Marlborough wine has done it again.

Wineries in Marlborough have another reason to celebrate after winning nearly half of the trophies at the Air New Zealand wine awards.

The awards were dominated by Marlborough and Hawkes Bay, with each region winning eight trophies. Central Otago picked up two trophies.

Marlborough winners were: Goldwater Sauvignon Blanc 2008, which won both the champion sauvignon blanc and champion new world white wine trophies, Daniel Le Brun Blanc de Blanc 2000, Forrest The Doctors Riesling 2008, Shingle Peak Reserve Pinot Gris 2008, Hunter’s Gewurztraminer 2008, Forrest The Doctors’ Noble Chenin Blanc 2008, Nautilus Four Barriques Pinot Noir 2007.

Nautilus Estate winemaker Clive Jones said he was pleasantly surprised to win the Kapiti Champion Exhibition Red Wine Trophy.

The wine was a blend of what they considered the best in the cellar in any particular year.

Forrest Estate owner John Forrest said he was a man of riesling, so to see The Doctors’ Riesling 2008 win acknowledged his passion for the variety.

Winning the Wineworks Champion Medium Sweet of Sweet Wine Trophy with the Forrest The Doctors’ Noble Chenin Blanc 2008 was brilliant, he said.

It is the fourth time in seven years, Forrest Estate has won this trophy.

Goldwater Estate owner Peter Scutts said their style had won the judges over.

“We’re very excited, obviously the judges liked the style … we picked before the rain and we picked for flavour, rather than the more technical sweetness or sugar levels.”

For Hunter’s managing director Jane Hunter the trophy topped off a winning end of week for the winery.

The Gewurztraminer 2008 followed up a win in the Royal Hobart Wine Show on Thursday with the Label and Litho Champion Gewurztraminer Trophy on Saturday.

“We’ve been growing gewurztraminer since 1982.

“It’s been a long time coming … everyone’s been focusing on pinot gris in the aromatics but we’ve kept on with gewurztraminer.”

New Zealand Winegrowers chairman Stuart Smith said it was great to see so many different wineries win trophies and not just one dominate the night.

Everyone was in celebration mode on Saturday night at the awards, which was attended by more than 700 people, Mr Smith said.

A panel of 26 judges picked the winning wines.

The champion wine of the show was awarded to Church Road’s 2007 Reserve Syrah which beat off competition from a record number of entries, 1751 in total.

Hawkes Bay also impressed the judges with its Crossroads Winery’s 2007 Elms Vineyard Reserve Vidal Reserve Hawkes Bay Chardonnay 2007, Villa Maria Single Estate Omahu Gravels Viognier 2007, Selaks The Favourite Merlot Cabernet 2007, Trinity Hill Gimblett Gravels Hawkes Bay Tempranillo 2007 and Villa Maria Estate Reserve Hawkes Bay Chardonnay 2006.

Central Otago wines’ two trophies were both for Rockburn Pinot Noir 2007.

Originally posted by Rachel Young and Cherie Howie.

Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby won the Hart Trophy as the National Hockey League’s Most Valuable Player tonight, capping a sophomore season in which he became the youngest scoring champion in major pro sports history and sparked one of the NHL’s most dramatic team turnarounds.

Crosby, who earlier this month was named the youngest team captain in League history, received 91 of 143 first-place votes for 1,225 points in voting by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association. Roberto Luongo of the Vancouver Canucks, who tallied 25 first-place votes and 801 points, was runner-up.

At 19 years, 10 months, Crosby is the second-youngest Hart Trophy winner in the history of the award, which was introduced in 1924. Wayne Gretzky was 19 years, 5 months old in 1979-80 when he captured the first of eight consecutive Hart Trophies with the Edmonton Oilers.

Crosby finished the regular season with 36 goals and 84 assists for 120 points, winning the Art Ross Trophy as League scoring champion. He took the permanent scoring lead with a career-high six-point night against Philadelphia Dec. 13 and never went more than three consecutive games without a point afterward. The Penguins were 41-10-9 in games when Crosby recorded a point, 6-13-0 when he did not and 0-1-2 when he was out of the lineup.

The Penguins finished the season with a 47-24-11 record for 105 points, qualifying for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2001 and recording a 47-point improvement over 2005-06. Only three clubs in NHL history have posted a bigger gain, most recently the Winnipeg Jets’ 48-point surge from 1980-81 to 1981-82.

