Bearded Ice – June 5

MiHockey staff writers Ryan Zuke and Ben Fleck with you on this Tuesday morning.

Quick hits

The Los Angeles Kings’ magical run continues in the 2012 playoffs as they beat the New Jersey Devils 4-0 last night to take a commanding 3-0 series lead. The Kings are now 15-2 in this year’s NHL playoffs.

A tentative schedule for the Hockeytown Winter Festival has been released, and we’ve got it right here for you.

Yesterday we reported on Chesterfield native Matt DeBlouw’s strong showing at the NHL Scouting Combine. Click this link to see more.

The NAHL North division is expanding to eight teams next season and will include four from Michigan. The Soo Eagles will join the Port Huron Fighting Falcons, Kalamazoo Jr. K-Wings and the Flint-based Michigan Warriors as the four Michigan teams.  The other teams include the Jamestown Ironmen (New York), Janesville Jets (Wisconsin), Johnstown Tomahawks (Pennsylvania) and Springfield Jr. Blues (Illinois).

Rochester Hills native Alec Martinez is once again our Michi-gamer of the night after scoring the game-winning goal in Game 3.

Highlight reel

As the Kings look to sweep the Devils, check out this LA Kings playoffs video called “Time Is On Our Side.”

Outside the Mitten

Here is an interesting thought, what if the NCAA hockey regionals took on the same format as the NCAA baseball regionals?

With Anze Kopitar’s two points last game, he now has 18 during the playoffs and is tied for the league lead with Ilya Kovalchuk.

Check it out

Here is a video of Wayne Gretzky dropping the puck prior to Game 3 followed by an interview with the Great One.

Breaking sports news video. MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL highlights and more.

Next up

The Kings will look to close out the series Wednesday and bring home their first Cup in franchise history.  The Maple Leafs are the only team in NHL history to come back and win the Stanley Cup Final after falling behind 3-0 – and they did it against the Red Wings.