Stanley Cup

Tim Thomas was a big deal yesterday in his hometown of Flint, Mich., where the Bruins goalie had his day with the Stanley Cup. But in East Conway, N.H., Thomas is a really big deal.  Via the Mount Washington Valley Chamber of Commerce , we discovered the above photo of Thomas's image etched out into the corn field at Sherman Farm . Visitors to the farm are welcome to explore the maze beginning Sept....

GLENDALE, Ariz. - Dustin Penner scored 17:42 into overtime and the Los Angeles Kings are headed to the Stanley Cup finals for the second time as a franchise after beating the Phoenix Coyotes, 4-3, in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals Tuesday night. Penner gathered a bouncing puck and beat Mike Smith between the pads for the game-winner, extending the Kings' road winning streak to an NHL-record eight straight games. Anze Kopitar scored a shorthanded goal, Drew Doughty had a goal and an assist, and Mike Richards also scored for Los Angeles.

If you have any doubt the New Jersey Devils are frustrating the New York Rangers in their Eastern Conference finals, just look at Game 4. Forget that Zach Parise scored two goals and set up another in the Devils' 4-1 win that evened the series at 2-all. Look at the extracurricular stuff in the game Monday night. Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur got sucker-punched by former teammate Mike Rupp, who might now be facing a suspension. New Jersey teammates Patrik Elias, Adam Henrique and Steve Bernier were the victims of cheap shots, and the Rangers spent most of the final 20 minutes...

For a team that hadn't trailed in a game since last month, the Los Angeles Kings were awfully good at playing from behind. For a club that barely made the playoffs this spring, the Kings are on a near-unprecedented rampage through the Western Conference's top seeds. And for a franchise that has never raised the Stanley Cup, these Kings appear quite ready to play for that singular privilege. Anze Kopitar scored the tying breakaway goal, Dwight King added the winner early in the third period, and the Kings rolled to the brink of their first Stanley Cup final in 19 years with...

CHICAGO — From the first day of training camp nine months ago, the Chicago Blackhawks felt the expectations. They were everywhere, generated by championship-hungry fans and by the players themselves. “We want to win the Stanley Cup. I think that’s what a lot of the guys are thinking,’’ Patrick Kane said after that first practice on a steamy September day. The Blackhawks, led by the 21-year-old Kane and 22-year-old captain Jonathan Toews, made it happen. Now they will parade with their teammates today through a city that is giddy because the Blackhawks have seized the Cup for the first time...

Matt Byrne Former Bruin Cam Neely signs autographs Tuesday night at the Modell's Sporting Goods store in Medford. Neely was promoting a new DVD chronicling the Bruin's recent Stanley Cup victory, and met with a slew of fans, who took photos, shook hands, and chatted with the former player for two hours.

The beat goes on for the Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins. The world-beating B's, or at least a few of them, showed up at the AMC Loews Boston Common last night for the premiere of the official NHL Stanley Cup Champions DVD. While many of the Bruins are off golfing or otherwise enjoying some well-deserved R&R, Hall of Famer Cam Neely , defenseman Andrew Ference , and wingers Brad Marchand and Shawn Thornton all walked the...

The Bruins returned from Vancouver this morning, and following a smooth landing at Logan airport, team captain Zdeno Chara carried the Stanley Cup onto Boston soil. The players boarded buses and were taken to TD Garden, where many fans were waiting to give them a hero's welcome. Plans for a celebratory parade are being discussed this morning at Mayor Thomas M. Menino's office. We'll have more details as they emerge.

By Zuri Berry, Boston.com Staff Tickets for Games 3, 4 and 6 of the Stanley Cup Final series hosted by the Bruins will go on sale 11 a.m. Tuesday May 31. Tickets will be available at www.bostonbruins.com , at TD Garden, Ticketmaster and by phone at 800-745-3000.

