The James Norris Memorial Trophy is given annually to the National Hockey League’s best “defense player who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position”. The Norris Trophy has been given 52 times to 21 different players since its beginnings in 1954.
Up for the honor this year are the Calgary Flames’ Dion Phaneuf, Nicklas Lidstrom of the Detroit red Wings and Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins. Nicklas Lidstrom has won the Norris Trophy five of the last six seasons, a tie with the former Bruin Ray Bourque. This is his ninth nomination.

The Calder Memorial Trophy is an annual award given “to the player selected as the most proficient in his first year of competition in the National Hockey League.” The prestigious award has been given 70 times since its beginnings in 1937.

This year’s nominees are Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks, and Nicklas Backstrom of the Washington Capitols. Kane was taken first overall by the Chicago Blackhawks at last summer’s NHL draft and led all freshmen with 21 goals and 72 points in 82 games this season. Toews, who played with Kane on Chicago’s top line for most of the season, collected 54 points, despite having a shorter season (64 games) due to a knee injury. Backstrom finished second to Kane in scoring (69 points) and helped lead the Capitals into the playoffs.

Series I Philadelphia Flyers at Montreal Canadiens

Thursday, April 24, 2008 7:00 PM Philadelphia at Montreal
Saturday, April 26, 2008 7:00 PM Philadelphia at Montreal
Monday, April 28, 2008 7:00 PM Montreal at Philadelphia
Wednesday, April 30, 2008 7:00 PM Montreal at Philadelphia
*Saturday, May 3, 2008 7:00 PM Philadelphia at Montreal
*Sunday, May 4, 2008 7:00 PM Montreal at Philadelphia
*Tuesday, May 6, 2008 7:00 PM Philadelphia at Montreal

Series J New York Rangers at Pittsburgh Penguins

Friday, April 25, 2008 7:00 PM NY Rangers at Pittsburgh
Sunday, April 27, 2008 2:00 PM NY Rangers at Pittsburgh
Tuesday, April 29, 2008 7:00 PM Pittsburgh at NY Rangers
Thursday, May 1, 2008 7:00 PM Pittsburgh at NY Rangers
*Sunday, May 4, 2008 2:00 PM NY Rangers at Pittsburgh
*Monday, May 5, 2008 7:00 PM Pittsburgh at NY Rangers
*Wednesday, May 7, 2008 TBD NY Rangers at Pittsburgh

Series K Colorado Avalanche at Detroit Red Wings

Thursday, April 24, 2008 7:30 PM Colorado at Detroit
Saturday, April 26, 2008 3:00 PM Colorado at Detroit
Tuesday, April 29, 2008 10:00 PM Detroit at Colorado
Thursday, May 1, 2008 10:00 PM Detroit at Colorado
*Saturday, May 3, 2008 1:00 PM Colorado at Detroit
*Monday, May 5, 2008 10:00 PM Detroit at Colorado
*Wednesday, May 7, 2008 TBD Colorado at Detroit

Series L Dallas Stars at San Jose Sharks

Friday, April 25, 2008 10:00 PM Dallas at San Jose
Sunday, April 27, 2008 9:00 PM Dallas at San Jose
Tuesday, April 29, 2008 7:30 PM San Jose at Dallas
Wednesday, April 30, 2008 9:00 PM San Jose at Dallas
*Friday, May 2, 2008 10:00 PM Dallas at San Jose
*Sunday, May 4, 2008 9:00 PM San Jose at Dallas
*Tuesday May 6, 2008 10:00 PM Dallas at San Jose

20-year old Rookie goaltender Carey Price put two hard to swallow losses behind him to save the Montreal Canadiens‘ playoff run and destroy the Boston Bruins’ hopes of an unlikely comeback. Price stopped 25 shots, including 11 in the opening period. Price had allowed a combined 10 goals in two losses after he got his first playoff shutout in a 1-0 victory in Game 4.

Price posted his second shutout and Andrei Kostitsyn scored twice to lead Montreal to a 5-0 victory over Boston last night in the deciding game of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference first-round playoff series. The Canadiens took control of the game in the second period, outshooting the Bruins 17-6 while building a three-goal lead by Mark Streit halfway through the period and Kostitsyn’s second goal of the series at 15:13.

