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WILMINGTON, Mass. Flyers Jerseys Store . -- The smile spread across Matt Bartkowskis face even before the question was finished. How will it feel to play against his hometown Penguins, the team he rooted for as a youngster? "I cant believe how many times Ive been asked that," the Bruins rookie defenceman said with a laugh. "Its going to be awesome." Especially if Boston upsets Pittsburgh, the club that won two Stanley Cups in the 1990s with two players who became his idols, Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr. Now Lemieux is a co-owner of the Penguins and Jagr is Bartkowskis teammate in Boston. The teams begin the Eastern Conference finals in Pittsburgh on Saturday night. "Its kind of cool we get to play playoffs in my hometown," Bartkowski said. "At the end of the day, Im on Boston and thats Pittsburgh. Were there to win." A former standout at Mt. Lebanon High -- a proud school with its own rink tucked away neatly in a suburb south of Pittsburgh -- Bartkowski made his playoff debut in Game 5 of the opening round against Toronto after being recalled from Providence of the AHL to replace the injured Wade Redden. He next appeared in Game 7 vs. the Maple Leafs, scoring the first goal before the road team posted the next four. But he and the Bruins rallied, won 5-4 in overtime, and suddenly, he appeared as if he was there to stay. He played well with this time in all five games of the next round against the New York Rangers. But Andrew Ference, sidelined the last seven games with a lower body injury, could return soon and that could leave Bartkowski out of the lineup. All that said, hes already accomplished more than he could have imagined when he was lightly recruited out of high school. "I knew he could be a pretty good player probably by his junior year," said Paul Taibi, his high school coach. "The NHL was kind of a dream still at that point." As a senior, Taibi said, Bartkowski was the best player in Pennsylvania. But hockeys popularity in the western part of the state had declined by then -- a lull between the end of the Lemieux-Jagr era and the start of the Sidney Crosby-Evgeni Malkin era. "At that point, I was probably 14 or so," Bartkowski said. "It died down for a solid four years or so until Crosby got drafted. ... Every time they get big players in Pittsburgh, it seems to jump start all the little kids playing, so its good for the area." The Penguins won the Stanley Cup in 2009, their first championship since they won their second straight in 1992, three days before Bartkowski turned 4. They played then in the Civic Arena -- also known as the Igloo -- located at 66 Mario Lemieux Place, and Bartkowski remembers skating there as a youngster. He finally received some attention at the Chicago Showcase, a tournament for lightly recruited high school players where he was most valuable player. He spent two years in the United States Hockey League before being drafted in the seventh round by the Florida Panthers in 2008. But he chose to play at Ohio State for two seasons. "I was drafted by Florida but I didnt really go to any camps," he said. "So Id watch the Penguins games. I was still a Penguins fan." Before Bartkowski played for the Panthers, they traded him to the Bruins in March 2010. He made his NHL debut on Jan. 10, 2011 in a familiar place, Pittsburgh. The Bruins won 4-2, overcoming a 2-0 deficit with four goals in the last four minutes. And his next two games? Both against the Penguins in Boston. "You could see the potential, but it was raw and he needed some experience. He needed to get himself more confident," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "Right now, what weve seen in this guy is he has no fear. "He knows he can play in this league and it shows." With just 27 games in his NHL career, including seven in the playoffs, hes returning to a city where friends and family members will be in the stands. Julien doesnt think that will be a distraction. "He seems pretty excited. Hes looking forward to it," Julien said. "At the end of the day, he knows who hes playing for. He wants to do well for his team. The better he does, the better he looks in everybodys eyes, whether its his hometown thats rooting for the other team or whether its us." Bartkowski knows he has to play physically and be in the right position against the Penguins potent offence. Hes eager to get started. "Im stoked up, pumped up and ready to go," he said. "Im sure the rest of these guys are because everybodys calling them the favourites." For the first time, Bartkowski is getting steady playing time in the NHL. Its allowed him to get into a rhythm and develop teamwork with other Bruins, a crew viewed among the deepest in the league. "Hes playing with so much confidence right now," said Taibi, who talks to him often. "I finally think he believes thats where he belongs. He was playing without that cloud of, Am I going to play the next game? He knew he was going to be in the lineup pretty much the whole (Rangers) series. He just needed a chance to prove himself and I think hes passed with flying colours." And hes playing with his idol. The Bruins obtained Jagr from Dallas on April 2. "Its awesome because I looked up to him," Bartkowski said. "Its pretty cool to be able to play with him now." Any chance Bartkowski had of reaching the playoffs had seemed to disappear a few days earlier. Just before the March 28 trade deadline the Bruins thought they had sent him to Calgary as part of a trade for Jarome Iginla that they hoped would boost their offence. They even scratched Bartkowski from their lineup that day. But Iginla waived his no-trade clause