Pavel Datsyuk's return to Russia has culminated with another championship victory for the former Detroit Red Wings star.

Datsyuk's SKA St. Petersburg won the Gagarin Cup on Sunday, defeating Metallurg Magnitogorsk 5-3 in Game 5 to win the Kontinental Hockey League's championship series 4 games to 1.

Datsyuk, 38, was injured for Game 5 but joined team captain and former NHL star Ilya Kovalchuk on the ice following the game to hoist the Cup.

Datsyuk, who won two Stanley Cups with the Red Wings, scored 12 goals and had 22 assists during the KHL regular season and added four goals and five assists in the seven postseason games in which he appeared.

He received congratulations from his agent, who noted his client's feat of winning championships in both the NHL and KHL.

Congratulations to my friend and client Pavel Datsyuk on winning Gagarin Cup - KHL championship. One of the first ones who won both CUPS — Dan Milstein-Hockey (@DMilsteinHockey) April 16, 2017

Winning championships in both the NHL and KHL is a rare feat. Others who hoisted both titles include Oleg Tverdovsky, Slava Kozlov and Mike Keenan, who became the first coach to accomplish the feat in 2014.

It was SKA St. Petersburg's second championship in three years. The team lost just twice during the KHL playoffs. Metallurg Magnitogorsk was trying to repeat as league champion after winning the Gagarin Cup in 2016.

Datsyuk, a four-time NHL All-Star selection, left the Red Wings in June to return to his native Russia and the KHL, where he played during the NHL lockout during the 2012-13 season. He ranks sixth in Red Wings franchise history with 918 points, having scored 314 goals (ranked eighth) and tallied 604 assists (fifth) in 953 career games.

ESPN Stats & Information contributed to this report.</s>Russia's Metallurg Magnitogorsk won the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) for the second time in three years after beating CSKA Moscow 3-1 in game seven of the play-off final on Tuesday to take the series 4-3.

The club from the Ural Mountains also lifted the Gagarin Cup, awarded to the league winners, in the 2013/14 season.

The KHL was formed in 2008 and is regarded as the second most competitive hockey league in the world after the National Hockey League (NHL).

The KHL is made up of 28 clubs from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Slovakia, Croatia and Finland. (Reporting By Dmitriy Rogovitskiy, editing by Alan Baldwin)</s>When I was eight years old, some players from the Sheffield Steelers ice hockey team visited my primary school, promoting the sport within the community. They gave us free tickets to watch a game. I went with my family and was instantly hooked, playing first on rollerblades on the estate where I lived before transitioning on to the ice when I was 14. I now play for the Sheffield Steeldogs in the second highest league in the UK.

I don’t think there’s any other game as fast, physical or entertaining as ice hockey. Teams are made up of five players and a goalie. It’s very fluid, with constant end-to-end action. Fitness is hugely important. On the ice, you never stop skating and you’re sprinting as fast as you can. You need endurance, because games last for 60 minutes, but you also need to be physically strong so you don’t get pushed off the puck.

It’s a contact sport, and while you’re not allowed to hit someone from behind, at the speed we’re travelling – up to 30 miles per hour – when you do get hit, it’s quite a collision. We wear a lot of protective equipment, but it still hurts. The puck is made of compressed rubber and travels at 80-odd mph. When it hits you, it’s absolute agony. I got caught on the ankle the other day and it chipped my bone. If I hadn’t been wearing skates, it would have snapped my ankle in half.

We play 60 games a season, sometimes 10 times in the space of 14 days, travelling up and down the country to do so. On top of that, I like to be in the gym four times a week to maintain my fitness. I also work nine-hour days and have a young family, so it’s a gruelling schedule and requires a lot of commitment.

It’s totally worth it. I love the speed, the skill and the discipline it teaches you, but also the friends I’ve made along the way, from Lithuania, Slovakia, Canada – all over. And when I’m out on the ice, doing something I love and enjoy so much, it’s a total release.

How often do you play? Two match days and three team training sessions a week.

Most goals scored in a game? Two.



Five ways to get started: ice hockey

1 Even if you’re not the most competent ice skater, don’t be put off from having a go. While you do need to be an accomplished skater to play at the highest level, there are plenty of clubs that cater for complete beginners, too.

2 Most ice hockey players enjoy the sport’s physicality, but it is perfectly possible to play without getting hit. At the recreational, beginner and junior levels, there are non-contact, semi-contact and full-contact leagues.

3 To skate backwards, dig the front edge of one skate into the ice, push out, and bring your foot around in the shape of a C, transferring your weight from toe to heel as you do so. Now do the same with the other foot, and so on.

