2011 in Sports - Ice Hockey

Ice Hockey

• December 26 (2010)–January 5: 2011 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships in Buffalo, United States.
  • 1 ! Russia 2 ! Canada 3 ! United States
• January 1: Fourth NHL Winter Classic between the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Capitals won the game 3–1.
• January 30: 58th National Hockey League All-Star Game was hosted by the Carolina Hurricanes. In a new format, the two teams were stocked in a "fantasy draft" by captains Nicklas Lidström and Eric Staal. Team Lidström defeated Team Staal 11–10, with Team Staal's Patrick Sharp (Chicago Blackhawks) named as game MVP.
• February 20: Second NHL Heritage Classic between the Montreal Canadiens and Calgary Flames at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
• March 25 – April 9: 2011 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.
  • Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs defeat the Michigan Wolverines 3–2 to win the championship.
• April 16: Salavat Yulaev Ufa wins the Gagarin Cup as champions of the Kontinental Hockey League, defeating Atlant Moscow Oblast 4–1 in the best-of-seven finals.
• April 16: The Clarenville Caribous defeat the Bentley Generals 5–3 to win the 2011 Allan Cup.
• April 29, – May 15, 2011: 2011 IIHF World Championship in Slovakia, with games being played in Bratislava and Košice.
  • 1 ! Finland 2 ! Sweden 3 ! Czech Republic
• May 8: Pembroke Lumber Kings defeat the Vernon Vipers 2–0 to win the 2011 Royal Bank Cup.
• May 29: Saint John Sea Dogs defeat the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors 3–1 to win the 2011 Memorial Cup.
• May 31: NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announces that the Atlanta Thrashers have been sold to a Winnipeg-based group and will move to that city. On June 21, the NHL Board of Governors officially approves the move, and three days later the team is unveiled as the new Winnipeg Jets.
• June 15: The Boston Bruins defeat the Vancouver Canucks 4–0 in Game 7 to win the 2011 Stanley Cup Final. Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas receives the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Patrice Bergeron becomes the newest member of the Triple Gold Club, adding the Cup to his gold medals with Team Canada in the 2004 World Championships and 2010 Olympics.
• June 24–25: 2011 NHL Entry Draft in St. Paul, Minnesota.
• September 7: 2011 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl air disaster: A plane carrying KHL team Lokomotiv Yaroslavl crashes, killing all but one player and one flight crew member. The league responds by stopping the season's first game, already in progress, and postponing the official season start.
  • September 12: On the day that Alexander Galimov, the only Lokomotiv player to survive the crash, dies of his injuries, Lokomotiv announces it will pull out of the KHL for the 2011–12 season. The team will play in the second-level Russian Major League this season and return to the KHL in 2012–13. In other fallout from the crash, the Czech Extraliga announces it will delay the start of its 2011–12 season from September 16 to September 18. The original start date conflicted with the funeral of Jan Marek, one of three Czechs killed in the crash.
• October 6: Start of the 2011–12 NHL regular season.