only for Pittsburgh and he went there. "I would not even be playing right now and now weve got a shot at the Pens in the conference finals," Bartkowski said. "It couldnt have worked out any better." His hometown and his new town await. White Flyers Jerseys . Anthony Davis had 31 points and 17 rebounds in his seventh straight game with more than 20 points, but that was only enough to keep the Pelicans competitive into the final minutes. Andrew Bogut had 10 points and 15 rebounds for Golden State, which rebounded from a loss a night earlier in Oklahoma City and snapped a two-game skid. Cheap Flyers Jerseys . The nimble-footed quarterback got his wish, dashing through the snow and a weary defence all the way into the NCAA record book. http://www.authenticflyersshopnhl.com/ . Peter Gammons, an analyst for Major League Baseballs network and website, drew the ire of hockey fans on Sunday when he criticized the two NHL teams on Twitter for their physical game the night before.Alex Hales 99 fired England to a five-wicket win over South Africa in Port Elizabeth and a 2-0 lead in the five-match ODI series. The opener clubbed fifty in his sides victory in the first ODI in Bloemfontein on Wednesday and carried on that form with a responsible 124-ball knock as the tourists chased down the Proteas 262-7 with 22 balls to spare.Jos Buttler (48no from 28) and Moeen Ali (21no from 15) guided England home after Hales was dismissed - the former on the day he pocketed a bumper IPL contract with Mumbai Indians - with a thrilling stand of 61 in just five overs.Hales, Buttler and Moeen backed up some excellent work with the ball from Reece Topley (4-50), whose career-best figures ensured South Africas innings lost its spark following the departure of skipper AB de Villiers (73). Reece Topleys four wickets restricted South Africa to 262-7 Topley bowled Hashim Amla (4) off his pads in the third over, leaving Quinton de Kock (22), who made an unbeaten 138 from 96 balls in Bloemfontein, and Faf du Plessis (46) to rebuild for the hosts with a second-wicket stand of 49.De Kock perished lbw to Ben Stokes in the 11th over, with Du Plessis next to go in the 20th, caught by Chris Jordan at slip off a gorgeous in-drifter from Adil Rashid (1-43), having added 45 with De Villiers. Watch this brilliant catch from Chris Jordan to dismiss AB de Villiers during the second ODI between South Africa and England. Rashids fellow spinner Moeen Ali (0-41) was equally tight in the middle period as he and Rashid ensured the 106-run partnership between De Villiers and JP Duminy (47) hinged on well-worked singles rather than boundaries, De Villiers notching his 48th ODI fifty from a sedate 72 deliveries with a flick into the on-side.The South Africa skipper tried to accelerate as the final 10 overs approached but, after mowing Jordan for six over midwicket, departed to an outstanding, swirling catch from the Sussex seamer off Stokes, the man who pouched him superbly in Bloemfontein a few days ago. Stokes celebrates dismissing de Villiers in Port Elizabeth Duminy, dropped down the leg-side by Buttler on 35, was dismissed three balls later, though the left-hander was unfortunate to go with Topleys delivery sliding down leg side.South Africa stumbled at that point, scoring just 46 from the last eight overs, with Topley having Rilee Rossouw (11) caught behind by Buttler on review - thiird umpire Chris Gaffaney deciding the batsman had hit ball as well as ground - and Kagiso Rabada (12) snared by Eoin Morgan. Flyers Jerseys For Sale. Chris Jordan chats to Nick Knight Nasser Hussain about his superb catch during the second ODI Jason Roy (14) entertained briefly for England as they began their reply, striking three boundaries off the fit-again Kyle Abbott (3-58) before the seamer, who shelled a sharp caught and bowled chance to remove the opener for a duck, bowled him through the gate with a superb in-swinger.Joe Root had a scare, too, when he was given out lbw to the returning Rabada on three but his review proved successful, with Hawk-Eye suggesting the ball would have bypassed leg stump.The Yorkshireman went on to play a dogged knock while partnering the slightly more expansive Hales, hitting just two boundaries in the pairs 97-run stand for the second wicket before chopping Abbott onto his stumps. Alex Hales hit a vital 99 in Englands victory Hales started pretty placidly himself but sped up as he approached fifty, a milestone he reached from 68 balls, before flicking Abbott into De Kocks gloves down the leg-side as he eyed a second ODI ton, his only one to date coming against Pakistan in November.Buttler and Moeen finished proceedings with aplomb, though - Buttler cracking three sixes in a row off Imran Tahir and Moeen sealing the win with successive fours off Morne Morkel. We hear from AB de Villiers, Eoin Morgan and Alex Hales after Englands win over South Africa in the second ODI. Morgans partnership of 52 with Hales proved valuable, with the skippers 29 seeing him become the ninth batsman to pass 4,000 ODI runs for England, after Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood, Alec Stewart, Kevin Pietersen, Marcus Trescothick, Graham Gooch, Andrew Strauss and Allan Lamb.Stokes had a day to forget with the bat, though, chopping Morkel on for a six-ball duck during which time his penchant for sweeping spinner Tahir almost saw him fall twice lbw.Will England secure the series in Centurion on Tuesday? Find out from 11am on Sky Sports 2. Cheap NFL JerseysCheap NFL Jerseys ChinaCheap Jerseys From ChinaCheap NFL Jerseys AuthenticWholesale Jerseys ChinaCheap NFL Jerseys ChinaNFL Cheap Jerseys ' ' '
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