The AHL has released the broadcast schedule for the Calder Cup Final. They are currently working on trying to find a US broadcaster to carry the games, so this may be amended sooner rather than later. By the way, ESPN America is a European broadcaster out of the UK that shows North American sports, and not actually the ESPN we all know and loathe (when it comes to their lack of hockey coverage).

Updates to this will be posted as necessary.

Games 1-3 and 6-7 of the series will air on Leafs TV, which will be available on cable systems across Canada during a special promotional "free-view" period during the Calder Cup Finals. Games 4 and 5 will air in Canada on the 24-hour national sports channel Sportsnet ONE. In addition, the entire series will be available on ESPN America, reaching millions of fans in more than 35 countries in Europe and the Middle East.

Fans can also listen to the Calder Cup Finals on the all-hockey NHL Home Ice channel on SiriusXM Satellite Radio (Sirius 207, XM 92), which will carry Game 1 and Games 3-7 of the series.

And as always, AHL Live has live streaming of every Calder Cup Finals game at ahllive.com.

-as per the AHL's media release

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The CBC announced yesterday that it would be airing a little something for those hockey widows during the Stanley Cup Final. Now, that sort of thing doesn't really affect us here in the states, but there's been a lot of outrage over the decision. This show is being described as, "Sex and the City meets ESPN, with banter "from a woman's point of view" ".

(You can visit the blog, While the Men Watch , to get an idea of what this show may be like.)

The problem isn't that this is going on. In fact, the CBC ought to be applauded for even trying to reach out to women who happen to like sports. The real problem is that they're going about it the entirely wrong way.

Perhaps it is the fact that being a female and a hockey fan is a novelty that makes this practice so widespread, but the greater problem here is that as a female hockey fan, a female hockey fan is defined as female first and hockey fan second. The writers of While the Men Watch perpetrate this stereotype and this is the greatest folly of their endeavor, not , as I would like to argue, the way that they watch hockey.

-While the Men Watch; A Terrible Idea

This type of thing can be considered the TV and/or blogging equivalent to the pink, bedazzled hockey jersey. It works for a very few women, but not the majority. It's a good idea in theory, but a bad idea in execution.

And that's what's going on - and has been going on - here. This isn't a singular instance of misunderstanding what women want out of the sport. It's just another poorly thought out attempt at trying to be helpful.

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Richard Panik opened up the scoring early. Very early. We're talking 51 seconds into the game type of early.

He also had what might've been another goal three minutes after that, but it was waved off. It was determined that the puck hit a post and didn't go in, so it was not reviewed. However, from where I was sitting, I never heard the clang of frozen rubber hitting iron.

The Norfolk Admirals came out of the gate strong. They dominated much of the first period and forced the St. John's IceCaps into icing the puck four times the first half of the period. They also managed to stay out of the penalty box for the first half of the period as well.

They ended up taking three penalties in the last seven minutes of the first. They even had a 30-second 5-on-3 penalty kill. During which, Dustin Tokarski made an outstanding save at literally the last second of the period.

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[Warning: much of this post is sarcastic.]

Shot blocking is the new evil in the NHL. It's apparently preventing teams from scoring, and thus limiting the masses' entertainment value. I guess you've always got to have something to rail against, but this one seems more than a little silly.

Due to that, everything's gone back to the bad-old-days of clutching and grabbing - though, no one's really being clutched at or grabbed. Regardless, it's slowing down the game; it's making the game boring. Or, so they say.

Then there's the whole "defense is killing the game" thing again. Despite the old saying of "defense wins championships" - which we've all seen over and over again as being pretty much true. But, no, that's not good enough. Scoring has to win championships, not boring defense.

And so the hockey media-driven narrative goes on....

How about this for a solution? Let's just eliminate the position of defenseman, since they're not doing anyone any good anyways. Shot blocking? Who needs it. Stopping opposing forwards from scoring? That kills the game. Preventing players from running your goalie? Can't do that because that's "interference" or "holding".

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With all of the focus on goaltending, the defense has been sort of left out in the cold. But, that's fairly typical. When it comes to hockey, people tend think about offense and goaltending, not defense.

Still, that's a bit discouraging. A good defense will make a good goalie look like a Vezina candidate, and a bad defense will make a good goalie look very mediocre. But, as many people just noticed the goaltending and not the defense, they see that a goalie is just good or bad and that's all there is to it.

