Sports Chowdah Recap for June 9-11- Blackhawks Soar; Lake Show Gets Poor Reviews in Garden; No Brotherly Love for Phillies

NHL: No Bruins in the Stanley Cup Final, but when all was said and done another Original 6 NHL team broke its decades-long Stanley Cup drought on Thursday night. After the Flyers tied up the game with four minutes left in regulation on a Scott Hartnell goal, the game was headed to overtime and a possible Game 7 at Chicago's United Center. But RW Patrick Kane was the one who made it official and broke a 49 year Stanley Cup drought for the Blackhawks, getting the puck past Michael Leighton just over 4 minutes into the OT. The Blackhawks win the series 4-2 with C Jonahtan Toews being named MVP of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Congratulations to the Chicago Blackhawks and their long-suffering fans [this includes you, Dave- NANESB!]. Even if the Bruins managed to avoid that epic collapse against the Flyers, I'm pretty sure the Blackhawks would've mopped up the ice with them

NBA Finals: After dropping their first home game of the Finals to the Lakers, the C's came on strong in Game 4. Glen Davis came off the bench for a strong 4th quarter, scoring nine of his 18 points in the final quarter while Paul Pierce had 19 points and six rebounds on the night, Kevin Garnett had 13 and Ray Allen managed to snap out of his earlier slump and get 12 points on the night. Kobe Bryant had 22 points and Pau Gasol had 21 in a losing effort for LA. Boston wins by a final of 96-89 [I was only able to catch the final 17 seconds of regulation after work- NANESB!] and ties the series at 2 games apiece, with game 5 set to take place on Sunday.

MLB: That Buccholz/Masterson matchup really didn't go our way the other day. Just sayin'. Anywhoo- onto some interleague play at Fenway. The Phillies' Jamie Moyer's known as a contact pitcher, and boy howdy was there some contact in tonight's opening game of the Red Sox homestand against the defending NL champs. Moyer lasted all of an inning, giving up 9 hits and 9 earned runs in the bottom of the first before being replaced by David Herndon. Big Papi went 3-5 with 4 RBIs while Mike Lowell belted a 2 run homer and Victor Martinez went 2 for 4 with 2 RBIs in Bostons 12-2 win over Philly. The Red Sox won this one coming and going while Lackey gets his third win in his last 3 decisions. The starters for tomorrow's game will be Joe Blanton (1-4) going against Daisuke Matsuzaka (5-2).

NCAA FOOTBALL: Apparently Pete Carrol saw this coming down the pike and left USC for a reason. The NCAA imposed a two year Bowl-game ban on the University of Southern California Trojans after ruling that then-Trojan and Heisman winning running back Reggie Bush was the recipient of improper benefits from sports promoters buring the 2004 and 2005 seasons.

The penalties include the loss of 30 football scholarships over three years and vacating 14 victories in which Bush played from December 2004 through the 2005 season. USC beat Oklahoma in the BCS title game on Jan. 4, 2005, and won 12 games during Bush’s Heisman-winning 2005 season, which ended with a loss to Texas in the 2006 BCS title game.

There also remains the possibility that Bush will be stripped of his Heisman trophy. The NCAA has also been investigating similar allegations of improper benefits against USC Basketball player OJ Mayo.

Elsewhere in NCAA Football: The Boise State Broncos announced that they will be leaving the Western Athletic Conference to join the Mountain West conference effective 2011. This is the first new team to be added since Texas Christan joined the MWC in 2005. Last season the Broncos went 14-0 and beat the TCU Horned Frogs in the Fiesta Bowl. Given the ascendancy of MWC football programs like Utah, Brigham Young and Texas Christian, this will give the Broncos a more challenging in-conference schedule than the WAC.

Another NCAA school in the Rockies might be jumping ship from their current conference. The Colorado regents unanimously approved a vote that would send them from the Big 12 to the Pac 10. The change would take place effective July 2012.

WORLD CUP: In the debut game of the World Cup, Mexico played host South Africa to a 1-1 draw. OK....see....this is why I have such a hard time giving a damn about the World Cup or soccer in general. Of marginal interest is the upcoming match between Team USA [Fuck Yeah!] and England. Otherwise, the most interesting thing to observe from the World Cup will be that short little Irishman that ESPN brings in to cover soccer and the various hotties in face-paint waving their country's flags in the stands.