ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Minnesota Wild have turned their home ice into a deafening, discouraging place for opponents to play in the playoffs. For the second straight game, they dominated the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks. Jason Pominville scored in the second period off the back of Chicago goalie Corey Crawfords skate, and the Wild beat the Blackhawks 4-2 on Friday night to even their Western Conference semifinal at two games apiece. "Its been fun to play here. I dont know what it is, but we have to find a way to bring that on the road as well," said Jared Spurgeon, whose third-period goal gave the Wild a cushion for the final stretch while the fans cheered and chanted louder and louder. "They play hard in their building, and theyre good in their building, and they check well so its tough to get momentum in here," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. Matt Cooke returned from his seven-game kneeing suspension to give the Wild a jolt, assisting on Justin Fontaines opening goal, and Nino Niederreiter also scored. "I think I should have fresh legs. I have to go out there and lead the way. Hopefully my energy is contagious," Cooke said. Yes, it was. Cooke had a team-high five hits -- the Blackhawks were only credited with seven -- to help the Wild hold an intensity advantage from start to finish. "He brings a physical presence," Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews. "You never know what hes going to do, so youve got to be aware of him out there." Crawford made 27 saves, but he gave up four goals for the second straight game. "Weve just got to play the way we can: Move the puck and play with speed and skill, make the right plays at the right time," Crawford said. "Everyones got confidence in everyone else in this room, so weve just got to play together." Patrick Sharp snapped out of his slump with his second post-season goal and Michal Handzus also scored, but the Blackhawks again found themselves unable to establish a consistent attack against the Wilds stifling defence. The teams will return to Chicago for Game 5 on Sunday night and be back in Minnesota for Game 6 on Tuesday night. Quenneville shuffled up the lines, moving Ben Smith to the first group with captain Jonathan Toews and Bryan Bickell and bringing defenceman Nick Leddy back to the lineup in a search for more speed and flow. The Wild wouldnt let that happen. Leading the NHL in takeaways in the playoffs and allowing an average of fewer than 21 shots on goal per game in the series, the Wild improved to 5-0 at home this post-season with a 16-5 goal differential. The franchise playoff record at Xcel Energy Center was a mere 5-10 prior to this year. Sharp, coming off a 34-goal, 44-assist season, got his first goal of the series. But the Blackhawks managed just 20 shots on Wild goalie Ilya Bryzgalov after stressing the importance of testing him more. Cooke set Fontaine up for a slap shot on a 2-on-1 rush early in the game, and the puck sailed over the glass. Fontaine buried his next chance, a bad-angle attempt from the front edge of the circle that skidded through Michal Rozsivals legs after Cooke swiped the puck from the defenceman. After two full periods of trap-filled, tight-checking play in Game 3, the pace in this one was quick from the start. The fans resumed their sing-song jeering of Crawfords last name from the last game, and the chants grew louder throughout the night. The buzz in the building was killed for a bit when Sharp, whose struggles prompted a move down to a new third line with Handzus and Marian Hossa, caught defenceman Clayton Stoner stuck in the offensive zone on a turnover by Niederreiter and beat Mikko Koivu to slip a wrister between Bryzgalovs pads with 38 seconds left before the break. But the Wild roared right back in the second period with goals by Pominville and Niederreiter to bracket the score by Handzus. Bryzgalov did his part by sticking his pad out to stop Sharps breakaway with a thud. "That was huge for us," left wing Zach Parise said. As was all that noise from the crowd. NOTES: Spurgeons goal was just the fourth in 42 opportunities against the Blackhawks in the playoffs, the best penalty-kill percentage in the league. ... The Bickell-Toews-Smith line totalled just three shots. ... Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, drafted from Louisville the night before, took in his first hockey game.
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Kam Chancellor Womens Jersey . Williams withdrawal came less than 24 hours after losing in the final Auckland WTA tournament final. "I dont believe she has an injury," Hobart tournament director Mark Handley said.As many as 10,000 players formerly under NHL contracts and their family members may pursue court cases against the league, court documents say, alleging it has promoted a culture of violence over the past decades but has failed to established proper rules and protocols for preventing head injuries. The suggestion that so many former players may sue the league comes in a statement of claim filed this week in Minnesota by Cory Larose, a New Brunswick-born forward who signed as an undrafted free agent with the Minnesota Wild in 2000 but only played seven games in the NHL with the New York Rangers in 2003. Larose, 39, played 425 games in the American Hockey League between 2001 and 2009. He now lives in Maple Grove, Minn., after suffering "multiple head traumas during his NHL career that were improperly diagnosed and treated by the NHL. Mr. Larose was never warned by the NHL of the negative health effects of head trauma, and still suffers from the effects of that head trauma." He is seeking damages of more than $5 million, the lawsuit says. Larose is the latest former NHL player to sue for concussion-related issues. The first group of players included former Maple Leafs stars Gary Leeman and Rick Vaive, who sued the league in November demanding damages and league-financed medical monitoring and treatment for injuries the players said they suffered because of their NH: careers. Vaive later dropped out of the lawsuit. "The NHL purposefully failed to establish reasonable rules and protocols for preventing head trauma and minimizing the effects of head trauma, including during games and practice," Laroses lawsuit says. "What changes the NHL made to its violent construct were purposefully ineffective and solely calculated by the NHL to mislead (Larose)...and the public into ceasing investigations into the risks and consequences of head trauma and the NHLs wrongdoing." The court filing says Larose is seeking to sue as part of a larger class of litigants that include approximately 10,000 former players who include any liviing players who signed an NHL contract, their spouses and dependents, the estates of deceased players, who have retired formally or informally from playing pro hockey in the NHL and who are not seeking active employment as players with an NHL team.dddddddddddd A lawyer involved in one of the concussions lawsuits against the NHL said the judge overseeing the cases is hosting a meeting next week to set out a schedule. The next step is for the league to file motions to dismiss the cases. If those are denied, then the litigants will ask for permission to certify the cases as a class action. If that is denied, then the cases would be heard individually, the lawyer said. Its unclear what kind of judgment the players might ultimately receive if they win the case. In a similar lawsuit filed on behalf of 20,000 former NFL players, the NFL agreed to pay about $700 million. That judgment was later amended, with the league agreeing to an unlimited settlement, based on the medical needs of the players. "In hockey, its a bit easier case to prove because of the fighting in the sport, and hockey players, the ones I have talked to, are generally worse off than the football players," Steven Silverman, a lawyer representing NHL players, told TSN. "There are a number of tragic cases in hockey and weve seen many cases where we have heard that former NHL trainers have been an owners former mechanic or something. They have had no medical qualifications. "But on the other hand, the NHL players have been less willing to come forward, so that makes it harder to predict a settlement number." Several similar lawsuits filed against the NHL have been moved from other venues and will be heard in Minnesota. "None of this is surprising," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told TSN. "Its extremely predictable and doesnt have any impact on exposure or likelihood of ultimate success on the merits." The claims of Larose and other players have not been proven in court and the NHL has yet to file its statement of defence.
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