The two are very much intertwined. Goaltending is not a singular position in that goalies just do their thing and the rest of the team does theirs. The defensemen are the bridge between the forwards and the goaltending, and they interact a great deal between the two. Which is why it often takes a while for defensemen to mature - they have to not only learn what their goalies want them to do, but also what their forwards want them to do.

The standard operating procedure for the Detroit Red Wings for many years now is to have outstanding defensemen, and have good - but not fantastic - goaltenders. With a few exceptions, of course. And the Wings have had the closest to what any would call a dynasty in decades.

Also keep in mind that General Manager Steve Yzerman was a member of that organization as both a player and a member of their front office for 27 years.

Which isn't to say that goaltending isn't an issue for the Tampa Bay Lightning, because it is. But, so is the defense. Would it be easier (or better) to upgrade the goaltending, or upgrade the defense?

So the question of the week is....

There are a number of things that need to be addressed by the Tampa Bay Lightning this offseason, but which do you feel is more important and why - improving the defense, or improving the goaltending?

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Well, here we are again. The Norfolk Admirals have traveled up to to Hartford, Connecticut, to continue on with their march to the Calder Cup. The series is currently tied 1-1.

The series goes 2-3-2. The first two games in Connecticut are in Hartford, but due to some arena scheduling issues, the third game - Game 5 - will be played in Bridgeport. Game 3 is tonight, Game 4 is tomorrow, and Game 5 is Wednesday, 9 May.

The good news is that both Cory Conacher and Tyler Johnson have finally scored in playoffs for the Ads. Hopefully, that will open the floodgates for them. In six playoff games, Alexandre Picard is leading the team in scoring with four goals and five assists, followed by Alex Killorn (2 G, 6 A) and Trevor Smith (2G, 6 A).

Dustin Tokarski is looking to be in top shape, and so long as he keeps winning, they'll keep playing him. Not that Jaroslave Janus is bad or anything; he's just as good as Tokarski. But, they've been going with their hot goaltender. Tokarski currently has a 2.11 GAA and a 0.917 SV% in four games.

The bad news is that they're still taking a whole lot of unnecessary penalties.

You can listen to the game online at 1021thegame.com, or watch it online (pay-per-view) at AHL Live. You can also follow the game via Twitter by following @AdsGameUpdates, @BeekerAdmirals, @PeteMichaud2012, and @DanMarrazza, who's following the Admirals for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

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The Norfolk Admirals won Game 2 of their Eastern Conference Semifinal matchup against the Connecticut Whale 4-1.

The first period was almost everything that a playoff game should've been. It was fast, intense, hard-fought, and Norfolk carried the play, despite being outshot 13-12. The only real blot on the whole period were Alexandre Picard's three penalties.

The Admirals goals in the first period were scored by by Alex Killorn and Mike Kostka. Killorn was, by far, the best skater on the ice for the Admirals, ending the night with seven shots on goal. Dustin Tokarski, the Norfolk goalie of record, was outstanding as well.

It was 2-0 for the Admirals going into the second, and the team sat back a bit. They had the lead, and they were just trying to keep it, not add to it. There were a number of penalties, however - mostly they were in the second half of the second period. Tyler Johnson scored his first playoff goal.

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Tonight's game time is at 7:15 pm Eastern. You can listen to the game 1021thegame.com online, or you can watch the game via pay-per-view online at AHL Live. The radio broadcast should start about half an hour before game time. You can also follow the game on Twitter with @AdsGameUpdates, @BeekerAdmirals, @PeteMichaud2012, & @DanMarrazza.

Here's a bit from today's press release by the Norfolk Admirals, so you can enjoy some of the first round's statistical goodness.