Other honorees included Penguins center Evgeni Malkin, who won the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie. Malkin launched his NHL career in memorable fashion, becoming the first player in 89 years to score goals in each of his first six NHL games. Before Malkin, only three players in NHL history had scored at least one goal in each of their first six (or more) games and all did so in 1917-18, the League’s inaugural season. The 20-year-old went on to lead all rookies in goals (33), power-play goals (16), assists (52) and points (85).

Nicklas Lidstrom of the Detroit Red Wings joined an elite group by capturing the Norris Trophy as the League’s outstanding defenseman for the fifth time. Lidstrom becomes the fourth defenseman in League history with as many as five Norris Trophy wins, joining Hockey Hall of Fame members Bobby Orr (eight), Doug Harvey (seven) and Ray Bourque (five). Lidstrom, who earned his fifth Norris in the past six seasons, tied for the League lead among defensemen in plus-minus with a +40 rating, ranked third among all players in ice time per game (27:29) and was fifth among defensemen in scoring with 62 points (13 goals, 49 assists).

Lidstrom’s teammate, Pavel Datsyuk, won his second consecutive Lady Byng Trophy for combining sportsmanship with a high standard of play. Datsyuk led the Red Wings in scoring for the second consecutive season, matching a career high with 87 points (27 goals, 60 assists). His plus-36 rating ranked second on the club and seventh in the League overall.

Another repeat winner was Carolina Hurricanes captain Rod Brind’Amour, who won the Frank Selke Trophy as the League’s outstanding defensive forward. Brind’Amour ranked second among all NHL centers with a 59.2% face-off winning percentage and ranked third among League forwards in average ice time per game (23:19).

The New Jersey Devils’ Martin Brodeur claimed the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goaltender for the third time in the past four seasons following a record-breaking campaign. Brodeur won an unprecedented 48 games, surpassing Bernie Parent’s mark of 47 in 1973-74, led the NHL in shutouts (12), ranked third in goals-against average (2.18) and third in save percentage (.922).

Alain Vigneault of the Vancouver Canucks won his first Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s top coach, edging last year’s winner, Lindy Ruff of the Buffalo Sabres, by eight points (134-126). In his first year behind the Vancouver bench, Vigneault guided the Canucks to a franchise record-breaking season. They improved their wins record to 49 from a previous high of 46 and recorded the highest points total in club history with 105.

Montreal Canadiens captain Saku Koivu accepted the King Clancy Memorial Trophy for leadership and humanitarian contributions to his community. Koivu’s exemplary support of cancer treatment and research — and, more particularly, his personal demonstration of courage as a cancer survivor — is a source of inspiration and pride to his teammates as well as the many thousands of patients and their families who benefit from his generosity.

Boston Bruins center Phil Kessel received the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. Diagnosed with testicular cancer in early December, the 19-year-od Kessel played a Dec. 9 game against New Jersey, knowing he would be admitted to the hospital for surgery on Dec. 12. He missed only 12 games before returning to Boston’s lineup.

Four players who received the NHL’s statistic-based trophies June 2 in Ottawa also were acknowledged at the NHL Awards Show this evening: Crosby (Art Ross Trophy), Tampa Bay Lightning center Vincent Lecavalier (Maurice Richard Trophy as goal-scoring leader) and the Minnesota Wild’s Niklas Backstrom and Manny Fernandez (William Jennings Trophy as goaltenders on the club allowing the fewest goals).

The Professional Hockey Writers’ Association (PHWA) cast ballots for the Hart, Norris, Selke, Lady Byng and Calder Trophies. The PHWA also voted on the Masterton Trophy. The 30 NHL General Managers voted on the Vezina Trophy. The NHL Broadcasters’ Association (NHLBA) submitted votes for the Jack Adams Award, and a special panel of representatives from the PHWA and NHLBA chose the King Clancy winner. Voting for these awards was conducted at the conclusion of the regular season.

Balloting results were tabulated by the accounting firm Ernst & Young, with the exception of the Masterton and King Clancy trophies. The results for these awards were tabulated by the PHWA and the National Hockey League, respectively.

Orginally Written by http://penguins.nhl.com

Major League Soccer has named its championship trophy for Denver investor Philip Anschutz, owner of the Los Angeles Galaxy soccer franchise.

The new Philip F. Anschutz Trophy — 28-1/2 inches tall, including the base, and weighing 43 pounds — was unveiled Wednesday at Tiffany & Co. in New York, on the eve of the start of the MLS playoffs, the league’s website, MLSnet.com, reported.

