MySportNews іѕ a sports news digest publication that compiles real time, on demand sports news, articles, аnd resources. This article was distributed by Syndicated Sports news wire and aggregation service, For more NCAA basketball news see: Auburn’s dismisses 2 players, suspends 3rd .

MySportNews іѕ a sports news digest publication that compiles real time, on demand sports news, articles, аnd resources. This article was distributed by Syndicated Sports news wire and aggregation service, For more college football news see: Two Kansas players dismissed for violating rules .

MySportNews іѕ a sports news digest publication that compiles real time, on demand sports news, articles, аnd resources. This article was distributed by Syndicated Sports news wire and aggregation service, For more college football news see: Ducks respond to report of pot use among players .

The five underclassmen — plus senior Darius Miller and freshman Kyle Wiltjer — comprised the core of the Kentucky team that just went 38-2 and won the national championship. Davis will be the No. 1 pick in the draft while Kidd-Gilchrist and Jones also project as lottery picks. Teague should go in the first round, too. Lamb and Miller are considered borderline first-round picks while Wiltjer plans to return to Kentucky for at least another season.

John Calipari will attend Tuesday’s press conference.

Kentucky will have a realistic shot to repeat as national champions despite these expected losses. The Wildcats have commitments from elite recruits Nerlens Noel, Archie Goodwin, Alex Poythress and Willie Cauley. They’ll combine with Wiltjer and North Carolina State transfer Ryan Harrow to give UK a roster that’ll be ranked No. 1 in the CBSSports.com preseason Top 25 (and one).

MySportNews іѕ a sports news digest publication that compiles real time, on demand sports news, articles, аnd resources. This article was distributed by Syndicated Sports news wire and aggregation service, For more college basketball news see: Kentucky Players Declare for NBA Draft.

PITTSBURGH - For the Pittsburgh Penguins, it’s almost always about the stars, the big stars.

Sidney Crosby is arguably the biggest name in hockey. Evgeni Malkin is the Art Ross Trophy winner and one of the favorites to win the Hart Trophy as MVP. Almost every other team in the NHL would feel fortunate to possess either one; the Penguins pencil both of them into the lineup every night.

But in an elimination game — and, no doubt, their biggest game of the season so far — Pittsburgh’s stars didn’t carry the Penguins. Not even close. Instead, a must-win 3-2 victory against the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals on Friday was driven not by Malkin and Crosby, but by Jordan Staal and Marc-Andre Fleury, Tyler Kennedy and Steve Sullivan, Kris Letang and Brooks Orpik.

Yes, the “other” Penguins.

Rarely do the Penguins win an important game without either Crosby or Malkin finding the scoresheet. This was the exception. Now the Penguins find themselves down 3-2 heading into a Game 6 that, when the Flyers led 3-0, appeared to have little chance of being played.

“We need to win one game,” forward Matt Cooke said. “We need to win Game 6 to get back here for Game 7. It’s a race to four – they’re at three, we’re at two, but we need to win again.”

It’s also a race the Penguins probably wouldn’t have expected to win beforehand if they had known Crosby and Malkin wouldn’t get a point between them.

It wasn’t that Crosby played a bad game; to the contrary, he didn’t, winning 16 of 22 faceoffs while constantly pressuring in the offensive zone, although he was credited with only two shots.

Malkin had a much more uneven game, taking two penalties – including one that resulted in a power-play goal – and giving the puck away five times. No player on either team had more than two giveaways.

Malkin took a roughing penalty in the first that led to Scott Hartnell’s goal at 17:35 and a 2-1 Flyers lead. He also went off for interference late in the second, but Pittsburgh killed off that one.

Malkin was coming off a two-goal game as Pittsburgh won 10-3 in Game 4, but he was visible for all the wrong reasons in this game.

“There was certainly some emotion involved in the penalties he took,” coach Dan Bylsma said. “Tonight the emotions got the best of him in some of the situations and took those two penalties … but we won this game.”

The Penguins won because Fleury was exceptional while turning aside 14 shots in the third period – seven on a single Flyers power play – Staal scored his fourth goal in two games and Kennedy won it with a slap-shot goal in the second, his third goal of the series.

“Flower made some unbelievable saves,” Crosby said.

And for all the Flyers’ focus on controlling Crosby (three goals in the series) and Malkin (two goals), it is the Penguins’ third center who is carrying their offense. Staal is best known for being a shutdown defender who can neutralize the most gifted of players, yet he already has six goals.

All of a sudden, Philadelphia’s problem is shutting down the shutdown defender.

“He’s more than capable of doing that,” Crosby said. “He’s showing offensively how gifted he is.”

Kennedy, who often plays on Staal’s line, said it’s more of what he sees all the time during the season. Staal had 25 goals and 25 assists despite missing one-quarter of the season to injury.

“He can put the puck in the net whenever he wants,” Kennedy said. “It’s great to see that he’s trying to take over games here and I’ve got a lot of faith in him.”

But to win Game 6 on Sunday at the Wells Fargo Center (12 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC), the Penguins understand it will take more than the support cast to accomplish it. They need Crosby and Malkin to be … well, Crosby and Malkin if they are to send the series to a decisive Game 7.

“We need Geno at his best,” Bylsma said. “we need everybody at his best in Game 6.”

MySportNews іѕ a sports news digest publication that compiles real time, on demand sports news, articles, аnd resources. This article was distributed by Syndicated Sports news wire and aggregation service, For more NHL news see: Penguins’ role players outshine stars in Game 5.