NORFOLK LEADERS

Goals: Alexandre Picard (4)

Assists: Alexandre Picard (4)

Points: Alexandre Picard (8)

Games: Several (4)

PP goals: Alexandre Picard (2)

SH goals: --

+/- Rating: Alexandre Picard (+5)

PIM: Mike Angelidis (14)

GAA: Dustin Tokarski (2.25)

Spct: Dustin Tokarski (.904)

Wins: Dustin Tokarski (2)

Losses: Jaroslav Janus (1)

GPI: Dustin Tokarski, Jaroslav Janus (2)

Minutes: Dustin Tokarski (134)

• Alexandre Picard scored multiple points in all four games of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals vs. the Manchester Monarchs. Picard leads the Admirals and is tied for second in the AHL with four goals so far this postseason.
• On Friday night, Alex Killorn became the second AHL Admiral to score an overtime series-clinching goal. The rookie joins Casey Hankinson, who scored the series-winner in Game 4 on April 15, 2001 vs. the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks – the first Calder Cup Playoff series in Admirals history.
• Killorn currently ranks fourth in the AHL with five assists and is seventh overall with six points (1G, 5A) in his first four professional playoff games. He is tied for the AHL rookie scoring lead in the playoffs.
• Brandon Segal netted a pair of goals in four games against his former team.
• With a pair of victories over the Monarchs, Dustin Tokarski went 2-0 against Manchester in the first round after leading AHL goalies with 32 regular-season wins. Tokarski has now won a combined 15 straight regular season and playoff games dating back to Feb. 10.

There are two NHL playoffs games tonight. The first starts at 7:30 pm ET, and is the New York Rangers at the Washington Capitals. That series is tied up 1-1. The second game starts at 9 pm ET, and is the Phoenix Coyotes at the Nashville Predators.

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There has been much talk about how there are no longer any Canadian teams left in playoffs. The same old song and dance happens almost every season when the last Canadian-based team falls out. We get to hear all about how no Canadian team has won the Stanley Cup since the Montreal Canadiens did back in 1993 - again - and then they lament over the state of hockey in Canada.

And every time this circus breaks out, I can't help but think, "This is one league, and not two, right?" Sure, seven Canadian cities haven't seen a Stanley Cup parade in almost 20 years. But then, 12 US cities haven't, either.

Those of us in the United States who get our hockey news from Canadian sources just suffer through it. And as ESPN, the so-called "World-Wide Leader in Sports", chooses to disregard hockey, a lot of us do depend upon Canadian sources for news. Even if they don't always provide much coverage for those teams located generally south of the 45th parallel.

For Americans, yes, there is only one league. But for Canadians, that's a completely different story. They believe in two National Hockey Leagues, whether they realize it or not.

It's sort of like that whole Montreal wanting a French-speaking team, just on a national scale. Many Canadians only want their Canadian teams, apparently. Though, if you speak to Canadian hockey fans, they'll say that they'll watch any hockey that's on TV - Canadian-based teams or not. And, that's probably true.

That doesn't mean they wouldn't prefer a Canadian-based team in playoffs over an American-based team, however.

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The Norfolk Admirals lost a game for the first time since Super Bowl XLVI on February 5th, 2012. This loss does not count against their regular season unbeaten streak record. But, it still broke an unbeaten streak of games overall.

In many ways, Game 2 of the AHL Eastern Conference Quarterfinal was an extension of Game 1. The Manchester Monarchs, who the Admirals had not seen this season until playoffs started, tried to establish a very physical presence from the beginning. And while the Admirals pulled out a 3-2 win in that game, they got sucked into the physical play and took far more penalties than they should have.

Perhaps it was the fact that the team hadn't lost in a couple of months and they were taking some things for granted, but they came out rather flat in the first.

"We weren't playing our best. We were a little sloppy with our plays - a lot of turnovers," Admirals captain Mike Angelidis said. "I think in the second period, the boys responded and came out hard. But we couldn't capitalize in the third, and that's when you need to win hockey games."

They were down 2-0 at the end of the first period. But, they came out ready to play in the second, and got an energy boost from an Angelidis fight three minutes into the period. He left the ice immediately afterwards, but only because he had lost a contact and needed to replace it. The Admirals took 22 shots and getting two goals from Alexandre Picard that period.

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As someone on Twitter said earlier about Sidney Crosby and his (lack of) personality - be careful what you wish for.

People had complained for a long time that his media personality was the equivalent of dry toast. Bland, dry, and a little stale. He said all the right things, did all the right things, and was perfect in his role of NHL poster boy.

And then came the concussions.

Would it surprise anyone that severe concussions can actually change a person's personality? Make them more volatile and have less impulse control? Seriously.

