline. Gryba was given a five minute major for interference.
The opening night of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs saw two games go into extra time.
In Chicago, Bryan Bickell scored with 3:35 left in the first overtime as the Blackhawks defeated the Minnesota Wild 2-1, while in St. Louis, Kings’ goaltender Jonathan Quick gave the puck away to Alexander Steen, who scored his second of the game as the Blues defeated the Los Angeles Kings 2-1.
In other action, the Anaheim Ducks defeated the Detroit Red Wings 3-1.
The biggest story of the night probably came in Chicago, where NASCAR star Danica Patrick scored from center ice during the second intermission. Why was Patrick and her boyfriend Ricky Stenhouse Junior in Chicago, rather than preparing for the weekend’s NASCAR race at the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. I’m not a NASCAR expert, but I wouldn’t take Patrick or Stenhouse for the Aaron’s 499. I think Daytona 500 champion Jimmie Johnson is licking his chops by the fact his competitors are taking some leisure time no where near the race track.
For the seventh consecutive season, the Edmonton Oilers will not be playing in the postseason.
On Sunday evening the Oilers lost 3-1 to the Anaheim Ducks. The Oilers needed to win their final five games and get an immense amount of help from other teams to qualify for the postseason. They simply didn’t get it.
How bad is it for the Oilers now? Well, the Calgary Flames beat the Minnesota Wild 4-1 to pass the Oilers in the standings. To make matters worse, it was one of the Flames’ prospects, Mark Cundari, that led the Flames in scoring with a goal and an assist. Cundar was acquired by the Flames from the St. Louis Blues at the trade deadline for Jay Bouwmeester.
Also, the Oilers now have the longest current NHL streak of consecutive playoffs missed after the Toronto Maple Leafs clinched a playoff spot for the first time since 2004 after defeating the Ottawa Senators 4-1 on Saturday.
Edmonton has four more games left this season, and to many loyal fans the end of the season cannot come soon enough.
The Calgary Flames may be officially eliminated from the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs, however they are playing their best hockey of the season at the moment.
On Friday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome, veteran goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff was brilliant as he made 32 saves as the Flames defeated the Anaheim Ducks 3-1.
There is significant speculation that Kiprusoff might have played his very last game at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary. Kiprusoff, who won the Vezina Trophy in 2006, is expected to retire at the end of the regular season.
The belief that Kiprusoff might retire increased on Saturday when the Flames announced the re-signing of goaltender Joey MacDonald to a one year contract worth $925,000.
Michael Cammalleri led the Flames in scoring with two assists on Friday night as Calgary improved to 18-22-4 on the season, and their fourth win in the last five games.
So far there have been 15 NHL trades on trade deadline day, but none more were bigger than the trade between the Columbus Blue Jackets and New York Rangers.
On Wednesday, the Jackets acquired Marian Gaborik from the Rangers for forwards Derek Dorsett (an enforcer with offensive upside who is hurt right now but might be ready in time for the playoffs), Derrick Brassard, defenceman John Moore and a sixth round pick.
This trade is interesting primarily because the Blue Jackets and Rangers made a blockbuster deal that involved Rick Nash in the summer of 2012.
In other moves, the Penguins acquired shootout specialist Jussi Jokinen from the Carolina Hurricanes, the San Jose Sharks reacquired defenceman Scott Hannan from the Nashville Predators and Raffi Torres from the Phoenix Coyotes, the Minnesota Wild acquired Jason Pominville from the Mnnesota Wild, the Phoenix Coyotes also sent forward Steve Sullivan to the New Jersey Devils and Matthew Lombardi to the Anaheim Ducks, the St. Louis Blues sent Wade Redden to the Boston Bruins, and the Colorado Avalanche sent Ryan O’Byrne to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
For the second time in a month, the Anaheim Ducks have opened up their pocket book and re-signed a top gun. This time it was former Hart Trophy and Rocket Richard Trophy winner Corey Perry.
Perry, who is currently second on the Anaheim Ducks in scoring with nine goals and fifteen assists for 24 points, signed an eight year contract worth $69 million.
The move comes ten days after the Ducks signed Ryan Getzlaf to an eight year deal worth $66 million. Getzlaf currently leads the Ducks with 11 goals and 22 assists for 33 points.
Getzlaf and Perry were both unrestricted free agents at the end of the season.
The Ducks have had a great 2013. They currently have the second best record in the NHL with 46 points, five points back of the Chicago Blackhawks.
This week on (the award-nominated) 15MOF we look back on the highs and lows of UFC 158 in Montreal, we decide whether or not the Edmonton Oilers are going to make the playoffs and we highlight another world class performance from Leo Messi and Barcelona in Champions League play.
In the GABBYs: the UFC, the Orlando Predators, Zach Sikich, Giorgos Katidis, Renaldo Balkman, Michael Taylor and Grambling State. The Punchline this week is a college hoops fan who missed out on $50,000.
Friday can be summed up in one word for Canadian baseball. Embarrassing. Team Canada’s pitching deserved a failing grade in a 14-4 loss to Italy. With the loss, Canada’s hopes are all but dashed as it is highly unlikely they will advance to the second round.
How bad was it for Team Canada? Well, the ten run mercy rule came into effect after Canada gave up five runs in the eighth.
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