Anschutz is also part-owner of the Houston Dynamo.

At a news conference to unveil the trophy, which resembles a large loving cup, league Commissioner Don Garber described Anschutz as “the heart and soul of Major League Soccer.”

“We really believed that Phil Anschutz deserved a lasting legacy,” MLSnet.com quoted Garber as saying.

“Phil Anschutz believes in the sport down to its core,” he said. “He attends games almost every weekend with his family. He believes in the American player. He believes that this country has to have a top-flight league that celebrates what he thinks is the best sport in the world.”

He said the Denverite rescued the league financially a few years ago.

“In our darkest hour, we went through contraction,” Garber said, according to the MLSnet.com report. “We were really questioning what the future of MLS would be. Phil Anschutz stood up and said, ‘Even if I have to carry this league on my shoulders, I won’t allow Major League Soccer not to continue or grow.’”

The MLSnet.com report did not say whether the normally publicity-shy Anschutz attended the unveiling ceremony.

The new trophy replaces the Alan I. Rothenberg Cup, which has been retired.

Originally Written by http://www.bizjournals.com/losangeles

The bottle in his hand was already half-empty, but Cole Hamels seemed a bottomless source of bubbly.

In the soggy celebration of Philadelphia’s World Series championship, Hamels stood before the plastic shield protecting his locker, giddily drenched in sparkling wine. The bottle bore the label of Domaine Ste. Michelle, a French-sounding brand imported all the way from Washington state, and the 24-year-old pitcher had been branded the Series’ Most Valuable Player.

“This will be a trivia question for the next couple hundred years,” Hamels said, happily. “And I get to be a part of it.”

Rancho Bernardo’s precocious left-hander had done nothing of note on the last night of the tournament. He was a uniformed spectator to the three-inning speed date that completed Monday’s suspended Game 5 as a 4-3 Philadelphia victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. Yet for a few batters on this brief, bizarre but rain-free evening, Hamels stood to be the winning pitcher on a night he never needed to warm up.

Jayson Werth’s bloop single scored pinch hitter Geoff Jenkins with one out in the bottom of the sixth inning to enable the Phillies to break the 2-2 tie Hamels had helped forge Monday night. Hamels was still the pitcher of record, and in line to become the first pitcher to win five starts in the same postseason, until Rocco Baldelli’s seventh-inning home run temporarily re-tied the score.

A couple of hundred years hence, trivia experts may recall that Phillies left-hander J.C. Romero was credited with the victory because Pedro Feliz singled through the Rays’ drawn-in infield to score pinch runner Eric Bruntlett in the bottom of the seventh inning. For contemporary Phillies fans, every detail of this drama will be recounted and savored for generations.

For the first time in 28 years, since Tug McGraw struck out Willie Wilson at a ballpark since imploded, the Phillies are champions of baseball.

Before Saturday’s Game 3, country singer Tim McGraw sprinkled some of his late father’s ashes on the pitcher’s mound at Citizens Bank Park. Last night, Phillies pitcher Jamie Moyer prevailed on the groundskeepers to exhume the pitching rubber for his personal collection.

Hamels, who took home the shinier souvenir, confessed that the time finally hadcome for him to start a trophy case.

“This is the easiest game I ever had to deal with,” he said. “I didn’t have to do a thing, and I was in the starting lineup.”

Hamels had pitched six innings during Monday night’s deluge, and he began last night’s proceedings as the next scheduled hitter. Phillies manager Charlie Manuel chose Jenkins to bat in Hamels’ place, and the pinch-hitter responded with a full-count double to right-center field against Tampa Bay reliever Grant Balfour.

Playing at home, Manuel played for one run. Jimmy Rollins moved Jenkins to third base with a sacrifice bunt. Werth then popped a bloop single just out of the reach of Rays’ second baseman Akinori Iwamura.

“The wind played tricks on Aki big-time,” said Tampa Bay’s Cliff Floyd, the designated hitter idled by National League rules. “ . . . We haven’t played in these type of conditions all year.

“We just didn’t play the same type ball (compared to the regular season). It’s not a frustrating thing. It’s a learning thing.”

One of the harder lessons the Rays learned was taught by Phillies second baseman Chase Utley. After Baldelli’s one-out homer tied the score in the seventh, Jason Bartlett singled and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt.