The Mayo Clinic says this about concussion-induced personality changes:

Headaches that occur after a concussion can vary and may feel like tension-type headaches or migraine headaches. Most, however, are tension-type headaches, which may be associated with a neck injury that happened at the same time as the head injury. In some cases, people experience behavior or emotional changes after a mild traumatic brain injury. Family members may notice that the person has become more irritable, suspicious, argumentative or stubborn.

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Alex Killorn, the soon to be Harvard grad, has played seven games with the Norfolk Admirals in his first taste of professional hockey. He played his first game with Norfolk on 23 March, which was also the Admirals' record-breaking 19^th win in a row. He is currently playing on a Norfolk tryout contract, and his newly signed contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning won't kick in until this fall.

According to his Harvard University men's ice hockey profile, he's listed at 6'2", 207 lbs. But, perhaps more importantly, he's also listed as a center. Though, during his last game with the Admirals, he wasn't taking many faceoffs.

"Since I've been up, I've played the wing mostly. But Coach does like to get me out playing center every now and again. So whenever I go out to play center, I take draws, but most of the time I'm just playing on the wing," Killorn said.

When asked if he was a natural center, he said, "I've played both in my lifetime. The past two years I've played center, but before that I played wing. Either way. I'm happy wherever [the coach] puts me."

The Lightning drafted him in 2007 in the 3^rd round, 77^th overall. But even before that, he had been drafted to a major junior team. The Shawinigan Cataractes chose him 42^nd overall in the 2005 Quebec Major Junior Draft, but he ended up choosing Harvard over the QMJHL.

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The Norfolk Admirals played their final home game for the 2011-2012 AHL season on Saturday, 7 April. They beat the current Calder Cup Champions, the Binghamtom Senators, 4-1. This game had everything - suspense, a full house, and a line brawl.

But all anyone could talk about was the 25-game winning streak.

It colored everything - and for good reason. It's an outstanding mark of achievement. Not just for the team, but for individuals as well. This should be something that everyone is proud of.

Even still, it's an omnipresent fact that no one can escape. Anything in regards to the Admirals had the word "streak" attached to it. Any stat, and player, any person associated with the team - even the fans - it's all before or after the streak. Talking about the streak is completely unavoidable - and it just keeps on going.

Even when just talking about the game afterwards, the streak sneaks in there.

"Actually, it's probably a pretty good game to be at. The fans were probably pretty excited when the melee started. And I thought we actually took a step backwards after that. I thought we let down; I thought we sort of lost our concentration a little bit. And then that wacky goal goes in, and I thought, "Ahhh. Those ones have been going in for us, not against us." So there was a little bit of a tingle of worry there. But, you know, we found a way. Like they have this whole streak. Tough to explain." -Head coach Jon Cooper

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The Tampa Bay Lightning lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs in overtime by a score of 3-2.

The good news is that Steven Stamkos scored one more goal - his 59^th this season - and that he has one more game to make it to 60. It was also his 97^th point this season as well. It took a while for him to get that goal, too. In the second period alone, he had six shots. But he didn't get his goal until the third period, putting the team up 2-1 at that point, and he ended the game with 8 shots on goal.

The bad news is that, while the Lightning managed to make it to overtime, they didn't have a single shot on goal in extra time. Which is really too bad, since they were playing pretty well after the first period. The team, as a whole, had 37 shots on goal in regulation time.

But you can't exactly score a goal if you're not going to shoot the puck, which was the problem in OT.

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The Tampa Bay Lightning lost to the Montreal Canadiens 5-2.

Going along with the trend of the past few weeks, the Lightning were unable to get many shots off. For the game, they had only 16 shots on goal. Four of those were by Steven Stamkos, three by J.T. Brown, and two by Bruno Gervais. Yes, nine of the teams' total shots were by three players.

They came out sort of flat the first two periods. There were moments of brilliance, of course, but it was like they were just going through the motions. Which isn't surprising, considering the time of year and the fact that they're not making it into playoffs. The effort in the third period was much, much better - despite them only taking five shots on goal.

The first of the two goals was a gift by the Canadiens' goaltender Peter Budaj. He came out to the left faceoff circle to handle the puck, and passed it right on to Vincent Lecavalier's stick. Vinny easily popped it into the open net for his first goal since 9 February. The second goal was Gervais's sixth of the season, which is career-high for him.

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The Tampa Bay Lightning lost to the New Jersey Devils 6-4.