Montreal, the East’s top seed, will face either the New York Rangers or Philadelphia in an East semifinal series.

Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils, Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers and Evgeni Nabokov of the San Jose Sharks were announced on Monday as the finalists for the 2007-08 Vezina Trophy awarded to the NHL’s top goaltender. Brodeur is a Vezina finalist for the eighth time as well as a four-time winner (2003, 2004 and 2007). He posted a 44-27-6 record with a 2.17 goals-against average, .920 save percentage and four shutouts during the regular season, ranking among the NHL leaders in minutes played (first, 4,635), wins (second) and GAA (fifth). He and Hall of Famer Patrick Roy are the only goaltenders in NHL history to reach the 500-win mark, and Brodeur completed the season with 96 career shutouts, seven short of all-time leader Terry Sawchuk. Brodeur also extended his NHL records by logging a third consecutive and seventh career 40-win season as well as his 10th consecutive campaign with 70-or-more games played.

The Flyers/Capitals game took a dark turn when the Flyers left wing Patrick Thoresen, took a shot in the groin and had to be helped off the ice, taken to hospital for tests there is the possibility that one of his testicles will have to be removed, such was the force of the shot that he blocked with six minutes to go in the game.

Boston Bruins 5 Montreal Canadiens 4
Forcing a game 7, the Bruins fought hard and came out strong in a tense game on Saturday. Montreal has been struggling after initially holding a 3-1 series lead.

Colorado Avalanche 2 Minnesota Wild 1
The Avalanche stood thier ground against another attack from the Wild for a series-clinching 2-1 win Saturday night.

Washington Capitals 3 Philadelphia Flyers 2
The Capitals jumped to an early lead, and the Flyers just waited too long to respond Saturday in Washington’s 3-2 must-win Game 5 victory in the first-round playoff series.

Detroit Red Wings 3 Nashville Predators 0
At Nashville, Tenn., Nicklas Lidstrom and Jiri Hudler each scored, and the Red Wings closed out their opening series by beating the Predators in Game 6.

Dallas Stars 4 Anaheim Ducks 1
At Dallas, Stephane Robidas scored the tying goal on the power play early in the third period then set up Stu Barnes for the go-ahead goal 52 seconds later, sending the Stars past Anaheim to end their first-round series in six games.

Flames 2 San Jose Sharks 0
Miikka Kiprusoff made 21 saves and the Calgary Flames beat the Sharks 2-0 Sunday, forcing Game 7 in the first-round playoff series.

The Detroit Red Wings were hoping to stay with Dominik Hasek when the playoffs began after rotating the goalie with Chris Osgood in the regular season. Hasek was so shaky in a series-evening loss that coach Mike Babcock was forced to make a move.

“This is Plan B,” Babcock said yesterday. “But Plan B is Chris Osgood and I think he won 29 games and had the best goals-against average in the NHL.”

Hasek was benched after giving up three goals on 14 shots in Wednesday’s 3-2 loss at Nashville. Hasek is the oldest active goalie in the NHL at 43, and the second oldest active player in the league after Red Wings teammate Chris Chelios, who is 46.

In a complete shift from last year, the Ottawa Senators were swept out of the first round by the Pittsburgh Penguins last night. Evgeni Malkin and Jarko Ruutu scored second-period goals and Sidney Crosby scored into an empty net with 7.5 seconds remaining. The Pens were knocked out of last year’s playoffs in five games by the Senators. Ottawa went on to make its first Stanley Cup finals appearance in modern franchise history, losing in five to the Anaheim Ducks. The Penguins are now the first team to advance to the second round.

Chris Chelios of the Detroit Red Wings made his 248th post-season appearance on Saturday afternoon, finally overtaking the NHL record held by Montreal Canadians goaltender Patrick Roy. He skated 17 shifts as Detroit prevailed 4-2 over the Nashville Predators for a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven Western Conference quarter-final.

Chelios draws nearer every year to another NHL record - that of the oldest player in NHL history. At 46 years of age, Chelios has to play for another 7 years to take the long-standing record held by Hall of Fame forward Gordie Howe, who played at age 52 for the Hartford Whalers in 1979-80.