IN BRIEF (Page 23)

NHL

Stars and Pens eliminate foes

DALLAS: The Dallas Stars have finally made it back to the Western Conference finals. It took the eighth longest game in NHL history to do it.

Brenden Morrow scored a power-play goal 9:03 into the fourth overtime as the Stars eliminated the pesky San Jose Sharks 2-1 in a game that ended early Monday morning - the longest game in the NHL playoffs this season, and the longest in San Jose history.

The Stars are going to the conference finals for the first time since 2000, when they returned to the Stanley Cup finals the year after winning the franchise's only championship. They will face Detroit, which wrapped up its second-round sweep of Colorado on Thursday night.

In Pittsburgh, Marian Hossa scored his second goal of the game 7:10 into overtime and Pittsburgh rallied after giving up a two-goal lead to beat New York 3-2 and advance to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in seven years.

The Penguins will meet the cross-state Philadelphia Flyers, the conference's worst team last season, in the first all-Pennsylvania conference final. The teams haven't met in the postseason since the Flyers' six-game victory in a 2000 second-round series.

Soccer

5-on-5 rises to occasion

The 2008 Umbro Cup Beijing 5-on-5 Soccer Tournament was held during the May Day holiday at Beijing Tiantan Stadium.

The event, organized by the Beijing Football Association, Tianyun Sports (Shenzhen) Goods Co Ltd and the Beijing Ruizhixiangyun Advertising Co Ltd, attracted hundreds of amateur teams from middle- and senior-high school groups, an open group, and a media group.

The grassroots Umbro Cup kicked off in 2003 and has since grown into the biggest 5-on-5 soccer tournament in the Chinese capital.

The Changhe Team B, the winning team in the open group will represent Beijing in the national 5-on-5 finals.

Kim youngest winner in 6 years

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina: Anthony Kim became the youngest winner on the PGA Tour in more than six years when he clinched an emphatic five-stroke victory at the $6.4 million Wachovia Championship on Sunday.

The 22-year-old Kim, who started the final round with a four-shot lead, was never headed, picking up four birdies on the front nine en route to a 3-under-par 69 in pleasant conditions at Quail Hollow.

"This is what I've been dreaming about my whole life, and fulfilling this dream is awesome," said Kim, who was born in California of Korean parents, and now lives in Dallas.

"It has been a long ride, but it sure is worth it. I'm a little numb right now, but that walk up 18 was the best feeling of my entire life," he told reporters after finishing at 16-under 272.

Kim recorded a tournament record low score and the largest margin of victory in the event's brief six-year history, collecting $1,152,000 and vaulting to sixth on this year's PGA Tour money list.

(China Daily 05/06/2008 page23)