The return of Vincent Lecavalier to the lineup was less than stunning. Though, I'm not talking about him. I'm talking about the game. Vinny played fairly well, and almost played as much as Martin St. Louis did in terms of ice time. Marty played 19:26, while Vinny played 17:38.

So much for keeping track of his ice time, as had been talked about previous to the game.

Outside of that, Steven Stamkos did not score a goal. However, Ryan Malone did get himself a hat trick. It was the fourth hat trick of Malone's career, and it was against Martin Brodeur, who has only allowed three hat tricks since the lockout. Two of those hat tricks were this year, too - St. Louis's in February, and now Malone's.

The first period looked promising. The Lightning had nine shots on goal, and they were up 1-0 on a Malone goal. Then the second period happened, and the Devils scored four goals. It wasn't all doom and gloom in the second, however, as Malone scored two more.

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The Tampa Bay Lightning lost to the Boston Bruins 5-2.

Steven Stamkos scored his 54^th and 55^th goals on the season, while Dwayne Roloson played his second game in two days. Victor Hedman returned to the lineup after being out due to illness the game before. And the Lightning had three more shots on goal than the previous night.

I think that pretty much sums it up, doesn't it.

The biggest differences between this game and the game the night before were the number of blocked shots and faceoff wins. The Lightning has blocked 25 shots during the game with the Flyers, and blocked 17 shots against the Bruins. Which doesn't really seem like much of a difference, except until you look at the score. Maybe it wasn't possible to block all five of those goals, but it's something to consider.

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The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Philadelphia Flyers 5-3.

Steven Stamkos scored his 53^rd goal of the season, breaking a team records for goals scored in one season. The previous record holder had been Vincent Lecavalier, who scored 52 goals in 2006-2007. Lecavalier had 56 assists that season, while Stamkos has only has 35 this season thus far.

So congratulations to Stamkos on the new team record!

The story of the game was shots on goal. As in, the Lightning only had 15 shots on goal for the entire game. They had a grand total of two shots in the second period alone. Sure, they won the game, but that it's still a concern when 10 of those 15 shots came from 10 players. The only players that shot that were had more than a single recorded shot on goal were Tom Pyatt with two, and St. Louis with three.

Because of that, Dwayne Roloson had to bring his A-game. And he did. This was perhaps the best game this season for Roloson. He was in last season's playoff form. There's no question that he stole this game for the Lightning.

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Most of the teams in the Southeast Division have long been speculated about in regards to relocation and/or contraction. Those who aren't fans of those teams take it as a matter of course; it's "obvious" that teams don't belong in the American South. The critics may say they're traditionalists and that hockey teams shouldn't be located in warm climates - though, everyone seems perfectly okay with the San Jose Sharks, Los Angeles Kings, and the Anaheim Ducks all being in places where it doesn't snow.

The other side of that lovely double-standard are the teams in colder climates that are more likely to be moved, but are being ignored as potential candidates for relocation. The New York Islanders are an obvious choice, and perhaps the New Jersey Devils. But the Ottawa Senators have also struggled at the gate, even when they're playing well, and the Detroit Red Wings are located in a city that's extremely economically depressed, so they're having problems selling tickets as well. Although, somehow, no one talks about them very much - except for the Islanders, of course.

The real problem, however, isn't so much selling tickets as it is marketing - and television contracts. The NFL, for instance, has such a sweet TV deal that they could probably still make money if every team played in an empty stadium all season. The NHL, however, is extremely dependent upon selling tickets. And, as is the case with most sports, no one but die hard fans want to pay good money to go watch a perennially losing team.

Does this mean that everyone struggling should move? Of course not. But the perspective of a fan of a team that's been the focus of relocation rumors is far different than one whose team has been successful and productive for decades.

I deliberately asked this very uncomfortable question of our writers to see what they have to say. Not just because it's often a topic of discussion around the league, but also because it's something that the fans of most so-called "Sun Belt" teams just don't like to talk about since it hits a little too close to home for many. No one wants to discuss the possibility of a team moving or leaving when that team could be their own at some point.

(Not that I think the Lightning will actually move, but the team certainly has been the center of some relocation rumors, hasn't it?)

So the question of the week is this: If you could contract or move NHL teams that are struggling financially around to your satisfaction, who would you contract or move, and to where?

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