4 Ice hockey gear isn’t cheap, but you don’t have to fork out before your first time. Most clubs will offer Learn to Play sessions for novices, where they’ll provide all the necessary protective and playing equipment.

5 There are ice hockey clubs all over the UK, but no central governing body. Most are covered by either the English Ice Hockey Association or the Scottish Ice Hockey Association.</s>Hockey Bihar crushed Hockey Andaman & Nicobar 26-0 in their opening Pool E encounter of Hockey India?s 7th Junior National Hockey Championship (Men)





Hockey Bihar crushed Hockey Andaman & Nicobar 26-0 in their opening Pool E encounter of Hockey India?s 7th Junior National Hockey Championship (Men) ?B? Division at the Aisbagh Stadium on Friday.



Hockey Bihar started the scoring early with Anwarullah Shah striking the first in the third minute. Shah went on to score five times in the game (3?, 10?, 39?, 50?, 67?) and was ably assisted by his captain Md. Sidik, who scored six goals (19?, 23?, 29?, 51?, 55?, 57?).



In the other game, Kerala Hockey outlasted Hockey Mizoram 2-1 in a closely fought Pool A encounter. Hockey Mizoram struck first with a 19th minute field goal from Lallawmkima.



Just before half time,though Kerala got an equaliser courtesy of an M Abhijith PC conversion. Both the teams were evenly matched in the second half, with neither able to break the deadlock.



It took till the 57th minute for Kerala to sneak the winner, Christo Sebastian scoring off a PC to give them the victory.



Hockey Patiala beat Tripura Hockey 18-0 in their Pool F encounter. Patiala?s Rahul (13?, 36?, 53?), Baljeet Singh (50?, 60?), Gurshahzad Singh (8?, 43?) and Sandeep Kumar (4?, 51?) were prominent among the scorers.



In another high-scoring encounter, Services Sports Control Board got the better of Telangana Hockey 12-2. Kuldeep?s five goals (24', 32', 33', 56', 64?) and H Mani Singh?s three (3?, 18?, 21?) gave SSCB the emphatic win.



DNA</s>Alex Pietrangelo after the St. Louis Blues' 2-1 win in Minnesota: "That's a gutty win. That's playoff hockey for you."</s>Great Britain won their final warm-up game before the World Championship as Jack Prince scored the winner in a sudden-death shootout against Poland.

The 5-4 victory in Coventry means Britain draw the two-game series, having lost the opener on Friday.

Assistant coach Tom Watkins said: "It was a really good match from both sides, our performance was excellent. The players showed heart and passion."

GB's World Championship campaign begins against Croatia in Belfast on 23 April.</s>Belleville's Alexa Hoskin of the Kingston Ice Wolves junior girls hockey team has been invited to attend the upcoming Hockey Canada national women's team strength and conditioning camp.

Hoskin, 16, will be among 83 female hockey players from across the nation who will participate in the Canadian camp from May 3-7 in Hamilton.

Hoskin is included in the group of 50 U18 players; the other group features 30 development players.

According to a press release from Hockey Canada, “the focus will be entirely on off-ice sessions, which include dryland training, fitness testing and physical and mental preparation.”

Hoskin, a five-foot-eight forward, helped the Ice Wolves qualify for the Provincial Women's Hockey League (PWHL) playoffs this year for the first time in the organization's five-year history after completing the regular season with a 17-15-6 record for 40 points — good for 11th in the 20-team league.

Hoskin tied for the Kingston team lead in goals (14) and led the Ice Wolves with five game-winning tallies this season. Her 26 points was third on the team, while accummulating just eight penalty minutes in 38 games.

In the PWHL playoffs, Kingston was swept 3-0 by Waterloo. Hoskin led the Ice Wolves in goals (2) and points (2). One of her two goals was scored shorthanded.

Hoskin played for Team Canada at the 2016 International Floorball Federation U19 women's world championships at the Sports Centre in Belleville. She is already committed to attend Quinnipiac (CT) University to study and play NCAA women's varsity hockey at the completion of her high-school/junior career.

Hoskin is a graduate of the Belleville Bearcats girls minor hockey association.
• Need to know: Kingston Ice Wolves bench boss is Belleville native Troy Sweet, winner of the 2016-17 PWHL Coach of the Year award.</s>Dresden's T.J. Brodie and the Calgary Flames will try to even their Western Conference quarter-final with the Ducks in Anaheim on Saturday (10:30 p.m., CBC).

Brodie had one assist in the Flames' 3-2 loss in Game 1 on Thursday.

The Flames have suffered 28 straight losses at the Honda Center dating back to 2006.

They were short-handed seven times in the series opener and gave up two power-play goals.

