Stanley Cup Hockey Championship

Detroit has discovered how tough it is to score against Carolina, so the play of Coach Scotty Bowman's reunited "Grind Line" will be the key for the Red Wings for the rest of the Stanley Cup finals. With the best-of-seven series tied at 1-1 heading into tonight's Game 3 at Carolina's Entertainment & Sports Arena, Kirk Maltby, Darren McCarty and Kris Draper will be counted on to do the dirty work for the Red Wings, thanks to the Hurricanes' smothering style.

Scotty Bowman kept his secret as long as he could and the best team money could buy made sure his last game as coach won him a Stanley Cup championship. "I made up my mind in February that this was going to be my last year," said Bowman, who announced his retirement after the Detroit Red Wings finished off the Carolina Hurricanes, 3-1, to clinch the best-of-seven series Thursday night in front of a sellout crowd of 20,058 at Joe Louis Arena.

Detroit winger Brett Hull joined a select number of players when he scored his 100th playoff goal Monday night in the Red Wings' 3-0 victory over Carolina in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals. Hull trails only Wayne Gretzky (122), Mark Messier (109) and Jari Kurri (106) on the all-time list. "It's [special] in that I have joined quite a group and I am very proud to be a part of it," said Hull, who scored his team-leading 10th playoff goal and recorded his 23rd postseason game-winning goal.

As if the crushed players, and fans, of the Ottawa Senators didn't need one more bitter twist of the hockey knife, consider this looming truth: The most-revered trophy in professional sports, the Stanley Cup, will be coming to Ottawa this summer after all. But only in the taunting form of a day-trip. All members of the newly minted Stanley Cup champion Ducks gained the privilege of getting to spend 24 hours with the iconic treasure this summer.

The Anaheim Ducks are the 2007 Stanley Cup champions. Let that sentence hang there until it sinks in. Repeat it aloud a few times and only then does it start to sound right, and natural. The postgame partying has ended, although a giant public party is set for Saturday evening when fans will gather outside the Honda Center to applaud, to stare at the Cup amid disbelief and joy, to shout and maybe even cry. The champagne and beer spilled in a jubilant dressing room have dried up.

After sitting out eight playoff games because of a broken hand, Ducks winger Chris Kunitz returned to the lineup for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals and lasted barely more than a period before being sidelined again, this time because of an abdominal injury. It forced Kunitz to miss the Ducks' 3-2 victory over Ottawa on Monday and may keep him from playing in tonight's Game 5 at the Honda Center.

Tears streamed down Teemu Selanne's face, dreams meeting reality in a confluence of powerful emotions he was helpless to contain. After 14 NHL seasons, after a knee injury robbed him of his speed and confidence and nearly ended his career, he had won the Stanley Cup as a member of the Ducks.

If they don't learn their lesson now, if the Ducks don't take to heart their admission that they take too many needless penalties, they will look back in anger in a week or two from now as the Senators hoist the Stanley Cup. It may already be perilously late for the Ducks in one sense, even though the Senators' rally for a 5-3 victory Saturday at Scotiabank Place merely halved the Ducks' series lead to two games to one.

The Ducks arrived at their hotel in Canada's capital early Thursday evening a bit dazed after a long flight but pleased nevertheless with their 2-0 series lead over the Ottawa Senators in the Stanley Cup finals. Now they won't have the comforts of a raucous home crowd urging them on. On Saturday, Ottawa will play host to its first Stanley Cup game in 80 years, and it figures to be a frenzied atmosphere for Game 3 at Scotiabank Place.

Enjoy watching goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere in a Ducks uniform while you can. Take note of his technique and his ability to stay square to the shooters, trademarks that are the envy of his more acrobatic but less successful peers. Watch him stymie opponents and marvel at how hard he has worked to hone his craft and to overcome a dehydration problem that plagued him for years, until he learned last summer how to calibrate his fluid intake so he would remain strong and alert in the net.