d — and the players were largely isolate

ST. JOHNS, N.L. -- Michael Hutchinson has been the difference-maker for the St. Johns IceCaps throughout the American Hockey League Eastern Conference final. Tuesdays Game 6 was no different. Hutchinson made 34 saves as St. Johns advanced to the Calder Cup final with a 5-0 win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. "Hutchinson is playing really well right now and he played a strong game tonight," IceCaps head coach Keith McCambridge said. "He has done nothing but show he is a goaltender who is knocking on the door of the National Hockey League since we got him." The modest netminder credited his team with the shutout performance, saying the players in front of him played a great defensive game. "Fortunately the guys blocked a lot of shots, cleared rebounds and tied up sticks," Hutchinson said. "They really let me see the puck, and when I was able to see the puck I held onto it. It was a great team effort." Hutchinson added that winning the elimination game feels "unbelievable." "This is what you go for all season, to play for a championship," he said. "To get here is an unbelievable feeling, and to win on home ice makes it that much more special." McCambridge said the IceCaps were hoping the team would eliminate the Penguins on the road, but he was happy with the Game 6 win. "Everybody was disappointed that we were unable to close out the series in five (games) but you have to be realistic," he said. "Youre in the conference finals and its hard to close out (in five games), its rare. We said that if we were able to take two out of three in the oppositions building against a very good team, wed be happy with it." Eric ODell, Blair Riley, Adam Lowry, Jason Jaffray and Zach Redmond scored for St. Johns. The IceCaps opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 17:53 of the first period. ODell tipped a shot from Brenden Kichton in over the blocker of Penguins goalie Peter Mannino. Lowry doubled the IceCaps lead 3:24 into the second period, tapping in a Josh Morrissey feed that found the forward in front of the net. Riley tipped a point shot five-hole to extend the IceCaps lead to three at the 2:23 mark of the third period. Redmond scored a fourth for St. Johns with a wrist shot from the point while Jaffray screened Mannino at 5:21. Jaffray added an empty-net goal with 47.5 seconds left. Mannino made 25 saves for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. St. Johns will play the Texas Stars, who beat the Toronto Marlies in Game 7 Tuesday, for the AHL championship. Nike React Clearance . The Philadelphia Eagles acquired running back Darren Sproles from the New Orleans Saints for a fifth-round draft pick on Tuesday. Cheap Nike React Shoes . -- Fresh off their surprising run in the playoffs, the Portland Trail Blazers have signed head coach Terry Stotts to a multi-year contract extension. http://www.cheapnikereactaustralia.com/.The Canadian teenage golf sensation announced Thursday shell join the LPGA Tour in 2015 instead of attending the University of Florida. Nike React Cheap .J. -- Having Ondrej Pavelec earn his 100th NHL win and seeing Mark Scheifele and Evander Kane break goal droughts were nice highlights for the Winnipeg Jets. Nike React Australia .J. Ward appeared in court Friday on misdemeanour charges that he threw a glass mug at a bartender at a Denver strip club.ASHBURN, Va. - Jay Gruden got the full Washington Redskins circus distraction experience all in one day. A protest against the name, a bus wreck on the way to the stadium, Robert Griffin IIIs return from an injury, a media report the coach called amateurish, and a defence that allowed a rookie quarterback to put up 29 points.And perhaps the most Redskins indicator of them all: The record is 3-6 for the fourth straight year.If ever a team needed a bye, its this one. They could use of the break to figure out how to tune out the outside noise. Sundays 29-26 loss to the Minnesota Vikings had all the makings of an all-too-typical Redskins day from the last decade or so.From a mental standpoint, you want your team to be thinking about the Minnesota Vikings, period, Gruden said Monday. I want Robert and I want the offence to be thinking about Mike Zimmers Double-A package and blitz package and how were going to attack. I want the defence to be thinking about Teddy Bridgewater and their zone-checks and what they have to do, instead of reading tweets about theres locker room separation, whatever, and having bus wrecks and all that stuff.So there was a little bit of things that mightve took our mind off the important thing, which is the Minnesota Vikings.The Redskins couldnt do much about the accident involving team buses on the way to the game — Were four tire rotations from driving off a cliff, Gruden said — and the players were largely isolated from the thousands who marched outside the stadium calling for the team to change its nickname.But a pair of media reports clearly raised some ire at the Redskins facility.One said that several members of the organization believe the order to start Griffin on Sunday came from owner Dan Snyder and general manager Bruce Allen. The other linked a group of players boisterous behaviour toward media and a public relations staffer during a Griffin group interview to an allegation that Griffin has alienated himself in the locker room.Gruden launched a blistering retort to the second report, calling it amateurish from some small-time reporter reporting fiction.But the first-year head coach is quickly learning that its aall part of the deal in Washington.dddddddddddd.Weve got a young team. We have some fragile egos here, he said. The guys are young guys, trying their best, and they read in the paper that nobody likes em and theyre alienated and blasy, blasy. It just doesnt seem right.But as a football player, as an NFL football player playing here, you have to expect it. ... The big thing is we cant let anything tear the locker room apart.All the distractions could have been neatly swept away if the same defence that disrupted Tony Romos life just six days earlier couldve done the same to Bridgewater, who led two long, answer-back drives in the fourth quarter. Gruden said the staff will spend the upcoming bye week re-examining their defensive schemes.As for Griffin, he did OK after missing six games with a dislocated ankle but made two poor throws at critical times — an interception before halftime that led to the Vikings first touchdown, and a short-armed effort on fourth-and-6 that landed short of an open Pierre Garcon in the games final two minutes. He also was sacked five times, showing hes still yet to get a good feel for pressure around him in the pocket.As for the 3-6 record, theres no telling what it portends. In 2011, the Redskins finished 5-11. In 2012, they never lost again in the regular season, going 10-6 and winning in the NFC East. In 2013, they never won again and ended up 3-13.Asked to give his team a pre-bye grade, Gruden said from a human being standpoint, Id give him an A.Bad thing is we dont get credit for being good guys, Gruden said. We get credit for wins and losses, and thats not good enough. The grade is 3-6. ... Thats probably a D or an F-plus.Notes: RB Silas Redd, who had back spasms from the bus accident and was inactive for the game, underwent an MRI on Monday. Gruden said there was no structural damage and that Redd will be fine. ... Gruden said TE Logan Paulsen has a chance of playing against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after the bye. Paulsen is battling plantar fasciitis in one of his feet.___AP NFL websites: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL___Follow Joseph White on Twitter: http://twitter.com/JGWhiteAP ' ' '