By Zuri Berry, Globe Staff; Video by Steve Silva, Globe Staff UPDATE: 4:11 p.m. -- The Bruins made their way to Gillette Stadium with the Stanley Cup in tow. Zdeno Chara and Tim Thomas were honorary captains for the game, Nathan Horton squirted TD Garden ice water at midfield and coach Bill Belichick shook Big Z's hand. The Bruins came out in the Spoked B's but dropped them for Patriots jerseys with their own numbers and names on the back. -- The Stanley Cup trophy will be at Gillette Stadium for the Patriots-Jets game, reports the...

Henrik Lundqvist stopped all 21 shots by the New Jersey Devils that got through to him. The other 26 attempts blocked in front by his teammates were every bit as important in the New York Rangers' Eastern Conference finals opening win. "We know that's happening," Devils captain Zach Parise said after the Rangers' 3-0 win on Monday night. "We know that's coming. That's the way they play. They block a lot of shots, and we expect that for the rest of the series. " So did the Ottawa Senators and the Washington Capitals, the Rangers' first two postseason opponents, who pushed the...

For quite some time, Washington Capitals general manager George McPhee tried to persuade former player Dale Hunter to return to the team as its coach. This season, McPhee finally got his man — just not for very long. Hunter quit as Washington's coach on Monday after less than six months on the job, saying he wants to return to his family, his farm and the junior club he owns in Canada. "It was the right thing to do," Hunter said. He is the owner of the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League, and he was the coach until McPhee beckoned in...

Although the Washington Capitals were officially eliminated from the playoffs by the New York Rangers in a Game 7 squeaker, the upstart club out of the No. 7 seed knows it let this series get away in what it thought was the final seconds of Game 5. Just 7.6 seconds away from taking a 3-2 series lead over the top-seeded Rangers in the Eastern Conference semifinals, the seventh-seeded Capitals allowed the tying goal to Brad Richards on the first...

Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas expected to still be playing. Instead, he and his teammates spent Friday saying goodbye at TD Garden after being eliminated by Washington Wednesday night. "It's sunk in now," said Thomas. "All things considered, we had a pretty good year that the guys should be proud of. It was an amazing run that we had that won [the Stanley Cup] and it entails afterwards a lot of things and a short summer. We went right into a very long season and we had adversity throughout that season.

The end was swift and stunning. Suddenly, the puck was behind Tim Thomas and the Washington Capitals were hugging the TD Garden boards and each other in celebration. A moment later the Bruins were in the handshake line, sent home empty-handed without a Game 7 victory, a playoff series win, or Lord Stanley's Cup. A captivating and charmed 12-month span of hockey came to an unexpected conclusion. Joel Ward's backhanded sweeper at 2:57 of overtime put the defending Stanley Cup champs into a state of pucks repose.

Panthers goaltender Jose Theodore did an on-ice workout Wednesday in Coral Springs, Fla., and is hoping to play Thursday night when Florida hosts the Devils in Game 7 of their Eastern Conference first-round series. "It's do or die," said Theodore. "These are the kind of games you want to be part of. I mean, everybody when you're a kid and you play hockey, you always imagine that it's Game 7 in the Stanley Cup playoffs. So obviously it's a game everybody wants to be part of and help the team win. " Theodore did not play in Game 6 because of an...

Milan Lucic planned on hoisting the Stanley Cup tomorrow at a public appearance in his hometown. The fans of Vancouver had a different plan. Lingering resentment from Canucks fans forced Lucic's day with the Cup to be a private celebration. The Bruins defeated the heavily favored Canucks, 4-0, in Game 7 in Vancouver to win the Cup and the city hasn't gotten over it. Posters of Lucic, an East Vancouver native, were defaced at a cultural community center, and at a Greek festival this summer, Lucic's presence was enough to incite a brawl, although the bruising Bruins winger did not throw punches,...

Tim Thomas had every reason to be confident heading into overtime of Game 7 in Boston's first-round playoff series against the Washington Capitals. After all, the Bruins won three seventh games in last year's run to the Stanley Cup title. "I'm probably in shock," Thomas said Wednesday night after Joel Ward beat him at 2:57 of overtime to lead the Capitals to a 2-1 victory over Boston and give Washington a spot in the Eastern Conference semifinals. "I really believed that we were going to win. "I really had a deep feeling that this wasn't the end of the road for us, that this...