Sidney Crosby Cleared For Contact, Return Date Not Set

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By Alan Robinson - NHL.com

PITTSBURGH -- Finally, the news the Pittsburgh Penguins waited three months to hear: Sidney Crosby is symptom-free and is expected to resume playing soon.

Crosby, sidelined for all but eight games this season due to concussion-like symptoms, was cleared for contact and practiced with the Penguins on Tuesday. He could return as early as Sunday, when the Penguins play the Boston Bruins, though Crosby is not pinpointing a specific return date.

"No sooner than Sunday, I would say, but I'm not going to sit here and put a date on it," said Crosby, who expects to take part in game-day morning skates Wednesday and Friday and full practices Thursday and Saturday. "It would be total guesswork. I just want to make sure I get through these days fine."

If all goes well the rest of the week, Crosby said, "That would be a great decision to make if I get to that point." READ ON....

Related articles

• Crosby cleared for contact at practice (canada.com)
• Sidney Crosby cleared for contact (sports.nationalpost.com)
• Sidney Crosby symptom-free and cleared for contact (thestar.com)

Detroit Red Wings Tie Record With 20th Straight Home Win

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Brian Hedger - NHL.com Correspondent

DETROIT – Back on Nov.3, it felt like the Detroit Red Wings might never win another game this season.

They'd just lost a lackluster game at home to the Calgary Flames and were winless in six straight games. Now, it feels like they might never lose again – at least at home.

The Red Wings did something on Sunday night that hasn't been accomplished in the National Hockey League in 36 years and only done by two other teams in the League's history. They won on their home ice for the 20th consecutive time by downing the visiting Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 at Joe Louis Arena in a thrilling game filled with end-to-end action. READ ON....

Detroit Red Wings, Toronto Maple Leafs To Play 2013 Winter Classic At The Big House

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DETROIT -- The NHL's Winter Classic has grown bigger each season of its five-year existence. It's only fitting that the next stop for the Jan. 1 outdoor game will be at Michigan Stadium, known by many as "The Big House."

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced Thursday morning the 2013 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic -- between Original Six rivals Detroit and Toronto -- will be played at the home of the University of Michigan's football team in Ann Arbor.

"These two Original Six rivals will take the Winter Classic to a new record-setting level," Bettman said in announcing the game.

Bettman made the announcement at Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers, which will host the Hockeytown Winter Festival, a week-long celebration of the game at all levels. MORE....

Related articles

• NHL confirms Maple Leafs - Red Wings Winter Classic (theglobeandmail.com)
• Winter Classic Heads to the Big House (nytimes.com)
• Winter Classic 2013 Tickets: Gary Bettman Says '115,000 Or More' Seats Will Be Available (sbnation.com)

Sidney Crosby Skates With Teammates, Status Unchanged

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By Arpon Basu - NHL.com Correspondent

MONTREAL -- There were three injured Pittsburgh Penguins who joined their teammates for practice Monday, but it was the one who is the furthest from returning that drew the most attention.

Sidney Crosby was on the ice with his teammates for the first time in two months, but said it has little bearing on when he may return to play and was not an indication of an improvement in his recovery from concussion-like symptoms.

The main reason Crosby joined his teammates was that his usual skating partners -- injured teammates Jordan Staal and Simon Despres -- have progressed far enough in their recoveries from knee injuries that they could practice with the team.

Basically, Crosby didn't want to feel lonely.

"It's just good to be out there," Crosby said. "I wasn't going to skate by myself if I didn't have to." READ ON....

Related articles

• Crosby skates in Penguins' main practice (sportsillustrated.cnn.com)
• Crosby mixes it up, practises with teammates (cbc.ca)
• Crosby practises with Penguins but still no timeframe for return to action (thestar.com)