The Winnipeg Jets made fans across Canada over the last seven months, but I’m guessing right now they aren’t making many south of the 49th.

Team USA is one-for-four in its attempts to recruit Jets players for the World Championship in Finland and Sweden next month, defenceman Dustin Byfuglien the latest to rule himself out of the Yanks’ lineup.

Any chance of Byfuglien being a late addition to the U.S. roster have been slapped away by the hard-shooting D-man, according to his agent.

“He’s been hobbling around the last few weeks of the season and needs some time to get healthy,” Ben Hankinson told the Sun.

Nursing a knee injury, Byfuglien often missed practices or game-day skates down the stretch. But he still managed to put up 53 points in 66 games, tied for second among NHL blueliners.

The fact he’s headed for a trial on impaired boating charges in July has no role in his decision to miss the Worlds, which run May 4-20.

To me, the biggest loss for Uncle Sam, from a Winnipeg perspective, is the “thanks, but no thanks” he got from winger Blake Wheeler, the Jets top scorer.

Wheeler could be dynamite on the big European ice.

Defenceman Zach Bogosian wouldn’t look bad in Stars and Stripes, either, but he wanted to rest up, too, leaving defensive forward and faceoff specialist Jim Slater as the only Winnipeg player to suit up for the U.S.

The Jets say Alex Burmistrov could still suit up for Russia, while Andrew Ladd and Evander Kane are confirmed for their home and native land.

I’m not sure players realize how special a World Championship can be.

The Jets encourage theirs to participate, and while Team USA went through the Jets to contact the ones it was interested in, the final decision is up to the player.

NHL teams can talk to players about the need to rehab or rest an injury, but a clause in the collective bargaining agreement prevents teams from holding back their players from the event.

SECOND THOUGHTS?: The Phoenix Coyotes won their division and are one victory away from knocking off Chicago for their first playoff series win.

They’re coached by one of the best in Dave Tippett and managed by a veteran in Don Maloney, two men who’ve continually got the most out of a modest lineup — the Coyotes’ payroll was just $ 3.2 million more than the Jets’ this season.

The Coyotes, and not Atlanta, could easily have been the team sold to Winnipeg’s True North Sports a year ago.

Remind me again why that would have been a bad thing?

OK, other than having Raffi Torres on your side.

TOOTING OFF: It began with a visit by the Jets on March 24, and it’s continued in the playoffs: Nashville’s Jordin Tootoo is having a hard time getting into the Predators lineup.

And it’s starting to get to him.

Tootoo popped off in an interview with the Tennessean the other day, throwing F-bombs like he throws body checks.

“Ultimately, I get whose decision it is,” Tootoo told the paper. “But I’ve been here in every playoff game in the past and right from the beginning of the series, you’re told you’re not playing “¦ what the (expletive)? For me, (expletive), you can only get bag-skated so much and mentally it’s (expletive), it’s straining, it’s frustrating.

“When you get shut down and told you’re not playing, it (expletive) burns. After doing everything right, it just (expletive). “¦ I’m (ticked) off because I’m not able to do what I love to do and that’s playing the game.”

Presumably, Preds coach Barry Trotz got the message.

paul.friesen@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @friesensunmedia

MySportNews іѕ a sports news digest publication that compiles real time, on demand sports news, articles, аnd resources. This article was distributed by Syndicated Sports news wire and aggregation service, For more NHL hockey news see: Jets’ American players say no thanks to Worlds.

MySportNews іѕ a sports news digest publication that compiles real time, on demand sports news, articles, аnd resources. This article was distributed by Syndicated Sports news wire and aggregation service, For more NCAA basketball news see: Two players leaving Ohio State program .

Pair of Western Kentucky players shot, expected to recover

Posted by Ben Kercheval on April 15, 2012, 5:00 PM EDT

Unfortunately, there’s some scary news coming out of Bowling Green today, as two Western Kentucky football players have been shot.

Details of the incident, which took place outside an off-campus bar, are currently scarce as you might imagine. About the only thing that is known is that defensive lineman Tevin Holliman (pictured, No. 55) and defensive back Ricardo Singh were each shot once, and that neither player was carrying a weapon.

The shooting took place last night, hours after WKU concluded their spring game. So far, no shooter has been identified and no arrests have been made. According to reports, it appears the gunman shot into a crowd and the two football players were hit. Coach Willie Taggart has spoken to the parents of both players, who are, thankfully, expected to recover.

Holliman, a junior, had eight tackles and a forced fumble last season. Singh, a sophomore, contributed on special teams.

We’ll update you as details of the story unfold. For now, our thoughts are with both players, their families and the WKU community.

Permalink 2 Comments Latest Stories in: Rumor Mill, Sun Belt Conference, Top Posts, Western Kentucky Hilltoppers

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1. billobrienschindimple says: Apr 15, 2012 5:20 PM

   I wonder what the statistics are for other NCAA athletes being shot, or non-athlete students in general. It seems to me there is definitely a higher proportion of football players that find themselves involved in these types of extra-curricular situations.

   Maybe if we paid them they would all stay away from trouble…
2. tuckfexas says: Apr 15, 2012 5:30 PM

   I think I’m clever for using a racist acronym, but really I underestimated the power of Google. Therefore I will stop making racist comments.

MySportNews іѕ a sports news digest publication that compiles real time, on demand sports news, articles, аnd resources. This article was distributed by Syndicated Sports news wire and aggregation service, For more college football news see: Pair of Western Kentucky players shot, expected to recover.