“We acknowledged it as a problem early in the year and we talked about it, that if we want to win in this league and want to be a successful team, we need to be disciplined and stay out of the box,” Flames centre Mikael Backlund said to the Calgary Sun. “Especially in this building, it seems to be every time we’re here we take too many penalties, so we have to find a way next game to stay out of the box and be really disciplined and smart.

“We want it to be the other way. We want to create power plays and create our momentum for our team.

Former Chatham-Kent Cyclones defenceman Brandon Montour of the Ducks made his NHL playoff debut in Game 1.

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. – Seth Griffith of Wallaceburg scored the winning goal as the Toronto Marlies beat the St. John's IceCaps 5-3 on Friday in the American Hockey League.

Griffith's 10th goal broke a 3-3 tie with 1:22 left in the second period.

He has 43 points in 37 games.

SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. – Soo Greyhounds goalie Joseph Raaymakers of Chatham made 30 saves in a 4-3 loss to the Owen Sound Attack in the Ontario Hockey League playoffs Friday.

The Greyhounds trail 3-2 in the Western Conference semifinal after losing three in a row.

Game 6 in the best-of-seven series is Sunday in Owen Sound. If necessary, Game 7 will be Tuesday in Sault Ste. Marie.

Raaymakers ranks second in the OHL playoffs with a 2.06 goals-against average.

LISTOWEL – Brandon Glover scored 16:57 into overtime as the London Nationals beat the Listowel Cyclones 4-3 in Game 1 of their Sutherland Cup semifinal Friday.

Adam Sinclair tallied twice for the Nationals, Richard Whittaker also scored and Cameron Zanussi made 36 saves.

Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is Saturday in London.

The Elmira Sugar Kings lead the Caledonia Corvairs 1-0 in the other semifinal.</s>Guilford, CT (April 13, 2017) — The U14 Black (AA) Shoreline Sharks girls’ hockey team won the USA Hockey’s 2017 Tier II National Championship. Undefeated in State, Regional and now, National tournament play, the Sharks earned the title by beating the Wisconsin Black Cats 2 – 0 in a competitive game on Monday at the Troy Sports Center in Troy, Michigan.

“It was a phenomenal tournament run, I am proud of what the girls accomplished,” said Head Coach Ed Rodham. “We played and beat teams from Alaska, Michigan, Colorado, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Wisconsin to win the championship title. The dedication of our players and their countless hours of practice paid off. We headed into the tournament undefeated in our last 20 games of the season, giving us the powerful momentum needed to win the USA Hockey National Championship.”

The Sharks became the 16th team from Connecticut to win a National girls title since the championship tournament started in 1978.

The overall season was strong for the Sharks with a 43-11-10 record and the constancy of a top 10 national ranking according to myhockeyrankings.com. The team competed in the Connecticut Hockey Conference (CHC), winning the state Championship in early March. They advanced to the USA Hockey Regional Tournament in Augusta, Maine in mid-March. The Sharks defeated the Casco Bay Mariners 3-1 in the finals.

“From the moment I saw these girls play together at tryouts last year, I knew there was a powerful combination of talent and chemistry,” commented Rodham. “We added 7 new players last fall who were immediately welcomed, making the transition to a new team seamless. The camaraderie with this group of players is the best I have seen in all of my years of coaching.”

With the National title under their belts, the players will continue to skate and train through the summer, further developing skills and game play for the 2017-2018 season. A large number girls move up to U16 next year which will provide the Sharks with strong teams at multiple age levels.

The Sharks organization is expanding the program by adding national tournament bound teams at the U16 and U19 levels and select participation in the competitive New England Girls Hockey League (NEGHL).</s>GANGNEUNG, Korea, Republic Of — Canada suffered its first defeat at the 2017 IPC World Para Hockey Championship, falling 2-1 to the United States on Monday.

Canada's Tyler McGregor opened the scoring late in the first period, but Nikko Landeros and Declan Farmer scored in the second period for the Americans.

"It was a good game, very physical and high-paced," Canada head coach Ken Babey said. "We didn't capitalize on our chances. We will learn from this and move forward to our next game."

Steve Cash made 11 saves to pick up the win for the Americans (4-0-0). Dominic Larocque stopped six shots for Canada (4-1-0).

The Canadians will close out their preliminary round schedule Tuesday against Germany with a chance to clinch a spot in the gold-medal game.

This is the first world championship to take place since the International Paralympic Committee rebranded the sport from sledge hockey to para hockey in November.
In ice hockey, SKA St. Petersburg wins the Gagarin Cup, the championship of the Kontinental Hockey League, with a 5–3 win over Metallurg Magnitogorsk in Game 5 to win the championship series 4–1.