Superfection?

The 1988 Hershey Bears went 12-0 in the playoffs, sweeping Binghamton, Adirondack and Fredericton in four games apiece, to win the Calder Cup.

The 1964 Cleveland Barons went 9-0 in the playoffs, beating Rochester in two, Hershey in three and Quebec in four, to win the Calder Cup.

The 1961 Springfield Indians went 8-0 in the playoffs and swept Cleveland and Hershey to win the Calder Cup.

The 1950 Indianapolis Capitals went 8-0 in the playoffs, beating St. Louis in two, Providence in two and Cleveland in four, to win the Calder Cup.

The 2008 Providence Bruins just may be a third of the way to joining them. With J-S Aubin on the shelf — when your stud goalie is “in a maintenance stage” at this point of the playoffs, it’s scary — the Bruins pounded Portland again to take a 2-0 lead; Petteri Nokelainen scored two of the seven. Yeah, they needed OT three times against Manchester. But they’re 6-0 right now.

Since the ’88 Bears swept the playoffs, only four teams have swept their first two rounds: the 1996 Amerks, the 1998 River Rats, the 2000 Bruins and the 2006 Bears. (The first three of those only needed three games to sweep their first-round series.) Hershey went 10-0 to start the 2006 playoffs on the way to the Cup, and that’s the recent history the Bruins are chasing right now. It’ll be interesting to see if they take it further.

San Antonio scored two early ones, then another one late, to force a Monday Game 7. Josh Tordjman made 38 saves. It’ll be the first Game 7 for both franchises.

EDIT: A loss for Utah. Haskins scored on a short-handed penalty shot, and then Victoria lit up the Grizzlies for six goals in the third. The former Sound Tiger scored two of them — no, not Billy, who didn’t even play.

Missed the sale at the barn, but it was like a BST reunion at Quinnipiac, hanging out with Kimber’s interns Pat Salvas (who’s the Bobcats’ sports-information contact for women’s lacrosse) and Justin Cohen (who was broadcasting the game). Sacred Heart won a wild one for its first NEC women’s lax title.

Just for fun: Praise for the irregular verb (as seen on A.Word.A.Day).

Michael Fornabaio