2012 National Hockey League All-Star Fan Balloting Final Leaderboard

FORWARDS
RANK	TEAM	PLAYER	VOTES
* Write-in candidate
1.		Daniel Alfredsson	897,055
2.		Jason Spezza	817,483
3.		Milan Michalek	743,977
4.		Phil Kessel	701,833
5.		Joffrey Lupul	520,843
6.		Sidney Crosby	504,393
7.		Claude Giroux	385,253
8.		Jonathan Toews	341,419
9.		Pavel Datsyuk	313,783
10.		Evgeni Malkin	303,726
11.		Jaromir Jagr	255,178
12.		Patrick Kane	244,136
13.		James Neal	230,848
14.		Henrik Zetterberg	206,852
15.		Marian Hossa	206,852
16.		Steven Stamkos	185,342
17.		Jordan Eberle	184,036
18.		Alex Ovechkin	182,920
19.		Daniel Sedin	180,636
20.		Jordan Staal	166,527
21.		Henrik Sedin	165,044
22.		Patrick Sharp	164,218
23.		Ryan Kesler	152,005
24.		Danny Briere	149,130
25.		Taylor Hall	141,366
26.		Patrice Bergeron	138,580
27.		Marian Gaborik	133,374
28.		* Tyler Seguin	121,135
29.		Milan Lucic	118,015
30.		Thomas Vanek	102,582
31.		Ryan Smyth	101,399
32.		Michael Cammalleri	99,963
33.		Anze Kopitar	92,229
34.		Tomas Plekanec	89,596
35.		Teemu Selanne	89,113
36.		Brad Richards	86,001
37.		Joe Thornton	85,314
38.		Joe Pavelski	84,405
39.		Jeff Skinner	84,063
40.		Martin St. Louis	79,278
41.		Matt Duchene	76,451
42.		Nicklas Backstrom	75,661
43.		Patrick Marleau	74,284
44.		* Ryan Nugent-Hopkins	73,908
45.		Jarome Iginla	70,570
46.		Jason Pominville	67,005
47.		Zach Parise	63,611
48.		Jamie Benn	62,840
49.		David Backes	62,420
50.		Mike Richards	58,794

DEFENSEMEN
RANK	TEAM	PLAYER	VOTES
* Write-in candidate
1.		Erik Karlsson	939,591
2.		Dion Phaneuf	614,933
3.		Sergei Gonchar	603,628
4.		Nicklas Lidstrom	476,979
5.		Zdeno Chara	463,650
6.		Kris Letang	452,979
7.		John-Michael Liles	401,096
8.		Duncan Keith	295,033
9.		Shea Weber	261,597
10.		Brent Seabrook	230,472
11.		P.K. Subban	226,272
12.		Niklas Kronwall	198,859
13.		Kimmo Timonen	195,334
14.		Chris Pronger	176,367
15.		Alexander Edler	167,794
16.		Dustin Byfuglien	149,405
17.		Drew Doughty	115,404
18.		Dan Boyle	114,816
19.		Brent Burns	91,434
20.		Brian Campbell	88,654
21.		Mike Green	88,019
22.		Marc Staal	87,902
23.		Ryan Whitney	86,781
24.		Sheldon Souray	84,597
25.		* Dan Girardi	78,411
26.		Tyler Myers	72,360
27.		Alex Pietrangelo	68,881
28.		Jack Johnson	66,498
29.		Ryan Suter	60,525
30.		* Brooks Orpik	58,814

GOALIES
RANK	TEAM	PLAYER	VOTES
* Write-in candidate
1.		Tim Thomas	626,540
2.		James Reimer	498,075
3.		Marc-Andre Fleury	424,619
4.		Carey Price	251,395
5.		Henrik Lundqvist	209,943
6.		* Jimmy Howard	192,685
7.		Nikolai Khabibulin	185,354
8.		Pekka Rinne	171,179
9.		Ilya Bryzgalov	166,647
10.		Roberto Luongo	166,391
11.		Jonathan Quick	118,174
12.		Martin Brodeur	102,672
13.		* Corey Crawford	99,264
14.		Ryan Miller	97,626
15.		* Craig Anderson	79,064
16.		Kari Lehtonen	78,735
17.		Tomas Vokoun	59,325
18.		Jaroslav Halak	50,168
19.		* Brian Elliott	46,245
20.		Cam Ward	44,037

NOTE: Fans determined the first 6 players chosen to participate in the 2012 Tim Horton's NHL All-Star Game (3 Forwards, 2 Defensemen, 1 Goalie).