North Stars make it four in a row after weekend sweep

Amid the best season in the program’s four-year history, the Traverse City North Stars continue to pile up the wins, locking down two more last weekend over the Marquette Rangers to extend their winning streak to four games.

MONTREAL — NHL commissioner Gary Bettman returned to the site where the NHL was founded and where he took over 16 years ago, and showed no sign that the league’s board of governors were ready to change hockey by eliminating fighting.

MONTREAL – Gary Bettman was reminded on Saturday about his initial plans to deal with fighting when he became NHL commissioner 16 years ago. Basically, Bettman said circa 1993 there would be healthy debate, a decision made and the issue put to rest.

MONTREAL — Nothing against Atlanta, or South Florida, or other NHL teams in the Sun Belt, but an All-Star game up north is really unlike any in a nontraditional hockey market.

Skills competition recap: Finally, some personality from players

Staying home for All-Star game comes with a price 

MONTREAL — Sure there are lots of NHL stars in Montreal this weekend. It’s the “All” part that is a bit misleading.

MONTREAL — The NHL All-Star Weekend just added a  little bit more hometown flavor.

Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay's top scorer and a native of the Montreal suburb of Laval, was named Thursday to replace an injured Sidney Crosby on the Eastern Conference roster for the 2009 NHL All-Star Game.