Iwamura then hit a ground ball that left Utley no play at first base, but his bluff throw emboldened Bartlett to try to score from second base. Utley’s peg to catcher Carlos Ruiz resulted in a third-out tag play and erased the last Rays player to reach third base.

“I was just running hard and (third base coach Tom) Foley sent me and I tried to score,” Bartlett said. “It’s a hard baseball play. If I’m not hustling, maybe he stops me. But that’s how you should play – hustle all the time.”

Pat Burrell opened Philadelphia’s seventh inning with a double to deep center field, a 1-1 curve ball Tampa Bay reliever J.P. Howell immediately regretted. Replaying the pitch in his mind, Howell thought Burrell was “cheating” on the breaking pitch and would therefore have been susceptible to a fastball.

Bruntlett ran for Burrell, moving to third base on a groundout by Shane Victorino, scoring the winning run on Feliz’s single through the middle.

Phillies reliever Brad Lidge, whose neglected to blow a save all season, closed out the Rays in the ninth, striking out pinch hitter Eric Hinske for the final out.

Hamels was standing on the top step of the dugout when the game ended and was soon in the middle of the celebratory scrum near the pitcher’s mound. His first emotion, he said later, was relief, but there was a lot to the experience he was still trying to process.

“As I go into this offseason and each week creeps closer and closer to a new, fresh season, I might think about it more,” he said. “I know people will look at me differently, probably expect more out of me.”

For starters, they will expect him to get to work on that trophy case.

Originally Written By Tim Sullivan, SignOnSanDiego.com

AFMC captures AF Marathon major command trophy

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio — Air Force Materiel Command, headquartered here, is the sophomore winner of the U.S. Air Force Marathon Major Command Challenge Commander’s Trophy.

The announcement was made Oct. 3 at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., by Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton A. Schwartz.

General Schwartz presented the traveling trophy to Gen. Bruce Carlson, AFMC commander. The trophy had resided with last year’s inaugural winner, Air Education and Training Command, headquartered at Randolph AFB, Texas.

The presentation was made before a crowd of more than 100 people, including commanders of the Air Force’s other major commands and senior Defense Department officials. The leaders were at the Air Force Academy to attend Fall CORONA, a thrice-annually held conference enabling senior Air Force civilian and military leadership to gather for frank, open discussion about the service.

General Schwartz acknowledged the support of all major commands in making the USAF Marathon a landmark competition. That support has resulted in the growing interest in the marathon, he said, noting that 7,400 runners participated this year, versus 6,300 last year.

“This is quite an honor,” General Carlson said. “I couldn’t be more proud of the men and women of AFMC. And, I’m proud of the other thousands of runners who chose to participate in the Air Force Marathon.

“The past couple years we have witnessed Air Force marathon awareness and participation really take off,” he said. “We have nearly doubled our numbers from just a few years ago. Next, year, I hope we get to 10,000 runners.”

The MAJCOM Challenge is a service-wide competition. The challenge took place Sept. 20.

The competition was formed to serve as incentive for MAJCOMs to encourage participation in this nationally-recognized fitness event, said Molly Louden, marathon director. The challenge is open to active-duty and activated Guard and Reserve service members.

The competition is based on a point system which factors in participation and performance in the full- and half-marathon events and determines which major command in the Air Force has the best long-distance runners, Ms. Louden said.

All nine Air Force MAJCOMs as well as the Air National Guard participated, with 578 service members completing the full marathon and 522 completing the half marathon–1,100 runners total–for a record 17,527.8 miles run or walked.

The trophy will continue to be awarded annually during the Fall CORONA to the commander of the winning MAJCOM, Ms. Louden said.

The 2009 USAF Marathon is scheduled for Sept. 19. The full- and half-marathon races, along with a 10-kilometer race, will begin and end at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.

The course takes runners through historical sites on Wright-Patterson AFB such as Huffman Prairie, where the founding fathers of modern-day flight, Orville and Wilbur Wright, first learned to fly. The course was recertified this year and now incorporates the streets of neighboring downtown Fairborn, Ohio, and Wright State University. This allows the public better access to the course to cheer on racers.

For more on the USAF Marathon, log onto http://www.usafmarathon.com.

Originally written by Kathleen A.K. Lopez, Air Force Materiel Command Public
Affairs (Editor’s note: Capt. Elaine M. Bryant, AFMC aide-de-camp to the commander, contributed to this article).